TREAT – 5 elements of a great talk

by | Tips

Before even considering the 5 elements of a great talk consider the following:

Content: Travel light – day pack v backpack?

which will give greatest impact? Concise content?

Your WHY: Purpose – educate or inform or inspire or motivate

be clear so audience is clear

5 Elements of a great talk – Thought, Reason, Engagement, Anchor, take-away

Thought:

  • Before start diving into any element of talk get YOUR ideas and thoughts straight
  • Establish one sharp crystal-clear message / thought
  • Then flow in related thoughts AND make it easy for audience to follow
  • Summarise message in 1 sentence of 12 words max ensures message simple and accessible

Reason:

  • This is the WHY – why on earth should they listen? The ‘so what’
  • Message established next step is to be clear about reason important to audience
  • What do they want to know?
  • How does message relate to them?
  • Audience consciously / unconsciously asking: how does this relate to my life?
  • When understand why message is important to audience easier to keep their interest

Engagement:

  • About what you say and how you say it
  • You are the unique factor with unique slant
  • Engage audience before say first word
  • It’s the way you walk into speaking area / stance /facial expression = tools for audience engagement
  • Hook audience within first 20 seconds – how to make that connection?
  • Quickly establish emotional connection before presenting deeper material
  • Use conversational tone + you focused [I focused statements distances audience]
  • Effective use of voice / gestures / eye contact to add interest / keep audience engaged
  • Rhetorical questions
  • People buy people
  • It’s the well-known – know like trust effect

Anchor:

  • Anchor message with story / personal story / examples / analogies / stats / data enables remembering message long after finished speaking … condensed
  • People will remember what they ‘see’ in their minds / ‘feel’ in their hearts while listening v hearing words
  • Brain hard wired to remember stories versus facts
  • Include sensory descriptions help audience create visual pictures / place themselves in story / anecdote telling
  • Imagine / picture this / when was the last time you … / have you ever … engage heart + head / emotions / logical

 

Take-away:

  • Decide what want audience to take-away from talk – the message, the call to action
  • Call to action / challenge most effective when don’t tell what should do but rather invite to think about something / suggest action might do
  • Spell out very clearly; testimonial … stats / data … intrigue …. If your business was a chocolate bar what would it be?
  • Don’t say passionate SHOW it
  • Use concluding remarks to bring talk full circle back to opening statement or message