“The single most precious commodity we have in the world today, in my mind, is attention.”
Matt Abrahams is a Stanford lecturer and a professional speaker who joined us on the podcast with Grant to chat about practical ways to increase your ability to connect with the audience both on and off the stage.
Here are the top 3 takeaways from their conversation:
Focus on connection vs perfection.
We often get caught up in the idea that we have to create the “perfect talk,” but one way to create a perfect talk is to go out of your way to connect with each and every member of your audience.
Instead of scripting your talk word for word, try a question-based outline. Learn your content, but frame it around the story arcs and thought patterns of humans. If you can create a relational approach to delivering your content and using keywords that will mean something to that audience, you’ll leave each talk feeling like you hit the nail on the head.
Pay attention to your symptoms.
If you get a little anxious about being on stage, think about the symptoms. They can be fear, or they can be extreme excitement. Those physical signs create the same reactions in your body.
A few tactical tips:
- Hold something cold
- Take some deep belly breaths, 2 counts in, 4 counts out, or any ratio where the exhale is double the length of the inhale.
A few mental tips:
- Take time to focus on the meaning of the message you have to share and the impact it creates on the audience. If you can realign in your why, it’s easier to get on stage.
“If we can remind ourselves that we’re in service of our audience, we have value to bring as a professional speaker, somebody determined that you have something of value to say to this audience, and if you remind yourself of that, it will turn down all of that negative self talk and really help you focus in the moment.”
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Forget filler words. Get rid of these instead.
Filler words, a yah or a nah? Well, we can take or leave them, but Matt suggests limiting them. A few are ok. They help humanize you and can enable the connection. However, when it comes to things you should remove, the key is to get rid of words that point to hesitation.
Things like “I think,” “maybe,” and “we should” can make you come across as lacking in expertise. So, as you practice, think about how you’re presenting yourself through your language.
Ready to hear more? Check out Episode 476 of The Speaker Lab podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.
