What can young speakers teach us?

Blog by Rutger Mollee

Leadership. Books are being written about it. From Covey's "7 habits" to "Who nicked my cheese?" Funnily enough, it's almost never about your talent as a speaker. While a speech or presentation is an excellent way to put yourself on the map.

In Dutch education, there used to be little room for this. How many speaking engagements did you do in elementary school, and in high school? Fortunately, more and more. Book turns, newspaper turns & speaking engagements: kids practice a lot and get to have fun with it. And we see that reflected.

Recently, I was day chairman at the 2015 Young Captain Award. There, I noticed once again that young speakers often give more inspiring presentations than older leaders. What can we learn from them?

1.Dare to show your vulnerability
A golden rule in our profession is that the more nakedly a speaker dares to give of himself, the more the audience can love him or her. Take this talk by Amy Purdy, at ¹⁹ she lost both her legs and today.....is a snowboarding pro. In this talk, Amy takes us through deep valleys and great heights.

2.Be open-minded
To inspire your audience, you have to have original ideas. You won't get those if you lock yourself away in an ivory tower. Go out into the (digital) world, discover, learn and communicate about it. Like Jaimi Jongejan, a 15-year-old Vlogger who calls on older viewers to be curious about Vlogging, Social Media and the opportunities of the Internet.

.Don't take yourself too seriously
Through humor, your story comes across better. You get right into the realm of emotions, and you gain sympathy. And you also strengthen the bond between the people in the audience, because they have laughed together. Moreover, humor indicates that your presentation will not be too heavy. Often quite a relief for your audience! An example is this witty skit by Martijn Koning.

Speaking in Public should be included in all books and learning courses on leadership. Verbal mastery is the lever with which you can put your other talents in the shop window. Important prerequisites are positive guidance and trust. There is no greater gift for a child than to be able to speak confidently.

Speakers are the future!

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