Bring Your Speaking “B Game”

When speaking, we often hear that we need to bring our “A game”.  This infers that we should always be the best whenever we speak.  I want to suggest, however, that we should concern ourselves more with our “B game” instead, but not like what you might think.  Let’s change the B to “Be”.  Let’s talk about some characteristics that we should be in order to be a more successful speaker.

Be Yourself

             This is a cliché anymore but it’s still very applicable to us as speakers.  I wrote about this previously in a blog entry you can find here.  I learned about this the hard way when I first started speaking.  Instead of just speaking like myself, I turned into a person that I now call “SpeakerMan”.  I ended up speaking like I thought I should rather than just being me.

How can you tell if you’re becoming “SpeakerMan”?

1. Do you find yourself using words and phrases you don’t use in normal conversation?  If so, you might be turning into “SpeakerMan”.
2. Are you constantly think about if you’re looking just right while you’re speaking? Maybe you’re turning into “SpeakerMan”.
3. If you’re worried you’re sounding like a corporate “talking head” and not you, you probably ARE “SpeakerMan”.

Just be yourself and don’t try to adopt another personality when you speak.

Be Knowledgeable

             On the surface, this seems pretty simple.  You might think that I’m talking about knowing your subject and being able to speak about it in depth.  Many of my technical speaker friends certainly believe that.  While that’s true, there are other areas that you need to be knowledgeable about.

The biggest area where I see many speakers lacking knowledge is in their audience.  I wrote about this previously as well and you can find that article here.  In this article I cover 3 questions you should ask in order to get to know your audience before you ever show up to speak.  Get the answers to these 3 questions and you’ll be very prepared to speak to your audience.

1. How many people are expected to attend?
2. What are the demographics of the group?
3. Why does this audience care about my topic?

Getting answers to these questions and other follow-on questions and you will be able to tailor your message to your audience.

Be Early

             I received this advice years ago from a fellow speaker.  Her advice to me was to ALWAYS be early for any presentation or speech I was going to make.  The reason she made this comment  was two-fold.

The first reason to show up early is to work out the logistics of the room where you will be speaking.  Figure out how big the room is.  Are the seats lined up in an optimal way for your presentation?  If you need A/V equipment, is it setup and is it working?  If you’re speaking at a conference, get to meet the A/V crew and get to be their friend.  Find out what is the best configuration from them for the sound and visual components of your presentation.  Remember, the A/V crew can make you sound and look great or not.

The second reason to show up early is so you can meet some of the people who come in early.  By doing this and just talking with them, you can learn a couple of things.  One, you will make some acquaintances that will allow you then to feel like you’re speaking to people you know and not complete strangers.  Two, you can find out what they are expecting to hear from you.  You might find out that you were not planning on covering something that they were expecting to hear.  This will allow you to make some quick adjustments before you start.

Bringing your “Be game” as a speaker can be VERY effective if you incorporate these 3 “Be’s”.  What other “Be’s” do you think are needed for a speaker to be outstanding?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.