Pride Goeth Before A Fall

Deadly Sin #7: Pride

Andrew Dlugan, sixminutes.dlugan.com

Pride is committed by a speaker who believes that public speaking is about them.

It’s not.

 It’s never about you.

 It’s never about your impressive accolades in your introduction.

 It’s never about your dazzling delivery where you channel Churchill.

 It’s never about your sumptuous slides which prominently feature your company logo beside dazzling 3-D pie charts.

Public speaking is always about the audience and the message you want to convey. Failing to put the audience first will kill any presentation. You need to perform audience analysis to discover how best to structure your presentation and deliver the message.

“It’s never about you. Public speaking is always about the audience and the message you want to convey.”

Avoid this sin by starting to analyze your presentation from the audience’s perspective. Amazingly, most of the other speaking sins will go away.

 You’ll recognize that you need to prepare. (Sloth)

 You will realize that you are uniquely capable of delivering your message to this audience. (Envy)

 You will trim all of the fluff to deliver a message which is focused and easy-to-understand. (Gluttony)

 You will respect the time your audience has given you. (Greed)

 You won’t saddle your audience with your problems. (Wrath)

As for Lust when speaking, well… that’s just silly

I hope you enjoyed these tips from Andrew Dlugan. You can find a lot more information at his website: www.sixminutes.dlugan.com including tips for family members on stocking stuffers for public speakers. His site is pretty amazing and I would recommend you check it out.

To your success as a public speaker!

Fran Watson

P.S. For more tips on public speaking, click here