3 tips to become a better public speaker, from a boss who’s managed 100 people
Christine Cruzvergara has no problem speaking in front of hundreds of people, whether they’re college students or CEOs.
Cruzvergara, the chief education strategy officer at Handshake, has over a decade’s worth of media and speaking engagements on both national and international stages, from top-tier conferences, to higher education and policy stages, to boardrooms and commencements.
So, when she hears that her direct reports often want to get better at public speaking, she has a few go-to tips to coach them through learning the skill.
It’s a big goal among reports who are in their mid- to late-20s and early 30s, she says.
“I tend to get a lot of people saying, ‘I really want to get more executive presence. I want to know how to communicate with people that are more senior. What’s the right way to show up in a meeting? How do I create briefs or emails or things that they’ll actually read?'” Cruzvergara says.
Here are the tips she gives all her employees who want to become better public speakers.
Mirror your communication style with company VIPs
Sharpening your public speaking will depend a lot on how senior leaders communicate at your organization, Cruzvergara says.
But generally, one of the first places to start is to identify the traits and characteristics of your leadership and how they communicate. “How does your CEO or your COO or your VP or your president communicate? What do they tend to focus on?” Cruzvergara says.
Take note: Are they a super succinct speaker? Are they someone who tends to write very short emails? Is it someone who actually really loves context? Is it someone who always uses data in the way that they communicate?
Observing how your company’s VIPs communicate “tells you something about the way that they might like to consume information and what they care about,” Cruzvergara says.
“Once you know that, you can start to formulate for yourself how you frame your messages, whether that’s written or whether that’s verbal,” she says.
Know when to deliver the ‘punchline’ versus the context
Cruzvergara gives this example of working at Handshake: “I share this with all my direct reports — we’re in an environment where we have leadership that really prefers punchline first, context later.”
“So when you’re talking to our CEO and he asks you a question about something, you need to answer the question directly in the first sentence, and then you can provide context,” she explains.
“But if you take too long to get to the punch line, you’ll lose him, and then no matter what good information you have, it won’t go anywhere.”
Ask your manager for guidance when you’re preparing a presentation. Knowing how to deliver information in the best way decisionmakers will take in those details can help bolster your executive presence and get buy-in from important stakeholders.
Stay confident and humble
Finally, Cruzvergara says that with practice comes confidence.
“People are smart,” she says. “They have the right facts. They know how to get the data. They have all of the good pieces there, but it’s the delivery of it” that needs work.
Again, you can work with your manager to build in stepping stones to make progress on your public speaking — starting with smaller meetings and scaling your way up, for example. Throughout, ask for direct feedback on what went well and what you could improve on.
Practicing can help you get more comfortable and overcome nervous habits, like using filler words or hedging your statements, Cruzvergara says.
Rehearse making clear statements as well as asking clear questions, she adds: “You can be humble and confident at the same time.”
Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC’s online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking. We’ll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Get started today.
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