The secret to great presentations: enthuziasm
By Doug Staneart
If you take only one piece of advice about public speaking, make sure that it is this pearl of wisdom. If you focus
on this one simple thing, the number of times you say "uhm" won't matter. If you focus on this one thing, your
gestures and not knowing what to do with your hands won't matter. If you focus on this one thing, then the
occasional loss of train of thought won't matter. In fact, if you focus on this one simple thing, you can break just
about every rule that public speakers are supposed to abide by, and you will still win over your audience.
This one simple rule has transformed countless mediocre speakers into good speakers, scores of good speakers into
great speakers, and numerous great speakers into world-class speakers.
This simple rule that can make or break a speaker is… ENTHUSIASM.
That's right, if you have a little excitement in your talk and a spring in your step, people pay attention. Your
audience will have just about as much excitement about your talk as you do, and no more. So, if you want to win
over your audience, add a sparkle of enthusiasm.
One of my mentors told me that there are two rules to live by in the world of professional speakers. She said, "Rule
number one is to never speak on a topic that you yourself are not enthusiastic about, and rule number two is that if
you ever violate rule number one, fake it 'til you make it."
Frank Bettger in his book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling said it a different way. He said,
"If you act enthusiastic, then you'll be enthusiastic."
For those of us who get nervous in front of groups, it's even easier. In the previous chapter I pointed out that 90% of
our nervousness doesn't even show. Let's look at the other 10%. When we are nervous, we often cut out preambles
and get right to the point, our rate of speech typically speeds up, we tend to move around a lot more, and we may
move our hands around more than normal. Well, wh