DAVE HARDY
Transformative Leadership / Brand Strategy / Creative Direction

Steal These Ideas

Being bold isn’t easy. If it were, we’d see the evidence of it among the many and not the few. As a student of brand and creative strategy, I see the product of the connection between our fears and our tendency to embrace mediocrity. With 25 years building brands and teams in the agency space, I want to explore ways to see challenges as opportunities and to discover how to harness what holds us back.

Three Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking and Increase the Ability to Sell Ideas

A decade into my career, I realized that much of my work was being watered down or not even selected to move forward. Simply put, if you want to create the best work, you have to sell it. Clients buy you as much as your ideas; they need your confidence. If you aren't there to speak to it, the chances of it going through are less.

I used to be terrified of public speaking and presenting. I was an introvert who loved to be in the background and allow others to be the voice of my work. Until I decided to change, this change not only made my work better, but it also opened up doors into workshop facilitation, leadership roles within the company, and public speaking on various topics.

Here are three ways I changed from an introverted designer to an extroverted leader:

Tip One:
Vulnerability. You have to admit to yourself and your peers and managers that you don't enjoy it. Say it out loud. I did this in front of 50 people. I was due to give a talk on culture for my company, and I was nervous. As I was standing in front of the crowd, I just blurted it out, "I hate doing this, but I'm going to keep going, so stick with me." After this moment, everything changed for me because I had created empathy with my audience. They suddenly wanted to help and encourage me, and most importantly, I gave myself permission to not be perfect.

Tip Two:
Personality. As part of coaching in this area, I sometimes encourage people to construct a different personality while on stage. Mine was created quite by accident. I gave a talk at a university, and after I had presented, I sat back down, and the person next to me said they could feel the heat I was generating. I have a lot of energy, especially when I'm nervous, so instead of seeing that as a weakness, I used it to my advantage. An energetic performance is now part of my brand.

Tip Three:
Practice. It sounds obvious, but there are three ways I like to practice:

1. Never say no to speaking in front of people. In fact, I'll go one better, create speaking engagements for yourself. The more you do it, the better you get. The more personality you can draw out of yourself, the more confidence you give yourself. Imagine you have presenting muscles that you have to keep working at to keep strong.

2. Before presentations, I have a small toy, imagine Wilson from the movie Cast Away, that I practice talking to. I like to set myself the challenge of seeing if I can present without notes so it feels to the audience that I'm speaking from the heart. Giving myself a focal point is the best way to recreate the live environment.

3. Have you ever walked up to a microphone and been surprised by the volume of your voice? It can be very off-putting. Before any speaking engagement, I like to say 'hi' to someone in the crowd as a way to settle my nerves and get used to the environment.

This all takes time, but the faster you start, the more impact you can have on your work and your career.

Leadership, Brand StrategyDave Hardypublic speaking, Ideas, Vulnerability