Thursday, April 17th, 2008
It is very common for speakers to ‘bounce’ (or flit) their eyes around an audience, not actually ’seeing’ anyone. Unfortunately it makes your audience feel that you are talking at them rather than to them, and the net effect of this is that they find it hard to connect to you.
And when an audience connects to you, it is more likely that they will be open and receptive. Therefore doing what you can to connect is an important aspect of public speaking.
When practicing your presentation, present to something and move your eyes purposefully, holding your gaze on different objects in the room you are practicing, for at least 3 - 5 seconds. When it comes to being in front of your audience, the 3 - 5 seconds of eye contact may feel to you like a long time, but it is just the right amount of time for the audience.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
I recently coached a man who had been suffering acute anxiety for 6 months because of being asked to be best man at his friends wedding. One of the first things we did together was to shift his thinking away from giving a dazzling witty speech, to giving a speech that he cared about. Rather than being a procession of well used jokes his speech became something more unique, more touching and therefore ultimately more entertaining.
When you care about what you are saying, your nerves are eclipsed by your energy and enthusiasm and then speaking in front of an audience actually becomes something you can enjoy. The simplest illustration I can give is for you to imagine talking to a group of people about something that you have no real interest in. Now imagine what it would be like to talk about something you are completely passionate about. How much easier and more enjoyable would that be?
Out there in the world we may be called upon to present about a subject we have little or no emotional connection to, so does this mean that we have to resign ourselves to a mediocre performance? No it does not. What it means is that if you want to present at your best you have to find a way to care. I am reminded of the story of the Zen monk who applies the same vibrant mindfulness to cleaning the loo as he brings to his mediation practice. In other words he chooses to make cleaning the loo something immensely important because it is another opportunity for him to practice stilling the mind.
So when you are presenting to an audience about something seemingly mundane, can you discover the importance in what you are saying? Can you find the extraordinary in the ordinary? When you do, your audience will be right there with you, I promise.
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
A well organized speech is easier to understand and remember, more credible and more enjoyable. It consists of an opening, a body and a conclusion.
The beginning should catch the audience’s attention.The body of the speech consists of the facts and ideas you want to present. It is worth remembering that most audiences will only remember only 3 – 5 main facts or ideas. The ‘odd number rule’ is a simple model that suggests putting your points into groups of 3 or 5 and then dividing each of those points into a further 3 or 5 so on…After you have made your first point you go onto offer supporting material which can include statistics, testimony, anecdotes visual aids or facts. You then do the same for each of your subsequent points.
Your conclusion is your final opportunity to convey your message in a way that the audience will remember. Ideally it reinforces your ideas and leaves a lasting impression. If you were persuading the audience to take some action you might make a call to action. End with confidence and energy. Don’t end with a thank you. That is just a verbal crutch, just stop and wait for the applause.
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Find out what their benchmark for success is. You can do this most simply by asking, “How will you know our work has been a success?” Sometimes what you think the evidence of success is, is very different from what your client thinks. For example, you might think that success for the client would be to have the job done to perfection, whereas for the client it might be getting the job done on time.
Be clear about your outcomes. Get into the habit of setting your outcome before every meeting, every call and every email. This is a powerful practice that ensures your behaviour is shaped towards that outcome, and not away from it.
Make sure that what you want to communicate is actually what you are communicating. Very often what we think we are communicating is very different from what we are actually communicating. For example, being professional isn’t necessarily dressing smartly. Professionalism is communicating whatever it is you intend to communicate. For many clients, dressing smartly is a mark of respect so remember that when you are wondering which pair of jeans to put on.
Ask for regular feedback from your clients. For example, ‘on a scale of 1 – 10 how would you rate the quality of our service / product during the last week / month?’ Any answer less than a 10 is followed by, “What would it take to make it a 10?” This gives you the specific information you need to improve a product or service. Clients can be very forgiving if they sense in you a real desire to get better and better.
Help your clients to feel understood by you. Match the speed at which they speak and match their body language – if they don’t look you in the eye, don’t stare them in the eye. This is reassuring to people because in a subtle way it communicates that you are similar to them.
Give more than your clients expect. Clients will appreciate your generosity and love you for it.
