Are you fit for public speaking?
I don’t simply mean presenting – although that certainly falls under the banner of public speaking. I mean: are you fit for speaking out loud to an audience other than the mirror?
It can be a lonely process starting up a new business. Often, at least at the beginning, you spend days on your own, communicating predominantly over email or phone. That is, until your first face-to-face customer pitch or new business meeting. But how do you capture and convey your business and brand story in just 30 minutes?
Or when the day comes that you hire employees and you finally have someone to share all those dreams, visions, plans and day-to-day tactics with. It’s all been in your head for so long; how do you articulate everything so that your business means as much to them as it does to you?
All too often we plough headfirst into a meeting, sales pitch or presentation without really thinking about the fundamentals of communication.
Or, as business picks up, perhaps you’re asked to give a speech to a network of peers. How do you tell your story without sounding like you’re bragging or pitching?
Or it’s time for expansion and you need to capital to invest in your growth. How do you present your case to the bank so they see what you see and hand over the much-needed funds?
At every stage of your business, every single day of the week, you need to communicate something to an audience, whether that’s one individual or a room full of people. In its most simple form, communication is the act of delivering a message from one person to another so there is a shared understanding and a meeting of meaning. How that message is delivered can be the difference between success and failure; action or apathy; inspiration or opposition; respect or disregard.
All too often, though, we plough headfirst into a meeting, sales pitch or presentation without really thinking about the fundamentals of communication:
1. CRAFTING your message
• What message or story am I telling?
• To whom am I telling it?
• Why am I telling them? What response are you looking for from your audience once they have heard your message?
• Why should they listen?
2. DELIVERING your message
• How am I going to tell it?
• Where am I going to tell it?
3. CONFIRMING delivery
• How will I know if I have told it effectively?
By working through these questions, you will have a roadmap for delivering a message that not only resonates with your target audience, but elicits a shared understanding and evokes the desired response.
Catherine Hollyman, Behind The Scenes Communications
btscommunications.com.au
