One of the great ways of business-building for a small business is for its owners and executives to do public speaking. When used effectively, talking to groups about what you do and how you can solve their problems can give you credibility, help you get slightly famous and garner new business opportunities. Your speaking time may be short (and shorter is better). What can you get across to an audience if you only have 10 minutes? A natural impulse is to talk faster and say more–to get as many words and ideas into 600 seconds as possible. But the speaker’s message gets diluted when she tries to tell too much. No doubt you have found yourself in a similar situation or you will be in one soon. Here are some things you can do to be sure you make as much of your 10 minutes (or longer) as possible.
1. Have no more than three to five points you want to make, and preferably closer to three. People won’t remember most of what you say. They will come away with one underlying theme, if you’re doing a good job in your presentation. You want to be associated with one important idea that has urgency and a need for follow up (with you, of course).
2. You want to leave people wanting more. Don’t try to tell your audience everything. If you do, why do they need you? Tell them enough to pique their interest and motivate them to action.
3. Before you start talking, wait until you have everyone’s full attention. Take a moment, wait for the chatter to stop and for all eyes to be on you. Let a moment or two pass and then begin. Open with a powerful statement about a significant problem audience members face. Now you have their attention.
4. Avoid PowerPoint. It’s easy to get caught up in the technology of the presentation instead of the material itself. We hide behind PowerPoint. The focus of the audience is on the pretty graphic instead of the speaker. You don’t need it! And if you have handouts, give them out at the end unless it’s important for people to follow along. Anything you do other than speak and make a connection with your audience is a distraction.
5. Rehearse. Unless you are a professional improvisational actor, you should spend some time rehearsing what you are going to say. Use your spouse, your kids, a mirror, your dog (but not your cat–they don’t listen) as an audience. Just say the words and get comfortable with the content.
For more information on public speaking,check out I Can See You Naked. It’s available used on Amazon for a penny! It’s the best book on public speaking I’ve ever found.
April 3, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I’d like to add, as a compliment to the avoid Powerpoint item, that Seth Godin’s suggestions about Powerpoint could be a very complimentary approach to the approach you’ve outlined here. My tech savvy teen was shocked when I told him I was following Godin’s no more than six words rule, but my presentation went extremely well when I used that rule and guess who used it next for a school presentation? And did very well.
Godin’s post is here.
April 3, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Jill, great suggestion. I read Seth’s piece a long time ago and it’s a classic. I guess the message is that to use PPT well, you need to be adhere to some solid rules. Thanks!
April 3, 2008 at 1:58 pm
You bet – and those rules align perfectly with your less is more approach. The first time I used Seth’s advice was for an after-dinner keynote panel and I really wanted to keep the audience awake and interested! The visuals of the PPT that required them to listen in order to understand and think worked perfectly (of course you have to have the right visuals and all my teen kept saying was, what does that row of mail boxes with snow on them MEAN? and I’d say – if you hear my presentation, you will know!).
April 3, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Hi Mitchell – This should probably go without saying but a good presenter MUST take control of the audience.
There is nothing worse than sitting through a presentation by someone who fumbles through and does not display confidence.
May 11, 2008 at 1:28 pm
hello,
first of,i’de like to say that we owe a huge thank-you to the writer of this helpfull piece of information.second,as a public speaker coach,i highly recammand join Toastmasters so as to master this skill and get red of that feeling of fear of being the focus of the crowd.