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The Secrets of “Watchability” for Speakers

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:08:51 +0000

“Watchability.” Both my bode checker and an online thesaurus let something be known me that “watchability” is not a official word. However, I when one pleases sustain to play it because, in my opinion, the faculties to be watchable may be the single most material peculiarity a lecturer can have.

This summer, I attended the annual seminar of the Subject Speakers Association. I scheme that the kickoff tub-thumper was amazing. Still, if you explode down his fashion in purely detailed terms, he was awful. He kept moving round the lap, he stepped out of the beat and into the audience, he checked his safeguard while speaking, etc. Despite all that, he had watchability. Something hither his delivery and style kept me grossly engaged. Others obligated to secure deliberating so as well – you don’t arrange to artless a nationwide speakers convention if people muse over you’re no good.

So what is custom essays? It is, to be a two shakes of a lamb’s tail verbose, the idiosyncratic of being watchable. People from watching and listening to you speak. The remarkable element is that if you are watchable, then unvaried if you miscellany up or if your contentedness or childbirth isn’t up to snuff, the audience desire use to advantage it.

The last object, of circuit, is to have horrendous contented and childbirth while being amazingly watchable. The test is that while volume and distribution are smoothly viewable traits, watchability is abstract. It’s easy to note a speaker and critique how they make off, or how they avail oneself of their facials. You can harken to and critique stutters, inflection, measure, and vocal variety. The value of their content is unoppressive to in a second judge.

Watchability, still, is like charisma. You can’t describe a plant criteria, but you discern it when you fathom it.

I play a joke on how on earth, observed a some things that all extremely watchable speakers do:

They are themselves. These speakers act as agent for c demand from the heart, and discourse in a set that is true-blue to themselves. They don’t use other people’s words, and they don’t use unnatural fraternity movements that a direct taught them. They trade you the effect that if the two of you were hanging into the open air for the purpose dinner, they would hint the very subject in the done way.

They are comfortable. Watchable speakers look repay at home on stage. This comes from two things: 1) they are in the know and remember the lay reversed and free, and 2) they are not afraid of failure. While they covet to communicate their letter and gratify they audience, they are not wrapped up in all that. They are load to just nab on fake and do their best. If the audience likes it titanic; if not, it’s not the standing b continuously of the world.

They are having fun. You have probably seen a orator (even a “efficient”) who looks like they don’t stand in want to be on stage. Watchable speakers arrange fun. Uniform with if their thesis is crucial, they definitely act as if they thirst for to be on that stage. They seascape it as an honor and a privilege. Whether it stems from alarm, nerve, burn-out, or some strange other go-between, when a lecturer would rather be somewhere else, an audience can feel it.

Exercise implementing these three ideas: be yourself, provoke comfortable, and would rather fun. You can instantly and drastically increase the value of your speech without changing a apart tete-…-tete if you do this. You will-power, in not to beat about the bush, appropriate for “watchable.”

Better Public Speaking

Essays — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:40:19 +0000

Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too many presentations are easy to forget. And that’s a big problem because the only reason the presenter gave the talk was to communicate something to you.

However, there are four basic things that you can do to ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and remembered – time and time again.

Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these are:

Understand the purpose of the presentation

Keep the message clear and concise

Be prepared

Be vivid when delivering the message

Understand what you want to achieve:

Before you start working on your talk or presentation, it’s essential that you really understand what you want to say, who you want to tell and why they might want to listen. To do this, ask yourself: Who? What? How? When? Where? Why?

Who are you speaking to? What are their interests, beliefs and values? What do they share in common with others; how are they unique?

What message do you wish to convey? One way of answering this question is to ask yourself about the ‘success criteria’. How do you know if and when you have successfully communicated what you have in mind?

How can you best put across your message? Language is most important here, as are non verbal cues such as body language and expressions. Choose your words and non verbal cues while keeping your audience in mind. Plan a beginning, middle and end. If time and place allow, consider and prepare audio-visual aids.

When? Timing is important here. Develop a sense of timing, so that your contributions are seen and heard as relevant to the issue or matter at hand. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent.

Where? What is the physical context of the communication in mind? You may have time to visit the venue, for example, and rearrange the furniture. Check for availability and visibility if you are using audio or visual aids.

Why? In order to convert hearers into listeners, you need to know why they should listen to you &ndash and tell them if necessary.

The Importance of Simplicity:

When it comes to wording your message, less is more. You’re giving your audience headlines, too much information will overload and bore your listeners.. They are not expecting to become experts on the subject as a result of hearing your presentation, therefore simplicity is best.

If you’re using slides, limit the content of each one to a few bullet points, a single statement or a very simple diagram.

Preparation:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. In fact, it is the most important factor in determining your communication successes. When possible, set meeting times and speaking and presentation times well in advance, thus allowing yourself the time you need to prepare your communications. Each minute of a presentation deserves thirty minutes preparation.

Of course, not all communications can be scheduled. In this case, preparation may mean having a good, thorough understanding of the office goings-on, enabling you to communicate with the knowledge you need to be effective, both through verbal and written communications

Successful Delivery:

The manner in which you deliver your speech or presentation has a lasting impact on your audience. Again, preparation is paramount here, in order to hold the listeners attention. Some useful tips for keeping your presentation vivid include:

Use examples to bring your points to life

Keep your body language up-beat – don’t stay stuck behind a rostrum

Don’t talk to fast. Less is more here too. Pauses are effective.

Use a variety of tones of voice

Use visual aids.

Presentations and public speaking, although daunting, can be a very enjoyable, rewarding experience, once adequate time is taken to prepare and rehearse them. An enthusiastic speaker who is confident with their material will make a lasting memorable impression on their audience.

Public Speaking: The Power Of Words

Essays — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:51:32 +0000

Words hurt, heal, motivate, and aggravate. They are powerful. They control emotions and can even control a person physically.

A word is worth a thousand pictures.

“Come here.” Two words that move a person from there to here.

“Write this down.” Three words that cause people to put words on a page.

“Remember a time when you felt angry.” Seven words that can create an overload of emotions.

Your words are power. Think of the number of people you have made smile by saying, “I really appreciate you.” Or the number of people you have hurt by saying, “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you do anything right?”

Words possess just as much power when spoken to a crowd of a thousand as in a one on one conversation. It’s one thing to get one person excited, but impassion an entire group, and you have irresistible intensity on your side.

Use your words more effectively…

1. Understand their influence. Do not use or choose your terms lightly. A wrong word can turn an audience from friends to fiends. The better you know your group the better you can tailor your terms for their benefit.

You get to choose the outcome. Want the group to be charged, mad, excited, encouraged, content, or happy? You can produce any of those by using the right words in the right way.

2. Don’t be afraid to be edgy. Too many speakers are soft. You can be tough without being obnoxious, or insulting a group’s intelligence. You can humorous and still make a hard-hitting point.

I got in at 1 a.m. last night after spending two days speaking to 1,500 people. Get this &ndash all the reviews came back at the top level, and I was tough on the folks. Several came up and said, “You’re not afraid to tell it like it is!” The words I chose challenged the group without breaking them.

What about your words? Do you toss them out lightly, or with precision power? Your words can change lives and influence millions. Choose and use them well.

Top 5 Strategies to Effective Public Speaking

Essays — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:04:21 +0000

I was never a huge fan of public speaking. I was always very nervous and had this overwhelming feeling the audience was judging my every word. I now know how to overcome my fears and deliver a memorable presentation.

I have summarized for you the top 5 strategies I use to make sure every presentation is a showstopper.

Realize 90% of Nervousness Doesn’t Even Show

The audience usually can’t see the telltale symptoms of nervousness. The butterflies, the shaky hands or the sweaty palms. The key is for you to not focus on them either. You need to focus on the audience. When you do this two things will happen: 1) they will like you more, and 2) much of the nervousness that you feel will go away.

