If you are a Speaker or aspiring speaker, this post is for you! i had the opportunity to learn speaker tips from the pros at a Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) meeting last Monday, and I’m sure they’ll be helpful to others.

In the meeting, eleven “Rising Stars” in CAPS (members who’ve joined in the past 2 years) had an opportunity to give a 5-minute talk and receive feedback from four professional speaker panelists. These panelists were fabulous – so supportive, and specific and helpful with their feedback.

Four Speaker Tips

1. Don’t just tell stories

There’s no doubt that stories are key if you’re going to be a top speaker. Stories are what resonates with people and what they remember later. I often have people thank me for sharing real-life stories, both from my own experience and from leaders I’ve interviewed or researched. But the stories that resonate the most are the stories that are most relatable.

Advice from the judges: Be IN the story – don’t just tell it. When you tell the story, you should really feel like you’re experiencing it on stage, so that your audience can connect more authentically with what happened.

2. Be intentional with your body

This is something I’ve been working on since the first time i saw a video of one of my first keynotes – I was like a wild-woman on stage, pacing and flailing my arms! Since then I’ve tried to make my gestures meaningful, and although I still tend to walk quite a bit, I make an effort to plant myself firmly when I need to make a clear point. I even stood on one spot for a whole 5-minute pecha-kucha style talk at DisruptHR event in Vaughan recently, so I’m getting better. 😉

Three specific pieces of advice from the Speaker Experts: Make your movements and gestures meaningful. 1) Watch where you’re stepping and how those movements symbolize what’s happening in your talk – for example, when you step back, it indicates loss of power – don’t do that when you’re sharing something that’s meaningful or making a key point. 2) Use different parts of the stage deliberately – for example, make one spot the past, one the present and one the future. 3) Practice exuding energy while staying in one place.

3. Don’t tell us what you’re going to do

This was interesting, because I remember learning training and being told “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them.” When I speak I don’t tend to be that prescriptive, but it’s possible I’ve fallen into the trap a few of the speakers at this event did, telling us that they were going to share a story before they shared it.

Advice from the judges: Just tell the story. Don’t start with “I’m going to tell you a story,” or “Can I tell you a story?” Just get into it – especially when you only have 5 minutes!

4. The power of 3

I’m breaking this rule right now as I share a fourth tip… please forgive me! There truly is something powerful about sharing 3 lessons, 3 tips, etc.

Advice from the judges: Speak in threes, and when you do, use your body to point them out – hold up three fingers, make it clear what number you’re on. You can even combine this and Tip 2 to use three parts of the stage – one for each lesson you’re sharing.

I hope that these tips are helpful for aspiring speakers! I’d love to hear things you’ve learned from your experiences on the stage – please share in the comments or tweet at me – @pamelamaeross!

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