6 Tips To Becoming A Great Speaker

Last week, I gave me first TEDx talk - pretty unbelievable for a person whose biggest fear in university was still public speaking! I remember during those study years how I used to walk around all night, learning my speeches by heart in panic and still being deadly nervous in front on my 10 peers in class. So what changed? It was my first job after university for the international NGO The Salvation Army where I was asked to facilitate a three day workshop on accountability & governance in Brazil. I had to prepare days of presentations to hold alone and was so nervous that I prepared for weeks! I even started learning Portuguese, so I could understand participant discussions better. My team was very supportive and there with feedback where needed. But my nervousness stemmed from the fact that I had never held a presentation longer than 20min before! The Brazil workshop turned out to be a decent workshop - not the best I ever did - but a good one. I realized I COULD actually do it and learned a ton from the feedback. After that, I became more confident, practiced by facilitating many more workshops and even started giving public speeches at conferences and events, especially once I started my company YESS Impact. I realized the impact your speeches can have, especially when talking to large crowds. I could talk about topics important to me and others. The practice paid out: Once I started my company YESS Impact, I became a paid speaker including keynote speeches. I recently spoke in front of 1100 people and last week at TEDx. I truly enjoy sharing my message on stage and engaging with the audience.

In case you still struggle with public speaking yourself, here are my six tips for you:

1. Make it relevant

Yes, you might find your topic fascinating. But how does it relate to people in your audience? It does not matter if you speak in front of a few office colleagues or a major event crowd of a few hundred or even thousands. Think about how the information you give can be of value to them and what motivates them to attend your speech. Even if they are «forced to be there» - e.g. as part of their job – or if they come out of their own interest, you can make sure that your speech has relevance to them. Ideal is if you can build in messages that the audience can take home with them. This can range from a call to action (e.g. get involved in the topic yourself) to motivational messages which urge them to reflect and think deeper. My favorite thing after a speech is always when people approach me or write me to tell me how my speech influenced their own thinking or motivated them to take a next step on a matter important to them.

2. Make it personal

No that does not mean you need to share about your deepest secrets (unless you want to). But you can talk about how you relate to the topic and what motivates you to speak about it. You can share a part of your own life story and how it influences your connection to the topic. When listening to a speech, I love hearing the speaker's connection to the topic, e.g. through anecdotes about their own life. It can make a presentation more lively and helps the audience relate to the speaker.

3. Prepare & practice

No, that does not mean you need to learn everything by heart. But it is good to sit down yourself, brainstorm and mindmap what you want to say. If you feel lost about the structure, a solid foundation is the following:

-         Intro: Catch the listeners’ interest. Make it relevant for them, so they are eager to follow what you will say next.

-         Main part: An example of this part could be:  How did it used to be? How is it now? How will it or should it be in the future?

-         End: Wrap-Up your presentation with the key take aways and a good message your audience can take home with them.

Depending on what you prefer, you can write out the whole text or just write down bullet points for the structure. Learning by heart might make your presentation sound stiff, so a bullet points structure might be more helpful. It does not hurt to also practice your presentation beforehand. If you want, record yourself while speaking and/or present to a trusted friend, spouse or colleague for feedback.

4. Use visual aids

Ever heard about "death by powerpoint"? Well, drowning your audience in endless black on white text-overload slides should not be your aim. But a few slides with key pictures, words and graphics can help underline your message. Some of my favorite speeches, even just have a few pictures in them, one per slide. For presentations which require more information, feel free to use Prezi or any of the other more advanced presentation tools. Apart from that you can even have items of interest on stage which might underline your message. It gives the audience something additional to look at, e.g. the product you just developed. Some people also give very powerful presentations without visual aids. It really depends on your presentation style.

5. Make it interactive

People's attention spans have decreased significantly over the last years due to smartphone use etc. So you need to grab their attention! This can be done by engaging them, e.g. by asking questions directly, making them laugh, having them raise their hand as a vote or simply giving them something to intensely nod about in agreement.

6. Have fun!

It is fine to be nervous, but also focus on how fun this can be! You get to speak to an audience about a topic you are most likely passionate about and to share your passion and expertise with them. On stage, you can enjoy moments where the whole room laughs with you or feel other emotions you like to convey. Feel free to build in jokes or funny moments.

Now I wish you a lot of fun and enjoy your next speech!

Photo credits TEDx (top and bottom picture): Moritz Schmid