It happens to all of us eventually. You will have to make a public presentation. 

You can analyze and identify what characteristics make certain speakers speaking process more effective communicators than others. You need to go beyond the “watching” stage to apply great speech-making skills to your own life. Like speaking prowess comes from within. As a speaker for several decades I continue to learn how to ‘tell it better’ and engage the audience. I have conversations with smart people.

My work centers at the intersection of marketing, promotion, and customer service using innovative solutions. Each presentation is new because it is the first time my audience has heard it. I am always in all ways striving to make it better.

“Imagination is the Essence of Discovery” – Winston.

Almost every speaker begins by imitating some famous presenter of the day. In some cases its who you want to emulate and in other cases you want to avoid their speaking DNA.

Among the great speakers, I have seen spawn copycats were Zig Ziglar, Nido Qubein and Brian Tracy. On the radio, I have heard impersonators of Howard Stern and Tony Robbins.

Thankfully, everyone recognizes there was is only one Joan Rivers,  Barbara Walters or Oprah.  Before you really become successful at speaking before groups, you must find out who you are and what is special about you.

What separates the great speakers from the bad is a certain charisma. Everybody has charisma and charm. To be an effective communicator (and enjoy speaking in the process), you must tap into your natural charisma.

Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King were great speakers. What made these three great were not necessarily their strong voices or large vocabularies. What made these speakers great was their personal charm, which came out stronger than anything they said or did. Now compare their style to our current President.

My comment is not political. He either reads from a script or teleprompter and drones on or at libs and goes off track. Either way, his message is lost on me. I hate his speaking style and love his entrepreneurial style. I doubt anyone would say he lacks charisma, his Art Of The Deal is great reading. His speeches are not great listening.

What is charisma and how can I get some?

Don’t worry — you already have it. Charisma is what makes you interesting, charming and appealing. It is what makes you …well, you. Here’s the secret. When you relax and let your natural, heartfelt emotions communicate your message, your charisma comes out and you touch the audience. When that magic happens — when your natural emotions are laid out for the audience to see — they begin to listen to you, believe you and follow you.

Charisma is a specialized form of communication techniques used by leaders to reach the hearts and minds of those who follow them. Charisma comes from your emotional makeup and your personal beliefs, and vision of what you feel is truly important.

Since our deepest-held beliefs are personal by default, it is practically impossible to borrow or imitate someone else’s charismatic style. You can try to analyze the words of charismatic leaders and try to understand what gives them their presence, but only to search for and identify your own personal emotional characteristics.

Whatever you do, forget the art of speech-making.

Forget the art of presenting. That’s the wrong way to think about it. Art is nonfunctional; effective presenting is a function. When you speak before an audience, you have the purpose of the action. A presentation is not a tap dance that you do for someone’s appreciation. It has a goal — inform, entertain and persuade.

Developing the actual skill of effective presenting is akin to bodybuilding. The skill must be exercised with proper training.

You must always keep in mind that your personal efforts will bring about the best response to your public presentations.

We are all interesting, charismatic people. We must take some risks and experiment to identify and exercise our charisma.

Begin to search for your own natural charm and continually practice using it in front of people. It is not so much an art as a very natural act that we have been performing all our lives. Once you feel comfortable with your ‘content’ you can work on the actual presentation skills such as your PowerPoint, graphics, leave behind

And for those of you that want a ‘deep dive’ into how to become more persuasive and learn from 3D Thinkers how they become influencers, motivators, and closers to build their business we will announce a symposium that will be unlike anything you have ever attended.