Anne Warfield, CSP and CEO of Impression Management Professionals, is instrumental in helping executives influence their productive outcomes. By expanding the way they think, listen and speak Anne’s multitude of audiences and clients see and hear opportunities that others simply miss. With her groundbreaking Outcome Thinking® Methodology, Anne provides leaders under high pressure, the tools they need to remain calm, focused and strategic. Helping others always say the right thing at the right time, Impression Management Professional’s clients enjoy saving time and dramatically increasing their productivity and profitability.

Presentation Skills: How to Speak With Authority & Authenticity

March 30, 2012

As he spoke, not a sound went through room. It was one of those moments where you felt a pin could drop and everyone would hear it. So what makes someone so important and mesmerizing that you can’t break away even to text or twitter?

He spoke with authority and authenticity. His speech had the feeling of a man who lived his talk and then shared it with you, not in the guise of trying to convince you but to bring you on the journey.

Speaking with authority is not about knowledge but about bringing the context of knowledge to life. It is about having a presence that is vibrating with goodness. It is about not asking the audience to validate you with laughter and applause but for you to validate the audience by drawing out all the goodness and knowledge in them so they can more fully participate at work and at life.

In order to speak with authority and authenticity you need to master the following:

1. Know what details to pay attention to. People who speak with authority know which details are relevant to share and which are not in order to get their point across.

2. Care about your audience. You need to be there for them, not expect them to be there for you. They are what is most important- not you, not your speech and not applause. They need to FEEL that you are talking to just them.

3. Be comfortable with you. It is not about theatrics or knowing where to move. It is about letting your movements come naturally because you are speaking from both your head and your heart. When you speak authentically your body language flows naturally.

4. Know the goal. You have to know, not what you are going to say, but what they need to hear. It is all about them. You are just the messenger.

5. Practice your opening. The first few minutes you speak will always be the most nerve-racking because those first few moments transform the energy in the room. So at that time you don’t want to be worried about what you are going to say. You want to be able to look at them, feel them and manage the energy in the room. So I recommend you know the first five minutes of what you are going to say and you know it well. Don’t write it out because that will make your brain cause you to speak flat like you are reading something rather than living it. Instead just practice it out loud until you feel one with it so you can let go of protecting you and instead be there for your audience.

Great speeches come from speaking with the head and the heart.