I'm embarrassed. Ashamed, in fact. Hence the title of this blog.
I very nearly committed a cardinal sin of communication.
Last week, I had a fantastic time teaching public speaking to a group of young aspiring Cambridge University students, as above.
Everything went well, I was uplifted, energised, delighted…
But it was very nearly nothing like that.
And all because of my own stupidity.
To explain:
When I was asked to teach the session, I happily said yes.
Aspiration and inspiration are two of my watchwords, foundations of my teaching.
So I went to my public speaking course, selected some appropriate elements, and assembled them into an hour of content.
Just as I would anytime I’m asked to teach public speaking and presentations.
But! But, but, but…
That course is designed for adults.
And a couple of days before the session, I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat…
Realising my error.
I hadn’t thought clearly about my audience. Their needs, their wants.
These were schoolchildren. About 15 years old.
Okay, they would’ve learnt something from me talking about how to start and end a presentation, structuring the narrative, use of visuals et cetera.
But they certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed it, found our time together memorable, and gone away buzzing.
They needed far more energy and entertainment, rather than just content.
So I quickly re-thought the hour.
I cut it back to the basics of public speaking and persuasion:
The rhetorical triangle of credibility, logic and emotion.
The use of body language.
Keeping your storytelling tight and focused, and the importance of practice and preparation.
We also did warming up to perform exercises, which saw the group dashing all over the lecture theatre, much to our entertainment:
Critically, we also played a couple of team games.
First of all, challenging the youngsters to persuade me why they should be given a place at Cambridge.
(Not that I have such power, but it was a good exercise!)
Secondly, trying to convince me which of their ideas was humanity’s greatest achievement.
In other words, there was learning, of course…
But lots of fun as well.
The result was one of the most enjoyable workshops I have ever taken.
The children absolutely loved it, we adults had a splendid time…
And the punchline, the point of this blog, is…
None of those joys would have happened if I'd stuck with my original plan, and forgotten a critical component of compelling communication:
Always, always, always tailor your offering to your audience.
