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Discover The Three Secrets of Great Speaking

As a professional speech coach, I have helped hundreds of people improve their speaking skills. Success boiled down to knowing, learning and practicing three secrets of great speaking. Read this article, observe other speakers and practice these three secrets. You'll be on your way to becoming a great presenter.

Secret # 1 Talk from Your Listeners Point of View
When you talk, how long do you think your listeners are really listening? Probably not for as long as you would like them to. Watch their eyes as you talk to them. Not long after you start talking, do their eyes start to shift maybe lower left or right or upper left or right? This shift is likely a clue that they tuned you out. They might be thinking of what they want to say back to you or worse yet, they may be daydreaming.

The cause of selective listening and daydreaming is called The Speaker's Point of View. When you are talking about what's important to you you are talking from your point of view, not from your listener's point of view. If you talk about what's important to them, your listeners will stay tuned in and listen longer. If not, they will tune you out and start thinking about what's important to them. Make them and their interest the center of your attention.

Secret #2 Dynamic Delivery
Nothing will bore listeners faster than someone who talks in a monotone. The word dynamic is all about rapid changes. And when applied to the way we talk, a dynamic delivery means changes in the volume of your voice and the speed of your words. The impact on your listeners can be quite dramatic particularly when you make these changes to make your words meaningful and memorable.

One part of a dynamic delivery that you can start using right away is the pause. Try pausing either before or after words to make your point. Watch what happens in your listener's eyes and face when you pause. A well placed pause will catch their attention and they will soon re-engage.

Start paying more attention to how speakers use a dynamic delivery. The great ones nearly always do. The boring ones never do.

Secret #3 The 5 by 5 Rule
Scientific and technical presenters typically have brilliant minds and think great thoughts, but many of them are boring speakers. Why? One main reason is that instead of presenting from their listeners point of view and speaking dynamically, they depend on over-crowded slides to deliver their message. Worse yet, many of these otherwise brilliant people turn their backs to their audience and read from their slides like they'e reading from a teleprompter. There's nothing worse than the awful droning sound of someone monotonously reading lifeless words from a script.

The solution is the third secret to a great presentation. It's called The 5 by 5 Rule. Most presenters depend on slides to deliver their message instead of relying on their own skills as a presenter. Use your slides to highlight your points, not make them for you. Personally, I'm convinced that most presentations could be compelling and dynamic without using slides at all.

If you must use slides, use Secret #3 - the 5 by 5 rule. Simply put it means no more that five words per line and 5 lines per chart. That's it. Of course make sure your colors are coordinated and your backgrounds are simple so they don't compete with your words. Finally, use pictures that compliment your message rather than clipart which can look amateurish. Remember, only use slides if you absolutely must. When you do, then use the 5 by 5 rule.

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