What could being a better public speaker do for your company, cause or career?
World Champion Aaron Beverly credits Toastmasters for helping him land his project manager position at JP Morgan.
With a suspenseful and entertaining speech titled “An Unbelievable Story,” Beverly, a 30-year-old JP Morgan project manager from Philadelphia, won the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking in August of 2019.
“Aaron Beverly’s speech was brilliant and had all the elements of a spy movie,” said Ed Tate, a Certified Speaking Professional and the 2000 Toastmasters’ World Champion of Public Speaking. “It included five setups and payoffs and had all of the elements: espionage, intrigue, danger, drama and deception.”
(You can watch Beverly’s winning speech here.)
“My mother told me to be myself throughout my life and not change who I am in order to be liked and accepted by other people,” said Beverly. “Only within recent years has this advice seeped into my speeches.”
His winning speech was about acceptance despite difference and told the story of his humorous adventure as the only African-American in attendance at his friend’s wedding in India.
Beverly plans to continue educating others on the benefits of becoming a strong public speaker, as well as teaching how communication can help people around the world to better understand their differences.
Beverly shared his advice with forbes.com for being a more impactful speaker:
Be your authentic self on stage. “Unfortunately, there is a notion among many speakers that you must have overly theatrical gestures, special props, and flowery language. The result, in most of these cases, is a performance that appears disingenuous, phony or just plain awkward.”
Avoid using words that you don’t use in your everyday language. “My goal in my speech was to tell a story using body language I’d use if I were telling a story to friends, to use language that I use every day, and to do so without using props.”
Know who your audience is. “It is the number one golden rule. If you don’t know who your audience is, how they typically like their information, the type of words and language that they use, you set yourself up for failure before you even begin because if you don’t know your audience, you can’t connect with your audience.”
Establish a connection. “One way you can do this is by sharing engaging, relatable personal stories. These can include stories about the workplace or even my favorite, family stories. A relatable story can create an emotional bond with your audience that then leads to the final most important action to do in a speech.”
Inspire your audience to take action. “While speaking solely for entertainment is good, the best speakers in the world get audiences to take action. You do this by providing something of value to the audience that they can use to make their lives better. Giving value and helping make your listeners better than they were before you spoke is, in my opinion, the ultimate goal for any speaker dedicated to the craft of communication.”
Beverly, along with five other final contestants, reached the championship level after several eliminating rounds that began more than six months ago with 30,000 participants from 143 countries.
Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators and leaders. Toastmasters International is a worldwide nonprofit educational organization that empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, the organization's membership exceeds 358,000 in more than 16,800 clubs.
