24: How to master online presentations with Kyle Murtagh

Kyle Murtagh is a presentation skills trainer, author of the book "The 5 Pillars of Effective Public Speaking", and the UK & Ireland Public Speaking Champion 2020. All at the age of 24 years old! We ask Kyle how we as leaders can master online presentations, which now has become a critical skill for any executive.

In this episode Kyle shares with us: 

• What is the number one mistake people make when doing an online presentation?
• Should you use a PowerPoint?
• What kind of technology do you need?
• Why do we need to be a better presenter? What is at stake?
• How did he get so good at public speaking at such a young age?

I highly recommend Kyle's book The 5 Pillars of Effective Public Speaking available on Amazon.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:03

Velkommen til denne engelske edisjonen av Levetips. Jeg har med meg prestasjonsskillestrainer og redaktør av... He's actually a public speaking champion in UK and Ireland at the age of 24. Welcome to LeatherTips, Kyle.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Alexander. Very excited. Looking forward to the questions to

SPEAKER_01 0:25

come. So, public speaking has dramatically changed over the past 12 months as we all are on home office or we are on a studio with no audience doing a webinar or a presentation. So, what is the most important thing for us to som ledere, gjøre presentasjoner via kamera, i stedet for innenfor virkelige mennesker.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Ja, det er en veldig interessant dynamikk, fordi vi må finne en måte å påvirke vårt publikum, å få folk til å ta aksjon på våre ord, når vi ikke er i samme rommet som dem. Og det er vanskelig. The key thing you've got to look to do is you've got to focus on engagement, right? Because there's just so many distractions in your audience's environment. I mean, they've got all their tabs open with their emails, they've got their mobile phones nearby, they've got dogs biting their toes, maybe kids biting their toes too. The fridge is just, there's so many things, right? So I think you need to focus on engagement. And one of the best things you can do to keep your audience engaged is to interact. with your audience. So regardless of the length of the presentation, whether it's ten minutes, whether it's an hour, whether it's three hours, you need to interact with them by either just asking questions and getting people to unmute and answer, or doing breakout rooms, doing opinion polls, do something to get your audience to think and be involved in your topic. I think that's absolutely essential in this day and

SPEAKER_01 1:52

age, Alexander. And as you write in your book, it doesn't have to be you actually doing a poll, it could just be the questions you ask rhetorically to the audience to make them think and engage mentally. So it doesn't have to be a huge setup of some new software or

SPEAKER_00 2:04

anything. Yeah, yeah, it can just be as simple as a rhetorical question, but just something to draw people in to your presentation. I think if you give the audience a role to play, if you can keep them on their toes by not knowing whether a question is coming their way or not de er mye mer sannsynlig å bli lagt inn, i stedet for å være nødt til å se på hverandre. Jeg tror det er absolutt viktig, og jeg er sikker på at du har funnet det selv i din egen presentasjon,

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Alexander. Absolutt, og jeg får vanligvis 30 minutter, 45 minutter på stedet, innenfor en live-audiens. Og ja, de har telefoner, men de er ikke besøkt over hverandre eller barn. Men nå er jeg nede på 10 minutter. Og prinsesse, som jeg kommer til å dele stedet med senere denne uken, hun får 15 minutter. Selvfølgelig, hun er prinsesse.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Så det blir fem

SPEAKER_01 2:55

minutter mer enn deg. Det er en bra sted å begynne. Men kontentvis, jeg mener, ja, vi må løpe det ned, vi må spørre retoriske spørsmål, vi kan gjøre en poll, men hvordan kan vi kompresere en stor powerpoint som vi bruker 45 minutter til å presentere, til noe som er 10 minutter eller 15

SPEAKER_00 3:09

minutter? Ja, jeg tror den store spørsmålet er å spørre, er dette nødvendig? For hver slide du går gjennom, for hver slags kontent i presentasjonen, Is this necessary? Is this adding to my key message at the end? The key call to action, the thing I want people to do, whether that's buying my product or service, changing how they're operating in the workplace. Is this piece of content beneficial in terms of that? Because if it's not, it has to go. Creating a good speech is like creating a sculpture. You start with a big block of marble and you chisel away until you You've got this elegant picture of a I don't know, a mermaid or something like this. The mermaid is the speech. You've got to trim the fat, if you will. And that's for asking that question. Is this helping? Is this beneficial? Is it necessary? So I think that's the key thing you've got to do with every presentation we've got now. Because like you said, we need to trim it down, because the attention span online is much less than in

