Blog Addition: Dear friends and colleagues, we are starting a second weekly blog post on Thursdays, called “Quick Tips”. Each week we will provide topic specific tips to help you excel. We welcome your comments.
We start today with a common challenge many of us face–stage fright. It happens to many of us when we need to speak in front of a group: whether it’s a small group of colleagues, the management team or a large audience. Most all of us at some point will need to speak or present in front of others, and to do this, most of us need to break free from our comfort zone of staying out of the limelight.
So, to help we offer you Quick Tips for Effective Speaking:
Understand that effective speaking requires a spectrum of behaviors and skills. It is not just about the ability to “talk” in front of a group – a fear in and of itself that for many ranks above death.
1. The first critical element of speaking in front of others is to be able to get your message across to the audience. This requires the ability to formulate a clear, concise and meaningful message. You need to structure and “chunk” your message.(This is the formulative part of the speaking/presentation message, and next week’s Quick Tips further address this.)
2. The second element, and often more important for getting the audience’s attention and in having a real impact with the group, are the behaviors for effective speaking. Behaviors that are often referred to as “platform skills”. Some examples include:
-starting strong with a clear introduction of yourself and your purpose in a manner that entices people to listen (congruency of your verbal message and body language)
-connecting through humor (making light of yourself is usually best). Unless you are adept at telling jokes, we encourage you not to.
-using pauses and silence to provoke thinking and emphasize your points
-using eye contact (or perceived eye contact – that is looking over the head of an audience member) with people across the room
-reinforcing and repeating your message through different points and stories
-asking individuals and the groupprovoking questions to engage them and keep the information relevant to the audience
3. Actually practice your message/presentation. At the very least, rehearse it mentally in your mind.
4. Also important is to look your best. Personal presentation skills – that is how you present yourself to the audience – is important if you want to be taken seriously. Like it or not, people make immediate decisions about your professionalism and confidence based on how you present yourself. Why not use your personal presentation to your greatest advantage.
We welcome your comments and additions.
