Being an effective public speaker will help you lead your credit union to success. Here's how to do it.
Robert Moment is quoted as saying: “Fear of public speaking can be overcome with effective public speaking tips, skills, and strategies.” My recent post on this blog encouraged you to “Develop Your Leader Voice,” pointing out that doing so will likely boost your career, strengthen your team and promote the success of your credit union. That post offered a first, most important step down the path: Change the way you speak to yourself. Let’s take a moment to consider how to accomplish that first step, before we dive into five additional ways to develop your leader voice. By "change the way you speak to yourself," I mean editing your self-talk to eliminate any words or phrases that create doubt about your ability to express yourself in public situations. For example, get rid of: “I’m not sure I know how to say this,” “I’m worried that they won’t understand or that they’ll misinterpret what I’m saying,” “I don’t like speaking in public,” and “I’m not good at this." Replace those phrases with: “I’m the only one who knows what I plan to say so I can say it with confidence,” “The audience wants me to succeed,” and “Being myself is the key to being effective when speaking in public.” Here are five more things to do to help develop your leader voice:
- Craft your messages. Determine the real objective of your presentation. Is it to persuade? Teach? Share information? Your objective will dictate the way you deliver your presentation and the way you structure your content. Invest the time to plan your communications and rehearse them, maybe even by videotaping yourself with your smartphone, and you’ll greatly reduce the natural nervousness that often leads to mistakes.
- Use simple sound bites. Incorporate sound bites or taglines throughout your presentation to reinforce your core message. Repeat these throughout your talk, and you’ll find audience members reciting them long after your presentation. When leaders use words and phrases that can be remembered and repeated, they gain impact because their team starts using their words, and the leaders' messages become more real and relevant.
- Just be yourself. Bring you to the message. Worry far more about whether you’re coming through than whether your message is coming through. If you’re coming through, the message will always come through. Leaders who communicate most effectively are always genuine and authentic. They don’t hide behind any pretense, and the audience trusts them because they are speaking on a personal level in a more conversational manner.
- Leverage the power of threes. Use three examples, three key points, or three illustrations. Threes will be memorable, provide an easy way to manage your message, and allow you to show a range of perspectives on an issue. Since most people will remember (at most) three things from any speech they hear (regardless of length), using this approach will help others get the message you are seeking to deliver.
- Use visuals you can’t touch. What I mean by that is “use vivid, detailed stories.” Sharing your personal story with your audience can help to deeply illustrate a point. It connects them with you and, because stories are memorable, it gives audience members an easy way to recall your message later.
Try these out and please comment below about how it worked for you.
Michael Hudson, Ph.D., founder and principal of CreditUnionStrategy.com, is a speaker, facilitator, consultant and executive coach. Hudson helps individual credit unions discover and implement strategy, build and sustain culture, and identify and develop leaders. Download a free copy of his ebook, 52 Speaking Tricks. Hudson has been among the executive coaches who worked with attendees during previous CEO/Executive Team Network events. Coaches will also be on hand at this year's event, slated for Nov. 8-11 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
