8 Points of Public Speaking Presentation
Public speaking is one of the best ways for people to meet you and ‘taste’ your energy as you share important information, key insights and/or strategies to enhance people’s experience of life. While it is a worthy investment to work with a public speaking mentor (and I can point you in that direction if you wish) for such things as polished body language, using subtle cues to engage your audience, eye contact and more, following is a way to lay out the content of what you want to say in a way that should keep your presentation flowing and your audience interested.
1. Use An Attention-Getting, Benefit-Laden Title
Example: Five Keys to Understanding Your Life With Extreme Clarity
2. Use An Attention-Getting, Curiosity-Generating Opening
Examples:
Engaging Questions – How many here would like to understand your life with extreme clarity? And how many here would like to understand your life with extreme clarity in the next thirty minutes?
Quote – Buckminster Fuller said “Your true purpose will forever remain obscure.” Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about life clarity…
Story (humorous, philosophical, true) – There is a Sufi story going back generations about a man who lost his keys. He searched for them everywhere outside his house, and when a neighbor asked what he was doing, he explained that he lost his keys in his house, so he was searching for them outside. When the neighbor asked why he was searching outside when he lost them inside, the man said it was because it was lighter outside. And that is how many of us choose to learn our life lessons…
Statistics – It’s been said that 90% of people who are in the last days of their lives are filled with the regret of not understanding their lives, and that they would do it over again much differently if given the chance.
Declaration Statement – My intention for you today is that you walk out of here with at least one a-ha, extreme clarity moment of blinding insight that will change your life forever.
3. Welcome Your Audience – State the Title of Your Presentation
Example: Welcome to the Five Keys to Understanding Your Life With Extreme Clarity.
4. Thank the Audience for Attending
This is where you would also acknowledge and thank your host/ess for inviting you to be there.
Example: Thank you for being here today – you have a lot of other places you could be and I value that you are choosing to be here.
5. Summarize What You Will Be Presenting
Example: Today we’re going to be covering quite a bit of information. We’ll start with the basics – the definition of clarity as it relates to your life, why you don’t have it and what it will mean to get it. Then we’ll talk about the five keys that could unlock extreme clarity in your life. And we’ll take a few minutes to share the insights that you experience right now, here, today.
6. Establish Credibility and Earn the Right To Speak With Your Personal Story
Example: A little more about me and how I’ve come to earn the right to talk with you about this today… I grew up in the Midwest following ‘the rules’ – working hard, getting good jobs, contributing my best to what I did, living ‘between the lines’ of what other people expected of me. And I got predictable results… I got promoted, I had a decent life, and I was miserable. But I didn’t know WHY. I was struggling. In fact, I’d been struggling a long time. I was mucking around in repetitive patterns that were causing me trauma, I wasn’t appreciated and I wasn’t happy. Fast forward a couple of decades through pain and punishment and suffering later… by now I knew I was unemployable and was working for myself. And I realized that my best solution for others was to distill the process by which I got myself out of that situation. I wanted to save people time and energy and, frankly, pain. So I took a hard look at my life to ‘reverse-engineer’ myself, and understood that there were five pivotal turning points that I used to create new results. I’m proud and ecstatic to share with you these five keys for extreme clarity so you can use them for yourself.
7. Substantive Content
There are two aspects to presenting your content / solution; present the problem they have and the consequences of that problem (the pain), followed by your solution and the benefits of your solution. You can do it one problem / one solution, then second problem / second solution OR list all the problems followed by all the solutions.
Example:
Problem / Suffering – When your life isn’t working, it can show up in many forms, including a chaotic environment. You can’t find what you need, it feels like chaos when you are in that space, disorganization seems to creep into other areas of your life and you just don’t feel good.
Solution / Benefits of Solution – Your environment is a big key to what’s happening for you because your environment is a reflection of your internal state of being. By taming your external environment, you are soothing your spirit and setting yourself up for success. You can think more clearly, feel more creative and really tap into fresh energy and that has a big impact on what you are able to accomplish on a daily basis.
8. Conclude with Power
a) Summarize the benefits given in your presentation.
Example: Today we’ve defined how extreme clarity can make a significant difference in your life, as well as five keys to creating clarity that you can use right now, and you’ve had a chance to already gain new insight as to why you are getting the results you are getting in your life.
b) Invite them to next step through “call to action”
Example: If you’d like to continue this exploration into your life clarity, I’m offering _______ (buy this book, class, workshop, teleseminar, audio program, etc.). (I’ll be at the back of the room, you can contact me at, the website is…, etc.)
c) Thank the audience
Example: Once again, thank you for spending your time with me today. It’s been my pleasure to share with you my passion.
d) Leave them with a memorable statement (see Networking Introduction section)
Example: Remember, you can choose to have clarity in your life or life will make you look again – the hard way!