Sally ZimneyFounder & CEO, Be Moved by Sally Z

Use risk as your compass #publicspeaking

14 Dec 2023 · 1 min

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In this brief talk, the speaker emphasizes that effective public speaking requires presenters to share their own perspective on a topic, taking a clear stance rather than staying neutral. While many speakers fear the risk of being vulnerable or upsetting the audience, the speaker urges them to reframe risk not as something to avoid but as a guiding compass. By deliberately orienting content toward risk—making bold, potentially controversial statements—speakers demonstrate thought leadership and authenticity. The message encourages embracing vulnerability, drawing a line in the sand, and using risk to shape compelling, impactful presentations.

Chapters

You need to make sure that you are sharing your take on the topic. Now, this seems pretty obvious, but taking your knowledge and then drawing a line in the sand about what it means, well, that's what we do as speakers. And yet, how often are you pausing and thinking, "This is too risky, too vulnerable. This might not go over so well with people. This might ruffle some feathers." I always tell my speakers that we need to use risk, not as this thing to be careful about. I mean, there's limits to everything, but what happens when we instead turn and use risk as our compass? We reorient our content towards risk. That's thought leadership.