TRANSCRIPTION
There are many ways to influence an audience and it’s not always through the content and style alone. Great speeches have not only been crafted well but need great speakers to deliver them.
And whilst most of the videos on my channel are aimed at the physical aspects of speaking, this tutorial is about performance technique and I’ve compiled 5 of my favourite tips in taking control over your delivery so you can ensure the most impact when presenting yourself in public.
Stick around to the end for my bonus tip and if you like this video then don’t forget to —- and —- plus you could even —- great. Let’s get started.
1. Walk on with intention:
Your performance doesn’t begin when you start speaking. The second you step in front of an audience you are on show and therefore being unconsciously judged on your actions.
Knowing this means that you can be prepared and so setting your intention before you walk on will give you the edge and make you in charge of how your audience views you. Rather than being at the mercy of their opinion.
There’s many ways you might do this depending on your topic but a simple and affective strategy that will give you a head start is by calculating your entrance beforehand and taking the time to prepare the journey from the entrance to the microphone or podium step by step.
Then, once that journey is preplanned, all you need to do is laser focus where you will need to go and… go there directly, head held hight, shoulders back and making sure to take a slow long inhalation as you walk toward your position. The act of breathing in as you enter the stage unconsciously signals physiological growth and vitality to the audience who will favour you more as a result.
2. Tennis ball rule:
It’s always a little daunting to know exactly how to begin your speech but you can feel safe knowing that there is some benefit in timing your first words according to the size of the room you are in.
Whether you are in a small meeting room or a grand arena the tennis ball rule will dictate precisely when you should begin speaking after entering and arriving at your place.
We all analyse each-other and make presuppositions based on our experience and preconceptions. If left too long, however, these might turn to judgements and everyones worst critic starts to rear their ugly heads and if too short we feel like something is missing and it can be irritating. The trick is to hit the sweet spot and begin speaking at the appropriate time making our audience feel comfortable and ready to listen.
This is where the tennis ball technique comes into play.
Once you hit your spot on stage. In your mind throw an imaginary tennis ball out to a person sitting at the back of the room. Then imagine they throw it straight back and when you catch it is now the correct timing for you to speak.
The further you are from the audience the longer you should wait to speak. No matter if you have a microphone or not. This is because the further you are the smaller you appear and the longer it takes your audience to take in you as a person.
Give it a go next time and don’t forget to let me know how it wen’t in the comments below.
3. Gear up into your speaking pace:
So you’ve entered and timed your walk on perfectly, you’ve shown how confident and secure you are, you’ve also given your audience enough time to take you in and have taken the time to absorb the vibe of the room at the same time.
Your first words are ever so key to getting the audience on side. But not only the content but your approach.
You have to ensure that whatever your default pace is (and trust me we all have one) that you don’t drive away too soon. Live scenarios tend to produce adrenaline and this can make us speed up.
This isn’t a bad thing and can actually keep the event ticking along and the energy high, but you can’t just start at full speed because no-one will be able to keep up and they will feel left behind.
So here’s what you can do. In much the same way as a gear shift car speeds up and changes gears to get to its maximum. You can do the same and start from the top of your speech in neutral, then 1 then after a sentence gear up to 2 then three, four and maybe even keep 5 in reserve.
The great thing about this is it allows your audience to keep up with you and since they are speeding up at the same time won’t get lost even if you do end up speaking at 100 miles and hour they will have the opportunity to get their listening up to speed with you.
4. Highlight key points and let them sit:If you have crafted your speech then I’m sure you will have points and facts that are highlighted and poignant.
If not then may I suggest you put them in. Highlighting key points helps make a concise and direct memorable note of anything you want to stand out and stay in peoples heads.
Perhaps its a statistic or a fact or even bringing attention to a problem or solution for that matter but either way you need to first recognise what these are and then make them stick.
To do this you want to take the most important word or sentence from each section of your speech and at the end of the paragraph or section finish it off by repeating the crucial bit again and leaving pause for thought. This pause could easily be the tennis ball technique again and allows just enough time for the last words you said to stick in the minds of the listener.
