What are your strengths? If you’re a great storyteller, use it to your advantage. If you can tell jokes well, be sure to use them appropriately. Record your presentations, so you’ll know what strike your audience with an impact. What inspires them to respond to you and your presentation? That’s what you need to focus on doing more of. Avoid doing what you don’t do well. Even the size of your audience can inspire you to new heights of success. Begin to track all the details of the results of your speaking. When you to realize what inspires you, you’ll find that it’s easier to do more of whatever that is. Avoid what you’re not comfortable doing.
Avoid using words you’re not comfortable using your vocabulary matches your topic and that of your audience. If you plan your structure so that it is well organized, you’ll be able to control the length of your presentation. Always try to have items you can add or remove from your presentation to adjust the length in case you run long or they give you additional time.
Several years ago I attended a national speaker’s training event where they teach speakers to write out every life story they have experienced. Then edit the story to a three to five minute segment in which you can entertain the audience with laughter, inspiration, shock or other means of reaction. The idea is to be as entertaining as a stand up comic headlining in Las Vegas.
It seems extremely challenging, but once you practice and rehearse, you can develop the knack for it. The beauty of this system is you can mix and match your personal stories and develop a presentation to suit any need and any length.
Great presentations involve emotion, feelings and passion.