How to become a powerful charismatic public speaker

Presentations or speeches, whether to a large or small group of people are essentially about three things.

• Energy
• clarity and
• humanity.

Energy, in that we all need lightly more energy than we think we do need.

Clarity, that’s clarity of thought, clarity of message, clarity of delivery. So that the listener will understand and remember what you’ve said.

And thirdly, humanity. In a world where electronic communication has almost entirely taken over, the fact that you are one human being who has been bothered to turn up and reach out to another human being gives you an immediate head start. People respond to people. We all want to feel engaged and valued. Humanity is vital.

Public Speaking Training can help you 

If you want some expert coaching to help you enhance your public speaking skills then Skillstudio are there to help. We provide:-

Public Speaking for Beginners
A 1-day public workshop for absolute beginners to presenting and public speaking held in Central London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh & Glasgow.

Effective Public Speaking
This 2-day Public intermediate level workshop is held regularly in Central London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow.

Advanced Public Speaking
This 2-day Public course is held regularly in Central London.

We can also run our public speaking courses for your organisation on an in-house basis at your premises throughout the UK and Europe. We also offer 1-2-1 coaching in all aspects of public speaking throughout the UK.

Call us today on 08456 444 150 if you want to discuss how our training can help you or your team.

The magnetic power of great public speaking

If you think of all the great speakers you’ve ever seen, either live or on television, they will have had these three essential qualities, energy, clarity and humanity.

Together with good vocal delivery, positive body language and good structure to their speeches, we find it impossible not to listen to these speakers and we remember what they’ve said.

These are qualities that we all have inside us – we are born with them. But as we grow up we are often told to hide our emotions, this happens to children as young as playground age, and by doing this we cut off one of the most powerful communications tools we have.

How do you become charismatic?

If we can feel comfortable in showing our humanity and our passion, we too can become powerful, charismatic speakers.

How do we learn to use these essential qualities as we get to our feet and present to a group?

Here are some useful tips that can make an immediate difference and double your impact:

Try to lift the energy of the room an extra 10% as you enter – feel like you’re literally lighting the up the room.

Give yourself status – and give your audience the same status that you’ve given yourself. If you do this, you won’t come across as nervous or condescending.

When you first open your mouth, speak as if on a ‘bubble’ of energy.

Keep body language open and relaxed.

Be yourself.

Say Hello – and wait to get a response!

Take a good look at your audience carefully – How are they today? Do they really want to be there? Are they tired, hot, bored?

Keep eye contact with your audience as you speak.

Treat each audience member as an individual – as if you are talking specifically just to them. Try to speak to one person specifically for each point you make. They will feel ‘special’ and the others will feel you are being specific in what you say.

Constantly check to see if your audience are still interested and listening attentively. Monitor their reactions – it will tell you how you’re doing.

Have a conversation with them – like you’re telling some good news to a friend.

Really connect with them – or you might as well have just sent them a video or shown them a PowerPoint presentation.

Be more expressive than you think. Use imagery as you speak. We are more likely to remember and be motivated by hearing that your company’s annual results are ‘like a beautiful sunrise – a perfect circle of hope’, rather than just being told the results are better than expected. If you say that the washing machine that you’re selling is ‘the Rolls Royce of washing machines’, it has more impact on the brain and memory than just saying ‘it’s the market leader’.

Mean what you say, speak with passion – enthusiasm is infectious.

Don’t panic if you feel nervous – some nerves are good – as long as they don’t overwhelm you, they can up the ‘excitement’ factor.

Be slower than you think, nerves tend to make us speak faster. Even if you think you are too slow, it will probably feel like fast-forward to the audience! Normal conversations are 125-140 words a minute – for larger groups and bigger halls, aim for 70 words a minute.

And always remember, your audience WANT you to be good – they don’t want to be bored, they want to be entertained, challenged and energised!

Finally, always end confidently – as if you’ve been the most FANTASTIC speaker, however badly you think you might have done because:

(a) you might not be the best judge of your performance and

(b) by ending confidently, you might fool some people into thinking you were better than you were anyway!

About the author of this public speaking article

This article was written by Robin, one of Skillstudio’s consultant trainers. 

Robin is based in London, is an excellent trainer; and runs many of our public speaking training sessions (from 1-2-1 coaching through to Masterclasses).  

You can read his training bio here. 
 

Public speaking coaching

For most people, becoming more successful at public speaking is a relatively slow and painful process with many never really achieving their true potential.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.  

You can quickly develop these skills with Skillstudio through expert coaching and practice.  And by enhancing your public speaking skills you will be able to develop a much stronger influence on your audiences and reap the business success that goes with that.

To get some coaching in public speaking, click on one of the links below:-

Public Speaking Coaching  - 121 coaching
Public Speaking Courses – Open to members of the public
Public Speaking for Business - In-house training for companies and organisations

Skillstudio also offer public courses, 1-2-1 coaching and in-house training in many aspects of presentation skills and communication skills, including public speaking, vocal skills and body language awareness.

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