The Secret of Connecting to Your Audience
When your message is memorable, your communication clear, and your presentation powerful, you will position yourself for greater success.
If you want to excel as a public speaker you must make an emotional connection with your audience, regardless of your subject, setting, or message.
The most powerful communication combines both intellectual and emotional connections. For effective public speaking, whether you have an audience of one or 1,000, you must connect with your audience emotionally. Consider how you might put the following three fundamental techniques for emotional connection into practice:
Eye Contact
For a small audience around a boardroom table, practice a strategy called “piece-of-the-pie” eye contact. Look at different individuals as you deliver each thought, idea, or phrase. Interestingly enough, the same holds true for a large audience with a slight twist. As Jerry Seinfeld often observed, you need to play to the cheap seats first. Continually connect with the people at the back or in the balcony. Let them know that you know they’re there. They will stay with you, even when you’re interacting with audience members who are seated in the front. In virtual presentations, be sure to look into your webcam.
You-Focused Language
Record your next presentation, and count how many times you say “I.” Note any instance where your language could have been more you-focused. If you work from the perspective that nobody cares about you, they only care about themselves, you can never go wrong! Rather than saying, “I am going to talk to you about what I can offer through my product/service . . .” try, “In the next 30 minutes you will learn . . .” Or “In this session, you will discover . . .” Even if it is just the exchange of a single word, you will be astonished at the difference it will make in your presentation.
Stories
As human beings, we are programmed from birth to think of a story as a treat. No matter what culture we come from, we grew up hearing, “Brush your teeth; get in your jammies; hop into bed, and Mommy/Daddy/Grandmother/Auntie will come to tell you a story.” When you perfect your storytelling skills, you enable your conversations, presentations, and business communications to tap into the “reward” part of people’s brains, creating an immediate emotional connection.
Learn to Be a Powerful Presenter…It is Easy, Fast, and Convenient
The public speaking strategies presented in this article are shared from Fripp Virtual Training. FrippVT gives you 24/7 access to one of the most in-demand executive speech coaches and sales presentation experts. Sign up for your complimentary trial and discover how FrippVT can transform you and your team: http://frippvt.com
Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp works with individuals and companies who recognize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills to give them a competitive edge.
