Better Cyber Security Through Effective Communication.

Guest blog by Danny Pehar, President & Co-Founder of Cyber Insurance Education and developer of multimillion-dollar cybersecurity projects across North America.

Whether you are a cybersecurity specialist trying to get promoted or a business leader trying to better communicate security awareness to your team, the ability to communicate is one of the most powerful and useful tools in your kit to succeed in your career, in business and even at home.

You may have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t explain it in a way that persuades people to listen to you, your idea will do you little good. You may be the most qualified job applicant on the planet, but if you can’t communicate well enough to get past the interview, you won’t get the job. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how good your ideas are if you can’t get anyone to listen to you.

By the same token, you could be coming from a position of weakness, but if you know what to say, and can say it so everyone is compelled to listen to you, you have real power.

Getting Over the Fear

People often struggle with public speaking and communication. If you’re good at it, you have an automatic advantage. One of the main reasons people are bad at public speaking is fear. In one of his jokes, Jerry Seinfeld refers to a statistic that reveals most people fear public speaking more than death. As Seinfeld points out, this means most people at a funeral would rather be the guy in the casket than the guy delivering the eulogy. But you don’t need to hide in a casket to avoid the pain of public speaking. All you need to conquer the fear is to understand where it comes from.

What’s Involved

To understand why public speaking is so scary for so many people, let’s start by breaking down what’s involved in effective communication.

There are two main elements to a speech or any other kind of presentation: the message and the delivery. We need to think of what we are going to say (the message) and how we’re going to say it (the delivery).

Whether it’s giving a speech, interviewing for a job or breaking bad news to the boss, it’s usually the delivery part that makes us most nervous. But that’s a misplaced fear: the reason the delivery is so scary is that we’re not comfortable with the message. That’s where the real problem lies. Many of us aren’t sure of what we’re going to say, the order we’re going to say it or what our actual point is, so of course we get nervous when we need to speak.

On the flip side, think about the last time someone asked you to speak about something you know really well and are passionate about — maybe your hobby or a vacation you just took or what you did on the weekend.

As you told your story, others gathered around to listen. There you were, with no time to prepare and no training in public speaking, telling a story with ease and confidence to a small crowd. How did that happen? It happened because you were comfortable with your message.

Understand your message, master your message and the delivery will come more easily.

Stop Focusing on the Wrong Thing

Although the message and the delivery are the two main elements of preparing a speech, a lot of people will unnecessarily and unwisely spend much of their time on a third category: visual aids. They put hours in to these and only minutes in to what they’re going to say and how they’re going to say it. But visual aids are meant to be just that: something that aids your message. The message itself must be your focus. After all, have you ever heard anyone say, “I didn’t like the speaker, but wow, those slides were great”?

No matter how nice they look, visual aids won’t hold your audience’s attention — only your message will. And here’s an extra tip: If your message does require a visual aid, don’t include a lot of text in it. Your audience isn’t going to read long paragraphs off a slide. Instead, use charts, pictures or quotes that back up your message.

There are also people who place too much importance on other minor elements of a speech like body language or the tone and pitch of their voice. Only when it comes to things like flirting is body language more powerful than what you’re actually saying verbally. As for the tone of your voice, if it’s so important, why is Stephen Hawking so captivating? When we listen to him, we’re hearing a computerized voice, yet we’re still amazed by his brilliant message.

So, at least for now, forget about visual aids, forget about body language, forget about tone and your voice and focus on your message. If you master the message, all of the other pieces will start to fall into place.

About the Author

With more than 15 years experience in the cybersecurity industry, Danny Pehar is the President & Co-Founder of Cyber Insurance Education and has developed multimillion-dollar cybersecurity projects across North America.

Danny is a bestselling author and uses his own Executive Security Storytelling formula to successfully educate organizations on the fascinating world of cybersecurity and cyber insurance. He’s also built an engaged television audience through his regular appearances on the Global Morning Show.

Danny has spoken on the topic of cybersecurity and cyber insurance throughout various industries and has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies.