I recently decided to jump out of my comfort zone to improve my public speaking and facilitation skills.
These are some of my learnings after having a wonderful session with Bjørn de Wildt.
Top learnings
Connect your opinion to fact. When you add weight behind your opinion with some facts, it shows why something is interesting and helps you bring in the listener.
Silence puts things into spotlight. Creates attention. Silence is awkward but when used to sandwich a point, it brings emphasis.
Deliver in package. Take a pause. Don't dump all the info in one go. Give some time to your audience to digest what you are presenting.
Colour information with intonation and emphasis.
It’s ok to replace word. It comes across organic, friendly. Especially if English is not your mother tongue.
Deliver your opinion by body language. Even with emphasis, your point may not land if your body language is not connected with it. And the biggest driver in her is eye contact.
Activate your audience at the end. Thank listeners for attention then ask for question, recommend last tips, or give a call to action.
Details make stories interesting, relatable, connectable. Don't treat details as distractors.
Include audience. Asking questions and opinion in between activates the audience and maintains their attention. Don't forget to include the answers/opinions back in your talk as a throwback.
Choose an active body presentation. Set your chair upright; Stand if you gives you more power. Take a deep breath in the beginning to get started.
If you lose track, go back. Repeat last sentence or summarise the last block.
If you feel stuck, breathe out. Generally, you tend to breathe in while presenting or are nervous but the body 'forgets' to actively exhale.