8 simple things that make Eric Feng a brilliant (aka STAR ??) speaker and trainer

This was written largely based on my observation of his talk at Asia Professional Speakers Singapore (APSS) last year and other training sessions of Eric's that I’ve attended, as well as in comparison to other speakers and trainers I’ve had a chance and privilege to observe since I joined Charisma Academy, a corporate training platform company, in mid-2018.

~ 3 min read

1. His slides are beautiful, or at least, easy on the eyes

Just like with food where we 'eat' with our eyes first, I observed that there is a great aesthetic sense in general in Eric's presentation slides, and minimal distracting typos or otherwise. Sometimes, less is more, and that is certainly true when it comes to clear communication.

2. He gets to the point

Eric wastes no time in making any one point, and rarely rambles on or digresses too much. Perhaps not surprisingly, "Get to the Point" is also the title of his book on public speaking skills and one of our most sought after training programmes, as it's certainly a skill to master. He also ends the training or speaking session more or less on time as scheduled, which shows discipline and respect for the audience’s precious time.

3. He makes it funny (and he can laugh at himself)

Humour is probably one of the fastest routes to any audience's heart, and it's particularly endearing when you're not afraid to poke fun at yourself sometimes too (i.e. don't take things too seriously)

For example, during the sharing session at APSS, Eric compared how much blood, sweat and tears he had put into conceptualising, directing, producing and even acting in a Marvel-inspired promotional video and the results of these efforts in terms of number of shares and views on social media it got (189 shares and 50K views), versus a “Beggar to Superstar” video he had found online randomly and repurposed for Facebook with much less effort but which went viral (15K shares and 1.5M views), showing that Return on Effort (ROE) may not be as direct as you think.

4. He gives value and tips away freely

This is according to the “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” principle from Gary Vaynerchuk that Eric follows and encourages his audiences and participants to do as well. He applies it not only onstage but offstage too when audience members or training participants come up to him for advice. For example, one of the APSS members told me she was going to entirely revamp her Instagram page after she had a quick conversation with Eric about it after his talk.

5. He always contextualises for the audience, and more importantly, he makes them feel GOOD (read: valued) about the work that they’re doing

If you've ever had the chance to sit in his training session or be part of the audience for his keynote, you are likely to get the feeling that Eric is your number one fan. During his sharing with speakers, instead of treating them as competitors in the market, he instead came across as very encouraging and supportive, telling them things like “You guys are speakers, you are thought-leaders”, “You can do this” etc. In other words, he is able to demonstrate unconditional positive regard on a large scale, and do what Carl Rogers, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist who started person-centred therapy, called “prizing”. Eric is unabashedly on YOUR side (whoever the “you” happens to be for that particular talk or training session. He wants you to win!

6. He is quick to check and correct himself when necessary

Case in point, when Eric talked about how he wants to see more Asian speakers being brought overseas for gigs, he quickly noted there were some non-Asian speakers in the room too, so he said they are included in this wish too (nice save).

7. He tells it as it is (honest and direct)

For example, telling all the speakers that a large part of their job still consists of being an entertainer. So, he advises them to “make your speech so entertaining that the audience will (want to) learn”. This way, the speakers can fulfil their purpose and what they had set out to achieve, while also fulfilling the audience’s needs.

8. He crystallises learnings based on his own experiences and reflections well. Then, he puts it across in a simple and easy-to-understand way, which is simple to practise and (most importantly) can be put into ACTION immediately (in short, he gives actionable takeaways)

This is perhaps the most important point and one of the key differentiators of Eric versus other speakers and trainers in the market.

Time and time again, the feedback we get from satisfied training participants or keynote audiences about Eric is that whatever he teaches is practical and usable, and the skills transferred are immediately applicable.

Interestingly, you are also never made to feel stupid as an audience or participant for not knowing better. Instead, you are more likely to feel more motivated to get off your a** and do something, anything, that you’ve learnt from the session ??

Here are a couple of things I have personally learnt from Eric’s teachings and have been practising myself: 1) Whenever you are in conversation with someone, whether a client, partner or colleague, try to find out what are the other person’s passion, pain, value and vision so that you can have a more meaningful and memorable conversation with them; and 2) Seek to find and establish commonalities between yourself and the other person quickly (within the first meeting with a new person), because people tend to like people who are like them. This will help to make you both feel more connected, and you can more easily continue building the relationship with them from there.

I could go on for a few more points eg he uses very up-to-date and relevant info and examples, his content is backed up by data (science and research), he is very kinaesthetic i.e. has animated body movements and gestures, great use of voice tonality, innovative and thought-provoking content, includes multimedia embedded videos to make it more visually engaging, etc etc, but these are the main ones that came through for me.

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TL;DR: Eric takes what he does as a speaker and trainer very seriously, and it shows in the quality of the final output and the raving audience reviews. I think Eric certainly fulfils the “Excellence” part of our company’s R.I.C.E values well, and it makes me a bit more proud to be a part of the Charisma team! ??

As a training participant or audience member, what else do you appreciate in trainers or speakers?

To the speakers and trainers out there, how interested would you be to attend an 'advanced level' Train-the-Trainer session by Eric to upgrade and hone your skills (if we ever organised such a thing)?

Thanks for reading!

#appreciationofbeautyandexcellence #corporatetraining #professionalspeakers #keynotespeaker #APSS #HR #learninganddevelopment #L&D