Getting the trust of an audience is one of the first mechanisms in public speaking that need to be built. If the audience doesn’t trust you, they won’t listen to anything you’re saying; they also won’t buy anything you have to sell. So how do you build trust?
It’s really pretty simple. The first thing you need to convey is that you’re a likable person. You’re warm and friendly, you smile a lot, and you look them in the eye. Behave as if you have a friend that is introducing you to them for the first time.
The next step is finding a commonality with your audience. If you’re speaking to an audience that is family oriented, talk a bit about your family. If this is a business seminar, talk a little about some of your experiences with business. If it is specifically a company seminar, then relate with some of the people you know in that company. You don’t have to give your life story, just a something to show you can identify with them.
Next, start talking about a common problem that your audience experiences. Make their problem one that you have to deal with, as well. This helps them to see you as being on the same footing as they are; they relate to you because you are going through the same pain as they are. Make sure that this problem relates with your seminar topic so that you can weave it into the presentation.
You need to build this trust within the first two or three minutes of the presentation. Remember these three elements for building trust:
- Be likable.
- Relate to them by finding common ground.
- Be empathetic to their problems.
Once you build this trust they will be far more receptive to your topic and will listen much more attentively. When it comes time to close, they’ll know that they a can believe what you’re saying because you have laid the groundwork for trust.
Alex is a Sydney based professional speaker who has developed a unique “speaking strategy” little used in the speaking industry to generate massive amounts of income (sometimes several millions of dollars) working as a part time speaker.
These strategies are based on real-life shortcuts professional speakers use to improve the impact of their speaking and hold audiences spellbound. Some of these shortcuts are so simple and easy, but the impact is enormous.
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