PDF Summary:The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication, by John C. Maxwell

Does the thought of public speaking make you nervous? Do you have something to say but don't know how to get your message across? In The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication, internationally renowned speaker John C. Maxwell shares his secrets to becoming a confident and effective communicator capable of delivering any message to any audience. According to Maxwell, anyone can master public speaking, connect with their listeners, and make a lasting impact with their words by following the 16 laws he’s developed from a lifetime of public speaking.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how to become a credible speaker people want to listen to, craft a powerful message, and form a meaningful connection with your audience. Along the way, we’ll compare Maxwell’s techniques with those of other communication experts and provide actionable tips for improving your speaking skills.

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Identify Your Natural Strengths

Before you write your message, it may be helpful to identify your natural speaking strengths so you can build them into your presentation. While learning from other speakers can give you techniques and methods to experiment with, you should write your message in your own voice. If you try to take an approach that doesn’t come naturally to you, like revealing a personal story that you’re not comfortable sharing, you risk losing your connection with your audience.

(Shortform note: While you may write your message in your own voice, if you’re anxious about public speaking, you may find it difficult to express yourself with authenticity once you’re on stage. In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo argues that to overcome your anxiety and uncover your natural strengths, you must force yourself to practice public speaking. The more you succeed in delivering your message, the more confident you’ll become. You’ll also find it easier to be authentic and use your strengths to your advantage.)

Maxwell writes that there are four primary strengths you can leverage. Identify which ones come most naturally to you and emphasize them in your presentation:

1. Sincerity: You communicate with authenticity and vulnerability. This might mean sharing stories of your personal struggles and expressing your true emotions. When you open yourself to your audience, they’ll find it easier to trust you.

(Shortform note: Authenticity and vulnerability don’t come naturally to many people. In The Power of Vulnerability, Brené Brown explains that people often struggle to express their true selves because they feel pressure to fit in. If you want to be more sincere and show more of your authentic self to your audience, consider creating a mantra—a short statement that reminds you to be authentic that you can repeat to yourself before stressful situations like your presentation.)

2. Humor: If you’re naturally funny, try incorporating jokes into your message. Laughter increases feelings of intimacy in your audience and makes them more receptive to your words.

(Shortform note: Some experts recommend using humor in specific places in your presentation. For instance, telling a joke at the beginning of your presentation either makes your audience laugh or alerts you to prepare for a tough audience. You can also use humor to smooth over mistakes or transition out of a difficult topic to help yourself and the audience relax.)

3. Helpfulness: If you’re motivated to help people, focus on offering more practical advice. People appreciate and think more highly of you when you give them the tools to improve their lives.

(Shortform note: Helping others not only makes your audience happy, but it makes you happy too. Some evidence suggests that your brain releases chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin when you help others, which elevate your mood and make you feel more connected with people. Helping others can also boost your self-esteem, reduce stress, and help you live longer than people who don’t. These mood-boosting effects may be a good reason to incorporate helpful advice into any presentation: Doing so can make you more connected with your audience and feel less stressed, helping you deliver a better presentation overall.)

4. Inspiration: If you tend to see the best in others, you can use your words to inspire them. When you help others envision a better life and show them that it’s achievable, they’ll feel better about themselves and be more willing to hear what you have to say.

(Shortform note: Believing in others not only helps them feel like their goals are attainable, but it makes them more likely to achieve them. In Give and Take, Adam Grant refers to this as the Pygmalion effect: People perform better when others have higher expectations for them. As this psychological phenomenon suggests, simply expecting your audience to take your message to heart and change their lives for the better may inspire them to do so.)

Write Your Message

Once you've prepared for your presentation with your team and identified your strengths, write your ideas into a clear and engaging message that will make a lasting impression. Maxwell describes several steps for turning your research and preparation into a memorable message:

1. Develop your thesis. This should be a single sentence that sums up your message. Maxwell writes that you must clarify your thesis before communicating anything—if you don’t know your thesis, your audience will have an even harder time understanding it.

(Shortform note: Once you have an idea of what your thesis is, refine it by considering four criteria: clarity, coherence, consistency, and credibility. To improve clarity, replace or remove confusing or vague words from your thesis statement. To check for coherence, evaluate whether your thesis clearly connects to the main points you wish to present. To have consistency, adjust your thesis to match the purpose and tone of your presentation. And lastly, to ensure credibility, assess whether you have the evidence to back up your thesis statement.)

