The World is Changing — What About Public Speaking?
We live in a world of change. When most people think about change, they think about the past. The truth is, change is all around us today; more than ever.
Has public speaking and business presenting changed much over the over the years?
What do you see today?
We now have:
The internet
Wi- Fi
MRI
DNA testing
Non-invasive surgery
GPS
Wind turbines
Bio fuels
Facebook…
That’s just scratching the surface of advances in technology. We all know that life is much more than technology. It doesn’t matter what aspect of life, society or the world you choose to look at, the last few decades has seen incredible change.
What about public speaking and business presenting?
Given that just about everything seems to have changed I often ask the question, ‘What exactly has changed in the world of public speaking and business presenting?
My experience is, not a great deal.
Professionals all over the world are still presenting exactly the same as they were decades ago, with or without PowerPoint.
In business presentations all over the world, many audiences continue stifling yawns whilst discreetly checking their email on their mobile phones.
Why?
Bullet point after bullet point, slides fraught with text you can barely read, graphs, charts, tables and a torrent of data designed to impress. These are just a few of the many issues which havent changed for many years. Far too many presenters continue to insist on dumping information on their audience which they could have conveyed far less painfully in an email. Oblivious to the distress presenters are inflicting on fellow human beings, their appetite to demonstrate how much they know and how hard they work still seems to be relentless.
Interestingly, when you ask those same presenters how they feel when they are on the receiving end of information and data abuse, their frustration is obvious. When you ask the same professionals why it is they do the same thing to their audience, they often answer saying:
‘I don’t know’
‘Everyone does it’
‘I have to, my audience want and need the information’
The problem
We live in the digital information age where people are bombarded with data and information each day and much of it is impersonal and disconnected. Many of us are already so overwhelmed with statistics, ideas, messages and advice that we have little time to think.
When we are listening to another human being present, the one thing we need more than anything else is to feel connected to them and to their idea. It’s the emotional connection which helps us to understand and act on the information shared.
There is a great deal that still needs to change.
Change
As presenters we need to take ourselves off of ‘auto-pilot’, slow down, calm down and breathe. As we do so, we can then begin to craft our presentation with the end in mind.
Our starting point should always be understanding our intention. In other words, why are we really giving the presentation and how do we want our audience to feel about our message and the information we are planning to share.
If you set out with the pure intention of really connecting with your audience then you will find a way to do so which respects them and puts them first. There are only three things you need to do to stand out from the crowd and give your audience something they don’t see every day.
1. Make it personal
– Speak to them as though you are sitting across the dinner table from them, make eye contact and don’t forget to smile.
– Make sure that everything you say is personal and relevant to them.
– Consider how you would answer if one of your audience interrupted by asking ‘ So what, why should I care about that?’
– Give them something they don’t already know or can’t easily Google for themselves.
– Don’t pad it out or try to impress them, get straight to the point.
– Make a point of asking your audience how much they already know about your topic before they arrive to listen to you. While you ask them that question make the effort find out what they would like to know and how you could help them.
2. Do the unexpected
– Try standing up instead of sitting down
– Open with a bang and ditch the usual niceties
– Don’t stand still, move. Movement is energy and visual stimulation so use your space
– Smile, breathe and pause
– Spend a great deal of time preparing and practicing
– Slow down
3. Make them feel something
– Don’t just dump data and facts on them. Bring the data to life and make sure that every piece of information matters
– Use humour, compassion and empathy; they maybe your audience but they are also someone’s, husband, wife, brother, sister, son or daughter too
– Give them a new perspective, show them a new way, ask them questions.
– Tell them stories, after all that’s how we are all hardwired to listen, learn and connect.
– Find common ground by putting yourself in their shoes and make sure they know you understand them.
– If you have to use slides then ditch the templates and think like a designer
The world has changed and continues to change at an extremely rapid rate and we owe it to our audience to change the way we present our ideas to them. At Mindful Presenter we believe that ‘connecting is everything’ and connecting emotionally as well as intellectually with our audience is the one thing that still has to change today.
‘Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.’ George Bernard Shaw
If you need help presenting in this world of change:
– Book yourself onto a powerful public speaking course.
– Invest in some really good one to one public speaking coaching.
– Get yourself some excellent presentation training
I really hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please feel free to share it through your preferred social media channels below and subscribe to our mailing list so you won’t miss any future posts.
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
