Stop Presenting. Start Transforming Your Audience.

speaker-0: We put all of it on us when the focus should be on the audience. And when the focus is on the audience, you don't have to be perfect. Don't memorize. The more you try to memorize, the more that'll happen. AI can replace you in a heartbeat. If you're gonna get up there to transform, AI has no chance of competing.
speaker-1: How do you connect minds? How you connect with what you're saying to the minds of the people in the audience?
speaker-0: Presentations are not about informing people, they're about transforming people.
speaker-1: Today's guest is Peter George. Peter is a public speaking coach who has spent decades helping professionals become more effective speakers. He also grew up with a lisp and a stutter and today makes his living speaking on stages and helping others do the same. It's a pretty incredible story. In our conversation, we talk about why expertise alone and the right information does not make a talk effective, and how understanding your audience and putting them first both changes what you say and takes all of the pressure off of you when you get up on stage. If you get value from this conversation, be sure to subscribe and share it with a friend. And now please enjoy my conversation with Peter George. Peter, thank you so much for being here.
speaker-0: Ian, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
speaker-1: Absolutely. So Peter, a lot of accomplished people, right? People who that you see speaking on stages, giving presentations, assume that knowing their subject is the hard part. But your work suggests that expertise alone can actually get in the way of reaching the people in front of you that you're speaking to. So why isn't expertise and just great information enough to move an audience?
speaker-0: Well, first of all, let's take the information part. If they're just to disperse information, most people can get that on the internet or other places. And if you're there to talk about your expertise, your experience and the like, and everything centered around that, then that's not often giving the audience what they're there for. They attend, whether it's a meeting in a conference room, whether it's speaking to a hundred or a thousand people. in an auditorium, they go to get what they need from you. And if you're sp talking about your expertise, that generally centers around you and not their needs, wants, desires and what they'll take away.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I think a big part of your work, I, you know, stalked you before you coming on this podcast, listen to a bunch of the other episodes that you've been on. a big part of your work is centered around that idea about your speaking, the work that you do as a speaker is not about you. It's about the audience. And I think maybe the best way to kick this off, this exploration of this idea of what what is the difference between speaking for your audience, like doing your work for your audience or doing it for yourself, might be to kind of paint the picture of what the two might look like. So What is like a version where, you know, a speaker gets on stage in service of the audience, they're speaking for the audience, to the audience, versus an example of, you know, somebody that's up there kind of speaking, they're doing it for them. So maybe we start with the example of a speaker that's up there speaking about them, kind of for them.
speaker-0: Before I get to those, let me ask you this. If you are going to write a love letter to someone, wouldn't you want to know something about them before you wrote that letter? Because you a love letter you want to resonate with them, correct? All right. But we get up and speak about what we want to speak about, and then we expect that to resonate with the audience and to be of service to them. The first thing you have to do before you speak to an audience is figure out who's going to be in the room. And there's a myriad of ways to do that. But you not only have to research them who will be there. You're a marketer. But if I had a bunch of marketers in a room and then finance people in a room and then IT people in a room, you'd all think differently. And anything I'm saying, I have to find a way to make it resonate with everybody, which might be restating it three different ways. You need to know who's in the audience so you have an opportunity. to engage them. Without that, nothing else matters. So what do they want from this event? Again, whether it's one person across a table, twelve in a conference room, thousand in an auditorium. What are those people looking for? And it might vary. And how are you going to reach them? Now can you reach everybody? Of course not. But you do want to try to reach the majority. So how are you going to do that? The old question, what keeps them up at night? What do they need for their business? Basically, why are they spending their money and or time to come listen to you? And unless you're some celebrity and that's why they're really going, they're not going for you. They're going for them as it should be. So always make it about them. Research them. Don't start creating a presentation till you know who's going to be in the audience.
speaker-1: Yeah. And paradoxically, this idea rhymes with what Bob Berg, the author of the Go Giver, speaks about in that book and also shared here on the podcast. This idea that I would imagine if you make that adjustment and focus on the audio on the audience and serving them and fulfilling their needs and desires for why they showed up, it's also more likely going to serve you, right? And help generate whatever outcome you're aspiring for in the speech that Or the the presentation that you're giving.
speaker-0: Right, whether it's Bob in his books, it's Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People, they're all centered on that. This is nothing new. Yet we get up to inform. When presentations are not about informing people, they're about transforming people. But whether it's we're nervous or we don't know what how else to talk to people, we make it about us. And now I'll go back to the love letter, but this time in a date. Have you ever been on a date where the other person did nothing but talk about themselves for the whole date?
