Find your unique voice

 

Three key elements in speaking to an audience:

PREPARE YOURSELF

PREPARE YOUR MESSAGE

PREPARE FOR YOUR SPEAKING SPACE

Two things people love to hear – laughter and the sound of their name!

1.    PREPARE YOURSELF

§  Find a  routine that you know relaxes you

§  Diaphragm Breathing relaxes your body and puts your voice in good shape.  The "production area" of your voice is in the core of your body – your diaphragm; and is the very basis of your speaking voice.

§  Confirm to yourself  (Self Talk) that you know the PURPOSE of your talk and you know the main facts.  Being familiar with your speech will negate any nerves.

§   You are going to do a fabulous job!

§  Believe in yourself

§  Be friends with your voice – do some yawns, hums, KA, GA ,HA , and deep breaths to release any tension in neck and shoulders

§  Grab that spotlight!   Enjoy and have fun!

2.    PREPARE YOUR MESSAGE

§  Who is your audience?

§  What do they know about the subject of your message?

§  What is the relationship between you and the people you are talking to?          

§  What’s in it for you?

§  What’s in it for them?

§  Connect with them in every way you know how – pose questions – have them answering  “yes or no” or at least nodding, wherever appropriate.  Once you have the audience’s attention – try not to let it go.

3.    PREPARE FOR YOUR SPEAKING SPACE (ENVIRONMENT)

§  Get a feel for your speaking space

§  Make sure all your technical equipment is working before you start

§  Avoid getting rushed or stressed into answering questions on the spot.  Maybe delay until a better time for you?  Better still, learn the art of answering questions

§  “Walk through” your performance which starts from when you rise from your chair to go to the speaking space.

§  Rehearse in the speaking space if possible

Two things people love to hear – laughter and the sound of their name!

I declare it's Spring!

Speak with Confidence

Find your unique voice….and speak with confidence!

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Some people have said they would rather be trampled by humans than talk in front of them. Here are some public speaking tips to help make public speaking less daunting.

There are only 3 areas to remember: 

1.  PREPARE YOURSELF
2.  PREPARE YOUR CONTENT
3.  PREPARE YOUR SPEAKING ENVIRONMENT

Let’s look at the first of them - PREPARE YOURSELF

So, Prepare Yourself.  What is it about yourself that you need to prepare?

Prepare and practice

Whether you’re using visual aids or not, prepare the content of your talk and then practise by rehearsing out loud.  No matter how nervous you are, if you’re fully prepared you’re much more likely to perform well.

Visualise your audience

Who is your audience?  Who is in your audience? (VIP’s for example).  What time of day is it?  Where are you on the Agenda? Where have they been? What have they heard immediately before your talk/presentation?  In other words – what is their time and content tolerance?

Your audience wants you to do well.  When you come in to your speaking space – eyeball them and give them a nod or a smile.  Speak to them as if you’re speaking to just one person.  Never underestimate the power of audience participation.   Bring them TO you – you don’t want them to be indifferent or remote.   (When preparing your speech have a look at the content of your talk to see where and how you can interact with the audience)

Be yourself

Find your unique voice.  Be true to your personality. If you’re a naturally serious person, then cracking jokes might sound forced and may not get the response you want.

Be yourself and people will be receptive to what you have to say.

Breathe and Make Noises………………

It’s the body’s natural response to take fast, shallow breaths when you’re nervous. Relax yourself by breathing deeply and slowly from your diaphragm.

Practise standing in the speakers/singers “resting position” – balanced, shoulders back, head straight – and breathe slowly from the diaphragm.  (This recommendation is repeated because of its importance to your self confidence).

Apparently, Jackie French, the Australian author and television presenter, used to make mooing sounds before speaking in public. It might sound funny, but it must have been a great way for Jackie to regulate each breath.  And, to relax.    

