Chapter 8 Deliver your content with impact
So by this stage you probably feel like you have done a lot of work. You have put your audience first and figured out how you can communicate more concisely. You have considered how you can communicate logic and facts as well as emotion and stories to ensure you create a greater connection with your audience. You have thought about how you can use visuals to make your communication more impactful and you are ready to stand and deliver.
So what's left?
To be a truly authentic leader and engaging communicator, we need to go against all the prescriptions we've been taught and bring our unique personality into the way we deliver our message.
I truly believe that to communicate in a real and authentic way, it's important to just be YOU.
Can you recall Professor Robert Kelly being interviewed live in 2017 by BBC, and his two children wandering into the room? And remember his wife crawling along the floor in an attempt to stay out of shot as she got them out? He thought he had completely blown the interview and would never be invited back. Yet the result was the complete opposite. People really connected to it because they just saw a real dad doing his job.
Some of the very best authentic speakers I see are prepared to bring their real self to their presentations to connect and engage their audience.
My friend and inspirational speaker Dan Gregory, for example, is a funny and witty man. He shared a story with me about a time he was presenting ...