Many people mumble and stumble through names and
abbreviations of names making it impossible to understand what they are saying.
I am calling special attention to this because time and gain I have to remind
the participants in my workshops to speak the name of people, places, and
things slowly and clearly. This is true even for many experienced speakers. When
you have a written text, names and letter and abbreviations are always printed
in bold type, or italics, or some form of capital letter. The same type of special
attention should be paid to names when they are spoken. Actually, more
attention is necessary because the spoken word is so fleeting. Even if your
associates tell you that your talk went very well, ask if they were really able
to understand all the names you mentioned.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 29, 2015
The TalkPower Word Budget
Students tell me that their inability to edit material is a
major problem. Often they accumulate enough research material to talk for hours
even though they only have 10 minutes to do their presentation. Cutting this
down for your allotted task is a herculean task, leaving you feeling totally
overwhelmed.
It’s like a dream I sometimes have.
In this dream I go into my office and all of the files are turned upside-down
and emptied out on the floor. I need certain documents quickly, to prepare a
summation for a jury, and I don’t know where anything is. I feel rushed and
helpless. I don’t know where to begin. That’s what it’s like when I have to
prepare a summation or a speech, or any kind of presentation.
-Jason,
Attourney
Almost every presentation has a time limit. Since there are
approximately 150 words to 1 minute of speaking time, once you know how much
time you have for your talk you can keep track of the amount of material you
need by using a word count to limit yourself. This is how you do it.
If you are given 10 minutes to give a presentation, you will
have to prepare fewer than 1500 words, including time for pauses. The
combination of a time limit and word count gives you and approximate word
budget to work with (there area bout 250 words per double space type written
page, given 1-inch margin and a 12 point font).
If this idea seems radically different from your normal
procedure don’t panic. Writing a talk will become as familiar as driving to
work, when you understand the rules. Once students learn how to edit themselves
in terms of minutes and word counts, they are amazed at the beauty and clarity
of their talks. In addition, the time saving factor of using this formula is
considerable.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Verbal Graphics
The TalkPower Action Formula (refer to TalkPower Kindle)
provides a perfect vehicle for stylizing the look and sound of your talk.
Verbal graphics is the TalkPower method of breaking a speech down into sections
and then shaping the speech with strategically placed pauses. These pauses give
your presentation the same design you would find in a poem of an essay. Just as
the written page is designed with headlines, margins, bold print, bullets, and
spaced, spoken word needs the contrast of silence and sound for style,
beautiful design and dramatic effect.
Verbal graphics create the space (silence) for the audience
to take in and reflect upon what you are saying. These pauses create a rhythm
that brings your presentation to life. The rhythm causes the speaker and the
audience to move back and forth, figuratively, in unison. This movement is the
catalyst for the intensity that occurs between speaker and audience when
so-called dynamic speakers perform. For example:
Speaker: When I
was doing my research for this talk I got the strangest call. (Pause)
Audience: (leans in)
Contrast this with the following:
Speaker: when I
was going my research for this talk I got the strangest call. It was a young
man that claimed he had been abducted by aliens!
As you can see, a pause brings dramatic tension to a speech,
providing the speaker with a mysterious quality called presence or charisma. I
can think of many well-known speakers (I will not name them because I do not
wish to embarrass them) who speak well, but are not thought of as dynamic
presenters. They speak in endless even blocks of sentences with no pauses at
all. In that case, the entire speech becomes one long ribbon unraveling with no
values, colors, shades, or changes.
If speech without the logical pause is
unintelligible, without the psychological pause it is lifeless
-Constantine
Stanislavski
Even if the speaker has an interesting voice filled with a
variety of intonations, he/she will not project a dynamic personality if he/she
does not pause properly. What begins with and exciting liftoff for the audience
when the speaker first appears, fades as the speech progresses and the
attention of the audience suddenly begins to diminish. I have seen this happen
on numerous occasions, and I thought, “if only there were 10-15 well places
pauses in this speech, the speaker would surely receive a standing ovation
instead of polite applause.”
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Me, Likable?
Many of my students who feel very nervous and uncomfortable
in front of an audience, cannot believe that their discomfort is not visible.
Yet as long as their practice the TalkPower techniques they appear very
likeable and are easy to listen to. Time and again, after a wonderfully
entertaining talk, a student in my class reports, “Oh I thought I was speaking
so slowly…You mean you really like my talk?” “Yes, yes” the class responds,
“You were not slow at all. You were a pleasure to listen to.”
LIKABILITY IS A SKILL
You realize of course, that appearing likeable is a
technique, a learned skill. You can learn that technique you really can. If you
have any doubt about this, take a look at this quote by Jose Ferrer in Actors Talk About Acting.
“Who know what happened to me. I may
have a cold, I may have a hangover. Maybe I couldn’t sleep last night because
my wife left me. I have to be good for a sharp audience who demands only the
best. My voice, my body, my everything has to work for me. That is what
technique is.”
