Page 135 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

because, although I have thought, ‘He’s a really nice guy,’ there
have been a few too many jokes.

engaging your audience

You don’t have to be a Barack Obama of oratory. Simply imagine
you are giving a one-man or one-woman show, and engage

your audience in the conversation. Draw them into what you
are saying by explaining the value you have brought to other
companies through specific achievements, but tell them as
stories, not as a series of boasts.
Even though you have done a lot of detailed research – and

as I’ve said, I really don’t mind if you refer to your notes in the
interview – if you can speak naturally from that information, so
much the better. When I give a speech now, I try if at all possible

never to use notes or cards. Although I will have read my notes
beforehand, I try to think through and position the speech in
my head, not on paper. When I arrive onstage, I will follow the
structure in my head, using key words to focus on. The delivery
is all-important: content which scores 6 out of 10 and delivery

which scores 9 works a lot better than 9 for content and 6 for
delivery.
I had to learn this the hard way. When I was first invited to

give a speech, I had written everything down. I stood up and
read o≠ my cards.
Later I asked somebody I knew in the audience, ‘What did you
think?’

123 performance