Speaking in public - lesson 3

byblochamok

295 followers

11 years ago

You got your topic, you got your passion, you got your slides – what next??

Now you need to work your slideshow, around your story… never the other way around! – what are you saying? – is there an image, that would make that catch-line stand out even more? – and if there isn’t – then don’t use an image right there! – I have about 28 slides for 90 minutes of powertalk… some of the slides are on brief, some stay there for a long time… No words, just images…

When you think you got it right, the way YOU believe is right for you, you have to test it. First on your own, time it, and say what you want to say, in the pace you want to say it, while you are standing up. Do the gestures, you want to do, speak loud and clear, and pretend that there is an audience.

You do NOT “wing it” the day you are in front of a crowd… you practice again and again, to be sure you don’t forget something, confuse your audience by leaving something out, and then suddenly shove it in somewhere, just to get the line of words out of your head… Try to make a nice red thread through it all…

If you make your presentation funny, you can do call-backs with great success.

A comedy call-back is when you make people laugh of something you say, and later refer to it again… they will laugh with you, once more, of a joke that already made them laugh before!

An example could be, that you tell a funny story about a squirrel that did some amazing tricks in your back yard… you were fascinated, and could not believe how good he was! – he was almost supernatural! – and then you hit the button and this slide shows up…

Later in the show, when you are talking, you might tell about something that really made you work hard, or had you struggle… if you feel like the energy of the room is hitting zero, because people empathize with you, you can lift it just a tad by making a call-back saying: “…and where was super-squirrel, when I needed him!!” – people will laugh, cause they remember the image – AND what you are doing, is giving them permission to lighten up.. it might have been a hard time for you, but let’s laugh a little of it all….

See what you can come up with… are there any metaphors you’d like to use and include in your show? – make the presentation, and practise… next time, we work on physical posture and gestures!