Rodolfo Pais and Veronica LLorca-Smith walk through practical public speaking techniques: over-prepare with multiple file backups, open with a hook like a surprising statistic or story, keep slides minimal with mostly visuals. They cover delivery skills like purposeful silence and eye contact, using self-review to improve, and reading the room to adapt to your audience.
Chapters
Hi, good evening everyone. Um, my name is Rodolfo Pais. My publication here is Family Business Is Better because family business really is better, uh, if you do it right. One of the things that I've had to do a great deal in my life is public speaking, which was initially terrifying and uncomfortable, as I'm sure it is for most people. And so, um, Veronica here, the amazing Veronica LLorca-Smith, had the idea a while ago of doing a, a Substack Live on different tips on what you would want to do or not do to enjoy public speaking more, to be more comfortable with it, and just to make it a more successful, useful experience. Veronica has been, um, has been a chameleon over time, from a prior career in Apple and the corporate world to a budding author who somehow managed to get a deal with Penguin Random House for a book they weren't even shopping for originally, to now a real expert in how to make creativity come out of just being part of your soul and making it a part of your income. Veronica, can you give us a bit of an intro as to what you're up to these days?
Yes, absolutely. And good morning for those of you who are on the other side of the world. I'm actually based in Hong Kong, even though I'm originally from Spain. A little bit of what I'm doing these days. So yes, the chameleon journey has, has continued. And even though I started my creative journey as a writer, today a big part of what I do is actually public speaking. So I do masterclasses, keynote speeches, and so on for corporate, as well as the work that I do here on Substack and more in the creative world in regards to building digital products and helping people turn their creativity into their lifestyle, into their business. My publication is called The Lemon Tree Mindset, and I also have the Spanish version, El Limonero. But today we're here because we really want to help you on the stage or the camera. And so we are here to give you tips that are actionable that you can implement straight away.
Can I just say, by the way, I really like the idea of the lemon tree mindset because I've spent my entire life hearing people say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And sure, that's, that's a nice play on positive thinking, but the idea of take the seeds and plant your own lemon tree and make it the seeds for growth, that's unique.
Yes, and that was actually the name of my first book, uh, which is here. So that's the whole idea, that every time you have a challenge, it is an opportunity for you to grow. And in fact, talking about that and just bringing to today's topic, for me, one of the challenges that I had is that I am an introvert, and so I always thought that that was a barrier when it came to public speaking. And in fact, I actually turned it around and I built into my introvert personality to say, hey, everyone can do this.
That sounds like perhaps the first tip you might want to talk about. How do introverts actually survive in public speaking and make it work for them?
So let's get started. And I'm sure that there are many people, at least 50%, I guess, who are introverts. Many writers, I've noticed. are introverts. And one of the tips that really helped me is to understand that we don't have to change the essence of who we are. Sure, we have to change our style, we have to evolve, we have to develop skills. But to me, it was almost like a relief to say, actually, I can still be an introvert. I don't need to be loud. I don't need to have a loud voice. I don't need to change really how I show up because it is part of our essence. And I think that's how we come across authentically. So I do find that when you're an introvert, you just have to do a lot of reframing and say, hey, it's okay that I'm an introvert. I don't need to change. I have stories to share. And really leading with who you are, with your stories, because we all have stories to share. The difference is that as introverts, we usually wait until the potato is fully baked, and we don't like to put half-baked potatoes there. And so what ends up happening is that we're overthinking and overthinking, and then at the end, the potatoes overcooked and you never shared it. So my tip number 1 is bake the potatoes, but make sure that you put them out there, because even if you're an introvert, you have super interesting stories to share.
And I'd like to add on to that because I really enjoy being around people. But I, I like to say I'm sociable, not necessarily extroverted. You know, I'm friendly, but I get most of my energy from spending time alone and reading and writing. And so what I found is I thought you always needed to be charming, charismatic, and high energy to really do public speaking. But I've found, or learned the hard way really, that as a 2/3 introvert, what I need to do is actually slow things down, make it quieter, bring the energy level down, and make the people in the audience feel like they're connecting with me, where it's more thoughtful. And so, it's perfectly okay to be high-energy charismatic if that's who you are. But if not, approaching it with your natural style works really well because in the end, the goal of public speaking is for people to get to know you And get comfortable with you. And if you're one person on stage and a different person off stage, that's going to be either confusing or disturbing at best. Right? Does that make sense?
