Become a Better Public Speaker The Easy Way: Increase Your Influence By Making it Easy for Your Audience to Listen, Learn and Act

By Chakisse Newton, President, Cardinal Consulting, LLC

One easy way to become a better presenter and improve your effectiveness as a speaker is to make it easy for your listener to follow your points, understand your arguments and take action. An audience of one or one thousand will be more attentive and appreciative when your presentation is easy to follow. Here are six techniques to make your next presentation easier for your audience:

1. Use a clear structure to foreshadow the content of your speech.

After you give a compelling introduction that grabs the audience’s attention, you can preview what’s ahead. Then proceed to address the points in order. Sample lines include:

• “In the next 15 minutes you will learn five strategies to set yourself apart from the competition: X, Y and Z.”
• “The three keys to success are X, Y and Z.”
• Enumerate your techniques by noting “first”, “second” and “third” points.
  

2. Use smooth transitions to segue from point to point.

Make sure that your listener knows that you are moving to a new point so that they can move with you. Some simple phrases you can use are:

3. Use repetition each time you make your central point.

If there is a central theme for your presentation, repeat it each time you finish an example or before you transition to the next point. This is especially effective if you have a catch-phrase that you want the audience to remember and repeat.

4. Anchor your key points with gestures.

Examine your speech to see if there is a gesture that you can repeat that helps the audience to visualize your point. In a presentation about avoiding simple mistakes, I mention an experience in the Amazon pulling on vines. Then, each time I reference making a mistake, I mime pulling the vine and the audience intuitively understands my point even before I verbally express it.

5. Anchor your key points with staging.

You can use different parts of the stage (if you have one) to represent different points in time or different parts of your story. That way, when you move with purpose, the audience automatically understands “where” you are in your speech.

6. Give a call to action.

Every time you speak to an individual or a group, you have a purpose. End your presentation by asking your listener to do something. Whether you want them to change a behavior, adopt a new point of view or buy your product, don’t end without giving a clear call to action.

 © 2009 Chakisse Newton. All Rights Reserved.