By Barbara Busey
A basic truism of public speaking is this: It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Sadly, the most interesting and important information in the world will be lost on a public speaking audience if it's delivered in a deadly dull, boring, apathetic manner. But an interesting speaker, one who is engaging and compelling and mesmerizing, makes audiences hang on his or her every word. This is a speaker's single most important objective to strive for - to convey a sense of energy and passion around his or her subject.
Dynamism is crucial for a speaker -- you must project energy and enthusiasm in front of an audience. But you're just not demonstrative by nature, you say? I hear that lament a lot in my training business. Many participants feel uncomfortable -- unnatural -- when they have to turn on extra energy. My challenge is, first, to show them that just because it feels unnatural doesn't mean it looks that way, and second, to help them see that dynamism is the key to being a compelling speaker, one whom audiences want to listen to.
I have a favorite exercise I love to do in my classes. It involves my class participants telling a story. The rules are simple: they can forget everything they learned about organization -- in fact, the story doesn't even have to make sense; and they can forget all the delivery tips -- no need to worry about posture, eye communication, home bases, etc. There's only one requirement. They must push their energy level way outside their comfort zone: big gestures, exaggerated vocals. In other words, they must feel like an idiot.
The results of this exercise are amazing. Everyone agrees afterwards that they felt ridiculous. But when we watch the video playback together, everyone agrees that no one looks ridiculous. In fact, it was evident that the energy made the story more fun, more humorous, more engaging.
It doesn't matter whether you think it's in your nature or not. If you want to be engaging, interesting, and hold your audience's attention, you've got to push your energy beyond your everyday level. Dale Carnegie, who wrote the book - literally - on public speaking, said it almost 50 years ago: "In order (for a speaker) to appear natural, he has to use much more energy in talking to forty people than he does in talking to one, just as a statue on top of a building has to be of heroic size in order to make it appear of lifelike proportions to an observer on the ground."
I call it "the goldfish bowl syndrome." Picture a goldfish swimming around and around in its bowl. While he's exerting his normal energy level for his little world, you probably wouldn't find it very interesting to watch him for long, would you? Think about what that fish would have to do to keep your attention. Bug his eyes out? Blow bubbles? Do back flips out of the water? You would undoubtedly find these activities more engaging. Yet that poor fish would definitely be outside his comfort zone.
When you're speaking before a public speaking audience, you're like that fish in the bowl with the audience looking in. If you exert your normal energy level, you'll be about as exciting as the goldfish. You've got to get outside your comfort zone physically if you want to keep your audience's attention and interest.
You project energy through expressive vocals and purposeful gestures and movement. Vary those vocals. Stride across the front of the room. Use big, descriptive gestures. This is the secret to standing out when you stand up. And there's a bonus. The more energy you use, the less nervous you'll be. Nervous energy is really the "fight or flight" chemical adrenaline. It needs to be released, otherwise it's just going to wreak havoc on your body. Projecting all that energy will free you from the grip of anxiety. And imbue you with credibility.
For more information on how to spell bind a presentation and public speaking audience please got to http://www.artofgreatspeaking.com
Barbara Busey, president of the training firm Presentation Dynamics, has been a professional speaker, trainer and author since 1990. She does training and speaking on the "dynamics" of how people "present" themselves, is the author of the book, "Stand Out When You Stand Up," and is the creator of The Compelling Speaker, a unique presentation skills training program that combines advance audio CD instruction with a hands-on, ultra participative workshop. She now offers the Compelling Speaker Certification, a turnkey system -- complete with training content & technique, business strategies, and marketing guidelines -- that positions communicators to make a living training other business professionals to become more compelling speakers. Go to Compelling Speaker Certification to see her video, listen to her audio, and learn when the next Certification training is.
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