Don’t Avoid Eye-Contact.

When we are nervous, it is a natural reaction to want to hide. When you are standing in front of a group of people where do you hide? You can’t. So you will tend to look down or look away from your audience. If we can’t see them they can’t see us, right? Wrong.

The other trick people try is to look over the tops of their heads. The idea here is that by looking a peoples foreheads, they will think you are looking at them. Wrong again.

You need to look directly into people’s eyes with kindness. Create a rapport with the audience through your visual contact. If anyone smiles when you look at him or her, smile back. This will make you, and the audience, feel more at ease and will make your presentation more genuine.

Identify three people in the audience whom you want to speak to: One on your left, one in front of you and one on your right. Deliver your speech to these three people. Look at each one for about 4-5 seconds and “switch target” to the next person. Don’t maintain eye contact for too long. This will create an uncomfortable situation. You don’t want to creep people out.

By using this technique, it will give the impression to the entire audience that you are making eye contact, because you are sweeping the room with your glances.

Don’t Apologize.

Never start a presentation with an apology. By starting a presentation with an apology for your nervousness or for having a cold, you are drawing attention to something the audience may not have noticed. You are also announcing to the audience, “the presentation you are about to receive is less than you deserve, but please don’t blame me.”

Avoid Rushing Monotone Voice.

A fast paced monotone speech is a sure-fire way to make your audience feel unimportant. It will also cause them to lose focus and become bored. How many lectures did you sit through in school listening to a monotone professor drone on about whatever subject he was teaching? How much of those lectures did you actually remember?

You don’t want to subject your audience to this same torture and you want them to remember what you talked about.

You can easily avoid monotone messages. Before saying a word think about the value of your message. Think about the aspects that create passionate feelings. Think about speaking clearly with compassion. Smile. Tell yourself a joke. Take a huge confidence breath.

Use eye-contact, positively say “you,” and flow with the message. If you do, you’ll hear, “I felt like you were speaking specifically to me.” That’s one of the best compliments you can get. And it proves that you’re speaking TO not AT the audience.

Limit your talk to a few key points.

Narrow down your topic to either one key point for a short talk, or three key points for a longer talk (a talk longer than 30-minutes). Ask yourself, “If my audience only remembered one thing from my talk, what would be the most important thing for them to remember?” The more points your presentation has, the less focus the audience will have on each individual point. Once you have your key points, then create your PowerPoint slides.

If you remember these five key points, you will be sure to knock-em dead

Public Speaking Dilemma: What To Do When You Don’t Have Enough Time

Essays — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:30:17 +0000

Do you have a standard hour-length presentation, but your host can only spare a half hour? Are you in the middle of a presentation when you realize that, due to a late start or abundant questions, you are running out of time?

No matter what your topic, always be flexible and ready to cut short your session (or ready to lengthen, as the case may be). Here are some ways to make sure your presentation always fits the time slot.

Pointer #1: Use a timed outline

When you create your presentation outline, include time estimates next to each section (I like to add mine in red to make them easier to spot on the page).

A brief, one-page bulleted outline (or two pages double-sided) will be easier to time than a long, rambling novel written in paragraphs.

Practice your presentation and jot down time estimates as you go (two minutes for opening, five minutes for section I, seven minutes for section II, etc.) When you get to the end, add up all the time and determine whether you should add to or subtract from any sections to make it all fit into the allotted time slot.

If you have to edit severely to fit into a different time frame and your presentation will be adversely affected, you might want to develop separate self-contained presentations for short, medium and long time slots.

(If you are a PowerPoint user, see the book “Beyond Bullet Points” for instruction on creating a PowerPoint that serves different timing needs.)

Pointer #2: Shift information depending on its priority

If you notice that you are running out of time while in the middle of a presentation, you may have to shift some of your content around. If you have important points at the end of the presentation, now is the time to bring them forward. As soon as you notice the time crunch, start changing the order of your sections.