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Most of us have been there, unfortunately. Was there a second date with that person? Probably not. Make it about them.
speaker-1: Yeah, be curious.
speaker-0: way was my inspiration for writing my book.
speaker-1: no way. Yeah, he is phenomenal. And that conversation changed my perspective in a lot of ways. But if you take one week and just apply the the principles that he that he teaches in that book and you can listen to him and many other podcasts, that idea of being a go giver, like entering every interaction with a person and thinking about what can I give, how can I serve this person in front of me. If you just do that for a week, like things will change. But I've been doing my best to to live in that way for the last couple of months and it's been Pretty transformative. And like what's cool about it is it takes so much of the pressure off. Like I've found like when I'm entering an an engagement or a conversation with somebody, I felt like having that focus of just how can I help this person? How can I serve this person? What can I give to this person takes so much pressure off like me trying to be so performative and like be perfect. And I would imagine the same thing applies to what you teach about and giving these presentations.
speaker-0: Hundred percent. You think about it. If we get up to speak and say, think of the things we do say, and then we say, Wow, I don't know why I'm so nervous. What if I screw up? What if I forget what I'm gonna say? What if I don't engage them? What if I, what if I, what if I? We put all of it on us when the focus should be on the audience. And when the focus is on the audience, you don't have to be perfect. I've been speaking on stage for Just under forty years, I've never been perfect yet, and I don't think I ever will be. And no one expects you to be perfect. They expect you to have them in mind. And when you do that, you take that weight off your shoulders. I don't think I could go out and give a presentation after all these years if I put that type of stress on myself.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I know in your personal story, right, this shift of focusing on the audience and serving the audience instead of taking and putting all this pressure on yourself to give an excellent performance is what kind of allowed you to be able to do this in the first place, right? Like I from what I understand, you had suffered from a a siv pretty severe stutter, right? But then this shift is what really helped you to be able to get up on stage and do the work that you do today.
speaker-0: Yeah, I grew up in the city, Providence, Rhode Island, with a lisp and a stutter. And when you're nine and have a lisp and a stutter, you don't open your mouth. Otherwise you'll get picked on. So I spoke to my closest friends in my family, and that was it. I didn't speak in school. I didn't answer any teachers' questions. I was afraid of opening my mouth. So what happened was when I got into the corporate world, I had to present. It was actually part of my job to present to upper management in A worldwide brand that everybody knows, I didn't want to lose that job. So they sent me for training. And when I went for training, it was group training. What I learned was I had been studying public speaking my entire life. But I was studying it so I could avoid it. And then when I learned it, I'm like, wow, this doesn't come natural to me, doesn't to most people, but I do get it. And then I asked the company if they would send me for private training one on one, which they did. And to tell you the truth, Ian, unfortunately, the gentleman's passed away, but he deserves fifty percent of every dollar I've made since the day I met him. If not more. He
speaker-1: Wow. Yeah. That sounds like a
speaker-0: didn't get it, but he deserved it.
speaker-1: That sounds like a very transformative experience. So what did in working with that person, like what did how did he help you? Like what was that experience in working with him like? Like what kinds of things did he teach you?
speaker-0: What was funny was he was very nurturing in his own way, but he had a bit of sarcasm within himself too. And every time I gave an excuse about something, he would come out with that sarcasm, basically, I understand. It's you're different from everybody else in the world. I get it. And what he made me realize was I wasn't the only one going through this. Whether it was someone who used to have a speech impediment, and I still have it, they both come up every so often, especially when I'm tired. But I wasn't the only one going through this om why am I nervous? Why am I afraid before I speak? Everybody goes through that. And I still do. I still get sweaty. My heart still thumps out of my chest. My blood pressure goes up. If you see me right before I speak, you'll see the blood go up through my throat into my cheeks, and you know, looks like a thermometer. That's not unusual. That's the human condition. That's adrenaline. And the difference now is I used to consider it fear or nervousness. I have the same feelings. Now I just label it as excitement and I'm going out to do something that I'm honored to do, which is serve that audience. And that's a pretty cool thing. It goes from having to do it to getting to do it. It's a mind shift. It's not a big mind shift, but it's a tremendous one.
