It’s Not Easy Being Green – Adapting to Your Audience while Not Losing Yourself
1 Don’t imitate another speaker
W We all have speakers we admire, and we learn from those speakers. If we try being that speaker, we lose ourselves, become inauthentic and our audience knows! Learn from other great speakers but don’t emulate them.
2 Embrace your quirkiness
Celia Delaney, The Speaking Success Coach, posed the question “Are you standing out as a speaker?” She believes we should use how we look to make us stand out. I have purple highlights and a nose ring. When I give a professional presentation, I may wear a smaller nose ring and a suit but I don’t change anything else. I stand out. I’m remembered, and I never had a business audience say I look unprofessional! I am who I am.
Do you have a dry sense of humor? A dark one? Or even sarcastic? Use it. Don’t change your style of humor for an audience. Could you imagine Jon Stewart trying to use the same type of humor as Robin Williams? It wouldn’t work and wouldn’t be funny!
