DON’Tย USE YOUR SPEECH TO ALIENATE AUDIENCES WITH INFORMATION
When I was a young financial planner, I had a problem – I was insecure and lacked confidence in my abilities. As a result, I made a HUGE mistake – I focused on learning every possible fact about financial products, and ignored my relationship building skills.
When I met with prospective clients, I did what is commonly referred to as a โdata dump.โ Iโd 
share everything I knew about our planning process, our products, and my background. These exciting talks typically lasted 2 to 3 hours.
I cringe as I write this just thinking about the pain I inflicted onย those poor people.
The worst part of this story is that when very few people would hire me, I wondered โwhy?โ
Clearly, I was clueless.ย I couldnโt see how my information-laden presentations were overwhelming people. They were drowning in data, and worse, I couldnโt see it.
Fortunately, I eventually discovered the error of my ways through professional speakers and speech coaches. They taught me several key ideas in how to present ideas in my speechย without chasing away prospective clients.
One of the most impactful concepts came from Patricia Fripp. She taught me the idea of โLevels of Abstraction.โ This is a very useful tool at the beginning of your presentation.
The essence of this is to match the level of your information with the learning style of your audience. Different personalities learn in different ways. Itโs incumbent on us – the- to understand this, and adjust our presentations accordingly.
For instance, itโs no secret that analytical thinkers typically crave data.ย โI need information, information, and then, when youโre done, how about a side of more information?โ could be their mantra.
Bottom-line, Type-A personalities are just the opposite. โGive me the big picture, and spare the details!โย They usually like a quick overview of the problem, and a synopsis of your solution.
Social people tend to be in between these two personality types, and are driven more by feelings. Itโs not unusual for them to say things like, โI want to feel good when I hear someone speak.โ
You might be thinking, โWhat if Iโm talking to a room full of people and not sure what their learning styles are?โย
Great question. Iโm glad you asked.
I learned the solution to this problem years ago from a speaker named Dr. Roko Paskov. He taught a top-down approach to speaking with audiences of different personalities.
His advice:
- Start with your overriding idea. This will appeal to the Type-A personalities. You can introduce your idea, such as, โIn the next 45-minutes, youโll walk away with 5 tools that you can immediately use to craft a speech that grabs attention, keeps interest, and compels people to act on your recommendations.
ย ย This sentence introduces the amount of time, number of points and the benefit that they will receive.
- You then introduce the emotional aspect. โThese proven, repeatable processes will give you the ability to develop presentations that make you better known in your industry, open up new opportunities to attract more clients, shorten your sales cycle, make more money, and enjoy the selling process more.โ
ย ย This sentence provides the emotional benefits to your talk.
- Now itโs time for the details.ย โYouโll learn how to create compelling characters. Youโll pick up ideas to create interesting circumstances with increasing conflict that captures audience attention. Youโll see how to create a cure scene which introduces your solution to the audienceโs problem. Youโll then pick up the keys to showing the change in your characters, which is ultimately the benefit the people before you want. Finally, youโll learn how to craft your walkaway message so that people easily remember your main point and become more inclined to take action.
Thatโs the quick way to craft an introduction to a talk that will touch most of the personality types in the audience.
Use this method, and you can avoid the โdata-dump syndrome’ and greatly increase your odds of grabbing the attention of most audience members when you begin your presentation.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OF THE WEEK
โGo Ahead and Laugh: A Serious Guide to Speaking With Humorโ
What is the right type of humor to include in your speeches?
How do you include funny material without taking away from your message?
What if youโre not a naturally funny person, how do you make people laugh in a speech?
In โGo Ahead and Laugh, A Serious Guide to Speaking with Humor,โ presentation expert Rich Hopkins breaks down 11 speeches and helps you understand how to uncover the humor that exists in your stories. After reading this one-of-a-kind book, you will knowโฆ
– The difference between humor and jokes [there is a HUGE difference]
– How to use your stories to make audiences laugh
– Techniques to deliver your funniest material with maximum effect
– Using humorous self-deprecation to increase your likability
โฆand much more!
Once youโve learned how to create more laughter within your speeches, youโll find that, not only will your speeches improve, you will become a much more in-demand presenter.ย
To order, visit:ย https://speakingcpr.com/go-ahead-and-laugh/
Michaelโs mission is to help leaders, managers and sales professionals communicate with more confidence, impact, and influence. This passion is born from his own communication difficulties early in his career.
Fortunately, he discovered that public speaking is like riding a bike, swimming or driving a car - itโs a learnable skill. Once he discovered this โsecretโ he became a voracious student of the craft. He took courses, studied some of the worldโs best speakers and storytellers and continues to study presentation and business storytelling skills.
He is hired by companies and organizations, leaders, managers and sales professionals, and TEDx speakers to help them become more confident, impactful and influential communicators.
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