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Commanding the Room: Strategies for Confident Public Speaking

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Commanding the Room: Strategies for Confident Public Speaking

Public speaking, a skill that often stirs a mix of excitement and anxiety, is an invaluable tool in our personal and professional lives. Whether you’re addressing a small team meeting or a large conference, the ability to convey your message confidently and effectively can significantly impact your audience. This article aims to provide practical tips and strategies to enhance your confidence in public speaking, tailored to resonate with the nuances of the UK audience.

Understanding Your Audience

One of the first steps to becoming a more confident speaker is to understand your audience. It’s essential to grasp who they are, what they expect, and why they are listening to you. For instance, if you’re presenting at a business conference, your audience might be looking for insights, trends, and actionable information. Conversely, a community event audience might be more interested in personal stories and community impact. Tailoring your content to suit your audience’s needs not only makes your speech more relevant but also helps establish a connection, making you feel more at ease.

A deeper understanding of your audience also allows you to anticipate potential questions and reactions. This foresight can be particularly helpful in managing nerves. By preparing for different scenarios, you can navigate through your presentation with more assurance, knowing you have considered various angles. Additionally, engaging with your audience before the speech, when possible, can provide valuable insights into their interests and concerns, further helping you to fine-tune your message.

Enhancing Self-Confidence

A vital element in effective public speaking is self-confidence. It’s not just about believing in what you say but also in how you present yourself. Confidence can be influenced by various factors, both internal and external. For example, feeling comfortable in your skin or being content with your appearance can have a profound effect on your self-assurance. This is where personal decisions, even ones seemingly unrelated to public speaking, can play a significant role.

There are many ways in which you can enhance your self-confidence, and how you do this will likely depend on who you are as a person. If you’re someone who lacks confidence in their vision, either with glasses or contacts, then opting for implantable contact lens (ICL) surgery could be an ideal option for you. Being able to see clearly without the need for glasses or contact lenses might seem like a small change, but it can significantly alter how a person feels about themselves and, consequently, how they interact with others.

Structuring Your Message

An effective speech is like a well-structured story; it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. The introduction should capture attention, perhaps with a striking fact, a question, or a brief anecdote relevant to the topic. Avoid starting with overused phrases or being too poetic. Instead, get straight to the point in a way that resonates with your audience. For instance, if discussing technology’s impact on everyday life, you might begin with a recent statistic from a trusted news source that highlights this impact.

The body of your speech is where you delve into the details. Here, it’s crucial to organise your points logically, ensuring each one builds upon the last. This structure not only helps your audience follow along but also aids in keeping you focused. Use simple, concise language and avoid industry jargon unless it’s common knowledge for your audience. Remember, clarity is key in effective communication.

10 Tips to Get Others to Take You Seriously

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Get Others to Take you Seriously|10 Tips to Get Others to Take You SeriouslyWe all know those people who command a room the moment they walk through the door. How do they signal that they have what it takes?

Recent research identified three qualities as key for commanding the respect of others — gravitas, communication and appearance. Gravitas, as in serious and impressive, mattered most, with 67 percent considering it crucial if you want to be taken seriously.

Use these 10 tips to establish your gravitas.

1. Prepare thoroughly. If you want others to take you seriously, bring your A-game. The biggest challenge to preparing is that we put it off because we’re nervous. The answer? Embrace technology and use voice notes on your phone to record your pitch or your presentation. Practice saying it out loud and listen back. The recording let you know when you’re ready to “go live.”

2. Be concise. To draw attention, be concise. Drill down to your elevator pitch — what you’d say to pitch your business in the time it takes to travel between floors. Think like a news reporter. Introduce your topic, offer up two or three supporting points, then conclude with an impactful statement. Keep it simple and punchy and you’ll earn respect as a clear thinker.

