Become a Better Speaker: Steal My 6-Step Framework [15 min]

0:0010 years ago, I made the decision to build my personal brand that was elevated, yet approachable, and reflected who I was, not just what I did. I created my website with ShowIt because it's true drag-and-drop freedom, so you can easily build and update your site. Plus, their real human support team, game changer. Want to try it for yourself? Head to jasminestar.com forward slash showit for a 14-day free trial and first month free when you subscribe. Have you ever witnessed a speech that left you feeling energized and just ready to take action? Hey there, I'm Katie, President of Social Curator.

0:32And in this short into the point episode of the Jasmine Starr Show, you'll learn the six elements that Jasmine incorporates into her own speeches to keep engagement high and the energy in the room even higher throughout the whole presentation. Let's listen in. Okay, so I'm going to give six foundations while you're writing a speech or a presentation that are going to keep people engaged. So if I am giving a presentation, I never call it. On a team meeting, I'm never like, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to give a presentation. Not at all. I'm like, hey, I just want to talk about a few things. I am though giving a presentation.

1:07I need to have the team bought in on what it is that we're doing. So I'm going to name each of the six foundations first, and then we're going to go into detail about each one. So foundation number one is the hook. Foundation number two is the main content. Foundation number three is supporting content. Number four is segment structure and transitions. That's a good one. Number five is engagement techniques. And then foundation number six is the call to action. So starting with the first foundation, which is the hook, your hook should grab the listener's attention. And this can be a statistic.

1:41This could be a thought provoking question. It could be a bold statement that makes them stop what they're doing and really listen. Now, this is just my personal preference, but I've also had a lot of lean in moments is when I start my hook with a story. It is hands down the most compelling way to begin a presentation and really get people engaged at the get-go. Now I've learned, I mean, now you're going to see it, y 'all. Y 'all are going to see this. I've learned that politicians do this when they visit different cities because they want to find like relatable ground with their constituents.

2:12Okay. So here's an example. And I'm going to leave this very broad because I don't want somebody coming at me. Are you a Republican? Are you a Democrat? Are you independent? Like I'm not, I'm just saying whatever party you're about, y 'all watch them do this. Sorry, I was late, St. Louis. There was a line out the door at Mama's on the Hill and I had to get some fried ravioli while I was here. Do you see what they just did? They said, oh, oh, I'm going to subtly drop that the line describing out the door at very specific place that's famous in that city, because I had to get what? The thing they're most known for.

2:50And then what are you going to get from the people in St. Louis? Who in hollering, child memories, your parents taking you there, the late night college runs for fried ravioli. Do you see what's happening? So when the politicians do this, they don't just gain the audience attention. They gain their trust. We've all heard people saying people do business with people they know, like, and trust. But what we don't always hear is that people like, know, and trust people who are like them. That's why being relatable is so important. That's why a good story told right allows the listener to put themselves in the story as an observer.

3:31That's a good hook. So the next time you're speaking to a crowd, your team, it could be virtually online, I want you to ask yourself, what are the commonalities in the audience? And how can I create a relatable moment here? Okay. So I was hired for an organization called IBE. It's an organization for people who sell and buy and put in hair extensions. And their conference was going to be in Las Vegas. And the venue that I spoke at was Las Vegas Convention Center. And so as I was preparing the presentation, I really wanted to get grounded in the room and explain why me being at that event was very important to me.

4:13And I was able to explain how my grandfather moved his family to Las Vegas and lived in a trailer park. And every morning, even though he was supposed to be retired, he wasn't able to retire. And he took a job as a security guard there at Las Vegas Convention Center. And I started the conversation there to let people know that there are people who take nominal jobs that people often overlook, and they don't know that they're ushering the next generation of leaders and thought leaders and people who are a part of the American fabric. So the story allowed somebody in the audience to be sitting in a room that potentially my grandfather could have locked up at midnight.

