I learned the “Magic Formula” from Dale Carnegie. It involves three parts: an incident, an action and a benefit. Whether your presentation is two minutes long or an hour, the Magic Formula provides a reliable structure and clarifies the action we encourage the audience to take. Here’s how it works.

Incident

When we use the Magic Formula, it’s important to begin the presentation with specific evidence. Facts or statistics can be a good place to start, but an incident or personal example is usually the most powerful. In this post, for instance, I began with a brief story for the training session I facilitated. Resist the urge to give a detailed back story. This can be harder than it sounds. In order to get our story straight, we’re tempted to provide all kinds of information that is not quite necessary in order to set the stage. By this time, if the audience isn’t asleep, they’ve usually stopped caring by now! Begin in the present. “There I was…” After that, it’s fine to go back and provide relevant details and context. From there, make the necessary transition to the main points of your presentation.

Action

If you don’t necessarily want your audience to take a certain action as a result of your presentation, then the Magic Formula won’t be of much use. But if you do, make sure you identify the desired action clearly before you give your presentation and then deliver it at the end. As a rule of thumb, the shorter the action, the more likely your audience will recall it. It could be as simple as, “I encourage you to get enough sleep each night,” or “I challenge you to introduce yourself to new colleagues on their first day.” Be enthusiastic and confident. Don’t say you “think” they should do an action, or that you’d “like them to consider” the action. Simply encourage or challenge them and put the ball in their court.

Benefit

Once you’ve encouraged your audience to take a specific action, follow it up with the benefit to them. Base it off of your evidence or personal incident. Like the action, it should be short and sweet. Resist the urge to include every benefit you can think of. Share the most important one. For instance, if your action is “Use people’s names when you speak with them,” follow it up with a benefit, such as, “… and you will build stronger rapport with them.” Both the action and the benefit should take about five seconds each. Use them to close your presentation.

So, with all of that being said… I encourage you to use the Magic Formula in your presentations. You will influence your audience to follow through on your ideas.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve had a blast in my pursuit to become a competent public speaker.  However, if I hadn’t practiced, I wouldn’t have been nearly as effective under pressure.  That’s why I’ve invested in programs like Toastmasters and Dale Carnegie.

If you’d like to learn how to stress test your speaking skills, you can take a look at the full article here.

As fun as the article was to write, I left out one crucial point.  Any guesses what it is?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.

Right then and there I promised myself I would become a better public speaker.

Several years and many speeches later, I’ve had a blast (nearly) every time I’ve been in front of a crowd with something to say.  In fact, I’d like to sell you on joining me as a fellow public speaker by sharing six benefits of public speaking here below.

Your cause will be represented

If you take the initiative to speak, it means your ideas are the ones that will get listened to as opposed to the ones that are not being represented.  This will also make you more influential as an advocate.

It will boost your confidence

Overcoming anxiety of speaking in front of others is a huge accomplishment.  The fear of public speaking is reportedly higher than death for many people.  It’s difficult to doubt yourself when you know you can deliver speeches in public.  And believe it or not, the confidence flows over into other areas of life as well.

It will cause your ideas to stick

Hopefully your ideas will stick with your audience, but more importantly, they will stick with you.  Once you speak about a new idea, it’s amazing how you own it in a way you never did before.

You’ll get to “feel the power”

Are you a control freak?  Drama queen?  In either case, it can be a huge rush to see an audience hanging on your every word until you deliver your killer lines!

It will help build your leadership platform

When you speak, others will start to see you as an expert.  This makes them more likely to seek you out for input, follow you on your social networks, and perhaps invite – and pay – you to speak again.

You’ll have fun

All in all, public speaking is hard work, but it’s also a blast!  It can be a little scary at times, but there’s nothing like playing off the energy of an audience, experimenting with new techniques, and sharing great ideas that help others win.

So what should you do if you’d like to give public speaking a shot, but don’t know where to start?  Here’s what I did, and I guarantee each resource will make a remarkable difference for you, starting immediately:

Join a local Toastmasters club

You can search for a club on the Toastmasters website.  Depending on where you live, there could be as many as 100 clubs in your vicinity.  This is a great place to get experience in an extremely low pressure environment giving speeches that last an average of 5-7 minutes on literally any topic of your choosing.  The cost of club dues are usually very minimal, maybe $50 per six months.

Take a Dale Carnegie course

I also recommend the hundred year-old Effective Communications & Human Relations course.  Not only will you get to practice giving many short 2-4 minute speeches, you’ll also learn all the principles from my all-time favorite leadership book: Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People.  The cost of this course is usually in the $1,700 – 2,000 range, but well worth it, especially if you have access to company training funds.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.