Tell your customers how much you appreciate them. Customers are real people too. To build lasting relationships your words need to be encouraging, kind, generous and open to possibility. Don’t ever speak ill of anyone, even if they do.
Stay firmly in touch with what is important to you. Remind yourself of what you love about what you do. And keep in touch with that, because that will shine through in many ways. And clients sense it immediately when you really care about what you do.
Be your best, always! It is too easy to save the best of yourself for some other time than the present. Don’t do it, you don’t need to.
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
www.freerice.com if you have not come across it before is a terrific way of building your vocabulary at the same time as getting rice donated to the world’s hungry. It is a win-win-win (you, the hungry, the advertisers).
What particularly interests me about building vocabulary is that it gives you, the presenter or public speaker, not only more choice about how you communicate but also, having and using an extensive knowledge of vocabulary communicates intelligence and worldliness.
Perspicacity is a quality that impresses an audience!
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
I sometimes ask clients what some of their staff’s reaction is to being told they have to give a presentation. ‘Oh, please no..’ is more often than not the response. The polite response at least!
Yet your customer facing staff are the ambassadors of your business, and if they are communicating weakly, or without confidence, then what message does that communicate about your firm?
Presentation and communication skills training is an investment that ensures that when your people are out there in front of clients, they are representing your business exactly the way you want, giving you peace of mind and confidence in your staff.
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
‘Goals’, ’solutions’ and ‘outcomes’ are commonly used words in business today. Yet a little known fact is, according to Roger Bailey, the creator of the Language and Behaviour profile, is that whilst 40% of people are motivated by goals, 40% are motivated by problems. The other 20 % are motivated equally by problems and goals.
So if you need to motivate your audience to do something, then it is vital to talk about the problems you want to get away from, as much as you talk about the goals that you want to move towards.
Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
The answer is a simple one
- Be clear about your outcome
- Respond to the feedback about your current behaviour
- Have plenty of choice in how you act
That is it! That is the secret of success.
This ‘model’ addresses three fundamental reasons why people are not successful. Either they do not have a clear enough idea of exactly what it is they want, or, they do not respond to the feedback, or, they tend to try harder when something is not working. But as the well known saying goes:
‘If you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting what you have always got.’
It is interesting to note that those people most commonly found in positions of leadership, are the ones with most flexibility in how they act and how they respond to events.
So what holds us back from doing something different?
The answer to that question is habit. It is because habit feels so comfortable and familiar that it is a powerful force that conspires to keep us peddling the same old tune.
Using a coach is one such example of flexibility of behaviour that fosters success through helping individuals overcome their habits and develop more resourceful states and choices.
Thursday, July 5th, 2007
Three men are laying the brick foundations. The first bricklayer, when asked what he is building, says, ‘Oh I am just laying bricks.’
The second bricklayer, when asked the same question replies, ‘I am building a church.’
The third bricklayer however, replies, ‘I am laying the foundations for a place of immense beauty and holiness, where people from all walks of life can come and seek solace and pray to the glory of god.’
Well no guesses as to who gets to work on time!
My point is that there is an immediate internal shift and a corresponding change in the manner of your speaking, if you connect with the bigger picture. So rather than thinking, ‘I really need to get over my fear of speaking in front of an audience’, you start to understand what is important to you about being able to speak in front of an audience. For one person it might be so that they can start being their very best. For another, it might be so that they can inspire other people. And for someone else it might help them to get noticed by their boss, so as to get a rise, so that they can afford to give their family privileges that they never had.
Before I speak in front of an audience I momentarily connect with what is important about doing what I am doing and in doing so it feels like I am filling my sails with a wind that inspires and motivates me. And it will for you too.
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
As a speaker, it is easy to be thrown by the behaviour of members of the audience. (Actually it is not the behaviour that is the problem but the meaning we attach to that behaviour)
Common negative interpretation of behaviour:
- silence means uninterested
- looking away means bored
- fidgeting means wants to leave
Yet if we mentally change the meaning associated with the behaviour in positive ways, we can maintain our state much more effectively:
- silence becomes rapt attention
- looking away becomes considering what is being said
- fidgeting becomes lots of energy being released because of what is heard
Credits
© Alex Marshall :: for presentation skills and public speaking
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