Speak with Impact: Communicate with Clarity and Confidence

Message, Audience, Delivery it’s MAD

We start with the message.

• What are you going to say

• How are you crafting your key messages

• What do you want to leave the audience with

This always comes first (we focus on the audience and delivery second and third)

MAD

Remember - The one thing to remember from this whole course let it be the word mad

• Message

• Audience

• Delivery

Start by understanding what it is you want to say - this is your message

Then think about who your audience is and what they want to hear

Once you know what you want to say and who you're saying it to, only then can you start to consider how you’ll deliver the message

Message, Audience, Delivery it’s MAD

Why are you there?

There's many different reasons you can be asked to present and it's really important to clarify the rationale.

You could be there to

• Inform

• Inspire

• Educate

• Entertain

Is vitally important to ensure why you've been asked to present.

This way you can craft your message in a manner that's concurrent with the reason that you're there

Why are you there

There's many different reasons you can be asked to present and it's really important to clarify the rationale.

Going deeper on the Why – let’s look at the type of messaging you’ll be delivering

• Know why

• Understand Why

• Crush it

Start with what matters most - why is your audience listening to you?

People's attention spans are so short it's so important to make sure you make it obvious why you are speaking to the audience and do so straight away.

From a key takeaway perspective:

1. Identify it

2. Clarify it

3. Bring it in early

4. Bring it in often

This is the magic of a good key takeaway.

Leave no doubt in the mind of your audience as to why you're speaking to them and/or what you're asking for!

What makes you and/or your product amazing?

Where's the key value?

Take some time to consider this and write down the Golden Nuggets that made you and/or your product amazing

This way, you enter conversations armed with the Nuggets of knowledge that you would like to impart upon your audience to help them get a better understanding of the value that you can add.

Do the prep work first - identify your Golden Nuggets

Once you've unpacked your message it's time to start understanding who your audience is.

In this chapter we deep dive into all things audience:

• Understanding who your audience is

• Great ways to build and maintain audience engagement

• Tools, tricks and techniques to bring an audience back in if you feel you've lost them

• Speaking "with" an audience

• Being a great listener

It's all about them (your audience) let's go!

Who do you think your audience is?

It's an important question and one to consider when you're presenting in public speaking. Understanding who your audience is completely changes (in a lot of cases) how you will deliver those message(s)

If your Audience is a:

• Senior leadership / Executive team

• Steering committee

• Board

• CEO

You probably have a lot less time to present to them therefore your messages need to be concise and you need to get straight to the point.

In this lesson, Luke unpacks the importance of understanding who your audience is and. how this impacts the delivery of your messages.

How you can speak "WITH" your audience

We all know that being spoken TO as opposed to being spoken WITH is not pleasant (in most cases)

In this lecture, Luke shares real world examples of how to speak "WITH" an audience!

Remember, not too many people like being spoken "at".

We're creatures of collaboration we like to be spoken with.

We've all been there.

You're in an audience things are getting kind of boring and the speaker asks a question Framed as

“put your hand up if you've recently……………”

Silence, awkward silence.

The thing about audiences (and people in general) is that they like to resist movement and no one wants to be the first person to participate or put their hand up.

What works better is if you get the audience to move first….

In this lesson, we unpack the Luke Hannan way of asking for a show of hands I'm getting audience engagement.

Strap yourself in do this and never again have that awkward silence when you're on stage

Did you really get through?

Was your message decoded in the manner in which you encoded it?

One of the best ways to find out is to seek feedback, asking questions like:

• "just to make sure the message was received can you please reply back to me what your takeaways are"

• "Let's pause for a moment to get your feedback and ensure that those messages got through"

Be sure you bring your audience in and have them replay to you the messages that you sent to them:

• it's collaborative

• it's engaging, and

• it ensures your messages are getting through

What does it take to be a good listener?

in this lesson we explore the 7 / 38 / 55 rule

• 7% of communication is what is said the words

• 38% is the tone and the expression with which the words are said

• 55% (more than half) is the body language that accompanies your communication

Be sure to focus on what matters most when you're communicating and also when you're listening.

This is the trick to being a great communicator and a great listener!

