1. Do Your Audience Research
The first step in creating and delivering a compelling presentation is knowing your audience. Before you craft your speaking points, research your audience’s motivators, likes and dislikes. Know their fears and biases. Understand their demographics and level of knowledge. By appealing to your audience’s drivers, you ensure that your speech is targeted, that you resonate and that you are memorable. – Loren Margolis, Training & Leadership Success LLC
2. Master The Skill Of Relaxation
Relax. Practice relaxation as a skill, just like you practice anything else you do. Do a mindful body relaxation practice every day. A relaxed speaker communicates authenticity. Tension in your body is felt by the audience, whether they know it or not. Usually this tension comes along with the thought “they’re not going to like me.” By mastering relaxation, the tension (and thought) dissolves. – David Butlein, Ph.D., BLUECASE Strategic Partners
3. Speak With Your Hands
Use your hands to tell the story, too. Make sure your gestures support your message: Too often I see the body language sending a different message than the presenter’s mouth. We will believe the nonverbal communication before the verbal. – Sharon Sayler, Competitive Edge Communications
4. Celebrate Others
Most audiences are pulling for the speaker, so give them something to admire. But begin by recognizing the value, talent and strengths of other people. Share motivational stories of hope and inspiration. Don’t make yourself the hero. Nothing turns people against us faster than telling them how great we are. Get to the point, smile, finish on time, and they will like and invite you back. – Hayward Suggs, Commonquest Consulting
5. Provide A Signature Story, A Catchy Acronym And A Memorable Phrase
Anytime you can deliver massive value concisely and memorably to your audience — any audience — you will be sought as a speaker on any platform. Always have ready a story about yourself that resonates, an acronym that sticks in the mind and a phrase that’s easily made viral through repetition. You will always be sought out for these three elements in your speaking engagements. – Yuri Kruman, Master The Talk Consulting
6. Get Vulnerable
Share a personal story and show that you are human and imperfect. It will resonate with your audience and help them connect with you. Everyone has screwed up or done something embarrassing at some point in their lives. Sharing one of yours will draw your audience in. People want to see “real.” Being authentic allows others to be authentic too. It’s captivating. – Frances McIntosh, Intentional Coaching LLC
7. Speak From Your Heart, And Not Your Head
A speaking mentor gave me advice years ago that transformed me as a speaker: “In order to reach your audience’s heart, you must first speak from your own!” This advice moved me to stop memorizing my speeches word for word. Create an outline. Master thoughts, not words. This frees a speaker to be more natural, and hence more likable, to make a meaningful connection with their audience. – Eddie Turner, Eddie Turner LLC
8. Focus On What Is At Stake For Them, Not You
A great talk will impact its audience. Do you want your audience to learn something? Do something? Be something? Imagine that those people might never get that learning or change unless you make it happen for them during this talk. They will like you better for your fierce commitment to them. – Maureen Cunningham, Up Until Now Inc.
9. Incorporate Questions From Previous Audiences
Give your speech everywhere and as often as possible. When something funny happens, write it down and incorporate it into your next speech. Or when someone asks a great question, incorporate your answer into your next speech. My best material is from an earlier audience. – Sandi Leyva, Sandra L Leyva Inc.
10. Inspire Curiosity In Your Audience
Fuel your talk with curiosity, as it’s your most powerful engine of engagement. Plan your opening to grab people’s attention from the first moment with a surprising statement, unexpected data, an intriguing question, a short story that ignites curiosity or a gripping image that reveals something surprising. Curiosity makes people more inquisitive and open to new experiences. – Maria Pastore, mariapastorecoaching
11. Inspire A Takeaway
Give your audience space to self-reflect, and better yet, chat with others in the room about the topic you are addressing and what they are learning in that moment. It is not enough to speak at them: Let them speak to each other and with you so that they see that you are the facilitator of their growth. Inspire a takeaway and a personalized action item. – Meghan Godorov, Meghan Godorov Consulting, LLC
12. Engage With Your Audience Afterwards
Connecting from the stage is great, as you should, but don’t underestimate the power of meeting and greeting some of your audience members one-on-one. It shows the meeting planner that you want to do more than collect your check, and it shows the audience that they are important to you. There is no substitute for personal interaction. Whenever possible, be accessible, engaging and personable. – Tamiko Cuellar, Pursue Your Purpose LLC
13. Remember: Your Audience Wants You To Succeed
Your audience wants nothing more than you being you. They’re on your side. They desperately want you to succeed. So, allow their belief in you, their desire for you to be the best you can be, to bolster your confidence. Trust your audience. And remember this also, for one person in your audience, your message, in your voice, your unique expression is exactly what they need at that moment in time. – Debra Russell, Debra Russell Coaching, LLC