Do you want to become a better public speaker? What are the most important principles of public speaking that can help you master the craft?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a strong public speaker is one of the most powerful talents you can possess. In his book Talk Like Ted<\/em>, keynote speaker and business communication expert Carmine Gallo lays out nine principles of public speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep reading for Carmine Gallo’s principles of public speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Effective public speakers can captivate their audience with new ideas and revolutionary concepts, inspire people to try new things, and even influence people\u2019s opinions. According to communications coach Carmine Gallo, the key to becoming a good public speaker is applying nine key principles of public speaking, including speaking with passion, incorporating a shocking moment, and presenting something new to your audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gallo formulated his nine principles of public speaking after watching hundreds of successful TED talks. His first six principles of public speaking address the content that you should include in your speech or presentation. The final three address the logistics of preparing and delivering an effective talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure that the subject you\u2019re going to talk about is something you feel enthusiastic about. For example, if you\u2019re asked to give a presentation about one sale you\u2019ve made this month, discuss the sale that excites you the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choosing a topic you\u2019re passionate about is important for three reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, you may be forced to speak on a topic that you don\u2019t feel passionate about\u2014for instance, if your boss asks you to give a presentation on a prescribed subject. In such situations, don\u2019t try to<\/strong> fake passion. <\/strong>People are good at discerning whether passion is genuine or not, and when they realize you\u2019re faking, they\u2019ll distrust what you\u2019re saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead,<\/strong> frame the topic in a way that <\/strong>does <\/em><\/strong>excite you and appeal to your passions. <\/strong>For example, if your passion is bringing added efficiency to your workplace, and you\u2019re asked to give a presentation on a piece of dull accounting software that you don\u2019t really care about, focus your presentation on how efficient the software is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using storytelling is one of Gallo’s nine principles of public speaking. Incorporate at least one of the following three types of stories<\/a> into every speech or presentation you give:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Including stories in your speeches and presentations is important for a number of reasons: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make your story exciting enough to keep your audience listening by incorporating these five attributes into the narrative: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNew\u201d content can take two possible forms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presenting something new to your audience capitalizes on the human brain\u2019s love of learning new things. According to neuroscientists, when we learn something new, the brain releases dopamine\u2014a hormone that makes us feel good. <\/strong>Because this dopamine rush<\/a> is so pleasurable, people constantly seek out ways to replicate it: In other words, they look for sources of new knowledge. If you provide this knowledge during your talk, you\u2019re more likely to keep people interested in what you\u2019re saying.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, because what you\u2019ve said has made your audience feel good, they\u2019re more likely to be receptive to you and your ideas. They\u2019ll link what you\u2019re saying with feeling positive, and they\u2019ll respond with positivity in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presenting something new to your audience capitalizes on the human brain\u2019s love of learning new things. According to neuroscientists, when we learn something new, the brain releases dopamine\u2014a hormone that makes us feel good.Because this dopamine rush is so pleasurable, people constantly seek out ways to replicate it: In other words, they look for sources of new knowledge. If you provide this knowledge during your talk, you\u2019re more likely to keep people interested in what you\u2019re saying.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, because what you\u2019ve said has made your audience feel good, they\u2019re more likely to be receptive to you and your ideas. They\u2019ll link what you\u2019re saying with feeling positive, and they\u2019ll respond with positivity in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, it\u2019s necessary to include widely-known facts or opinions in your speech or presentation\u2014for instance, to provide background information before you move on to your main idea. To avoid boring your audience with this old information and consequently losing their attention, add novelty by packaging it in a fresh and innovative way. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, an executive at SanDisk packaged old information (specifically, data about the popularity of high-capacity storage cards) in a new way by incorporating it into a story about his love of photography and need for such storage himself. This approach was so novel that his audience either failed to recognize they were being presented with old information or didn\u2019t mind. Most of the audience members graded the presentations they viewed that day as either \u201cvery good\u201d or \u201cexcellent\u201d\u2014including the executive\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A \u201cshocking moment\u201d is an event that your audience doesn\u2019t anticipate, but which surprises, impresses, or moves them.<\/strong> Including a shocking moment in your presentations will benefit you in various ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, identify the most important point you\u2019re going to make during your talk.<\/strong> Since this is the point that you most want your audience to remember, it makes sense to make it the subject of your shocking moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, devise a surprising way to communicate this important idea.<\/strong> Here are six possible methods you could implement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fifth of Gallo’s nine principles of public speaking focuses on humor. At some point in your presentation, try to make your audience laugh (or at least smile). Incorporating humor into public speaking is important because, according to research, <\/strong>it increases your likability<\/a>. Ultimately, the more your audience likes you, the more likely they are to listen to and support what you have to say.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Incorporate these four types of humor into your speeches and presentations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, avoid <\/em>doing these four things when trying to make a talk humorous:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aim to trigger a combination of the senses of hearing, sight, and touch when making a speech or presentation. It\u2019ll help your audience to remember what you\u2019ve said: <\/strong>Research has shown that multisensory experiences are much more memorable than single-sense experiences. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While you may assume that you can trigger this sense simply by talking to people, remember that just because you\u2019re talking doesn\u2019t mean that people will actually <\/strong>listen<\/em><\/strong>.<\/strong> To truly trigger your audience\u2019s sense of hearing, you need to make your speech interesting enough to grab their attention. There are three ways to do this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Method #1: Be highly descriptive. <\/strong>For instance, if you\u2019re talking about how you created a product, discuss every detail about the moment you came up with the idea\u2014where you were, who you were with, even what the weather was like that day. By painting a vivid picture with your words, you\u2019ll immerse your audience in your topic and pique their interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Method #2: Repeat key points multiple times.