Art Of Great Speaking

One of the best tools for improving your presentation skills is to video-record yourself as a means of practice. While you may think this is a bit extreme, it really isn’t: you will learn so much by watching yourself on video. A lot of people are recorded during their presentation, but imagine the advantage if you record yourself beforehand so that you can correct your mistakes as well as the ‘tics’, the ums, ahs & uhs, and any other mannerisms you may not like.

The first step, however, is to practice your material out loud. I tell this to my clients and my students over and over; and still, I have people that don’t practice their material. My question is why?

If you were to give a piano recital, you would practice; if you were to enter a golf tournament, you would practice; if you were to take a driver’s test, you would practice. What makes you think you can give a presentation or deliver a speech without practicing? Going over it in your mind is not practice…saying it OUT LOUD is!

After practicing your material, do it again with your camcorder on. [As an aid for my clients, I place a huge stuffed gorilla on the sofa and 'Goofy' on an adjacent chair so that my presenters feel like they are talking to an audience. Dolls and mannequins will also work.] Go through your entire presentation and then play it back and study it. Decide what you like and what you don’t like.

Then ask yourself an important question. Overall, did you enjoy your presentation? Forget the mistakes, just look at the entire piece and judge it in its entirety. Mistakes are not important at this particular time. Was your delivery good? Did you convey what you wanted to say in an entertaining, enjoyable, interesting manner? Feeling good about your presentation skills is an important acknowledgement because if you enjoyed it, so too will your audience.

If, on the other hand, you didn’t like it, ask yourself why.

Did you acknowledge your ‘audience’ or were your eyes glued to your notes or your script? Did you show any emotion in speaking or was your face frozen in fear? Did you move during your delivery or were you standing perfectly still? Did you read to your audience or were you able to sound conversational? (Remember: this is not a reading at the library or Barnes & Noble!) Were there a lot of ums and ahs or was your speech smooth flowing?

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself about your style of delivery; but, more importantly, ask yourself if you are able to correct these faults on your own or could use some training.

Just as all musicians and athletes have had training so too should those involved in public speaking. Most people are not born natural speakers; it takes practice; it takes constructive criticism; and, it all begins by recording yourself on a camcorder first.

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 DynamicYour Least Developed Tool! and watch Nancy as she describes

That which makes the voice truly interesting to listen to is color. Color is the life, the emotion, the animation one exudes in talking, be it at the lectern, in the sales meeting, over the phone or in a one-on-one conversation. Through my many years as a voice specialist, I have discovered some very interesting correlations between the professions we choose and whether we speak with color. At the top of that list are athletes, research scientists, and CPA’s who often exhibit little or no expression in their delivery. (Please understand that I am generalizing.)

Color is heard not only in the voice but is seen in one’s facial expression as well as one’s body language. Harrison Ford is a wonderful example of excellent facial expression, excellent body language. The tone of his voice is somewhat static – he doesn’t display a lot of variety in his voice – but as an actor in the types of roles he plays, he almost doesn’t need vocal variety: his face and his body display or ‘speak’ every emotion he is feeling.

Step 1

To see just how expressive you are (or aren’t!), watch your face in a mirror and say the following statement – She said yes – as if you were delighted. Now say those words again – She said yes – as if you were disappointed. Did you notice a difference in your facial expression between delight and disappointment? If there was no difference, then you probably need some work.

Step 2

Let’s work with – She said yes – again. This time when you look in the mirror, smile when you say it and nod your head up and down just a bit. (Don’t overdue it.) Did you notice a difference? Now when you say – She said yes – I want you to frown and shake your head back and forth as if you were sad or disappointed. Was there a difference? If you noticed a difference, then you’ve just taken the 2nd step to speaking with color.

Step 3

Record yourself saying – She said yes – the first time as if you were delighted (you just found out you won the lottery) and the second time as if you were disappointed (your mother-in-law is coming to visit for 6 months). Play back the recording. You should notice quite a difference if you can ‘act’ in those two manners. I’m not advising you to act in normal conversation; however, expressing some emotion after finding out you just won the lottery or discovering your mother-in-law’s impending visit is normal. It is natural. It is what most people do.

When I teach color I explain to my clients that I want them to straddle the fence, meaning too much color is as bad as not enough color. Sometimes a client will exaggerate his/her ‘color’ which is not what I’m looking for. Exaggerated color is seen on the stage. That is the only place for it. Exaggerated expression sounds ridiculous because it is inappropriate. So if you already express emotion when you speak beware that you don’t go too far in improving on your delivery.

At the lectern, however, I often find that many people who are normally quite expressive have a tendency to lose their life, their color, their emotion. They are so overcome with panic and fear, that they don’t allow themselves to be expressive. Their voices become flat and their faces pale as they spit out a pile of words with little or no emotion. If this sounds like you, then you need to change.