3. Banish Powerpoint overkill. Hiding behind your slides is a good way to lose the respect of an audience. You are the expert, so step away from the slides and distill your content down to a few bullet points. Make your argument compelling with powerful examples and stories. Take the audience on a journey. Bring your ideas alive in the way that only you can.

4. Change gear. Choosing the right tone for the situation is key to earning respect. When preparing for a meeting, ask yourself what approach is required here? Crisp and formal and focused on the task? Or smiling and conversational and focused on relationship-building? If you need to change gear fast, a palms down gesture is good for credibility. A palms up gesture and a warm smile will up your approachability.

5. Use your breath. Actors will tell you that giving a powerful performance relies on maintaining a relaxed breathing pattern. Why? It signals that you’re in control. If you can stay calm when the pressure hits, you earn respect. Controlling your breathing is the key to getting out of the nervous system’s panic room and into a space where you can think. Notice the butterflies, then breathe down into them, relaxing your shoulders. Notice the feeling of relief. Your breath gives you a quick way to settle down the nerves.

6. Practice active listening. The best speakers are always the best listeners. To show gravitas, don’t commit the cardinal sin of repeating what’s already been said. People take you seriously when you respond with something relevant that shows you’ve been paying attention. The key to owning any encounter is to turn up, listen, speak your truth and don’t be too attached to an outcome.

7. “Talk low, talk slow, don’t say too much.” John Wayne offered this advice. Researchers have found that voters tend to prefer political candidates with a lower voice. A low voice shows that you’re relaxed and in charge.

8. Put the brakes on. If nerves speed you up, consciously put the brakes on. Speak in short sentences, with a full stop between each one. One thought, one sentence. Take a relaxed breath in between (think of breathing in a lovely smell). By slowing down, you can take your audience with you. Natural pauses raise the audience’s perception of the speaker’s intelligence.

9. Show teeth. If you want gravitas, you need to be able to do what’s called “showing teeth.” No, it doesn’t mean showing off your pearly whites. Instead, it means that you can push back when required. The best way to approach an opposing viewpoint is to remember why you’re there. Think: “Who am I? Who are we? What’s our common purpose?” Then you can stand up for your beliefs in a way that works for the group.

10. Stand firm. Gravity is intrinsic to having gravitas. The Sanskrit word “guru” means “weighty one.” Staying grounded signals to your audience that you’re not a pushover. Find the points of support between your body and the earth. Focus on the feeling of your feet on the floor (or, if sitting, your bottom on the chair), moving your mind away from anxious thoughts. Try it — it has real power. It brings you “down to earth” when under pressure and communicates presence and calm to others.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Caroline GoyderCaroline Goyder has an international reputation as an expert speaker and trainer with senior management within organizations as well as private individuals. She worked for many years at London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama as a voice coach before launching her own company. She is regularly sought out by the media, and her extremely successful Ted Talk has had over 7.5 million viewers. Her new book is Find Your Voice: The Secret to Talking with Confidence in Any Situation (Penguin Random House UK, Jan. 30, 2020), along with previous books Gravitas: Communicate with Confidence, Influence and Authority and The Star Qualities: How to Sparkle with Confidence in All Aspects of Your Life. Visit www.carolinegoyder.com, or find her across social media: @Carolinegoyder.

What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keynote Speaker|What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?If you’re someone who has plenty of experience in running a business and you bring insight or expertise that others can find useful, then there is a career that could very much use that to fuel a career that involves mostly sharing those experiences. Also known as being a professional speaker or a public speaking career, being a keynote speaker means that you are essentially paid to give talks on topics that you have an authority on, but it doesn’t just mean that alone. It’s not just a career, but a business you have to manage, and here are a few tips that can help you learn how to manage that business and excel.

Have something to talk about

A lot of people love the idea of standing up on stage and giving a rousing, inspiring speech that talks to the hearts and needs of the audience. But there’s has to be some substance, some sizzle to the steak, as well. Look back on your experience, and see what you can draw from to serve as the fuel of your talks. Find your niche, and don’t try to be too broad. If, for instance, you worked in-depth on digital marketing, then you can bring the perspective of someone who can speak with expertise on how marketing is crucial to businesses.