5:00it. So after you earn their attention and maybe a little bit of trust, you should provide a brief overview of what the live or the episode or the training or the speech or your presentation is going to cover. A brief overview. Okay, why? Preparing the audience for what they're going to learn is going to help them contextualize and digest the information. We have to prepare our brains for what it's about to take in and this helps us pay better attention and retain that. Okay, after you hook your audience and prepare them for what they're about to learn, you can move on to the second foundation, which is preparing the main content.

5:38This is going to be likely the bulk of your presentation. And there are several ways that you can organize your information. It just depends on the type of brain you have. There's not a right way. Your job is to say, how do I remember this content to disseminate it the most effectively? So you can number one, divide your content into segments or sections. Number two, you can create frameworks, or do step-by-step processes. Number three, you can give tips. Number four, you can give reasons why. So this would be an example like the four reasons why you should stop drinking alcohol and then you got to give them the benefit.

6:14For better sleep, higher productivity to make more money, whatever the case may be. Now, it's going to be totally up to you. In this podcast right now, I'm building on foundations, which is another example of how you can organize your main content. Based on my personal experience, frameworks and step-by-step processes work best for me. And it's just how I'm delivering it. So you'll notice in a lot of my solo podcast, what I am doing to break down a lot of information is to create a framework. Like this podcast right now, this is a framework. I'm giving you step-by-step processes on how to become a better speaker.

6:52Now, this for me is beneficial because it helps me remember it. And then in the future, when somebody says, how do you become a better speaker? I'd be like, oh, let me tell you, I already created a framework on my podcast. Okay. This leads us to, this is going to be foundation number three, which is the supporting content. We spent most of our time building out the main content. Now you can support your main points and you could do this with facts, statistics, examples, antidotes, expert opinions. Because when you include all of these like science factual things, you can build credibility and strengthen your main points.

7:25And it also shows that you are listening to the cultural conversation of what's going on at that time. For example, in January of 2023, we launched a business mindset course, and this was just on the inside of Social Curators. So people signed up and it was like a four-week course, and we're focusing on how to change our business mindset. Now, in order for somebody to believe me, and I am not a doctor, nor do I focus on the mind or the brain, it was important for me to anchor my beliefs in science. So I was able to cite by the National Science Organization that the average person is thinking about 60 ,000 thoughts a day.

8:04That's a stat from a science organization. And then I included another stat that Dr. Joe Dispenza says that we think 90 % of the same thoughts the next day. That's a fact by a doctor who studies the brain. And then I added my own conclusion. This means that about 46 % of every thought we think is the same from yesterday. I don't know if I did that. I don't know if I did that math right. So 60, oh no, 48 ,000, right? So we think 60 ,000 thoughts a day and 90 % of the thoughts that we think are negative. And 90 % of the thoughts that we think in one day are repeated the next. So 40 ,000 thoughts that you thought are gonna be repeated the next day and 90 % of them are negative.

8:58So what did I do? Statistics, facts, interpretation. So what then does somebody do with this? If you're a business owner and you are thinking the same thought day after day after day and those thoughts are negative, it won't happen, I'm not moving fast enough, why is it not happening for me? You're gonna stay stuck. In order for me to make a claim like that, I had to root it. These are things that you're called supporting content. So you can also even tie in your own personal stories if you think that this supporting content proves your point. Okay. So before we move on, I want to recap because we're going through a lot right now.

9:28Foundation number one is the hook. Foundation number two is the main content. Foundation number three is the supporting content. And now foundation four is transitions. Now, I did not learn this until way too long. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just save you some time. Like I would go through like a point and then I wouldn't have like a smooth over to the next point. I would just be like, so next. Ooh, that's a little brutal as a listener. Okay. So here is an example of a smooth transition to guide listeners from one subject to another. Now that we've covered the main challenges of fighting food hunger in America, which are X, Y, and Z, let's go over five potential solutions.