The phones are out,

The heads are down,

The attention is gone....

You have lost the audience

So what do you do next?

In this important lesson we unpack ways to recover an audience once you feel the level of engagement has fallen too far

From interaction to movement and so much more strap yourself in as we get our audiences re engaged

The pre-work has been done, you've crafted your message and you understand the audience.

How are you going to deliver your key messages

In this chapter we go deep on mastering the art of effective delivery:

• The rule of three

• How to open or start your presentation or speech like a professional

• Effective storytelling

• What to do when you go blank!

• Pace, Volume and Silence plus

• so much more

Let's get practical - this is Delivery

Don't make these mistakes when presenting on stage

As a full time Professional MC I see the good the bad and the ugly of presenting on stage and keynote speaking.

Usually, the biggest mistakes happens right at the start, speakers:

• Apologise for being before drinks

• Crack stupid Jokes

• Introduced himself (after I've just introduced them)

• Tell irrelevant stories

In this lesson we unpack things you can do to open or commence your presentation or speech with power and we highlight mistakes to avoid.

What makes a great presentation?

Let's have a look at a powerful opening to a speech or presentation. The manner in which this is done can be easily applied to your next presentation.

Always remember:

• Thought provoking questions and ideas work much better than an introduction

• Ask yourself, what are you going to do differently to ensure you capture the audience's attention in those precious first few seconds of your presentation?

Think big, Think bold and Engage the Audience

A previous coach of mine and leadership legend Andy Fell would say that "Feedback is the breakfast of champions."

And I truly believe that this is correct.

The only way we get better in life (at whatever you're trying to get good at) is feedback!

The best feedback is watching yourself back on video, this way you'll be able to capture all elements of your delivery - you can see it all.

A video also avoids people's biases and opinions because opinions are like noses.... (everybody has one)

Be sure to get feedback when you're presenting, watch it candidly, review yourself honestly and grow as a speaker.

Asking why

This can prove troublesome in so many different cases. The magic is to ensure that you ask the question in a way that promotes;

• Shared understanding

• Collaboration

• Growth of knowledge

Try to replace why with a opening like

• Can you help me to understand?

• That's fascinating! Please let me learn more as to the rationale

• What more can we do based on the situation I'd love to know more

Take a collaborative approach when asking why and you build your skill sets and reputation as a thought leader

The magic of 3

whenever consultants will talk to you about a solution they always list 3 reasons or three supporting comments.

The number 3 is very strategic

• 2 is not enough

• 4-5 or anything beyond that is too many

3 is the perfect number and people can absorb 3 things easily.

Remember also when you're delivering information to follow these steps"

• Tell em’ what you're going to tell em’ (the preview)

• Actually tell em’ (the actual information)

• Then recap and tell em’ what you just told em’ (the recap)

Ever forgotten what to say

Remember this! When you're presenting and you forget what to say…. At that moment in time, you're the only person on earth that knows you forgotten

There's no need to admit defeat and say things like:

• I'm so sorry I'm lost

• oh this is so embarrassing

• what a disaster that's the wrong slide

remember these two words - Pause and Reflect.

Say something like

• "that's a lot of information let's pause and reflect to digest"

• "wow we've covered a lot of ground let's take a moment to pause and think about that"

The pause is important it cuts the audience losing gives you time to get back on track

Storytelling is powerful

And with great power comes great responsibility (and higher levels of risk)

a good story can:

• Engage and capture the audiences attention

• Ignite their creativity and imagination

• Take them on an emotional rollercoaster

Stories done well bring your audience on the journey. But if you get it wrong it's so easy to lose the audience.

Always make sure that your story is:

• Relevant

• Timely

• Links well to your key messages

The words we use have power

And the manner in which you deliver them completely changes the amount of power that they have.

• Pace

• Volume

• Silence

So, when you're presenting in public speaking it's crucial to implement variations in pace volume and silence.

In this lecture we unpack how you can slow down slightly lower your volume and then pause after really important points, amongst so many other things - you'll:

• Grab the audiences attention

• Take the audience on a journey and

• ensure your key messages get through with power.

Use Pace, Volume and Silence

Some of the best speakers on the worlds biggest stages will use notes.

