PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR CXOs: PERSONAL COACHING

A session by our Outstanding speaker Raghu Raman

Overview

The importance of being a compelling public speaker cannot be emphasised enough. Studies prove that

being able to speak well in public is possibly the most important skill of successful leaders. And yet, it is a

competency which CXO level leaders struggle with.

This coaching programme teaches the theory and tools to develop public speaking skills that are

compelling, persuasive and highly effective – followed by a hands-on practice. Developed and conducted by

an internationally acknowledged ‘outstanding’ speaker, this programme imparts training in five distinct

disciplines that are woven together with practical hands-on exercises of techniques that the attendee can

start using ‘Monday morning’.

The programme begins with an interactive session about the course. The briefing session consists of one-

on-one with the attendee about concerns and aspects that the latter might have in their own learning

curves. For instance, some attendees may be comfortable with public speaking but struggle in negotiation

while others may have great knowledge but are petrified of speaking in front of a group.

Programme Content

1. Foundation of the Compelling Communicator – Developing a Richer Metaphor Set

We communicate not just in words and sentences – but in metaphors. Think about it. Thoughts formulated

in our head are converted into words which are spoken by the speaker. These words, sentences and

nuances are heard/registered by the listener and then converted into thoughts in their minds. But such

communication is not devoid of concepts, ideals, points of view, past experiences and scores of such

elements already present in the listener's head. If the postulated idea is new, then it is met with resistance.

If the call for action is out of the comfort zone then it is met with cynicism. Audience dynamics is at play. So

is the speaker’s body language. Research shows that in communication only 7% is verbal, the rest 93% is

non-verbal. That is why it is important for great communicators to use powerful metaphors. And that is

why great communicators must first enlarge their metaphor set.

All great communicators need to be avid learners – and they must know how to master depth and breadth

of a wide variety of subjects – very quickly. This module covers the importance of enriching the metaphors

and techniques for better absorption and focus, which enable the attendee to imbibe material and

background knowledge of the subject matter rapidly. The module will enable then to master totally new

material in about three hours flat and retain that knowledge in perpetuity. The module covers concepts like

‘photo reading’, alternative techniques of absorption, remembering key points without any notes or aids

and developing the ability to cross-pollinate ideas.

2. The Practice of Enriching Metaphors

The second module builds on the theory of foundation and is a hands-on practice session during which

attendee is given a completely new area and taken through the process of learning that subject through a

variety of techniques. At the end of this session, they will be able to continue this process for any new

subject they need to master or to gain in-depth knowledge about a subject they are already familiar with

and develop metaphor sets that can explain even complex issues in simple understandable chunks.

3. Telling a great story!

All great stories have the same ten elements. Be they Hollywood blockbusters, bestseller books or literary

classics; great and compelling stories have building blocks that need to be understood and arranged in a

certain sequence in perfect proportion. This module teaches the process of developing a compelling story

using major blockbuster movies, books, real life speeches and pitches and demonstrates that

fundamentally all good stories have the same underlying concepts that can be applied to one’s own

message or pitch.

4. Delivering a Compelling Talk

This module goes through step-by-step process of explaining the elements of public communication. It

shows the difference between reading, speaking and emoting so that the attendees realise how to create a

powerful advocacy of their ideas rather than just reading from a prepared script or PowerPoint. This

module also explains the nuances of working with younger audiences whose attention span and multi-

tasking nature requires the speaker to ‘grip’ them from the very beginning and hold their attention through

a process which engages them.

The module also explains exactly why all of us (including the most accomplished speakers) are inherently

afraid of public speaking. When the attendees realise the physiological reason of this innate fear, it enables

them to master it within minutes. Next they are taught the nine different levels of communication ranging

from ‘reading text’ to emotive advocacy using the ‘full body range’ and finally they are coached on the ten

golden rules for public communication – each of which takes the attendee into the next orbit of

performance. At the end of these three modules the attendee is given a new topic with background

material and three hours to apply the principles learnt. The goal is to prepare them to deliver a 15 minute

talk on their allotted topic without any PowerPoint presentation in a TED format.

The follow up session(s) consists of hands-on practice where the delivery of the attendee is filmed and they

are given customized interactive feedback. Each element of public speaking is dissected and shown to the

attendee with examples and suggestions of better practices. They are shown techniques for connecting

with each member of their audience, gauge their unarticulated feedback and tailor their communication,

on the fly. They are taught how to handle difficult questions, hostile audience members and elicit empathy

to their pitch. The videos are then critiqued and given to the attendee who can use it to take their public

speaking skills to the next orbit.