<\/strong> For example, if the main argument of your talk is that \u201cyour product is unique,\u201d make this point in almost every sentence you speak. The repetition will signal to the audience that you\u2019re making an important point, thus encouraging them to listen to what you have to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Method #3: Incorporate other people\u2019s voices into your speech or presentation. <\/strong>For instance, if you\u2019re making a sales pitch, play a video in which happy customers give verbal testimonials. The brain starts to lose interest and \u201cswitch off\u201d when it hears the same person\u2019s voice for a long period of time. Incorporating other people\u2019s voices into your talk, even briefly, circumvents this issue and keeps your audience engaged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The easiest way to trigger this sense during a presentation is to create a visual aid to accompany your spoken words:<\/strong> in other words, presentation slides. When creating slides, minimize the amount of text you include. <\/strong>Your audience will struggle to both read a block of text on a slide and <\/em>listen to you speak, meaning they won\u2019t fully take in your ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A better approach is using a combination of short phrases and pictures on your slides.<\/strong> Research has demonstrated that people are more likely to recall visual information if it\u2019s presented in this way, rather than just in written form. Likewise, other studies have shown that people will remember 65% of the information presented to them if they both listen to it and<\/em> see a related image at the same, compared to just 10% of the information if they only hear it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, it\u2019s possible to trigger this sense directly. For example, if you\u2019re pitching a product, you could pass a prototype around your audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you\u2019re talking about an idea rather than an object, there may not be a suitable prop for you to hand out. In such cases, you can stimulate the sense of touch by asking people to imagine how it would feel to touch or be touched by something. <\/strong>For example, in a 2011 TED talk<\/a> on chronic pain, Dr. Elliot Krane asked his audience to imagine how it would feel to have someone touch your skin with a blowtorch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next of Gallo’s nine principles of public speaking covers length. Whenever possible, you should limit your presentations to 18 minutes\u2014the length of a TED talk. Doing so is important for three reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way to keep your presentation brief is to follow the Rule of Three, which states you should only communicate a maximum of three ideas in any one talk.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Following this rule will naturally reduce the time you spend speaking since you\u2019re setting restrictions on the amount of information you\u2019re going to communicate. It\u2019ll also increase the likelihood of your audience absorbing everything you say.<\/strong> Research suggests that the maximum number of ideas that the brain can process at once is three: Add any more ideas than this to your talk, and your audience simply won\u2019t remember them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Effective planning involves working out exactly how you want your speech or presentation to unfold.<\/strong> Your talk is much more likely to run smoothly if you have a clear idea of what you want to say, rather than making your points up as you go along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One planning tool you could use is a message map<\/a>: <\/strong>a one-page summary of everything you want to include in your talk. Creating a message map involves three steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve fully planned your presentation, practice it again and again. If you don\u2019t rehearse before you speak, you won\u2019t know your talk\u2019s structure or content very well. As you present, you\u2019ll spend all of your mental energy<\/a> contemplating logistical issues such as when to move on to the next slide and what\u2019s actually on <\/em>the next slide. Consequently, you won\u2019t have the focus required to state your ideas clearly and smoothly.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are three specific elements of your presentation that you should practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last (but not least) of Gallo’s nine principles of public speaking is to let your true personality shine through as you speak.<\/strong> For example, if you\u2019re a naturally enthusiastic presenter, don\u2019t tone down this element of your personality because you feel you need to be \u201cserious\u201d in professional situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Being yourself is important because, just as people can tell when you\u2019re faking passion, they can also tell when you\u2019re pretending to be someone you\u2019re not. <\/strong>When they realize that you\u2019re faking, they\u2019ll start to distrust you, and they\u2019ll be less willing to accept your ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of being yourself during a speech or presentation is allowing yourself to be emotionally vulnerable:<\/strong> giving yourself permission to express your true emotions as you speak. For example, if you tell a personal story during a speech, be honest about the emotional impact of the events you\u2019re relating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many professionals resist doing this. They worry that showing emotion will make them seem \u201cweak\u201d and result in judgment from their audience. However, allowing yourself to be emotionally vulnerable is important because it shows your audience that you\u2019re a human being who has feelings, just like them. <\/strong>Your listeners will relate to the emotions that you express and will feel connected to you. When you develop a connection with your audience, you increase the chances of them listening to and agreeing with what you say. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you want to become a better public speaker? What are the most important principles of public speaking that can help you master the craft? Being a strong public speaker is one of the most powerful talents you can possess. In his book Talk Like Ted, keynote speaker and business communication expert Carmine Gallo lays out nine principles of public speaking. Keep reading for Carmine Gallo’s principles of public speaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,34],"tags":[211],"class_list":["post-26978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-communication","tag-talk-like-ted","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\n9 Principles of Public Speaking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Principle #1: Pick a Topic You\u2019re Passionate About<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Principle #2: Tell Your Audience Stories<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Make Your Story Gripping<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Principle #3: Present Something New<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Importance of Presenting Something New <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
What If You Have to Repeat Old Ideas?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Principle #4: Incorporate a Shocking Moment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Create a Shocking Moment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Principle #5: Use Humor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Types of Humor to Use (and Avoid)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Principle #6: Present Content That Triggers Multiple Senses<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Hearing<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Sight<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Touch<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Principle #7: Keep Your Talk Brief<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Follow the Rule of Three<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Principle #8: Plan and Practice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Practice Again and Again<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Principle #9: Be Yourself<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n