My default warm-up routine is find an out of the way spot, wave my arms like a bird and do a few jumping jacks. I like to start with energy. I try to get everything working and flapping so that when I get in front of my group I can exude as much energy as possible.

I, of course, thought this was the best (and maybe only) way to prepare. Then I met Angela and Dennis Buttimer. They are Mindful Leadership and Wellness experts who speak to business audiences about discovering peak performance through personal wellness.

They warm up with quiet music, deep breathing and meditation. Plus they bring these techniques to their audiences as they begin. It gives a different feel to the presentation. A different intensity and clarity.

Their audiences love it.

My default warm-up routine is find an out of the way spot, wave my arms like a bird and do a few jumping jacks. I like to start with energy. I try to get everything working and flapping so that when I get in front of my group I can exude as much energy as possible.

I, of course, thought this was the best (and maybe only) way to prepare. Then I met Angela and Dennis Buttimer. They are Mindful Leadership and Wellness experts who speak to business audiences about discovering peak performance through personal wellness.

They warm up with quiet music, deep breathing and meditation. Plus they bring these techniques to their audiences as they begin. It gives a different feel to the presentation. A different intensity and clarity.

Their audiences love it.

Have you ever sat in at a meeting and watched as the presenter was introduced and then he or she stepped to the front of the room and spent the next 10 minutes fiddling with their laptop and slides? I bet you have.

We have all witnessed this energy-killing scenario — probably dozens of times.

If you are a pro speaker, this situation is intolerable to you. Insist that your materials be ready for display from the first second you step in front of your audience. Your transition should be seamless. Your PowerPoint should begin as if by some special voodoo magic that your summon with the tiny clicker in your hand.

You are a pro. This is a performance. Let the magic begin.

While watching a video of leadership guru John Maxwell I almost missed a nugget of pure gold. When he first wanted to get better at speaking he developed this habit:

“I was starting to go observe communicators. When I would listen to someone speak, I wouldn’t listen too much about what the subject was. It really didn’t matter. I would ask myself one question the whole time I would listen to them speak. And the question was: ‘Are they connecting with their audience?’ ”

“And I would write down, if they were not connecting, why they were not. And if they were connecting, why they were.”

“In about two years I became a master at how to connect with an audience.”

His career success as a speaker and leadership trainer bears out the value of that strategy.

The next speaker you hear, ask yourself: “Are they connecting with their audience?” Consider taking a few notes.

As new speakers, we search for and try to lock in our style — the way we present ourselves and our content to the audience.

Early on in my career I received some very valuable advice from master coach David Greenberg. He had watched me present at a small workshop and simply stated I needed to be more conversational. I had been very professorial, after all I was the expert in the room. He said that if I really wanted to connect, I should have a conversation with my audience. I needed to loosen up.

Being more conversational doesn’t necessarily mean having an actual 2-way conversation with your audience, although that can be a great technique if handled well. What it does mean, I think, is to have a conversational tone. Think about how you would talk with a small group of friends about a great restaurant or movie you had experienced lately. That somewhat casual, real tone will be more intimate, more inviting than the formal lecturing attitude many of us have seen in the past.

Most of us develop our style in a constant, ever evolving process. Consider the idea of being more conversational in your delivery. You are letting go of some of your control but possibly opening up a closer relationship with your audience.