Other sounds you can practise, in the shower or travelling in the car are:

KA    HA     GA     - especially to make the voice mellow -   Mmmmmmmmmm and Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn    and the lovely sound of  Mooooooooooooo

Do it more and be confident

Easier said than done, but the only way to get better at public speaking is to take every opportunity to speak and to do it as often as possible. Yes, it might be scary, but with practice it’s possible to build your confidence and enjoy speaking!

Why do you need to LOOK and BE confident?  Because the key factors in your audience paying attention or customers doing business with you are these:

IMPACT –           do they like you?  They won’t buy if they don’t.

APPEARANCE – like it or not they are making critical judgements based on your appearance.

And only then, YOUR MESSAGE.  Your message isn’t really a message until it has been received by your audience in the manner in which you intended.

Whatever your purpose in speaking, instead of being frightening, speaking can be frighteningly beneficial! It can even become addictive.  

Ask me how you can discover the joy of speaking

 and the thrill of presenting! 

How To Prepare your Public Speaking Voice

Win Gold Medals with your Public Speaking Voice

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Your voice is unique to you and is the key feature of your speaking and performance.  That’s why you will want to develop and maintain your voice.

Speaking is a physical activity. Your voice and speech are powered by the core of your being – the diaphragm breath.

If you do normal breathing from the upper chest, there will be tension in the body and the upper chest and neck and you run the risk of strangling your breath and then your voice. 

Balanced posture is important.  Start from the neutral position – one hand clasped loosely on the opposite lower arm.  Balanced and centralised – stand comfortably.

Diaphragm breathing.  Inhale and exhale from the abdomen. The upper chest and shoulders do not move.  The head is straight and balanced, as if a piece of string that goes right up to the ceiling is holding your head up.

Yawn and loosen the mouth, teeth and tongue.  Do your warm up exercises – ka, ha and ga and mmmm….. and nnnn…..pretend you are a horse and do the horselips!  it's fun!

Quick Tips for Public Speakers

Smoking is deadly for speakers and singers.

Alcohol is not a good idea before speaking.  Much too risky as its effects are uncertain.

Avoid iced drinks. Drink room temperature water.

Don’t eat too much before you speak.  (Think like an athlete).

Gold Medal Speakers think like Athletes

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How to Structure your Speech or Presentation

 

 

Body of Presentation
Recommend writing this first.  Very likely that every other part of presentation will arise from this = the Title of the Presentation, the One Absolute Statement, The Opening, Closing and, of course, the Signpost. 

A suggestion that the Body be in 3 parts – no more. Widely accepted that a speaker can convey three major points and the audience remembers it. Anymore and it could be overload.

Better to keep it simple. And, you don’t have to tell everything you know in the one presentation. Leave the audience wanting to ask questions of you and asking for more information.

There are countless ways to structure the body of the talk. An example might be: General/Specific/For example. Past/Present/Future. Global/National/Local.

Opening  

Strong, catchy, anything that will capture immediate attention. (Often referred to as the “Hook”).    Must be strong.  Why?  You have only a matter of seconds as the audience makes its decision on whether you are worth their attention.  (And these days there are many distractions).

One Absolute Statement
  

If you were to summarise your presentation in one sentence it would be this.  Also make sure that everything in the presentation is congruent with this statement.

 Personal/Creative
 
After, or as part of your opening – connect with the audience by telling them a story – an anecdote – or something personal about yourself.  You see, as you begin your presentation they will be wondering about you – examining your impact and appearance – and wondering what you know about the subject you are about to present.  It will put their minds at rest if you are able to fully connect with them by telling them something personal, funny, or interesting about yourself and your relationship to/with the subject of your talk. 

Signpost 

This is where you tell the audience what you are going to tell them.  If your one absolute statement for example is “Please become an organ donor – sign up today”, you could signpost this by saying “Today I’m going to ask you to sign up to be an organ donor.  I’m going to tell you why, how and when you can be a donor – and at the end of my talk I’m going to ask you to come forward and sign up”.  (Your personal/creative could have been a true and dramatically told story of how one donor’s bequest saved several lives.

Summary:  Summarise key points.  Tell them what you told them.

