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I admire people who can say things succinctly – speaking clearly, without rambling and without taking more time than their audience has.

I imagine that comes from my own feelings of ineptitude, when hearing myself starting to repeat myself and searching for the elegant way to complete my point of view. You’ve probably had that same feeling – unsure whether you’ve covered the information clearly enough, only to carry on, and probably making what was a bad situation even worse.

I’m learning that some myths underpin that approach:

• Saying more, is necessarily helping more.
• We need to read the minds of our audience, as to whether they understand enough or not.
• The audience will distill what I am saying down to something they can use, using their own words.

That’s right, these are NOT TRUE.

As a speaker, our role is to COMMUNICATE – and that means, we should develop the skill to influence not only how the message leaves our bodies, but also how it is received by the audience. It is not unidirectional. It is not about us knowing our material. It is about finding the best way for the audience to receive the message in a way that is meaningful to them.

I promised 5 ways that you can improve your ability to be succinct in your communications.

1. Get quotable. Distill your information to short quotes that can be written down, used, and shared beyond the event. Of all the other things you say, you can make it clear that these are the take-outs.

2. Use a Communication Framework – not too dissimilar to what Youarn mentions in the video. Try P-R-E-P. Deal with each piece of information that you want to communicate, by making your Point, providing Reasons, giving an Example, and making your Point even more succinctly (use your quote!). That might reduce your rambling!

3. Slow down and Pause. Often the reason we aren’t succinct is because we say so much and our key message is lost in thousands of other words that just aren’t needed. Slow down, think ahead, and allow pauses to make your points “stick”.

4. Ask questions. Remember that a presentation isn’t just one-way. Ask your audience for feedback as you go – little brings your answer closer to what your audience needs, than answering the questions they actually raise.

5. Practice. Make a habit of summarising what you hear, so that you get better and better at distilling information to succinct messages.

These might help you get better at sharing messages that have a greater impact with your audience.

Love to know what you think!

I am regularly reminded of the “statistic” that the majority of people have a fear of public speaking greater than that of death. Google leads me to Richard Garber’s analysis of the origins of the ‘research’.

Published in ‘The Book of Lists’ of 1977, and probably originating from ‘What Are Americans Afraid Of’, The Bruskin Report, 53, July 1973, the claim has been reviewed many times – especially when most people who cite the statistic are frequently in the Public Speaking training industry.

• STOP PRESS – DATELINE: October, 2015 Chapman University in California recently published some interesting statistics on America’s top fears. Worth a read.
  https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2015/10/13/americas-top-fears-2015/

In the end, the specific proportion of fear and its relation to the perception of death is inconsequential….

What matters, is how you approach the prospect of presenting in public!

Like many of you, I’ve felt the headache the night before an important presentation, and the perspiration as the time approached to present my pitch. I look back now, and realise the chain of events. I could feel the stress, because I wasn’t prepared enough. I could hear the audience asking tough questions. I could see that I had gaps in my logic.

Human behaviour consistently shows that when faced with something with which we are unfamiliar, we choose how we respond, based on whether we see it as an opportunity or as a challenge. We utilise a range of strategies to qualify and quantify what we face, and more strategies as we manage our progress towards or away from the event itself.

Once we realise that, we can make different choices. We can modify our strategies, so that we can approach the event in a different way.

Just think.. I could have prepared more thoroughly. I could have prepared answers for the questions that the audience could predictably ask. I could have ensured some of the audience were already on my side, before the actual presentation!

I had a range of strategies that could have prepared me and my audience for a better outcome. All I needed to do, is consider them, and utilise those strategies rather than those that led me to experience the fear, risk the embarrassment and expose my weaknesses to the audience I would really have preferred to impress.

What strategies do you use, when faced with a potential public speaking opportunity? How could you utilise better strategies to make your performance a memorable one – for the right reasons?