How to Be A Better Public Speaker

What You’ll Learn

Author and speaker Erick Rheam discusses how people who like public speaking — and those who don’t — can improve their skills to be a better communicator. Learn more about Erick and his book at erickrheam.com.

Guest Speaker

Erick Rheam

Show Notes

Transcripts have been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Intro: A production of Pioneer Utility Resources. StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers.

Andy Johns: What are some tips you can take to make yourself a better professional speaker? That’s what we’re going to be talking about on this episode of StoryConnect: The Podcast. My name is Andy Johns, your host with Pioneer, and I’m joined on this episode by Erick Rheam, who is an author and podcaster and speaker. Erick, thank you so much for joining me.

Erick Rheam: Andy, it’s so nice to be with you, man. Thanks for the opportunity to come hang out with you. I’m really enjoying the Connect Conference. In fact, in about a few minutes, I’m actually going to go into a breakout session and talk to professionals, utility professionals, on how to speak in a public setting. I think all utility professionals need to have that capability. They need to have that skill set. Because if you’re going to, like we’re going to talk about here in a second my book, if you’re going to lead a life of significance, you’re going to need the help of others. In order to connect with others, you need to master communication. So that’s what we’re going to be talking about in my session coming up. So it’s great to talk to you about that.

Andy Johns: Yeah, as Erick mentioned, we are here at kind of the epicenter of utility communication this week at the NRECA Connect Conference, Jacksonville, Florida. And Erick is one of the speakers. You’ve got a couple sessions here. One of your sessions was on nonverbal communication, which I thought was going to be a little difficult for a podcast, but you’ve also got a book coming out and a podcast yourself. So tell us a little bit about “Rise Above Chaos,” the book and then also the podcast.

Erick Rheam: Yeah. So “Rise Above Chaos,” it was written for the overwhelmed, busy professional men and women in the utility business. So I wrote it with the utility professional in mind. And so the whole premise of the book is that I want to help utility professionals cut through the whirlwind of their life so they can rise above their chaos and discover significance and ultimately live in peace. You know, I was in the utility business for 20 some years. I started in 2000, and so I got married during that time. I raised kids during that time. And it can be chaotic, and sometimes it’s hard to manage all the different things you want to accomplish in life, but also thrive in the utility business. So I wanted to provide a methodology. I wanted to provide a concept for professional men and women that want to make utilities their careers, but they also want to be good moms, good dads, right? They want to be good spouses, and they want to connect in their communities. So that’s what the whole premise of the book is about. It came out last year. It was number one on Amazon, and now I travel around the country working with utilities specifically on how they can apply the methodology. So it’s a really, really rewarding experience, and it’s fun.

Andy Johns: Yeah, fantastic. And then there’s a podcast that goes with it as well that’s kind of along the same lines?

Erick Rheam: Yeah. So there’s a companion podcast. It’s called “Rise Above Chaos Podcast.” The first part of the podcast, we walk through the principles, but then I bring in some really cool people that I interview from all over the world that are applying the very principles that I talk about in the book. So it’s a really good podcast. It’s only about 25-35 minutes long, so it’s a really easy listen. And so, yeah, if you want to check it out, go check it out. And also my book is also in audio form. You and I were talking about, you know, debating on whether or not, are you actually reading the book when you read it or are you listening? I think if you listen to the book, it’s just the same.

Andy Johns: I’m on that side. So I’m definitely an audiobook guy. But yeah, feel free to check that out. If you’re looking to have a second favorite podcast. That sounds like a great idea for it. So what you’re talking about here at Connect this next session, like you mentioned, is being a professional speaker. And we’re all, I think, at different spots on our journey of being a professional speaker. You know, we have folks on our team, super talented, super outgoing, don’t put me up on stage in front of people. And then you got other folks who are, you know, whether they’re really polished speaker or somewhere along the way, but there are tips that wherever you are on that journey to being a speaker, there’s plenty of things people can always be refining along the way.

