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Are you polite when you start a speech? Well cut it out.
Do you share learning objectives? Stop it. Right now.
Are you willing to share your personal story? Please do not do that.
I asked communications expert Neil Gordon to share the five biggest mistakes he feels most speakers make.
Gordon says the challenge is to dazzle the audience in the first seven seconds. And that is a tall order. He helps authors and speakers to develop and improve their communication skills. He works with executives, influencers and thought leaders and helps them get six-figure book advances, be seen on shows like Ellen and Dr. Oz and double their speaking fees.
Prior to becoming a communications coach, Gordon worked on the editorial staff of Penguin Random House where he worked with New York Times bestselling authors. He has ghostwritten or collaborated on books published by Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Hay House.
In his opinion, here are the five biggest mistakes public speakers make:
They Start With Politeness. “Your audience will develop an impression of you within the first 15 seconds of your presentation. But saying things like ‘Thank you for having me’ squanders that impression. To milk the tension that starts your speech, take the stage after you’ve been introduced and, perhaps after a brief pause, go right into the first critical line of your speech.”
They Begin With Their Learning Objectives. “Speakers falsely think it will help their audience absorb their material by laying out everything they’ll be discussing at the beginning. But this would be like the creators of Avengers Infinity War laying out everything that’s going to happen in Endgame before the film is released. Instead, use mystery toward the beginning of your speech that doesn’t get solved until the end.”
They Share Their Story. “Many talk about how powerful stories are. But the difference between sharing your story and sharing a certain part of your story can make or break whether you get the outcomes you seek through your presentations. Instead of just generically sharing your story, mine out the unexpected moment that led to the insight you have to share with others.”
They Provide Their Whole Framework. “Many speakers make their keynote presentation a breakdown of their whole system – often conveyed through a clever acronym. But 46 of the 50 most popular TED talks offer one key idea that they can integrate right then and there. The audience can then take further steps to explore it afterwards.”
They Provide All of Their Slide Content All At Once. “Bullet points on slides get a bad rap for being too distracting. But a savvy speaker will simply animate one component of their slides at a time so as to keep their audience with them throughout.”
Gordon and I part company on the point about PowerPoint slides. I hate speakers who use PowerPoint slides with bullet points. When meeting planners insist I use slides, I give them slides with no words, only pictures.
