How to Master Your Talk with Brendan Kumarasamy.

Welcome to Public Speaking with Peter George. Do you want to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then stay tuned as Peter and his guests discuss public speaking tips, techniques, and tactics that help you increase your impact, influence, and income. Here’s your host, the author of The Captivating Public Speaker, Peter George.

Today’s episode has a wide variety of concepts sure to further help you develop at least one of your speaking skills — but I’d be willing to bet you’ll find several ideas that benefit you. Today’s guest, Brendan Kumarasamy, helps you juggle just a few balls instead of the many you might be trying to keep in the air. He also helps you up your game when it comes to online presentations and presenting in a second language. Brendan is the founder of MasterTalk — a coaching practice and YouTube channel with the goal of providing free access to communication tools for everyone. Here’s my conversation with Brendan Kumarasamy.

Why Most People Struggle with Public Speaking

Peter: Why do you believe so many people struggle with public speaking?

Brendan: The education system has conditioned us to believe that communication is a chore. Think about where we learn to communicate formally — school. But every one of those presentations has three problems: they’re mandatory, you’re never presenting something you actually care about, and they’re tied to punishment if you don’t do well. So we grew up believing communication is a chore — and no one wants to get better at doing the dishes.

Peter: I’ve been saying that for years. In third grade, they say come up and present in front of the class. They don’t tell us how. We struggle. We get embarrassed. And that becomes the experience we remember.

Brendan: Exactly. The antidote is to start dreaming about your communication skills. We dream about our businesses, careers, vacations — when was the last time we dreamed about a life where we’re a better communicator in it? Ask yourself: how would your life change if you were an exceptional communicator? Because communication is how we raise our children, how we get the next sale, how we make new friends. When we see it that way, we’ll take it more seriously.

Stop Juggling 18 Balls — Focus on the Easy Three

Peter: If listeners could stop practicing one thing tomorrow, what would it be?

Brendan: Communication is like juggling 18 balls at once — body language, storytelling, facial expressions, vocal variety, and on and on. It gets very confusing. So I always ask: what are the three easiest balls to juggle? I call it my Easy Three. The first one is the random word exercise. Pick a random word — trophy, birthday, light bulb — and create a presentation out of thin air. It forces you to practice without preparation, so it’s more impromptu. And if you can make sense out of nonsense, you can make sense out of anything.

Presenting More Effectively Online

Peter: How can listeners present more effectively online?

Brendan: Three differences come to mind. First, eye contact. Online, whether you’re speaking to one or 10,000 people, you only have to look in one direction — the camera lens. Put a post-it note next to it, a picture of your family, an arrow that says look here. Give the illusion you’re looking at everyone at once.

Second, accessibility. In person, getting feedback is easy. Online, the call just ends. So you have to force those interactions. Get on calls with people and feel their energy before your presentation.

Third, energy. It’s very difficult to bring the same level of energy online as in person, and the reason is accountability. When you’re in person, you can’t just check out. So remind yourself: why does this presentation matter? Why is it important to the people in front of me? When you have those answers, you’ll get the result you’re looking for.

How to Ask for Feedback That Actually Helps You

Brendan: Most people don’t ask for feedback. And even those who do, don’t ask it in the right way. I love this question from Kevin Systrom, the founder of Instagram: If you had to remove one part of my speech, what would you remove and why? It forces a point of improvement. Another question I like: If you had to introduce me to someone who could help me build on my ideas further, who would it be and why? That gives you access to people’s networks and gets you better ideas for your next presentation.

Presenting in a Second Language

Peter: What advice do you have for people who present in a second language?

Brendan: The difference between presenting in a first and second language is two things: culture and vocabulary. Here’s my three-part strategy. First, write your script in your first language — you understand the culture and vocabulary perfectly there. Second, translate it into the language you need to speak. Third — and this is what nobody does — do a vocabulary test: present to native speakers of the language and have them correct every grammar mistake before you go on stage. That’s why I’m able to keynote in both English and French today.

And on accents: there’s always someone in our lane who is more successful than us, is a great communicator, and has an accent — and nobody cares. Jack Ma. Sundar Pichai. As long as you feel good about yourself when you’re communicating, your audience won’t feel your insecurities. As long as you don’t have them within yourself.

Peter: Brendan, one word — what’s your last word on public speaking?

Brendan: Insanity.

Peter: Where can listeners connect with you?

Brendan: Two ways. First, the YouTube channel — search MasterTalk, one word, and you’ll have access to hundreds of free videos. Second, I do a free live workshop on communication every two weeks over Zoom. Register at rockstarcommunicator.com.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Public Speaking with Peter George. Are you ready to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then visit petergeorgepublicspeaking.com and let’s make it happen. I’ll see you next time.