Essentials for Delivering a "Super Talk"

When someone has given their time for you, then make it count for them

All successful Orators were storytellers and in the 20th century, 80% of successful people are storytellers. It could be a sales demo or a feature presentation, or a moment to inspire, Prime ministers speech everything needs it. Duration of it can be for 15 -18 mins, the impressions created can last for a lifetime. When someone delivers the talk, the audience should resonate with the passion that the speaker has and the content should raise the beats of their heart.

Imagine any great movie; the directors present his vision in the form of a storyline to bring the producers and star cast to say yes. That’s is the reason we call them the perfect storytellers.

In the corporate world it is no different we refer them as visionaries, Storytellers and some time with love we call them "the Sales People".

Nelson Mandela is a great storyteller he could tell a story of his vision to bring a nation together

Steve Jobs is a contemporary storyteller who created a brand with his presentations and more importantly, a tribe called apple was built

James Cameron is a great storyteller who brought life to the incident in the past and created Titanic.

All these had something in common that tied us to our seats and left us Awwww.

Every Good the presentation has Seven elements

1. Visualization

Imagination will carry us to worlds that never were

All good speakers have always said that before they talk, they have visualized how the presentation would go and how the audience received them. They created a scene in their mind and played it again and again until they see a perfect visualization. Imagine yourself standing on the stage, a smile on their faces when you told that story, telling a joke and audience laughing, image 100's of the audience standing and clapping for you post your presentation. Imagine it!

2. Impact Start

Have an impact start. The Speech by Swami Vivekananda started with "Brothers and sisters of America…" and the rest is history. As seen in most of the TED talks, it is the starting 30 secs that sets the tone of the talk. Have these 30 secs well drafted. It could be

a.       Your Introduction

                                       i.      Avi Arya -  father of two girls and 6 dogs, a streetcar racer turned hotelier turned Social Media Influencer.

b.       A question to the audience to keep them thinking and relate with the talk

                                       i.      Do you want to know how to be a Good Orator?

                                     ii.      What are the successful people in your industry doing right?

c.       A statement to bind everyone together.

3. A story to tell

What you want to tell should have a story, who doesn’t like drama. Spicy it up.

“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town.” — Leo Tolstoy

Stories from personal life connects well with the audience. Steve jobs presentations used to have ample stories from his life which were said to get people emotionally connected to the content. It needs to have the villain ( Problem Statement), A hero- Who Solves the problem. And much drama to keep the audience in the chair. It needs to be short and crisp

4. Repeat It

What's critical and what creates impact, repeat it! Steve Jobs in his iconic iPhone launch, repeats again and again "Apple reinvents the Phone", "It's not three different devices it's all in one". It was repeated so many times that it registered in everyone's mind. Repeat and Repeat. All successful presentations have this one thing in common.

5. Oneliners

In the age of social media what people look for something to twee, post on their Facebook, WhatsApp status or Email Subject . Give them a one-liner which summarises your message perfectly. Martin Luther King Speech at Washington had " I have a dream…" which is still resonates across the united states. It's a single liner which everyone at the speech took home and spread the word

6. Conclude with actions

Always have a closing note which reminds them what was spoken about, remind them what was interesting.  There needs to be a set of actions you should be able to leave them with which can make them engaged even after your talk.

7. Have Fun

We all want to be happy and smiling. If not anything makes them smile and they will remember you. If you don’t enjoy your presentation, then nothing matters

No one is born a great storyteller. When you practice it, again and again, you get better at it!

If you have come to this long take one more step further, send me a short video on any topic in which you can put these seven elements together. I know you can do it …. Let's do it!

References

1. Steve Jobs iPhone introduction Steve Jobs introduces iPhone in 2007
2. Article: An Introvert’s Top Tips on How to Be a Great Storyteller
3. I have a dream -https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf