Your Talk DNA: Leaving Your Footprints in Your Speech

Presenter: Eilidh Milnes

Reviewed by Agnes Oon

Eilidh Milnes (pronounced Ay-lee) award winning author and confidence coach, also known as Captain Positive, stopped over in Singapore on her way to meet her husband in Brisbane. She was on a promotional tour and we were very fortunate to have her share with us ‘How to leave our DNA and Footprint in our talks’.

Eilidh started with an engaging story that had us giggling almost immediately.  Then she covered the following interesting points:

1. Tell your story. Create and personalise your own story so that the audience wants to go on the journey of your talk with you. `
2. Plan your talk. Write out your talk; don’t present off the top of your head. If you know your material and make a mistake, it does not matter. Just move on.
3. Inspire your audience. Make your objective to ensure the audience feels they can be the hero today. Everyone has a hero trying to get out.
4. Use props. Make it funny and get audience participation that will help people to remember you.
5. Encourage yourself. Give yourself High-5s; every morning give yourself a positive Mirror Talk. Encourage yourself to do your best. 
6. Charge at it. Don’t stand in the background thinking “What if?” Be bold and be brave. Show your humanity, open up and people may actually like you. Be yourself!
7. Put credibility in your slides. Don’t think you can do everything yourself. Outsource your slides if necessary.
8. Deal with difficult people. Don’t let people upset you. Focus on those that support you and are truly with you.
9. Be a people magnet. Be more interested in others and less interested in yourself. No matter how experienced you are, there are still things to learn from others.
10. Stop. Reflect on the ‘one thing’ that is stopping you from going forward. Stop that ‘one thing’ and do something different. You will be amazed at what could happen.

Eilidh concluded her presentation with her ‘signature piece’, which she encouraged us to do as well. It was an intriguing, fun and memorable exercise. Eilidh indeed practices what she preaches, making her presentations easy to understand and her storytelling skills captivating.