(Photo by MITCHELL)

In your quest to share information with your audience, how much should you share with them? Is it better to overwhelm them with stories and facts or just dole out a few tidbits?

If you provide not enough, then people won’t be convinced. The skeptics in the audience will want proof of what you’re trying to tell them. Your words alone won’t suffice, and the result is likely to be a “thin” talk.

If you provide too much information, you’re likely to lose the audience. They’ll be spending so much time trying to remember or record all the details, that they’ll be focused on what you just said, rather than what you’re saying now. And at some point, their concentration will waver, and they’ll be lost. They’ll have to decide whether it’s hopeless to try to keep up with you, or if the sheer volume of information somehow is covering up some lack of confidence (quantity of data, rather than quality of data).

So, what’s just right? It depends upon your audience. If you’re talking to people who need to see the data (scientists, for example), then the proof’s more in your data than your words. You need to convince them beyond the shadow of a doubt of your point. Otherwise, you want to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. You need to pace the stories and facts so that they “get it”, and then tease them with what’s coming. And then you “wow” them with another, giving a sufficient pause for them to digest the last story.

If you’re unsure if your pacing is right, have a friend or colleague sit in the audience and have them watch your audience. When do they start fidgeting or pulling out their cell phones? Keeping connected with the audience is a beautiful dance. Make sure that when you’re leading crowd, that they’re following. Otherwise, no one wins.

(Photo by JUCCE)

Imagine you’re about to take the stage to give your short talk and you’re not (yet) a household name. Should you have someone else introduce you onstage or should you introduce yourself?

The “safe” way is to have the moderator or a friend introduce you, perhaps using a short biography you’ve written to help guide them. It’s safe because the audience already knows the person introducing you, and therefore presumably trusts them. The person introducing you can also lavish praise on you that would look egotistical if you did it yourself. But this introduction comes with serious costs: you’re not in control of the content, the delivery, nor the tone. And more importantly – it robs you of the opportunity to make your own first impression. Someone else has defined who you are and the content of your speech. In a way, they’ve stolen some of your “thunder” by sharing the limelight with you for these first critical minutes.

The “usual” way to introduce yourself is to recite the litany of your achievements. The idea is once people see your expert credentials, they’ll trust what you say to be backed by experience (and not simply opinion). This is also safe, because it’s what people expect. But this usual way also has major flaw: you’ve robbed yourself of the opportunity to make a dynamic first impression. You’ve taken the first minutes talking about you and not about what the audience is there to hear – something about them.

The Speak With Passion way is to start with a story that frames you. Let’s say you’re an expert on a radical new way to manufacture widgets. People have been building the widgets the same way for decades. It’s tried and true. In fact, it’s the industry standard and seen as a best practice by all the experts in the field. But you discovered something that wasn’t obvious at first glance, and spent the last five years re-inventing the process. You have some modest success, but all the leaders in the field see what you’re doing as either stupid or reckless. They don’t see what you see. So instead of introducing yourself with credentials, tell your audience about your “Aha!” moment five years ago:

“I’m a true believer in best practices, but I know one of ours is flat-out wrong. I need to share my insights with you because otherwise we’re soon all going to be dinosaurs. You see, five years ago I knew, like you know, how to build great widgets. I studied with the best and even won some notoriety. Business was good, but something bugged me about the process. I didn’t want to believe that I saw a mistake – because who am I to contradict the established way? But this is what I discovered…”

This format of self-introduction has some key points:

• You make yourself an “everyman” instead of a “superman”. We’re used to hierarchy – the smarter, more powerful, richer, better looking people are at the top, and generally the rest of us look up to them. Instead of putting yourself on a pedestal, give your audience the opportunity to do so.
• You make the focus your passion and not yourself. By focusing on what you’re interested in, your audience will naturally feel your passion and be excited by it. Remember that the audience doesn’t really care about you – they care about themselves. Take care of that need early on.
• You share your epiphany as a personal story. You could tell people what they need to do differently, but that lecture format can come across as dry and boring. By sharing a story, you give your audience the gift of seeing the world through your eyes. They may reject your “aha”, but they won’t reject you as a person. Your personal story is also more memorable than facts or processes.

Instead of trying to sell people from the stage, share yourself with the audience in a way that they care about. The end result is something that benefits everyone.

(Photo by Scott)

If you’ve been giving the same one or two speeches for awhile, how can you reboot your old presentation into something more passionate? It starts with 2 questions.

1. Why are you talking about this topic? What’s the goal of giving this speech? What are you trying to achieve? Who specifically do you want to hear your thoughts? What action do you want them to take after hearing you talk? What’s the benefit to them for taking this action?
   
2. What personally got you interested in this topic? You could be giving presentations on a number of topics, but somehow you’ve locked into this topic. What sparked your interest? Who first influenced you? What was your life prior to understanding this topic? What was your life afterwards? Who did you share this passion with? What did they think?

Question #2 will help provide you with some stories that your audience will be able to relate to. Remember, they don’t have the knowledge/experience you do, so you need to show them through your senses your “awakening”. The right story will help them see the before/during/after experience and give them a concrete story to remember.

Question #1 will help you tailor your message to your speaking goals. Knowing what you want to impart will help you select the right stories, the right words, and the right imagery. If you want the listener to actively do something, tell them exactly what you want them to do (and why). If this is a speech about learning, ensure you have a succinct summary to make it easy for people to remember and retell the gist of your speech.

No doubt rebooting your old/safe presentation won’t be easy and may feel awkward to you. Be patient. It’s worth it.

(Photo by Leah Jones)

Now that you’ve clearly identified the goals of your talk (3 questions) and clearly articulated your audience’s “message”, how do you start writing your speech? Since your audience is only likely to remember the beginning and end of a speech in detail, focus 75% of your efforts on the opening/closing of your talk.

The opening will set the expectation for the audience, so don’t waste your opening time thanking people, cracking a joke, or even a brief self-introduction. Hook your audience with an exciting story that they can relate to, that they can envision themselves experiencing first hand. Once people are captivated, then take them on a journey with you (and let them know where you’re heading with your presentation, so they don’t have to guess).

The middle of the speech should continue the opening’s promise of tone/direction. Support your speech with appropriate simple graphics. Slides of images or single words. These images should reinforce your message and give an opportunity to make your abstract words into something visually concrete.

The end of the speech should arrive gently. You want your audience to feel that the “end is near” and that they need to pay attention to your summary/conclusion. It’s disheartening to see a speech end (what feels like) suddenly and the audience scrambling to ask each other for what the speaker just said. Recap the journey you took and remind them of some of the highlights. If you can, provide a final image to lock your presentation around.

Remember that’s it’s better to leave your audience asking for more. Share your best stories. Your best images. Your humanity. Your passion.