Be able to sell it

Even if you’re not speaking on your career as a marketer (because maybe you never had one), you are still going to need some marketing skills in order to excel. Once you find your authority, find your niche, and know what you’re going to talk about, you then need to be able to sell it to other entrepreneurs, decision-makers, or department heads. You have to be able to look at who your audience is (or will be) and figure out what their needs and perspectives are. You then have to look at how to frame your expertise to make it seem vital from their perspective, which means being able to walk a mile in their shoes.

Practice your public speaking

This might seem like it’s too obvious to cover, but a lot of people get into speaking gigs without really taking the time to work on their on-stage presence. You can have charisma coming out of over pore of your body, and be a reliable authority on the topic that you’re going to be talking on, but you don’t know how well that’s going to translate to your stage performance until you try it. As such, you want to make sure you’re sharpening your body language, your rhythm, and other public speaking skills. Public speaking groups like Toastmasters are great for helping you get that practice and working on your public speaking skills.

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keynote Speaker|What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?Good written communication is essential too

As a speaker, it should be relatively obvious that you’re going to need very good verbal communication skills. However, you’re going to have to be able to write well enough to sell your ideas in the written form, as well. Not only do you have to be able to market your speeches through text, but a lot of keynote speakers will expand into another revenue stream: writing books and ebooks. These books are a perfect opportunity to expand on what you talk about at your speeches, so your speeches can effectively act as convincing marketing material for a much more extensive look at what you work on. You may also be able to sell ebooks to those who may not be able to afford to hire you or attend one of your more public events.

Running a business on the road

The life of a keynote speaker is one that sees you traveling from place to place, often country to country. This might sound glamorous and, often, it definitely can be. There are some very nice perks to networking with decision-makers and thought leaders in your industry of choice. However, it’s also demanding. Look at the tips on running an online business while traveling the world from Northeastern University and pay attention. After all, most keynote speakers do not work entirely alone, they have an admin team that is helping them book gigs and sell books from home, and you have to be able to manage them from afar.

Be loose and be comfortable with your emotions

You might think that having a buttoned-down approach to giving a speech and being able to communicate clearly and concisely are the most important skills when it comes to a career in public speaking. However, it’s empathy and emphatic communication that will really grab the attention of your audience most of the time, and you have to be able to tap into that. Humans naturally crave an emotional connection, so if you feel like you have a swell of emotion coming while you’re making a point, be willing, able and comfortable with hopping on that wave. Gesticulate, raise your voice, and don’t be afraid to tap in humor, or even a little intensity, to help drive a point home.

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Keynote Speaker|What Helps You Excel As A Keynote Speaker?You have to stay up to date

If you want to make sure that your speeches are always relevant, you can’t just rely on the career you’ve had in the past. Your stories are going to lose relevance as time goes on. As such, you are going to want to stay up to date. You can do this by following publications and blogs that speak to your niche and applying your insight into what news and trends you learn about there. But you should also use the experience and network you continue building as a keynote speaker. Take inspiration and borrow stories from your clients and attendees. For instance, if someone comes to you with a problem, speak about that problem and how your method or skills would solve that problem.

Be a good teacher

The truth about keynote or professional speakers is that the vast majority are also in the training business. Much like selling books and ebooks, it’s another way to add a new revenue stream to your repertoire. JobHero outlines the kind of steps you need to take to become a corporate trainer, but often it means getting some sort of certification to teach specific skills that are related to the topics that you speak on. As such, your training career, speaking gigs, and book can all come together as a holistic educational experience that sees you becoming a respected authority on your chosen subject.

