Mastering Public Speaking: Top Tips from a Chief Education Strategy Officer
Christine Cruzvergara, Chief Education Strategy Officer at Handshake, a seasoned public speaker with extensive experience addressing diverse audiences, shares her invaluable insights and practical advice for improving public speaking skills. She reveals the key strategies she employs when coaching her direct reports, focusing on techniques to enhance communication effectiveness and build executive presence. Her approach is grounded in understanding audience preferences, delivering information strategically, and cultivating a confident yet humble demeanor.
Key Takeaways:
- Mirror your communication style to company VIPs: Analyze how senior leaders communicate to tailor your messaging effectively. This shows understanding and increases receptiveness.
- Master the “punchline first” approach: Learn to prioritize key information before providing context, particularly when communicating with senior decision-makers.
- Cultivate confident, yet humble communication: Practice consistently to build confidence, address nervous habits, and deliver clear, impactful messages while maintaining humility. Practice makes perfect!
Mirror Your Communication Style with Company VIPs
Cruzvergara emphasizes the importance of adapting your communication style to resonate with your audience, particularly senior leaders within your organization. She advises taking the time to observe and analyze the communication patterns of your company’s VIPs – your CEO, COO, VPs, and other senior executives. “How does your CEO or your COO or your VP or your president communicate? What do they tend to focus on?” she asks.
Analyzing Communication Styles
Consider various aspects of their communication style: Are they concise and direct, or do they prefer detailed explanations? Do they prioritize data-driven presentations or more narrative approaches? Do their emails tend to be lengthy and thorough or short and to the point? Observing these patterns will provide crucial insights.
This observation period is critical. This analysis, she notes, reveals “something about the way that they might like to consume information and what they care about.” Once you understand their preferences, you can tailor your messaging – both written and verbal – accordingly. This demonstrates awareness and respect, increasing the likelihood of your message being received positively.
Know When to Deliver the ‘Punchline’ Versus the Context
Cruzvergara illustrates this point with an example from her own experience at Handshake: “I share this with all my direct reports — we’re in an environment where we have leadership that really prefers punchline first, context later.“
What this means is that when addressing a senior leader it pays to deliver the main point first, explaining the most important conclusion or answer early in your communication, before providing supporting details. “So when you’re talking to our CEO and he asks you a question about something, you need to answer the question directly in the first sentence, and then you can provide context,” she explains. “But if you take too long to get to the punch line, you’ll lose him, and then no matter what good information you have, it won’t go anywhere.“
Adapting to Different Communication Styles
This approach, however, is not universally applicable. Different leaders and organizations may have different preferences. Some may value thorough context before reaching a conclusion. The key is to understand your specific audience and tailor your communication to their preferences. Always ask your manager or supervisor for guidance: Knowing how decision-makers prefer to receive information can significantly improve your effectiveness and help you gain buy-in from important stakeholders. If you are uncertain asking your manager for guidance is always a safe bet.
Stay Confident and Humble
Cruzvergara emphasizes the importance of confidence in public speaking, but advises against arrogance. She highlights a common issue among professionals: “People are smart,” she says. “They have the right facts. They know how to get the data. They have all of the good pieces there, but it’s the delivery of it” that often needs improvement. The delivery is key!
Building Confidence Through Practice
Confidence, she argues, isn’t necessarily innate, but rather a skill that can be developed through consistent practice and feedback. She suggests a phased approach to increase comfort levels, beginning with smaller meetings or presentations and gradually scaling up. “Again, you can work with your manager to build in stepping stones to make progress on your public speaking — starting with smaller meetings and scaling your way up, for example. Throughout, ask for direct feedback on what went well and what you could improve on.”
Rehearsing your presentations thoroughly allows you to refine your delivery, identify and eliminate nervous habits such as filler words (“um,” “ah,” “like”), and ensure clear articulation of both your statements and your questions.
The ultimate goal, Cruzvergara advises, is to strike a balance: “You can be humble and confident at the same time.” This approach fosters trust and credibility, leading to greater impact and influence in your professional interactions. It’s all about delivering your message clearly and effectively while maintaining a respectful and approachable demeanor.
By implementing these simple strategies — understanding your audience, structuring your message appropriately, and practicing consistently to build your confidence — you may start your journey to mastering public speaking and become a more impactful communicator.