Becoming a great speaker takes more than just great content and charisma. Nobody said being effective had to be hard, though! From presenting on stage to leading teams to influencing friends, these five key principles will help you take the stress off of you and pay attention to what your audience really cares about. If nothing else, the first two are essential.

Based on modelling the key beliefs and behaviours of some of the most successful speakers and speeches, the “5 Maxims of Effective Communication” provide you with an outline for how to develop, perfect and present your material.

FOCUS ON YOUR < MESSAGE >

Have you ever spoken in front of an audience and felt anxious? Chances are, you fit into the 99.9% of people who have – and that’s because of where you’re directing your focus. When you’re standing up in front of people, it’s easy to feel self-conscious. While you’re speaking, you may be overwhelmed with all manner of thoughts from, “Do I look good?” to “Have I missed anything?” to “Do they think I’m bad?” to countless others.

Stress and anxiety arise through focusing too much on yourself. Energy flows where attention goes. Rather than trying to cope with stress, instead concentrate on your message; on what you want to give to your audience. What do you want people to be left thinking about when you’re done talking? What value do you want to provide? Above simply reciting facts and figures or ideas and concepts, what key point do you want people to remember?

Keep calm and stay on topic by focusing on your message. Whether you’re delivering a presentation, chairing a meeting or persuading a friend, holding on to a clear message is the best thing you can do to keep self-consciousness at bay and prevent yourself from going off on a tangent. When you’re speaking, ask yourself, “Is what I am saying contributing to my main message?” If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track; if your answer is no, consider what you need to do to bring yourself back on track.

GET INTO THEIR < WORLD >

Have you ever listened to someone and felt that they completely missed what’s important to you? Beyond being calm, confident and charismatic, the key to any act of communication is that it’s all about the people you’re speaking to. While it’s easy to focus on how you’re expressing yourself, how you feel or how you look, what it always comes down to is how you address your audience. Even an otherwise polished speaker can flop when they fail to get into the world of their audience or address their priorities – and even an otherwise tentative speaker can be met with standing ovation when what they have to say has people leaning forward in their seats.

Public speaking isn’t about your self-expression: it’s about the people before you. Audiences are interested in what’s in it for them – just think back to the times that you’ve been sat listening to presentations. The ones that made the biggest differences were ones that spoke to you and gave you something that mattered to you, often irrespective of the speaker themselves. What do they concerned about? What are their aspirations? What could you tell them that would provide meaningful new insights or open up a valuable next step?

Get into the world of your audience and direct your message to what they care about. When you tell a story, do they need to hear the full background narrative, or the key learnings? When you present a model, do they need to know its history, or its application? When you tell them about what you can do for them, do they need to know about intricate technical details, or the benefits they will provide? When you’re speaking, always gear what you say towards the mental landscape it’s going to land in.

Outcome, Simplicity, and Connection

Want to read about the other three maxims of Outcome, Simplicity and Connection? The rest of this article on the 5 Maxims of Effective Communication is coming soon.

Want to learn about how to re-engage your audience when things go wrong, how to take the stress out of practicing public speaking, or how to give superb feedback? Click here to return to My Portfolio and keep learning.