Over the years we’ve worked with a lot of business leaders who all have their own communication styles when it comes to giving that keynote presentation. Some of those styles have worked well for them and some… not so much.
When you find yourself preparing for the BIG conference or annual business meeting be sure to review and avoid these 5 common (and detrimental!) communication styles. And yes, all of these are applicable to your virtual meetings as well – avoid the below styles at all costs!
1. The Wing and a Prayer Speaker
Are you one of those speakers that never writes anything down? You not only don’t write out an entire speech, you don’t even jot down any notes or a basic outline to follow! You think you can step on the stage and just wing it and hope for the best.
It’s a romantic notion to think that you know your topic so well you can easily just let the thoughts flow. But the reality is, even the best speakers can lose their train of thought and wander off on tangents. Nerves and distractions happen, which is why an outline at the very least is needed to pull off a solid presentation.
2. The Statue
You get on stage, take one look out into the audience, and then you freeze. While you remember the words you should be saying, you suddenly have no idea what to do with your hands or body. It’s as if you’ve just been given this body and have no idea how it works or what to do with it.
Again, what normally comes naturally to us, gesturing and moving, suddenly feels odd when our nerves take over. This is why it’s important to rehearse your presentation.
When you rehearse, you feel confident taking that stage. And when you feel confident, you can naturally move around and gesture with your hands and arms. And when it comes to powerful body language, free movements and easy gesturing shows a speaker who is calm, confident and IN CHARGE!
3. The Rambler
Do you find that once you start speaking you can’t stop? You know you have an outline and you had every intention of sticking to it, but suddenly your mind has a mind of its own and its going and going and going.
Adhering to time deadlines is very important as a keynote speaker, so there’s simply no room for rambling. Make sure you stick to only a few key points that you want to highlight (depending on the amount of time you are given), and again, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!
I can’t stress the importance of preparation and rehearsal enough. In fact, practice is one of the most important leadership communication skills there is, so be sure to set enough time aside for rehearsal.
4. Just the Facts Speaker
So many public speakers remind me of police detectives because they deal in facts and only the facts. But guess what? Your audience isn’t sitting there hoping you tell them a bunch of facts.
Your audience is sitting there wanting to be engaged. Engaging speakers are memorable speakers. They are the kind of communicators that inspire others to action.
How can you be more engaging? Think in terms of stories not facts. Tell more stories to get your information across. Human beings are wired for stories and anecdotes so be sure to weave some of these through your presentation.
5. The Reader
The reader is the antithesis of the Wing and a Prayer Speaker. This speaker writes their entire speech down, and then gets on stage and reads the whole thing! There is nothing LESS engaging than watching someone read a speech. Your head is down the entire time – or looking up at your PowerPoint slides – so you can’t make any eye contact with the audience.
It’s better to outline your presentation and simply jot down some bullet points to follow. Again, rehearsal will help you to get these points down and allow your messaging to flow so by the time you take that stage, you are ready. You simply look down at your notes once in a while to make sure you are covering all the points you wanted and your audience is engaged with what you have to say.
The way you can avoid ALL five of these corporate keynote speaker mistakes is to select a topic you are passionate about, create an outline, rehearse your presentation until you can let if flow naturally and comfortably, get a good night’s sleep, move around to get your nerves out of your muscles, and take that stage like the BOSS you are.
Continued Learning & Success!
LaQuita Cleare and Team CCA
