How To Be An Authentic Speaker

Of all the aspects you bring as a speaker – informally at a status meeting, formally as a conference presenter – one attribute always comes out ahead, even though it can be one of the most difficult things to attain: being authentic.

Sometimes, these attributes are described as engaging, being relevant, motivating, natural, genuine or enthusiastic. But underlying all of these is the trait of authenticity.

These other aspects are easier to define – and teach – because they’re specific.

Authenticity is different because it begins with something intrinsic: something inside the speaker.

No matter how good the coach or mentor, the speaker is the only one who can make this attribute come alive. Along with charisma – another unteachable attribute (although there are books that say otherwise) – the element of authenticity intrigues me because I believe it’s the ultimate goal of the best speakers. They sell their ideas with such ease. But how do you teach a person to be “real” or “genuine”?

It’s an idea I’ve been obsessed, to the point that I’ve gone through piles of research and interviewed good speakers to try and define “authenticity,” whether demonstrated in an auditorium, across a boardroom table, through a Zoom call, or over a cup of coffee.

Here’s the five things I’ve learnt.

You must be you.
You must be you … every single time.
You take responsibility for what you say.
You make things simple.
You are passionate.

Let’s discuss each one in more depth.

1. You must be you.

It begins with utterly knowing yourself. If you don’t know who you are, what you stand for, how can you be authentic to the audience?

There’s a truth to being you. It’s more than knowing your topic, having credibility, being experienced with wisdom or age – although they all help.

It requires self-examination, but not done to be egotistical. It’s to have a crystal-clear perception of yourself. That’s why being filmed in training is so vital to some people. You must know how you come across before you can be authentic.

Once you do see yourself, you can make some key decisions about whether some aspects should be kept (you have excellent eye contact for example) and other aspects to get adjust (your gestures are vauge, for example.)

2. You must be you ... every single time.

Once you know yourself, it’s about repetition and consistency of your personality, behaviours, beliefs, ideals, values.

My grandmother used to say “You have to know what you know.” She wouldn’t have called it this, but she was talking about continuous learning. But it also applies to being authentic because the authentic speaker knows what they know about themselves, both their strengths and weaknesses.

This consistent character is what people want. No one wants to go to work every day and their first task is to figure out which of your personalities is in charge today.

It’s also a demonstration syncing what the speaker says and believes and how they behave. The audience sees the difference. It’s captured perfectly in “Talk the talk, walk the walk.”

I recently saw the reverse of this. A senior leader was watching a video of their presentation. Afterward they said, “I wasn’t stepping into my Performance Mode.” I asked what they meant. To him, he said stepping in front of a crowd was like an actor off-stage as one person, but the moment they hit the stage lights, they turned into someone else.

This is the definition of a façade. I had two questions for them:

Why are there two different people?
Which one are we supposed to believe?

The second question is moot.

Try this instead. Be one genuine person. Every time. It’s so much easier.

3. You take responsibility for what you say.

As I said, there’s a truth and believability behind being authentic.

In other words, whatever you say requires you to stand behind it, even if it’s unpopular. (That said, it may be unpopular, but that doesn’t mean it should be vicious, destructive or selfish.)

My former CEO at MasterCard once said in a board meeting that he wanted his senior team to be pro-active and concise. He’s already given “the ultimate endorsement” (they were asked to be part of senior leadership), but the next step had two actions:

Tell us what you think and why, and
Be quick about it

Over and over, I watched the best executives state a definitive opinion, recommendation or hypothesis. Their rationale and evidence is clear, explicit and appropriate. They choose words which sound natural coming out of their mouth. In short, they knew what they were talking about. As a whole package, it’s credible, honest, relevant and – as a whole – respectful to the audience.

Less authentic presenters gave status reports or executive summaries. They spoke about the past. They only talked about numbers.

One of the most influential people in my life (another colleague at MasterCard, then my client at ANZ Bank) uses to say: “Don’t tell me what the number is, tell me what the number means.”

Tell the audience what the organisation should be doing in the future. Make it specific, clear and actionable. It’s OK to be unpopular but you must be constructive. (To rip something apart without offering positive advice is a good definition of a jack-ass.)

Speak transparently and honestly. Aavoid speaking in overused buzzwords. Believe in what you say, and take responsibility for saying it.

That’s a lot to do, but then again, that’s what good leaders do.

4. You make things simple.

Think of the smartest person you’ve ever met. A university professor. A business mentor. Mine was my Nana Eklund.

Smart people make complexity simple for others to understand.

(Notice I did not say ‘simplistic.’)

Being authentic isn’t focusing on minutiae. Or adding bullshit. They don’t take simplicity and make it complex.

Authenticity is the audience sensing the presenter knows their subject matter to well, they can make any topic relevant. There’s a comfort in knowing this person is in full command of their knowledge and experience, even if the past may have not been successful. The presenter accepts the past, learnt from it, moved on and is focused on the future.

Here’s something else about simplicity: it’s easier to listen to and remember.

5. You are passionate.

You’re the only person who will make your topic interesting.

PowerPoint or Keynote might look attractive and dazzle the eye on the stage or page, but people aren’t persuaded to change their behaviour based on what they read or see.

One of my favourite lines, from another favourite mentor: “If you need PowerPoint to give you a personality, we have a much bigger problem at hand.”

Your words – delivered by you, in ways which engage the audience through body technique, eye contact, voice and gestures – are what change people’s attitude, opinion and behaviour. Authentic people work at motivating and exciting their audiences, and the number one way to do this is to talk about what’s important to the audience – not talk about themselves.

Lots of people think they’re ready to present their recommendations or POVs because they wrote their slides. That is absolutely not true. You need to translate what a slide says to what the audience needs to know, especially if we’re watching the speaker read their own slides. Their credibility is ruined, and their authenticity disappears.