SPEAKER_01 4:14

person. So being a professional coach in this, and a champion, what is the biggest mistakes you see people make now in this digital presentasjonen

SPEAKER_00 4:23

er på vei nå? Ja, det nummer eneste feil som de fleste gjør, er at de ikke ser på kameraet. De ser på skjermen, og i stedet er det en veldig lett ting å gjøre, fordi alle informasjonene er der. Når jeg ser på skjermen, kan jeg se Alexander's face right now, which is great, very handsome man, but I have to look up at my camera, because this is how I'm actually making a connection with Alexander. It's how I make a connection with my audience. And there's something just off-putting about me looking at the screen. like you can see. So you have to get your attention up there. You could use a little post-it note, draw a smiley face on this, and stick that above your camera. That's an option. You can take a picture of your family, put it behind the camera, your best friend, your favorite celebrity is always an option. I've seen some wacky ones with that. So there's lots of things you can do, but your attention has got to be up there. And the other thing that people fail to do when they're speaking online, is they fail to keep this window, this skjermen de har aktivt. Hva de gjør i stedet er at de blir en snakkehånd slik. Og når skjermen er stille, når det er statisk, the presentation becomes less engaging. But if you can make it more active for using your gestures, maybe even standing up, using some props, just to mix things up a little bit, it becomes a lot more interesting and engaging as a

SPEAKER_01 5:44

result. And should you use a PowerPoint or not?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Ideally not, right? It's that thing again. Is the PowerPoint necessary? Is the PowerPoint needed? If the answer is no, then don't. But if it is, if you think a PowerPoint image, like I'm talking a picture here, not a plate full of text, If an image is helpful for illustrating your point, then sure. But the key thing, I think, online is to make sure you're hopping in and out of your PowerPoint. Because the worst thing that happens is we go on to a webinar which is, say, an hour long. The PowerPoint opens up, right? And then the speaker just stays on the PowerPoint the entire time. I mean, that's a drag, isn't it? It really is tough, that. What we need to look to do is show our information on the slide and then hop out of it. for å forklare det videre. Det å hoppe inn og ut gjør at skjermen også blir aktiv som

SPEAKER_01 6:39

resultat, fordi det begynner å forandre. Så jeg tror det er viktig. Skal du kjøpe mer utvikling hvis du gjør dette regelig? Skal du kjøpe en grønn skjerm? Skal du kjøpe noe lyd, en ny kamera? Eller er du fint med hva du har i din laptop?

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Jeg tror vi alle ønsker en fancy palm tree lyd som du har i din bakgrunn, Alexander. Jeg tror det adderer til hver rum. Men jeg tror du må investere litt i ditt utvikling. Fordi For lysning kan man bruke naturlig lysning, men da jeg er i Skotland, og jeg vet at du også, Alexander, vi kan ikke alltid sørge for mye død eller mye sol, kan vi? Så det er bedre å ha din egen lysningssystem. Noe å se på er det tre-punkt-lysningssystemet, hvor du har to lysninger på hver side av deg, som lyser på både sider av ditt vis, og også en bakpå for å illuminere din bakgrunn. Jeg tror det ser veldig slik ut, og det er viktig. så jeg sier at det er viktig. Audio er også viktig. My laptop audio system, the inbuilt system it has, is terrible. It sounded like I was drowning underwater when I was doing my first webinar. So I upgraded that. I got a microphone. So you have to assess whether your audio is good naturally or not. And of course, camera as well. We need HD, I think. HD makes a difference compared to other standards of quality. So it's better if you do upgrade, but at the end of the day, it's the If you can upgrade everything, you can have a studio, a command center full of technology. But if you're boring as a speaker, it's not going to make that big of a

SPEAKER_01 8:15

difference. And also mind your background, I guess. I saw there was a news piece now about a woman who had a very unfortunate item on her shelf during a live presentation. So clean up your background might be a good tip. No, it was some kind of grown-up toy on the shelf behind her.

