February 28, 2011
Welcome to the February Issue of Speaking-Out-Loud write-out-loud.com's monthly E-zine to help you effectively 'talk your walk'.
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Happy speaking,
Susan
In this Issue
If you don't have time to read the whole ezine, click on the topic that interests you. This month you will find:
Susan's Spiel
The Power of The Pause
This month's Article encourages to keep your mouth shut when making a speech! Not all the time but in specific, planned places. Find out why silence is golden!
Being Yourself Who are you on stage? Yourself or someone else?
Apply these tips for being the best of you while speaking in public and your effectiveness and confidence will soar.
Business Presentation Coaching
Do not be found hiding under your desk the next time someone is looking for you to give a business presentation.
In this exclusive article for write-out-loud.com Roxanne Glans, business presentation coach, walks and talks us through the process of preparing thoroughly for a successful presentation.
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Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this month's Speaking-Out-Loud!
Happy speaking,
Susan
The Power of the Pause
One of the most powerful powerful public speaking techniques uses no words at all. Nothing. Just you and the audience and silence. That silence is golden for it's stuffed full of eloquence, speaking louder than words ever can. It's called the power of the pause.
These are not just any old pauses flung in at random because you've run out of things to say or are panicking. These are deliberate.
A planned pause does a whole bunch of things that an endless barrage of words no matter how meaningful or beautiful can.
For instance pauses used well:
- add suspense, give weight or emphasis to the word you've yet to say 'And the winner is...Petunia!'
- give the audience time to take in what you've just said which is important if the material is complex or new to them
- give rhythm to your language - making it interesting to listen to
- allow a space for you to take a breath
- allow you to naturally separate one idea from the next as you present them
- give you a 'pause for thought' - a space to momentarily rest while you consider what to say next
The simplest method I know to help people learn where to use them is to let the punctuation symbols in written language be your guide.
It's not for nothing that we have full stops (periods), commas, colons, semicolons or an indentation to mark a new paragraph. They all denote stops or pauses of varying lengths. If you're familiar with music notation, they're equivalent to a rest - a pause where no note is sounded.
To get familiar with pausing grab up a range of written material to play with and paying particular attention to the punctuation, read it out loud.
Read a newspaper article, a children's story, a well-known speech, a piece of prose from a novel, a poem, a paragraph or two from a technical manual, even a grocery list.
Once you have your ear tuned you'll hear the difference silence makes to your speech. But of more importance you'll find that audiences will be increasingly responsive as you develop the confidence to keep you mouth shut!
Click the link if you'd like to find out more about aquiring the power of the pause You'll find a nifty counting method I devised for my students to teach them about using silence as well as some exercises to try.
Being Yourself
There's something strange that happens to some people the moment they stand up to speak in front of an audience.
Quick as a flash - kapow, kazazz - a switch is flicked and there's somebody else on stage. That someone has a weird voice - strained and articial. The language they're using isn't their own. It sounds alien coming out their mouths and the face? It's stiff. We're suddenly watching and listening to a life-sized puppet version of the real person. It's odd, surreal and ultimately unreal. Because it's not you.
When you speak in front of others you don't have to be someone else. You don't have to assume a persona - a mask. Your voice doesn't have to be unaturally 'posh' and your facial expression and movement constrained. You just have to be you - your best self. That's the naturally easy self - the state in which you feel good about being who you are - you. It's you accepting and owning your strengths as well as your challenges and allowing others to see them. Some people call this being 'naked' on stage. I call it being real, being natural. The word 'naked' pulls up alarming images for me! I'm not so sure I want that degree of exposure and quite frankly neither would my audience! But natural, at ease, being myself - yes. That's good.
So how do we stop this puppet person taking over and allow our best self to stand in front of others?
Being natural on stage takes courage and practice.
To achieve that state of ease try:
- taking you out the equation.
It's not about YOU. It's about the message - your speech. If you've aligned your speech purpose and content with the audience's needs, you're giving them something of value - something they want. Their focus isn't on your tie, the color of your hair, whether you are short, tall, female, male, have a lisp or anything else. It's on what you are delivering. - talking as if to a friend.
This will give you natural language and phrasing. You'll stop trying to be someone else and sound more like yourself - authentic, real. - giving up trying to please everybody.
You can't. It's unrealistic and very, very stressful to go around attempting to meet everyone's expectations of what a perfect presentation should be.
Some want formality. Some want humor. Some want more stories and others want none. Accept you are you.
Some people will like/love what you do, others won't and still more will be indifferent. That's life! - giving up trying to control people or things you can't.
If you've done your preparation, covering all aspects you reasonably can - room set-up, audio-visual material, speech ..., the rest is not yours to worry about. You can not control someone who suddenly has a sneezing fit in the front row, or the person called away urgently etc, etc. What you can work on though is developing the flexibility to take stuff like that in your stride! - revealing yourself
- allowing your humor, your humility to shine through in personal stories or comments pertinent to your speech
The bottom line?
It's more than OK to be you. Strive to be the best of you and the more you can achieve that, the easier it will be to deliver your message effectively.
If it's fear holding you back click the link to find out more about how to manage acute anxiety effectively.
Business Presentation Coaching
Who wants to hide under their desk when you know someone is coming to ask you to present?
And who recycles the presentation they used the last time?
If you are called upon to present a business plan there is a better way. Yes, it's more work but the outcome is more likely to be what you want.
Business presentation coach, Roxanne Glans steps us through the process from beginning to end in this detailed outline exclusively for write-out-loud.com readers.
Roxanne is experienced having successfully 'walked her talk' internationally for global companies for 20+ years. In this scenario based overview you'll learn the what, when, how and why of shaping a business presentation to meet the unique needs of its audience.
If business presenting is part of your world, you already know this is important stuff. If you're familiar with the process already, read the page as a refresher. If you don't know it, you're in for a whole new slant on the business of business presentation.
Click business presentation coaching to find out more.
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Thank you for reading the February Issue of Speaking-Out-Loud. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to contact me with any questions through the form at the foot of the Speaking Out Loud Page. I love hearing from my readers!
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Until next time,
Happy speaking,
Susan