Casey Brown at TEDx Columbus Women

"Know Your Worth and then Ask for It"

In an eight-minute presentation, you need to grab the attention of your audience, establish rapport and deliver your message clearly.

Casey Brown succeeded in meeting those three criteria in this presentation. Watch her presentation and notice these powerful techniques in action.

Grab Attention

Notice how she grabbed attention with the first words of her opening. “No one will ever pay you what you’re worth.” (pause) Then she repeats the phrase. After another pause, “They’ll only pay you what they think you’re worth.”

All of that was delivered with a calm and clear manner with a (I’ve got a secret) smile.

That opening grabbed attention, and piqued the curiosity of the audience to listen for more. That’s the purpose of an effective opening. There were no wasted words in her opening.

Establish Rapport

The best ways to connect with your audience are to demonstrate that you understand them and that you are like them.

She was speaking to a predominantly female audience. She pointed out that women are generally underpaid compared to men. She quoted statistics to back up that statement. She identified herself as a female business owner and single parent of two beautiful daughters. Those statements are likely to connect with the women in the audience and many of the men.

Most importantly she used the one powerful technique to connect with the audience – she confessed that she was flawed and afraid. She was hesitant to take her own advice. Many of us appear wiser when we give advice but we often seem to ignore our own advice.

Deliver the Message Clearly

Her message was “You’ll only be paid what they think you’re worth. That was in her opening statement and repeated in her close.

She illustrated that concept in her personal story and in a story from one of her clients.

Casey Brown delivered on these three presentation criteria. Watch the video below.

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How to position your hands for greater influence...

Allan Pease - TEDx talk on how to position your hands to encourage people to work with you... It.s worth watching the whole video.

 


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David Christian at TED - well delivered talk - with passion, imagery and purpose.
Finishes with an emotional close.


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Danger of a Single Story - TED talk video - passionate speaker

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Pause More - Say Less to Achieve More Drama

In this TED talk, sculptor Reuben Margolin, exhibits his work and his perspective. Notice the extended pauses, short phrases and powerful visuals.


A presentation is about conveying your message. It's not about filling every second with you talking.

Pause more often and longer when you speak.

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Tell a Personal Story and Tell it Well - opportunities will rush up to you

Richard Turere, a 12-year-old Masai boy from Kenya invented a simple yet effective device to keep the lions from eating the family herd of cows that he was charged to watch.

Because of the success of that device he was asked to conquer a bigger fear - to speak in public at a TED event. He was a shy 12-year-old boy asked to speak in front of hundreds of people. English wasn't his first langauge and he was travelling to a distant land for the first time in his life.

Watch this TED video to hear his story and more importantly learn from the story telling techniques that he used very well. You probably need to watch this video more than once because it will be difficult to notice techniques while you are entranced by his story.




What did you notice?

He employed a conversational tone - no preaching or bragging.
He spoke without notes. That's one benefit of telling a personal story. You lived it. You simply need to replay the memories.
He spoke slowy.
He set up the problem and importance quickly.
This was a life and death issue.
He allowed his emotions to show.
He revealed his thoughts, struggles and joy.
He used only a few images that aided his story.
He paused when the audience laughed. 
He smilled.


You can read the story behind this TED talk as told by Chris Anderson, Curator of TED in this article How to Give a Killer Presentation on Havard Business Review.

The article also provides excellent tips on giving a TED talk or business presentation.



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Watch the Body Language of Magician Marco Tempest

Perhaps magicians understand and illustrate body language best of all stage performers. When you want to improve the way you look during your presentation, you might be wise to observe a master magician perform. Why? Because they depend heavily on the messages that their body movements convey to support the perceptions of the audience.

Watch and enjoy this TED talk by illusionist, Marco Tempest as he talks about Augmented Reality. Notice how every body movement seems to enhance his performance and strengthen the effect. That's what your body language should do during your presentation. Instead many business presenters ignore the impact of their body language which often distracts or annoys their audience.

To get the full impact of Marco Tempest's body language watch at least part of this presentation with the sound off.

The second thing you will notice is the powerful use of visuals.



PS: As a presentation coach, the one thing that Marco Tempest might change in this presentation is to include a stronger closer line - instead of simply "Thank You".

He missed the opportunity to reinforce his message in his close.


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