Absolutely. And I love this idea of owning who you are. And to bring your point to a practical scenario, for me, was being in the corporate world for these big Fortune 500 companies. I just had this idea in my mind that I had to show up a certain way, that I had to have these, what they call executive presence. And I'm a much more laid back, very positive, more fun person, to be honest. And I realized that I didn't want to give that away. So today, even when I speak to big organizations like banks like UBS, I'm still who I am. I smile a lot when I'm speaking. I make sure that I'm engaging people because that's really who I am. And I want to make sure that there's this consistency because we've been taught, especially if we come from older generations, that there's almost this divide between who you are as a person and your corporate self. And actually bringing your personality, I think, is really what helps you stand out. Otherwise, we would all look the same, sound the same, dress the same.
I agree. And let me, let me match that with the first of the tips that I wanted to share, which is both for extroverts and introverts. One of the things that really causes anxiety about public speaking is the fear that you will forget something or that something will go wrong and that the presentation will not be perfect. So, one of the things that I really recommend is over-prepare by 10 times what you thought you needed to do. You know, do the presentation, rehearse it out loud because it's different when you hear yourself talking. But also, really Ask all of the questions in the world. You know, do they want a PowerPoint show? Do they want a PowerPoint file? Do they want a PDF? Send them all the versions. Then carry your computer. Then take a USB stick with you with, with the files on it, because something will go wrong and you want to be ready for anything. And if nothing goes wrong, then you want— you will be so much more comfortable. I mean, people can smell fear just like dogs. And if you're nervous, your, your voice pitch gets a little higher and your voice gets a little breathier, and people know. People just smell it. And so in order to really reduce the anxiety, just over-prepare more than you ever thought possible, to the point where you should be able to pray that something does go wrong, because The presentations that are perfect, people talk about. The presentations where the lights fail, the screen falls off, there's no sound, and you can just brush it off and move on and deliver your presentation anyway, that makes you a legend.
I agree. And I have to say that most of the time, especially with technology, something tends to go wrong. I have had many different scenarios where one of the 2 presenters, like today, suddenly disappeared. I couldn't see anyone in the audience. And because all the cameras were off. So there are a lot of things that can go wrong. And so when you go with this mindset of things might go wrong and it's still okay, I think that can be very reassuring. Rodolfo, one thing, I don't know if you can see the comments, if there are anyone, if there's anyone who is logging in from the app because we're doing it from StreamYard today, but in any case, we'll keep going. So that was one of your tips. I wanted to start with one of the tips that helps me in any scenario, whether it's before doing a live session, whether it's a huge presentation in front of 500 people. And it's how you talk to yourself and the positive self-talk, because whatever story you're telling yourself is the story that is the reality. And so if you're telling yourself, oh, I'm not an expert, what if things go wrong, what if people are questioning me, that is actually the reality that you're creating. On the other hand, if you're telling yourself I'm not here as an expert, but I'm here to share my experience. I don't have all the answers, but I'm here to share what I've learned and my perspective. And when you really do this exercise of positive visualization, of manifestation, of telling yourself, what does great look like and what am I going to do to get there? Like, for example, today I'm not nervous at all because I'm here thinking, hey, I'm going to have a great chat with Rodolfo. I want to make sure that I'm able to support my community and your, your community with tips that have worked for me. Am I the expert in public speaking? No, but that's not the point. The point is really to think, how can I help the person who is on the other side of the screen or the stage benefit from, from today? So have you made a list of things? What are those motivational quotes that you need to tell yourself before you go live or before you go on stage that can be extremely, extremely helpful?
I've found myself doing actually the opposite. What really helps me is to try to empty my mind and say, look, I've done the work, I've done the preparation, I know my subject, I know what I'm talking about. Take a deep breath, think about nothing, and just talk. And then really focus. What I need to focus on to make the connection happen is I take a look at— usually people are in round tables at larger events. And so I'll pick 1, 2 people at each table, then move my eye from table to table and focus on the flow of the presentation and making eye contact. Other than that, I try to keep my mind as empty as possible because while I really deeply love my ADHD and wouldn't give it up, The reality is I can get distracted like that. And so any random thought will take me, you know, left. So, but how about you? Any particular motivational thoughts or quotes?