-Jose
Ferrer
LOOKING THOUGHTFUL
People know when you are thinking. They
can feel it as you draw within for a mini second to think about something—to answer
a question, to find just the right word—and people like thoughtful leaders. They
like to know that someone is responsible enough to care about how he will
handle their destiny or deal with their fears and concerns. Thoughtfulness is a
very attractive quality for a speaker, a leader, or a sales person. In contrast,
standup comics don’t have to be too thoughtful on stage, because standup comics
are only entertaining you and not attempting to impact your life. However,
leaders, speakers, and sales people should look thoughtful because when they don’t,
people don’t trust them. How does one look thoughtful? Don’t talk too fast,
pause before you answer a question, and practice the TalkPower program so that
you can look thoughtful in a relaxed and natural manner.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
The Likability Factor
I frequently ask my TalkPower client “ what is your personal
objective in giving a presentation?” The answer usually is: to communicate a
message, to sell a product, to convince them to do something, to unite people,
and other variations on these themes. The answers are usually about the speech,
never about the speaker. From my point of view, the most important personal
objective is to be likeable. By this
I mean general impression of confidence, ease, credibility, and warmth you
project so that people feel comfortable with you.
Likeability happens when you are in control of yourself.
Then you are able to be clear, not talk too fast, and your words flow with
ease. A likeable speaker has a much better chance of getting an idea across,
selling a product, convincing people to vote for him, and certainly winning an
election. Our resent history abounds with stories of politicians who seemingly
came out of nowhere to capture the public vote simply because people “like
them.” I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Now, the reason I make such a fuss about this likeability
notion is because so many people secretly believe that before they have a right
to ask others to listen to them, they have to be brilliant, superintelligent,
clever, witty, dynamic, innovative, or else they do not deserve to stand in
front of an audience and talk. As a result, either you avoid speaking or your
talk is top heavy with facts, statistics, attempts at inspiring
generalizations, and huff-and-puff.
How unnecessary! Just use the TalkPower formula
(the innovative concentration exercises, the focusing and stress reduction
techniques), tell stories, look away from your script at the audience from time
to time, handling yourself in a leader-like manner… In other words, be likable, and you will be a huge success!For the TalkPower formula see the kindle book or attend one of the in-person TalkPower workshops
www.talkpowerinc.com
TalkPower Kindle
Friday, August 21, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Where to Look
Should you make direct eye contact with the audience before
you begin speaking? The answer, you might be surprised to learn, is no.
Making eye contact (which means having a nonverbal eye to
eye conversation) distracts you at a time when you need your concentration to
focus on your first words, your adjustment to this high visibility, the
strangeness of the distance between yourself and the audience, your rapid heartbeat,
and the general shock of the performance situation. You need time, about 30
seconds or even more, to get used to all of this.
ADJUSTING TO THE AUDIENCE:
The next phase involves your awareness of the audience, so
that you can slip into an easy and comfortable relationship with them. This
will happen automatically if you stand still when you first face your audience.
You don’t have to do a thing except squeeze your toes three times slowly before
you speak your first words. This phase is enormously important. If you do it
correctly you will feel very much in control.
WHERE TO LOOK:
Look straight ahead at the faces in your audience, perhaps
at their foreheads or even their hair. Look neither too high above their heads,
nor so low that you appear to be looking at the floor. Making eye contact is
not necessary because if the audience looks into your eyes and you are looking
at their faces, you will feel as if you are making eye contact. The necessity
for direct eye contact is a myth. For example, when you go to the movies and
become involved with the story you laugh, you cry, you may become terrified,
yet none of the actors in the screen make eye contact with you. In the same
sense, when you are speaking, in is not necessary for you to look into the eyes
of your audience for them to feel involved with you. Just don’t look above or
below their faces. After two or three minutes have passed, and you feel you
have established yourself in front of your audience and your presentation is
flowing, you may choose to make direct eye contact with one or several of the
members in your audience, as long as it does not disturb your concentration. Do
what feels comfortable to you.
While keeping your gaze at the face level of your audience,
do not fix anyone with a prolonged stare. Actively staring into the eyes of
your audience implies that you are perusing them “Do you like me? Is this
good?” Don’t look for approval. The audience looks to you for leadership. Lead!
SCANNING THE ROOM:
When you fist stand in front of your audience, please—do not
mechanically scan the room, moving your head from right to left as if your eyes
where great flood lights emanating from a controlled tower. This is extremely
awkward and looks unnatural. Instead, as I have just said, when you first stand
in front of an audience, before you begin to speak, be as still as possible and
look straight ahead in the general direction of their faces. A smile is nice,
but it isn’t essential. If you can smile a small smile, smile. If you want the
complete attention of the audience, your physical stillness, rather than your
physical activity, will make this happen.
As your speech progresses and you become more comfortable,
from time to time, you can move your head slowly, looking at your audience to
the left or right. Once again, naturalness and comfort should decide when and
if you look at various people in the room. If at first this pose seems stiff and
robotic, do not change back to your old nervous behavior. Eventually, you will
relax into physical stillness so that you feel comfortable and empowered.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)