Art Of Great Speaking

While you may be giving presentations in your business or your public speaking career, there are times in which you may be called upon to give an actual speech and not a presentation. One of the differences between the speech and the presentation is that the former should be read and the latter should be spoken.

So how do you read a speech effectively without sounding like you are reading?

The first thing you must do upon completion of your speech is to practice it out loud. This means going over it often enough so that you can read it well without mistakes. What this really means is that you must know your speech inside and out.

While I do not advocate memorization, I do urge you to memorize your opening 2 or 3 sentences. Without a doubt, the opening for any speech or presentation is the most difficult aspect of presenting. Getting through your opening smoothly, flawlessly, and without hesitation will bolster your confidence and make the rest of your delivery easier.

Why do I recommend not memorizing the rest of your speech? There are two reasons:

1. The likelihood of forgetting and thus having difficulty remembering where you were; and,

2. The chance of sounding rote or memorized, much like those callers who interrupt our dinner to try to sell us something.

If you practice your speech diligently and concentrate on your words, actually thinking about what you are saying, you will find it much easier to acknowledge your audience throughout your delivery. When you look up, make eye contact with your listeners. Of course, you can’t acknowledge everyone at one time, but you can at least look in one direction. Go back to your script and then look up again as you continue to ‘speak,’ this time focusing on a different section of the group.

Part of the secret of delivering a speech without sounding like you are reading is to have your attention more on your audience and less on your material. Should your eyes be glued to your script, however, you will not be able to make eye contact and that is a dead giveaway that you are reading to them. Remember, delivering a speech means public speaking, not public reading. (If you want to read to a group, join a book club at a library.)

Use variety in your voice when you speak and allow your facial expression and body language to further enhance your delivery. In doing so, you will be much more interesting to listen to.

If you can employ the above techniques, you will sound like you are talking to your listeners and not at them.

Bottom line? Treat your audience as if you were having a conversation in your living room and they will not be aware that you are reading to them.

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. To see how voice training can improve your life, both professionally and personally, visit Voice Dynamic

Ask anyone… It just makes sense that each time you prepare to deliver a presentation, you need to pay attention to who will be in your audience. But, how often have you really considered what impact the individual personalities of members or your audience will have on the outcome of your speech?

Psychologists tell us that our individual personalities are revealed in the characteristic patterns of our thinking, feeling and acting; that our personalities shape how we develop, perceive, learn, remember, think and feel. You display your own characteristics (personality) as you deliver your presentations. And, the members of your audience will display their personality (in terms of their individual wants and needs from your speech), though perhaps less notably, while you speak. Identifying and addressing the specific needs of your audience is one of the keys to success as a public speaker.

There have been a number of psychological testing methods developed to assess personality traits; our characteristic patterns of behavior and conscious motives. One popular approach to describing and classifying personalities, frequently used in business and career counseling, was developed by Isabel Briggs-Meyers and her mother Kathleen Briggs. They developed the “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator” which is a 126 question survey designed to identify preferences in management style and decision making. To get an accurate perspective of decision making preferences, in addition to completing your own survey, similar surveys are confidentially submitted by your superiors, peers and subordinates and are analyzed collectively and comparatively. Participants choose between characteristic responses such as: “Do you usually value sentiment more than logic, or do you value logic more than sentiment?” The process then calls for counting your preferences and labeling them as “feeling” or “thinking” types. Feeling types tend to be sensitive to values and are sympathetic, appreciative, and tactful. Thinking types tend to prefer an objective standard of truth and rely on analysis of available information before making a decision. The result of the analysis is to determine your preferences (personality) as primarily tending to be revealed as one of four personality types: Expressive, Driver, Analytical or Amiable.

Another method of factor analysis, developed by Hans Eysenck and Sybil Eysenck involves comparative rating of your preferences of extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability. In this method participants are rated (personally and by others) according to where they rank on a horizontal scale between being introverted on the left and extraverted on the right. The participant is then also rated on a vertical scale between unstable at the top and stable at the bottom. The results are shown in a two dimensional chart that provides insights into the participant’s behavioral characteristics: • Introverted/Unstable – moody, reserved, anxious, sober, quiet, pessimistic • Extroverted/Unstable – touchy, restless, aggressive, excitable, changeable, impulsive, active • Introverted/Stable – passive, careful, thoughtful, peaceful, controlled, reliable, calm • Extroverted/Stable – sociable, outgoing, talkative, responsive, easygoing, lively, carefree

In 1986, McCrae & Costa, in American Psychologist, 41, p.1002, offered what they believe tells a more rounded story about someone’s personality. They identified a set of factors called the “Big Five”. Their premise was that by asking five questions about someone you can reveal a lot about that person. These questions focus on emotional stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The results plot a person’s preferences such as: calm vs. anxious; secure vs. insecure; self-satisfied vs. self pittying; sociable vs. retiring; fun-loving vs. sober; affectionate vs. reserved; imaginative vs. practical; preference for variety vs. for routine; independent vs. conforming; soft-hearted vs. ruthless; trusting vs. suspicious; helpful vs. cooperative; organized vs. disorganized; careful vs. careless; and disciplined vs. impulsive.

