ALWAYS MAKE YOUR PERFORMANCE BIGGER THAN YOUR APPLAUSE!
Remembering the five key concepts below will dramatically improve your communication! Awareness and action toward the steps below will set you on the path to being asked to speak again, again, and again!!!
Share your knowledge and passion for your topic effectively!
1. AUDIENCES ARE DYING TO BE ENGAGED: Your job is to engage the listener! If someone in our audience is falling asleep it is OUR fault not theirs. Our job in any communication situation is to get the listener to respond, listen and interact. If you can accomplish this, the rest will follow.
2. ALIGNMENT OF MESSAGE AND MESSENGER: Remember what you say and how you say it must match. People will remember what you DO before they remember what you SAY. The hardest part at first to communicating strategically is aligning DELIVERY with CONTENT. Become aware of and remove any distractions that may cause the listener not to hear you!
3. ASSESS YOUR VISUALS: Enhance your information through the use of visuals. Use ALL forms of visuals ………not just PowerPoint. Physical items make great visuals! Anything that will create a picture for your listeners is fair game.
4. AUTHENTICITY: Be yourself! You are the gift! What you bring to the table no one else can bring. If you don’t share your story, expertise, knowledge, and wisdom, the world will be missing out. Do not try to be someone else in your presentation……the audience will appreciate YOU for being YOU!
5. AVOID “MIND SHARE COMPETITION”: Know what else with which you may be competing! Time of day, temperature of room, work-loads, personal issues, global issues…..all can take away from audience focus. Eliminating as many distractions as you can in advance (time, place, temperature) will help reduce mind-share competition. Knowing your audience and your room details can work wonders!
These 5 steps are just the beginning! Focus on what will create communication success for your audience!
