For most of us, the art and skill of public speaking are difficult to master. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld famously said “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
Jerry was correct – public speaking can be terrifying. I wholeheartedly recommend attending our public speaking class “LDR 455 – Beyond the Basics: Mastering public speaking.” For those unable to attend –or so terrified of public speaking that they are afraid to even attend a public speaking class – we at ICBM completely understand.
Fun Fact: The most profitable Dale Carnegie course is of course public speaking. For those with any experience in the corporate world, this makes perfect sense. As we have all witnessed, for those who possess a well-honed and refined skill at public speaking, ascendancy up the corporate ladder seems effortless; like a helium balloon at the county fair rising into the distance just as little Jimmy inevitably releases his tiny grasp on the red nylon string. Up, up and away it goes leaving Jimmy in tears. On the other hand for those without the skill of a trained orator corporate success often mimics the first steps of a newborn zebra, stammering and staggering, barely stable while the crocodiles lurk at the watering hole nearby. Queue more tears.
Public speaking, it seems, gives those who master it an unfair advantage. It is often observed that an obviously dysfunctional manager who is ironically good at public speaking will get promoted further and faster than a competent manager for whom public speaking has a deep and paralyzing grasp, causing words and phrases to stumble like that newborn zebra into the bloodthirsty crocodile ears of the audience.
Simply stated: to be a successful manager today, you must be competent at public speaking. It is compulsory and not at all optional.
And so for you, terrified reader, the 6 public speaking essentials are outlined and detailed below.
1-Be the Wubbie. It is often said if you want to increase sales of anything using fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is the most efficient tactic. When you speak in front of a group of people, make no mistake, you are selling. Selling your company, selling its products, selling your ideas, selling yourself, selling your most basic worthiness. If you want to make that sale you need to make your audience FEAR not hearing what you have to say. For an unfettered ride FUD is your co-pilot, gate agent, baggage handler and flight attendant on this journey. FUD snaps the brain back to lizard-mode where the adrenaline is squirting through our veins and we’re fighting for our very lives, searching desperately for a rock to crawl under. Be-The-Rock! Once your audience crawls under it, give them a soft, warm enveloping Wubbie blanket bringing them back to the safety of Momma.
2. Deliver the Sermon. When public speaking, it is best to think of yourself as an all-knowing pastor guiding the faithful away from the Devil’s grasp. Your job is to lead the flock of sheep away from the wolves. Remind your followers to recognize their current path is on a crash course heading straight towards eternal damnation, a charred black soul, or the inner circle of Dante’s inferno. Maybe all three. A gifted orator will take it a step further convincing the assemblage that these 3 pale in comparison to what will happen to the congregation if they fail to heed the warnings delivered in your sermon. Take them to the mount, burn the bush, part the seas, crucify the martyr. Do whatever it takes to make them watch the crucifixion wide-eyed until they shake and clink their remaining coins into the collection plate.
3. Own a Monkey. Public speaking can be boiled down to simple math. Simple math based on crucial information. Information: you have it and they need it. If they already had it they wouldn’t want it but since they want it, they must not have it. How do I know this? They are sitting in their seats listening to you. Their gas tanks are empty and in need of a fill-up. Time for some high-octane rocket fuel for the mind! Make them crave it and desire it way down deep in the parts where desire takes a dark turn towards the mysterious, dank corners of their mind. They’ll be willing to lose themselves if it means gaining what you have. But remember, you can’t just hand it to them without anything in return. No. NO. NO! As public speakers, we play by a different set of rules. They can’t just want it, they must prove themselves worthy of having it.
Need a metaphor for this? It is time to build a monkey-trap and catch some primate sinners. Catch them right in the act while their desire to touch and fondle the thing which you possess reaches its silver-backed apex. As the congregation will soon realize, once they grasp it with their hand, they will never release it willingly. Exchange it for part of their soul and we have a deal.
Some of you may be wondering – what is a monkey trap? Excellent question, and thanks for asking. It is a simple concept, and a real device (go ahead google it, I’ll wait). The trap is made by creating an almost monkey-fist-sized hole in a box containing a sweet-smelling delicacy no monkey can’t resist. Dates and apricots work best for monkeys, “secret” information works best for people. The monkey inserts his paw and clasps the treat but can’t remove his closed fist as it eclipses the size of the hole just as his desire for the treat eclipses the monkey’s ability to unclench his fist and let it go. Simply approach with a net – congratulations, you now own a monkey.
Use this technique with your audience. Describe the information, hint at its importance, teasing it like a feather barely tickling their palm. Lure that human monkey toward the aromatic sweetness…wait until you know it has clasped…and then WHAM, hit them with the net. Congratulations, you now own a monkey.
4: Speak the Truth. Dale Carnegie talks about getting up in front of people and speaking the truth… and of course, he’s lying to you when he tells you this. Speaking the Truth is not about Objective-truth, it is about a more relevant and meaningful goal than that: Moment-truth. The truth is: objective truth rarely exists, takes forever to locate, and is probably out of date when and if you ever find it. Moment-truth, however, is something much more useful and is all around you if you dare to look. While it only lasts for a flash, when you have it in your hand, you can captivate an audience, which is kind of the point.
Your moment-truth is defined as a near-factoid or anecdotal story that will keep an audience riveted and listening to you, and most importantly, on point. For example, Dale’s moment-truth was in convincing you there was an objective-truth you needed to share. You believed it, bought the course…and now you are reading the real truth about there not really being any. We call it a total Carnegie-Mind-F#ck. While you’ve been in your basement googling ‘how to master public speaking’ the Carnegie heirs gulp champagne on a yacht moored just off the southern coast of France. How’s that truth sitting with you now?
Summing it up: Lose Objective-truth and it is ‘no big deal’, it never existed and wasn’t useful anyway. Lose ‘Moment-truth’ and you have lost your audience – like a premature mic-drop, right out of your hands and into the toilet amongst the nasty bits. Objective and Moment truth both have their places. Save Objective-truth for ascending the 1000 steps on your Tibetan retreat into the clouds. Moment-truth is what you need when you are center stage.
5. Real Convincing. At this point, you’ve probably realized the point of Objective-truth is pointless. Furthermore, while Moment-truth may get you on the right path, wouldn’t it be interesting to really open up what you have recently learned into accelerate into the fast lane? With Real-Convincing (RC), you can. At this stage in your apprenticeship, Real-Convincing is the skill you need to fill the glaring hole in your tool belt. As a Real-Convincer you need to embrace the concept of opposites.
It is most likely that the truth the audience already knows is the near-opposite of what you’re going to tell them. Since near-opposites will nearly oppose actual opposites and attract truths and near truths in nearly the same manner, the forces at work are starting to come into focus. Furthermore, it is conspicuously evident that the more obvious the truth is, the harder your job will be to convince them the opposite-untruth does not suffer from a lack of excessive falsehoods. This is often where speaking slower and louder can be helpful. Confused? Good. Now you get the point. Confuse your audience and they will become the moth fluttering to your palm to eat the flame. Feed them clarity and pretty soon they have a belly full of Real-convincing as well.
6. Use your Pauses. Steve Jobs is well-considered one of the great public speakers of all time and Steve used pauses. All. The. Time. No one really knows why – but they worked for him and they can work for you. Sources close to Steve allegedly claim he was using those pauses – to subtly and carefully check to ensure his fly was shut. We at ICBM encourage you to do the same.
There you have it. Master these 6 simple to follow and easy to execute steps and you will have mastered public speaking. Your trajectory will be straight to the top.
All the best. DFF.