Connect and Command the Room. Avoid These 9 Public Speaking Mistakes

Connect and command the room! If you want to connect with your audience, if you want to be remembered as a dynamic speaker who commands the room, you need to avoid these 9 public speaking mistakes.

Mistake #1 – Starting Too Quickly

You must give your audience time to get settled in their seats, mobiles off, so they can direct 100% of their attention to you. If you start speaking before your audience is ready to listen, your audience will miss your first words and the lead-in to your message. Get and keep the attention of your audience right from the start.

Mistake #2 – Reading Your Notes or Slides

It’s impossible for you to connect and command the room, if you’re reading your notes or slides instead of looking at the audience. How can you develop a memorable relationship of any kind, if you aren’t making eye contact?

As the speaker you need to be aware of your audience’s response and if needed … make adjustments as you are moving through your presentation. That means looking at your audience not your notes or slides.

Mistake #3 – No structure

Of the 9 public speaking mistakes, this is one of the worst! Even though you know your topic extremely well, it’s not your topic that’s most important. It’s how you treat it. It’s how you structure your presentation that determines how well your audience receives and acts on the information you are giving them.

When you structure your presentation you know your introduction, your support points and your summary. Connect and command the room so your message will be remembered.

Mistake #4 – Ending with a Q & A

While the question-answer session can be a vital component of any presentation, it should not be the automatic ending of it. The question-answer period is an extension of your presentation. It’s not the reason for it. Don’t end on an audience member’s question or comment. It’s up to you to control the ending of your presentation. If you want to command the room, your audience needs to remember you and your message. Make sure that is the last thing they hear!

Mistake #5 – Beginning or ending too weak

Engage your audience immediately with a powerful opening that leads into the point of your talk. This doesn’t just apply to keynotes at conventions, it’s equally …if not more important when it comes to your ‘everyday’ work presentations.

When people come into a room to listen to a speaker, they’re not coming in with empty heads.

They have to make an effort to make a space in their heads … move their attention from the projects they are working on, the calls they have to make, the quota they need to meet … to listen to you and your presentation. Jolt them into listening. Be dynamic in your opening and in similar fashion be dynamic in your closing.

Mistake #6 – Not Repeating Your Message

It’s not enough to just get your audiences’ attention. You need to be intentional, not only how you get it, but how you keep it. Use the power of repetition. Remind your audience why they’re listening to you, and why what you are saying is important to them. Find different ways of repeating your message. Re-phrase. Paraphrase.

Effective repetition makes it easier for your listeners to process, accept and remember what you are telling them.

Mistake #7 – No Clear Message

By far the worst of the 9 public speaking mistakes any speaker can make. Not being clear on your purpose, the objective of your presentation.

You must be able to share the essence of your presentation in one short sentence. ‘My message is ________’ OR ‘When I am finished, I want people to (think, do, or feel) ____________ ‘

If you can’t condense your message into one sentence, you aren’t clear on your purpose, and if you aren’t clear your audience won’t be either.

Mistake #8 – Failing to include your audience

As a speaker, to be effective and have the audience receptive to your message, you must move your audience into your presentation in some way. Remember, you are there because of the audience. Include them by using personal pronouns such as we, our, us, or you and your … And phrases such as … everyone here, all of us, each of us. Use language that brings the audience into your presentation.

Mistake #9 – Information Overload.

As the speaker, you are the expert on your topic. You have experience and information.  However, your audience doesn’t need to know all the information you know.

Your job is to deliver your message clearly and concisely, and make sure all the content is relevant to your message. Remember the broader your content, the more choices your audience will have to focus in different directions. It’s your job to keep control of what your audience hears, remembers and takes away.

As a speaker, your goal in every presentation is to connect and command the room, and avoid these 9 public speaking mistakes.

When you do, the audience will remember you as the speaker who was compelling and confident in delivering their message, connected completely and had command of the room.

For more tips on mastering your presentation skills and public speaking, visit my YOU TUBE channel