How To Master Public Speaking

I just received the ultimate compliment. I presented to a group of about one hundred leaders of Mid-cap companies, and one of the attendees came up to me after my speech and asked me if I was a professional actor. It is a compliment I get with some regularity now. When you speak, you want to hear the same.

Ever since I started running my own companies at age 24, I have been speaking in public. I have presented to groups as small as two and occasionally to groups in the thousands. Upon reflection, I now know that for almost all those years I had simply presented, but never once performed. The best speakers are performers.

I realized this by paying acute attention to modern day masters, like Anthony Robbins and Bob Proctor. I also watched recordings of the world’s most powerful speakers, like Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill, and read biographies of the greatest presidential speeches such as the ones delivered by Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. What made them great were not only the words they used. It was their delivery. It was their performance.

There is a common thread that made them great, and I am trying to become proficient at it. To enhance your progress as a successful business leader, you need to also put effort into mastering public speaking – scratch that – your public performance. There is no stuttering question about it. Here are the differences that take you from a presentation to a performance:

 

Acting

You will gain more knowledge by taking a one day acting class then you will by taking a five week speaking course. When you are in front of a group your are identical to an actor on a stage. Know that you are there to put on a performance. I started with a 101 improv class, and am moving onto specific skills (like emulating accents).

 

Project Your Voice

The person sitting farthest from you must hear your words clearly. If she hears you, so does every body else. This is all about voice projection, not yelling. If actors can project a whisper to the back of a theater, you can do the same.

 

Pause

Take time to pause and let the audience absorb what you are saying. Pauses allow for emphasis and make HUGE impact. Could you imagine how weak Churchill’s famous line would have been if he rushed through “never, never, never give in.” But he didn’t and the impact was earth shattering because he paused when he spoke, “Never. . . Never. . . NEVER. . . give in.”

 

Peak & Valley

Amplify or quiet certain words for emphasis and to maintain an interesting and appealing flow. Monotone voices just don’t cut it.

 

Tell Stories

This may be the most important performance skill of all. Facts are important, but tons of facts are boring. We all love stories. Tell ones that are relevant, eye opening and stick with the listener.

 

Ditch PowerPoint

Watch the best speakers in action… they don’t use PowerPoint. Can you imagine Martin Luther King pointing to slides during his I Have A Dream speech? Instead, great speakers paint pictures in the listeners mind with their stories; you need to do the same.

 

Video Tape Yourself

Some of us (ahem, I mean I) have some really nasty habits when we are up on the stage. The video tape doesn’t lie. Record yourself and watch it. It can be a huge eye opener. I video tape every new speech I do, watch it, tweak it and record it again.

 

Speaking to a group is significantly different than speaking with just one other person. You must go in with the expectation of delivering a performance and not a presentation. And for God’s sake, get rid of PowerPoint. Martin Luther is rolling over in his grave.


Comments

6 thoughts on “How To Master Public Speaking”

  1. I found acting to be very good training!
    Though I haven’t taken many formal acting classes, I’ve performed regularly with a student theater company back in college. After being on stage so many times, I simply don’t get that nervous anymore when I am doing public speaking. It also really helps you learn the timing and pacing. You get a feel of what the audience will and will not respond to.

  2. “Can you imagine Martin Luther King pointing to slides…” Now THAT is a
    painting a picture. That would be the “I HAD a Dream Speech”. Good
    stuff Mike.

  3. “Can you imagine Martin Luther King pointing to slides…” Now THAT is
    painting a picture. That would be the “I HAD a Dream Speech”. Good
    stuff Mike.

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