Charisma is perhaps the highest ticket item on any audience’s list to keep them glued to their seats in a presentation. Any audience member knows that the first thing a public speaker must do as he or she steps onto a stage is they MUST instantly engage their audience. It has been proven: the most avid listeners are those who have been immediately and continuously engaged by the presenter’s charisma.
Charisma, a personal attractiveness that enables you to influence others, is the main draw for audiences, thus must be considered as much a part of your speech writing as main points and transitions. The trick here is writing a speech to include an ability that is difficult to describe through words - Charisma.
How do you tie personal attraction into the writing of your speech?
To write in Charisma and engagement for your opening – go back over your talk, once the content of your talk is decided, and then ask yourself, “How can I engage, captivate, hook and keep my audience instantly and ongoing?”. Ask this about every main point.
Charisma is accomplished through a display of positive and passionate energy that has an ability to connect to its intended audience. To instill charisma into your talk, think of a story, incident, joke or even a media clip, skit or visual that is instantly attractive that relates or leads smoothly into your topic.
Here are a few more tips to write charisma into your talk…
• If you have a dry topic don’t set this article aside, start watching the big names in your ‘dry topic field’ and watch for his or her charisma. Whatever you can put your finger on, write it into your own talk.
• Work with your topic and your stories until you find something that draws you out of your protective shell – because people don’t pay attention to people who are in their shell, they want action.
• Use more than three notes on the music scale as you speak – work up to 6 to 8 notes
• Underline the words or points you want to emphasize
• Write the words SMILE, LAUGH, JUMP, RUN into your copy until those staged movements become naturalrn• Place timely gestures in the copy of your talk like POINT, RUB EYES, SCRATCH HEADrn• Write in stories (short and punchy)
• Practice standing tall, taking up space and using plenty of engaging eye contact – what is that?
• The difference between engaging / charismatic people and regular speakers has to do with that twinkle in their eye and their instant ability to connect with their audience by looking, nodding, knowing, and relating.
rnIf you have followed my writing or have coached under me you will note that I am a strong proponent of rehearse your presentation in front of a mirror. If you don’t like what you see and hear, for sure your audience won’t either.
Use passion or action to draw out your audience.
Write passion or action driven content (yes, even if you are teaching chemistry – you want your students to have a reason to listen to you). What stirs your soul about what you are speaking? I know of an insurance agent that re-tells the story of one of his friends who took an insurance policy out on himself; the friend was then killed in an automobile accident within the year. As the audience watches the insurance agent tear up each time he tells the story, they are instantly hooked; they have to learn what he did for his friend’s young family and how it has changed their lives in a good way
How will you know your opening is charismatic?
1. If you listen to your own opening more than two or three times and don’t weary of it, it is potentially good material. If your own attention starts to wane, consider another idea. Your energy has to pop off the stage and grab people – that is what charisma does.
2. Try your charismatic lines on your most dynamic friend – ask him or her for tips about how to grab your audience even if they have never spoken in public – they still know what will keep them listening. Listen to what they tell you, being charismatic is outside the norm and most people’s comfort zones, expect to feel uncomfortable at first.
rnWork with yourself until you secretly are amazed at your own charisma, I guarantee that even if you don’t fill an auditorium, you will engage the people you present to and bring them back for more of you. Isn’t that what you really want?
May you always present with charisma and class!