Ed Miliband has just finished his keynote speech at the party conference in Manchester. He spoke for over an hour without notes which, whatever your politics, is pretty impressive.
The speech had been well leaked by the Labour PR team over the last few days; drip feeding the hungry media with the line that this was going to be all about Ed, who he was, where he had come from and what had influenced him on his journey through his time so far in British politics.
Some may say this was all he could talk about with over 2 years to go to the next election. Any policy announcement could come back to haunt them the closer the party gets to 2015. However with only 2 out of 10 people actually knowing who he is, there was obviously a need to try and make his mark and establish exactly ‘who Ed is’ and what he represents.
It’s a tough call when most people make up their minds about someone within the first 10 seconds of seeing them. If they don’t like what they see they will switch off almost immediately. Then no matter how brilliant your messages are, they will be completely lost on the assembled disengaged crowd.
So what is it that makes a great presenter? Where the audience totally engages with the person standing in front of them and are hanging on their every word. The key as always is planning and preparation. Anyone who thinks they can deliver a key note speech by just doing a quick run through beforehand is kidding themselves.
The next thing you need is energy and enthusiasm. If you think what you’re talking about sounds a little dry then your audience will sure as hell think the same thing. You have to make your presentation come alive so that the audience really believe in YOU and what you are saying. You have to make it personal. Whatever the subject, it’s important to use personal examples to illustrate a point. Try and use the terms ‘I’ rather than ‘we’. Look at your audience as much as possible - don’t spend all your time rooted to the spot pointing at slide number 350 on your PowerPoint! It’s about feeling confident. If you’re nervous then you will transmit it to everyone in the room.
Presentation skills training is so important to anyone who has to make either internal or external presentations. Knowing how to present yourself and communicate your messages effectively is essential whether it’s to a group of 50 or 500. Once you know the rules of the game it just gets easier and easier.
No doubt the media will now be pouring over the footage and picking out the juiciest of sound bites to fill tomorrow’s headlines. But the most important thing for the Labour party will be does the British public now understand who Ed is? Did they engage with him today? Do they believe in him?
Watch this space.