Nobody cares

I hate to break it to you, but your audiences do not find you, your company, or your products nearly as interesting as you find yourself, your company, or your products. If you want their attention, especially in 2021 as we are all immersed in rebuilding, you have to give them something they actually want, something they need.

“OK, OK,” you're saying. “But how do I get into my audience’s heads? How do I give them what they want?” Try the Who/What/What table. It’s a great way to capture who your audiences are, where they are now, and how far away that is from where you’d like them to be.

Once you know what your audience needs and wants, the next vital thing to do is to remember that we’re all people. There’s something to be said for being compellingly personal. Humans get so sick of brochure language and corporate speak. We love to interact with and hear from actual people.

Humans learn from other humans, so act like a human when you’re speaking to other humans - whether on video conference or in person. When Tim Ferriss asked Brené Brown about how open to be in a TED talk, she said, “If I’m not a little nauseous when I’m done, I haven’t really shown up.”

You are a person who’s so deeply interested in something that you’ve immersed yourself in it for years. You are a person who’s been through triumphs and mistakes like everyone else who’s alive. Let people see who you are.

In TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, Chris Anderson quotes Elizabeth Gilbert: “Choose a human being—an actual human being in your life—and prepare your talk as if you will be delivering it to that one person only. Choose someone who is not in your field, but who is generally an intelligent, curious, engaged, worldly person—and someone whom you really like. This will bring a warmth of spirit and heart to your talk. Most of all, be sure you are actually speaking to one person, and not to a demographic because a demographic is not a human being, and if you speak to a demographic, you will not sound like you are speaking to a human being. You don’t have to go to their house and practice your talk on them for six months; they don’t even need to know that you’re doing this. Just choose your one ideal listener, and then do your best to create a talk that would blow their mind, or move them, or fascinate them, or delight them.”

Personal stories are always a powerful component of a great talk. However, before you decide to tell a personal story, prepare it and vet it. You want to be relatable and human, you don’t want to overshare or make anyone (or yourself!) uncomfortable. For example, a story at your All Hands about how the airline lost your luggage but you still won a major new client at a breakfast meeting while wearing a Batman t-shirt is great. A story about food poisoning and throwing up on the person next to you on the airplane, not so much. See the difference?

2021 is universally challenging - we’re all facing obstacles, coming out of our caves, learning how to hope, building the new world. Whenever you have a chance to speak to people this year, focus exclusively on those people. Be human. Connect. Inspire.