Erick Rheam: Yeah, and it’s really not about being a professional speaker. It’s really just being comfortable and effective in a public setting. And so what is a public setting? It doesn’t have to be some formal [setting]. You’re at a conference. It could be in a board meeting, it could be speaking what you’re doing or delivering a topic in a staff meeting. It could be if you’re coaching a little league team, and you got to have a parents meeting, and you got to get up for all the parents, and you need to deliver a message in a very effective way. So that’s what we’re talking about in today’s session, is when you have to get up and deliver a message, how do you do it in a way that has an impact? It influences people in a very positive way, and there’s ways to do that. There’s a bunch of common mistakes that folks make, but there’s also some best practices, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.

Andy Johns: Fantastic. And yeah, like lowercase professional speaker. So yeah, not going out and doing it for a living, but in a professional setting, that kind of thing. So, you know, the advice that I have for folks, when we’re talking about presentations or anything like that, is normally, you know, when in doubt, tell stories. We do a lot of storytelling, and you see that as a thing that a lot of folks will use when they start off their presentation. I’ve already seen a couple here at this conference where they start off with an engaging story. That starting the speech or starting the presentation, whatever the setting is, it’s kind of a tricky spot. How do you normally tell folks to kick it off?

Erick Rheam: Well, there are several ways in which to do that, but I call it the golden moment. So, Andy, When you walk up –

Andy Johns: I like that.

Erick Rheam: Yeah, when you walk up on stage, Andy, you have a short period of time. There are studies on this. Some studies say 90 seconds. Some studies say 30 seconds. Some studies say instantaneously. I don’t know what the number is. All I know is when you get up in front of people, they’re making a decision if they’re dialing in or not. So you’ve got them in that moment. So the common mistake a lot of folks make is they try to make themselves comfortable when they get up and say, “Hey, my name is Erick Rheam. I’m here to talk about that.” You’ve lost the moment. So you’ve got to come in. You’ve got to come in hot, and there’s different ways you can do that. Stories is one of them. But there’s another way you can do it. It could be a surprising statistic. You know, you could get up there and drop a statistic that really gets people thinking. Like, for instance, yesterday in my nonverbal communication class, I opened up with, on average, the average human being only speaks 11 minutes a day.

Erick Rheam: Now, whether you agree with that or not, does it matter? It captures your attention even if you’re just like, I don’t agree with them. Now I’m going to listen to them and figure out why I don’t agree with them. I’ve captured their attention. Another one I’ve opened up with before is 75% of Americans are dehydrated at any given moment. And so that’s something that it’s part of my talk, and it gets people thinking. Another way you could do it is you can start off with a power question, right? Get people thinking, answering that question in their mind. You could do a real life story. You can do an anecdote like, “A funny thing happened to me on the way over here.” But you just pick one. You pick a lane that makes sense with you, for you. But when you get on that stage, you open right with that, and then that gets the audience. You invite them into the conversation, and now you’ve got a better chance of connecting.

Andy Johns: In terms of visual or supporting the story, I know that a lot of folks will sometimes get kind of caught up in the slides. Or I was told the other day that it’s not cool to call it PowerPoint slides anymore. You call it a slide deck. And that’s what, it dates you apparently if you say a PowerPoint, so slide deck. So a lot of folks will get tied up in the slide deck. But what are some of the things that you do when you’re presenting to support your story?

Erick Rheam: Yeah, well, I think visuals are important, number one. But the first thing I would do is don’t go to the slide deck immediately. Most people do that. Like I got to do a talk, let’s open the slide deck, and let’s build it out. Instead, what I recommend is storyboard it. Get out a piece of paper. Write down where you want the audience to go, like circle it, and then just almost like a spider web. And you just start lining from that point how you want to bring the audience in. How are you going to transition from different points? So get the idea on paper. What’s the journey you want to take the audience on? Then ask yourself, how can I support this visually? And so I would say that visuals are a good way to connect with the audience. Less is more, as far as text. I’m not a big fan of text heavy. If you ever say this, I know you can’t read this. You’ve already lost the audience, right?