I tell myself, and I do this not only for public speaking, but whenever I'm going to launch a course, for example, or even do a race, I do triathlon. I tell myself, it doesn't have to be perfect. And just telling myself that or ditching this idea of perfection really helps me. So I might tell things like, uh, it doesn't have to be perfect, it's functional. It doesn't have to be perfect, it's about helping people. And this idea of not trying to make things perfect, even if today if something doesn't work exactly as planned, telling yourself it's okay, I think it really helps you again just relax and not try to be perfect, but try to be present and try to give your best.
Yeah. And we actually do have a question in the chat from a gentleman named Marco who asks, what's the biggest challenge you've faced when speaking in public and how did you overcome it?
So the biggest challenge was this idea— and thank you for the question, Marco— that I needed to know absolutely everything and almost this imposter, like, what if they ask me something that I don't know? And guess what happened? That situation exactly happened of being in public speaking where you have questions at the end that are challenging you or topics that you don't know about. And so one of the things that really helped me on these is to have this mindset of this is what I know and this is what I have experienced, this is what I don't know, this is where I think we can find out, and being very honest about what you know and owning your knowledge, owning your experience, and be confident about that part, but also being very humble about what you don't know. And in fact, in one of the recent sessions, they asked me a topic that was really complicated, and I said, if I'm very honest, I don't think I'm qualified to answer that question. And in fact, if you wanted me to give you a proper answer, I think I would have to partner with a psychologist. And that's what I told them— owning what I know and my experience, but also being open and candid and humble about what I don't know. And when you take this approach, it really helps you be very confident because you're not pretending to know everything. You're just very clear on what you know, what you don't know, on what you own and what you would need help to be able to own.
That's one of those things that is magically reverse thinking. Because if you're willing to say, I don't know, then people can trust you or will trust you far more when you say, I do know. Because they know that you're not pretending to know everything and you're, you're willing to say so. That, that plays rather well with what happened to me, which was primarily— I'd call it fear of judgment. Um, I was just afraid of making a mistake and, and that people would think, oh wow, he doesn't know as much as I thought. Because in the end, usually what I've done is teaching. I've done public speaking mostly in terms of teaching about family business and how to do things right. And so, by definition, I'm speaking about things I'm supposed to know how to do it right. And so, I thought I was afraid if I made mistakes or forgot something that people would judge my expertise lower and that would be a problem. And in the end, what I really came to realize and I'd say it took me a good decade. In this sense, I was not a quick learner. It just took a while to say people will react much more strongly to you being comfortable than to you being perfect.
Absolutely. So back to this idea of perfection, right? And then dropping this imaginary line that we create for ourselves.
Right. And it's such a big change because it is more valuable to be comfortable than to be perfect. I think that's, that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned. If you're comfortable in your own skin, if you can, you know, if you can joke or be humorous or, or just be real on stage, then, then people notice that and that matters to them because it means you do know what you're talking about and you want to be there and you're not pretending.
Love it. So moving gears a little bit, should we go now for some tips of when you are starting. So we've already talked a little bit about the preparation and the mindset work that we need to do before we go on stage or before we go live. And then you start. And one of the things that I find very important in anything that you do, whether it's actually even creating a course or a book, is that hook. It's like, how do you start on a high and how you end on a high as well? Because these are the 2 peaks that people are going to remember the most. If you start on a high, people are going to be attracted and they might want to join. If you start really flat, they might just move on and go to something else. So I think that being very intentional about how you start rather than just, oh, hi, this is Veronica, today we're going to talk about X, it's something that especially when you're doing proper public speaking, as in on a stage for example, it can really captivate the audience. And how can you start on a high? So a few tips that you can use and you can see what works for you. First, instead of just starting by introducing yourself, you can ask a question. Did you know that— did you know that 40% of people suffer from glossophobia? And what is glossophobia? It's the fear of speaking in public. Hi, my name is Veronica. Today we're going to be talking about tips to speak in public. Much more powerful than just starting with what you're expecting. So starting with a question can be a great way to start. Storytelling. Did you know that I used to be an introvert and today I'm actually able to speak in front of 500 people? So the storytelling can be a second one. And a third one that can be very powerful is through a statistic, maybe through a number, maybe through something that is going to surprise people. And that's a great way to, to get started, not in the most predictable way, but in a way that you think is going to captivate the audience. So that was my tip, Rodolfo. What about you? What do you have on your list?
Well, I want to, I want to go back to the chat for a second because you, I think you've almost answered the same question. But Luisiana is asking, what is the most, the most powerful tip to get through those first few minutes after you've opened your presentation when speaking to a large audience, especially so it doesn't show in your voice?