You can also do this by repeating the important points twice. But again if you did repeat be sure and leave enough pause for it to sink in and hit home.
If you can master this then at the end of your speech you will have made an impact and everyone in the room will be able to recall your main points automatically even if they can’t remember all the details.
And this is one that’s really gonna need some practice.
If you have any similar tricks that you use to make your speech stand out, why not tell me what they are in the comments? I’m sure we can all benefit from your knowledge and I look forward to reading them and replying to you.
5. Action your speech:
Actions are tools used by actors and can be a very useful way to take control over how you influence an audience.
Actions is another word for ‘active verbs’ and the way these work is by giving you stimulus in how to approach your audience.
It helps you to choose your attitude and focus on ‘giving to’ rather than ‘being in front’ of an audience.
Examples of active verbs are flirting, scolding, comforting, enchanting, educating and thousands more.
Whether or not you are very good at being accurate is not as important as giving it a go. Once you try to influence your audience using active verbs and affecting them with your speech then you stop feeling so self aware and are able to concentrate more outside of yourself.
This one is a little tricky and can take a bit of practice but is a powerful tool that when practiced can take your speech to the next level and beyond.
I’m gonna share a bonus tip now but before I do I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to my public speaking mastery course where you can learn about these techniques in more detail but also develop an individual practice that incorporates the physical, psychological as well as performance based aspects of public speaking. It has given many people the ability to speak in all public scenarios with clarity confidence and ease. And I’m sure if you are looking to improve your skillset in this area it will be of great benefit to you also.
Follow this link if you would like to learn more.
Bonus tip. Gear down to end:
Thats right. The two most important part of your speech are how to start and how to end. And just like the car gearing up at the start of the speech you can do the same a couple of sentences before the end of your speech to wrap up not only with words but with pace.
This will indicate to your listeners that you are bringing the speech to a close and as you slow down from gear 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 you will inadvertently inform them that it is coming to a close and to prepare themselves for the finish.
It's really a lovely way to round up your speech and also allows the tone to be one of thoughtfulness and retrospection. Bit which are great things to have achieved by the end of your presentation.
And whilst most of the videos on my channel are aimed at the physical aspects of speaking, this tutorial is about performance technique and I’ve compiled 5 of my favourite tips in taking control over your delivery so you can ensure the most impact when presenting yourself in public.
Stick around to the end for my bonus tip and if you like this video then don’t forget to —- and —- plus you could even —- great. Let’s get started.
1. Walk on with intention:
Your performance doesn’t begin when you start speaking. The second you step in front of an audience you are on show and therefore being unconsciously judged on your actions.
Knowing this means that you can be prepared and so setting your intention before you walk on will give you the edge and make you in charge of how your audience views you. Rather than being at the mercy of their opinion.
There’s many ways you might do this depending on your topic but a simple and affective strategy that will give you a head start is by calculating your entrance beforehand and taking the time to prepare the journey from the entrance to the microphone or podium step by step.
Then, once that journey is preplanned, all you need to do is laser focus where you will need to go and… go there directly, head held hight, shoulders back and making sure to take a slow long inhalation as you walk toward your position. The act of breathing in as you enter the stage unconsciously signals physiological growth and vitality to the audience who will favour you more as a result.
2. Tennis ball rule:
It’s always a little daunting to know exactly how to begin your speech but you can feel safe knowing that there is some benefit in timing your first words according to the size of the room you are in.
Whether you are in a small meeting room or a grand arena the tennis ball rule will dictate precisely when you should begin speaking after entering and arriving at your place.
We all analyse each-other and make presuppositions based on our experience and preconceptions. If left too long, however, these might turn to judgements and everyones worst critic starts to rear their ugly heads and if too short we feel like something is missing and it can be irritating. The trick is to hit the sweet spot and begin speaking at the appropriate time making our audience feel comfortable and ready to listen.
This is where the tennis ball technique comes into play.
Once you hit your spot on stage. In your mind throw an imaginary tennis ball out to a person sitting at the back of the room. Then imagine they throw it straight back and when you catch it is now the correct timing for you to speak.