Andy Johns: That’s a good one. Yep.

Erick Rheam: Yeah. And here’s the other thing. Slides are free, so if you got four points to make, why not have one point per slide? You know, I’ve done talks before where I had 179 slides for a 30 minute talk and people were like, that’s too many slides. But I go through them very quickly. I keep the audience very engaged. So I think visuals are important. The other thing is they must complement your talk. They’re not your talk. So if I can print out your slides and know everything you’re saying, there’s no point for you. Just give me the slides. I’ll read it, and I’ll move on, right? So they should complement and should support you visually what you’re talking about, but not be the presentation, if that makes sense.

Andy Johns: So one of the things that’s been cool to me over the years is our co-host or our other host on The StoryConnect Podcast is Megan McKoy-Noe. And she and I are both, you know, we both consider ourselves pretty good presenters, pretty good speakers. We have very different styles, but they’re still authentic as to who we are. How, and that’s been one of the cool things for me to see folks when they kind of find that authentic, “this is who I am” when I’m presenting and speaking. But that’s tough to find. How do you go about figuring out what your style is going to be? Because there’s no one way that you have to do this to be an effective speaker.

Erick Rheam: Yeah, I teach speakers. By the way, I train professional speakers, so I’ve worked with Hollywood actors. I’ve worked with NBA, NFL Hall of Famers, reality TV show people. If I named them, you’s know, who they were. So I’ve worked with a lot of folks.

Andy Johns: Very cool.

Erick Rheam: And the main thing is most people have to figure out what their authentic self is. Because if you’re not authentic and you’re on the stage, the audience will pick that up really quickly, and you’ll lose the audience if they pick up that you’re not authentic. So if you’re not a funny person, don’t try to be a funny person, right? If you’re a storyteller, lean into that. If you’re a data person, that’s okay. You can use data, but give them the most important data. You don’t need to give them 55 points of data. So just lean into who you are, and then deliver the message the best way you possibly can. But the main thing for everyone though, every person, no matter what style you have, you need to get to the point where you’re having a conversation with the audience. That’s what you need to do. And usually how you have a conversation, is you have a unique perspective. So Andy, you’ve got a unique perspective on the problem you’re trying to solve when you’re up there on stage. The way you connect with the audience is you bring that perspective with your unique story that accentuates that. So if you could tie in your humanity and who you are with the perspective that you’re delivering, that brings the conversation down to the audience level and they feel like you’re having a conversation. That’s the key. What you never want to do is you never want to be the speaker that you’re up on stage and you’re speaking down or over the audience. You got to bring it down to their level, and you do that by your perspective and accentuating your story to highlight what you’re trying to deliver.

Andy Johns: Got it. I like that a lot. The trickiest part for me for giving a presentation or for talking is the exit plan. You know, I’ve run into the help-help I’m talking, and I can’t shut up. You know, like, I’ll nail the intro. We’ll have a good, engaging intro. The middle will be good. And at the end you just kind of, “Oh, I didn’t think about this part. Any questions?” And nobody has any questions. And it’s an awkward kind of off stage. Is there anything that you found, or what do you encourage folks to do to kind of stick the landing there at the end of the presentation?

Erick Rheam: Right. So in your main content, the thing is, whatever you’re delivering, you’ve got to figure out what’s the ultimate take home message. And I use an acronym called STAR. So it’s got to be specific, meaning that it’s very specific what you want the audience to do. It’s not vague. It’s got to be tangible, meaning the audience is going to almost like, they can feel themselves wrapping their hands around the topic and taking it with them. They’ve got to be able to take action on it, and it’s got to be realistic. Okay, so specific, tangible, actionable, realistic. So you’re going to deliver, let’s say, 2 or 3 points in the middle of your talk. You have to ask yourself, what’s the most important thing the audience needs to capture? What would that look like? And so when you’re about to close it out, what you want to do is you want to say in summary, that’s important that you say that because when you say in summary, what it does is it’s a send a trigger to the audience, they know you’re about to end. Even the people that weren’t listening now are going to plug in and see what they’ve missed, right? They’re going to get off their phones. They’re going to listen.

Andy Johns: Right.

Erick Rheam: So you summarize everything that you just described, right? Then you open up for questions if you want to do that. I’m not a big fan of question and answer myself, but if you do it, though, you got to do it right. There’s a couple ways to do it. Number one, prep someone in the audience to ask you a question. Or number two, ask yourself a question. Even if you ask yourself a question, it’s something like, “Hey, I usually get this question, and you answer it.” The audience still perceives there was a Q&A, even though you asked yourself the question. And then at the end you want to give a concluding statement. So you got the last word, and then say something like this, “If you do nothing else, I want you to do this.” And go back to the one thing that they need to take away, and it’s got to be something they can take action on and using that STAR methodology, right? And then that’s how you leave it.

Andy Johns: I like that a lot. That’s helpful. Do you think that, because you hear a lot of folks say, “Oh, I’m not a speaker. I’m not a public speaker.” Do you think everybody can be a public speaker?

Erick Rheam: No, everybody can be a communicator. Your goal is not to be a public speaker. Your goal is to be a communicator. Leaders are communicators, and leaders are influencers. And I believe everybody has influence over someone. And so they have to master the art of communicating to that person. Sometimes it’s in the public setting, sometimes it’s not. But if you master communication, even though you’re uncomfortable in a public setting, you can still be effective and still not be a public speaker. You’re not out there seeking public speaking, but you find yourself in that setting. You might as well crush it while you’re up there. So I think everybody can be a master communicator.

Andy Johns: Got it. I like that answer. The last question for you. What advice do you have for somebody maybe who’s listening? And of course, the advice would be get the book and read it, but that’ll help them in a lot of different facets. But in terms of being that master communicator or that speaker, what are some baby steps folks can take if they’re kind of just starting out on that journey? What advice do you give folks?

Erick Rheam: Yeah, I would say that when someone comes to me and hires me to coach them to be a professional speaker, the first thing I tell them, if you want to be a good speaker, be a good storyteller because we all connect through story. So what I would do, the first step, is I would just think about, number one, if you’re going to do a talk or if you want to become a communicator or a more effective communicator, just ask yourself, number one, who are my people? And for me, it’s utility people. For you, it’s utility people. What problem are you helping them solve? So you and I can get up and speak to the same group, but you have a specific problem you want to help them solve. I have a specific problem I want to help them solve. What’s the problem you’re going to help them solve? What’s your solution to that, right? And then how does your story accentuate that solution and tie your story into that? So there’s different parts of my story that really connect with the audience. So I own that. There’s two or three key stories that I build my entire presentations around. So the biggest thing is who’s your people. The problem you want to help them solve. What’s the solution? So if I’m asked for whatever reason, I need you to speak at this staff meeting. I need you to speak at this person’s retirement. What problem am I solving when this person is retiring? I want to make sure he goes off on a really good note. What can I do to support that? There’s probably some stories that I have about that person that I could use to accentuate the fact that he’s had a good life. He’s had a good career. That’s how you approach it. And you just do that over and over and over again, depending on what audience you’re going to be in front of.

Andy Johns: Good advice, very versatile advice. So Eric, thanks for joining me.

Erick Rheam: Yeah. Andy, it was fantastic, man. You got fantastic hair. You’re easy to look at. And so this was fantastic to do this with you. I appreciate you. For those who can’t see him, you got to check it out. This guy’s got his A-game. He’s awesome.

Andy Johns: Hey, I’m glad we got that recorded. That doesn’t happen all the time. So he is Erick Rheam, author and speaker of the book. The book again and the podcast are called?

Erick Rheam: “Rise Above Chaos: The Five Principles to Discover Significance and Live in Peace.”

Andy Johns: Be sure to check them out. I’m your host Andy Johns with Pioneer, and until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro: StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative that is built to share your story. StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.