Becoming a great communicator

Dave Charles is a global broadcast and creative media strategist with over 4 decades of radio, talent development, and new format creation.

He worked for Austereo in the 90’s and formed ESP with Greg Smith.

Dave is now the President of MRI (Media RESULTS International). Today he shares a recent post from Cathy Sobocan of ‘Raise your voice’ from Toronto, Canada….

Bill Clinton is often referred to as one of the best public speakers of modern time. He has the ability to charm the audience into joining him in his point of view. There are two components to his greatness as a communicator.

What he says…

1. He builds his speech around one idea. For example,”Barack Obama is the best choice for president for the middle class.” In journalism we call this a focus statement.

2. He uses a balance of personal stories and scientific data- facts from credible sources – to back up his focus statement.

3. He doesn’t hang onto his script for dear life. He sometimes improvises.

4. He uses easy to understand, conversational language.

How he says it…Bill’s top 10

1. He’s very down to earth. This makes the audience feel as though he were speaking to each person individually.

2. He’s fully present and he feeds on the energy of every moment.

3. He understands and respects his audience.

4. He believes in his message.

5. He’s committed to each word he says.

6. He keeps the sentences short and impactful.  Avoid the run on sentence.

7. Body language conveys your tone and intent.  Don’t point your finger.  That’s very threatening. Use an open palm approach as your gesture to open yourself up to your audience.  This allows them to connect to you better.

8.  Don’t be afraid to repeat a key phrase of theme to drive home your speeches focal point.

9. Invite feedback. Most speakers don’t. It’ll help you make your next speech better.

10. Tell them what you’re going to talk about, deliver that and then at the end recap the key points for better retention.

Dave Charles can be contacted at www.mediaresults.ca or on email [email protected]

Read Dave’s recent articles – ‘Developing Today’s Radio Talent’ here and ‘Finding the next Steve Jobs’ here.