How good a performer are you when you present? It matters as much as your content! Here's an easy way to be a more enjoyable and memorable speaker.

Be honest. When you give a presentation, who's uppermost in your mind—you or the audience? 

Sure, it's normal to want to be applauded for the job you've done. Funnily enough, though, turning your focus (and I mean almost exclusively) on listeners will deliver the success you're looking for. Even more important, the audience will take away exactly what you want them to. 

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Great Speaking Can Only Happen In Performance

The secret, of course, is in the performing. As you might imagine, that means going far beyond delivering talking points and showing a slide deck. The reason a speech is an exciting event is never solely about the content. It always has to do with the excitement created by the speaker. 

Here is a simple way to make it as easy as possible for your audience to feel the burn. It involves how you deliver the segments of your speech.

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A Good Speech Is A Collection of Mini-Speeches 

Your speech can't me a monolith, i.e., a block of spoken material on a topic that sits on the ear as a boulder may sit in one's lap. A speech like that is difficult for a listener's mind to absorb. For one thing, the human mind can only pay attention for so long before it needs variety of some kind. You can easily grasp this concept if you think about a monotonous voice: it either lulls us to sleep or practically begs us to start thinking about something else.

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It is up to you as a speaker to make sure that doesn't happen to your audience! You can do so simply by following the path your speech is laying out for you. The way your presentation does this is by providing you with ready-made places to vary the pace and the "feel" of the thing.

Speaking In Segments Helps Listeners Absorb Points

Whatever the length of your talk, it consists not of one idea (though the topic should be unified), but many. That is, the thoughts and emotions that make up what you're talking about change constantly. (To understand how winning speeches are put together, download my Free White Paper, The 7 Key Components of Successful Presentations.)

Here is an illustration of this concept in action: (A) you make a strong statement that's at the heart of your speech; (B) then you explain in more specific terms what you mean; (C) you share a personal story that brought you to this point of view. As you tell your story, you give us some background, introduce us to people involved, reveal the events that took place, then explain what it all taught you: (D), (E), (F), and (G). After that, you (H) relate that lesson to what we as an audience are going through now. Then (I), you transition into the next point, which has to do with applying that lesson in the actions we should take.

And all of that concerns only your first main point! That segment is your first "mini-speech." You can see how much variety this is offering you in terms of what you're getting across. Your second main point or segment (Mini-Speech #2), will continue the process, and so on throughout your speech. (Realistically, you will probably have 3-5 main points to discuss.)

Your Voice Is the Key to Helping Your Listeners

Now, here's the performance secret to delivering this speech . . . or any other: deliver your talk as a series of those mini-speeches. Naturally, your presentation needs to hang together in terms of a logical through-line and transitions linking the segments. But each segment lives on its own as an interesting "story" that keeps listeners engaged. How? It happens because you're constantly telling the audience: "Here comes something new and newly interesting. Listen to this!" (Learn more about speaking for leadership in my Free ebook, High-Impact Speaking: The Leader's Guide to Presenting With Integrity and Influence.) 

And believe me, audiences will listen. In this sense, you're allowing everyone to keep hitting the "refresh" button in their brain, to stay interested and with you. No boulder in their laps that they can't find a way to break apart! Listeners will find it much easier to pay attention, and importantly, to retain what you say.

Here's the easy, two-part vocal skill that allows this to happen. The key is to use it during transitions. Each time you finish a main point or segment: (1) pause, and (2) raise your vocal pitch at the start of the new segment. That's it. The combination alerts the audience that you're finished with the previous segment ("mini-speech #1"), and you're about to start on something new ("mini-speech #2"). This simple performance skill tells everyone to put the previous point to bed in their minds, and "listen to this next interesting thing I have for you."

Wow. Now you're talking!

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Gary Genard is an actor, author, and expert in public speaking and overcoming speaking fear. His company, The Genard Method offers live 1:1 Zoom executive coaching  and corporate group training worldwide. He was named for nine consecutive years as One of the World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals, and also named as One of America's Top 5 Speech Coaches. He is the author of the Amazon Best-Sellers How to Give a Speech and Speak for Leadership: An Executive Speech Coach's Secrets for Developing Leadership Presence. His book, Fearless Speaking, was named in 2019 as "One of the 100 Best Confidence Books of All Time." He is also the author of the Dr. William Scarlet Mysteries. Contact Gary here. 

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