UNKNOWN 8:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

I guess that's kind of the new normal that embarrassing things happen like your kids come running in during your presentation or the doorbell rings or something but that was kind of something I'm sure she would like to be

SPEAKER_00 8:46

without

SPEAKER_01 8:54

That certainly stands out It stands out, but maybe not for the right reasons So you've written a really good book that I really recommend So what do you think is the key thing that people can take away from reading your book?

SPEAKER_00 9:04

I guess the key, yeah The essence of the book is to take small steps towards building up your speaking. So at the end of every chapter, I have a sort of action point. And it's basically a point which you can use, a small step which you can take related to the information in that chapter. Because I think the key thing is, I mean, people look at public speaking and they see it as a very daunting task. They see a great speaker and they think, how the heck can I get there? But the key is just to build up in small steps. So even just something like changing your body language a little bit by smiling more in your next presentation is a step in the right direction. You know, varying your voice through changing the volume just a little bit is a step in the right direction. It's just about taking the small steps with your speaking, and eventually those small steps, they compound. And before you know it, after 365 days of small steps, you're much further along than you were when you started. So that's the real essence of of the book, I would say

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Alexander. So now we talked about how to become a better presenter, especially now in the digital age. But why? Why should we spend time getting better at presenting? What's at stake here?

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Well, what's at stake is basically everything you want to achieve in your life, I would say. Most of the goals and aspirations we have come down to how we can communicate those. You know, if you want people in your company to buy into a certain train of thought, a way of doing your processes, that's going to be far more challenging if you can't communicate og kommunikere det godt. Hvis du begynner en business, og du ønsker at det blir en suksess, så må du kommunikere visjonen. Du må få folk til å kjøpe inn dine ideer og produkter og serviser. Det går også for ledere. Hvis vi ser på ledelsen nå, så kan vi se hvor folk samles rundt, oppfører seg og er galvanisert av deres ledere, og vi kan se hvor de ikke er i verden. Og det er nødvendigvis på kommunikasjonen. Hvor effektiv kommunikasjonen er. Hvor klart kommunikasjonen er. Så jeg vil si at det er livet ditt som er på sted. Dine ambisjoner som er på sted. Og også din tro til. For hvis du kan master publisk snakke, så er det på toppen av pyramiden, mine venner. Selskap, harde konversasjoner, nettverk, det er alt under det. Det blir mye lettere hvis du kan opprette og opprette. Den

SPEAKER_01 11:25

ene skillen. Jeg synes det er fascinerende å bruke dette, fordi jeg bruker dine triks og andre triks for å leve opp min offentlige snak. Bare små forandringer gir en stor effekt. Hvis du forstår grunnen, og hvis du utfordrer deg selv, som du sa, mange mennesker har en fyr på offentlig snak, og jeg forstår det helt. Jeg har stått på stedet og svettet gjennom min t-skjerm, min skjerm og min blazer også. Hvis du kan steppe det opp, er det ikke så mange mennesker som faktisk dør til å gjøre det. Og if you can get your message across, you can have a huge impact. And I think the biggest stage I've been on is like 750 people. You can reach 750 people or more with your message.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Oh, 100%. The scope and the ability for people to embrace what you're saying is there. And there's just something very special, magical if you like, about this form of medium. I mean, look, videos are great. We love taking on board that information. It's great reading things, but seeing someone speak and really embracing and demonstrating what they're speaking, really being part of their message themselves. There's something powerful and moving about that. And we all have that within us. We've just got to try and draw out. And like you say, Alexander, sometimes just making small adjustments make a big difference. And then you can eventually go from swaying through three layers of clothes like you did, to being comfortable up there like you are now. So the process is there. It's just about stepping up and doing it, isn't it? The first time's not going å være den beste tiden, men over tid vil du komme til hvor du vil gå.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Og jeg er alltid bange før jeg kommer på sted, alltid. Jeg tror at det aldri går bort. Men når jeg er på sted, jeg har gjort det så mange ganger nå, jeg føler meg komfortabel, jeg vet hva jeg har på min PowerPoint, jeg vet hva jeg skal si de første fem minutter. Nå er jeg komfortabel av å være på sted, men alltid nervøs før jeg går på sted.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Hvordan er det med deg? Jeg er ikke nervøs lenger. Jeg vil si at jeg er overrasket. Hvis det er en veldig stor ting, noe jeg ikke har gjort før, så Man kan være nervøs. Excited er mer termen jeg bruker for det. Hvordan var det for deg? Butterflyer? Sveite palmer?