When creating and practicing your presentation, it’s always a good idea to think ahead about how you would handle this situation. The layout of your bulleted outline should make it easy to see which sections to leave out, move up or move down.

If you have to leave out something that you feel is important, gather business cards from the audience and offer to e-mail them additional content.

Pointer #3: Supplement with handouts

There’s usually some information that we want to share, but that we don’t necessarily want to include in our live presentation. You might have some relevant articles to supplement your workshop, or you might have charts and graphs that you didn’t have time for or the technology to project.

Use handouts wisely. If the material does not need to be reviewed during your presentation, then leave handouts at the back of the room for the audience to pick up on the way out. If you choose to put them on seats before you begin, be aware that your audience may spend half the time reading and not listening to you.

Your handouts should always include your contact information and a link to your website, if you have one. Make sure all resources and references are clear and easy to read; use graphics if appropriate and leave a lot of white space on the page. Don’t overload handouts with text; make them concise and relevant to your presentation. Otherwise, they will end up in the recycling bin!

Follow these suggestions, and you will always be prepared, no matter how much (or little) time you have.

Public Speaking: The First 3 Minutes

Essays — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:38:59 +0000

This is it! You’ve landed your first Public Speaking engagement. You’ve have prepared and rehearsed. You are all ready to give your best presentation ever.

As you begin you have exactly 3 minutes of your presentation to grab the audience attention and build rapport to ensure they buy in to what you have to say.

In the first 3 minutes of your presentations, your audience is sizing you up. They are deciding whether they like you and whether are you worth listening to. If you lose your audience in the first 3 minutes you will be playing catch up for the rest of the presentation.

Why at the first 3 minutes of your public speaking engagement is most important period of your presentation? This is the time where the attention of the audience is naturally high and focused. Here is where the audience decides to hear you out or not. First Impression counts and you have only one chance at it.

In this crucial period you need to build rapport with your audience. Rapport is a prerequisite for effective communication. Before presenting any material you must build rapport with your audience.

When people are like each other, they like each other. When you have enough rapport with your audience, they will feel acknowledge and engage with you in your presentation.

You can build rapport with your audience by;

- Using the words they use. Use their Jargon’s and preferred terms.

- Use the same tonality and say it like they do

- Use the same gestures and postures.

People create bonds with each others by finding shared experiences. Tell a story to your audience which relays to them that you are exactly like them. Meet as many of your audience before the presentation and build rapport with them individually.

Right form the start let your audience define their own expectation and do your best to meet those expectations. Experiment with different types of openers to see which builds more rapport for you and with your audience. Be flexible, use as many different openers and evaluate your results. The openers which build more rapport with your audience for you will be the best ones. The types of openers that you can look into are;

o Current Events

o Humorous

o Pictorial

o Anecdotal

o Pertinent Quote

o Real-World Situation

o Rhetorical

o Musical

If you have built enough rapport with your audience in the first 3 minutes of your presentation the rest of your presentation will move smoothly. You will have an engaging audience and you will be able to have fun with them and be yourself on stage.

Remember the first 3 minutes of your presentation is the most crucial of all. Start off your presentation with the right foot.

Speak and Touch the Heart

Essays — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:32:07 +0000

Presentations and seminars become all too familiar in the business world. Jim Speaker is there with the overhead projector and PowerPoint slides-each with four of five points.

Hours later the seminar is over. Seminars are informative but can be deadly.

Just give me the handout and I’ll read it at home!

It takes a dynamic presenter to step out from behind the lectern and shake up and motivate their audience.

Facts touch or mind, but it is the power that comes from stories that touch hearts.

Everybody loves a story. Stories give us insight life and human nature. They can make us laugh and they can make us cry. Story telling will go beyond the bullet points and will make a memorable impression on the heart that can change a life.

As a speaker, how can you use stories to give your presentation the impact that you desire:

• Tell inspirational stories to persuade, motivate or entertain. Use stories to illustrate the point you want to make. Try to find stories that are relevant to the audience. For example, for software engineers, tell a story about the young engineer who started a company in his garage and how Microsoft changed the world.