2. Research and plan out your talking points. Create a basic outline of your main points and gather supporting material such as data, stories, and ideas. Maxwell recommends you experiment with ways to organize your main points so that the audience sees how they’re all connected: Consider numbering them, arranging them in an acrostic (a word that has each of its letters spelling out a new word or sentence), or using a common word in each of your major points. Once you have your basic organization, you can then sort the supporting material you’ve gathered under the relevant points.

(Shortform note: In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo recommends you use a message map to plan out your presentation. This one-page template helps you visualize and structure your content in a way that’s clear and easy for your audience to follow. To create a message map, first draw an oval at the top of a piece of paper and write down the main point of your presentation as a concise headline. Then, draw three arrows extending from your main point and write your sub-points beneath the arrows. Under each sub-point, jot down supporting information such as stories or quotes. According to Gallo, you should include no more than three sub-points because the human brain can only process three ideas at once.)

3. Plan your transitions. Once you have your main points in order, plan out how you can shift smoothly from one point to the next. At the start of your presentation, don’t just jump into your thesis, but find a way to lead into it. Consider using a quote, telling a story, asking a question, or simply taking time to connect with the audience. As you progress through your presentation, Maxwell suggests using various cues to indicate when you’re transitioning to a new point. Make a note to pause, walk to a different spot in the room, change your facial expressions, or vary the volume, speed, or tone with which you speak.

(Shortform note: Other experts explain the importance of transitions: They help your audience relax and focus on your message. Unlike when reading, people can't go back and review the previous points you made in your speech. If you don't signal topic changes with transitions, your listeners will focus more on keeping up with you than truly listening to what you have to say. Eventually, they may get tired of trying to follow along and stop listening. If instead, audiences sense that your presentation is well-structured, they can relax, trust that you’ll effectively guide them through your points, and become more attentive to your message.)

Engage Your Audience With Visuals and Stories

When creating your message, Maxwell suggests you use visual imagery and storytelling to keep your audience engaged as you speak. These strategies make it easier for your audience to grasp your arguments and remember them.

First, incorporate visuals into your presentation. You can use body language, metaphors, or actual visual aids like physical props and imagery to help illustrate your ideas. Maxwell explains that people remember images better than words and that most people are visual learners.

(Shortform note: Some experts argue that you should engage multiple senses in addition to vision. In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo argues that activating multiple senses makes a presentation more memorable to audiences than engaging just one of their senses. He suggests you aim to engage your audience’s hearing and touch as well. To engage their hearing, consider incorporating other voices apart from your own by playing a video or having a guest speak. To engage their touch, if you don’t have anything physical to pass around, ask your audience to imagine what something feels like, such as the tickle of a grassy field.)

Second, Maxwell suggests you tell the audience a story to make your points more accessible and engaging. He explains that people remember stories because we naturally use stories to make sense of our lives. You can tell stories from your personal life or share the stories of others, but make sure that they’re relevant to your audience and the points you’re trying to make.

(Shortform note: In How Highly Effective People Speak, Peter D. Andrei specifically recommends telling a story about a single person. This allows audience members to better imagine themselves in the person’s shoes, which engages them emotionally. After you share a story about one person, you can then explore the broader implications of your topic, like how it affects your audience. For example, if you’re discussing the importance of mental health among college students, you could talk about the struggles of a single student before introducing statistics about how prevalent the issue is.)

Simplify Your Message

When writing your message, Maxwell recommends you simplify your ideas to be clear, concise, and memorable so that your audience can better understand and remember them.

First, to simplify your message, use language that an eighth grader can understand, and trim excess information that might distract from your main points. Many speakers are afraid of being simplistic, but Maxwell argues that simple doesn't mean you're watering down your ideas or glossing over complex topics. Instead, simple means making your content practical and easy for your audience to understand rather than trying to sound impressive.

Additional Tips on Simplifying Your Message

Other experts agree that being simple is key to making an effective presentation. In The Bezos Blueprint, Carmine Gallo shares additional tips on how to simplify your message.

Use simple words and sentences. Gallo recommends you choose words of Anglo-Saxon origin over those of Latin or Greek origin because Anglo-Saxon words tend to be shorter and more direct—for example, use “help” instead of “facilitate.”

Use active language. Gallo suggests you write your speech in an active voice rather than passive because active language tends to be more concise and assertive. For example, you should say: “People should give compliments more often” rather than “Compliments should be given more often.”

