Editor’s note: This article was first published in October 2013. The figure of more than 1 billion views of TED talks and the comparison between Jobs-era and current Apple keynotes reflect 2013.
Few people give the “art” of public speaking the importance it deserves, but it’s through our communication skills that we motivate, persuade and inspire others. So learning a few techniques from expert speakers gives you extra help in succeeding as a business owner. It also makes us better salespeople and lets us give a good presentation of anything, whether we’re addressing an audience of 1,000 people or just one person.
The best speakers in the world fall into two groups:
- Politicians, who are so good that they become storytellers.
- TED speakers.
We’re going to focus on the second group, with the help of Carmine Gallo, probably one of the most experienced speakers around, who has also written a book, Talk Like TED, on nine secrets of public speaking. It’s based on the best communicators who have appeared on TED.com, whose talks have been viewed more than 1 billion times online over the years.
1. The three-story trick
When we address a large audience, we have to try to connect with everyone and make sure nobody stops paying attention. Some speakers use their 10 or 20 minutes at TED to connect with the audience through three stories. We need to make sure we connect with the audience in the first story, so you might talk about your grandmother. Everyone has or had a grandmother, and if they didn’t, they’d probably have liked to, so it’s easy to create an emotional bond through that story. The hook story in Steve Jobs’s speech was the one about his parents.
You have to make sure your audience trusts you as soon as possible. That’s why, if you start with topics that are too disconnected or complex, or that only reach a small percentage of your listeners, you gradually lose the connection, because it’s harder for people to take part mentally.
2. Communication in business
Speaking of Steve Jobs, Carmine is clear about what set this legendary businessman apart: it was his vision. Jobs’s idea was to put a computer in the hands of ordinary people, even if they didn’t know what it was. Gallo tells a story about Jobs spending a whole party talking only to children. When some of the guests, surprised, asked him why he’d spent all day talking to the kids, he replied, in essence: older people, when they see our computer, usually ask me “What is that?” Children, on the other hand, ask me “What can I do with it?”
In Jobs’s case, the secret of his success as a communicator, the way he passed that vision on to others, was showing passion, energy and confidence. Above all, if you communicate with passion, you’ll pass that passion on. If you communicate with uncertainty, that’s what you’ll pass on.
In fact, what sets Jobs’s presentations apart from Apple’s current ones is that Apple now presents phones and electronic devices. With Steve Jobs, what was presented was “what would change digital communication, what would change the way we store music and what would change the future” (Related: The Apple case: since Steve Jobs left, an iPhone is just a phone). Change the message and you’ll win over your audience.
3. What if you’re introverted or shy?
What might look like a problem at first could even be an advantage. Numerous studies associate introverts with success, and if you look around, shyness is present in great business leaders such as Amancio Ortega, Jeff Bezos and even Warren Buffett, who admitted taking courses to overcome his fear of public speaking and give better presentations.
In fact, successful people stand out for talking less and doing more, although it’s true that we need to learn to connect with people.
A shy person will never overcome their shyness when speaking to a large group; they can only learn techniques to hide it. With a smaller group, on the other hand, one technique is to find ways to get the listeners more involved, so that they’re the ones doing more of the talking.
(Related: How to be a more charismatic and persuasive leader)
We could sum up the techniques of a good speaker in three tips.
1. They stick to the rule of three. There’s a supposedly scientific explanation for this: over the course of a talk, our brain can only comfortably hold around three or four points in short-term memory. If we overwhelm our listeners with 20 different points, they’ll end up getting lost. Three is speakers’ favourite number: three advantages, three drawbacks, and so on. Nobody says, “I’m going to tell you the story of my 55 best friends.”
2. Share your enthusiasm and passion for the idea you’re explaining. Remember that you’re unconsciously transmitting everything, and your listeners, also unconsciously, are picking up everything, even the things you aren’t aware of. Above all, passion and enthusiasm are what create a connection and a bond with the listener.
3. Make the talk enjoyable, even fun. Unless you’re talking about the problems of the developing world or something serious, a measured dose of humour never hurt anyone. People remember experiences and moods. Try to make them remember your talk as a pleasant experience.
Last but not least, we’ve covered body language techniques in another article, as well as 10 words you should cut from your vocabulary when communicating.
Featured image: TEDx Vancouver, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
