They say you have 90 seconds to make a first impression. There’s no time to warm up your listeners, give them detailed context, or tell them a joke. You have one goal, and that is to be bold. A good Public Speaking Course will teach you the techniques you need to master to get people’s attention, hold their interest, and common the room.
Creating Curiosity With Bumper Stickers
Bolding bold right at the start is hard. You have to use a proven technique that will pique your listener’s curiosity and make them want to seek the answers with you. Your Public Speaking Course will teach you to discover your unique, personal characterizations for the messages you want to convey. I call them Bumper Stickers.
I started using Bumper Sticker because too many of my earlier clients were overstuffing their presentations. They would go on and on and on, circling around what they wanted to say rather than getting to the point. Asking for just the title or the headline didn’t work either. Demanding just a Bumper Sticker phrase meant, “Keep it as short as possible.” Some would argue, “But don’t have to explain it?” Yes, but say it first and explain it second, not vice versa.
Learning how to discover your Bumper Stickers for yourself takes time. Your Public Speaking Course will give you the techniques to craft those Bumper Stickers based on what you are expected to speak about and what is important to each specific audience.
Deliver a Road Map of Anticipation
A Bumper Sticker is so bold that it will leave your listeners wondering, How? What? or Why? That is exactly what you want them to do. Explain what you mean. But don’t fall into the trap of launching into all the details. You need to lead them further using the Rule of Three.
Determine the three important ideas for your listeners to understand your Bumper Sticker. Stating the three ideas without the details will give your audience a clear Roadmap of Anticipation. They will know what to expect and wait to hear the details that go into each one.
A good Public Speaking Course will give you insights into why this bold approach works so well when meeting with upper management or reporting to the board. You are supplying the overview and the takeaways. The details can be shared upon request.
Don’t Leave Out Half the Message
50% of a message is conveyed with body language. If you leave it out, you only tell half the story. Pick what works on your Bumper Sticker you want to punctuate with your body language. This is a great way to sell your message and a very effective technique for feeling bold right when you start.
Your Public Speaking Course will train you on how to combine all these bold techniques seamlessly. Being bold is an expectation for your listeners. They want to know that you believe in what you’re saying so they can trust in that sense of commitment. They’ll know you’re driving the bus and commanding the room.