If you asked me about my public speaking skills two years ago, I probably would’ve claimed that I was a pretty good speaker. Since college, I had been speaking in front of audiences (actually, I spoke twice in high school). I had been a member of an advanced Toastmasters club since 1998, even making it to the final round in the district tournament one year… which is a pretty big accomplishment in our district. Companies paid me to speak at their events – I must be pretty good, right?
Well, maybe I was pretty good. However, the difference in my performance between today and two years ago is gigantic. My performance today is much, much stronger. Even though I had spent over 20 years behind a lectern, getting feedback and coaching from other talented speakers, and watching film after film of my performances, there is one thing I’ve done differently since about the beginning of 2015. This one thing has made all the difference, and it’s our last strategy of the week…
Strategy #3 to becoming an effective public speaker: Practice, practice, practice.
Before last year, I never spoke more than eight times in one year. In the last 12 months, I’ve spoken in front of an audience 23 times, for a total of more than 3,000 people. My presentations have ranged between 40 minute keynotes to a three-hour seminar. That’s a lot of practice, but the real reps have come from the 74 webinars I’ve delivered in the same time frame. My webinars last 40 – 50 minutes and have between 35 and 90 people in attendance. Webinars are different, but talk about cross training! The skills I’ve acquired in developing content for webinars have taken the quality of my live presentations to another level. You can’t fake bad content in a webinar.
So, how can you practice? Practicing is easy for me – it’s my job. Your job is to sell technology and services. Below are a few ideas:
• Join a local Toastmasters club. Check out a few clubs before committing. Most won’t be for you, but you’ll find one that’s perfect.
• Practice your company’s introductory presentation every week in front of your boss. Ask her/him to evaluate you every week. If you’re ambitious, create different presentations for your different vertical markets or product lines.
• Ask your fellow sales people to be part of it. When you evaluate others, you’ll learn a ton.
• Pick the same time every week to conduct these practice sessions, and put people on the schedule ahead of time (only if they want to, of course).
• See Tuesday’s post … speak in public whenever you can.
If you’ve read this far, then you understand the power that public speaking can bring to you and your career. However, what do you think about the possibility of you practicing your skills on a regular basis? Will it happen? What do you need to do to overcome the obstacles that will arise?