Start with something that you're very confident with, that you're very comfortable, because you can't go wrong. What I see many people make as mistakes, because I think we learn a lot from mistakes, is that they want to be impressive and they want to really surprise, and they might go very heavy on numbers. This is what I learned from the World Economic Forum. And so you might get lost because that's not what you own, that's the World Economic Forum. Whereas if you share a story that is about you, about your experience, you're going to be very comfortable and you're going to be able to create a relationship with the audience. So of course you have to see who your audience is. Today when we started, I brought in very early on the topic of being an introvert deliberately because I believe that in my audience many people are writers and many people are going to relate with this idea that it's very daunting to speak in public when you're an introvert. So know your audience and try to bring something that is really yours that is going to make you very comfortable. So Luciana, I hope this gives you some ideas.
Yeah, the other thing I'd add to those first few minutes is remember that your job is really not to impress anyone. You want— you have a message to deliver. You have something to say. Focus on what you're trying to say rather than what they're thinking. Because if you are nervous, it will show up in your voice. Here's where preparation comes in handy very much. But focus on what you want to say. If you're focused and you care about what you want to do, it'll come through. And Luisiana says thank you. So as you were saying about starting the presentation, the thought that comes to mind for me is The importance of the right content. It takes some practice to know what kind of content works best for you. Some people click through slides or screens or displays every couple of seconds. I remember seeing one presentation that was something like 900 slides in 40 minutes. It was insane. It was almost like watching a movie. But that was the style that worked well for him. What works well for me is content that is very minimalist and does 2 things. The first is it helps both the audience and me remember which part of the presentation we're in because I'm perfectly likely to answer a question and forget where I was. And so, a quick glance at the screen, I have page numbers on every slide and I have 2, 3, 4 bullet points. But My content is very minimalist for 2 reasons. One is it helps remind me where I am. But the other one is the audience cannot look at 2 things at once. They cannot. If there's something on the slide, they're afraid that it will— that you'll change the slide and they'll miss it. So, if you put content on slides, they will read it first. And while they're reading your content, they are not looking at you. And they're not listening to you. They can't do 2 things at once. So the more content you put on slide, the less relevant you are. And so it— to, to me, getting through those first few minutes and, and getting the everything flowing, people have to focus on what I'm saying and on me. And I feel better that they're paying attention because they're not being distracted by word-heavy content on the screen.
To build on that, I take a lot of inspiration when I'm curating my content, when I'm designing my presentations, from Apple. One, because I love, I love it as a brand, and I also worked there for 7 years. I have a lot of practice and training on that, and it's exactly what you're talking about. And you can see when they do like the big keynote for the launches, it's just 3 words on the screen and then the message is really the messenger. So you are really the one who is taking that word and unwrapping it. And to me, as the audience, as a spectator, it really comes across much more powerfully because otherwise you're confused. You're looking at the presenter, but on the other hand, you also see what's written on the screen, which is what most corporates tend to do. And that's also another selling point, another competitive advantage. They are so used to death by PowerPoint that when someone actually comes and they just have a word, the screen and they're actually looking at the person, it is a different experience. They're not used to that. So you gain a lot of points by doing that.
Yeah, you know, I always absolutely loved the fact that when you turn on a Mac for the first time, you get one word, hi. The computer just says hi.
Love that.
It's, it's such a minimalist, beautiful thing. What other suggestions would you make regarding content?
So I like to have visuals, and that's something that's personal. But if I'm going to share a story— and this is something very personal— but in all my presentations, no matter what the topic is, I share a personal story. And the reason why I do this is because I really want to own the content. So if I'm talking about cultural agility, which is one of the topics that I talk about very often for corporates, I might have a picture of me with my daughters in Taipei, for example, which is when I was last week. If I'm talking about productivity mindset, I might have a picture of doing a race because that gives me credibility as someone who really embraces productivity and health and, and mindset. So I really try to make sure that the presentations are not just boring words on the screen, but I bring it to life as well with the storytelling. So this is something very personal, as I said, but I do love personalizing my content so that no one can really copy it. And very often when they tell me, oh, can, can you send us the PDF, which many corporates ask for, I'm like, yeah, but I don't think the value is there at all. Here is the PDF, you can have it all, but I'm the one who's delivering the value.