speaker-1: Absolutely. And I had a similar kind of shift in perspective. So I a hundred percent I'm the same way. Like I gave probably twenty five different workshops last year and these were small groups, you know, ranging from five people to I think the biggest group of people that I spoke in front of was maybe fifty five people, right? So not like gigantic rooms, but nice still today, like every single person, every single time I get up there, there's always just like the nerves and the hearts going and it's just like, my god, get me out of here. Right. It's like the Fight or flight kind of kicks in a little bit, but I think it was Dustin Poirier, random guy to I listened to him on a podcast years ago. And he talked about this idea that when that starts to happen, those kind of nerves start to set in. It's just like a signal that you care. Like you you care about what you're gonna do. And it's an opportunity, like you get to go perform and and test yourself. And but I think that shift of like that being a signal that you really care about what you're gonna do and trying to see it in a little bit more positive light has been helpful for me. But it sounds like even somebody like yourself who's been doing this for years and years, right, you still get nervous. So there's really no, you know, how can you avoid that or how can you grow through that? It's just something that's inherent. It's gonna be there. Cause like you said, it's a natural part of the human condition, those fear and those nerves before you go speak.
speaker-0: Just adrenaline. It's all it is. Think if you and I were going on one of these roller coasters and you love these new roller coasters they have out where you're not even in cars anymore. You're kind of sitting out in the open. And we're in line and we're both sweating and our hearts are starting to pump, and you're going, I can't wait to go. And I'm standing there going, my God, we're going to die. The same thing's happening to our minds and bodies. We just labeled it differently. It's the same adrenaline. And when you talked about the gentleman who said, you know, you you want this, think about you're from Wisconsin, so we'll go with the Green Bay Packers. So a little later this month, the Packers will come together and start their summer camp. You will hear, whether it's from the Packers or any other team, veterans who were expected to play another two or three years, say, You know what? I'm done. Because when the end of July got here and they w go to camp. They didn't feel it anymore. They didn't have that adrenaline. They couldn't go out and work out in the summer heat. They couldn't put in all the practice before the season begins because it's no longer in them. When I have people call me and say, can you help me get rid of my nerves? I say, well, first off, that's the only thing you want me to help you with, then I'm not the guy. I'll help you be a more effective presenter and you'll manage your nerves during that work. But I'm not one to that's a psychologist. That's what they do.
speaker-1: Right.
speaker-0: But I also tell them you never want those nerves to go away.
speaker-1: Yeah. Because that's the you know, that's the energy, right? That again, that's just a signal that you care, you're gonna do the work to get better at this thing. Like you care about what you're about to go do.
speaker-0: Exactly.
speaker-1: I love it. So going back to the idea of you need to have the audience in mind and you probably need to tailor and cater the content of your presentation and your talk to the people that are gonna be in the audience. You wanna make the adjustments, but how can you do that without having to create a new talk before every single room, every instance and like every presentation that you're gonna give? Like how can you adapt without having to create a new talk every single time?
speaker-0: I'll give you example. In a couple of weeks I'll be doing a talk up in Maine and I'm researching who those people are that will be in those seats so I can connect with them. Will it be different than my others? Yeah, to some degree it will, because they're in a different company, a different industry than my last talk. So it has to be customized that way. And all these people are going to be from the same organ organization, same industry. So it will be easier than it might be otherwise. But it's my same training that's customized for them. It's not changing the entire thing. So my stories will be stories that I've worked with people from their industry and the like. Examples will be about their industry. And because I talk For the most part to the same industries. I have those examples, those stories. Every once in a while I get asked to speak to an industry I've never spoken to before, and I have a lot more homework to do to get to know them. But once you know your audience, it becomes fairly simple. Not easy, but simple.
speaker-1: Yeah. And this work of adapting and tailoring your content to the audience that you're speaking to just sounds like a part of the process of going pro, if I'm gonna steal one of Stephen Pressfield's terms. It's just kind of the required work that you have to do, right? Like something that I was doing is I was just giving the same presentation every single time I did a workshop. Like, you know, I would ask the audience maybe at the beginning, like, who here is a business owner, who here works for a corporate op like in a in a corporate role. And then I would try and do some kind of subtle adjusting as I was presenting. But you know, I have a long way to grow as it goes to my presenting and speaking ability. So I've probably not able to do that really on the fly all that well. But this work of customizing and tailoring your messaging and the stories that you use and the examples and like how you communicate this content right again to kind of meet the audience where they're at and how they are going to receive information, just kind of how they're wired and how they think is the work of going pro. It also, your your comment about I speak to the same industries often is another example of the beauty of of finding your niche, right? And just being in a niche where you're gonna be speaking to the same people consistently. It allows you to kind of have that customization and that tailoring, but in a standardized fashion where you don't have to remake your presentation, your talk over time. I love that. So when you give your presentation or in your book, you know, the captivating public speaker, what are some of the other elements. So obviously the foundation is it needs to be about the audience and it needs to be about them more than it is at all about you. What are some of those other maybe more tactical elements of being a better and captivating public public speaker that you could share with the audience?
