Are you using Facebook Live to grow your business? Are you getting the results you want?

If not, it's time.

Facebook Live is a great tool for growing your business. It helps you really connect with your followers. They're able to get to know you on a more personal level. That leads to that "know, like, and trust" factor that you need.

But Facebook Live can be daunting. Not everyone loves to be behind the camera. Maybe you aren't sure how to get started, or maybe you don't know what to talk about.

Maybe you aren't even sure how to get ready.

No problem. With a few simple steps, you'll be all ready to go Live. We share tips, best practices, and helpful resources over in our Speaking Society. Click here to join.

When speaking to an audience, whether from stage or on video or Facebook Live, you have two goals as the speaker. One goal is to teach the audience something in your area of expertise. The other goal is to have the audience get to know you, like you, and trust you. An effective way to accomplish that second goal is through storytelling.

Storytelling involves sharing stories about your life experiences, personal victories and failures, challenges you have overcome, and quirky tidbits that make you unique. Storytelling means you need to be transparent and maybe even a little bit vulnerable. Your audience needs to relate to you, and storytelling is how to make that happen. Storytelling can create that emotional connection you need with your audience.

Follow these steps to effectively share your story:

Empty Your Mind

You need to get all your ideas for a story onto paper. Once you have a story topic in mind, set a timer for fifteen minutes, and write down every idea you have for your story. Don’t worry if your ideas aren’t well-worded, and don’t try to edit anything while you’re making this list. Simply write down everything that comes to mind until your paper is full and your mind is empty.

After your fifteen minutes end, walk away from the paper. Take a break for a few minutes or even wait until the next day. Then, repeat this exercise until you have enough ideas to work with.

Get Organized to Create an Outline

Once all your ideas are on paper, carefully consider each idea. Determine whether each idea supports your overall topic. Decide whether you should use each idea for your current speech. Weed out ideas that won’t work with the topic at hand. The ideas you don’t use this time can be saved for a later time.

After you decide which ideas you’ll use, organize them into an order that makes sense. Put the ideas in chronological order or some other workable order that flows well. Figure out the lesson you want your audience to learn, and close with that.

From that ordered list, you can structure your outline. Your outline will serve as the skeleton for your story. It gives you direction and a roadmap.

Build on the Outline with Your Unique Voice

Transform your outline into a fully detailed story with your wording. Choose phrases and words that you would typically use in a casual conversation. Sometimes it helps to record yourself telling your story out loud, and then write down what you said. Say it in the way you’d say it to your best friend. This method helps keep your story personal, relatable, and casual.

Be Yourself

Tell your story in a way that makes sense for you and your brand. If you’re normally comical, be funny in your story. If you use particular jargon in your everyday conversations, feel free to use it in your story. Do whatever makes you unique. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. The whole point is to showcase what makes you special.

If you’re a bookseller, tell how a book changed your life. If you’re a counselor, tell about a time your counselor challenged you. If you are a personal trainer, tell about how you were inspired to do what you do.

Share Your Story

Your audience needs to know you, like you, and trust you, so use storytelling in your speeches, videos, and podcasts to help make that happen. Your personal stories set you apart from your competitors. There is no one else exactly like you on this earth, so there are no other stories exactly like yours.

You don’t have to be a perfect writer or a polished speaker to share your story. Just tell it. You’ll create deeper connections, relate better, and attract potential clients like never before.

Need some ideas for ways you can use Public Speaking to grow your business? Not sure where to start? Join the fun in our Speaking Society! Click here to join.

So, you have to give a speech or presentation. Most people will have to give one at some point.

Just the thought of that can bring on serious bouts of anxiety for most people. 

What will I say?

Do I need Power Point slides?

Will I stay within my time limit?

How do I even begin?

Those are all great questions. We'll deal with the others in later articles, but in this article we'll stick with how to start. Starting properly will reduce the amount of anxiety involved and get the speech headed in the right direction right off the bat.

When I need to write a speech, I start with a topic sentence. The first thing I do is write out one sentence that very clearly states my topic. It might include what I want the audience to learn through my speech. For example, a topic sentence I wrote for a recent speech was, "You can trust God with your children." Obviously, my talk was written for a church setting. Your audience may be different, but the point is to write your topic sentence first. Once it is written you will be able to weed out ideas later if they do not support your topic.

Next comes the brainstorming process. I call it a "brain dump." For this brain dump, I write out my topic sentence in big letters across the top of a sheet of paper. Then I set a timer for 20 minutes and write down all the ideas, stories, and facts I can think of that will support my topic sentence. I write down everything that pops into my mind for the full 20 minutes. The ideas don't necessarily need to be clear or worded properly at this point. The goal is simply to write down every idea or fact that I might possibly want to include in my speech. This brain dump may need to be repeated 3-5 times over the course of a few days in order to get all the ideas onto paper.

