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When I give presentations or speeches to my staff I can see that they’re forcing themselves to listen or pretend to be engaged. How can I make my speeches more memorable and interesting?

There are many ways to engage your audience. You remind me of a restaurant manager who gave the same speech about increasing sales and improving customer service to his staff everyday. He always ended his speech with “Remember, the customer is always right”. He never listened to his staff. He never asked them for any feedback. He never changed his technique. Do you know which restaurant I’m talking about? Well, I can’t remember. They shut down. Communicating with staff or any kind of public speaking whether to motivate or to inform depends on key ingredients. Start by telling stories. You can see how the restaurant story can get your attention. Stories engage us and make the point more memorable.

When was the last time you used any props? Imagine coming to the meeting with a ‘fake’ sword, shield or a shotgun (again, ‘fake’) and looking at your sales team and say, “Make no mistake, we are at war. Our competition wants to kill us, but we have something new for them! Here’s the plan…” Not only your employees won’t forget this day, they will be fired up for weeks. Using an analogy can make the message sink deeper. Analogies are like great jokes from a comedy movie; they make you laugh so much that you don’t forget them.

Interacting with your team by sharing the problem and have them carry the discussion while you facilitate the meeting can lead to more engagement. You can also try changing the meeting place. If you’re addressing a warehousing problem, go to the warehouse and let them see how bad it is. One more thing, restate your main point at the end of your speech with a strong short liner for maximum impact…and that’s just my two cents.

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