Recently, we were lucky to escape the grim November greyness and spend some time in Spain. We spent a few days in Valencia. When we are on a city break, we enjoy doing a walking tour, where we can learn about the city and the culture from an experienced guide, while wandering around the streets.

Our tour guide, Maria, kept our attention for the 2 hours, by using some public speaking techniques that I will share with you here. There was a large group of about 35 people, so audience engagement was important if we were to stay until the end of the tour!

Vocal Variety

The first thing that stood out for me about Maria’s delivery was her excellent use of vocal variety. Her delivery was animated, well-paced with great inflection. This was particularly important as she was wearing a mask, which could hinder her delivery.

Because Maria sounded enthusiastic about her content, we were more likely to pay attention to what she was saying.

This is particularly relevant to your online presentations. Your audience is limited to two of their senses – what they see and what they hear. If you have poor vocal variety, it is more difficult for them to keep listening to you.

When you are speaking, be aware of the 4 p’s- pitch, pace, power and pause.

Visual Aids

The second thing that Maria did to keep audience attention was use pictures. She had a small folder of visual aids to help her description. For example, when talking about a statue inside a cathedral, it was helpful for us to see the photo while Maria was telling us about it. It kept our attention and helped us to understand what she was speaking about. 

Imagine if Maria had shown us a page of her script, and read from it while speaking about the statue. I don’t think many people would have stayed until the end! Yet we see it every day with text-laden PowerPoint slides, where the presenter reads the content aloud.

Your slides are your visual aid- they help your audience to better understand your content. Remember that the next time you are tempted to indulge in bullet-point overload!

Storytelling

The third technique that Maria used to keep her audience engaged was storytelling. At each location on the tour, she told us a story. One story was about the origin of her name, Maria Dolores. It’s a name that she shares with her mother and grandmother. It’s the most popular girls’ name in Valencia. And because of her story, I still remember Maria’s name several weeks later!

Storytelling works, when done correctly!

When you are planning your speech or presentation, do you include relevant stories and anecdotes that will hold audience attention and that they will remember long after your presentation is over? Are you building a story bank, with anecdotes that you can easily draw on to add colour to your presentation or talk?

How about you- what techniques do you use to hold audience attention when you are speaking?

If this is something that you or your team would like help with, let’s have a chat!