What is the key to an engaging speech or presentation? Speak the language of your audience.
The whole purpose of a speech is to impart information to your audience.
And there are three outcomes to imparting that information: You educate You entertain You persuade Whichever outcome you are after (and a heck of a lot of speakers don't have a clear plan as to which it is) you need your audience to take an interest in you and your message.
A Speech Is Like A Conversation The best way to achieve this is to have a conversation with them rather than lecturing or preaching to them.
People want to feel that the speaker is talking to them.
It is almost creating that sense of "he or she is thinking exactly what I am thinking...
they share my worries, my joys, my language".
And it is on that final point - speaking the language of your audience - that I want to focus the rest of this article.
This does not mean that you suddenly need to speak "rap", with a cockney dialect or pronounce all your vowels like The Queen.
It simply means talking about the things that people in your audience talk about (or think about).
When you go on an inter-personal communication skills course, the whole focus is upon building rapport.
What works with individuals works just as well between an audience and a speaker.
Be Authentic But more than that.
It shows a bit of you.
Speak the language of your audience and you will reveal some of the authentic you.
And authenticity is a huge winner with an audience.
This is not to say that you talk about your passion for football when you hate it.
It takes incredible acting skills to speak with passion about something you loath; and normally people see through you and instead of building rapport you instantly lose credibility.
Those of you who have travelled to a foreign country will know how delighted local people are when you have the courtesy to speak their language.
Obviously as an Englishman, my language is limited and my accent a disaster but by making an effort you win friends.
The Queen's Speech This is the same with public speaking.
When Queen Elizabeth II made her historic trip to Ireland a few years ago she began her banquet speech in Irish.
The President of Ireland audibly said "wow!" Similarly, Prince William, recently started his farewell speech in Anglesey in Welsh before reverting to English.
Cheesy? False? Maybe, but I'll tell you this much; The Queen's credibility rose in Ireland after her speech.
Not just because of the messages that she conveyed but because she built rapport by deciding to speak the language of the audience.
The whole purpose of a speech is to impart information to your audience.
And there are three outcomes to imparting that information: You educate You entertain You persuade Whichever outcome you are after (and a heck of a lot of speakers don't have a clear plan as to which it is) you need your audience to take an interest in you and your message.
A Speech Is Like A Conversation The best way to achieve this is to have a conversation with them rather than lecturing or preaching to them.
People want to feel that the speaker is talking to them.
It is almost creating that sense of "he or she is thinking exactly what I am thinking...
they share my worries, my joys, my language".
And it is on that final point - speaking the language of your audience - that I want to focus the rest of this article.
This does not mean that you suddenly need to speak "rap", with a cockney dialect or pronounce all your vowels like The Queen.
It simply means talking about the things that people in your audience talk about (or think about).
When you go on an inter-personal communication skills course, the whole focus is upon building rapport.
What works with individuals works just as well between an audience and a speaker.
Be Authentic But more than that.
It shows a bit of you.
Speak the language of your audience and you will reveal some of the authentic you.
And authenticity is a huge winner with an audience.
This is not to say that you talk about your passion for football when you hate it.
It takes incredible acting skills to speak with passion about something you loath; and normally people see through you and instead of building rapport you instantly lose credibility.
Those of you who have travelled to a foreign country will know how delighted local people are when you have the courtesy to speak their language.
Obviously as an Englishman, my language is limited and my accent a disaster but by making an effort you win friends.
The Queen's Speech This is the same with public speaking.
When Queen Elizabeth II made her historic trip to Ireland a few years ago she began her banquet speech in Irish.
The President of Ireland audibly said "wow!" Similarly, Prince William, recently started his farewell speech in Anglesey in Welsh before reverting to English.
Cheesy? False? Maybe, but I'll tell you this much; The Queen's credibility rose in Ireland after her speech.
Not just because of the messages that she conveyed but because she built rapport by deciding to speak the language of the audience.
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