Hey there! have you ever wanted to be a more confident and connected speaker?  There are always tips and tricks of the trade to help you get there and today I'm sharing just five quick and simple tips that can transform the way your audience see, hears and connects to what you say on stage.

1) Know who you're speaking to

When we go to present, we're mostly focused on what we want to say, what we want to teach and what's important to us when it comes to the topic.

But you have to start any presentation or any teaching/training, topic with your audience.
What is their problem, what are they experiencing, what's hard for them right now? remember the market, pain points and problem shift all the time. We're in a fluid time and environment.
Also remember the problem may be expe3rienced differently by different people. A woman in business in year one who wants to grow is different to a woman who is in year 5 of her business who wants to grow. A 25 year old looking for a career change is going to be different to someone who is 45 who is looking for a career change.

If you haven't sat down and worked out who your audience is and and what their main pain points are right now then you've missed a trick and an opportunity to speak directly to their needs.

2) Be really clear what the action is that you want your audience to take.

Information without guidance of what to do with the information or how to get the most out it means that people say – that was great but then don't take action.

I remember one of the reasons that I decided to create EPIC Summit – a conference that ran a few years ago was because someone said to me they had been to an event and the information but good but they didn't know what to do with it all – so when I ran EPIC there were key take aways, key actions, specific activities that were interactive that attendees did so that they understood how they could implement.

3) It's not about you

This is one of my favorites. People get nervous and have a lot of fear around public speaking and most of the time it's because we're so focused on ourselves that we freak ourselves out. What are they going to think, how do I look, will they get bored, what if I forget what I'm going to say and everything else that we think about – but at the end of the day you need to get up there and remember that the reason you're there is to teach, train, serve and it's not about you. If you focus on why you're there and you focus on your audience and how you can give them a great experience and actionable, useful information then you'll find that you won't be as nervous because you're not thinking about yourself!

4) Tell great stories

A tip I got from someone once is that when something happens that you think is a great lesson to you or someone else then note it down on your phone. Capturing stories is just part of the speakers journey. I think it I do automatically these days but something you can do is think of the key points that you want to talk about in your presentation or training and start listing different stories that you could potentially tell to community the lesson.

In the speaking & presenting with confidence workshop this week that I ran, I mentioned that a story I told was one from 15 years ago and I don't think I'd shared that story before but a challenge that someone in the workshop had triggered the memory of how I had dealt with a similar problem all those years ago. Instead of saying to someone – deal with your problem like this, which they make take offense to being told what to do, you can share an experience with them of how you handled a similar issue or a time that you went through something similar which leads us to point 5

5) Be relatable with authority

That may sound really weird but you do by combining empathy with authority.
I understand you, I've been there, I've experience the issue you have and I've come through it with a clear understanding of how to fix the problem or a guide, system, process that could work for you.

If you're teaching something then you need to be seen as an authority. That you have a solution or the answer – but no one like someone who stands above them.. You need to be the respected guide who walks beside them and helps them along the way. We follow and listen to people we like and relate to.

Sharing your story helps them relate to you. You showing them that you understand their pain points makes you relevant to their life and situation. You not focusing on yourself but on them means that you'll deliver with more confidence and conviction. and making sure they can action what you teach usually means that if it works for them then they'll be back for more!

So those are just a few tips on how you can speak and present with more confidence and I hope that those tips were helpful. I love speaking about build a business or personal branding, speaking with confidence and playing bigger in your business, so if you are ever looking for a speaker then hit me up!

Thanks for hanging out again today – I love it when you do.

Before I sign off just remember that you have what it takes to Play Big and Brand Bold and I'm here to help you do just that.