Trust Me

The four steps:

• Form the attitude and intent to be open, and then let your body naturally express that intent. This feeling of openness will naturally affect the content of what you are saying, and it's that natural evolution that is at the heart of the process.
• Become connected to your audience. This creates a mutual energy, and you will naturally begin to think in terms of what the audience wants and needs in shaping your content.
• Ask yourself, what's my underlying emotion? Why does this matter to me? Becoming passionate about what you have to say naturally makes your audience care about it too.
• Really listen to the audience. Understanding their needs and reactions will enable you to direct your communication in mutually beneficial ways.

THE AUTHOR

NICK MORGAN, founder of Public Words Inc., is one of America's top communication and speech coaches. He is a former Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, affiliated with the Center for Public Leadership, and served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter. He is the author of the acclaimed book Working the Room, reprinted in paperback as Give Your Speech, Change the World.