Here’s an amazing story that I heard about today for the
first time. It’s about a man called Nick Vujicic, who was born with no arms and
practically no legs. He struggled to accept this and was depressed at a young
age, but learned not only to cope, but to achieve great things. So, this is an
inspiring story of determination and positive attitude that I’m eager to share,
but I’m also posting it here because you can see some great public speaking
skills at play.
Nick connects with his audiences masterfully and obviously
gets his message across effectively, but how does he do it? For me, before any sort of speaking or
presenting skills he’s displaying, he’s nailed these fundamental requirements
for a speech that lasts a lifetime in people’s memories:
He’s GENUINE.
Being honest about who he is, what he thinks, how he feels
and about the fact that he’s not perfect. In other words, he’s showing that he’s
human – the same as his audience.
He’s POSITIVE
99% of people want to be inspired. They want to hear about the
things that can be done.
Possibilities excite people.
He’s NATURAL
Using everyday language. Language he (and his audience) is comfortable
with. It’s easier to connect with people when they can see you’re being
yourself.
He’s PASSIONATE
His facial expressions, gestures and energy levels convey
just as much as (if not more than) his words. You can see that he really
believes in what he’s saying.
He’s GENEROUS
He clearly wants to make a difference for the people who are
listening to him. He’s openly sharing things that will make things better for
them.
He has a SENSE OF HUMOUR
And I don’t mean “he’s hilarious” because that’s not always what’s
needed (though it helps sometimes!). What I mean is that he’s not taking
himself, or life, too seriously. They say that “laughter is the shortest
distance between 2 people” and this clearly connect with his audience.
So, aside from learning a few helpful skills, if you can
nail most of the above in your speech, then it will be memorable and impactful. Now, please enjoy the video:
Here are a couple of
quotes that I’ll be remembering for a long time to come.
00:57 secs “And you keep on concentrating on the things
that you wish you had or the things that you wish you didn’t have … and you
sort of forget what you DO have”
03:40 “…to be
thankful, dream big and never give up”
