Speak with power: Confident public speaking the easy way

The late Ahmad Deedat once said that we wouldn’t know if you’re a genius if you don’t stand up to speak.  Unfortunately many are in mortal fear of public speaking. It’s said that globally, people fear public speaking more than death.  The American comedian Jerry Sienfield joked about this by saying that this statistic means […]

The late Ahmad Deedat once said that we wouldn’t know if you’re a genius if you don’t stand up to speak. 

Unfortunately many are in mortal fear of public speaking. It’s said that globally, people fear public speaking more than death. 

The American comedian Jerry Sienfield joked about this by saying that this statistic means that during a funeral, one would prefer to be in the casket than doing the eulogy.

Therefore, on account of this fear, many actually die without us benefiting from their good ideas. 

However, in my experience, the biggest stumbling block to public speaking is lack of preparation. If you’re well prepared you can overcome fear and even shyness to a large extent. If you’re not prepared, even a genius is likely to fumble. 

How can you ensure that you’re always prepared? The trick is to have a structure for your talk. With a structure, you can get ready for any presentation very quickly. 

Here, we are going to use one as suggested by Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, in his book “TED Talks”. We’ll also take some insights from other books such as Carmine Gallo’s “Talk Like TED.”

First step: Connect with the audience by getting personal 

People wouldn’t open up their hearts to you easily, especially when you’re trying to change their perspective. One way to get them to open up is to reveal your vulnerability and make eye contact, then they would let their guards down. 

How do you reveal your vulnerability? Sometimes we like to hide the fact that we’re nervous by smiling or blushing; that blushing actually helps to connect with people because they would know that you’re not perfect, just like them. 

Anderson wrote:

“Walk into the light, pick out a couple of people, look them in the eye, nod a greeting, and smile. Then you’re on your way.”

This will not only make the audience let their guards down, but it would help you to also do away with the nerves. 

Further, you can explain even the most complicated ideas by following a five-step process. 

– Find the audience’s starting point

– Spark curiosity by getting them to ask “how?” Or “why”

– Go over the concepts one at a time

– Use metaphors 

– Use examples 

Now let’s go over them one at a time. Say I want to explain the process of myelination – how expertise is achieved. 

One: start from the audience’s starting point 

It’s good to know what your audiences already know so that you can start appropriately and not bore them with what they already know or lose them with concepts with which they are not familiar. 

I could say:

“I’ve only 20 minutes for this presentation, but it is nothing compared to the thousands of hours people need before they achieve expertise.”

Two: spark curiosity, get them to ask “why,” “how “

You would know you’ve sparked curiosity when the audience start asking questions. 

I could say:

“We all admire talented people and also desire to have the excellent skills they possess. But do you know that such skills are acquired over time through what is called deep practice that involves a lot of mistakes? 

“Such practice can be ugly and full of frustrations. We’ve heard (Erickson) that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to achieve expertise, although some have disputed this.   

Yet, what’s not in doubt is that one needs a lot of practice and a good deal of hours to achieve expert level performance.”

Three: Go over the concepts one at a time

Now I explain the concepts without flooding the audience with jargons. 

I could say:

“Deep practice happens when a learner challenges himself with specific (challenging) learning goals. And as he practices, he receives regular feedback, usually, through a coach. 

“But what happens during deep practice?

“When we learn a skill our brain transmits signals specific to that skill. The skill signals pass through a coating called myelin. In the beginning of learning the skill, the myelin sheath is thin and therefore, the signals travel slowly. 

“As the learner engages in deep practice (makes mistakes, receives feedback and tries again) regularly, the myelin sheath keeps getting thicker and therefore the signals travel faster. The more you practice, the thicker the sheathing and the faster the signals travel. 

“The faster the signals travel, the better you get at the skill and performing it becomes smoother. “

Four: use analogy 

Here I would then use an analogy that everyone would understand. 

I could say:

“Myelin sheathing is like an electric cable. Inside it is a naked wire and around the wire is plastic coating to protect the wire so that it can transmit electrical signal without interruption. That plastic coating performs similar function with myelin. And the life wire is the synapse that carries the signals.”

Five: use examples 

Now I use clear examples so that the presentation would be memorable. 

I could say:

“The brain signals transmitting the dribbling skills of Messi are likely to be passing through very thick myelin sheathing. What about the striking skills of Ronaldo or the tennis skills of Serena Williams?”

Conclusion 

TED is where geniuses or people who present like geniuses share their ideas. The formula we discussed here is the framework with which TED officials prepare them (the speakers) for such talks. 

The good news is that you too now have the power to present like them.