Public Speaking. Get to the point. Tell a Story.

What is it they say about fear and public speaking?

Only death is worse?

Personally I rate public speaking 13th on my greatest fears list. Number 12 is a piece of potato chip wedged into my gums. Hate that!

Even though I’m not great at speaking in public, luckily it isn’t something I fear. But because I make a portion of my living marketing products, presenting my ideas in a focused and thoughtful way is something I can always improve upon.

I had that opportunity recently to attend a public speaking workshop presented by former CBC producer and journalist, Halina St. James.

Halina has created a technique called Talkitout®. Talkitout® helps individuals present their ideas in a focused, clear and interesting manner.

She was very insightful and knew her stuff. We watched as she transformed one volunteers pitch into something much more focused and attention grabbing. Only in a matter of 10-15 minutes. Most of that time taken up by the volunteers own fear.

She taught us to focus our message.

Tell an interesting story.

Write in short sentences.

And draw your eye down the page.

Her technique was as much about creating good marketing messages as it was about public speaking. Which I loved. It was important to have the point hammered home that people are attracted to stories. Not sales jargon.

It’s easy to fall into sales jargon when trying to sell something.

But it’s much more interesting to tell a good story.

I picked up her book at the seminar. Actually she was kind enough to give me a copy for volunteering. When done reading it and working on the techniques myself, I’ll be creating  more blog posts about this topic.

It’s important everyone know how to sharpen their message and get to the point. In public or in print.

We all can improve how we present our message to our customers or clients. And we’re always presenting our message whether we’re aware of it or not. Why not learn  to do it in a way that is captivating.

I encourage you to check out Halina’s site www.talkitoutnow.com.

Be sure to tell my readers about your own marketing or public speaking stories. Would love to hear them.

Bye for now.