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And I would also say, I think that lesson about personalizing content and adding stories is really, really important, and it's one that I've actually been learning very recently. Up till about 5 years ago, if you saw one of my presentations, it was a little more academic. It was, I'm here to teach you something or share something useful, and I'm here to present the content. But generally speaking, anybody who has the required expertise could have done the same presentation. And so I've been doing this probably 25 years, and in the last 5 or so, I've finally been learning really the value and the power of what you're describing, of actually not— it's not a distraction to the audience, it builds connection to share a personal story or make, make the content more personal in some way. That's not— that's something that took me a while to get comfortable with. Um, it's something you seem to do almost effortlessly though, from the, from the content and everything you put on Substack, making things personal seems to be almost automatic and very effective for you?
I think it's a practice. I think it's a learned skill because that's one of the mistakes that I see, or more than the mistakes, the ways that we tend to do our presentations when we start is we think that everything has to be very corporate and very formal. And so it goes back to our point of the very beginning of you are here to share your story as well. And so The more you practice, the more natural it becomes. To give you an example, I have a session on cultural agility, and I talk about frameworks, and I talk about the cultural iceberg, which is a model to explain cultural agility developed by a psychologist. But I share a story that is usually what people remember the most. And I said, the story is when I moved to China, I was in my early 20s. I was a manager in a logistics office, and I had a small team. One day I came back from the lunch and my colleague was sleeping on the desk. She was a receptionist. And I explained that I got really mad at her. I thought that it was very unprofessional and it was rude. And we had this conversation. And then guess what? I've been living in Asia for 20 years. Sleeping on the desk, sleeping in public during your lunch break is something that is very common, is something that is very encouraged. And so I share this cultural failure of how I was judging another culture. with my own lens as a Western woman. Most people, they won't remember 90% of the presentation, but many of them, they remember the story of someone sleeping on the desk and how I judge that person with my own culture. So that's what I mean by making the content yours.
That, yeah, that makes perfect sense. I'd like to add another thing since we're on the subject of content. What I do see a lot of people doing, and I think it's— you mentioned death by PowerPoint. I think one of the ways to do that and to kill the energy of your presentation is to put a lot of text on the slides and then read the text. I'd call that slide sin number 1. Please, for the love of God, do not read your slides. Everybody can read faster than you can talk. And because now you're reading the content and you're going like this, now you sound monotonous. And nobody's looking at you, they're looking at the slide, but they're listening to you read it. They probably already finished reading it before you did. And so it, it just slows everything down and it kills all of the energy and all of the connection. So whatever you need to say, memorize it or put it on note cards and have it with you. But if you want to read it, read it from somewhere else. Don't put it on the slides.
I agree. So, Rodolfo, now that we've talked a little bit about content, I think it's time maybe to move about delivery and tips on how you actually deliver the content that, that you've been preparing. And one of the tips that I wanted to share, and it's extremely difficult, but is extremely powerful is silence. Most people, when they're presenting, they feel that they have to fill every single gap with words. And what ends up happening is that they do fill every single sentence with filler words, with, um, and actually, like, you know, the list is endless. Silence is such a powerful tool because it allows you to pause. It allows you to breathe. It allows the audience to pause and breathe. It allows you to make sure you don't have all those filler words and you actually feel comfortable. But also there's another benefit, which is it gives you a lot of confidence. And when someone pauses, usually people look up. It's amazing. The power of silence is actually stronger than the power of words. So try this next time you're doing a presentation. Pause for 5 seconds and it feels really long. Maybe after a question, Maybe after you make a comment and see the impact in the room, it's really transformational.
And if you let it extend, it gets very uncomfortable for people, which might be exactly what you want.
There was one interview from Steve Jobs where a journalist asked him a question and he took 18 seconds thinking, silence, before he actually started talking. 18 seconds is long, but when you're presenting, It feels like an eternity.
I know, and I've actually seen that interview, and it is, it is deeply uncomfortable to sit there and watch him think and wait. Um, but it is extremely powerful because by the time he starts responding, there is nothing you want to do more than listen to the answer.
Exactly.
