Dynamic leaders are masters of their message. When presenting, they incorporate three key components to INSPIRE ACTION:  KNOWLEDGE, CONFIDENCE and PASSION. Effective communication is a marriage of mental and physical qualities. Some of us naturally have more of one than the other, but dynamic leaders who inspire action, showcase both the physical and mental attributes of communication.

Knowledge is power.”
— Sir Francis Bacon

INSPIRING ACTION requires mental preparation. The KNOWLEDGE you are prepared with organized and relevant content. You are connected to your audience because you have an understanding of them and their needs through experience and/or research. You don’t waste your audience’s precious time; you tell them only what they need to know. Your presentations feel interactive to your audience because you welcome their input. You make the audience feel that you’re in this together. You know, no matter what your audience throws at you — tough questions or irrelevant responses — you will be ready, because you’ve already worked with your team to field the toughest questions, and you’ve studied all the angles.  When you are knowledgeable, people listen to you.

A man of confidence will be trusted because he first trusts in his ability.”
— Felix Nyemike Nkadi

When you convey CONFIDENCE, you are physically communicating in many ways. Eye contact is the number one most effective physical communication skill to convey confidence. With effective eye contact you connect on a personal level and make everyone in the room feel included. You don’t hesitate with non-words (i.e., ah, um, like, you-know, etc.). You are not afraid of silence. You open and relax your gestures. You stand tall and move with purpose. You smile and incorporate appropriate and relevant humor in your conversations and presentations. You listen. You dress appropriately and impeccably for every occasion, and your handshake is firm. When you present, you present; you don’t talk through a slide deck. Confidence is being at ease in every environment, because you have made an effort to see the world and connect with all kinds of people. When you convey confidence people watch you.

Passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whether you’re selling widgets or asking an investor for $20 million, you have to convey PASSION. A leader’s passion is the motivation behind every action. Passion is the motivation to buy, to invest, to vote, to protest, to go into battle, and to love. Passion comes from within. It is heartfelt. With every presentation you must find your passion. Ask yourself questions like: How will your product make your clients’ life better? Why should we care? When this idea is fully embraced, how will it change your community or the world for the better?

Now that you have found your passion, you need to control it. People can get so caught up in their passion that they are perceived as nervous, rambling, or even crazy. Passion needs to be controlled in order to utilize it to inspire action.

Passion can be conveyed in many ways, but here are my top three presentations tools for conveying passion:  Voice Inflection, Pausing, and Eye Contact. Voice inflection is crucial in conveying passion. When you’re excited about your message your voice may get louder and you may talk faster.  When you want your audience to listen intently, you can slow your speaking pace and drop your voice to a whisper. Another way your passion is made obvious, yet controlled, is the use of pauses. Pausing is a great control tool. It allows your audience to process your last statement, while you gather your thoughts, and adds a bit of drama to your message. It’s also a great way to control your excitement. When you’re passionate, you tend to talk fast–not necessarily a bad thing, but your message can get lost on the audience if they don’t have time to process, and you may get out of breath or lose your train of thought. So pause, breathe, and think. Eye contact is a great tie-in to pausing. Holding eye contact with one audience member while you make a statement is impactful. “Eye-flitting” will be perceived as not connected, or even a little off-balance. With these three presentation tools you can imbue your message with passion.

Absence of passion is a two-way street of no belief. If you can’t convey passion, your audience perceives that you don’t whole-heartedly believe in your idea, plan, or product so they, in turn, don’t believe.

We have all seen presenters who act confident. The audience will watch, but if they don’t hear relevant & meaningful content, then it’s merely a performance. People will watch, but not take action. On the other hand, a presenter who is knowledgeable and prepared, but fails to convey confidence or passion, will not fully engage the audience. The audience may hear the message, but not take action. When the audience doesn’t hear or feel the presenter’s passion, they are not motivated or inspired to respond in any way.

One of these components without the others is likely to lead your audience to respond in numerous ways: a sudden urge to use the facilities, or at the very least their Blackberries; a strong compulsion to nap or day dream; to stare at you with perplexed faces; and/or to cut the presentation short with no plan of action.

KNOWLEDGE + CONFIDENCE + PASSION = ACTION

DYNAMIC LEADERS INSPIRE ACTION. When you communicate effectively, KNOWLEDGE, CONFIDENCE and PASSION come together. Your audience will listen to you, watch you, and be inspired to take action.