In this episode, we talk about negotiations and presenting, nonverbal communication, Keld’s 24 published books, Keynote presentations, and gaining the audience’s trust.

According to Keld, you can learn more by writing a book sometimes than reading one. He shares that he wrote them while traveling across the world, sitting in airports or planes. Keld says that his mission is to try and change the mindset of how we communicate, collaborate, and negotiate. He bases his books on his studies and surveys.

Nowadays, negotiation is considered one of the top 5 desired skills to have in business. There are many similarities between it and presenting. Whether for business people or in politics, those skills are equally essential.

In Keld’s words, we are negotiating in around 80% of our daily communication. A good negotiator understands how to present themselves, to read the audience, and gain its trust.

In the context of a presentation, some things tell you that this person is trustworthy. Some of them are body language, the way of dressing, the way a person answers questions.

Keld emphasizes that meeting your flaws, being yourself, and sharing your story genuinely are the best thing for building trust. He says that people would always appreciate your natural self the most.

Building trust online is, without any doubt, harder. You do not have the chance to feel your audience and get the energy in the room. We are not used to this new virtual way of communication yet and more time must pass for us to build the stamina for it.

Beyond trust, interacting with the audience is the next most important thing on the list. You can stimulate them with small actions, like reaching out to someone by name, which is a simple trick all speakers use. ”It is so essential,” Keld says. The audience feels included and more connected.

According to a study done by UCLA, the role of nonverbal communication is as big as 93% of all communication. We always interpret body language unconsciously. Some of the main reasons you feel like you can trust somebody are their tone of voice and body language.

In a meeting or when presenting, we have a limitation about how many things we can think about at a given time. We have to prioritize and focus on different things at different times. We can, for example, ask the audience some questions, and while they answer we can pay attention to their body language or something else.

In person, we can focus on their reaction, but virtually, we have no idea. “You are telling a joke and you don’t have a reaction coming back,” Keld says. You have no way of knowing if engagement is lacking or not.

Keld points out that audience feedback is different in different cultures. Some ask questions, and some are silent because they trust you and do not question your authority and expertise.

He says that eye contact is essential everywhere. The speaker involving the audience is also essential, and if you are telling funny stories, having people smiling or laughing is an obvious cue.

Keld shares with us his approach to each audience. He suggests doing a quick search on Google about the culture that the audience will be consisted of. It improves your delivery and ability to read the audience’s reactions a lot.

You can connect with Keld Jensen on his LinkedIn or website. His books are available here. You can also check out his YouTube and online courses.