Have you ever witnessed someone else succeeding at something and thought to yourself, “I could do that?” Well, that’s the very same thought that entered Ryan Avery’s mind when he first saw a YouTube video of someone delivering the winning talk at the World Championships for public speaking.
At the age of 25, just 6 months after viewing that video, Ryan Avery became the youngest World Champion of Public Speaking in history; competing against more than 30,000 people from 116 countries to claim the 2012 World Championship title. Needless to say, his life hasn’t been the same since.
And if you’re wondering if the topic of public speaking sounds familiar, you’re right. It takes center stage for the second week in a row, and that’s no accident. Ryan has recently coauthored the book Speaker, Leader, Champion: Succeed at Work Through the Power of Public Speaking, featuring the prize-winning speeches of Toastmasters World Champions.
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With his book, we dig a little deeper into the idea that, at the heart of it, public speaking boils down to effectively communicating your ideas, whether during a public talk, to colleagues at work, your spouse or kids at home, or wherever it is you need to connect and persuade. In other words, everywhere!
In this episode, Ryan details these key communications concepts:
- A Better Speaker = A Stronger Leader
- Keep your message simple and resist over-complication
- Never tell a joke, instead, share a failure
- Don’t just retell your story but relive your story for your audience
- Don’t be afraid to pause…and remember to stay in ‘character’ while the audience responds
- And plenty more!
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Blog Post Jeff Mentioned
Jeff mentioned the Prezi.com blog post The 5 Metrics You Need to Know to Give a Great Presentation
More on Speaker | Leader | Champion
Ryan Avery Resources
Visit Ryan’s website for more on his book
Ryan is the co-founder of Avery Today, Inc., and is managing partner at How to Be a Speaker, LLC.
Books and Authors Ryan Recommends
Ryan is loving the book From A Name to A Number: A Holocaust Survivor’s Autobiography
He also regards highly the work of Stephen R. Covey, particularly the bestselling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Other Authors Referenced
Connecting with Ryan
If you’d like to connect or network with Ryan, or let him know your thoughts on today’s episode, consider sending him a tweet. You can reach out to him via @AveryToday on Twitter.
Click to tweet: “A better public speaker = a stronger leader.” @AveryToday via the Read to Lead Podcast with @THEjeffbrown. https://readtoleadpodcast.com/035
Other Public Speaking-Related RTLP Episodes
In episode #013 we welcomed Lisa B. Marshall and chatted about her book Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation (Quick & Dirty Tips).
In episode #016, I had the distinct pleasure of inviting Ken Davis to the podcast. We dug into his latest book Secrets of Dynamic Communications: Prepare with Focus, Deliver with Clarity, Speak with Power
Last week, in episode #034, we welcomed Carmine Gallo he shared the 9 secrets of the world’s top minds from his new book Talk Like TED
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Jeff, I really enjoyed the Ryan Avery interview. This is a young man with a big future ahead of him. The podcast keeps getting better sir- well done.
Thank you so much Jack. It has been a blast thus far. I really appreciate your consistent feedback.