I joined it with a group of National Speaker Association members in a brainstorming session to determine desirable characteristics.
Authenticity was on the list.
This one puzzles me. It’s like asking “How can I be me better?”
Authenticity is WYSIWYG – What you see is what you get.
A problem might be that what people see is NOT what they want, so the speaker tries to be something they are not. Thus, authenticity is lost.
Professional speakers should strive to be better at who they are, not who they aren’t.
Related: Improving your confidence
It might be because of age, but I have grown to become more frumpy. And for some reason I can pull off frumpy when I speak because it’s who I am. I don’t try to be Mary Poppins happy. I just be me, remembering that lots of people love Grumpy, too!
You can also hear emotion in my voice. I don’t manipulate my voice to express emotion, rather my emotions overflow into my voice. The first would be me trying to be something, the second is me on display = authenticity.
Authenticity is being the best you that you can be and letting people listen and watch.
When you have confidence in yourself and your message this is easily done.
The ‘when all is fails, shout louder’ doesn’t work when you want to be authentic.
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