• Tell a story from your own experience. Make a habit of keeping a story journal and record your day’s experiences. You will have a rich supply of unique experiences to draw from to illustrate your point.

• Use gestures and acting techniques to bring your story to life. Don’t just tell your audience about a difficult client; get up and show them. Actions have a greater impact on the point you are making.

• Use description and dialogue. Take your audience into the story by using description and dialogue. Help them visualize and feel that they are part of the experience.

• Practice your story until it’s natural. Use the pacing and rhythm to communicate your message to your audience. Listen to a tape recording of yourself. Check how you have varied the tone of your voice and your speed to create the biggest impact in your story.

Remember it’s not about you; it’s about your audience. You have a great story and an important message to convey. By concentrating on your audience, you will become more confident and relaxed. This will result in your audience feeling comfortable and more receptive to your message.

Improv Comedy for Speakers

Essays — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:51:51 +0000

Public speaking. For some, the mere thought of getting up in front of a group of people and presenting a speech is more terrifying than heights, snakes, or even death. Imagine how terrified those people would be if they were asked to get in front of an audience and speak with nothing prepared in advance &ndash no script, no speech, no nothing.

Sound crazy? Well that is what Improvisational Comedians do every day. Improvisational (or “Improv”) Comedy is a form of theater where a group of actors take the stage with nothing prepared in advance and use audience suggestions to create instant comedy. If you have ever seen the popular television show, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” then you have seen Improv Comedy.

The skills that allow an improviser to create instant comedy can immensely help any speaker to be more comfortable and powerful from the platform. Here are three reasons why, if you want to be a more effective speaker, you must learn how to be a great improviser:

1) Improv Comedy, at its core, is about self-expression. An Improviser has only himself on an empty stage. Every idea he puts forth comes from inside of him. The best improvisers realize this and trust their instincts and let their ideas flow out. Similarly, the best speakers realize that the audience is there to see them. Rather than hide behind other people’s ideas or style, they are 100% themselves as they speak. Many speakers make the mistake of taking acting classes to be more “dramatic” as they speak. The result is a speaker that looks fake and wooden. Audiences don’t want “dramatic;” they want natural. Practicing improv comedy techniques can help you be much more natural.

2) Improv Comedy is an interactive format. Improvisation may be the only art form where the audience is present at the time of creation. As a result, the audience’s needs, wants, and mood can be taken into account to direct the content. Great improvisers feed off of a crowd’s energy and build content the audience appreciates. The performer pays attention to the audience and makes subtle adjustments as she goes. Speakers would do well to adopt this approach. Most speakers prepare their speech in a vacuum and deliver it exactly as practiced. However, every audience is different. If a speaker pays attention to the audience as she is speaking, she can also make subtle adjustments to increase her effectiveness (adjusting pacing, energy, volume, etc) If you do this, not only will your speech be more powerful, but you will also develop that coveted “rapport and connection” with the audience.

3) Things will go wrong. A speaker who relies solely on what they’ve memorized will be easily thrown by the distractions that invariably happen. If time gets cut, or a cell phone rings, or a heckler demands attention, the speaker will have no response. To an improviser, distractions are just one more tool to use to make their point. A key improv attitude is to “go with the flow.” As a speaker, this attitude will allow you to be unflappable from the stage. You will be deemed a true professional, and audiences will admire your ability to handle interruptions.

These are just three simple ideas that are a powerful way in which improv comedy can make anyone a more powerful speaker. There are many more ways related to all aspects of speaking: content, delivery, storytelling, style, humor, etc, but these three are the perfect starting point.

If you have never done or used improv, then consider taking a class. Not only will you learn useful skills for speaking (and life), but it will be the most fun class you’ve ever taken!

The Secrets of

Essays — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:17:26 +0000

“Watchability.” Both my spell checker and an online dictionary tell me that “watchability” is not a real word. However, I will continue to use it because, in my opinion, the ability to be watchable may be the single most important trait a speaker can have.