A colorful delivery of your presentation or your speech is what is going to grab and keep your audience’s attention. When you can be expressive on the podium, then you are on the path to becoming a dynamic public speaker.

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group session in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit her website at: http://www.voicedynamic.com

Practicing for presentations can waste more of your key personnel time then almost any

other business activity. The possible exception being useless meetings! To maximize your

planning efforts just follow these 5 easy steps. You will find that you can streamline the

process and make Presentation Practice much more productive.

*There must be One Person in Charge. This person has responsibility for scheduling,

coordinating and, perhaps most importantly, communicating with all of the presentation team

members. Preferably this is a staff position working in Business Development who can be

assigned the job. Never put a busy executive in charge of the day to day process.

*Select the Presentation Team Early. Be sure to determine who is required to be a

presenter. Almost always the client wants to meet and hear from the people working

directly on the project, not just the sales group.

* A detailed presentation schedule is mandatory. Everyone must understand what the plan

is. At a minimum the schedule needs to show the following: Presentation date and time.

Team practices and who needs to be present along with where and when practices will be

held. A block of time needs to be allocated for preparing visual aids. They can be power

point slides, presentation boards, handouts, leave behinds, or anything else that may need

to be created for the presentation. The schedule needs to be distributed to all team

members as quickly as possible to allow maximum time for individuals block out times in their personal schedules.

*When practices are scheduled everyone must be prepared to practice. This sounds redundant

but I can’t tell you how often I have heard people complain over what a waste of time a

practice session was. Having a room full of people waiting for someone to finish the power

point presentation slides is not where you want to be.

*Communicate everything pertaining to schedule with everyone as quickly as possible.

Again, numerous times I have seen practice sessions rescheduled without letting everyone

know. The result is always a conference room of senior staff with nothing to do! They

didn’t know the practice had been rescheduled.

Try these steps and you will be surprise at how much more productive your Presentation

Planning will become.

Allen Jossim is a retired executive and freelance writer with much presentation and public

speaking experience. Please go to his blog Public Speaking – You Can Do It! where helpful information

is always available. Allen Jossim has sold stamps and collectibles on ebay for 12 years. He also is a successful freelance writer. Allen is a retired executive from a major international commercial construction firm who enjoys living in rural north Georgia with his wife, dogs and cats!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Guthrie

Article Storehouse | How to Build a Powerful Presentation from Scratch – Part 1 of 2

How to Build a Powerful Presentation from Scratch – Part 1 of 2

By: Andy Grant

In this two-part series, we’ll explore the finer points of crafting a powerful presentation. During part one, we cover the basics – but don’t be fooled by the simplicity of these tips! All the best presentations have these characteristics in common.

1. Less is more.

Let’s face it – we live in the age of Twitter communication, where anything longer than a sentence starts to lose our interest. We’re constantly being bombarded with information at every turn, so it pays to keep things brief. Sound bites rule! Of course you’ll want to have supporting information to back up any bold declarations you make, but there is something to be said for brevity. Don’t be afraid to end early…nail this presentation and you just might get invited back to speak in more detail on your chosen topic!

2. Keep it relevant.

The lecture format is passe’. Keep the mood fresh and engaging, invite questions and audience participation, and if you have a longer presentation, incorporate an activity or exercise that gets people involved while driving home a key point. Use current references and analogies, don’t be afraid to weave in pop culture references if you can make it relate to your key point (assuming this is a match for your audience).

3. Be enthusiastic.

Odds are, you can fondly remember a teacher from your grade school days and you may remember things that he or she taught you – even if you didn’t particularly like the subject itself! Likeable people keep us interested and engaged, and enthusiasm is contagious. Bring your own passion into your presentation and your audience will sit up and take notice — even if the very same material would have bored them on paper.

4. Know when to hold ‘em

It is positively baffling how many speakers and presenters don’t know how to simply and effectively use audiovisuals. Used properly, these tools can enhance a presentation, drive home key points, and keep the focus where it belongs: on the speaker. Anything else becomes a distraction that leads to boredom. Look around – there are plenty of articles here on this blog that demystify the proper use of rental projectors and audiovisual support. Read up on the subject matter and you can master this quickly and easily!

5. Meat and potatoes

Be sure to structure your presentation so that it has plenty of meat (valuable subject matter, new information, useful tips, etc.) as well as potatoes (such as supporting explanations, demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and exercises or material designed to reinforce the key points). A presentation that’s “all-meat” often gives too much new material without allowing for integration, which may result in a much lower retention of the information by the audience. Similarly, an “all-potato” presentation lets the participant walk away feeling as though they learned nothing new or useful. As a presenter, it’s up to you to strike a balance.

By following these simple steps, you can ensure that your presentation packs a punch and keeps your audience engaged.

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