6 Tips to Captivate Your Overseas Audience By Alan Fairweather The Motivation Doc http://www.themotivationdoctor.com/
I
have a confession to make; as someone who loves to travel and experience other cultures, Professional Speaking is just the job for me. It allows me to visit many countries and meet lots of wonderful people. But the job of an International Speaker requires some additional skills, and just a little bit of thought, to captivate an overseas audience. Sell yourself. Remember; you’re not speaking to aliens from the planet Zog! No matter what country you’re in, you’re speaking to human beings, who display all the human characteristics such as happiness, sadness, confidence, insecurities, and a desire for knowledge. So be likeable, smile, get interested in your audience and their country. Relax, look happy, and show lots of open body language. Appeal to emotions. Your audience, no matter what country you are in, are predominantly driven by their emotions, when making decisions about whether to accept what you say or not. So it makes sense to appeal to these emotions in order to get your message across. Release your inhibitions and do things that make them laugh. Tell stories that move them, inspire them, and make them think. Learn. If you are due to speak in another country, it makes sense to find out as much as you can about the culture. There is loads of stuff online. But better still; speak to a Professional Speaker who has been in that country, we’re a very helpful bunch.
Think about what you’ll say. If you speak English, and that’s not the first language of your audience, then humour doesn’t work too well, especially with a translator. Translators are often confident in their ability to translate exactly what you say, and will often tell you just to speak normally. But the way I speak English in my home country of Scotland can be slightly different from the way it’s spoken in England or the US. So if the translator learned English in Australia, then they may have a challenge with your Americanism’s. If working with a translator, avoid jargon, buzz words and keep it simple. Speak slower, and more clearly than you would normally. It also makes sense to repeat what you say in a slightly different way. If you’re audience speaks English as a second language, remember that they may have learned in school or a college, and may not understand your colloquialisms. Where you may say – “I’ll hang fire on this” they may say “I’ll procrastinate on this” Think about what you will show. Take care with any slides you use; certain graphics may be perfectly acceptable in some countries, but may offend in others. Think about what you will do. You may think it’s a good idea to get your audience involved, and ask for feedback, or even a show of hands. Your audience may not think it’s such a good idea! Have no fear of speaking overseas, and although what I’ve said above, people will understand a lot more than you believe.
Alan speaking in Iran 2010