3 Strategies to Captivate Any Room
#talk #present #speak #confidence #authentic #success #secrets #tips #audience #action
Secret Number One
Today’s social media is fuelled by antagonism, inflicting tribal cruelty, humiliation and defeat on the other side, and being right whilst making all others wrong. And we call this… entertainment.
Please, please, please, do not accept this as normal, or as applying in any way to you and you giving your next talk! It does not.
A better version to believe in is that today’s audiences are jaded from all the broadcast polarity, spin peddled as fact, the death of actual journalism. They have had enough of the attempted manipulation of listeners and viewers with flipped language, where bad is good, good is bad and where the plain and honest positions of the players is hidden beneath layers of new speak.
Drum roll please for secret number one. Brrrrrrrr. You are not part of this. Your world is completely different. They are not out to get you. Your audience really and truly, WANT YOU TO WIN. Yes, they have the attention span of a hyper Labrador puppy, and they demand a quick succession of dopamine hits, but they truly wish for you to succeed, be comfortable, perform well and deliver your message. They are kind, intelligent people who care and wish to be informed. And to be informed by you.
Take away
You are not going in to the lion’s den. You can concentrate on transferring value, wisdom and ideas with much more confidence, knowing that the ears of your listeners are open and ready to receive. Wow.
Secret Number Two
In the 2020s, the scarcest of resources are not oil and food. They are – time and attention. This means, as long as you are clear, you will be respected and allowed to lay out your stall. This is not a gong show, where everyone, like a baying Colosseum mob, want to see blood and bone and witness you being dragged off by an angry animal or stretcher bearers. People today wish to enjoy speakers doing well.
So the secret number two is LOYALTY POINTS – This means, when you get to the point, you will build loyalty!
Yes, you only have seconds to engage and win the right to continue speaking. You can easily do this with a provocative statement, a truth about current conditions or an emotive description of a future reality. Persuasion comes in the Now – Future contrast. This is the issue X now, and if we take action Y, we can hope for a better future Z. XYZ, bish bash bosh.
Take away
When you convert post-modernist, captured or spun material into plain facts and realities, you will break through, allow the scales to fall from the crowd’s eyes, and refresh them with your self-evident or evidence-based case.
Secret Number Three
As the giants of communication fall – Newspapers, News channels and legacy media, Hollywood, and even, the mainstream political parties, intelligent and educated people are searching for something real, unspun and more reliable.
We have become jaded with attempts to manipulate us. Covid, wars and their consequent displacement of people, or the fallen idols of the BBC. All have shattered our trust in institutions and media messaging. Later revelations have uncovered the mendacious depth and volume of the many untruths that we have been subjected to. We now know of both the crimes and the cover ups, and we are not open to instantly believing the mainstream any more.
We want individuals, outside the machine to speak to us. This provides you with an opportunity. All you have to do is…be your authentic, and natural self. We crave real people saying real things. We can take flaws, imperfections and mistakes, if they are owned, admitted to, and learnt from. We believe in real.
Take away
When you boil down your case, pitch or story to its essence, this will appeal to, even the most cynical and jaded of audiences, as they bathe in the refreshing spring waters of your down to earth, no nonsense talk.
Conclusion
Your audience have pressed the reset button on receiving information. They care about you and your message, are hungry for value, answers and truths, and will connect with your human warmth and honesty, if you are prepared to reveal it. It is now up to you…
About the author
Matthew Hill is a presentation skills coach, trainer, author and speaker, helping corporate executives to uncover their hidden talents, and build competencies and effective presentation behaviours so that they (you) can become the most authentic and effective version of yourself, helping your niche audience to receive value and wisdom, and take the actions that you prescribe.
Happy to chat…
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