It has been a while since I was moved to tears by a presentation. Today was one such evening. The speaker is a self-made multi-millionaire who has undergone tremendous adversity before enjoying his current status.
And my training company, AdvantEdge Coaching, had the good fortune of inviting him to share - on an exclusive basis - his secrets of living an extraordinary life.
Not only was I reminded of life’s valuable lessons through his stories, I saw how he applied some of the best speaking practices that made his 2 hours presentation an unforgettable experience. Allow me to give you a low down.
This entry will be done in two parts. One centres around the strategies he adopted that made his presentation a highly memorable and inspiring one. The second part covers some of the life lessons he has learnt and I am going to give it a spin by applying them into public speaking.
1. The importance of prep work
Like a martial artist, he was disciplined and understood perfectly the importance of prep work. He came to the venue yesterday to do a rehearsal. A full 2 hours. Got his wife and best friend to give him feedback so that he can fine-tune. How many speakers actually go the extra mile to do that?
Today, he came two hours earlier to set up the place and run through his slides another time. Wow.
That’s not all. After the set-up was done and he was satisfied with the lighting and sound, he got himselfINTO THE ZONE. That’s right. He got himself into the zone. That’s what many sportsmen call it. The zone. It’s a space of serenity and focus. Nothing matters except that particular presentation. When his friends came by, they knew well enough not to “disturb” him. So there the speaker was, with his ipod, running through parts of his lines intently, and with a fierce intensity. I was impressed.
Although, his technique was opposite of what I usually do i.e. get flesh-time with my audience, you can still incorporate that into your pre-presentation phase. Here’s my recommendation. An hour before your speech - when everything is all set up - find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Run through the thoughts into your head. Clear them . And keep your mind focused on your mission at hand - What do you want to achieve at the end of your presentation? Increase your stake by reminding yourself why you are delivering this presentation in the first place and its significance.
If you need to, go listen to your specially selected music or watch a short video clip (for me, I watched my favorite speakers in action). Do whatever you need to get yourself prep and ready for the big moment - your presentation.
2. Make your presentation multi-sensory
This is one of the powerful strategies adopted by Anthony Robbins. Apparently the speaker knew about it too because he did the same too. The consequence was much appreciated. His audience - including me who was sleep deprived for the past week - was thoroughly engaged throughout the entire 120 minutes.
Let’s do a quick run through.
Auditory (hearing):
He did that very skilfully through music. Right when you enter the room, you will be greeted with high energy music that stirs up your spirit and make you want to dance. Near to the end of his presentation, when he got us to perform an act of courage (details below), he played the theme song of Rocky. And it was timely because he showed us a clip from Rocky before that. At his last slide, he played another piece of music that was highly emotional (gradual at first, intense at the end). Tied in with his conclusion about how we should DREAM BIG, he really made you want to rush out of the room and declare to the world how you want to relive your life. Cool stuff.
Visually (seeing):
Mainly through his slides. And he only used three colours. Red. White. Black. When he was dishing out key lessons, his slides were white on red. When he was sharing about some of the low points in his life, his slides were white on black. That’s what we call anchoring. This strategy helps the audience remember better and I strongly encourage you to try that in your next presentation.
He showed us a video too, from Rocky 6. Let the video speaks for itself.
Kinesthetically (doing):
This was highly unexpected yet if you think about it, this activity makes sense since he is a martial artist. He got us to write down ALL our fears on this A3 wooden board. And then near to the end of his presentation, he challenged everyone of us to break the board with our fist or palm, signifying our intention to fight through all fears. Really cool. And you should see how the ladies were apprehensive and uncomfortable. Yet the activity was also the highlight of the presentation because you see how each and everyone of the participant (there were 31 of us) came down to the stage and literally destroyed the board.
In fact one of the participants was so gungho that he went down with TWO boards. Not only did he NOT break the board, he injured the fingers of the speaker. I thought it was funny. (and yes yes, I should learn to be more sympathetic). But trust me, this is going to be memorable because one, the participant was courageous and two, the speaker showed pain which is usually unlikely in a motivational speech. At the end, the participant destroyed both boards, one at a time.
I was meant to show you the broken boards but the pictures are not with me. Will show them in the next entry.
So as you can see, the speaker’s presentation was one that feels like a Spielberg movie, with both high and low moments, with a lot of action and adventure. Now, that’s a blockbuster speech that you want to create the next time round! And it doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need to do is to get your audience to SEE, HEAR and DO something and you will already be on your way to becoming more interesting and engaging.
3. It was a story-driven presentation
His objective was clear right at the beginning. First with his speech title and second in his introduction. “I want to share with you how you can unleash your potential”. And then he immediately went on to his first story, his favorite fairytale - the one about the Thai princess.
If you were to analyze his presentation, you will realize that this story was strategic to begin with. He cleverly used this simple fairytale to set up his presentation i.e. in life, there will always be a hero, a coward and a princess (analogous to the prize). And the choice of becoming a hero or coward is up to us, which later led him to talk about the one thing that separates heroes from cowards. Both face fear but one of them face it while the other runs away from it.
And then he went on to share about his life story, centering around the numerous failures he had… from his divorce to being broke and then to him being fired from a job and etc. He later contrasted on his failures with his current successes which leads us to a question - what did he do different?
And his answer is straightforward - he never run away from his failures. In fact, he embraced them and learn from them.
Did he just stopped there? No, of course not. He went on to share about his deaf buddy, a brave individual who have every right to give up because of his limitation, but he did not. I cried at his encounter partly because he was also moved (he was very sincere!) and partly because I admire the deaf guy’s courage.
And even till the end, the speaker brought up a story, his best one. It was a story about Bunkerd Faphimai, a world champion of thai boxing.
Saw what he did? His entire presentation was essentially stringed from one story to another. And the message served as a transition to the next story and the next. The common thread of course was the objective - how do we unleash our potential. This is a structure that is definitely worth modelling, one that has proven successful and will continue to be IF YOU TELL AUTHENTIC STORIES. Remember, no one cares about stories you picked from Chicken Soup from the Soul. Your audience care more about the stories that happen in your life and the lives of people in your world. Remember that!
(Click here to explore how you can craft an engaging and entertaining story that will leave an impact in your audience)
And finally…
4. The power of silence
He was a highly energetic speaker. He paced around a lot and he speaks relatively fast. However before every important point he has to make, he will ALWAYS stop for a moment and ponder (by putting his finger on his lip). And then he espoused on the secret he has discovered or lesson he has learnt the hard way.
The momentary silence has a very powerful effect on the audience. It caught our attention and heightened our senses. If you are in the audience, you will feel the invisible force pulling you forward in anticipation for that point which you know is going to make a deep impact in you. And when he finally let you in on that particular lesson or secret, you will soak it in and the effects linger. You really got to try it to know what I am talking about. Let’s crossed our fingers that he allow me to put up the video online. And then you can watch it for yourself.
So the lesson is simple. The next time you are about to share an important point, pause for a moment. Take your time and look into the eyes of your audience. Increase the tension built up. And then let them in. I guarantee that you will be having your audience eat out of your hands! Very nice effect. Go try.
So there you go, four very powerful practices you can adopt in your next presentation to leave your audience mesmerized and inspired. Let me recap.
1. The importance of prep work
2. Make your presentation multi-sensory
3. Develop a story-driven presentation
4. Pause before every important point you make
