As I’m preparing for my third TEDx talk, and coaching others to deliver their first ones, my brain is bubbling over with everything I want to share about powerful public speaking.

Being able to clearly and succinctly communicate your mission and your passion is absolutely essential for your business, and for your life in general. So if there is one magical key I would like to hand you, it would be understanding exactly this.

While there are many other factors to consider when crafting your big talk – the clarity of your message, delivered without taking the long way around, is really the main box to tick.

This is especially important when you are at the point of defining your niche and truly aligning your business with your soul’s calling. Often, this means stepping into unknown territory. As Lightworkers, there aren’t many business people who have gone before us. It really feels like it’s our generation who are blazing the trail for our industry.

While this is very exciting, it also means we don’t get to model our business on a previously used model. We are creating from scratch.

Personally, communicating my vision to my audience involves talking about the epiphanies, synchronicities and ‘downloads’ that I have. So the challenge here is to share my vision and insight without sounding disconnected from reality. Yes, my work is outside of the ‘norm’ sometimes, and I’m totally driven by supernatural forces. But I am also grounded in reality and science. I like to make sure I’m clear with my audience about this.

I had a strong sense that I should share my supernatural, Lightworker side when I gave my first TEDx. As I now prepare for my third TEDx talk, I am facing this challenge again. I want to share my whole truth, including my spiritual side, and I know I need to deliver my message clearly and succinctly, demonstrating both my grounding in science, and my ‘woo woo’ side. No small feat, but by now I know how to communicate both sides well in a short window of time.

So why the emphasis on being succinct?

Here’s where we bring some neuroscience into the equation. You only have a person’s attention for a matter of minutes – and that’s being generous!

With that tiny window of time, you need to be certain that you can capture their attention for long enough to say your piece, and you need to be confident in your message for it to inspire them.

At my recent Speak From The Heart training in Windsor, UK, my attendees got their first taste of delivering their own talks this way. I’m going to be teaching this in more depth to a small group of brave souls in a private mastermind over the winter too, to get them ready to deliver a ‘message worth spreading‘ as they say at TED.

Communication from the heart, with words that clearly convey emotion and strike chords of resonance are what my entire career is built upon now. With 20 years in professional media behind me, I’m now taking my skills to a unique niche group who truly believe they can change the world. What a great honor (and big challenge) for me!

The thing is, I know in my heart that these people CAN change the world. That’s why I’m so behind them. When you can convey your message succinctly with emotional resonance and clarity, then your audience will get behind you too.

That’s the power of speaking from your heart, and this was the best lesson I learned from my first TEDx.