Admit it. You’re a ham. You like the limelight. You love to be in front of the room.
Okay, even if you don’t, you know that public speaking is an excellent way to market legal services.
Here are 10 tips on public speaking for lawyers:
TIP #1: Write your own introduction. Your audience will hear everything you want them to hear and nothing you don’t. It’s better to let the host say nice things about you than it is to say them about yourself.
TIP #2: If you use handouts, pass them out at the END of the talk. Otherwise, everyone will read and not listen. (The exception would be handouts that track on screen bullet points.)
TIP #3: Don’t read. You should know your material well enough that you don’t need to read anything. It’s okay to have notes with you but only as reminders of points you want to cover.
TIP #4: If you use slides, aim for no more than three bullet points on each slide. Keep it short, simple, and easy to read. No animation or fancy graphics. Also, try to use no more than a dozen slides. The audience is there to listen, not read.
TIP #5: Tell stories. All facts make Jack a dull boy. Stories show people what is important and why. People relate to the people in your stories on an emotional level.
TIP #6: Engage the audience. Make eye contact. Speak to individuals in the room, not to “the crowd”. Mention people by name. Ask rhetorical questions (e.g., “What would you do if that happened?”) and questions that call for an audible response.
TIP #7: Mix it up. Vary your speed, tone, and voice level. Pause for effect. Gesture. Walk from one side of the room to the other. Point to something.
TIP #8: Aim for one main take-away. One main point, one memorable line, one evocative story. If they are asked about your talk two weeks later, what’s the one thing you want them to remember?
TIP #9: Keep it short. Twenty minutes is ideal. After twenty minutes, people get restless. If you have a bigger topic, break it up into twenty minute segments.
TIP #10: Close with a “call to action”. Tell them what to do next: visit a website, fill out paperwork, call to make an appointment. If you tell them what to do, more people will do it.
Do you have any tips to add to this list? Please share in the comments.
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If appropriate, try to start by asking the audience “What is the single most urgent question you hope I answer in this presentation on ___________________?” It’s not only a nice way to warm yourself up, but also to get your audience to engage their brain and ask themselves that question (this technique worked great for me when used by a speaker at an event where I was in the audience). As people ask their questions, either tell them “We’re going to cover that” or “We’re not going to cover that, but see me afterwards and we’ll discuss privately” or answer the question then and there if it’s quick.
I like it, Jeff.