Yeah, that, that makes perfect sense. I would, I would add a complement to silence, which is focus. I found that I have a lot of different interests. I mean, I'm learning obsessed. This is just who I am. I'm a full-blooded nerd and I love it. Everything I do for fun involves learning something. But I would often inject things into presentations that weren't really relevant. And so if I made one political comment, people would build an entire identity for me out of that one comment, not knowing that I'm happy to argue right, left, center, um, and different philosophies. I enjoy discussing politics as an idea. I don't treat it like a tribal identity. I'm generally center-right on my, on my beliefs, but I'll engage in a conversation with anyone. But if I made one comment that was vaguely political, half the audience would love me, half the audience would hate me, and nobody was listening to anything else I said for the rest of the time. And so what I kept reminding myself later on is, be yourself, like, be you, but not all of you. Not all of you is relevant. A lot of what you think, believe, see, feel, or do with your life is absolutely not relevant to this presentation and has no business being here. If it's a presentation on politics, then great. If it's on family business, then politics and religion have no place in it unless you are deliberately using it to create A particular message, then sure. But just like there's power in silence, there's a lot of negative power in distraction. And if you give people anything that— if you say or do anything that distracts people from the core message, then they'll go off and you've lost them. And, and the attention span of a goldfish just kicked in, and at that point you're you've lost your audience. And so for presentations, I really recommend think about what your core message is. What are the parts of your identity that are relevant to today's presentation? What are the sorts of personal content that you're deliberately and intentionally bringing in? And then everything else stays out. You're not hiding it. You're not being hypocritical. You're not lying about it. It's just a distraction right now.
I love that point. And just to build on that, it's always interesting to ask yourself, is this adding to my main point or is it derailing from the conversation? And use these as a filter. One thing that can be very helpful as well is throughout the presentation, especially if it's a virtual thing like we're doing today, remind people why are we here today. We're actually talking about public speaking. We're sharing some tips. Our intention is to make sure that you can shine, whether it's on stage or on camera. And that really allows you to bring it back, which is a great way to make sure that you stay on your lane. I'm a triathlete, so I like this idea of staying on your lane.
I've been gradually getting into triathlon for years now, and I still don't know how you do it. Like, I can barely, you know, bike and run in the same week. Trying to find space to fit in swimming, I'm like, stay in your lane? What lane? I can't— I can barely find one of the 3 lanes. I also can't swim to save my life yet. So I know what you mean. But yes, staying in your, in your relevant content really, really makes a difference. Anything else you'd like to share about delivery?
So yes, I have a very long list. So the challenge that we have today is how to keep it a little bit, a little bit shorter. And in terms of delivery, one of the techniques that works extremely well is being self-aware and taking every opportunity when you speak to see what went well and what you can do better. I had a coach for a couple of years on public speaking, and to me it was really eye-opener— eye-opening, because we have blind spots, which means that we won't be able to see them unless we have some techniques, or unless we have a third party that can tell us what are some things that we can work on. One technique that works extremely well, and I use it Pretty often is to watch yourself after you do a session, whether it's a podcast, whether it's a live session like today, and not only watch it, but watch it 3 times. One, you watch it without sound so that you can really focus on your body language, and you'll be really surprised what you discover. Some people, they're so serious when they speak, and that's fine if it's intentional, but if you're always frowning and being really serious, you might not come across as very engaging.
Mm-hmm.
So, Some of the things is, for example, are you centering the camera? Are you moving around the stage if you are on a stage? So really understand your body language. Are you using your hands, for example, that can really help you bring your message to life? So body language is very important. Communication is not just what we say, it's how we say it. The second time that you watch it is actually not watching, it's listening. So you're just focusing on how you speak. For me, being Spanish, speed is an issue. In Spanish, we speak so fast, and I tend to do the same in English. So today I'm really consciously trying to speak slower because I know that that's one of the things that I tend to do. You will realize also how many, um, and filler words we use. I know this as a fact because I recently launched my YouTube channel and I started editing my videos, and I use AI to remove the, um, And the filler words. So you have a function, remove ums. And sometimes in a 20-minute presentation, I might have over 20 ums. So it makes you very self-aware of, as I was saying before, what are some of the blind spots and what you can do about them. And if you can get coaching or just be very observant when you're looking at yourself, there are a lot of little things. Like one of the tips that my coach gave me is that when I was speaking on camera, I tend to tilt my head. And this can be very powerful if you're trying to show empathy. For example, if you're sharing a story where you're really trying to show more soft skills and you're really trying to be more compassionate. But if you're trying to send a firm message about being a more confident speaker, you actually want to be straight. So little things like these, they are just very subtle cues, but they can really help with the delivery. The third time, by the way, is watching the video with everything together so that you can see how you come across holistically as a speaker, both with a verbal language as well as the nonverbal.
