Word Brains

By Paul Hata

 If you listen to experienced speakers, it’s easy to see some real differences in how they step through their presentation than maybe how you go about giving a talk when you are called upon to speak in public.

But it is a good exercise to use every opportunity to listen to different public speakers and learn from them. From speakers who are not effective, study why they are and learn how to correct those problems in your presentation.

For speakers who are very good, learn what they do that works and copy their methods without shame. It’s all part of learning from each other.

One thing that jumps out when an experienced public speaker is holding an audience in the palm of his hand is that he is totally relaxed up there. That is a calculated relaxation.

In fact most of the methods he uses such as his use of hands, the vocal range of his voice, where he looks and how he moves are all carefully planned and part of that presentation and who that speaker is. And all of those things come with time and practice.

So if you need a few times in front of a group, or a few dozen times before you can begin to get that relaxed, be generous with yourself and allow that public speaking is the kind of thing that you can read about all day long but you don’t get good at it until you get good at it.

One thing that very often jumps out in a speaker who is at ease with his style is that for most of us the idea of a pause is terrifying. But notice smooth speakers often will pause and allow that moment of quiet in a presentation to just hang there.

When that pause happens for that other speaker, you may have felt as terrified as if it was happening to you. But not to worry.

As you noticed, that skilled speaker uses pauses to create interest and isn’t afraid to let his presentation stop for a moment either intentionally or to check notes or make some other adjustment.

The pause is actually a very powerful communications tool that if you can master it, you can use it to make points, add drama or just wake up an audience that may have begun to doze off on you.

That is because as you speak along, if your presentation is somewhat long, it is easy for people to be lulled into an unintentional trance of sorts.

The mind can wander and that is the condition people get into when they doze off as you speak. They track to the continuous sound of your voice and the melodic tempo that you naturally fall into when you speak in public.

When you begin to use pauses and changes to the tempo of your presentation, you break that natural rhythm of your talk. The pause will jar the audience back to you and they will suddenly be attentive with that “what did I miss” look on their faces.

That is a real tool to you to help your audience stay focused and to use particularly when you are approaching a point that is an important part of what you have to say.

Most of us when we are just starting out in public speaking fear the pause in our presentation in the worst way. That moment when you are not speaking and that audience is looking at you and nothing is happening can feel like you are falling to your death.

But in truth, all you have done is focus the concentration of the group on you and on your talk. So don’t fear the pause. If used with caution and sparingly, it can be a powerful communications tool to help you make your point.

1000s of Education,Training,Scholarship & Children Services.Click Here -

WorldEducationPages.com,

WorldTrainingPages.com,

WorldScholarshipPages.comand

WorldChildrenPages.com

Public Speaking - Where To Look When You Speak
By Paul Hata

 When you are giving a presentation or speech, your body language and how you hold yourself in front of a crowd speaks to them as much as your words do. And part of not begin nervous in front of people when you are doing public speaking is not “acting” nervous.

If you have complete control over your body, your face and your hands, you can perform relaxation in front of people and you will actually accept the idea that you are relaxed and begin to feel more at ease as you do your speech.

One problem that you often see in public speakers who is the use of the eyes. It’s extremely easy as a public speaker to want to look at your outline or your written out speech throughout your presentation so you never get lost or have that terrifying feeling of not knowing what you are going to say next.

That is why many people who do not become skilled at talking in front of crowds write out their speeches word for word and just read it to the group.

The problem with that approach is you have been asked to give a speech, not a reading. And many adults take offense at being read to. An audience wants to hear “from” you, not just hear you read.

If that was the only value of a public presentation, you could just hand out your speech as a white paper and let them read it and not have to get in front of people at all. But that is not as effective as public speaking, particularly if the purpose of your speech is to convince or to sell.

So the question comes up of where to actually look as you give your speech. Many speakers look at a spot at the back of the room because looking at the faces makes them nervous. This is better than staring down at your papers the whole time.

For one thing, projection is a big part of getting your message out there. And even if you are using a microphone, if you speak “out” into the crowd rather than down, your voice will be clearer and you will naturally use your diaphragm to do well at enunciating each word.

The other value of looking at the back wall is that it will help you project your voice, particularly if you are not using amplification. The old actor’s motto of “performing to the last row” applies here because it means you consider everyone in that hall to be your audience, not just the people on the first row. So there is some value to that approach.

However, one of the most valuable ways you can really connect with your audience and get your message across is to make eye contact with the audience. Eye contact is commonly used by sales people to create a bond with the customer and that bond helps close the sale.

But even if your presentation is not necessarily a sales situation, eye contact will get your message across. And that is what you got up there to do in the first place.

Eye contact makes the audience look at you. It keeps them attentive. To use eye contact to its maximum value, move your eyes from audience member to audience remember and speak to that individual directly. That eye contact will actually be felt by everyone around that individual and it rivets the listener to you.

Don’t linger on one person because you don’t want to stare but by becoming skilled at using eye contact as you speak to a crowd, you are taking control of the presentation to make it do what you want it to do. And having control is a big key to success in public speaking.

1000s of Education,Training,Scholarship & Children Services.Click Here -

WorldEducationPages.com,

WorldTrainingPages.com,

WorldScholarshipPages.comand

WorldChildrenPages.com

Your Source For Online Education

fun

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.