All of these assessment techniques and the focus on traits are simply intended to profile a person’s behavior patterns, not to reveal extensive personality dynamics. These techniques can provide quick assessments of a single trait such as (referring back to Myers-Briggs) the tendencies of • “Expressive” to be bold, visionary, confident, energetic, enthusiastic, and just plain fun! Many marketing and sales people exhibit these behaviors. • The analysis, even at a cursory level, shows how “Drivers” tend to be direct, bold, goal oriented, decisive, strong-willed, and confident. • An “Analytical” will display traits of being steady, dependable, high integrity, detail oriented, orderly and potentially a bit of a perfectionist. • And, of course, the “Amiable” will also tend towards being steady, dependable, consistent, empathetic, high integrity, and trusting, Expressive people help gain cooperation – they are the cheerleaders in an organization. Drivers” focus on achieving the bottom line and provide leadership. Analytical people are very effective at resolving ambiguity and conflicts. Amiable people are great at building trust.

As we point out in our public speaking classes, we have found that a person’s dominant personality type (we use the Myers-Briggs categories) usually determines what strengths and weaknesses a speaker has during presentations and which of the four sets of leadership principles we share with them will be most helpful and more natural for that person. When you determine which temperament you feel is your most dominant, and you couple that with an assessment of the probable temperaments of members of your intended audience, you are much better prepared to deliver your speech in a manner that they will find to be relevant and interesting. You will be answering a very important question that every person in your audience is ALWAYS asking themselves: “What’s in this for me and why should I pay attention?”

Some closing thoughts: For a characteristic to be a genuine personality trait it must persist over time and across situations. People don’t always act with predictable consistency. Your average creativity in helping others to think “outside the box”, your usual focus on building trust and rapport, or your typical focus on the “bottom-line”, over many situations is predictable. It’s the same for your audience. At any given moment, the immediate situation (internal and external factors) can be powerful influences of a person’s behavior, especially when the situation makes clear demands. It’s easier to predict what a person driving a car will do at a traffic light based on the color of traffic lights than from knowing their personality. But, individual differences in some traits, e.g., amiable vs. analytical, can usually be fairly quickly perceived. I repeatedly state to my “Fearless Presentations” students that “It is not about me and what I think I need to say; it’s about the members of my audience and what they need to hear!” Al Pillarelli, LLC, is an instructor and personal coach for The Leader’s Institute®, Management and Supervisor Training. His classes focus on overcoming the fear of public speaking, building confident and autonomous leaders, and improving employee morale. He can be reached toll-free at 1-800-872-7830.

Whether you’re standing before an audience of businesspeople or your classmates, the effect is the same. All of your preparation flies out the window, your knees knock together and you must force yourself to take the stage. Public speaking is a terrifying experience for most people, but it need not be. Most people would rather have a root canal performed than speak in front of a group of people. However, performing well in this environment is not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, it can be an enjoyable experience once you get past your fear of public speaking.

To suceed in the corporate world and to some extent your own personal world, overcoming your fear of public speaking is essential. Which poses the questions: How do you get past this seemingly insurmountable obstacle? How do you bury that fear deep in your heart and not let it overwhelm your defenses? How do you survive such a ghastly ordeal?

1. It’s Not as Bad as It Seems The very first thing you need to understand is that it is not as bad as it seems. You are focusing on the bad things, the things that might happen or could happen that would make you seem foolish or unprepared, that would make your audience laugh in derision, rather than in good humor. Such fears are natural, but baseless. The audience is not there to laugh at you; they have no desire to pick apart your performance looking for absurdities. They have come to hear you speak. They believe you have valuable information to impart and they want to know what you have to say. They obviously place a great deal of value on your opinion and expertise; else, they would have found somewhere else to go.

2. Everyone Experiences a Fear of Public Speaking Everyone experiences a fear of public speaking, no matter how experienced a speaker they might be. This is important to understand – everyone feels the same fear, the same trepidation. Everyone gets the same butterflies in their stomach and experiences the same sweat-slicked palms; even those with years of experience under their belts still succumb to the fear of public speaking. So what does this tell you? It tells you two things: first, the fear you feel is natural and nothing of which to be ashamed. Second, it tells you that you are not alone and if you work through it, you can reap tremendous rewards.

3. You are the Expert – You were Chosen to Speak for a Reason Perhaps you have the most in-depth understanding of a particular product’s features. Perhaps you are responsible for developing and implementing new techniques with wide-ranging ramifications. Maybe you are the only person who understands your company’s new product/service and must explain how it works to potential investors or even to company sales reps. Regardless of the reason, you are the expert – it was no mere accident you were chosen to speak at this event. You have important, vital, unique information to impart, which brings enormous value to your audience. This is your chance to share your information, so that alone should help you resolve your fear for public speaking.

4. Understand the Value You Bring to the Table Once you understand the value you bring to the table, the rest of the process is very simple. While overcoming that fear of public speaking might seem impossible, you can use numerous techniques to help you move past it. For instance, meditation-style breathing techniques, used before you take the stage, will help slow your racing heart and stem the flood of adrenaline surging through your body.