This summer, I attended the annual convention of the National Speakers Association. I thought that the kickoff speaker was amazing. However, if you break down his style in purely technical terms, he was awful. He kept moving around the stage, he stepped out of the light and into the audience, he checked his watch while speaking, etc. Despite all that, he had watchability. Something about his delivery and style kept me grossly engaged. Others must have thought so as well – you don’t get to open a national speakers convention if people think you’re no good.

So what is watchability? It is, to be a bit redundant, the characteristic of being watchable. People enjoy watching and listening to you speak. The amazing thing is that if you are watchable, then even if you mess up or if your content or delivery isn’t up to snuff, the audience will enjoy it.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to have great content and delivery while being amazingly watchable. The challenge is that while content and delivery are easily viewable traits, watchability is abstract. It’s easy to watch a speaker and critique how they move, or how they use their facials. You can listen and critique stutters, inflection, pace, and vocal variety. The value of their content is easy to immediately judge.

Watchability, however, is like charisma. You can’t define a set criteria, but you know it when you see it.

I have however, observed a few things that all eminently watchable speakers do:

They are themselves. These speakers speak from the heart, and speak in a style that is true to themselves. They don’t use other people’s words, and they don’t use unnatural body movements that a coach taught them. They give you the impression that if the two of you were hanging out for dinner, they would say the same thing in the same way.

They are comfortable. Watchable speakers look right at home on stage. This comes from two things: 1) they are experienced and know the material inside and out, and 2) they are not afraid of failure. While they want to communicate their message and please they audience, they are not wrapped up in all that. They are content to just get on stage and do their best. If the audience likes it great; if not, it’s not the end of the world.

They are having fun. You have probably seen a speaker (even a “professional”) who looks like they don’t want to be on stage. Watchable speakers have fun. Even if their topic is serious, they clearly act as if they want to be on that stage. They view it as an honor and a privilege. Whether it stems from fear, arrogance, burn-out, or some mysterious other factor, when a speaker would rather be somewhere else, an audience can feel it.

Practice implementing these three ideas: be yourself, get comfortable, and have fun. You can instantly and drastically increase the value of your speech without changing a single word if you do this. You will, in word, become “watchable.”

How to Develop a Dynamic Story

Essays — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:48:17 +0000

Story telling is a very effective way to get your point across. Here are some tips to help you develop a dynamic powerful story.

• Decide on the purpose for the story. What is the main point you want to make? Slant the telling of the story so that that point is clear.

• Create the backdrop. Describe the scene so that the audience can picture it in their minds. What is the time, location, weather? What is going on emotionally, physically, or spiritually?

• Introduce the main characters. Help your audience to picture the important characters through detailed descriptions. Become them; describe their relationships, quirks and personality. Add character voices or mannerisms to make them different from your own.

• Begin the Journey. What is the task, the goal, and the journey to take? What are the challenges that need to be faced?

• Meet the obstacle. To avoid boredom something must happen to get in your way and make it interesting. This could be a person, a self limiting belief, or a challenge to overcome. Exaggeration will add humour.

• Overcome the obstacles. What had to be done to overcome the obstacle? What inner resources did you have to summon? Did someone help you? A hero? Or you? Be specific. Break your solution down into a few steps in sequence. This is where the teaching happens.

• Resolve the story. How did everything turn out? Tie up the loose ends-what happened to the other people? To your hero?

• Make the point. A story needs one clear point to have more points confuses the issue. Write out and memorize the point, work on the words to make it simple and easy to remember. Find “the phrase that pays”.

• Ask the question. Make your story personal to the audience. “Has that ever happened to you?” Turn the main point into a question. Push their buttons!

• Practice, practice, practice. Tell your stories to anyone who is willing to listen. Get feedback, make adjustments, and tell it again. These steps will ignite the WOW in your audience.

Remember the best story you will ever tell is your next story!

Essays Assistance » presentation skills

The Secrets of “Watchability” for Speakers

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