Where were you?

You may have noticed my prolonged absence this summer. Well, I hope you did! Was it because of summer vacation? Was it because I had nothing more to say about public speaking? No on both counts.

This year, I found out I wasn't Superman. To my surprise! During the month of June, I realised that I no longer had energy to write anything intelligent. I realised that it had been too long since I had taken a vacation and that it was beginning to show. Therefore, I decided to put a stop to many activities that required too much energy and concentration. Writing this newsletter was one of them.

It wasn't an easy decision to make and it was even harder to respect it. I would often sit in front of my computer, thinking to myself, “I have to write something! Anything! If I don't, every one will forget me!” Despite these qualms, I respected my decision. Eventually, even the guilt subsided.

At the end of this rest period, I feel refreshed and energized, ready to write, train, and help as many people as possible.

Right about now, some of you are thinking, “That's all nice, Laurent, but I didn't subscribe to hear about your personal problems. What does this have to do with public speaking?” I'm glad you asked!

When you give a speech, your audience needs energy and concentration to listen to what you have to say. Just as you need vacation to re-energize yourself, your audience requires some rest and respite during your presentation.

Plan a change of pace during your speech in order to give your public a chance to charge their battery. Some things you can try are:

Take a break: if you plan on speaking more than 90 minutes, this becomes more important. Ideally, take a 5 or 10 minute break every hour. Remember that the primary/recency effect says that we remember beginnings and endings better. By taking more breaks, you create more beginnings and more endings, which contributes to retention and learning.
Ask questions: then wait for an answer. When your audience needs to think and give an answer, it keeps their energy level up.
Answer questions: give your audience the opportunity to ask questions regularly. Once again, it encourages people to speak and think, which keeps the energy level up.
Do exercises: mental or physical. Don't hesitate to have them get up, move around, dance even! If you do mental exercises, ask them to get up and find a partner. Find creative ways to have them get up and move around (for example, “find a partner who has the same color shirt as you.”).

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There are many more things you can try. Let your imagination run wild.

The next time you prepare a long presentation, remember to set aside some time to allow members of your audience to recharge their batteries. They will remember more information, they will find you more interesting, and you will have better fulfilled your mission.