Listening is Key - and why this isn't just a public speaking course

You can be a great public speaker a fine all writer.

You can have tremendous charisma.

And guess what.

Still be a lousy communicator your communication skills can be poor because if one thing you’re not listening this is a communication skills class.

Of course I’ll cover a lot of fundamentals and advanced steps for public speaking and PowerPoint and presentation skills but so much of being a great communicator goes deeper than that.

And so many communication opportunities in life.

It’s about listening.

The best communicators in the world are often the best listeners.

People who are really great at making the one on one sale the best sales pitch.

Sometimes the best politicians who get the votes.

It’s because they are the best at listening.

Now later on in this course there’s an entire section on listening skills to really help you build the listening skills.

But it’s something I want you to think about right now.

It really applies to every single type of communication whether you’re asking for a job or raise a budget to be approved.

You need to listen to what other people say.

I’ve been in countless pitch meetings with a client where PR firms were pitching them for their business and the ones that lost talk the most.

They had the most slides up.

They stood up and gave the most formal presentations the PR firms that won they ask questions.

They sat back and they listened and then they reacted quite often with another question.

So this applies to personal communications with friends and families colleagues bosses rather than just pushing out all your preordained ideas.

You can’t really listen and great communication isn’t something you just created working until midnight on a PowerPoint three weeks ago.

You’re there present with the person or with the group you’re communicating with you’re constantly listening recalibrating and adjusting and believe it or not.

This even applies to public speakers the best speakers in the world.

Pause they’re looking for responses from their audience.

Sometimes it’s just a nod.

It might be a look of confusion.

That’s a type of listening.

If you are the speaker so we’re going to be covering more on listening in this course.

Just realize so much communication has nothing to do with your lips moving or even your eye contact.

It’s about really hearing the messages coming out from other people so we can respond to it.

Let them know we’ve heard them react to it and deal with their concerns ideally before we deal with our own concerns.