Bospar’s Brett Larson On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Don’t memorize things. Be knowledgeable about the subject, but don’t try to memorize everything you want to say. If there’s something you want to have scripted, see if you can get a prompter. Otherwise, remember that you are up on that stage for a reason and have something to share with the audience they may not know. Be confident in that!

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Brett Larson.

Brett is a New York Emmy® Award-winning multimedia journalist with decades of experience producing technology and consumer news and content for major networks including CNN and Fox. Brett’s expertise includes writing compelling stories, on-air talent/live reporting, and interfacing with public relations professionals to tell the most relevant, timely, and accurate stories.
Brett has spearheaded innovation in several newsrooms by onboarding the latest automation technology that greatly improved efficiency across production workflows.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

My mother has joked that I came out of the womb talking and growing up the youngest of three siblings, I certainly learned how to ensure my voice was heard. That skill, for better or worse (worse when I was in school) has held on. I don’t think I’ve ever had the ability to whisper anything– though I can keep secrets.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’ve always enjoyed public speaking, never really got nervous. In school I liked doing presentations and giving speeches– helpful when we were paired into groups since so many others don’t like it. In high school I visited a local radio station and, though initially I was captured by all the technology and equipment, the public speaking aspect was what caught my attention. It just snowballed from there.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I spent many years working in local TV in New York City. TV reporters, especially local, get to go to and inside a lot of places closed to the public. I’ve been inside the network operations center for AT&T as well as one of the company’s larger telephone exchanges in lower Manhattan– where millions of phone calls and internet connections are handled. I once got to go behind the scenes at Walt Disney World and see what is almost an entire town that keeps the park operating. I also got to meet the second and last man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin and Gene Cernan. I was most impressed by the two of them considering what they accomplished in life. They were the most approachable, down to Earth and friendly famous people I’ve met.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Honestly, it’s difficult to pick just one person. My broadcasting instructor in college, Tom Gomez, helped me secure my first internship and my first job in radio and was always available even after I left to brainstorm and help. Along the way I’ve had former colleagues, bosses and friends who have all been helpful and it’s something I’m always grateful for– it’s also something I always try to give back. It’s important to keep an eye out for others and help where you can.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Well, failure is part of the journey because it’s how you learn so I would encourage people to embrace it. I know a few people who were successful out of the gate– among them, none could handle even the slightest hint of failure or constructive criticism. I think we tend to see success through the lens of hindsight forgetting that what we’re seeing is the final result of what may have been years or even decades of work. Where I get that some people are just “naturals” at what they do, you still learn how to do it better with time and experience. So give yourself the time to get the experience.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

My teams! I work with some truly amazing people at Bospar and every day I get to engage with them by email, Slack and on Zoom calls to learn what they are working on, where there may be some challenges I can help them with. An empowering message I would share: Don’t be afraid of your experience. You know what you know, but someone else may not, so if there’s a solution you’ve tried successfully or have a new idea don’t be afraid to share that. Some of the best ideas come from collaboration.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

The thing I enjoy about working at Bospar is the variety of clients we service. We have clients in the NFT space, HR tech, cloud storage, mobile messaging… I’ve always loved talking about technology and learning about it. From here, I hope to help our agency continue to grow.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

You can only regret things you didn’t do because you learn from the things you do. When given an opportunity, even if it was outside of my comfort zone, I took it. It has kept my career fresh and interesting.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

1. Know the audience. Whether you’re getting up in front of a room of realtors, insurance agents or the school board you need to understand who you are talking to. Too many times, I’ve cringed as people got up on stage to present and didn’t read the room.
2. Address the elephant in the room. I had to present at a comedy festival and had been out the day prior and got a pretty bad sunburn on my face– less the space occupied by my sunglasses. So the first thing I did was tell a funny story about how I got sunburned– it puts the audience at ease. If you walk on stage with a spill on your shirt that just happened, a hole in your pants you just noticed or mismatched socks– address it. It helps break the ice and humanize you and it puts the audience at ease, as they otherwise may wonder: do they notice this?
3. Energy! If you’re energized, so is the audience. I’ve always viewed public speaking as something fun so I enjoy my time on stage– the audience enjoys that time too. A boring speaker who drones on will put the audience to sleep.
4. Don’t memorize things. Be knowledgeable about the subject, but don’t try to memorize everything you want to say. If there’s something you want to have scripted, see if you can get a prompter. Otherwise, remember that you are up on that stage for a reason and have something to share with the audience they may not know. Be confident in that!
5. Relax. If you’re anxious about being on stage, see point 2– address that up front! You’ll win over the audience if you start with something as simple as “Well, I don’t do this every day!”

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

What aren’t you afraid of? Are you better one-on-one? Think of a scenario where you aren’t terrified of speaking and imagine that. When I’m on TV or Radio, I don’t think that there are a bunch of people on the other side of the camera or microphone, there’s just one person. I think of that person and act as if I’m talking to them. Same when I’m up on stage. There may be 200 people in the audience, but I’m only speaking to one person. And practice always helps. The more you get up there, the better.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

The future is an unknowable thing, but indicators suggest what it may become. Stay informed, keep learning and always try something new. The Internet gives us access to the knowledge of the world and we should use it for good.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Former President Barack Obama. He is one of the greatest public speakers of our time and continues to do amazing work.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Twitter: @BrettLarson

LinkedIn: BrettLarsonNYC

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!