speaker-0: You want to know how to connect minds. And when I train my clients, we talk an awful lot about how minds are connecting, or not, but how they should be. And what we think about is I have to give a presentation. And all this connotation that goes with it, slides if you're going to use them. What I'm going to say all these different things, they put very little thought into how The human brain connects with another human brain. And that's what we're doing. So when people say, I don't need help, and God bless them if they don't, but they say, I don't need help because I know my job, my industry, my my position, and I've got the guts to get up there. And great, that's awesome. But do you do you know how to connect what's in your head with what's in the audience's head? And that's a long, long way from getting up there, knowing what you're going to talk about and doing it.
speaker-1: So if we could explore this idea a little bit, like what does it take for you to connect your talk to the minds of the people? Like how do you connect minds? Like that that sounds like a fascinating idea. Like how do you connect minds? How do you connect with what you're saying to the minds of the people in the audience?
speaker-0: Studies show and most marketers will know this. Studies show that when you tell a story, what lights up in your head while you're reliving that story, truly reliving the story, lights up in your audience's head if it's relevant to At the same time, split second, they're behind you. Once they start to grasp that story and start anticipating where you're going, that section of their brain lights up before yours does. Advertisers know this, marketers know this, and speakers should know this. So one of the ways to do it is to tell stories that are captivating to them. And when you can do that, your minds truly sink. It's not that that's not just a a choice of term. They truly sink. And light up at the same time if there's not before. That's fantastic. So learn to tell stories. Stories are fairly easy to tell. Things you want to remember about a story, tell them in the present tense. That's reliving it. That's not just telling a story. Otherwise a story is nothing but a documentary. This happened, then this happened, and she said this and he said that. It's a documentary. What makes more money at the box office? A documentary, no matter how good it is, or a blockbuster hit that the story captures people. The blockbuster hit. So tell it and stories are told in the present tense in the movies, right? I don't care if it was World War II. You're there watching the action. It's present tense. So tell your stories in the present tense. But first of all, make sure it's going to engage that audience, which is another reason. You have to know who that audience is.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I guess just the simple question here is then how do you make sure that the story you're going to tell is going to connect and resonate with the audience that's in your room? Is it just as simple as, you know, using an example, using a story from working with people like them that it like the audience of people that are going to be in the room, or is there any more to that idea of like making sure that you're choosing the right stories that is going to connect? Like once you h understand who the audience is going to be, who's going to be there, how do you choose the right stories that are going to resonate with that audience?
speaker-0: It's what they want out of your time together. A lot of people think what you said at the beginning there, which was if you have an audience and you you have stories that speak to that same audience, is that good? Maybe, maybe not. If I'm speaking to financial advisors and this group is there to walk away with something in particular, but my stories are about financial advisors who had a different need, then they're not going to relate. So it's all based on them and I'll keep going back to that because this is what we avoid learning about my audience. So how do you learn about your audience? Ask. Whoever asks you to speak, ask them what they expect the audience to get out of it. And then ask if you can connect it with a few people who are going to be there. And connect with them and ask them what they want out of this. You'll start to see something get molded that this is what I have to address. That makes creating your presentation or if you have a signature, true signature presentation, that makes customizing it so much easier, which is exactly what you want to do. People will avoid researching their audience and then spend more time trying to figure out how they're going to connect with their audience. I'd rather know who I'm connecting with first makes my life so much easier.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I remember from another one of the conversations that you had that you like to hear from people who are super excited and enthusiastic that are like excited about coming, and then also people who are a bit more skeptical. Why is that?
