The world champion of public speaking 2020 Mike Carr, came all the way from Texas to Chennai, to enlighten us on the nuances of public speaking. However, the biggest lesson he taught us was to be humble and be a good listener, to be a good speaker. He curiously listened to each of our stories and was friendly to all of us through out the conference. His session left us with loads of learnings. Let me try to summarise them here.
1. He started off with the famous quote of Marcus Aurelius, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
The biggest impediment for Toastmasters during 2020 was that we had to move to Zoom. But Mike saw that as a pathway and became a champion in the same year. When asked about how he pulled it off, he simply said, 'I had been loosing for 19 years and won on the 20th year!' Perseverance!!!
2. A leader should be a good listener and should always listen to his team. He gave examples of a few CEOs to demonstrate this.
3. A good speech should have a story and engage the audience with humour. However the aim of the speaker should be to share his story to the audience and not predominantly aim at just the victory.
4. Use the whole stage as much as possible. When it is on Zoom, don't hesitate to try new things and take risks. Mike also went ahead and demonstrated us on how to play around with that small square screen by moving back and forth. :)
5. A few tips on using Zoom calls to build relationships:-
a. Don't blur your background. Curate a background that tells a story about you. b. Make sure the lighting is optimum. c. When your hands are visible on the screen with gestures, the level of trust goes up. d. Imagine that you are together in a conf room and use the screen as a window and not a mirror. e. Look at their faces when they speak and respond as if you are directly talking to them. f. Stop screen share when talking. g. Ending the meeting early, presents you in good light as a leader to the audience. h. Dominating a Zoom call does not build rapport i. Keep your face animated but not too much. j. Dress up well for the meeting. k. Visit them in person after the meeting when ever possible to build a rapport.
6. He concluded with the 2 valuable lessons from his mentor.
a. If you do not show to the audience who you are, you are wasting our time. You should be 'authentic' and should not 'perform' on stage.
b. His mentor emphasized on sending him the written script for review, rather than the recording of his speech. This shows how the content plays a vital role for a winning speech rather than the presentation.
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