2-Minute Tip: Conduct Q&A Before Your Conclusion

 

Many speakers go through their entire talk, and then open things up for questions. This is a mistake. You will be more effective if you take question before you launch into your conclusion.

 

The end of your speech is a golden time. It’s the last the audience will hear before they go out into the world. Since its the last thing, it can also be the most memorable. Make sure that what they remember is the stuff you want tem to remember — your call to action. Your vision.

 

If you conduct Q&A after your talk  and through the end of the session, you squander an important opportunity.

 

Post-Tip Discussion: Manage Your Gestures

 

This week I talked about Gestures by talking about Tucks. It’s amazing how much he can communicate with a tilt of the head or the flip of a wing.

You can do a few things to assess the gestures that you use and how effective they are.

• Ask a friend or colleague to watch you practice and watch for your gestures.
• Record yourself with your phone and actually watch that video.
• Watch that video with the sound off to look just at your gestures.
• Ask a friend or colleague to watch that video with no sound and see if they can tell you what you are talking about based purely on your physical movements.

 

There are three things to think about as you deploy your gestures.  They ought to be:

1. Intentional
2. Big
3. Relevant.

 

Unintentional gestures can have unfortunate impacts. For example, Donald Trump’s gestures make it look like he’s playing an accordion.

 

 

There are several things you can do to improve your gestures.

1. Try to conduct your presentation in practice without speaking.
2. Try to have a conversation with a friend or colleague without speaking.
3. Help a pet, toy, prop, or stuffed animal tell its own story.

 

Call to Action

 

1. How do you use gestures? Tell us in the comments below.
2. Learn more about stroke an recovery at Strokecast.com. Share with others impacted by stroke.
3. End your next talk with your conclusion, not with your Q&A.
4. Don’t get best…get better.