speaker-0: The ones who are like, Yes, I was always hoping someone was gonna tell us why and maybe how public speaking will help our careers. But then you have people who go, Really? I gotta listen to this guy. My vice president's making me do it. Otherwise I'd be out on the golf course. I used to think when I was young that when all these people showed up like, Wow, these people are here for me. It didn't take long to learn a good portion of them. could be the majority, aren't here for me. Some are hit here to learn what they want and need to learn. Others are here by gunpoint. The vice president say you gotta go. So when you know that some people aren't gonna want you there, talk to them and ask them why. Don't try to convert them. You never will. You might in your talk because you're prepared and resonating with them, but ask them why. If someone says, and I've heard this, this is a true response, you know, the last three consultants who have been here didn't know anything about our company. They didn't know anything about us. They they came here, they talked for an hour, took their check and went home. I say, I understand that. I understand why you're upset. And I'm not going to tell you anything different. I will happily take my check. I will be going home. But in between, I'm hoping to help you in your specific situations. And then I leave it at that, because I'm not going to convince them by email or over the phone. There's only one way I can convince them. And that's being properly prepared to help them.
speaker-1: Yeah. Yep. And making it about them. So again, just tactical questions. So you reach out to the people who's organ who are who are organizing the event, ask them some questions about, hey, who do you think's gonna be in the room? What did what do you believe that they're gonna expect out of it? Hey, do you think you could have like the send me the registers list or just like the few emails of people that are gonna be showing up just so I can ask them some questions and you just kinda send them a simple email just asking, Hey, what do you expect or what is your What kinds of questions are you are you asking the the audience when you're reaching out to them to get that feedback, the preparation feedback?
speaker-0: It's really not difficult. And and like I said, once you have those answers, the rest is almost plug and play. It determines what stories you're going to tell. It determines what outcome you're going provide. All of that.
speaker-1: Yeah. I love it. So when you're working with your clients and you're helping an expert refine their talk and their presentation, one thing that I've learned is that it's really important to be very focused in your presentation, right? I mean, and that idea, that principle comes up in many different places, right? Whether it's your YouTube titles, it's the, you know, the presentations that you give, the conversations you're having with somebody, just being focused and trying to have like one central core takeaway for your presentation because If you and this is definitely a mistake that I made and I realized it when I was listening to a lot of your other content, is I try to jam way too much into my presentations. Like I have like three different course sections and like each one has five different takeaways. And like I now thinking back on it, I look at my audiences when we're done and they're just like, you know, like whiplash in their chair. There's just way too much information. So how do you like when you're working with an expert to help them redefine their talk? How do you help them to define like the takeaway? Like what The one takeaway is gonna be.
speaker-0: The way we look at that is always based on the audience, but when I'm working with someone, we'll come up with either a c a client or whomever it may be that they speak to, prospects, community groups, whatever. We'll take someone they've already worked with or someone they're about to that they've already know who's going to be there. And when we figure out through that, through the questions asked and the answers received, what that one point is, everything has to point to it. In my framework, the AMP framework. The first one is A, which is audience. Audience comes first. They're the foundation you build the the house on. No foundation. Can we build a house? Of course we can. Is it going to last? No. So A is first. Second is message. Now that you know the answers to the six questions in that the A section of that framework, creating the message, the North Star, the guiding light, the compass, the yardstick, whatever you want to call it. Everything has to point to that. You come up with the essence of your talk, which provides the takeaway, the benefit, the transformation. You come up with that. Everything you talk about points to it. So depending on the length of the talk, let's say it's an hour long, you're gonna have three talking points. And each one's gonna have three sub points. Think of it as a fifth grade English outline for a book with Roman numeral. One, then A and B and C, two, A, B, and C, three, A, B, and C. Same idea. Less talk, those start the sub points start to go away. And you just have more concise information and things to share with them, stories and the like. So it all comes down to knowing that audience and deriving what you will from that. And one of the things we want to know is What's the essence of the talk? Even your opening has to point to that. Your closing has to point to that. Then people will walk away with the concepts. Are they going to walk away with information, data, numbers, that stuff? No. They can't hold on to that. Most of us can't hold on to it for minutes, let alone when they're getting a half hour, an hour worth of sitting there and listening. That stuff goes out of their minds. You want to know what they need so you can serve them.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: Kinda like going to a d a doctor in an emergency room. They have to assess everything before they can start treating you.
speaker-1: Right, and what they need should be the one thing that you derive everything like to give them, right? What they need is what you should give them, right? If you're truly there to serve your audience and you wanna do the best job possible, give the audience what they need. Maybe not necessarily what they want, but what you uncover, what they need from you, how you can serve them is what you should give them, and that should be, you know, the one big takeaway. You brought up the idea of of opening, right? Or go ahead, did you have something?
