We often feel being “professional” requires being sterile—keeping emotion and passion out of our work and out of our talks. Yet heartfelt stories of personal tragedy, drama, discovery, loss, and triumph are universal experiences that help build rapport with audiences.

Audiences feed off enthusiasm, passion, desire, and confidence. Share these with your audience; allow your audience to feel the exuberance you have for your work. Share with them the struggles and accomplishments that have brought you to where you are today.

A good story from the heart can result in the entire audience being silent and rapt with attention. Audiences love stories—more so when they include human drama. All ears will be on you and there will be few, if any, side conversations or other distracting behaviors.

You have a reason for doing the work you do. You chose to be here. Use this reason to help get your point across. If you have a compelling story of why you do what you do, share it.

This is the meaning behind your work; it is what brought you here. This story will be a stronger motivator than mere product information. When you tell personal stories, your audience will want to listen. They will lean forward, and the room will fill with silence—a complete silence that allows each of your words to land strongly in the ears of your listener. Your audience will feel you are real and will want to support you or your business.

If you have a heartfelt true story, tell it. If you are excited about your topic, show it. If you have a belief, share it. Make yourself vulnerable. Tell your audience who you really are; they will admire and respect you for it.

Fill your talks with passion and emotion. Use your stories to captivate your audience and help them understand why you do what you do. They will then be more likely to listen to you and to follow your suggestions.

This speaking tip is one is a series provided by iSpeakEASY. Visit www.iSpeakEASY.net for more tips and articles. Contact Ethan Rotman directly at 415-342-7106.

Imagine this scenario: You have agreed to make a presentation at a staff meeting. You take time to outline your talk, prepare your handouts, and create effective visual aids. You practice. You confidently walk into the room wearing jeans and a button-down expecting to see a table with six to eight people. As you enter the room, though, you find there are close to 80 people sitting in an auditorium. They are dressed in business attire. There is a lectern on the podium with a microphone and a large screen behind. The paradigm of your presentation changed suddenly. It requires different preparations, more handouts, and an entirely different presentation strategy. In an instant, you go from feeling confident and prepared to feeling scared.

Your mind flashes back to when you were invited to speak. You wonder what you were told, what you heard, and suddenly wish you had asked a lot more questions.

The very first part of preparing for a presentation is to define the parameters. Think about how the situation described above could have been different if the following questions were asked:

• How many people will I be
  addressing?
• How will the room be set up?
• Who will be in the audience and what is their background?
• What do you hope to accomplish by having me present to your group?
• Is the audience a group of strangers or do they know each other?
• What other speakers are on the agenda and when will I speak in relation to them?
• What type of audio-visual equipment and software do you have?
• Will there be technical assistance available?
• What is the appropriate dress for this occasion?

Some additional questions that may be of help include: Will alcohol be served? (This is to gauge the audience, not for you to drink!) and What is an emergency number I can call the day of the talk in case I have a problem?

Don’t assume you understand the parameters of a presentation. Make sure you ask the right questions. Find out as much about the situation as possible before you begin preparing. The more you know about what to expect, the better prepared you will be. Your confidence and credibility will soar.

This speaking tip is one is a series provided by iSpeakEASY. Visit www.iSpeakEASY.net for more tips and articles. Contact Ethan Rotman directly at 415-342-7106.

Simplicity and repetition are effective tools for helping your audience understand your point.

An example of this is a series of campaign ads that recently ran on the radio in California. The beauty and effectiveness of these ads is in how they were structured. The candidate was able to take something as complex as the economic crisis in California and boil it down to three simple issues. For each issue she offered one solution.

The rule of three. We can all remember three. Almost everything she said was in sets of three—the problems, the solutions, even her experience. Listen to her ads and count.

Regardless of your political views, the ads were brilliant. Meg Whitman, a candidate for governor of California, took a complicated issue with complicated solutions and made them understandable and memorable. Listen to her ads and you will know her political platform. Chances are you will remember it as well. After all, we can all remember three.

What is it that Meg Whitman knows? That psychologists and learning specialists long ago figured out there is a limit to how much new information people can take in at one time. She knows that complex issues must be marketed in simple terms. She knows that her audience does not want (or need) to know all the details—they just want to know what it means. While her ads are simple, they are very effective.

