Forgive me for borrowing shamelessly from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but a quick canter through Twitter reveals any number of ways to improve your public speaking and presentation skills.

For example:

Answer this 1 question and your audience will love you
2 things that will get you further than hard work
3 ways to be a better public speaker
4 presentation pitfalls
5 things you need to know for a perfect presentation
6 tips on how to present data in PowerPoint and avoid data overload
7 places to find powerful creative ideas
The 8 worst ways to start a speech
The 9 reasons why delivery is king over content
10 things your audience hates about your presentation
The 11 best presentation hacks you will ever need
And the numbers keep climbing.

What are we supposed to make of this?  Have the lower numbers overlooked something the higher numbers know about? Are the higher numbers exaggerating?

There are so many elements to public speaking and presenting, but the weight you give to each will depend on your point of view or what is important.  If you were to ask me the question – How do I present?  Let me count the ways, I would plump for the 3Cs of engagement.

1.  Clarity

If you are not clear in your own mind about what you want to say, then what hope for your audience?  You need to be clear about your purpose and message.  This will drive your content and how to structure it.

2.  Commitment to your audience

Stand out speakers know that the audience is their focus.  They understand that audience members are thinking ‘What’s In It For Me?’ (WIIFM).  And they ignore this question at their peril.  If your audience cannot find a personal relevance in your speech, their attention will drift.  This is why we say ‘know your audience’.  What do they want to know?  How do they want to receive it?  Show them WIIFM.

3.  Connection

Engaging your audience fully helps to make your speech more memorable and helps you, as the speaker, feel more relaxed.  There are many ways to create connections with your audience.  You need to be authentic, show them the ‘real’ you, be sincere, share personal stories and speak with conviction about things that you genuinely care about that are, simultaneously, of value to your audience.

That’s my contribution to the numbers game – the 3Cs of engagement in your speeches and presentations.