Call to Action:  What do you want the audience to do when you have finished speaking?  If it’s not much, then why have you wasted your time and theirs?

Example of a Call to Action:  “I’ve described the desperate and urgent need.  I trust I have convinced you of the ultimate gesture a human can make.  Please come forward and sign to become a donor.”

Close:  Thank you for taking the time to consider and understand the powerful good for humanity your action can make. Thank you for coming forward and becoming a donor tonight.

Thank you on behalf of all organ recipients – past, present and future.  Their lives have been, are and will be in your hands.

Recommendation:  Say “Thank You”  by all means – but don’t end with “Thank You”.  It makes a strong ending much less strong.

Got some Tips to add?

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© Speak2Us | 0433 717 347 | sofia@speak2us.com.au

Business Culture in China

I've just got back from my first trip to China.  Beijing and Shanghai - for a very short visit -
10 days.  We were on a Squash Tour - we played at local clubs wherever we could find them.
And, in between we hit the tourist spots - and shopped till we dropped.  As a Speaking Coach, I was interested to find an article in the "Jing An Times" which illustrated a few tips on "How to Understand Chinese Business Culture".  It focused on 5 areas and here are the top tips in each.  (If you would like more info on these, email me at: sofia@speak2us.com.au

• Appearance and Greetings: Bow upon meeting.  If expecting to shake hands, wait till your host offers their hand first. 
• How to Behave and Communicate: Avoid large hand gestures.  Chinese people do not use their hand expressively and will find it distracting if you do.
• Gift giving and Respect: In China, gifts have symbolic meanings and choosing the right gift is a minefield. 
• Business Decision Making: Decisions are made slowly and with care, in China.
• Tips and Warnings: Never write on a business card that has been handed to you.

Accepting an Award with Class, Style and No “Humble”

Speech when accepting an Award
In accepting an award, you need to be gracious, grateful and humble. (But for heaven’s sake, don’t use the words “humble” or “I’m humbled”. “Humbled” is one of those “groan” words – seriously overused.) You also must be as prepared as you can possibly be.

What you are looking for, is to deliver a warm, personal story that acknowledges and thanks all the main players in your success or achievement. Ideally, something about you, something about the object of the achievement; and something about the people who got you there – and of course, acknowledgement of the sponsors/givers of the award.

Think about who and what to include in your speech

Who are all the players? (Stakeholders)

•   Who nominated you?

•   Who invited you to join this group/program/event?

•   What is your connection to this group/industry?

•   How do you feel about the people and the organisation’s goals?

•   Why are they giving you this award?

People will not remember all the details of what you say, but they will remember the stories you tell. Include a memorable incident, something entertaining or touching about the reason you are standing there receiving the Award.

Inspiration from the Oscars

When Russell Crowe won an Oscar for The Gladiator (2000), he dedicated it to “everyone who has seen the downside of disadvantage.” Then, when he received the 2002 Golden Globe Award for A Beautiful Mind, he gave credit to the people on whose life the film was based, offering special thanks to “John and Alicia Nash, for living such an inspirational love story.”

How long should you speak?  Always, long before your audience gets bored

If you have advance notice of the event, you can ask how long you are expected to speak. The shorter your time slot, the more you will need to practice! (A smaller gem takes more time to polish!)

When you start to speak, look directly at the audience. Never read your remarks. You can walk up on stage with notes, but they should consist of a few bullet points.

If you are to be introduced to the audience, write your own introduction and give it to the MC for the evening. With major events such as the Telstra Business Awards, your personal and company information may be well known to the Organisers and the MC for the event. You may have already supplied it, so it should be up to date. For other events, your information may be well known, but you may wish to emphasise certain aspects of your activities or your business. It is strongly recommended that you write your own introduction to fit the event and circumstances.

It’s better to have a few words rehearsed and ready, than to be caught speechless – or worse, say the wrong thing or too many words! A planned speech can help you avoid appearing over anxious. 

So be gracious. Be modest. But, be prepared!