Episode #39: The Critical 3 E's For Speakers

Clearly not everyone should be a presenter. We don’t need higher levels of boredom or disinterest than we have already. If you are a contributor to this mess, please sit back down and remain in the audience from now on. However, we can all learn to become competent and better presenters. This is “nurture” not “nature” in action. The key point is your motivation, why are you doing this?

Are you a truster, an egotist, a narcissist, a dilettante or someone with a valuable message you wish to share with others? If it is the latter case then keep watching. The rest of you, well goodbye and good luck.

Dale Carnegie pioneered business public speaking when he launched his first course in 1912. He proffered the 3Es as a solid requirement before we contemplate being a speaker and it still applies today. Those Es are “earned the right”, “ excited” and “eager” to present.

1. We have earned the right to speak to others about our subject because we have studied the subject and we have relevant experience. It is not limited to our direct experience, because we could be drawing on the experience of others. We should be a subject matter expert with formidable knowledge on a particular topic. We have been reading expert opinion and doing research on this subject, absorbing the key points and making them relevant to the business community to whom we are speaking.

We must remain current because for sure, there will be members of our audience who are likely to be highly informed. As we know, everyone has instant access to everything today. While we are speaking, they can quickly go on-line and search for references to check facts, situations and people. We do this ourselves don’t we!

We need to draw on more than our own individual experience and that is where the exploits of others, particularly famous individuals, lends credibility to the story we are telling and the points we are making. People remember stories, but they don’t recall disjointed facts and data for very long.

2. Being excited to present because we have positive feelings about our subject is a another vital prerequisite for success. Watching the global head of a huge resources company give a presentation on what they were doing, but conducted without the slightest sense of excitement for the topic, was a brutal, ugly experience. The slides were fine, the speaking speed was good, the flow was logical, he was well appointed, his shoes were mirror shined. It was just horrible. Actually awful because it was so bland, so devoid of any passion for the subject. It was “painting by numbers” for someone thrust into the role of global representative for the company. He destroyed his personal brand on the spot and was banished to the barren landscape of forgettable speakers.

3. He failed the other test, which is to be eager to project the value of his talk to his listeners. He was wooden, robotic, boring, passionless and insipid. There were no take-aways for our businesses, no lessons from the front line, no war stories of bloody business failure and final big bonus redemption. The speech had no hero’s journey – there was just an hour of passed time, dull and devoid of all life forms instead. Let’s do our analysis of our audience and understand what will be of value to them and then provide it.

Do us all a favour – bulk up on the 3Es before you speak. And if you do, then you will project a highly positive professional image to your audience for your brand, company and yourself. And that is what we all want isn’t it!