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Butterflyer, kanskje. Jeg sveiter ikke så mye som jeg brukte til. Jeg sover bedre i natt, for det var det andre problemet. Jeg gjorde min første stor presentasjon innenfor 150 kjøpere. Den natt før hadde jeg nødvendigheter. Det var den største natten. Jeg tenkte, hva har jeg sagt ja til? Men faktisk ble jeg valgt beste snakker i det eventet. Jeg tror ikke jeg var det, men jeg ble valgt etterpå. Det gjorde meg så mye selvsikkerhet at jeg faktisk skulle gjøre det igjen etter denne dårlige opplevelsen. Jeg følte meg bra på stedet, selv om jeg var svømme. Men i forhold til å snakke den dag før, den natt, det var bare dårlig for meg. Det var ikke så mange år siden. Det går til min siste spørsmål til deg, Kyle. Jeg har sett ditt kontent på sosiale medier. Du er veldig god til å dele tips og trikser. videos on LinkedIn, TikTok. And as we talked the first time, you're so young, you're 24, and I know from your book that you were born a public speaker, but in a very short time you decided this is what I want to do, and now you're a champion. What happened? How did you get so good so fast, and why did you decide to be good at

SPEAKER_00 14:45

this? Sure, so what I did was for four years, I worked every single day on getting better at my speaking, and here I am. I'd love to tell you there was a short eller noen måte du kan komme der snabbere, men det er det ikke. Du har bare nødt til å putte tiden inn. Og hver mulighet du kan få til å snakke, du har nødt til å ta det, ikke sant? Du har nødt til å ta det, og når det ikke er muligheter, har du nødt til å forskjelle. Så jeg så på gode snakere som Les Brown, Maya Angelou, jeg så på hva de gjorde da de snakket, Tony Robbins, alle disse menneskene og unger, bare for å se hva jeg kunne glemme fra dem. Du vet, TED er en god ressurs. Det er så mange ulike TED-taks og snakere som du kan lære fra og oppføre. Det handler om å gjøre noe hver dag mot ditt mål. Det er det jeg gjorde, og det er mitt mål å bli den beste snakker jeg kan være. Jeg har mange andre mål på vei, og det er det jeg vil fortsette å gjøre. Det handler bare om å investere tid, Alexander, det er det jeg vil

SPEAKER_01 15:46

si. Så nå er du kjempion i UK, du har en bok, du er coach. Hva er ditt neste største

SPEAKER_00 15:50

mål? Det neste største målet er å bli kjempion i verden. Kjempion i verden av offentlige snakker. Teksting av Nicolai Winther Teksting av Nicolai Winther Teksting av Nicolai Winther I've been working on a speech for a very long time now. It's just about ready to go. The first round is in March, so hopefully I can get there. I've been entering this contest for the last four years. I've not been successful, but I will be in it until I am. I can promise you that. So that's one of the key goals in the near future. The other thing is with my company, Confidence by Design, I really want to try and create something which doesn't need to have me. I'd love to create a team of trainers who go around the globe or stay online and help people with their communication and presentation skills. Because the ultimate goal is to have as big an impact as possible. Because I think if people can learn how to do this, Alexander, if they can learn how to speak with confidence in public, that's going to filter through in the rest of their life as well. You know, in their interviews, when they're going for a new job, when they're talking to people at a party even, it's just going to help their confidence. It's called confidence by a designer for a reason, Michael. I want to help people feel better about

SPEAKER_01 17:07

themselves. The book is called The Five Pillars of Effective Public Speaking. Go check that out. Thank you so much, Kyle, for being on Leather Tips.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

My pleasure, Alexander. Let's do it again sometime.