Yeah, I think the hardest thing in the world is to see your own mistakes and your own issues in everything in life. Now, also, in addition to looking inward, it's really valuable to think outward. Because one of the tips I share with people is read the room. It is very— it's a very different world if you're presenting to a group of 10 people in an office around a table than if you're presenting to 1,000 people in a hotel ballroom at a conference. The energy and the connection is very different. The ability to ask people one-on-one questions is different. Just the distance is different. But also, you may be presenting at 9 AM first thing in the morning. You may be presenting during lunch when people are distracted by pass me the bread. Or you may be presenting after lunch when people are at a major down point in their energy. When people are tired or they're slow, they're distracted. You may be presenting at the end of the day. And so, What are they feeling like? What's their mood? How do they feel about this topic in particular? How interested, bored, engaged, or absolutely uncaring are they? And then connect with that.
To build on that, I think reading the room and the situation, super important. One of the tips that I use, and this is more relevant if you have a bigger presentation with multiple— with a large audience is building interaction into your presentation. In my case, and I'm not affiliated, but I use an app or a software called Slido that allows me to embed things like polls, quizzes, word cloud, comments, and that makes it very interactive. Because today, for example, if I was doing this presentation for a large group, I might ask a question, what are your biggest challenges when it comes to public speaking? And because it's anonymous, a lot of people are going to put, I'm afraid something's going to go wrong, the technology, I'm not an expert. And so what happens is you start to populate these different words in a cloud, and that actually gives me context to build on what the audience is saying. So it feels that it's very much interactive versus a lecture. So that's one tip that can work really well. Rodolfo, what are some of the tips that you have depending on the situation and the audience?
Interesting you mentioned Slido. I haven't seen that one. I've been using a similar tool called Mentimeter. I'll go take a look at that one. But since my goal is usually to try to help people make a change that will really help change their lives for the better, what has been very uncomfortable for me but incredibly useful and powerful is slowing down, actually stopping for a moment, using the silence that you mentioned, and actually connecting with people one-on-one, actually asking them questions. I've noticed you nodding during the presentation. What are you thinking? Or listen, since we spoke earlier during the coffee break, asking somebody, I know you had a question about here, and trying to make it a little bit more of a A one-on-one conversation, even if briefly, has really helped me connect better with people.
I love that, getting people to, to connect. And one thing that's interesting, and I'll mention this because I'm based in Asia, but my business is global, I do presentations for teams that are in the US, for teams that are in Asia Pacific, is also the cultural nuances. You will find that if you're doing a presentation with North Asia, for example, China, Japan, Korea, it's extremely difficult to get people to participate. And so knowing these, you can be ahead and you can be more prepared to make sure that you're not uncomfortable when that happens. And so that's where you can really use those visual cues if someone is nodding, as you were saying, and gently invite them into the conversation. But on the other hand, if you're doing a presentation typically for Australia, for example, or the US, people tend to be very vocal. So it's almost the opposite. It's almost you have to cut someone who is speaking, but the conversation might be derailing. Oh, that's a great point. If you want, we can discuss further. Look for me during the coffee breaks. That's another challenge as well when there's too much interaction, but you have an agenda and you want to stay on time because time management as a speaker is super important.
Sorry, that got a laugh out of me because I once had a presentation that was the closing keynote for an event. And I was so excited to share a lot of content and I didn't do enough rehearsing. And that hour-long presentation lasted 90 minutes. And it was actually rather embarrassing because some people actually had to leave to catch a flight. The conference is supposed to be over. There's a coffee break waiting for us. And eventually I just said, you know what, I made a mistake. Clearly there's too much content in here. You know, I'll get a signup sheet going, and if you— I'll do this virtually for whoever wants to see the ending. The rest of you, there's drinks outside. Let's go. But I— it ended up being better just admitting that I had completely misjudged how long it would take to deliver the content. Um, rather than trying to fix it on the fly and, you know, get covering 90 minutes worth of content in 60.