The further you are from the audience the longer you should wait to speak. No matter if you have a microphone or not. This is because the further you are the smaller you appear and the longer it takes your audience to take in you as a person.
Give it a go next time and don’t forget to let me know how it wen’t in the comments below.
3. Gear up into your speaking pace:
So you’ve entered and timed your walk on perfectly, you’ve shown how confident and secure you are, you’ve also given your audience enough time to take you in and have taken the time to absorb the vibe of the room at the same time.
Your first words are ever so key to getting the audience on side. But not only the content but your approach.
You have to ensure that whatever your default pace is (and trust me we all have one) that you don’t drive away too soon. Live scenarios tend to produce adrenaline and this can make us speed up.
This isn’t a bad thing and can actually keep the event ticking along and the energy high, but you can’t just start at full speed because no-one will be able to keep up and they will feel left behind.
So here’s what you can do. In much the same way as a gear shift car speeds up and changes gears to get to its maximum. You can do the same and start from the top of your speech in neutral, then 1 then after a sentence gear up to 2 then three, four and maybe even keep 5 in reserve.
The great thing about this is it allows your audience to keep up with you and since they are speeding up at the same time won’t get lost even if you do end up speaking at 100 miles and hour they will have the opportunity to get their listening up to speed with you.
4. Highlight key points and let them sit:If you have crafted your speech then I’m sure you will have points and facts that are highlighted and poignant.
If not then may I suggest you put them in. Highlighting key points helps make a concise and direct memorable note of anything you want to stand out and stay in peoples heads.
Perhaps its a statistic or a fact or even bringing attention to a problem or solution for that matter but either way you need to first recognise what these are and then make them stick.
To do this you want to take the most important word or sentence from each section of your speech and at the end of the paragraph or section finish it off by repeating the crucial bit again and leaving pause for thought. This pause could easily be the tennis ball technique again and allows just enough time for the last words you said to stick in the minds of the listener.
You can also do this by repeating the important points twice. But again if you did repeat be sure and leave enough pause for it to sink in and hit home.
If you can master this then at the end of your speech you will have made an impact and everyone in the room will be able to recall your main points automatically even if they can’t remember all the details.
And this is one that’s really gonna need some practice.
If you have any similar tricks that you use to make your speech stand out, why not tell me what they are in the comments? I’m sure we can all benefit from your knowledge and I look forward to reading them and replying to you.
5. Action your speech:
Actions are tools used by actors and can be a very useful way to take control over how you influence an audience.
Actions is another word for ‘active verbs’ and the way these work is by giving you stimulus in how to approach your audience.
It helps you to choose your attitude and focus on ‘giving to’ rather than ‘being in front’ of an audience.
Examples of active verbs are flirting, scolding, comforting, enchanting, educating and thousands more.
Whether or not you are very good at being accurate is not as important as giving it a go. Once you try to influence your audience using active verbs and affecting them with your speech then you stop feeling so self aware and are able to concentrate more outside of yourself.
This one is a little tricky and can take a bit of practice but is a powerful tool that when practiced can take your speech to the next level and beyond.
I’m gonna share a bonus tip now but before I do I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to my public speaking mastery course where you can learn about these techniques in more detail but also develop an individual practice that incorporates the physical, psychological as well as performance based aspects of public speaking. It has given many people the ability to speak in all public scenarios with clarity confidence and ease. And I’m sure if you are looking to improve your skillset in this area it will be of great benefit to you also.
Follow this link if you would like to learn more.
Bonus tip. Gear down to end:
Thats right. The two most important part of your speech are how to start and how to end. And just like the car gearing up at the start of the speech you can do the same a couple of sentences before the end of your speech to wrap up not only with words but with pace.
This will indicate to your listeners that you are bringing the speech to a close and as you slow down from gear 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 you will inadvertently inform them that it is coming to a close and to prepare themselves for the finish.
It's really a lovely way to round up your speech and also allows the tone to be one of thoughtfulness and retrospection. Bit which are great things to have achieved by the end of your presentation.