Public speaking!

Presenting at a meeting.

Even introducing a speaker at a company event.

The long walk up to the podium. All those eyes on you. The silence as they wait for you to start.

Terrifying!

You are in the majority, but the good news is, you can improve.

And you should because it can make such a positive impact on you.

A young recruiter came up to me after a presentation I gave at the Recruitment Agency Expo in London recently. He said, “You are so lucky, you have no nerves, and you get up there in front of all those people so calmly.”

But he was wrong. I am nervous. Every time. And it’s good because it keeps you sharp. And it inclines you to really prepare.

I have spoken at thousands of public events all over the world. I am passably good at it too, and I often have people say how lucky I am that public speaking ‘comes so easily to me ‘.

As the famous South African golfer, Gary Player, said, ‘The harder I practice, the luckier I get!’

So, even though advice on public speaking is commonplace, I thought I would share what I have learned about presenting powerfully. And I am not only talking about formal speeches. Most of us have many platforms where getting a message across is essential.

A staff meeting, a client presentation, and a farewell speech. In private life too. A wedding, a birthday, or even a toast

Here are a few things I learned, and most I practice ’til this day.

• Prepare every word. With so many years of public speaking experience, I can stand up and ‘wing’ a passably good speech. But mostly, I don’t! For many years I prepared every word of a major presentation, typing the whole thing out. On the day itself, I may well ad-lib big chunks. I went where my mind took me, and to the audience, it may look like a 60-minute presentation was done without a single note. But I had the security of knowing I could refer back to the full transcript. It is my ‘safety device’, a critical psychological aid. True now, with a recruitment presentation, I work off slides on a PowerPoint because I know my material so well, and I have the confidence to adlib, borne from so many presentations. But that’s now after decades. You need the notes. And if I speak at a wedding, or a 21st, or a corporate function, or an awards night (which I often do), I do not adlib. I have it nailed in writing.

• Plan your key points. Your presentation needs structure. Work out what it is you really want to get across to your audience. It may only be two or three key points. Make those clear and communicate them hard and often. Avoid waffle that does not drive your key themes across. Sometimes less is more. (Not that I am very good at ‘less’, some might say!) But seriously, reread it. Cut the fluff.

• Tell stories. People love true stories. Anecdotes that support your key points. Make sure they are authentic, relevant, and sometimes amusing. I include them all the time, and years after the presentation, people remember the story.

• Don’t tell pre-planned jokes. Unless you are Jerry Seinfeld, don’t do it. It’s a rare skill to tell a joke well; almost always, they fall flat and are not entirely appropriate. Humour is good, but best off the cuff and always self-deprecating.

• Rehearse like crazy. I admit it. I rehearsed my speeches, aloud many times. I time them, so I knew I wouldn’t rush to meet the allotted time allowed for the presentation. In earlier days, my long-suffering wife would be asked to hear every speech before ‘D’ day. And her feedback was noted, and changes were made. I practised the punchlines of pithy stories and ensured the words flowed. Maybe these days, I don’t put as much into rehearsing as I did before, as I have 40 years of experience in public speaking now. But as I present multiple times weekly, I guess I am ‘always practising’. You need to rehearse per event.

• Start strongly. Write your opening lines carefully and rewrite them until you like them. Make sure you start strong. It grabs people’s attention. It also gives you the confidence to know you have captured the audience early. I remember once starting a speech with a quote from the Business Review Weekly. It went something like, “60% of people in this room today are currently failing in your current roles”. I then elaborated and explained, but I had their attention early!

• Even prepare for the ‘small ones’. Are you giving a farewell speech? Announcing a new policy? Explaining the monthly team results? Prepare as if it’s a major speech. Work out your key points and prepare a strong opening. List who to thank or congratulate. These small occasions build your brand and leadership credentials and allow you to influence morale, attitude and opinion.

• Use PowerPoint sparingly. I use PowerPoint, but mainly as a teaser. Words are few and just give a taste of what I will elaborate on. If I use a graph or chart, it’s very sparse and just shows a trend or direction that I will explain orally. No detail. If you use a PowerPoint, ensure 90% of the audience time remains focused on you, and 10% on the screen. Ensure that when the slide is on the screen, you are saying things NOT on the screen, Elaborating. Interpreting. People can read. They don’t need you to read slides to them

• Warm-up. Sports people warm up. Singers warm up. Musicians too. Seriously, before every speech, I ‘warm up’. Just as a footballer warms up the muscles about to be used on the field, so must a speaker. I find a quiet place (hotel room or at home before I leave), or often just before the audience files in and practice tongue twisters. Say these fast and repeatedly, ‘Red lorry, yellow lorry, green lorry’. Then try “She sells seashells on the seashore “. Finish with ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers ‘. Over and over, until you can get them word-perfect at speed. Then practice your first three sentences. Guess what? When you hit the podium, there is no stumbling over words, and your brain and tongue are in synch!  I have been caught doing this in lifts, lobbies, and toilets, and people think I am losing it… but I never fail to warm up. Who wants to stumble over words in your very first sentence? If you think this is too ‘micro’, think of the number of times you have cringed hearing a nervous speaker stumble over their opening lines, and then struggled to get back on track.

• End strongly. Sum up your main points and end with a phrase or thought that people take away with them. It takes planning, but leaving them with a key message is important.

• Prepare the logistics. If it’s an interstate trip, I used to take a hard copy of my speech in my briefcase and another in my suitcase. I have the PowerPoint on my laptop and a memory stick. I now email my PP to myself and my (adult) daughter. What if my computer gets stolen the night before my speech to 300 Executives in London?  How will I recover without the PP or notes? It’s on my email, and my daughter, on the other side of the world, can email the organiser or me a copy at short notice. I have never had to… but what if? People pay to come to my events, mostly. The organisation has been immense. I can’t turn up without my material!  I make sure I know the location of the presentation, and I plan the trip there, so I know I will be on time. The last thing you want is to be flustered because you lost your notes, your PowerPoint is on the fritz, or you arrive 10 minutes late.

They say public speaking is the number two fear human beings have after death! But it does not have to be so.

A little hard preparation before your speech will save tons of perspiration during it.

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