Ryanair flight FR1134 from Berlin to Barcelona. My MacBook had only 1% battery left. Normally, I love to sleep on planes, but this time I wasn’t tired at all. What to do? I remembered some antique, old-fashioned, completely outdated approach… paper and pen.
I started to spit out random reflections on my world of public speaking, and charisma. Below you find the result. As usual, the number 42 is the universal answer. There is no order at all in this list. It is completely random. Enjoy!
- Content without delivery is like music without sound.
- A voice without variety is like a car without wheels: it won’t take you anywhere.
- A stage is like Disneyland; it is full of attractions.
- As a public speaker be witty, be mad, be serious, be sad… Be that eel that no one can touch!
- An inspiring speaker is like Gandalf. A mentor, a coach, who doesn’t manage, but challenges, who doesn’t dictate, but indicates.
- For stellar speakers the stage is a therapist’s couch.
- Nothing inspires me more than your emotional nakedness.
- In business presentations seriousness and entertainment can be allies.
- Why do finance presentations have to be boring? Investment bankers also have sex.
- Every morning you enter the perfect public speaking training camp – your bathroom.
- For a speaker, the hands are what the brushes were for Picasso.
- Did you know that you can move your arms in other angles than 90 degrees?
- When you stand next to the Nespresso machine at work and you bitch about your colleagues and you imitate their voices in an exaggerated way… This is called dialog! Do the same on stage.
- Public speaking breaks your chains.
- Charisma is a leader, not a follower.
- Treat your audience like your best friends; tell them everything.
- If you have doubt whether or not you should share something with your audience, it is a good indicator that they will love it.
- Say what you feel, and feel what you say.
- No pause, no poise.
- They might listen to Dr. Jekyll, but they love to see Mr. Hyde.
- Remember words, not texts.
- Never compare yourself with other speakers; always compete against yourself.
- People have so many answers to questions they have never asked.
- Become an expert at all costs.
- Ending a speech with “Thank you” is bad, but running away from your gift, their applause, is worse.
- The flip-chart is always a winner on stage.
- You don’t deal with their eyes and their ears; you deal with their subconscious minds.
- The opposite of boredom is entertainment.
- Make everything personal. Everything.
- Dialog is Chili – it spices up your speech.
- Empty yourself on stage, completely. They will order another glass of champagne.
- Your title slide bores them. Your agenda slide lets them fall asleep. But it is your “About me” slide that makes them mentally vomit.
- Conjunctions are the speaker’s hiccups.
- “And”, go home!
- Boring their minds is theft of time, hence a crime.
- As a leader, don’t push them, don’t pull them, run next to them.
- Manipulative rhetorical questions like “Do you want to hear more?” or “Makes sense?” are bummers.
- Humor is the salt in your speech.
- Feedback on feedback is defensive, hence useless.
- Goosebumps love to hide in the pause.
- When the audience feels, their ego kneels.
- A speech without laughs is like a circus without a clown.
Alex
Where is the water down pipe included in your reflections? … after two hours flight my Ryanair FR1134 arrived in BCN…
fm
Ah, the drainpipe… 😉
… After 2 hours and 33 minutes we landed in Barcelona. I folded my papers, the pen made “click”, and I smiled. My content base had just expanded by 42.”
Pere
Great tips.. thank you
fm
Thanks, Pere!
Luan Hoang
awesome!
Harald
Great points,
If I remember correctly Claudia proved that finance presentations are not always boring 😉
Keep going!