There's no harm in taking to your panel discussion or fireside chat or delivering your keynote with some notes.

• Be sure to use a hardcover notebook (to avoid oscillation when nervous)

• keep your notes simple and easy to read

• Don't have too many (else will get lost in the minutes or make you more nervous)

  
  

Notes, they can be your security blanket and give you the comfort to Speak with Impact

You can Take the risk manager out of risk and banking,

but

you can't take the risk in banking out of the risk manager.

In this chapter we unpack the benefits of using a risk matrix to quantify what is making you nervous.

Be sure to download the included resource and do your very own risk matrix to help you communicate with clarity and confidence

A Gazelle is being chased by a Lion.

They both very nervous - but for very different reasons

let's unpack:

Re-framing your nerves to speak with impact

Speaking is a journey, and you are on a journey to Speaking with impact.

When you're feeling nervous, it's always useful to consider:

• Have you been in this situation before and what did you learn

• Will it really matter in five or ten years time

• How can you reframe this so you feel positively about it as opposed to negatively

  
  

Are you ready?

The Moment has arrived - you're about to deliver:

• A presentation

• Keynote speech or

• Present and lead a really important meeting.

But you're feeling really nervous. Fear not - This is the lecture you need.

Simple actionable insights to help you

• Crush your nerves

• Get back in the zone

• Speak with impact

Slides.....

I see it far too often when presenters take the stage and have horrendous slides

it's so easy to have good slides and in this chapter we unpack the goo, the bd and the ugly of slides to make sure you can speak with impact and communicate with clarity and confidence.

Let's get great at slides

Bad Slides

Pound for pound the biggest mistake every keynote speaker makes on stage is having bad slides

• Too much information

• Too much text

• Too many slides

• Confusing colours fonts and formats

keep them simple, use more pictures and win

Busy Slides = Disengaged Audience

When we put busy slides up with lots of words, there's a high probability our audiences will start to read them.

And if our audience is reading our slide, what are they not doing?

They're not listening to us!

Always think about how you construct your slides with less information, less is always always more.

Remember the rule of 3,5,7

• No more than three lines of text

• No more than 5 words per line

• No more than 7 slides in your whole presentation with words on it

Sometimes we need to present slides which have a lot of data

This could be in

• A Steering Committee

• A Boardroom

• An Executive Briefing

Whatever the reason there are times where you cannot avoid it, the magic is to:

• Clearly walk the audience through the slide

• Use terms like "on the left, on the right, at the top / bottom, in the middle"

• Build the architecture of the slide in your audiences mind

  
  

By building the architecture of the slide in your audiences mind, you avoid the cognitive dissonance and avoid the audience thinking "what on earth is going on on that slide"

Because when they're thinking that they're not listening to you

We’ve covered a lot on slides

In this lesson we look at how you can

• Bring your own personality when presenting

• Add stories to slides for extra engagement

• Talk to the WHY of the slides - this will boost engagement and information retention

Always remember the importance of starting with your message and delivery first (remember that the slides come last)

And when it comes to slides (mostly) - the key rules are: 

• Bigger is better (with images / graphs)

• Less is more

Do your slides pass the big room test?

Quite often slides look amazing when you're creating them or when they sent to you.

Remember you're looking at them from 30 to 40 centimetres away, the perspective of distance is missing. This is important because in real life when you throw them up on a big conference stage the audience can be upwards of 50 metres away from the screens displaying your slides.

So take a step back (literally) 4-5 metres from your screen to see how your slides look from a distance.

Take the big room test today

Taking questions can strike fear into the hearts of even the most experienced presenters.

There are many keynote speakers on tour that just don't take questions, they say it might:

"take away from their key messages”

or

“ruin the crescendo that they created”

and while this may be true in some cases, I've seen many cases where the speakers just aren't good enough.

Strap yourself in as we unpack all things Q&A

Q&A can be daunting

If Q&A is an element of your presentation - set yourself up for success by asking these questions of your own beforehand:

1. Will there be media present?

2. Are they likely to be hostile members of the audience?

3. Will Q&A be moderated (i.e. by a Professional MC)?

4. Will questions be sent via a question platform like Slido or will it be an open Mic?

5. How much time do you have?

Knowing the answers to these questions will ensure your Q&A is a successful as possible

You reach out to the audience in your moment of need asking for questions, but all you get in return is

Silence.. No one has a question....

Where to now?

Momentum and energy are so important when presenting and public speaking (especially on big stages) so in this lesson we unpack what to do in lieu of any questions from your audience.

We'll unpack techniques to ensure you preserve that all important momentum and energy and can Communicate with Clarity and Confidence

I've had the privilege of training thousands of individuals on how to speak with impact to help them communicate with clarity and confidence.

When we unpack key challenges and things that the students are worried about; a regular near the top of most lists is getting asked a question and not knowing the answer.

In this lesson we unpack and explore tools, tips and techniques you can leverage to handle Q&A with ease, from curveballs to curly questions - let's get comfortable when we're outside the knowledge zone!

Let's dive in here straight away

with tools to help in your workday

when the curly Q&A comes your way

and you're just not sure what to say

just hold your fears at bay

don't make it up and spray or head astray

use these tips without delay

and crush your next Q&A, hooray!

The words we use have power

When it comes to asking questions, how we frame and how we ask the question can completely change the response we get.

From closed questions to open questions let's unpack the manner in which we frame our questions and how this can impact the responses we get.

Master the art of Q&A sessions

In this chapter we help you to:

• Learn to handle questions confidently,

• Think on your feet and

• Engage audiences.

Develop effective Q&A strategies to showcase your expertise, build credibility & deliver impactful presentations. Improve your public speaking skills & communication techniques to leave a lasting impression.

When we're presenting virtually there are so many competing sources of distraction.

It's always good to adopt the approach that you are essentially a television producer when trying to run a virtual event or a virtual meeting. A key objective is trying to keep our audience's attention on a screen.

It's important for you to remember that when you're chairing a virtual meeting keep in mind that:

• Attention spans are short

• The risk of distractions are high

When you're presenting virtually there are a number of factors which will really help to set you up for success.

In this lesson we look at:

• Energy

• Lighting

• Timing

Learn more as to how doing the fundamentals right will ensure your virtual meeting is successful.

When you're presenting virtually the camera is so so very important.

Make sure you abide by the golden rules:

• Have the camera on

• Have it set at eye level

• Be sure to look directly at it

The 4th bonus rule is to have a decent quality camera.

Abide by these and the quality of your virtual presentations will significantly increase

Having yourself in the centre of frame when presenting virtually is so very important, not only does it look extremely professional but it helps the audience get the best view of your:

• Facial expressions

• Body Language

• Hand gestures

In this lesson we explore the magic of framing and also the power of using names (the names of your audience) during virtual presentations.

Remember - The sweetest sound in any language to anyone is their name, so use it.

Lighting makes such a difference when you're presenting virtually.

In this video we look at:

• 3-point lighting

• How this impacts your audiences viewing experience.

• Just how dark it gets (with a good camera and poor lighting)

We explore how natural light can be ok, but you have much less control over natural light.

If you have the option - take control and use 3-Point lighting in your studio.

So you're presenting virtually, congratulations you're now a television producer.

That's right when you're presenting virtually your job is to keep someone's attention on a screen and what hope do you have when you consider Netflix and commercial television stations spend billions of dollars researching the best way to keep people looking at a screen

So what hope do you have running your virtual meeting or virtual event?

The trick is to:

• Get the audience engaged and do so often

• Use people's names to bring them back in

• Remember you're online not live

Do this to crush your next virtual meeting or presentation

Wow what a journey we've been on to date. As this first stanza comes to a close it's important that you

• Keep your learning journey strong

• Set big ambitious goals

• Continue to challenge yourself and grow

Be sure to find yourself an accountability buddy, as these people tend to keep us in check and make sure we're achieving what we set out to do

Identify your next 3 speaking opportunities, write these down and plan well in advance.

Set 2-3 goals things you'd like to achieve in the next four to six weeks when it comes to presenting in public speaking.

Finally, thank you from the bottom of my heart it's been a pleasure and a privilege to partner on this journey please reach out if I can be of any assistance and I look forward to seeing you soar to new heights.

Luke