Full transcript
0:00This is Charlie from Charisma on Command and today I'm going to be giving you some presentation
0:04tips and tricks. Now, the guide that we are working off of today is actually the Toastmasters
0:092015 World Champion of Public Speaking. This does, though, apply to a presentation that
0:15you would give in any setting, whether it's in work, or elsewhere, because when you stand
0:19in front of a group of people, whether you're talking about macroeconomics, or the forecasted
0:24revenue, or you're telling a story, like this guy, you must captivate their attention first.
0:29And that's one of the things that we're going to focus on today. So let's get started.
0:43What?
0:46So, this is so huge. How does he start off this speech? There are two big things going
0:50on here. One, he starts with a prop, and sometimes I can feel hokey and you're like, "Well, how
0:55do I do that in a business setting?" The truth is, anything that is a physical object that people do not
1:01understand why you're doing it, whether you're holding some sort of piece of fruit as a metaphor,
1:05I've seen people do that, whatever it is, if you have a physical object, that helps
1:11to capture people's attention, and you're going to see that this is the most critical
1:15thing at the start of a speech. He does it in multiple ways, because when you get up
1:20there and start to speak in front of people, you have about 10 seconds to capture their
1:24attention and captivate them before they tune out completely, so you must do something interesting.
1:29Secondly, impeccable timing. This guy is so deliberate, so slow, he commands the stage.
1:36That's just something to look out for for the rest of this video.
1:42All of you think smoking kills?
1:47So, another quick thing, and I'm going to play this back, again, just so you can see
1:50it altogether. You need to get audience interaction absolutely within the first minute. You see
1:56a lot of speakers do this. It can feel hackneyed, but they ask people that, you know, "Show
1:59a hand, whose seen this before?" "Show a hand, who's heard of something." You must get the audience moving
2:05and speaking and responding to you if you want them to listen and to engage with what
2:11you are saying. He does it very cleverly by asking a provocative question. So, I'm just
2:15going to go back and play that all over again so we can see it together.
2:26What?
2:32All of you think smoking kills?
2:35So, now, they're interested, and hooked, and he can begin his-- he can begin to get into it.
2:40Let me tell you something. Do you know that there are many people dying from diabetes
2:46as three times as many people dying from smoking? Yet, if I pulled a Snicker bar, nobody will say anything.
2:54Again, two more great examples. He's dedicating, basically, the first minute of his speech
2:59to engaging with the audience, and he does that a number of ways we've covered, but,
3:03also, humor. He makes sure that there are jokes in that first minute. So he's got another
3:07belly laugh here, and then, that provocative question that he's asking you, "You think
3:12this? Well, guess what?" And, now, he's going to reveal something else.
3:18Do you know that the leading cause of lung cancer is not actually a cigarette.
3:24Prop again, captivates attention
3:26It's your DNA. You could smoke for years and nothing will ever happen to you. This whole
3:32war against smoking is just to restrict the farming of tobacco. Mr. _, _ and guests, I
3:42use these arguments even though I just made them up
3:51So, you see, this is kind of an abbreviated version of this talk. But, right now, we're
3:56going to go to the body of the talk. So that's how you need to and must. The first part of
4:00whatever your presentation you're giving, has to captivate attention. You've got humor.
4:05You've got provocative questions. You've got props; lots of ways to do that, but the first
4:10minute, do not get right into what you're saying. Don't tell them what you're going
4:13to talk about. Capture their attention.
4:16So, here, now we're more in the body of his speech, and the body of his presentation,
4:20and one thing that you're going to want to have, no matter how dry the subject that you're
4:24talking about, is stories, because, people, the human brain did not evolve to digest and
4:31connect with statistics, right? You can talk about global warming, or world hunger, and
4:36how many millions and billions, and hundreds of thousands, but the human brain is not persuaded
4:41by that. What is persuasive is individual anecdotes, and even though it's a logical
4:46fallacy, if you want to move people emotionally, you need to tell the stories of individuals,
4:52and this is what he does right here.
4:54Choice of word can make a difference between someone accepting or denying your message.
4:59You can have a very beautiful thing to say, but say it in the wrong words and it's gone.
5:06So, here, he makes his point, and now he's about to launch into a story. That's a great
5:11way, bounce back and forth between a general point demonstrating a story, or even start
5:15with demonstrating a story, what's the point?
5:18My friend, Nasser, he loved his father, idealized his father. He would do anything to make him happy.
5:28But his father was the kind of person who's not easy to impress, and year after
5:32year, Nasser tried, and his father was like, "Nyah."
5:38First year in college, Nasser got
5:40straight A's, and he thought to himself, "This is it. This will finally make my dad proud."
5:47He picked up the phone
5:48So notice this. This is very critical. When you are telling stories, again, even in dry
5:53enviroments, you have to realize that when you're in front of a group of people, you
5:57are performing, so you need to get out from behind the lectern. You need to move your
6:01body, but you also need to embody characters. If you can take people into the present tense
6:06of any story, any moment, that is going to be far more powerful than summarizing it.
6:11And if you can go beyond the present tense, and act it out, make it vivid and real play
6:16character, that is going to be something that people can connect with much more, and will
6:20ultimately be moved to act upon, because, really, when you get in front of people, your
6:24goal is not just to say some words, your goal is for them to walk away, having had something
6:29inside them change, so that they behave differently. And this is just a great example of how you
6:34can do that. So, see what he does here.
6:36He called his dad, "Dad, I got straight A's, are you proud? Please, tell me you're proud, father.
6:50"Yeah, listen, son, I have to call you back, I'm busy."
6:57So, you see, this is actually abbreviated in the end. I highly, highly recommend watching
7:00the whole thing. It's much to get. It's much better in its whole piece, but I wanted to
7:04pull out some of the most fascinating pieces. So, moving on, now, towards the end of the
7:09speech, he sort of wraps it up. What you want to do when you get to the end of any presentation.
7:14In the middle, you know, you'll have told your stories, your anecdotes. At the beginning,
7:18you'll have captured attention. It's the end when people are wide open from being sucked
7:23into your stories, from you hooking their attention, that you can drop whatever insight
7:27or nugget that you want them to take away, because if you captivate people with stories,
7:32the truth is, they're wide open to you telling them the moral, and this is kind of what he does here.
7:37Words have power. Words are power. Words could be your power. You can change a life, inspire
7:47a nation, and make this world a beautiful place. Isn't that what we all wanted? Isn't
7:56that why we are all in this world? Your mouth can spit venom or it can mend a broken soul.
8:08Ladies and gentlemen, let that be our goal.
8:15So, you see there, at the end, he goes back full circle with the prop. He pulls out the
8:18cigarette and crushes it at the end. This is something that is very, very, very popular.
8:24I personally find it a little bit cliche, in this case, but what a lot of people like
8:28to do is come full circle, or start with a metaphor, and then, come back to it at the
8:33end. Again, very, very popular thing. You don't need to force it as I felt is the case
8:37in this speech, but something that you can do.
8:40If you want to see more on this channel, go ahead
8:42and subscribe. And, of course, if there's anybody that you'd like to see me break down, any
8:46topics that you would like to see me do, feel free to go ahead and put those in the comments.
8:50I hope that you've liked this and I will see you on the next video.