Last week, I was a member of the judges’ panel for the maiden edition of a mini-keynote competition at the Lagos Business School (LBS). LBS is ranked among the top 50 business schools in the world by The Economist magazine’s 2018 Executive MBA ranking. A few months prior, I had proposed the competition after identifying a similar initiative organised by Stanford Business School. However, I revised the format and with the help of the LBS chapter of the Beta Gamma Sigma Society, we launched the innovative programme.
What made the competition unique was that it was specifically designed for MBA participants to learn best practices in public speaking, and to deliver their presentations on a big stage. This feature differentiated it from TED talks and Toastmasters competitions.
For the 2019 LBS Mini-Keynote Competition, nine shortlisted students from the Full-Time MBA and Executive MBA cohorts were invited to deliver 10-minute presentations on contemporary themes relevant to the Nigerian economy. Topics included How Nigerian Professionals Can Thrive in the Age of Automation & Artificial Intelligence; Moving Nigeria Away From Oil; and Brain Drain: The Capital Flight of Highly Skilled Personnel. Rehearsals were scheduled a few days before the competition during which participants performed their entire presentations on stage. The speakers were also advised on how to improve their content and delivery.
Now excellent content is non-negotiable for presentations that spur action. Therefore, to become an exceptional presenter, you must ensure your content is relevant to your audience and addresses the theme given.
As the other four judges and I watched the presentations given in TED-style ambience, the presenters who stood out and impressed the audience displayed specific traits. These attributes, listed below, are evergreen; they’d also be useful in any public speaking stint – competitions included.
1) Begin strong and end confidently
One presenter began in a striking manner.
As he appeared on stage from the left side, a video began playing. The audio immediately captivated the audience, and there was appreciative silence as we watched the 30-second clip. The presenter milked the moment. He stood still for the most part of the video, then began to walk to the centre of the stage as the video ended. In the desired spot, he stood in silence for a few seconds and then opened his mouth to make a declaration.
It was brilliant.
The first minute of your presentation is critical to setting the scene. It signals to the audience what to expect: whether your presentation, speech or address will be predictably drab or whether they’d be treated to something memorable.
While it might not always be practical to use multimedia to enhance your public speaking, you can always start by grabbing the audience’s attention with something interesting. Examples are a startling statement, a declaration, a shocking statistic, a prop, a question, a story, or anything that would indicate that your presentation will be special and that you will deliver something worth their time.
The brain loves the novel and the exciting.
The speaker also ended on a confident note. He ‘grounded’ himself in the middle of the stage, made another declaration with some flourish before thanking the audience. Rousing applause erupted as he exited.
Don’t self-sabotage your presentation or speech by being ordinary.
2) Move strategically
Movement is a good tactic to signal confidence. But continuous motion is distracting to the audience and creates the perception of nervousness.
One presenter kept pacing across the stage. Sometimes his words were ‘swallowed up’ as he moved, and it seemed as though he lacked the conviction to stress his point when standing still. I had to restrain myself from signalling him to stop moving. Although his content was interesting, its impact was diminished by the constant strides he took from one end of the stage to the other.
You can use movement in effective ways, such as when highlighting a transition, or when making comparisons.
But note that moving for the sake of not being glued to the ground isn’t clever and will weaken your credibility.
Again, don’t place yourself at a disadvantage.
3) Use strong eye contact
I asked one of the judges who her favourite speaker was. The judge had been a member of Toastmasters for a few years and had won awards, so I was curious to know whom she chose. She immediately named the speaker who had the biggest effect on her, and who coincidentally won the first prize.
And the judge’s reason?
The speaker walked on to the stage confidently, but more importantly, she looked at the judge when she delivered her content in a simple manner. “Eyeball to eyeball”, was how the judge described the connection.
Eye contact is essential to an assured delivery. Some speakers in the competition were more interested in their content and made fleeting eye contact with the audience. What I noticed about the top three winners, however, was that they appeared invested in the audience. They looked at the audience and held gazes for some seconds; they asked questions or they made strong appeals when locking eyes with the audience.
As Kolarele Sonaike, public speaking consultant and host of the Great Speech Podcast advises: rather than making eye contact, strive to develop an eye connection.
Connect with your audience in this meaningful way and they’d remember you.
4) Engage with your audience
Audience engagement is akin to the entertainment section of your presentation or speech. It’s the segment that seals the deal in any public speaking competition. It can also ‘redeem’ you if you had a few faux pas when you began speaking. While rules may differ in different scenarios, and you might not have time for a Q&A session, you can endear yourself to your audience with indirect engagement.
One of my preferred speakers in the competition was a doctor, a trained specialist who spoke on the country’s brain drain. I thought she was smart to have focused on what she knew – the flight of trained medical specialists to the West. But what I liked about her was her indirect engagement with the audience. After bemoaning the ‘push’ factors that trigger the flight, she used gestures such as open palms and outstretched arms to evoke warmth. Then moving closer to the front of the stage, she asked, “Now, do you feel my pain?” Her passion was undeniable.
Although a rhetorical question, we could empathise with her on the plight of Nigeria haemorrhaging talented medical practitioners. We understood her distress when she referenced a Nigerian-born and educated doctor, Dr Oluyinka Olutoye who performed the incredible medical feat of removing a baby at 23 weeks from its mother’s womb, operating on it, and returning it to the womb to be born ‘again’ safely at 36 weeks.
So yes, we ‘felt’ her pain.
The speaker found a way to indirectly engage with the audience and to get them to feel what she was feeling.
She also won the second prize.
Conclusion
Now your regular presentations and speeches might not be delivered on a big stage where you’d be awarded prizes. Nonetheless, note that you’re judged every time you stand up to speak, in whatever capacity.
Therefore, as a professional who wants to be elevated or who wants to foster collaboration, you must do one thing consistently. Treat every presentation you’d give as a public speaking competition where your rewards would be increased influence or a heightened appreciation of your competence.
Don’t wait until those high-stakes presentations to revise your content, to change your delivery, or to rehearse so that you display the best version of yourself. Work on your public speaking skills regularly and first test best practices in low-risk situations. When you determine what works, replicate your techniques in important scenarios.
Learn from the MBAs at the business school’s mini-keynote competition and separate yourself from acceptable speakers.
Why settle for ‘good enough’ when you can be exceptional?
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N.B: First image is courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net. Second, third, and fourth images are courtesy of Stuart Miles via freedigitalphotos.net.