Podcast: Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Do you want to give a presentation that everyone in the room remembers?
I know I sure do.
That’s why I did one thing first after getting the invitation to give a TEDx Talk:
I picked up the phone and called Thomas Krafft.
I’d seen Thomas give a presentation about a year earlier and knew he was good himself.
I also knew about his company and the help it offers people around the world through the Presentation Boss Podcast.
I learned a ton as a result of working with Thomas. Plus, it looks like my talk really hit it out the park, setting the stage for even better talks to come.
Now… if you’re a regular here, you might be thinking…
Hang on, Anthony! You’ve been speaking for years! What do you need a speaking coach for?
Good question. Here’s the low-down:
Although I’d been writing and delivering lectures at universities around the world for nearly ten years, not to mention oodles of videos and live streams, I was humble enough to realize that this particular stage was new to me.
It’s also a huge opportunity and I didn’t want to “wing it” as I’ve done so many times before. Thanks to the help I got from Thomas, it’s been a tremendous success, though ultimately you have to be the judge of just how successful…
It’s NEVER To Soon To Learn How To Present Better
Frankly, I could have used help to become a better speaker during my earlier career too.
Speaking actually isn’t that difficult for me, and neither is writing talks or presenting based on notes.
What is difficult for everyone is being your own critic and seeing things from an outside perspective. For me, that is excruciatingly difficult… and all the more so as my meditation projects reduce the amount of thoughts in my head.
In other words, without the external feedback of an expert… just because you might be able to crank out lots of writing, memorize it and speak easily in front of a crowd doesn’t mean it’s going to be good.
In fact, without expert help, you can pretty much guarantee it’s going to be far from world class. And that’s what you want, right? To be understood, and above all, remembered.
A Good Presentation Changes Lives
You also probably want to know that you’ve touched lives too. You probably want to receive feedback like this:
Dr. Metivier,
I wanted to thank you for helping me release an immense amount of tension and negative thoughts in a manner of seconds. I was sitting on my couch two days ago with a heating pad on a massive knot in my neck. I don’t generally have physical manifestations of stress, and this was new. This knot came from stress related to the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and what that will mean for the US and the upcoming election.
My Youtube recommendations are mostly cooking or travel related and the very rare Ted talk mostly related to topics i can use in my classroom. Self-help is not a topic that I think of much or watch videos related to, ever.
Something made me stop at your TedX talk that appeared in my feed with an incomplete title “Two Easily Remembered Questions That Help Silence Negative…”
So I watched it, then watched it again. Then I tried it.
My stress and negativity released almost immediately. And then the tears started. a middle aged man, with a heating pad on his neck, bawling on the couch. It was glorious. It was so easy.
Thank you for that. Thank you so much for giving me this small tool, these questions and this mindset.
Stay Well and Stay Safe.
Chris Drake
San Diego, CA
USA
Do You Want Your Next Speech To Create An Impact Like That?
The important points in Chris’s email, and in many of the comments on the presentation video are these:
- The content was good enough to go through twice
- The content was good enough to create a response
My listener took action and got results.
There are rules that govern how and why good presentations create such results.
If you want to discover these simple rules, let me introduce you to my new “secret weapon” for giving world class presentations that reach and help positively transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of people:
About Thomas Krafft
Thomas Krafft is the co-founder of Presentation Boss, Australia’s premiere communications consulting firm, he has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and businesses refine their communication, specifically presentations, and, more specifically, the visual tools used in those communications, to share a message effectively, making it unforgettable.
Our conversation moves swiftly, as we cover such a wide range of areas of the art of public speaking, but, at the same time, it’s casual enough as a listen-anywhere, anytime topic. Thomas is a wealth of information, and in our time spent together the insight he delivered was both a challenge, and encouragement – the best of both worlds.
Having delivered hundreds of talks to thousands, with audiences big and small, he has mastered the art of balance, both in preparation (believe it or not you can be overprepared), and presentation (knowing how to truly cater to your listeners for maximum impact).
Whether you have an upcoming presentation that you’re struggling to prepare for, racing to make a deadline for that first draft of notes.
Or you want to freshen up your presentation style because your last talk didn’t go as planned.
Maybe you just want to be a more effective communicator in your everyday life with your peers.
Whatever the motivation, Thomas can help.
So press play above and listen in as we discuss:
- The secret to taking what’s inside your head, and with clarity and confidence, deliver that to an audience (very high level, I know, but it’s true!)
- How speeches are really judged and evaluated – and it may not be as subjective as you think
- The questions you must ask about your audience before even putting a pen to paper
- The real purpose of any presentation you deliver, bridging a gap, and how exactly to construct that bridge
- Where people “fall down the most,” in speaking
- How to handle “blind dates” for your audience – without context – and how to avoid them.
- Why you need to incorporate Aristotle’s Pillars of Rhetoric into every presentation you give, and why the right mix of the three elements is crucial
- Rethinking the idea of audience participation and engagement – it can take many different forms
- The reason using tools, or not using them for arbitrary reasons, can be your biggest downfall
- The pros and cons of verbatim vs. topic based speaking styles (you might be surprised here!)
- The keys to making good communication skills translatable to any medium
- How comforting a reality check can be – understanding the process that skills are learned (bring on the learning curve as it’s perfectly natural)
- Why being terrified of public speaking is okay, but the real reason overcoming it is necessary…and possible. For anyone.
Enjoy this episode and make sure to give Thomas a call before you give your next presentation!
Further Resources:
How to Memorize a Monologue: Your Quick and Easy Guide
How to Memorize a Speech Fast (Without Sounding Like a Robot)
The ancient art of giving persuasive speeches from memory is also covered in the Rhetorica Ad Herennium:
