Energise and Engage: Part 4

Style

Robotic delivery; small text; too many words; lack of visual impact. All guaranteed ways to de-energise your audience.

It is vital not to waste the great work you have done tapping into the energy of choice. You have clarity around your content, enhance it by adding in a splash of style.

Here are some tips to help you find and develop your style…

Your content

i) Remember less is more… use slides to highlight key points and grab attention
ii) And talking of slides – the tools we might use to support presentations (eg powerpoint) are not, by default, boring. It’s the way we use them that adds in the snore-factor
iii) Don’t use loads of words – extract the essence then re-inforce it with images or simple graphics or…
iv) Use bold, large fonts for in-person and online presentations. It’s better for the audience and forces you to be creative and concise
v) Make charts bold too. Lots of tiny data and things people can’t see are frustrating and dis-engage your audience
vi) Challenge yourself to convey your message through visuals alone…then add in nuggets of text to support or re-inforce your point.

You

i) Be clear, professional and respectful
ii) Use inclusive language by avoiding jargon or slang
iii) Remember the impact and implications of scale. Larger audiences and venues (and video) will require you to deliver in a slightly larger-than-life way compared to, for example, an intimate audience of eight. Stay true to who you are and amplify accordingly
iv) Your tone, pace and pitch can have an impact on what you are saying.  Are you speaking too fast?
v) Everyone is different and has a different personality; be true to yourself and put the best version of you forward.
vi) When you are speaking show you care by being positive and enthusiastic.

PS… Some people have concerns about the word ‘passion’, the key is to find your own balance. Solid enthusiasm and a desire to contribute to the world are infectious. Showy style with no substance is boring.

Preparation

Don’t be fooled. Even those people who seem to present eloquently and engagingly at a moment’s notice, have prepared. Main messages, pithy points, rehearsed reasoning all re-prepared and ready should the need arise.

And you’ve already been doing this too with your work on the energies of understanding, you and choice. Now it’s time to add in some delivery-centric preparation.

Practice

Running through your content as if you are presenting to an audience starts to bring your content to life. It tests the flow, your reasoning and increases your eloquence.

I appreciate, having done this hundreds of times, it can feel a little silly at first. Standing in your bedroom, speaking to an imaginary audience, may feel odd. It is, however, key to powerful, positive performances.

Saying the words out loud, feeling the experience and energy, prepares you for when you step out onto the stage or in front of the camera for real.

In addition, practice enables you to check that you meet any timing constraints or event-related rules / guidelines.

Warm-up

Prior to any presentation, large or small, some people, quite naturally, get a bit tense. Plus speaking on a larger scale than one-to-one challenges your voice and your body in different ways. Here are two great exercises for your pre-performance preparation…

I) Power Pose: I first heard of this via a TED talk by Amy Cuddy and again via a pal and fellow presenter, Maria Paviour. Research has shown that adopting this pose, especially at times of heightened anxiety, elevates your testosterone levels and reduces your cortisol levels. Bringing a feeling of empowerment. Think of Wonder Woman.

And it does work. I’ve even done it in a car park en route to a speaking engagement.

To adopt the Power Pose, stand with your feet apart. Chin up; looking ahead. Place your hands on your hips. Now, hold this position for two minutes. Breathing slowly and deeply.

II) Sausages Sausages: This exercise is guarenteed to make you chuckle, which in itself is a good relaxer before a presentation. I first encountered it at a Story-telling Workshop at Roffey Park. The aim is to relax and loosen your face and jaw prior to presenting.

Again this works well, especially if you get into the habit of doing it regularly. It’s amazing how tense you can get concentrating on your work. As any fellow teeth-clenchers will know!

To do the Sausages Exercise, sit or stand, whatever is comfortable for you. Relax your shoulders and shake out your arms. Next say the word ‘Sausages’ out loud. Then stick out your tongue and say the word ‘Sausages’ again. Repeat these two again so you do the combination seven times in total.

PS… I know for some of you English is not your first language so please feel free to change and adapt the word you use. The only thing I would say is that the syllables and ‘shape’ of the word ‘sausages’ seems to be well-suited to exercising and relaxing your jaw.

Audience

Having done work on your ‘who’ in the energy of understanding, the audience aspect of the energy of delivery is about adding in some more warmth and kindness.

Remember, people are in the audience, face-to-face or virtual, because they want to hear what you have to say.

Take time in advance to imagine them and see them as fellow human beings. Smile to yourself about how happy you are to be able to share and connect with others.

On the day, even if the situation is a particularly tough one and some conflict may ensue, don’t forget that the people are there because they want to hear from you.

Before you start speaking, take a moment to centre yourself. Take deep breaths. Relax your shoulders. Smile. And keep remembering…

… without the audience, this collection of human beings, and the energy they bring, there won’t be any movement or change.