Be competitive and productive

In order to truly excel in a public speaking career, you have to be laser-focused on finding new work. Depending on your niche, it can be a very competitive field indeed. What’s most important is that you’re always able to find an audience. As such, you should never turn down a speaking opportunity, even if you’re not entirely sure your audience is your usual one. Learn how to be able to get people together in a room. Networking and marketing both play a huge role in this, but you also need to be able to manage your time well enough to be able to travel from place to place as your work demands it. If you can’t, your rivals will be taking the opportunities you miss.

Keynote speaking is not an easy career. It involves life on the road, a lot of introspection and insight, and being able to hold a crowd’s attention time and time again. But, hopefully, the tips above can help you with that.

Five practical tips to engage your audience at conference presentation

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Presentation Tips|Five practical tips to engage your audience at conference presentationGiving a presentation at a conference is a massive opportunity. It is the chance to share an idea with the world, convince peers about your ideas, and help to make your industry more efficient and effective at what it does. And from a personal perspective it can provide a fantastic chance for presenters to get immediate input and feedback from real people.

Unfortunately, there is a problem – it’s not always easy to keep your audience engaged with what you are talking about. Four out of five professionals said that their focus shifted away from the presenter at the last presentation that they attended.

And given how important it is to keep your audience engaged with what you are talking about, losing their attention is a nightmare from a presenter’s perspective. So, it is vital that you do everything you can to make your presentation as engaging to the audience as possible. Here we present five practical tips that you can use during your next presentation to keep your audience engaged.

1. Be confident

There is nothing that turns off and disengages an audience more than listening to someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. And even if it is the case that you are an expert in the topic – you’ll come across as a novice if you don’t have confidence in what you are saying. When you are confident about yourself, you inspire others to have confidence in you.

There is plenty you can do to improve your confidence on stage, but of course the major key is to really know your topic inside-out.

Preparing a good presentation is essential when trying to sell a product, pitch an idea, or get your point across. First impressions matter and you want to ensure that you’re coming across as confident and professional. Consider hiring a professional business presentation coach who can help you fine-tune your delivery, choose the right visuals, and make sure that your overall message is clear and concise.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Presentation Tips|Five practical tips to engage your audience at conference presentation2. Make your audience a part of the presentation

When your audience feels like they are a part of the presentation it actually increases their attention span and helps to keep them engaged.

One of the most effective ways to do this is to use an audience response system – this is a set of keypads that can be handed out to audience members. The audience can then use these remotes during the presentation to answer questions. You can then show polls in real time, or even keep them interested by grading them at the end of the talk.

You might worry about the cost or the technical challenges in incorporating this sort of system into your talk – but actually, it’s very easy. It is even possible to hire a system for a single presentation – which is ideal if you don’t attend many conferences.

3. Make your talk natural

Any decent advice on giving a conference presentation will tell you to get plenty of practice giving your talk. And of course, it is vital that remember all your key details and statistics, and that the presentation flows nicely. However, over-practicing your talk can present problems too – notably it can leave the talk feeling stiff and over-rehearsed.

Your talk shouldn’t sound like you are reading from a script, it should come across as natural and sound like a human is talking.


4. Avoid jargon wherever possible

One major engagement problem for engagement is the temptation to add jargon. Industry jargon naturally shows off your knowledge of the field and helps to display to your audience that you understand what you are talking about. But it can also be an issue in that you go overboard, and people won’t understand the points you are making.

Overusing industry terms and acronyms can be a problem, especially if they are not quite as commonly understood as you think. It is much better to allow all members of the audience to understand you.

5. Get your slides right

Your slideshow is a massive part of your presentation, so it vital that you get it right. Thankfully there are some simple things that every presenter should be doing to ensure that their slides are as simple and audience friendly as possible.

Firstly, you need to make sure you are only presenting one idea per slide – overcomplicating slides just confuses audiences. Additionally, you should ensure there are not too many words on the screen at any time; the slides are not there to be an exact replication of what you are saying, they are there to emphasise points.