The subject of public speaking has been getting a lot of press lately – luckily for those who are in learning mode at the moment – following the recent publication of a book, Talk like TED: the 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds, by Carmine Gallo, an American former journalist and news anchor.
Even before Gallo appeared on the scene, there have always been some people who seem to have a natural flair for addressing audiences. In the world of offshore financial services, one of them is Paul Schrijver, senior international specialist at Skandia International, whose talks have been known to be followed by applause.
Schrijver is from the Netherlands originally, although he has been UK resident since 1981. It is mainly here that he has honed his public skills over the last 24 years, while working in the UK life insurance sector, beginning with talks to small groups, primarily in the north of England. He says his largest audience thus far was 150 people in Glasgow which he remembers well as he was being filmed for a new training video for the Skandia consultants, so knew it had to be perfect or he’d never live it down.
Schrijver says he’s familiar with the nine “public speaking secrets” described by Gallo in his book, and that he “agrees with the bulk of them, if not all nine…seven at least”. And he has a few of his own ideas as well.
One of the TED “secrets” he agrees with fully, Schrijver says, is “passion”.
“That is so true,” he says. “You have to have a total conviction about what you’re talking about."
Click here to read Paul Schrijver’s other rules and tips for public speaking…