speaker-0: Yeah, I was gonna say let let me push back just gently with that. Yeah. Don't give only what they need. Give what they want too. All right. Let me let me ask you this. Who's your favorite musician?
speaker-1: Yeah, favorite musician. Let's keep it easy. I'm Morgan Wallen.
speaker-0: Okay, Morgan Wallen. You have favorite songs of his, some of his hits?
speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-0: So you go into his concert. You go into his concert and you're going to put down the ridiculous money these guys ask for now. And you're all excited. I can't wait till he plays this hit and this hit and this hit. There'll be some new songs. But then you get there and he plays nothing but new songs because he wants you to download his music and make him wealthier than he already is. So and I'm being a little facetious there, but a good performer knows, yeah, they have to give you that stuff that you need to know that they're a new song. But they're also smart enough to know they have to give you what you want, which are their standards, their hits. Because without both, you will not be satisfied. And that's the same thing in a talk. You have to give them what they need, but when you give them what they need, that's gonna spur questions in their heads of what they want to know as well.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: So you've got to address both, and again, right back to it. And your listeners is probably getting bored with this part. It's all research.
speaker-1: Yeah. I love it. Yeah. And those are the kind of nuances and subtleties that you need to learn how to navigate. And that just comes with experience and with time. And, you know, doing the research is the only way that you're really going to be able to find out the full palette of, hey, this is what I think the audience needs. And then this is what they're going to want from me. So finding the right balance of of giving them both. I appreciate you pushing back with that. And what I found in my experience of of giving presentations and doing these workshops or these trainings is If I can get off to a good start, everything can kind of like I can kind of settle down and kind of settle into it, right? We talked about the opening nerves like beforehand. And then it's just coming in and having a great opening will that really gets the audience to lean in, pay attention. It just kind of sets the tone, right? And allows me to kind of settle in. So what in your opinion, like what advice do you have on like designing a great opening that earns the attention of the audience?
speaker-0: Don't make it what so many of us do. I'd like to thank so and so and I'd like to think of it as a a magazine article or an article online. The person wrote the article has a headline to grab you and then starts into it with the first paragraph. They don't say, I'd like to thank the editor for allowing me to be in this particular issue of the publication. They get into it. We need to do the same thing. The other's polite, what we do a lot of people do, thanking people, giving an agenda, all these different things. Instead of just getting into it and grabbing them metaphorically by the throat. Grabbing them from that point on, and that's making it about them. And there's several ways you can do that. It's a myriad of ways. One is ask a question that gets their attention. Human beings are trained to answer questions. So depending on the room setup, They might be able to actually answer out loud, but they'll probably be ask answering in their heads, but you have their attention. Just give them a couple of seconds to answer it in their heads before you move on. And then you might say, let's say I was in front of people and we were we were going to talk about time management. And have you ever been late for a plane and you're running through the airport with your carry on and you know, just people are nodding their heads yes. Well, you should have been with me last Thursday. And then you go into the story. So there are different ways, but that story better get to a point that serves them and what they're there for. So there are different ways to do it, but that's one. And actually that's my favorite. A question followed by a story. Could just be a question. Could just be a story. It could be a statistic, although be careful with stats, because what you think is What I think is exciting. Other people don't. Be very careful with that stuff.
speaker-1: Yeah. So you're Yeah, for sure. And like you gotta make sure that if it is a stat, like they understand the broader context that makes that stat so important. And then if you find yourself having to explain why a stat is so cool and impressive, I could see many people falling asleep in the first thirty seconds of of my presentation for sure. But I love it. another one of your ideas that I think again, just like selfishly would love to ask this question is I am definitely at this point in time in my experience as a public speaker, presenter, speaker, whatever it is that we want to call it, a memorizer. Like I try and memorize the words, like what I want to say. I have all of my speaker notes, everything. And you talk about this idea of like being able to rehearse without memorizing, like memorization. And I can definitely feel that, like when I do really try and just memorize everything that I'm gonna say, if somebody like asks a question in the middle of a slide, if I get thrown off. If I forget what I'm gonna say, it just creates so much more pressure and then I kinda start to panic and spiral out of control. So what is your antidote to memorizing? And then how can we rehearse without memorizing exactly what we wanna say?
