In today’s competitive business arena, being an impactful and memorable speaker is no longer a “nice to have skillset,” but an essential one. Regardless of industry or profession, being a mediocre speaker can damage your reputation, stall your career and weaken the perception your colleagues, customers, and prospects have of your products and services. Would you risk your future by leaving your audience unimpressed, bored or, worse, annoyed? Probably not – and yet, many ambitious people still take the stage ill-prepared and unwittingly clinging to out-dated beliefs about public speaking.

This article was co-written with my mother, business partner and Masters of Impact co-founder, Ilaria Vilkelis, and published in the May 2019 edition of Elite Lifestyle magazine. Check out the interactive digital publication on Issuu.com for the full article, including the “5 Vices” and “5 Habits” that every speaker needs to know.

Consider this: we have access to more knowledge and information than we will ever be able to absorb. We have busy lives and hectic work schedules, and today’s audiences are no different. When we attend a talk in person, we’re choosing to give away some of our valuable time. We expect to learn, to be entertained and to connect with the speaker on a personal level. Nobody leaves the house excited to listen to someone perform a live-reading of their busy slides and recite what’s already on their website.

From Google to YouTube to LinkedIn and beyond, we’re surrounded by such a wealth of information that the reasons for attending conferences and meetings have shifted dramatically, and, consequently, created new expectations for public speaking. Live presenting is no longer about providing information: it’s about experiencing connection, learning, sharing and networking.

There was once a time where attending your talk was your audience’s first contact with you. Today, your audience has probably already Googled and checked you out on LinkedIn before even considering meeting you. Presenting to your audience has gone from being your chance to make a great first impression to a make-or-break opportunity; it’s gone from being akin to the first day of school to the day of final exams. From your talk, your audience will decide whether they like you to the point that they’ll trust you, work with you or buy from you.

 

The 5 Vices that alienate you from your audience

There’s a call for us, as leaders who speak, to take our presenting to a whole new level of authenticity, passion and connection – and yet, as we know, old habits die hard. As speaker-coaches, we often come across five common presentation vices that alienate presenters from their audience time and time again.

Want to discover what these “5 Vices” are? Check out Masters of Impact’s official publication in the May 2019 edition of Elite Lifestyle magazine.