By Johanna Bernard, JLB and Associates

The importance of speaking in public may not be so obvious.  ‘Of course it’s obvious’ you may say to yourself or ‘My role doesn’t entail any public speaking or presentations.’ Whatever your thinking let’s get straight to it.  In life we need to communicate publically every day.  We talk to our family, thank our barista as we pay for our morning coffee and talk to our colleagues, boss, suppliers, prospective clients and clients.  Successful presentations and public speaking skills are important in personal relationships as well as business, sales and selling, training, teaching, lecturing and generally entertaining an audience.

Presentations and public speaking skills are not limited to exceptional people - anyone can give a good quality presentation, or perform public speaking to a proficient and even extraordinary level.  We share with you below how you can make instant improvements, whether it is your next sales call or you are speaking in front of 20 or more people.

You may know your subject from top to bottom and yet still manage to cleverly convey it in a manner that does little to inspire your listeners!  Let me ask you this, do you believe that when you are in front of an audience you are basically ‘Selling from the Stage’?   For those of you thinking yes, you are right.  It’s a fact; when you are in front of others you are selling yourself, no matter what the product, service or information you are sharing, they need to buy YOU first.

There are two reasons for being in front of an audience of any size.  Number one is to educate, share and/or inform your listeners.  Number two is to persuade, influence, alter and/or intensify your listener’s viewpoint or beliefs and inspire them to act.  So how do you keep your audience engaged?  

There are 4 key parts to every presentation. Below are 5 tips, taken from the Format 4 Fun training program, that are must do’s for ALL meetings/presentation/seminars.  Incorporate these and you will surprise yourself at how you have them eating out of your hand.  

1.    Set the stage – make sure you have a sexy presentation title, introduce yourself and let the audience know what the talk is about up front. Don’t keep them guessing.

2.    Keep control of the situation – know your desired outcome before you walk in to the room, what do you want the end result to be for the audience?  Do you want them to walk away feeling inspired?  Buy your products?

3.    Sell the benefits - Remind them, consistently throughout, what the benefits are and more importantly how it benefits them. Then remind them again and again.

4.    Commitment- Get a little commitment at a time throughout.  Never ask a question where they can say no. E.g. you’re all in sales so tell me, is getting more clients a high priority?

5.    Use tie-downs – tie-downs are short questions where the answer is always yes. Do not ask the type of questions where the answer could be no. Tie downs simply reinforce the agreement frame your audience is already in.  E.g. this would be great for you, wouldn’t it?  

Bonus Tip- Use your body!  Given that 55% of our communication is through our body language using our hand gestures, body movements, facial expression are of utmost importance.  Where and how you move should be part of your preparation, whether it’s a new business meeting or in front of 30 people, body language counts!