Would you like to discover what every successful female leader knows about speaking?
When you are a leader and run your own division or company, you are expected to speak at events about your area of expertise. Speaking is also a way to elevate your level of authority in and out of your industry. Storytelling is also a technique that we used to elevate that expertise.
Below I share the techniques that I shared with a VIP client when she was asked to speak at an internal company meeting. She is a known industry expert and leader in her field and an executive in a high-tech company and runs her own team.
Arrive Early To The Event Venue To Check Out The Room
This will allow you to get an idea of the space, venue, or auditorium where you will speak is like and be familiar with it and see the perspective of the audience.
You will also discover how the entire event is structured, where the rooms and booths are and understand the logistics.
On The Day Of The Event, Get To Your Event Room Early
Plan to meet and greet the audience members when they enter the room you are presenting or speaking. This technique is especially helpful if you have a large number of people in the audience and will allow you to get you more comfortable.
One of my client’s audience sizes changed from 80 people to 500 people… after she had already committed.
Because what every successful female leader knows about speaking is to expect surprises
Yup, surprise!
She calmed her nerves by asking the audience members simple questions when they walked past her in the room. Such questions as what part of the world they were traveling from, which division they worked for or their role in the company. Then, during the speech, you would reference those 8-10 new “friends” when it was appropriate and made sense.
This meet and greet technique will also allow you to meet some of the special people in the audience that you are strategically targeting. When my client used this technique, she was able to meet some of the executives ahead of time that she wanted to impress. It also allowed her to highlight her abilities because they now knew that she was chosen to speak on the stage.
I also had her ask 5 or 6 of her friends and colleagues to arrive early and sit in seats ahead of time so she could easily locate them when on the stage, so that she had friendly faces in the crowd if she got stuck or needed a friendly face.
Get Up On The Stage
If possible, please get up on the stage and see how the audience and the room will look for you. Get yourself familiar and understand what it looks like before you speak.
Observe How The Stage Will Be Setup
What type of seating? How many seats, is there a podium? Will the setup be easy for my wardrobe and my height? My client likes to wear dresses, and she was short in stature.
Because she was there early to observe, she had the ground grew switch out the high director chairs to low director chairs. This act allowed her to gracefully sit down and stand up from the chairs.
Meet The Other Speakers Before The Event
Some events will provide special sites, calls, groups for the speakers to interact. This is a terrific idea to network with other experts that also speak.
If you are part of a panel, meet these folks in person. It will help with the synergy on the panel to become familiar with one another. It will make it more pleasant and smooth for the audience because it will flow better knowing each other even a little bit.
When on a panel, it is important to “bridge” the other panelists’ comments with one of your own; such as “thank you John”, “as Nancy mentioned earlier”.
What To Wear
Solids are best. No patterns. Dress for your role. If you can find out the background of the stage, it will help you so you don’t blend in. Always bring a couple outfits just in case.
Remember to have fun. You are the expert and the audience is there to hear your take on the information.