4 Tips To Master Public Speaking

Last week, I shared our Rugby Bricks AI content strategy at Context X with 100 of Aotearoa's leading marketing and business minds.

With an admittance price of $1,449.50 and knowing many successful heads would be in the audience, I was experiencing more than a few pre-speech jitters leading up to the event.

But I wanted to crush it. So, to design my talk, I enlisted the help of a book called Brain Rules by molecular biologist John Medina. The result was, as voted by attendees, the most engaging presentation at the conference.

Here's what I did to calm my nerves and keep my audience's minds eye on content AI for 40+ minutes.

1. Thank people for coming as they walk into the room.

It sounds a little cheesy, but it reduces the "crowd" to a room of individuals in your head, which is more approachable.

2. I call my audience to action by saying this verbatim:

"It's more fun for everyone if we're all involved, so when I ask a question, I get people to vote with their hands up or down. It would make me feel better and less nervous if you participated. So if I ask a question, please throw your hands in the air, and if I stare at you, please either smile or feign interest in what I'm saying - both work.”

This gets people engaged with you from the outset and makes them more willing to interact. 

3. Attention reboots.

Attention peaks at the start of a presentation and begins declining after 10 minutes. So, every 10 minutes I get everyone to stand and participate in an activity that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

Here’s a couple:

• Guiding people through a physiological sigh 

• Getting people's attention firing by getting people to stare at a blank white screen for 45 seconds (I stole this from Andrew Huberman's learning protocol)

• Using two QR codes to get the audience to interact with their phone and watch something on their screens for 10 seconds 

4. I structured each 10-minute block the following way:

Context: What led me to the story I'm about to share. (1 minute)

Story: The problem I faced, how I solved it and the emotions I experienced.

This is like a micro version of the hero's journey. A Hollywood tested, and proven method to draw in an audience. The more emotions you can evict from your audience the more they’ll remember about your presentation. (8-minutes)

Lead: Lead into the next block with what you'll discuss in the next ten-minute block (1-minute)

Notes:

This was my 27th public speech of sorts, and while the topics and structure have changed, one thing has stayed the same. And that's the importance of stories.

Above all else, storytelling is the key to engaging an audience and creating a lasting memory. The best presenters tell the most engaging stories, and that takes practice (aye, Allen).

The Secret To A Good Elevator Pitch

Suppose I did my job right last Thursday.

The first thing those marketers and business owners will think of when they want to start using AI for content marketing is me and my marketing agency, K&J Growth, which will inevitably lead to new business for us.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to hop on stage or cares to. But we all get many chances to share our wares during the interplay of life.

And that's what I want to talk about here - the elevator pitch.

Whether you're at a conference, a friend's BBQ, or even sitting in the Koru lounge, like I was when I met Matt Farrar, founder of Davanti (8+ figure business) and we chatted shop. You want to come prepared.

But despite what ego and greed would have you believe, the goal of these quick moments isn't to sell or impress; it's to be interesting. Interesting enough that this person will recall you when they need whatever it is that you do or sell.

In these moments, most people default to something like:

I'm a real estate agent for ____, and I've been selling homes for 21 years. I've listed over 1000 homes… That's a little exaggerated, but you get my point.

Nobody cares.

However...

I just sold the homestead over on 21 Argyle Street, you know, that was where the music video for ____ was filmed. I'm an agent for ____. We sell character homes to an exclusive list of private buyers - I'm actually on my way to meet ____; they're looking for a ____ house. Do you know someone selling?

Might pique a little interest.

A simple way to put one of these together is to follow the AIDA framework (which we wrote about here).

AIDA is an acronym for:

A - Attention

I - Interesting

D - Desire

A - Action

Attention: Get the reader's attention with something catchy

Interest: Tell them something interesting, like a random related fact.

Desire: Make them desire whatever you are selling

Action: Tell them what they need to do to get that

Grab people's attention, make them interested in what you're talking about using logic (fact), then desire what you're talking about (with emotion) and lead them to take action.

Put one together - test it on a few mates - get feedback - iterate.

Eventually you’ll have a networkers dream - a ready-made pitch delivering a stream of leads.