Guide

Welcome to Your Weekly Words with Julie Avis Rogers: where public speaking meets personal flourishing.  In these posts (the video and the written transcript below), I share one word to enhance your effectiveness as a public speaker while also giving a boost for your soul! This week’s word is *guide*  so let’s dive in!

Today I am going to ask you to think like a tour guide. 

Particularly when putting together a speech or a presentation, think like a tour guide. 

Take a moment now and consider some experiences where you had a guide. Perhaps you took a tour of a new city while on vacation, or you visited a prospective school. Maybe you’ve done a food tour while out on a date night or you’ve toured a historic home or a museum. I imagine all of us have, at some point, been led by a guide. 

And I don’t know about you, but for me, it is SO nice having a good guide. Someone who knows the terrain, someone who is just going to show me the best and most relevant things, someone who has planned out a good itinerary and someone will make sure I don’t get lost. Having a good guide is a beautiful thing. 

As a speaker or as a presenter, I want you to be the tour guide for your audience. Your presentation is a journey that you are taking them on and they need you to be a reliable guide. At the beginning of your presentation or your talk, make sure to take a moment to tell your audience where you are taking them. Yes tell them your name and perhaps the topic at hand– but take it one step further. Tell them what to expect from this presentation. Where are you going to be leading them? What stops will they be making along the way? 

Welcome your audience in to the journey by being their guide. Tell them what to expect, tell them where you’ll be taking them, get them oriented before you dive in. 

Your audience will benefit immensely– and more importantly, so will you.  By being a good guide, you will feel your audience coming along with you. You’ll feel their trust, you’ll feel their understanding, and you’ll feel the confidence of knowing that you are the expert of this journey. Being a good guide is one of my very favorite tips for effective public speaking and I hope so much that it instills a sense of adventure, a playfulness, and some increased confidence in your next speaking journey. 

CTA: Ready for more? Click here to book a free exploratory session with me where we can discuss public speaking coaching or bringing me in to work with your team, organization, or group. Visit my website to learn more about how to become a more confident, authentic public speaker while boosting your personal flourishing along the way!