We often are lured into saying far more about our topic than our audience both cares to know and has the ability to remember. The more we give our audiences, the less they remember. The less we give them, the more they remember.

What is the one point you want your audience to remember and how can you use three simple concepts to make that point?

• The war was caused by greed, religious views, and imperialism.
• The mountain was created by pressure, heat, and time.
• The product is superior because of the technology, simplicity of use, and customer support.
• These tips are effective because they are short, to the point, and easy to understand.

When you speak, divide your topic into three facts, and talk about those. Just three—the rest are overkill and probably irrelevant. If Meg Whitman can simplify the problems of the most populated state in the United States into three issues, it’s possible for you to present your ideas with three facts as well.

This speaking tip is one is a series provided by iSpeakEASY. Visit www.ethanrotman.wordpress.com for more tips and articles or contact Ethan Rotman directly at 415-342-7106.

Imagine trying to read a book while driving. Every time you look from the road to the page, you can’t find your place. Your eyes dart back and forth while the car swerves from left to right. It is a rather frightening thought!

This is what many speakers experience as they try to read detailed notes while making a presentation. Their eyes flit from sheets of paper to the audience. They stumble because they look at the audience, lose their place on the paper, and forget what to say. They cannot find their place on the notes. The talk veers and the speaker feels (and looks) nervous and not credible. It does not need to be this way.

You can avoid this by creating proper notes and taking time to practice your talk. You will find it easier to stay on track and your credibility will increase.

Effective notes should be on a single card or sheet of paper and written in a clear outline (or bullet) form. Think of your notes as a guidepost rather than a recipe: They keep you on track, but are not followed verbatim. Your notes are a prompt to indicate what your next topic is.

Title of talk

Opening line written out

Intro

• Story to set stage
• Overview of talk
• Ground rules

Body

• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

Conclusion

• Overview of talk
• What I want them to do
• Closing line written out

Practice your talk repeatedly to decrease your dependency on the notes. Begin practicing with detailed notes and reduce these down as you become more familiar with your talk. Your presentation will flow easier and will be more enjoyable to your audience.

Well-written notes and a practiced presentation will help you feel more confident during your talk, increase your credibility, and help you deliver a polished presentation.

This speaking tip is one in a series provided by ISpeakEasy. Contact Ethan Rotman at 415-342-7106 or ethan@iSpeakEASY.net.

Your audience is six times more likely to remember what you are saying when your information is presented in conjunction with a visual aid.

While your words are the cornerstone of your presentation, well-chosen and well-designed visual aids help make your point. Remember that a visual aid is just a helper and not the whole enchilada. Develop a strong oral presentation that uses a visual aid to add punch to the message. Avoid developing a visual aid that requires you to build a presentation around it.

Have a clear idea of the intended purpose. Before you put something in front of your audience, ask yourself, “When the image is gone, what do I want to the audience to remember?” Knowing the goal allows you to determine what type of visual aid to use and what the essential elements of that image will be.

Choose the best type of visual aid for your purpose and circumstance. Real-life props, flip charts, PowerPoint, photos, and graphs are all types of visual aids. The right one depends on the situation and what you are trying to accomplish. At times just writing words or numbers on a flip chart will get you the desired effect. Real-life objects (something that can be touched, felt, tasted, or smelled) are generally the most effective if your situation allows. Many people are lured into the attractiveness of PowerPoint, but as sexy, powerful, and effective as PowerPoint can be, most speakers tend to use it poorly, thus hurting their cause.

The potential of visual aids is great, yet we often ignore this tool with small groups such as at staff meetings. The purpose of your talk is to make a point, so anything you can do to help your boss, coworker, or potential client understand your point is good!

Take a moment to think about a presentation you are about to make either to a group or to a single person. Can you think of a way that a picture, chart, or real life object will help your listener better understand your point? Taking a few extra minutes up front to create this aid may save you time explaining and help you to be a more effective presenter.

Ethan Rotman will present a preworkshop at this year’s NAI National Workshop. Contact him at 415-342-7106 or ethan@iSpeakEASY.net.