Avoid hedging and qualifying language. Gallo suggests you not only cut unnecessary information as Maxwell suggests, but he also advises you to eliminate hedge words and qualifiers. These are words or phrases that soften your statements, making them sound more hesitant. For example, instead of saying, “In general, our product was rather successful,” you should say, “Our product was successful.”

Second, make your message memorable by coming up with unique and catchy phrases. Try putting a spin on well-known sayings, such as changing "Practice makes perfect” to “Practice makes character.”

(Shortform note: Daniel Pink suggests another way to make your message memorable: Boil your message down to a single word. When people associate a single word with your message, anytime they hear that word, they’ll be reminded of your presentation.)

Part 3: How to Deliver Your Message

Now that you know how to prepare and create your message, let’s shift our focus to speaking in front of an audience. Maxwell offers suggestions on how to connect with your audience, maintain their attention, and make a lasting impression.

Believe in Yourself and Your Audience

According to Maxwell, your mindset, energy, and feelings affect how your audience receives you and your message. The more you believe in yourself and your speaking ability, the more your audience will. To be a more powerful communicator, Maxwell encourages you to adopt two beliefs:

1. Believe in your ability to communicate. Your self-confidence affects how you perform in front of an audience. If you show that you’re nervous, your audience will be more concerned about you than your message. Maxwell suggests you start small and develop a mantra: a short affirming statement to remind yourself that you’re able to communicate well and make a difference with your words.

(Shortform note: If public speaking makes you nervous, it can be hard to feel confident by stating mantras and affirming statements alone. In The Charisma Myth, Olivia Fox Cabane suggests you practice visualization and powerful body language to change your mental state and make you feel more confident. When you feel anxious, imagine that you’re being hugged. This releases chemicals in your brain that help calm your nerves. To feel more confident, stand tall and puff out your chest. As this posture becomes a habit, you’ll naturally feel more confident.)

2. Believe you can help your audience. When you believe your message can positively impact people’s lives, your audience will sense your passion and become more excited about your ideas. Maxwell also suggests believing that your audience wants to learn from you. If you approach your speech with the mindset that people are eager to listen, your words will be more encouraging. On the other hand, if you doubt anyone’s interested in what you have to say, your words may lack conviction and be less persuasive.

(Shortform note: In Talk Like TED, Carmine Gallo offers some evidence that may help you believe that your audience truly is eager to learn from you and that your message will have a positive impact on them: The human brain is wired to love learning. When we learn new things, our brains release a chemical that makes us feel good. When you present information to your audience, they’ll associate their positive feelings with you and be more engaged as you speak.)

Read the Room and Adapt

As we discussed earlier, preparation is essential to communicating your message to an audience. However, this doesn’t mean sticking rigidly to a script. Situations change and unexpected obstacles arise. To communicate well, you must measure how the audience is responding to you and adapt on the spot to engage audiences that are indifferent or distracted.

(Shortform note: Experts suggest you look for three things when measuring your audience’s response to you: attentiveness, engagement, and sentiment. First, check how attentive your audience is by looking for signs of boredom or distraction (yawning, multitasking, moving around). Next, look for signs of engagement (asking questions or taking notes). Lastly, get a sense of how your audience is feeling—whether they’re enjoying the presentation (smiling or sitting relaxed) or unhappy (rolling their eyes or sighing). If these signs indicate that you’re losing your audience, consider adapting by asking an open-ended question to get them involved or offering them a quick break.)

Before you’re scheduled to speak, Maxwell recommends you get a better sense of how your audience might respond to you by inspecting the location ahead of time and considering the type of event you’re speaking at. Look at factors such as lighting, sound, the location of projector screens, and the overall setup and size of the room. This allows you to rearrange or correct anything or, at the very least, get clues as to whether the audience will be comfortable and engaged or reluctant and unresponsive.

(Shortform note: Some experts offer suggestions on how precisely to assess and change your speaking environment before your presentation. If you have the choice, arrange the room so that audience members are seated as closely together as possible while still being comfortable. This helps you form a closer connection with your audience. Additionally, try to give your presentation at a distance from distracting areas of the room, such as doors or windows, as outside movement may distract your audience.)

If, during your talk, you read the room and notice that the audience is unengaged, here are a few suggestions on how to recapture their attention on the fly:

1. Interact with the audience. Get the audience to interact by asking questions that require them to shout out answers or raise their hands. You can also encourage them to say or share something with a neighbor.

