Regardless of whether you are speaking to inform, persuade, sell, or to motivate, your primary objective as a speaker is to instill change. Consequently you need to focus more on changing the mindset of your audience rather than providing them with skillset. Listed below are 6 factors that you should address within your talk. I will use the analogy of trying to lose weight to illustrate the point.
Factor 1 – Beliefs (Mindset)
What are the beliefs and assumptions that your audience has on your topic – address these during your talk; instill new beliefs through the use of story-telling.
Illustration: Belief on losing weight “I am too old to lose weight.”
Factor 2 – Thoughts (Mindset)
What are the thoughts that your audience has on your topic – how can you use those thoughts through rhetorical questions and reframe the audience perception on your topic?
Illustration: Thought on losing weight “I am too busy to exercise.”
Factor 3 – State (Mindset)
What state is your audience in before your talk and what is the state that you are building your audience towards?
Illustration: A fitness trainer is changing your state towards being more fit and healthy.
Factor 4 – Decisions (Mindset)
What are the new decisions you need your audience to take in order to achieve the change.
Illustration: Decision on losing weight – start going to the gym 5 days a week instead of 2 days a week (or none at all)
Factor 5 – Actions (Skill Set)
What actions do you want your audience to take after listening to your talk?
Illustration: Action for losing weight – consistently getting up in the morning to go the gym 5 days a week.
Factor 6 – Results (Skill Set)
Tell your audience what will be the expected results once they follow your steps.
Illustration: You lose weight!
A presenter will usually focus on factors 5 and 6; an inspirational speaker requires you to also tap into the mindset of your audience and that means focusing on all 6 factors!
