May 2005 -- This column, the second in a series of responses to a question posed last time, addresses the mechanics of making a public presentation.
Question: I am aware that you and your business partner, Jim Loehr, have made professional presentations for many years throughout the world. As a person who wants to improve his speaking skills and present at conventions like our USPTA World Conference, what tips do you have?
Answer: There are some basic principles to employ in becoming a good presenter. The first and most important, surprisingly enough, is your physical presence and posture. You should make a presentation with your whole body. Your posture, eye contact, use of your hands, your walk on stage, your facial expressions, and even your clothes will set the stage for audience reaction. Your posture should be upright and your walk should be that of a confident (not cocky) fighter. You don’t want to strut but you do want to have your head up, shoulders level and arms loosely held at the side.
Using your hands can be an asset or a problem. When you gesture in a big way, it exhibits a large amount of confidence, but it can also display cockiness. So, use your hands to speak and to emphasize points but be careful not to overdo it. In fact, it has been shown that when you show your palms, it exhibits openness to the audience.
Be sure you know how to anchor yourself on the stage. Sometimes, people just move and move and move, almost looking like a moving target at a shooting gallery. Stop occasionally and make specific points with your positioning. And smile! There is power in a smile. Don’t go over the top but let your audience know you are approachable and that you have passion for your topic.
Maintain great eye contact with your audience. Don’t just look at them but tune into them, each person. One of the biggest fallacies in the world is for nervous speakers to pretend that everyone in their audience is sitting there in their underwear. That’s ridiculous. Just learn to tune into people, show them that you care and they will listen to you and your message.
Emotions run the performance light show! You want to exhibit a sense of positive spirit, energy and joy about yourself, yet with focus. Show your passion and emotionally connect with your audience. Be professional, yet personable. People with charisma tend to seem very much self-assured. They come across as confident but not arrogant. Similarly, show your audience that you are like them.
This brings us to your voice. Be sure to project. Don’t yell but project. Your voice fluctuations and projection will say a lot to create emphasis in your presentation. Likewise, varying your voice tones and the pace of presentation will powerfully help you connect with your audience. And, now comes one of the hardest and most uncomfortable things for a speaker to do – PAUSE. The power of the pause is critical to being a great speaker. You must let your audience enjoy the moment. Some of the greatest audience responses come DURING a pause. So, don’t rattle off words like a machine gun. Slow down, vary your voice and use the pause whenever possible.
If you decide to tell stories in your presentation, be precise and get to the point. Don’t elaborate. A story should highlight a point, not be the sole purpose of why you are there. And, that brings us to how you use humor. Humor can be utopia for you or it can be a disaster. The ideal way to use humor (unless you are a trained professional) is to get the audience to laugh at themselves. Or, poke a little fun at yourself. As volatile as the 2004 presidential race sometimes got, there was one such moment of self-humor. After hearing that Arnold Schwarzenegger was recruiting people to help his campaign, President Bush said, “He and I have many things in common. We both married up, we both struggle with the English language and we both have huge biceps.” Bush paused momentarily and then said, “Well, two out of three isn’t bad.” The audience roared. The pause played a huge role. Can you hear the audience saying, “Where is he going with this?” This is safe humor and your audience will love you.
Be sure to involve your audience in your presentation. An interactive program is extremely powerful. Make them feel comfortable and “invite” them to participate with you. This means you must develop rapport or a connection. You want them to feel, “This is a person who is sincere.” It will improve your ability to bond with your audience. In my next column, I will discuss how to best get audience interaction and create a tremendous connection with them.
Send questions to jgroppel@LGEPerformance.com.
