5 Public Speaking Techniques from Tony Robbins

A journey that started in the 70s is still going onto this day.

Tony Robbins wasn’t just a fad that came and went.

He remained.

There were plenty of people within the self-improvement community that came and went.

They made a quick buck and dipped.

Tony is different.

He’s mission driven.

How has he captivated the audience for so many years?

In this blog, I’m going to share a couple of insights that make Tony Robbins special.

You can use these techniques to become a better public speaker.

Technique #1: What Happens Before the Speech?

Prior to talking to the audience, Tony does a bunch of exercises to loosen up.

Whenever someone sees the speaker is nervous, they’ll say something ambiguous like:

‘It’s not a big deal. Just loosen up!’

They say the command in a spiritual sort of way.

While Tony takes the phrase “loosen up”, literally.

He does exercises before a speech that help him loosen up.

He stretches his body, shakes his legs, and stretches his jaw.

You should have a physical version of “loosening up.”

Stretch, let your body expand, and smile.

I like smiling the most.

When I hold a smile for a long time, it allows me to feel positive.

Another exercise to loosen up is to yell at the top of your lungs behind the scenes.

When you yell, you shatter limited brain waves and feel bold on stage.

Find a physical routine that allows you to loosen up.

Technique #2: Staying on Message

It’s hard to build a conviction for your message when you keep straying from your message.

If you study Tony’s career, you’ll see that he has been saying the same thing in different ways for ages.

He talks about self-improvement, NLP, and how to rewire yourself.

By focusing on the same core message, he has built a philosophy.

Once he built a philosophy, it became easier to solve other problems!

Throughout his career, he has gone beyond self-improvement alone to also talk about relationships, finances, and networking skills.

What is your core message?

Do you stand for anything?

With the ArmaniTalks brand, the core message is that you can use a few soft skills to radically improve your confidence.

Every post, video, and tweet within the ArmaniTalks brand discusses a few core soft skills like public speaking, storytelling, creativity etc.

What’s your core message?

Avoid switching too much.

Technique #3: Get Your Fingers Involved

This may seem like strange advice but stay with me:

• Get your fingers involved.

When you’re on stage, you don’t want to point with your index finger too much.

It’s an aggressive body language move that leaves a poor taste in the audience’s mouth.

A pointed index finger resembles a knife.

You want open palms.

Initially, when you open up your palms, you will be stiff.

What will happen is that your thumbs will stick out very sharply.

This is another sharp move that does not look pleasing to the eyes.

Bend your thumbs and loosen up your palms.

The more speeches you give, the more animated your palms will become.

They will be gentle, and you will have full control of them.

You know you have built comfort in your speech when your FINGERS are engaged.

Not just the palms, but the fingers within the palms.

A public speaking hack is to get your fingers involved early.

During your practice sessions, get your fingers to match the theme of your talk.

When you do this, you physically feel like you have a strong grasp of your talk.

When your fingers aren’t involved, it feels like the talk is slipping away from you.

Technique #4: Stomach Controversy

Tony Robbins has become the poster boy for the Western Guru movement.

Being a poster boy comes with the good and the bad.

The good is that some self-improvement is better than no self-improvement.

The bad is that the teachers are viewed as making money from other people’s pain.

Tony is a rich man.

Almost a billionaire.

He owns the self-improvement industry.

When you have been relevant for many years, you won’t always be loved.

There will be movements that are built to take you down.

You can be building your reputation for years to have your reputation destroyed by 1 funny well thought out YouTube video.

Understand this.

Accept this.

The more you accept that you will have haters, the more your public speaking message will get stronger.

You get scared on stage when you believe the audience has the power to take you down.

You get bold on stage when you know the world can’t take you down.

Technique #5: Become the Anti-Tony Robbins

This technique is not as much about Tony Robbins as it is about you.

Be the Anti-Tony Robbins.

When I think of Tony, I think of:

• Loud.
• Energetic.
• Super passionate.
• Jumping up and down.

I know for a fact that a lot of public speakers can NEVER be like that.

They could physically adopt those mannerisms if they wanted to, however, it would not match their brand.

Study Tony Robbins and do the exact opposite.

You’ll cultivate a public speaking voice by seeing what you don’t want.

Final Tip: Do Consultations on Stage

Tony’s career started with the infamous fire walk.

His seminar attendees were encouraged to do a fire walk to show that they had overcome their limiting beliefs.

The fire walk was a bold experiment that forced people to apply Tony’s concepts.

On stage, Tony cured people’s limiting beliefs with his NLP strategies.

It’s one thing to say you know NLP.

It’s another thing to execute NLP on stage.

If you are a public speaker with a consulting practice, every now and then, you want to give a free consultation on stage.

Make the subject real for the audience.

Allow them to understand what you do.

Tony is great at interacting with the audience and bringing them into his world.

When he gives free consultations on stage, he gives the audience something to talk about.

For more insights into public speaking, check out the Speaking Wizard eBook

– ArmaniTalks