speaker-0: Okay. Yeah, first of all, don't memorize. It's actually when you ha have adrenaline crossing through you, your memory goes down, which is why every one of us has been in the position one time or another that we knew we had to get up and speak. Maybe just for a minute. Introduce ourselves, say. And we're like, I know what I'm gonna say, I know what I'm gonna say, I know what I'm gonna say, and we stand up to say it, and we're like, I have no idea what I'm gonna say. And then our butt hits that seat again and we go, How could I forget that? Happens to all of us. I haven't given a presentation yet where I haven't forgotten something. And I always walk away going, it's the most important part, too. Never was, but I just feel bad that I forgot it. It's going to happen. The more you try to memorize, the more that'll happen. I feel, I don't know about other people, but I feel like a roulette wheel's going around and the ball just won't drop when I'm trying to remember something. And what your brain's doing is saying, hey. I know because of the way you rehearsed that you want this word and I just can't come up with it yet. So it shuts down for a few seconds. You think it's 30 seconds or a minute. It's just two or three seconds. But that's because you tried to you being anybody, tried to memorize. Don't try to memorize. Memorize your opening. You want that cold. I mean, just I've got this. That'll help you relax. I know exactly what I'm going to say. It's kind of like in football they have the first fifteen plays scripted before the game ever stops. And they stick to those fifteen plays generally. Same idea. Know your closing cold. Because that's the most important part of your presentation, and you want to make sure you nail it for their benefit. And are there ways to memorize it? Yes there are. It's the way actors, stage actors say out on Broadway, get to know their scripts and they memorize them. Doesn't mean they say them verbatim every night, but they're pretty darn close. There's a way to do that. Are you and I going to do that? I guarantee you no. Yeah. It takes months, it takes practice with other people, it takes a lot of things to get that memory down. So memorize concepts, your three talking points, their three subpoints, and I I should be able to say to you in passing, w walk passing you in a hall and say, Hey Ian, give me your second talking point. What is it? And you go, this is it. Not say it. Just give me the the concept of it. Like, cool. Someone else should be able to walk by you when you're mowing the lawn. Hey, Ian, what's the first concept? Boom. That's what you want. Because if I asked you, hey Ian, tell me about this, about your business, you could. Now you want to know that you're phrasing it certain ways to s be of service to that audience, but it's stuff you already talk about on a daily basis. And then we hear presentation. Presentation has all these connotations that go with it when it's nothing but a conversation. If I have a conversation with you and we're talking about business and I ask you about one of the something in your business, you'll answer me. A little more structure than that, but not much.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: You know how to do this. We just hear presentation and our brain goes wild.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I can see how another opportunity for growth for me, in many arenas, but definitely in this presentation in this speaking arena, is trying to be so perfect, right? And just say the perfect thing, say the perfect word, and just like this perfectionist idea is probably what's fueling this idea, like, I need to memorize this 'cause this is so good. So just feeling that I need be perfect up there and just say the exact perfect words instead of it just being a conversation that it's okay to be a little bit messy. Obviously you want to be on point. You want to be compelling. You want to say the right things, but like you'll improve over time. But I feel like the audience can definitely tell when I'm rigid and I'm scripted and I'm trying to, you know, it turns from me speaking to you instead of me having a conversation with you where I'm trying to connect with you the conversation that's happening in your minds and connect with this audience. I can see that that's another opportunity for me. to grow and it's definitely gonna require me to kinda lower this perfectionist, this unattainably perfectionist ideal that I have for myself when I get up there and and give a presentation.
speaker-0: Yeah, let me know if you ever hit that.
speaker-1: Yeah, right, being perfect. Exactly. Yeah, never. Peter, thank you so much for the time. I have a couple of final questions for you. I think a good one to kind of close on before we get to my recurring final question would be a quick question about closing, right? So you talked about the closing, the conclusion is the most important part of your presentation. So for the people listening who want to improve their presentation skills, they want to be a pub public speaker, how can you close your talk, your presentation effectively?
speaker-0: Just like the opening, there are several different ways you can do it. The most common is a call to action. Have them do s something different, think different, take action. Whatever it is you want them to do for their benefit, have them do that. And the only way they're going to do it, as a salesperson would say, number one reason you don't make a sale is because you don't ask for it. The number one reason people won't go do what you're suggesting they do is you don't ask them to do it. We often think, wow, I did I do such great presentations. They'll understand what I want them to do and go do it. No, they won't. Maybe a couple, but the vast majority won't. Ask them to do it. It's the most important part. And don't don't water it down. People say, well my time's up. Well that's all the time I got, or I hope this helps. You're the expert. You came to help them, not hope that it helped them. And you might say, well, you're getting picky. This is the way brains work. So say to them, You learn this, this, and this today. Now that you know that, you can go out and do that. As a matter of fact, here's the first step to take. Something like that. Get them to do what they need to do. For their benefit.
