If You Don’t Use It, You Lose It
“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I was 7 years old, my parents bought me a used guitar for $15.00. I took lessons and thought I was pretty good at the time. My older brother and I even had a musical group if you can believe that at so young an age.
As time went on in my life, my interests changed and I played the old guitar less and less, until I stopped playing completely. I took up the guitar later in life and had to relearn to play from scratch. So what is the moral of my story? Unless you continuously practice a skill, you will eventually lose proficiency in that skill.
It is the same with your presentation skills. If you don’t use them, you will lose them.
To continuously improve your speaking skills you must do three things: (1) learn from expert speakers, (2) seek-out opportunities to speak, and (3) practice your presentation skills at a regularly scheduled venue.
So how do you do these things? Read on.
Learn from Expert Speakers
You have undoubtedly heard we are in the Information Age. Carmen Gallo, in his book, “Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds” says, “Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century. Some people are exceptionally good at presenting their ideas. Their skill elevates their stature and influence in today’s society.”
I emphasized the words, “elevates their stature and influence,” because isn’t that what you are trying to do in your life – increase your stature and influence?
TED Talks are delivered by expert speakers on education, business, science, technology and creativity. The people who deliver TED talks are the Steve Jobs’, the Bill Gates’, and John Maxwells of the world. People who have had a great influence on society.
Go to www.ted.com and view some of these expert presentations. Focus not so much on the subject of the talk, but rather, concentrate on what devices the speaker uses at different parts of his/her presentation. In other words, dissect the anatomy of their presentations.
Pay particular attention to how each speaker delivers the opening, body, and closing of his/her presentation. Do they use presentation devices such fascinating stories, relevant quotes, or startling statistics? Do they use relevant humor, a poignant poem, or make a reference to a well-known movie? How do they structure their presentations? Once you have answered these questions, try these same devices in your presentations.
There is an old saying, “Those that can, play; those that can’t coach.” Now, there is nothing wrong with coaching; however, if you want to be the most influential you can be, you must be a player. But players have to have a field on which to play. And speakers have to have a place to speak. Read on to find your speaking “field of play.”
Seek Out Opportunities to Speak
I bought a deep grey Toyota Prius back in 2014. I still have the car and I love it. After I bought the car, I was amazed at how many deep grey Toyota Priuses were on the road. Did deep grey Toyota Prius sales suddenly go up? No. However, since I owned a deep grey Toyota Prius, I was subconsciously looking for other ones on the road.
It is the same with speaking opportunities. When you start speaking regularly, you will start seeing other opportunities to speak.
In his paper, entitled, “The Corridor Principle: Why some People Succeed—And Others Don’t,” Sam Thomas Davies tells us, “The Corridor Principle states that the mere act of starting a venture enables entrepreneurs to see other venture opportunities they could neither see nor take advantage of until they had started their initial venture.”
Now Mr. Davies was talking about entrepreneurial opportunities, but the same applies to speaking opportunities. Since you have entered the “speaking corridor,” someone sees you speak and is impressed enough to offer you a great opportunity. It happens more often than you think.
Maybe a high level executive from corporate is visiting your company building and she needs a presentation on what your particular division does. Volunteer to do the presentation.
Maybe your boss needs someone to present the big project your team has been working on. Volunteer to present the project.
Maybe your industry group needs someone to deliver the keynote address at the national convention. Volunteer to deliver the keynote.
My point is “keep your eyes and ears open” and you will start to see opportunities to speak. After you get a few of these presentations “under your belt,” team members and your superiors will start looking at you as the person to turn to when a presentation is needed.
So you are learning how the most influential people in our society prepare and deliver outstanding TED talks and discovering speaking opportunities. The last piece of the speaking puzzle is finding a regularly scheduled venue for you to practice your speaking. Remember, whatever skill you don’t use, you lose.
Find a Regularly Scheduled Speaking Venue
Toastmasters is a wonderful way to keep your presentation skills razor sharp while having fun doing it. I attended my first Toastmasters meeting as an Air Force captain a number of years ago. I thought I knew a thing or two about presenting a topic. When I left the meeting an hour later, I realized I had a lot more to learn and I have been learning ever since.
Currently, Toastmasters International has 358,000 members in 143 countries in more than 16,800 clubs. The reason the group is so large is what Toastmasters does for its members works!
The Toastmasters Program is self-administered by its member clubs around the world. Toastmasters Clubs usually meet two to four times each month for one to two hours either at breakfast, lunchtime, or in the evenings. The objective of every club meeting is to get all attendees to get up and say something whether it is delivering or evaluating a presentation or just reviewing the timing of the various parts of the meeting.
Here is the best part of Toastmasters. Your return on your time and monetary investment is significant. Since the clubs are self-administered by club members, dues are at a very reasonable price, usually less than $150.00 per year.
If you are serious about improving and maintaining your presentation skills, join a local Toastmasters club. You can find clubs in your area by visiting the Toastmasters International web site: www.toastmasters.org
So you are you are dissecting the anatomy of TED talks, in the continual process of discovering speaking opportunities, and giving presentations at a regularly scheduled speaking venue – Toastmasters. What is the next step? Basically, keep on keeping on and be persistent and continual in these steps.
If you follow what I have said above, you will eventually become an outstanding speaker and will hear comments like, “Boy, I learned a lot from that presentation?”
“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills, so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.” – Jim Rohn
Looking for professional services to help you significantly increase your influence with your audiences? Contact DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI) at info@speakleadandsucceed.com or (703) 815-1324