Public Speaking - It's All About You

By Jason Peck

I attended a seminar run by two-time UK and Ireland Public Speaking Champion, Simon Bucknall. The main focus was how to build a connection with your audience.

Obviously an article cannot do justice to the enjoyable two-hours spent at the event. And I'm not about to regurgitate the man's content here. So what I'm going to do is provide a little bit of information that you might find useful and give you some of my own thoughts.

When you're doing a speech or presentation, or if you've just done one, how many times did you use the word "you"? Once? twice? fifteen or more? If you use the word "you" more than the word "I" you are more likely to develop a connection with your listeners.

By using the word you in place of "I", you're automatically getting your audience to think about your content more and how it relates to them.

That's not to say that you can't use personal stories that use the word "I" at all. What it means is that you should give due consideration to the material that you're going to deliver and work out how it's of benefit to them. By all means use first-person stories as a way to illustrate what you're saying, but don't forget to come back to using "you".

It's hardly noticeable when it's done. You could be delivering the best presentation in the world. You could have the funniest material in the world. You could have the most amazing public speaking skills that has every graced a speaking platform. But...

If you've not connected with your audience, none of that matters.

You will lose them every time. And that's something that you don't want. You don't want your audience to be uninterested in what you have to say. What you want to do is be concerned with how well your audience is doing.

When you're doing your speech or presentation maybe think about the following:

Are you being clear enough? Do your points back up your overall message? That joke that you're using, does it tie in to what you're saying or is it completely irrelevant? Can your audience hear you? Can your audience read the information on your slides? Can you reduce the number of slides that you have?

Sometimes, you need to get out of your own way and focus on giving your audience the best you can. After all they're the ones that have paid to hear you. Or if you're speaking at your job or Toastmasters and they haven't hired you, then your audience is still important because

a) you still want to give them your best and

b) you never know if there's a guest in the audience who might be able to hire you.

c) you owe it to them to deliver memorable content

Jason Peck is a Humorist, Speaker and Consultant based in London, England. He provides empowering speeches, valuable business training and morale-boosting entertainment to businesses, colleges and private functions. Check out Pro Humorist

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