05. Colin Williams on How to be Memorable and Ensure Your Audience Can Listen - a podcast by Presentation Boss

For episode five of the Presentation Boss Podcast, Kate and Thomas are having a conversation with a special guest. Three on the show, so it must be a tripodcast, right? We got a friend of ours, Colin Williams to sit down and have a chat to us about his philosophy in two key areas of speaking.

The first is all about how to ensure your audience has the mental real estate to listen to and absorb what it is you have to say. And the good news is, it's fun to do. He then discusses how to make yourself stand out from every other 'speaker' in the world, how to be memorable and authentic to yourself. Plus, he plays the guitar for us!

Who is Colin Williams? Colin makes his living operating in the field of workplace training, but that is not who he is. He is a writer, poet, musician and filmmaker with a lifelong passion for communication. His entry into the public speaking sphere occurred six years ago when he decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy. He worked hard at the craft and enjoyed every minute, but he wanted more. Due to his enthusiasm and intense dedication to the art of oratory, he soon became a highly regarded, compelling and inspiring speaker. Colin has lived an interesting and eventful life and uses his stories, insights and humour to create speeches that engage, entertain and influence audiences. When asked who he is, Colin answers 'I am a storyteller'.

• How we met Colin through his presentation 'Purging and The Blue Note'

• Exactly when the ability to communicate well is an important skill

• What purging is and why it's a powerful tool.

• What makes memorable teachers so memorable

• How to create space in your audiences mind to absorb your message

• Why humour can make you audience more receptive to serious information

• How you can use contrast from humour to serious subject

• What is a Blue Note

• How to find what makes you stand out from the crowd

• Where to find your very own Blue Note

• Why a guitar makes even an astronaut unique among his peers

• Kate and Thomas' personal blue notes

• What Colin believes will make you a great speaker

• Sir Ken Robinson TEDTalk 'Do Schools Kill Creativity': https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

• Chris Hadfield Speech Breakdown on this podcast: https://presentationboss.com.au/podcast/e02/

• Email Colin at: colmwilliams@hotmail.com

• The Presentation Boss Podcast: https://presentationboss.com.au/podcast/

• Kate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-norris/

• Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-krafft/

• Presentation Boss on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentationboss/

• Presentation Boss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presentation-boss

• "I'm going to give this a go, but if I'm gonna give it a go, I'm gonna give it a proper go"

• "The ability to communicate.. is not important unless you want to have your opinions heard, unless you want to go to your grave with a great idea, unless you've got nothing to say"

• "When people have a good laugh, they forget all their worries"

• "For the first 17 minutes of a 20 minute talk, I just did stand up.. getting them in the right frame of mind for a 3 minute talk"

• "They're laughing and then you hit them with something serious and it's all the more serious for the fact they've just been laughing"

• "It's not about you getting the message out, it's about them getting the message in"

• "There are two kinds of music in the world; the blues and zippity-doo-da"

• "Look for something that makes you not the generic person who stands up, with a PowerPoint presentation and just talks"

• "The audience is sat there expecting to be bored, and you're not going to let them"