Then I look over all the ideas from my brain dumps. Any idea, story, or fact that does not relate to my topic sentence gets the ax at this point. Those unnecessary items might be saved for a future or separate talk, but they are taken out of the current one. This is the time to weed out anything that will not support my topic sentence.

The remaining items then need to be organized into a workable order. This might mean that they need to be listed in chronological order or some other meaningful order. Usually I simply go back through the list and number them. Keep in mind that any of this can be changed later.

Once I have a rough idea where I am going with all of these ideas, I write my opening statement. This might be a paragraph or two. The opening should be strong and should let the audience know the topic or where the speech is going. I'm not saying that I state my topic sentence verbatim (that would probably be boring), but l do make sure the audience is told where we are headed.

After my opening statement is finished, I like to write my closing remarks. Again, this might be a paragraph or two. The closing should be strong and have a definitive end. No audience wants to listen to a speaker drone on and on or go off on tangents, so I keep my closing concise. I like to end with one memorable statement.

Once the opening and closing are written, it is time to outline all the ideas from my brain dumps. This outline becomes the "map" for my speech. It doesn't need to be too detailed at this point. Also, keep in mind that anything can be changed later on as the process progresses. I inevitably reword my opening and closing statements and also my outline as I work on my talk and practice it.

Visually, this is the outline I create to start working on a speech:

• Opening Statement
• Brain Dump detail #1
• Brain Dump detail #2
• Brain Dump detail #3
• **Continue with as many Brain Dump details as are appropriate for the speech and time limit**
• Closing Remarks and Statement

This brain dump and outlining process can work for a variety of speech or presentation types. Brain dumps and outlining are not the only part of the speech-creating process, but they are a great way to start. 

The most important rule in public speaking is to know your audience. You will not be your most effective unless you do.

Several years ago, we were speakers at a business seminar in New Jersey. We were scheduled to fly out of Flint, Michigan, on Friday, with the seminar Saturday evening. Unfortunately, a major blizzard hit. Our flight left Flint without issue, but when we landed in Detroit for our connection to New Jersey, we were informed our flight was canceled. The next available flight wouldn't be until late Saturday morning.

So much for getting into town early.

We stayed overnight in Detroit and drove through the blizzard the next morning back to the airport. After over an hour of de-icing, our flight was the only one that took off before they canceled all other flights. We arrived in New Jersey only a couple hours before we were scheduled to speak.

Our luggage did not arrive with us. In fact, we did not see our luggage until two weeks later when it was delivered to our home in Michigan. Incidentally, the second most important rule in public speaking is to always put the clothes you plan to wear during your talk into your carry-on.

We knew we had some serious juggling to do. We like to arrive early. We like to meet with people we'll be speaking to. We like to learn about the town, the heritage, and the company we're working with. We had done a lot of leg work from home prior to this day, but there is nothing like chatting with the actual people involved. We like to know what makes them tick and what is on their hearts. So when our hosts picked us up from the airport, we used the 25 minute commute to fill in the gaps.

The couple who picked us up became fast friends. We asked them countless questions. They filled us in on everything, including the local culture. We were speaking very close to New York City and were informed that there were many different cultures represented at this particular meeting. For example, there were many religious leaders present whose traditions and cultures differ from mine. This was important to know because I am a very "huggy" or "touchy-feely" person by nature, which would not have gone over well at all with this crowd who did not believe in touching anyone of the opposite gender who is not your spouse. Our hosts saved me from a major faux pas, and having this knowledge helped me to respect their different beliefs.

They also clued us in on the particular challenges their team members were facing. They shared their group's strengths and weaknesses. They told us about a few of the group's leaders, who we made sure to name during our talks. Knowing this background information made our talks so much more effective because we were able to give this group exactly what it needed at that time. We tailored our own skills and experiences specifically for them.

Knowing your audience is crucial. Chatting with folks ahead of time and asking lots of questions is absolutely essential to your success as a speaker. If you speak to their needs, your talk will help them move forward. Bringing about positive change is the ultimate goal. It won't happen if you don't know what the group needs to change.

There is another benefit to knowing your audience: you will make life-long tremendous friendships along the way. Some of the couples who have hosted us at speaking events have become some of our closest friends. That New Jersey couple who hosted us regularly keeps in touch. They will be cherished friends for life.

Take the time to know your audience. The old saying is true: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Care enough to know them. Know them well enough to speak directly to them and their needs. It matters.

Need help with a speech? Click here to talk about all the ways we can work together!