It's very interesting you mentioned that because I also work with different speakers, or we might go to, for example, an event where there are multiple speakers. And, uh, what I see 80% of speakers do is they either overrun or they start rushing at the end of the presentation because they only have 5 minutes left and they want to wrap the content of 15 minutes that they still have. And the result is not great. It's not great for them because they feel rushed and they feel that they can't really give everything that they wanted to, but also for the audience. Some people literally, they have to leave because they have the next meeting. And it's interesting because very often we are afraid that we're not going to have enough content. We're always afraid, oh, what if it's too short? What if I don't have enough? When in reality, it's the exact opposite that tends to happen. We always always end up taking a bit longer. The introduction usually takes a bit longer. There are 2 minutes for people to join, to log in and all that. And so try to stay within the timeframe because you're going to look so much more professional. And it's a really, really nice experience when you finish and you can say, we still have 5 minutes for Q&A, Q questions. Would you like to ask anything or comment on anything about today's session versus, oh, we are running late. Just one last thing.
Yeah, and be prepared with a question or two for yourself in case nobody raises their hand and nobody has a question. Now, you, you made a comment right now about the intro taking longer. That's another thing that I would suggest to people. Write the intro that you want them to read for you. Write the bio you want them to read for you very carefully, because most people will actually stand there like a robot and say Rodolfo Páez is a person who has done this and has this, this, and this, that. And it's incredibly boring, and it makes it feel very stult— um, I don't know what word I wanted to use, but very stiff. And so your— the bio that you use for an article or for something written should be very different from the bio somebody is reading about you when they're introducing you for a talk.
Love that tip. And just to put what we just discussed into practice, we are now into a little bit over 45 minutes in today's session. So we do want to make sure that we give people the time and the opportunity to ask questions if they would like, or if they have any scenario. Rodolfo, you please keep an eye because I don't have visibility to it, but it's nice if we can take some questions from the audience.
I have been keeping an eye on the chat. There's been a few people joining. But no questions beyond the ones we've already addressed yet.
Great. So final tips before we wrap up today's session?
I think it's worth emphasizing something you already mentioned earlier in that if you relax and you have fun and you're comfortable because you rehearsed, Things are going to go so much better. I mean, the difference between you being half an expert but totally comfortable or totally an expert but halfway comfortable is a world away. People will react far more strongly to you being more comfortable in your own skin there on stage and talking than to expertise. And so it's important to spend enough time rehearsing out loud, in front of a mirror, in front of your, you know, husband or wife or kids or a couple of friends. Do this enough that you get practice at it so that you get comfortable, because the real sign of a pro is they're comfortable on stage.
I love that. And from my side, and it's building a little bit on that, is this idea that I mentioned at the beginning of owning your story and make the content yours. Very often we think everything has already been said, what am I going to add? That's exactly what's going to make your presentation interesting. How many presentations and live sessions has there been about public speaking? Probably millions of them, but none like the one we're sharing today because it comes from lived experience. So I find that that tip really helps you own your story. And one last thing that I use, especially when it's a senior audience and I feel a little bit intimidated, I'm like, no one is here to hear what they already know. That's it. And so what are some things that are uniquely yours, whether it's your experience, whether it's what you know, whether it's your mistakes? We learn a lot from mistakes, and I think it's something that is very engaging. So that's really how you own your story. That's how you own the stage, and that's how you own the camera.
That's beautiful. I think that's a great place to stop.
Perfect, Rodolfo. So thank you so much. From here, do you want to send a message to the people who are watching, whether it's live or afterwards, the recording?
No, I think you and I have both emphasized the same thing, which is you can Whatever it is that you're doing with your life, whatever it is that you want to achieve, speaking to groups and speaking in public will help you do it better. And it's absolutely a learnable skill. And it's not even that hard to learn. It's just normally you don't get that much practice at it. But it is absolutely worth putting in the time, going through the discomfort, practicing and rehearsing and actually speaking in public. Um, in order to get better to the point where you're comfortable.
And that's my message too. It doesn't matter what you do, whether you are an author, you want to promote books, speaking in literary festivals, going on podcasts is going to help you sell more books. If you're a coach, doing live sessions actually helps you build trust or already filter out the people who are definitely not for you. If you want to grow your business, doing live sessions like we're doing today can really help you. So it doesn't matter what it is. You don't have to become a public speaker as a career, but it's definitely going to help you accelerate and amplify everything that you're already doing. So that's my message today. We encourage you to take that step, take the microphone, go on stage, do whatever it is, but make sure that you use the power of public speaking.
And note that even if you're working with a team of 6 in a corporate space, speaking to your team is speaking in public and all of the same pieces of advice apply.
Fantastic. So thank you, Rodolphe, for sending everyone a big hug from Hong Kong.
Thank you, Veronica. Continue.
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