Speeches in Business Settings

00:00 A business setting, frankly, is not that much different from any other setting when you're giving a presentation, because remember, ultimately you're speaking to human beings.

00:09 They're just sitting there listening, trying to make a judgment.

00:13 Is this person interesting? I'll pay attention or boring and I will check my email.

00:18 That's ultimately what every audience is thinking.

00:21 It doesn't matter if it's a formal situation, informal situation, technical presentation, PowerPoint presentation.

00:29 So a lot of times speakers get themselves into trouble telling themselves, Oh, I'm now in a business setting, so right to be businesslike.

00:36 And what they mean, or at least they think they mean to themselves, is they have to throw away all the interesting things they normally say, get rid of stories, examples, exchanges, humor, and then just stick to dry, boring data dumps. Well, no, my friends, the most effective business communicators always use examples.

00:57 They always tell stories.

00:59 They try to inject humor.

01:01 And whether they're talking to two people, 200 or 2000, they have a conversational tone of voice.

01:10 Because if they're speaking to more than 20 people, they probably have a microphone on.

01:14 So don't talk in an officious sort of way.

01:20 Don't freeze yourself.

01:21 Don't stand behind the lectern.

01:23 Lock down.

01:24 You want to move, be comfortable, confident and relaxed.

01:28 And ultimately, you got to focus on creating an interesting, memorable presentation.

01:34 If you do that, it's going to be a great business presentation, a great political presentation, a great board of directors.

01:43 It's going to be great for any type of presentation.