Success Advice

5 Steps That Separate Brilliant Speakers From Mediocre Ones

Published

7 years ago

Nov 28, 2016

I’ve long held the belief that the most important skill in business is the ability to communicate with confidence, clarity and impact. Life is a 24 hour, 365 days a year conversation. When we are not speaking with colleagues or customers, friends or family, we are speaking with strangers. When we have stopped talking to each of those groups the conversation continues, although now it’s with ourselves.

We never seem to stop talking. Even when we are asleep, we just call it dreaming. Given the fact that we are doing it all the time I believe we owe it to ourselves to get really good at it. It’s not so much what we do that influences how successful we become but how we make the people around us feel. The emotional impact we have on others is largely driven by what we say and how we say it.

Many business presentations are tedious and a great number of people dread the idea of going to them and giving them. Every now and then someone comes along who challenges the status quo, shakes things up and gives a brilliant presentation.

If you would like to be one of those presenters rather than a mediocre one, you are only 5 steps away:

Step 1: Leave the laptop alone, sit quietly and imagine

We are creatures of habit. The way most of us set about crafting and delivering presentations is no exception. The first thing most professionals do when they are called on to present is open up their laptop and find a presentation they used in the past they believe can help them again.

Resist the urge! The laptop stifles your creativity. One of the greatest intellectual gifts we have is our imagination. We owe it to our audience to use ours effectively.

Imagine what your life may look and feel like if you were one of your audience members. Imagine it was you sitting there listening to yourself speak and ask yourself what would you want to hear, what you would want to know and what you would want to feel.

Now, reflect on all of the presentations you attended yourself recently and ask yourself which were boring and why. When you have some answers, ask yourself which were different and had an impact on you and why.

If you could do anything you wanted to challenge convention to capture and hold your audience’s undivided interest what would you do?

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” -D. H. Lawrence

Step 2: Remember the last presentation you attended as a member of the audience

Return to some of the recent presentations you attended that you were reflecting on in step 1. Ask yourself what you remember that made a tangible difference to your personal or professional life. Perhaps it was a difference in the way you thought about the topic or idea, something you were motivated to do as a result or a shift in the way you felt.

If you can’t remember anything then you can regard the presenter as mediocre. A brilliant presenter will do whatever it takes to ensure you remember them and their message. What do you want your audience to remember?

Step 3: Get ready to be vulnerable

When you look at your audience what is it you see? A room of colleagues, potential clients, accountants, or engineers? As you craft your presentation, spend some time thinking about who these people really are. Some may be someone’s mother or father, brother or sister, and each of them will be someone’s son or daughter.

They each have titles and roles to play just as you do. Resist seeing them simply as professionals and look beyond that. Think about how much you have in common. Everyone has hopes and aspirations, worries and fears, achievements and failures. So don’t be afraid to drop your guard a little and let them see the real you.

No one really wants to sit and listen to a highly polished and slick presenter; they would much rather to listen to someone they can relate too. Be prepared to be a little vulnerable and let them into your world.

Step 4: Keep it focused and simple

To keep things simple you have to start with focus. Focus on your message. Focus on what you want them to think. Focus on what you want them to feel. Focus on what you want them to do when you’ve finished speaking.

If you have 20 minutes to speak prepare to speak for only 15 minutes, in other words keep it short. Don’t use bullet points and avoid using too many words. Use compelling images instead. Think of your slides as billboards. Avoid jargon and steer clear of complexity in any form.

“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” – Mark Twain

Step 5: Now practice and then practice some more

I’m amazed how often I meet presenters who blame the poor quality and delivery of their presentation on lack of practice. You can craft the most creative, compelling presentation in the world. If you don’t make the effort to practice the way you then deliver it, you are doing yourself and your audience a disservice.

One of the key distinctions between a mediocre presenter and a brilliant one is that the latter will spend time getting intimate with every part of their presentation. They will know their content inside and out. They will practice the way they say it finding the right tone, pitch, volume and pace. They will practice the way they stand and move when they deliver it. That means how they move their hands, their face and their entire body.

Presenting and speaking in public isn’t a simple task. It requires a high level of awareness, a great deal of effort, focus and creativity to deliver a message with impact. Taking the time to follow and apply these 5 key steps will go a very long way to making the impact that you want and that your audience will remember.

What public speaking tips would you give to someone just starting out? Please leave your thoughts below!

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Maurice De Castro

Maurice De Castro is a former corporate executive of some of the UK’s most successful brands. Maurice believes that the route to success in any organisation lies squarely in its ability to really connect with people. That’s why he left the boardroom to create a business helping leaders to do exactly that. Learn more at https://mindfulpresenter.com/.

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Success Advice

How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

Published

1 week ago

Nov 20, 2023

Jane Frankel

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Image Credit: Midjourney

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Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

2 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

Success Advice

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Why do a lot of young guys lack confidence in today’s world?

Published

2 weeks ago

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Dale Valor

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Toxic Leadership: 5 Ways to Identify a Bad Leader

if you have a leader who displays any of the toxic traits, it’s time to move on to greener pastures.

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 10, 2023

Filiz Behaettin

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Let’s be honest, we’ve all crossed paths with a toxic leader in our careers at some point. Unfortunately, while some toxic leaders don’t even bother to hide their behaviour, some know very well how to conceal their true selves behind a strong-built facade. The latter is the most dangerous of the two. (more…)