How to Hold an Audience in the Palm of Your Hand! Part 1

Having your business participate in seminars, meetings and other gatherings is an important part of the marketing process. It’s a great way of getting your company, your people and your message known. Like most things that are worth doing, seminars, and more importantly, speaking spots at them are worth doing well. And here’s the rub.

The number one disease of Australian business people, and you are probably no exception, is their inability to stand up and speak effectively. And it needn’t be so. Nobody, but nobody, has any excuse. Anybody can be a good speaker… they might not necessarily become a great speaker in the Churchillian mould, but they can become a good speaker.

A good speaker is one who can attract the audience’s attention, maintain the interest and communicate the message in a way that the audience both understands and accepts. There is only one secret to successful public speaking. It’s the magic three Ps, which quite simply means practise … practise … practise.

You can be a successful speaker if you do just that… practise whenever you get the opportunity. Most people run away from the chance to practise. They ignore situations that present themselves, such as proposing a vote of thanks or making a presentation to a team member. They don’t realise that if they were to seize those opportunities they would be well on their way to success as a speaker.

Once you recognise the importance of practice and put it into perspective, there are a few simple rules that you can follow to really get yourself on the way to better public speaking.

I’ll share one of my rules with you each week in my Monday blog, so stay tuned.