Remember that the audience is likely not going to notice your sweating palms or your nervousness; in many ways, fear of public speaking is simply all in your mind. Having a positive mindset and the right outlook on the event will help you move past this fear. Remember, you are the expert here, take that to heart, and all else will fall into place and you can confidently deliver your engaging speech.

David Wilkins has put together a complementary 20 page report full of simple and effective ways to reduce your fear of public speaking, which will help you quickly deal with and solve any anxiety issues. To download it instantly visit: http://www.publicspeakingmentor.com/banishfearreport.html

For many people, getting through one’s speech or presentation as quickly as possible seems to be the objective when faced with the horror of addressing an audience. While they may have planned on 20 minutes for their presentation, once they begin, they are off to the races and manage to spit it out in 10!

On the opposite side of that coin, however, are those who ramble; and, while the ramblers are a minority, they are out there. If you have a tendency to go on and on aimlessly, you must put an end to that quirk. Rambling is akin to a neon light advertising poor organizational skills within your presentation. And, while some in your audience may enjoy a good ramble, there are many more who would prefer that you get to the point.

Rambling generally occurs once the speaker becomes comfortable; but, it can also happen to those who are extremely nervous. Nervousness is like a wild animal that needs to be tamed. Because most are unable to control the beast, they are not in control of what comes out of their mouth. We in the audience can hear and see it in the presenter: quivering voice in which one’s pitch continues to rise, uncontrollable speed, and hands that shake as well as the lips. For the ramblers, the problem is that their thoughts are scattered and they are unable to keep to their outline or their script.

How do you solve the problem of rambling?

1. Practice your material out loud daily. This means that you must know your material by means of opening, development (2-5 subtopics), and closing. When you practice, work on it in sections. Then when you are in the shower or driving to work or walking the dog, for example, go through each section individually. This advice is very similar to learning a piece of music which can also be broken down into sections. If you make a mistake in a particular section, you don’t practice the entire piece over and over, you practice the one area that is giving you trouble. The learning of your presentation is very similar: break it down into sections and learn each section as a whole.

2. Stick to your Script. While rambling is most uncommon in a speech in which you are ‘reading’ words that you have formalized in a particular fashion, it is certainly more often heard in a presentation in which you are speaking around ideas and thoughts. [By the way, if you are reading your presentation, you just failed the course. Your audience didn't come to hear you read to them! It is called public speaking for a reason.]

3. Watch your anecdotes. Anecdotes, those wonderful stories which add interest and credibility to you as a speaker, can be dangerous. It is best to have your anecdotes firmly ensconced in your script; however, you may find that you want to add some additional material because of your audience. This is where the danger lies. Audiences vary as much as speakers; and, you may have an exceptionally receptive audience which can move you to want to add more material. The problem is two-fold: by adding more material, you are a) lengthening your presentation and b) taking the chance of losing your place. Suffice it to say that you are being led off track. And, getting back on track can be a nightmare.

It is always better to say too little than to say too much; so stop the rambling and stick to your script. You audience will thank you. The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit Voice Dynamic and watch Nancy as she describes Your Least Developed Tool!

One way that you and your business can be seen as the expert in your niche, is to take advantage of public speaking opportunities. There are so many different venues and types of speaking engagements that there’s sure to be one that fits you!

Speaking (in person) to groups can be a very powerful marketing strategy. Listed below are many of the benefits and results you can reap when you add speaking to your marketing plan:

1. Expand your visibility and increase your exposure

Get known locally, nationally, internationally – whichever one you’re aiming for. Gain visibility amongst prospects, clients, your community, referral partners, peers, joint venture partners and affiliates – anyone really that you come in contact with in business.

2. Be seen as an expert

When you share your expertise and knowledge while speaking, you gain recognition as an expert in your specific field.

3. Give people a taste of what you offer

Speaking in front of people lets them hear first-hand what you do and how you can potentially help them. You can answer people’s questions and leave them with a very clear picture of what you have to offer to them.

4. Build business and personal relationships

Speaking is another form of networking, as you can forge relationships before, during and after your talk. The people you meet at your talk can become your partners, referrers, customers, clients and friends. 5. Grow your list of prospects and clients

Let’s face it, that’s a big part of why a person would add speaking to their marketing repertoire – the chance to get in front of large groups of people – some of whom will become paying customers, then and/or later.

6. Open the door to bigger and more opportunities

As you get known as a speaker, other doors will open to you: you’ll be asked to contribute to books, be interviewed by media, invited to speak at someone’s event, be offered higher paid speaking gigs

7. Increase your skills

The more talks and presentations you write, prepare for and give, the better your professional skills get. You’ll hone many skills that you can use in all facets of your business – not just speaking.

8. Leverage your time

You can better leverage your time by spending a few hours and connecting with a large number of people at once.

9. Build connection

A great presentation will move, inspire, motivate people and help them get to know, like and trust you. A face-to-face talk with a room full of people can establish instant rapport and help them feel they’ve built some kind of connection with you.

Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to take action with their marketing in order to get more results and more profits. To learn all about her unique “done-for-you” ebooks called Ready Made Marketing Plans™ and to sign up for her FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com