How do you become an expert speaker?

Last Friday during the champagne reception at the end of a conference, I was asked "how had I become such an expert speaker". Now, great as the compliment was, it set me thinking. Not so much about how I had gained my skills, but why the lady who spoke to me viewed me in that way.

Here is my take on the talk I gave that day:
1. I opened with a question and involved the audience from the start (good)
2. Part way through I dropped the large flip chart pen I was holding (bad)
3. I maintained my energy throughout the presentation (good)
4. I skipped a slide in my presentation as there wasn't time to cover it (bad)

So with a mix of good and bad during the presentation, what enabled me to be seen as an expert? Here's the secret...

When something went wrong I ignored it.

I didn't refer to dropping my pen at the time, nor did I pick it up immediately as that would have broken my contact with the audience. I did use the "pen dropping incident" as an example later on in my talk and one person listening thought I'd dropped it on purpose to make the point!

When I skipped a slide I just carried straight on. Had I made a reference to the time, and skipping the slide, everyone would have noticed - I don't think anyone gave it a second thought (other than me with a mental note to remove it the next time I give the same talk).

So the lesson to be drawn here?

To be seen as an expert speaker don't draw attention to your mistakes.

Happy presenting.



Ps In case you are wondering, I cycled to the conference so it was ok to have a glass of fizz.