(Shortform note: If you have an audience that seems too shy to raise hands or hesitant to interact, you can use technology to allow people to engage more anonymously. Consider using a live polling tool that allows audience members to respond to questions on their phones or laptops. You can even create a hashtag for your presentation on Twitter and broadcast your audience member’s tweets at strategic moments in your presentation.)

2. Do something unexpected. If you notice your audience is losing interest, Maxwell suggests you be spontaneous and do something that the audience didn’t anticipate to grab their attention. For example, you could bring your pet or young child on stage if they inspired one of your ideas.

(Shortform note: According to Carmine Gallo in Talk Like Ted, when you do something your audience doesn’t expect, you increase the magnitude of their emotional response. When people’s emotions are heightened, they pay attention to things more and form stronger memories of the experience. This is because their brains release a chemical called dopamine which creates pleasurable feelings and also improves the brain’s ability to process information.)

3. Use pauses strategically. Pauses can help emphasize your point and give audience members time to process your message. You can also pause to recapture people’s attention. When you stop talking, people naturally return their focus to you as they wonder what caused the sudden silence.

(Shortform note: While Maxwell suggests you incorporate more pauses into your presentation, some experts suggest there are times when pauses work against you: Pausing for too long after you’ve been asked a question can make you seem insincere. They recommend that, apart from questions that are clearly difficult, you should try to fill the silence following a question immediately. If you’re not sure of the answer, buy time by repeating the question, asking for clarification, or even resorting to some filler phrases. However, don’t let this fact scare you away from answering questions from your audience. Trust in your preparation and compose some backup phrases to say beforehand.)

Inspire People to Take Action

Maxwell writes that the ultimate goal of a speaker is for your audience to take action after hearing your message. Speaking to people doesn’t directly change their lives—your words must drive them to make a change. Maxwell recommends several ways you can convince your audience to take action:

(Shortform note: While Maxwell argues that persuading people to take action is the ultimate goal of public speaking, other experts discuss some other goals you might have when talking in front of an audience. You might be delivering an explanatory speech, where your goal is to simply teach or explain something to your audience. In that case, you should focus on clarity and on translating difficult concepts into layman’s terms. You might also be delivering an imaginative speech, where your goal is to delight people, for instance, with an art project or an invention. Instead of getting people to act, you may be more motivated to create an enjoyable experience for your audience.)

1. Tell personal stories. Encourage people to take action by sharing stories about how you acted upon your advice. Your personal stories can act as proof of how your message works in real life. For example, if you tell your audience to meditate for an hour every day and explain how you came up with your lucrative business idea during one of your meditative sessions, people will be more motivated to heed your advice.

(Shortform note: Researchers analyzed what made TED Talks popular and found that personal stories made up 65% of the content of the most viral presentations. Their research also supports Maxwell’s argument that personal stories spark action: In his TED Talk about the injustices of the criminal justice system, Bryan Stevenson incorporated stories about the lessons he’d learned from a courtroom janitor, activist Rosa Parks, and his grandmother. His TED Talk motivated the audience to donate $1 million to his non-profit organization.)

2. Help them visualize the positive change. Paint a picture of what their lives will look like if they act on your message. This gives your audience a glimpse of how they might feel if they take your advice and motivate them to take action.

(Shortform note: Some experts argue that visualization is more effective when people visualize the steps needed to reach their goal rather than visualizing themselves achieving the goal itself. People who picture themselves accomplishing their goals often become less motivated to take action because their brains believe that they’ve already succeeded. Instead of painting a picture of an end result, then, it might be better to help your audience visualize the steps toward that end result.)

3. Show them the first step. Maxwell suggests you make it clear how audience members can take the first step, whether it’s practicing better financial habits or improving their relationships. If you only provide the end result, people can feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to reach it. Encouraging people to take the first step is important, Maxwell argues, because action breeds confidence, which empowers people to take further action to improve themselves and their lives.

(Shortform note: In Eat That Frog!, Brian Tracy explains why it helps your audience to show them the first step toward a larger goal: Humans have a need for closure. When you complete something, your brain releases chemicals that make you feel good. If you present your audience with a daunting end goal that takes time (like becoming a masterful communicator, for instance), they may gradually feel discouraged by a lack of achievement. Instead, by breaking the journey up with milestones—for example, having your first meetup with your team to discuss your message—you give people more opportunities to feel a sense of progress.)