When I was younger I used to worry that I was never interesting enough as a person; I was quite shy, and never one of the cool girls…and I used to fret that I had nothing special or exciting to say socially. Well one of the great things I’ve found about getting older is that I’ve become pretty comfortable with who I am – and I no longer worry when presenting to groups that I’m not an interesting or dynamic enough speaker. I know that my content is solid, and that the right audience will like my style and approach. (And I usually have the luxury of choosing which audiences I speak to!)
But what can you do when you don’t believe that you’re interesting enough as a speaker, or you don’t have a choice with content or audience?
Instead of thinking that you/your content is uninteresting – which is what some clients say to me – a better focus would be to ask yourself this:
“Am I interested? Am I interested in showing my audience why this topic matters, and specifically why it matter to them?”
To that audience on that day.
So don’t worry so much about being interesting; flip it around: if you struggle to be interested in your content (or you don’t believe in it, but have to deliver it anyway), shift your focus and energy to working out how you can make your delivery of that content more interesting. Ask yourself: “how can I successfully get my message across to this audience?”
It will take focus and thinking time, but it can make a radical difference to your presentations.
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