Webster: Different people have different preferences for the form of speaking they feel comfortable with. I’m explaining this because it’s important for a speaker to figure out what forms of speaking are the most consonant for them. If you really like talking and interaction with somebody but your communications team constantly puts you up as a talking head, your dislike for that format is going to show. You simplify it to a point where people can actually process it. That’s true if it’s a single thing – not 78 slides over the course of 45 minutes. If I don’t have a slide to show you then I have to think about how to talk about this in a way that you can picture it in your head. The brain cannot process that point A is significantly more important than point B because visually they are weighted equally. If you have a story, try to add sound to it or have a mental image illustrate a point. In one of my talks I explain the concept of cognitive dissonance. Webster: People fear the physical reaction they experience on stage.
Tamsen Webster, executive producer of TEDxCambridge and public speaking strategist, says stage fright leads marketers to miss huge opportunities to differentiate themselves.
Consider that 68% of B2B marketers use in-person events and 58% use webinars and webcasts as part of their content portfolio, according to CMI’s 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. And roughly one-third call events “critical to success” in 2017.
Now read on for practical tips plus a big dose of confidence to quell even the most extreme public-speaking jitters.
CCO: Why is public speaking so important?
Webster: Nobody else can be you. When you speak, you’re the only one who can speak. Other people can write for you. Other people can produce content for you. Nobody else can speak for you. When it comes to finding your niche, it’s an unparalleled opportunity for others to understand what makes you an individual (or what differentiates your organization). What your business stands for, what you stand for, how you interact with people, how you hold yourself, how you present that information … all of it speaks volumes going way beyond the words you use.
CCO: What if you don’t have great speakers in-house to represent you?
Webster: Any well-crafted piece of spoken communication can overcome fault in delivery. A lot of people focus on how smooth or polished somebody is in their delivery, and they think that’s the thing that makes them effective. Entertaining does not equal effective. Comfortable doesn’t equal effective. Effective means saying something that can directly benefit another person and explaining how to act on the information. Your skill set enables this, not your “gifts” or “talents.” Of course there are things that people can do to improve their delivery. Delivery weaknesses are fixable except one: Not believing what you say.
Get somebody to speak about something they’re passionate about, or something they believe deeply in, and they’re wonderful.
CCO: For someone who’s inclined to be jittery or who isn’t experienced, are there certain formats that work best?
Webster: Different people have different preferences for the form of speaking they feel comfortable with. There’s a word I love: consonance. It’s a synonym for congruent or integrity, but I like it because it’s the opposite of dissonance. Dissonance happens when we’re not comfortable with something that we’re saying – and our audience feels this. I’m explaining this because it’s important for a speaker to figure out what forms of speaking are the most consonant for them. If you prefer to lecture, seek out that type of opportunity. If you relish a back-and-forth conversation, look for that format. If you are best when you are answering questions, seek that out. When organizations have a call for speakers, suggest another format if you are not comfortable with what they describe. It doesn’t mean they’ll always accept it, but you can at least try building on your own strengths.
If you really like talking and interaction with somebody but your communications team constantly puts you up as a talking head, your dislike for that format is going to show. Try to get rid of that barrier to good communication.
CCO: What advice can you offer to improve your visual delivery?
Webster: If there is visual support, you should prepare it last. Any great talk should be crafted in such a way that slides are not necessary. I believe that wholeheartedly, 100%. Whatever you want to say, you must create the talk as if you didn’t have visual support. I’ll get to what some of those creative things can be, but here’s why that’s so critical.
Technology fails. If you are reliant on your slides to deliver your message, you don’t even need to be there in the first place. This is an irreplaceably great opportunity for you to be in front of other people and uniquely you … and that’s terrifying for people, which is why they like to hide behind slides. Also, because technology fails, always have a handout at the ready. It can save you if your slides go dark.
If you plan your talks as if you didn’t have any visual supports two things happen. One, you automatically simplify the talk. You simplify it to a point where people can actually process it. We put so much information into our slides that we are killing people’s ability to absorb any of it. We like to bury ourselves in these statistics that visual information…
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