Platform conference review series: Ken Davis on how to improve public speaking
Ken Davis is the founder of the SCORE public speaking conference. He has been helping people overcome their fear of public speaking and become more dynamic presenters for over 30 years.
If you think that you just might not be cut out to be an interesting presenter, Ken has some surprising insights that will definitely cheer you up. My big take away from him is that while being more dynamic is what most people focus on, it’s actually more about getting to the point and giving people a clear message.
Public speaking is essential to building a solid authority-based platform. If you want to be seen as a thought leader, then it’s pretty much assumed that you are an author of a book and a speaker at conferences.
Before I give you Ken’s public speaking tips and tricks, here’s some inspiration from Joel Osteen, head of the largest Christian church in America who speaks to millions of viewers a year and spoke to over 50,000 people at Yankee Stadium in June 2014.
Joel says: “My personality is quiet and reserved. My dad was always the person on the stage. I just didn’t think it was in me. When I told my dad I would minister, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I just did it to make him proud. I was nervous. I spoke too fast. All I remember was how nervous I was and how much I dreaded doing it. It was THE worst week of my life!”
Don’t focus on the negative, which is the fear of public speaking; instead, be there to serve the audience and share a message with them. If that is your focus, it’s less about your ego and more about helping your audience.
More from Joel: “Some people are just raised negative. They don’t think they’re being negative, but they go through life almost expecting not to do well. They’ll show up for a job interview not expecting to get it. I think you have to turn it around. When you get up in front of people, believe that they want to hear you. Act like they like you.”
How to improve public speaking
-
Passion is the number one gift of great communicators
Your body communicates passion, and a body in motion communicates in motion. So move your arms and eyebrows to show expression, as opposed to just moving your lips and being stuck in one position like a robot.
Ken said that a body at rest, rests in peace and that drones kill people LOL… So raise your voice up or down a little bit to become louder or softer depending on what you are talking about. Don’t do this in an unnatural way, but keep it in mind. Also, don’t end on the same inflection every time.
Ken said he does his radio shows standing up to keep his energy level high. This reminds me of one of my first jobs in sales. In order to increase my energy, my militant boss took my chair away and made me stand up for two days.
-
Purpose
Ken went on to list how he has changed presentation preparation systems to give a greater focus on finding and ensuring the clarity of the message. He said, if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. You need to aim at delivering a clear message, so that people come away clearly understanding the purpose of your talk.
Here are the details on the old school system versus Ken’s system:
The old school system is to:
- Research
- List
- Organize in order
- Deliver
The SCORE method of presentation preparation is to:
- Research
- List possible slides
- Ask why / what do I want to accomplish?
- Eliminate absolutely anything that doesn’t support the key message
- Organize
- Practice
- Deliver
Great public speakers always have a purpose for their talks and cover these 3 essentials:
- Your first words must start to confidently engage them with clarity, then later you can let them know what the destination is.
- Your last words remind them of the logic of how you got to your conclusion and should include a call to action for them to go make a change in their lives.
- The guts of what you talk about in between numbers one and two
An example of a clear message can be, “Tour Europe on less than $1,500.” You can slowly unfold how this is possible and keep some suspense while eventually delivering a clear and powerful conclusion.
Being dynamic is good but being focused is better
Know your purpose and what you are going to say at the end, even if you lose your notes.
Ken says that being dynamic is good, but being focused is better. One way to stay focused is to brand the tagline of the talk several times.
My talk for example, on the authority marketing roadmap, repeats several times that authority marketing is a systematic and repeatable process that doesn’t have to be hard, and if you focus on what you are good at, you can let the others do the rest.
Conclusion
The goal is not solely to be liked, but to deliver a focused message. You want to be more like a bullet then buckshot. This may require narrowing your subject to a central theme while removing extraneous items that you might like but don’t fit a clear – more singular objective. Write down your talk’s objective in a one sentence statement to keep yourself on track.
And never forget that a boring reputation is the mother of skill. Being truly prepared, like a great athlete, such as Larry Bird or Tom Brady, means reminding yourself that it is more about helping the audience than pumping yourself up. When remembering this, your nerves will calm and allow you to deliver more clearly.
Audiences make contact and resonate when they know you care, and true communication is when you inspire your audience to take action in their lives.
How do you stay focused and calm your nerves before public speaking?