10:11Ah, what did we just do there? We cover this, problems, now let's go into the solution. If you were paying attention, whenever I feel like I don't have a clean transition and you're in a pickle, like I just was right now on the podcast, I go back to, let's review what we've just learned so far, right? Because then it recalibrates the brain that we're going to take on another piece of content. It is always so helpful to summarize the key points before moving on to the next one, because it helps listeners digest information. and here I am doing my own podcast. Okay, so after transitions, we can add in foundation number five, which is adding engagement techniques.

10:48Okay, so when you can get an audience, when you can get your team, when you can get people who are watching you live, engage is such a powerful tool because what you just need is one person who's brave enough to engage at the beginning and then it acts literally like a domino. So we're gonna be focused on getting one or two people to engage that would then empower other people to follow suit. Now, I know we talked about a little bit about this in foundation number one, the hook, and you might already be naturally doing this without knowing that it's a foundation. Now you can add engagement techniques by sharing engaging stories, by talking about personal experiences and relatable anecdotes.

11:25And then you say, how many people here have? Have you ever been in this situation? Tell me I'm not alone. Okay. We're soliciting connection and having somebody else testify. Okay. Engagement techniques can make the biggest difference in your presentation. I think that what it really helps is not being over salesy or having your presentation be too textbooky. It reads like I'm reading from a text, like you're sounding stiff. These foundational engagement techniques, they're a total game changer. Now, this foundation really leans into your personal voice and it really to showcase your personality and your humanness.

12:04I remember hearing Simon Sinek, one of the highest paid public speakers. He's an author, consultant, has an organization. And he remembers a story where he was giving a presentation to a speakers bureau. Now, for those of you who don't know, speakers bureau are the people who handle about 90 % of all professional paid speaking events. So they invited him. So basically every gatekeeper in the industry was at this event. He says he's giving this presentation and never in his history has this ever happened before or since. But in that moment, his mind went totally and completely blank. He says that he remembers standing on the stage and thinking, there is not a single thought in my mind.

12:47What did I just say? What am I going to say next? And as he's on a stage of the people who are responsible for this whole revenue generator's business. He doesn't fake it. He just says, I am so sorry. I'm actually so embarrassed. I don't know how I lost my train of thought. What was I saying? And everybody kind of tittered and he said, no, I'm being serious. And then a woman from the front row had said, you just said this. And then boom, it kickstarted him back into it. And guess what? That showed his humanness. He literally won the entire audience over because he just spoke his truth. How many times do people not get on stage because they're so afraid that they're going to lose their train of thought and hear number one, highly trained, most sought after, most paid professional speaker.

13:34And he's on a stage and just says, I don't know what I was saying. That's amazing. Amazing. So it sprinkles in a bit of you in a presentation. Okay. Now we're getting towards the end. Foundation number six is the call to action. Even though you should only have one specific call to action, this call to action should do two things. Now a call to action, this is basically, what do you want people to do? What do you want your team to do after you give a presentation? What do you want a customer to do at the end of a sales call? At the end of a live, what do you want them to do? What do you want them to do at the end of a keynote presentation?

14:12That's a call to action. Now you should only have one. You shouldn't say, sign up for my newsletter list, book a call and buy the course. No, no, no. It should be, what is the one thing that you want them to do? One call to action, but that CTA, it should do two things. Number one, it should really serve your audience in some capacity. And this could be providing a mindset shift. Maybe you could facilitate a breakthrough, an inspiring action, maybe a thought-provoking thought. And it should always feel, and this is how you know the strength of your delivery. It should always feel like they're getting something.

14:45from that call to action. And then number two, it should serve you. It should serve your audience and it should serve you. You spend a lot of time putting together your speech, your presentation, your training, whatever you're preparing. It's okay to ask for reciprocation. And that's a wrap, my friend. Six powerful components of a great speech that'll help you keep your audience engaged from the first word to the very last. If you enjoyed this episode, if you would take just a moment just a tiny little moment to subscribe or leave a review we would be so incredibly grateful thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you again real soon