A speaker describes balancing natural speaking habits with stage technique. His friend said his talk felt like a conversation with 100-200 close friends, proving that authenticity combined with deliberate craft creates real connection with audiences.
I think when a speaker transforms themselves and presents differently on stage than who they naturally are, it's unnatural. I invite people when they're doing public speaking, just be you, how you present to your friends. I'm a very quick speaker. That's who I am. For me to kind of fight that is difficult. As I work on the craft, I do learn how to pause more and enunciate. I enunciate much better on stage than I do in natural conversation. I'm a notorious mumbler. On stage, I'm very deliberate about that, but my speed and pacing is consistent with who I am because that's my natural energy.
I think the sincerity of you comes across that way. Which is always appreciated by the audience.
The greatest compliment I got was a friend of mine saw a speaking event that I was speaking at. There was a couple hundred people in the audience. He says, "You had like 100 or 200 best friends. The way you presented, it felt so personal." And I think it's true because I present the way I present if it was just me and you right now. Like, this is my keynote effectively. So just be natural.
