The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle considered credibility—which he called ethos—a pillar of persuasion as important as logos (logic) and pathos (emotion). I agree! And not just because Aristotle—between his immense contributions to philosophy and his imposing marble visage—has buckets of credibility/ethos all himself. 

 Credibility—which is basically whether/how much the audience trusts you—is crucial for any speaker. It answers the question, “why should we believe you?” Whether the audience thinks you have it can be the difference between nods of approval and warm applause, or raised eyebrows and skeptical questions afterward.

In an ideal world, credibility would come solely from expertise—and it at least partly does anyway. This is why,  if you don’t know the subject you’re planning to speak about, you should probably stop reading this article right now and start studying up!

But credibility isn’t just about knowledge. It’s also about perception—and even experts can appear (and feel) less than credible. So I’ll focus on raising your perceived credibility to complement the knowledge I’ll go ahead and presume you have, since you’re still reading. 😉

1. Embrace your default credibility

Boosting your ethos levels** starts with remembering—and leveraging—the credibility you already have.

Many less confident speakers walk into the room thinking (or acting as if) the audience is deeply skeptical of their expertise, and only a real humdinger of a speech will convince them otherwise. This is obviously a lot of pressure—not great for nerves or performance.

But good news: It’s probably all in your head.   In most professional speaking settings, the audience (colleagues, executives, clients, etc.) presumes you’re talking to them for a reason—that you have useful and/or interesting information to share, and that you’re qualified to share it. Otherwise, why would you—or they—be there?***

Now, of course it’s possible to lose that credibility via poor content or delivery, and that prospect can be scary. But I think it’s a lot less scary than thinking you must affirmatively earn that credibility from an initially doubtful audience.

So then the question is, how do you maintain that credibility? The (mostly open) secret: Confidence. For better or worse, confidence looks a lot like competence. The connection makes sense, psychologically—surely someone displaying such self-assurance must know what they’re talking about!

So let’s talk about some ways to convey calm and confidence to an open-minded audience. 

2. Preparing to be credible

Building credibility while speaking starts well before you open your mouth. Here are a few ways to position yourself for success ahead of time.

First, if possible, sketch out your introductory remarks—like the goal or takeaway, or an illustrative example or story—in greater detail, and rehearse it prior. Take four disorganized minutes to get to the thrust of your presentation, and your ethometer** may be flashing some warning lights. Avoid this pitfall with some forethought and planning. 

Second: Plan a couple references to the audience, things they know about, and/or that you have in common. Ever notice great comedians typically start their act by referencing the city they’re in? These connections build rapport.

A couple examples:

• “Margot made a great point about this when she & I were talking this morning.”  

• “I know a lot of you, like me, were wondering what managements plans are. Well, I’m excited to share it with you now.”

• “I understand this is a major question in our industry right now …”

Third, prepare a couple hints at your personal experience. Too many can sound cocky, but when relevant and mild they can help build credibility.

Some examples:

• “In my studies of this topic, I’ve noticed a couple trends that may be relevant here.”

• “My team and I discovered something interesting working on the Disney account …”

• “I’ve seen this kind of situation go one of two ways in the past …”

Fourth, get plenty of rest. Your big presentation won’t go better if you pull an all-nighter perfecting Persuasive Business Communication. You’re better off hitting the hay and showing up on time and refreshed.

If you truly don’t know the content, then burning the midnight oil might be an acceptable risk. But it’s a risk all the same.**** And if you are sufficiently knowledgeable, and your choice is between a couple more hours of sleep or finessing the details, take the Zz’s every time.

Finally, be “in character” from the beginning—and not just of your speech. From the cubicle to the classroom, impressions start well before then. A conference keynote speaker won’t seem as credible if you overhead him struggling to remember a basic industry fact at breakfast—or chewing out the staff for a minor inconvenience. Technically niceness shouldn’t affect perceived expertise, but it usually does—people want to learn from not just knowledgeable, but decent sources. 

3. Credibility while speaking

First: Look at your audience. Humans see trustworthiness in facial expressions, especially eye contact. When we’re unsure, we shift or avert our eyes. Good eye contact shows confidence.

Second: Share counterpoints when relevant. Beginners often think a persuasive speech should only present one side. But experienced speakers know to present information from multiple points of view—then explain why theirs is superior.

This reflects your deep knowledge of the subject and shows that you’re fair—and fair-minded folks are more trustworthy. You’ll also help the audience stay persuaded when they hear contradictory evidence later.

Third: Show your interest in the subject. Stiff, formal speakers who look and sound bored by their material are less credible—I suspect because there’s less reason to think they researched it thoroughly since they apparently find it so dull.

Another part of showing your interest is content-related. Anecdotes and interesting tidbits can help make your speech more interesting, illustrate points, and show you’ve done your research.

A final component is your delivery, which leads to the last suggestion: To paraphrase Dwight Schrute, just try not to do the things an unconfident speaker would do.

Unconfident speakers are usually quiet, tentative, or mumbly, use lots of fillers, look at their notes/slides more than the audience, sheepishly apologize for inconsequential slip-ups, and generally convey their ideas poorly.

Of course, you can’t fix serious delivery issues once you’re onstage. Working on those things is part of preparation and general speaking practice. But there is something simple you can do to improve your speaking performance live: Pick just one thing to focus on.

You might want to monitor a dozen different aspects of speaking as you present. But if you focus on too many, you’ll just overwhelm your brain with distractions and likely won’t improve in any of them. So instead, think of one specific thing to focus on during your speech—and perhaps write it in big letters at the top of your notes for a last-second reminder. Consider picking something simple, comparatively easy to implement and almost universally beneficial—like slowing down.

Ok, that’s all for my prepared remarks—does anyone have any questions? Ah yes, you in the back. 

“Hi, yes thank you: All those tips might be fine and dandy for a prepared speech, but what if you’re hit with a question you don’t know the answer to in Q&A? Any suggestions there?” 

Ah, the dreaded Q&A portion! As uncharted impromptu speaking territory, it’s understandably daunting for many. 

4. Say you don’t know—but in a confident way

Being honest is a confident move. Nothing hurts your credibility like rambling on about something you know nothing about.

There are many ways to acknowledge the limits of your expertise. “Um, hm, that’s a good ... I’m not sure if ... ah, I think what I was trying to say is, um, well, huh yeah I guess I’m not sure, sorry” is one. Another is the far superior reply, “I don’t know the answer to that, actually—but I do know Gary in accounting has those numbers, so I’ll reach out to him and let you know. Thanks for the question!” Delivered in a clear, authoritative way, this is almost as good having the answer, credibility-wise. 

You can also share your thoughts on a broader topic you’re familiar with. For example, if someone asks you about Coca-Cola’s stock price and you don’t know, be honest. But also consider sharing what you do know about general trends in consumer goods—especially if that’s relevant to your presentation. As long as you can address the big ideas, you probably needn’t feel sheepish about not knowing some details or stuff outside your purview.

We might not all become as credible as Aristotle, but with these tips (and plenty of practice), you’ll be well on your way to accepting, building and keeping the audience’s trust.

*TBD on whether Pixar will pick up our screenplay for a Mr. Incredible sequel.
**Our patent-pending ethometer will precisely measure any speaker’s ethos levels.
***Caveat: If your audience is coworkers and they think you’re bad at your job, then yes you’re going to start with a credibility deficit. But this is a) hopefully rare, and b) not a credibility problem so much as it is a professional problem, which means this article is once again not the best place to look for answers.
****Also, if this is you, you were supposed to stop reading a long time ago. Get to work!