Do you sweat over the beginning of every speech?
Have you wondered how to come across as confident when you feel like there’s a big wall between you and the audience?
What if I could give you 1 simple tool that would have you create instant connection with any audience?
So the first thing I do when I work with a speaker is to ask them how connected they are with themselves, first. We can’t really connect with other human beings effectively unless we are in touch with ourselves.
The fastest way is to sit quietly for 5 minutes, close your eyes, and take deep breaths. Just notice your thoughts as if they are clouds going by in the sky. Just notice and then bring your focus back to your breath.
Next, pause and reflect on your purpose, your reason for speaking. Remember how you’ve helped your clients in the past and what a difference you made for them. If you haven’t had clients yet, think about the friends, co-workers, and family members you’ve helped.
Now you are connected with yourself and your mission.
I go more into getting connected with your “why” here:
Next, now this is for if you’re speaking at a live event:
when you are getting close to going on, you’ve got to get a read on the audience before you walk onto the stage.
You want to read and match their energy.
If they’re tired or checked out, you want to have energy but you don’t want to “attack” them with overpowering energy. More about this later.
If you’re about to do a shoot, you just need to focus on where the camera is, and imagine
you’re talking to one person, about one problem and then one solution.
Keep it simple.
After you’ve started out with your opening part and introduced yourself, this is the perfect time for a quick story. This is where I always put in an INSTANT CONNECTION STORY in order to get related to my audience and so that they can see a slightly vulnerable part of me.
It’s almost like we’re on a first date at this point in the talk. The audience and you (the speaker) have just met and are sizing each other up.
This is NOT the time to get too heavy. This is the perfect time to tell a short story about an event or person in your life that is specific to you and also have universal appeal to your audience.
In other words, it’s something that a majority of them can relate to as well.
For example, one of my favorites is the story about my cruddy car in college.
I worked my way through college with no financial support from my family or with any financial aid, so money was tight. My aunt gave me a car to help. It was a Ford Escort, which was not a great car to start with, but it was in bad shape by the time I got it.
There was no air conditioning and it was summer in Texas….HOT! The windows had the old handles that you cranked and one window would barely go down and the other window would barely go up.
The seats were made of that red plastic that came off on your skin when you sweated, so I always had big red steaks on my legs after I peeled them off from when I got stuck to the pleather seats because I was sweating so much.
I had to gun the gas every time I was sitting at a light in order to keep the car from dying at every light.
And there were holes in the floor boards so I got dizzy if I looked down and saw the pavement whizzing by as I drove.
They stole it one night, but it was so yucky, they brought it back the next day.
(Ok, so that last part was a joke, but you get the idea!)
Now I really act this out when I do it live, and what’s fun is that every time, the audience has put themselves back into their worst car that they ever had to drive while I am telling my story.
I show a bit of vulnerability about being so broke in college and with little support.
But more importantly, the audience has gotten related to me and they now see me as a human being they have something in common with. I’m not just the expert on stage now. They have nodded their heads in agreement and because we’ve all shared a common human experience together.
That is the power of the Instant Connection Blueprint.
So when you work on your own connection story, you’re going to paint the picture of a moment that was specific to you but so that they can put themselves into their own (movie in their mind) or (cruddy car from college) or whatever while you talk about yours…..
Stay tuned and I’ll share my favorite topics list with you next time, so you can work on your own Instant Connection Blueprint!
Warmly,
Elaine Williams
Your Captivate the Crowd & Camera Coach
Click below for more about your purpose:
