Tom Peters on Public Speaking
If Tom Peters, renowned author of many best-selling books on business including, In Search of Excellence, were to say that he is good at anything—writing, teaching, connecting with others—he would have to admit that all of his skills come together when he is on stage giving a talk.
I am honored to know Tom and often pick his brain about the skills and techniques that make him so compelling. He is always, “generous company.” Below are just a few of the tips he has shared over the years. And, trust me, there will be additions long after publication of this post! Tom is never done generating ideas!
We begin here…
Read the local newspapers in some depth, get a feel for what’s up in the area.
Go to auditorium hours before speech. Just wander around feeling and smelling, etc.
Before a speech, even in a giant auditorium, I always wandered the audience for, maybe, 15 or so minutes and had a dozen chats with attendees.
If I can, attend most of the speech before my speech.
Regardless of speech length, even very short, spend the first couple of minutes (say 2 or 3) establishing personal social rapport with the audience; I want a sense of guy-next-door-you-can-identify-with-and-trust. Then your new pal (me) can rip into the substance no-holds-barred.
Generally, I prefer my speakers to have a clear beginning after the thank-yous, a pause, then a vertical take-off. But if you are Tom Peters, go ahead and chat up the audience!
Come early enough to pal around for quite a while with AV crew and others. I always sucked up to the AV people big time. I’d say it straight: “I don’t give a shit about the Big Dude who’s paying me. Other than my wife and kids, you guys are the most important people on earth as far as I’m concerned.”
Never ever forget, look some one attentive person in the eyes when you are speaking; maybe start with someone you chatted up in your pre-speech wander. (You obviously shift gaze every few minutes—but always one person, preferably a receptive head nodder.)
This is just me, but get the f*** off the stage and into the audience ASAPish—and you must check it out and clear it with the camera crew ahead of time.
This is boringly obvious, but I have never “given a speech.” It is always a conversation.
Never open your mouth unless you are DESPERATE [correct word choice] to connect and get you message burrowed deep within each member of the audience.
Make fun of yourself. “I’m demanding that you do X, but to be honest, I try my damndest, but I still screw it up half the time. Hang in there.”
More women in charge! It’s an abiding passion. One small step is to make sure that a high percentage of my slide quotes are authored by women; also make sure—count ‘em—that women are the heroes of a high percentage of the stories I tell.
This may not apply anymore. To males. I always wore a suit for a speech. even when the attire was “casual,” I wore a suit. I hate suits. The whole point: It is a mark of respect for the audience.
KB note: the rule of thumb we learned at The Ariel Group was always to be one-level more professional than the audience. Ie. if the audience was in business attire, we wore a suit. If they were in “business casual,” we wore a professional outfit.
I always used lots of slides with quotes. And I rarely even referred to the slide. Reason: I am making a provocative point. Tom Peters tells you to do X. Okay, he has a great rep as a speaker, but c’mon. He’s never run a big organization. Meanwhile, the slide in as big and bold as possible print is behind me. It makes the point I’m making, but at the bottom we see: Herb Kelleher, or Richard Branson, or Anita Roddick. I don’t care whether or not you believe Tom Peters. I’m just the mouthpiece for Herb or Richard or Anita. Don’t listen to me, but “listen” to them!
KB note: I do not like slides with a lot of text, but here, they are slides with quotes, which is wonderful. We want to make sure we get quotes exactly so this is a good idea.