PUBLIC SPEAKERS TELL ALL

Secrets from the people behind the podium.

1 Most people think the way to add emphasis is to raise your voice. But if you really want to attract attention, be silent for a moment. I always pause before I say something important, and all the heads that were looking down jerk up.

2 When I’m speaking, I can see you. Really. If you’re texting, I know. If you’ve got buds in your ears, I know. Usually I let it go. But if you’re distracting the people around you, I may have to call you out.

3 Here’s the key to working a conference: think about what you can do for others, not what they can do for you. When you meet new people, don’t make the mistake of marketing yourself. Instead, think about someone you know who would be helpful to them. Connect two people, and suddenly you’re a hero.

4 You have no idea what they do to us backstage. One time I had a keynote speech that was cut from half an hour of talking time to seven minutes because the speakers in front of me were going on too long. So I ripped up the speech I had, wrote a few notes, and winged it.

5 The key to a good speech is to have a surprising truth. Find something that everyone thinks is one way, and explain that really it’s this other way. If you can achieve that, you are well on your way to a successful outcome.

6 Smaller audiences are murder because people lose focus. The sweet spot is any group of about 150 to 200 people; that size allows you to establish a collective crowd reaction.

7 Often I’ll pick out a person in the crowd who has a big sourpuss

expression, and I’ll make it my mission to make that person laugh. If I can do that by the end of my speech, then that’s success for me.

8 I built my career by soliciting exotic international gigs where I had credibility because I was an American from Silicon Valley, the cradle of information technology. Meanwhile, I got credibility at home because I was speaking internationally. That one trick made me an established keynote speaker.

9 I was giving a speech in a multiplex cinema, and the power died. It could have been terrible, but it was great. First one person turned on his phone’s torch to light me up. Then everyone did. And I just kept going.

10 Delivery matters. When I have an important speech, I record it and listen to it repeatedly so there will be no mistakes whatsoever.