speaker-1: Yeah. Amazing. I think there's a lot of those clear calls to action in our conversation here today for all of us to take back with us and improve the way that we publ that we speak and give presentations and there's a ton that I've learned in this conversation. So I really appreciate it, Peter. Before we get to my final recurring question that I ask every guest, how can people find you? How can people get in touch with you? Where can they get the book? All that good stuff.
speaker-0: They can find out how I help people other things well it's all about speaking, but other things I do in my book, my podcast, all different things about me, and how I help them at Peter Georgepublicspeaking dot com Peter Georgepublicspeaking dot com.
speaker-1: Amazing. We'll have the link to Peter George PublicSpeaking dot com in the description. So go check out all of Peter's work. Yeah, if you're an expert who wants to get better at public speaking, which I think is one of those meta skills. That's why I have so many guests on the podcast kind of talking about similar ideas like communication, public speaking, is because I realize that this is one of those really important skills, especially in this, you know, transition that we're going through. Like I can't imagine that people are gonna sit down and show up and attend a co a presentation given by AI ever in the future, right? So I think that this is one of those uniquely human abilities that is super important to to improve on.
speaker-0: I think AI is a fabulous tool, but when it comes to speaking, if you're gonna get up there to inform, AI can replace you in a heartbeat. If you're gonna get up there to transform, AI has no chance of competing with you.
speaker-1: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. and maybe that rhymes with the idea here for my final question. So, Peter, my final question for you is a recurring question that I ask every guest. But if you had a giant billboard that everyone in the world would see, like a a message to the world that everyone in the world would see for ten seconds, what would it say and why?
speaker-0: Being a better speaker will change your career and your life. Because it will. It'll open up doors you never thought imaginable. And just to stay on this for a second in we try to differentiate ourselves, right? In a corporate world, we try to differentiate ourselves from our peers. In the business world, if we're an owner, an entrepreneur, whatever it might be, we try to differentiate our company from our competitors. One of the greatest ways you can do this is go out and speak. When you become a better speaker, you will be chosen by your prospects more often. And if you're in the corporate world, when it's time for a promotion, if you can communicate more effectively than your your peers, even if they have more knowledge and more time at the job, you have a better chance of being selected.
speaker-1: Yeah. And I can, you know, in my own anecdotal experience, like I started my business just over a year ago. My business is called Implement AI. So I was giving workshops, presentations about AI, artificial intelligence, like custom tools, systems, things that you can build for your small business. Yeah. I was new to the area in Arizona. Like I didn't have any business experience, any professional network to speak of in Arizona. And I just started reaching out to these co working spaces, the local chamber of commerce. And just giving these workshops, giving these presentations and the doors, the opportunities that it opened up, the people that I that I was able to meet was unbelievable. Just because I was the one on stage giving this presentation, doing the talk. And I still have a long way to grow and improve. like if you could probably go on this YouTube channel and go find the recording of one of some of my early talks on here, you can see like I promise you can you can go up there and do that. but yeah, just speaking alone and doing and taking advantage of these opportunities will create so many opportunities for you in your career and or for your business. and then if you get better at that, if you become a better speaker, that only then accelerates those opportunities that it creates. So I couldn't agree more. Peter, thank you so much for the time today.
speaker-0: Ian, thanks for having me. It's been a pleasure.
speaker-1: Thank you for listening. My main takeaway from my conversation with Peter is that everything is about the audience, right? The way to be an effective speaker is to start with the audience. Before I decide what I say, I need to understand who's going to be in the room, what they want, what they need or what they want from me, and what I want them to walk away with. From there, the message, stories, examples, opening and closing all get easier to shape because again, it's all about the audience. It's not about mean, it's about putting the audience first. And that will both help shape what I say, how I say it, and it'll also help take a lot of the pressure off of me when I get up there on stage. Because again, it's not about me, it's about them. If you want to get connected with Peter, you can find the links to his social media as well as his book and more of his work at petergeorgepublicspeaking dot com, or you can click the link in the description. And if you run a coaching program or you're an author and you want to make it easier for your clients and readers to engage with your ideas and actually follow through and implement what you teach. I put a free resource in the description that'll help you build more execution support in your program without adding more to your plate. Thank you for listening and I'll see you in the next one.