Gone Walkabout

I have a number of friends from Australia.  I have also had the good fortune to visit that great country. If you know any Australians or have heard them speak, you will know that they pepper their sentences with wonderfully unique expressions such as “G’Day, Mate” or “She’ll be right” or the ever popular “Ripper”.  You can brush up on your Australian here.

I was thinking that one Aussie expression has particular relevance for public speakers: “walkabout”.

A walkabout is a kind of rite of passage in which male Australian Aborigines undergo a journey during adolescence and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months.  The expression has also been used to refer to a desire to travel without an itinerary or fixed destination.  It is also refers to things that have gone missing as in: “Have you seen my pen?  It’s gone walkabout.”

As speakers, we should “go walkabout” whenever the opportunity presents itself.  No, I don’t mean that we should go missing when it is our turn to speak.  I mean that we should use the stage and walk around when we give a presentation.  Doing so enables us to have maximum contact with our audiences; it frees us from being anchored to a lectern and allows us to use the speaking area to maximum effect.  It makes us more engaging speakers.

Have a look at this photograph:

Moving on the stage

It is a great example of a speaker breaking away from the lectern.  The speaking area is fairly large and the speaker is using it.  Notice how he opens himself to the audience.  They can see his entire body, most of which the lectern would otherwise hide.  He is able to use his arm to make a sweeping gesture.  (In fact, it is too bad that he did not have a lapel microphone; having a handheld one greatly limits his range of motion.)  He is interacting with the audience.

Keep in mind that a speaker should exercise judgment about how much walking, if any, to do.  Sometimes the speaking area is just not conducive to walking around; sometimes the solemnity of the occasion is such that it is better to stay put behind the lectern.  That is fine.  Using a lectern can be completely appropriate.

However, for those times when it is both possible and appropriate to do so, you should definitely go walkabout.  Your audiences will appreciate it.  And if there are any Aussies listening, they might just come up to you afterwards and say, “Strewth, Mate, that was a bonzer talk!  A real corker!  Good on ya!”

Photo courtesy of Pinar Özger

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John delivered a keynote address about the importance of public speaking to 80 senior members of Gore’s Medical Device Europe team at an important sales event. He was informative, engaging and inspirational. Everyone was motivated to improve their public speaking skills. Following his keynote, John has led public speaking workshops for Gore in Barcelona and Munich. He is an outstanding speaker who thinks carefully about the needs of his audience well before he steps on stage.

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John gave the opening keynote on the second day of our unit’s recent offsite in Geneva, addressing an audience of 100+ attendees with a wealth of tips and techniques to deliver powerful, memorable presentations. I applied some of these techniques the very next week in an internal presentation, and I’ve been asked to give that presentation again to senior management, which has NEVER happened before. John is one of the greatest speakers I know and I can recommend his services without reservation.

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I was expecting a few speaking tips and tricks and a few fun exercises, but you went above and beyond – and sideways. You taught me to stand tall. You taught me to anchor myself. You taught me to breathe. You taught me to open up. You taught me to look people in the eye. You taught me to tell the truth. You taught me to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I got more than I bargained for in the best possible way.

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HR Specialist, World Health Organization

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