[Editor’s note: The following is an updated version of a post originally published in 2017.]
What does everyone sitting in an auditorium long for (and so rarely receive) in a keynote address? A provocative idea, a great new tool, a penetrating insight that could change their business, their careers, their lives. The gift of a great idea!
When you’re on stage delivering your amazing content, it’s your job to help your audience recognize and absorb the most important part of your presentation. Throw your tired, distracted audience a bone! Help them understand that this is the most important three minutes of your presentation. Show them it’s time to put down the phone and pay attention!
You do this by creating a captivating crescendo. Your narrative arc leads to an apex. If you’ve created a great presentation with a strong arc, your audience feels the forthcoming apex instinctively. Use your best visuals and great music cues to help your audience feel that the apex is coming. Then, when you get to that most important apex moment of your presentation, you pause. You look at your audience. The tone of your voice changes – sometimes it’s an increase in volume, sometimes it’s a quiet intensity. That depends on you and your content. You ground your body and focus on the room (you look at them, you walk toward them, you gesture toward them, whatever’s natural for you). When you deliberately appeal to their ears and their eyes and you use your body to telegraph the importance of what you’re saying, your idea comes through loud and clear!
Remember, when you’re giving a keynote, your voice (part of your body) is talking to your audience’s ears and eyes (parts of their body). Your voice and energy level signal to their subconscious minds. A shift in your voice and energy level is a subconscious drum roll that tells your audience when to focus. You are talking human to human, because you love your idea and care about your audience. You are giving the audience the gift of your big idea. You are giving them the gift of guiding them toward exactly which part of your presentation matters most! That is what great communicators do!
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