Mark Twain is purported to have said,
“There are two kinds of speakers in the world: Those who get nervous and those who are liars…”
As we’ve shown so far, Twain is on the money. Everyone — everyone! —gets a dose of presentation nerves. Some just hide it better than others.
Marcus Tullius Cicero is regarded as one of the greatest orators in history. He lived in the first century BC, in the late Roman empire, and his influence on public speaking is so great that there’s a picture of him at the top of the Wikipedia entry on public speaking, and a software program named after him helps people craft better speeches.
The ancient Romans called the art of oratory actio, as in ‘acting’.
A speaker is an actor, and the best actors are the ones who are most truthful, convincing, and authentic on stage.
These ancient orators also knew about nerves — legend has it that Cicero once ran from the forum where he was set to speak because he was terrified with nerves.
But they also knew how to harness those nerves, and that, if channeled properly, that energy can give your performance passion, charisma, and memorability.
People won’t be able to take their eyes off you and they may not even know why.
Here’s Cicero’s Five Canons, and how they can help you knock it out of the park even when you’re feeling like you can’t even suit up to bat.
- Invention
- Style
- Memory
- Arrangement
- Delivery
Let’s go through each one in turn
1. Invention, aka Your hook
This is the nugget of what you want to say.
It’s the distilled essence of what your speech or presentation is all about and why people should listen.
To get numeric about this, there are a few practical rules of thumb to apply to your “Invention”, or hook.
- Write it out. It should be about 40 words or less.
- It should take no more than 12 seconds, roughly the length of a human breath, to speak
- It should be no more than one sentence
That’s it.
Brevity is beauty. Keep it short, keep it simple, and audiences will love you for it.
2. Arrangement, aka Your roadmap
Before you open Powerpoint, take the time to sit down and map out your story.
Every speech or presentation is a story, and stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. (Put another way, the beginning is the exposition, where the detail of the story is introduced; the middle is the climax, which is where there’s some conflict or tension or turning point; and the end is the resolution, where things are resolved, ideally nice and neatly.)
Once you’ve got the stages of the narrative clear, now it might be time to open PowerPoint and see what you need to support and illustrate your message.
Consider only adding things that will give colour, texture, and memorability to your story.
It’s worth repeating: story first, presentation software later.
This ensures you are clear in your journey, the roadmap, the arrangement of your speech, talk, presentation or pitch.
And most importantly, it will help you avoid using Powerpoint as a crutch.
3. Style, aka “Your Obama”
Everybody has their own style and in order to develop that style, watch as many people as you can give presentations and speeches.
As you watch, consider the following questions:
- What are they doing well?
- How are they using variations in pace?
- How are they using techniques such as pause, or pitch, or volume?
Observe what they’re doing that works and, equally importantly, what you think does not work.
Steal from the best and leave the rest.
As you practice and record yourself on video, you’ll begin to discover and develop your own style.
No two speakers are the same, so don’t worry about being like someone else. Remember, it’s about being the best YOU, not becoming someone else.
YouTube and TED are great sources.
I know for a fact that most people use these platforms as a source of enjoyment or entertainment or inspiration, but with the right mindset, they are exceptional⸺not to mention free⸺resources for you to educate and train yourself to become the most charismatic speaker you can be.
Obama had his critics as a President, but as a speaker he has had few equals over the past half-century.
We can’t all be Obama, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from him.
4. Memory, aka “Your palace”
Presentation nerves are often brought on by that fear of forgetting.
Mnemonics is the learning of techniques to aid in human memory. A mnemonic device could be an acronym or image that helps you to associate information and recall it more efficiently.
Roman orators such as Cicero used the technique of recalling a palace or great house with many rooms.
As they prepared for their delivery, they attributed sections of their speeches to different rooms, in order to more easily remember the information.
5. Delivery, aka “Your superhero”
Just before the big moment, after you’ve done your warm-up, the final thing you need to do is stand with your feet wide apart and hands on hips, a la Superman/Wonder Woman, and smile.
It will help banish those presentation nerves and give you a sense of expansion, of positivity, and of being grounded.
Then, picture your audience, send out a thought of generosity towards them⸺it’s no harm at all to say to yourself, “I love you, guys!”⸺and make it all about them, and much less about you.
So take it from the guys who started it all.
Take heed of Cicero and put “the five canons” to work for you, your company and your career.