Myles Munroe is one heck of a terrific  speaker. 

Once you get past the way he promotes his bestsellers, the fact that his diminutive height  does  not quite equate with  his giant sized reputation, and the fact that  if you happen to be an  atheist his God-centered talk could have you searching for the  closest exit signs. Get past all that and you realise that  Munroe has what it takes to keep an audience in two positions: mesmerised in their chairs or on their feet applauding.

I was neither. 

When I saw him at the C.A.R.A.I.F.A conference in Tobago this week where he was the featured speaker,  I was determined to remain very focused on his technique. What was it that causes the Bahamian born motivational speaker to pack large  convention halls around the world and keep folks wanting more?  I think its two things:

• Internal energy
• The wisdom of the crowd

Internal energy takes many forms but it is really centered deep inside the speaker. At the conference it started when Munroe was introduced. He trotted up to the stage,  he didn’t walk. He turned to the audience with a oversized, welcoming smile and began with  a story  of personal struggle and success. In the first minute, he fulfilled the  great expectations of the crowd. His honest, human story about his family, why he  came and what he had been up to  had the audience sufficiently engaged.  

This is no mean feat considering that most audiences make judgements about their speaker in the first 30 seconds after their introduction. If they are not convinced then they increasingly begin to lose interest in what is being said every half minute after that. The key factor is to get your internal energy in sync from the get go.

The wisdom of the crowd is an altogether different force. An audience gets listless. Their attention waxes and wanes. They get bored. Mostly when a presenter gets in front of an audience that audience  wants something. That’s natural. Why else should they even consider giving up their time? The trick is in knowing  that no matter what the presentation: a talk on regulation of the financial industry, a conversation about government and integrity, a how-to dialogue about landscaping, an audience wants to be inspired.  Munroe gets this. In Tobago he was like a fisherman. Giving bait with words. Feeling the waters. Hooking the audience. Reeling them in. 

I  once read that every great presenter “earns the respect of the audience through his/her appearance, reputation, posture, voice, slides, introduction”. 

If a speaker  doesn't get that then it is best to go do something else. Throw away the invitation. Don’t show up. Don’t hide behind a power point. Don’t read bullet points word for word. Don't waste your time (or the audience’s.) 

I think the presenter who gets his audience the most, who syncs an internal energy to inpsire the crowd, like Munroe, wins.