'CONNECT' 28: Tips on Public Speaking: Facial Expression....

'Peace begins with a smile'

Mother Teresa

We speak not only through words, but also non verbally. The first and foremost non verbal communication takes place through our face. Face is the index of the mind. Since public speaking is also connecting with the mind of the audience, your facial expression is very important to decide the quality of your delivery. Haven't you heard people say 'his facial expression revealed the real story!' or 'I could read from his face that he is pulling a fast one....' etc?

The first and the easiest (for some people it is the most difficult thing!) is to smile! People will like you if you smile; it will put people at ease; it will convey warmth; it will bridge relationship and rapport. I read somewhere that a smile is a 'non physical hug'!

You should also carry an expression on your face that matches the feeling you want to convey. Here's an exercise. Stand in front of a mirror and make your face to convey these emotions: happy; sad; embarrassed; surprised; nervous; tired; sleepy; angry. You can show these expressions on your face and ask your friends to find out what emotions you are carrying in your mind!

Interesting isn't it? Yes, effective communication is interesting - both for you and to others!

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 27: Tipsmon Public Speaking: voice inflection

'It's not how strongly you feel about your topic. it's how strongly they feel about your topic after you speak'

Tim Salladay

It is true that we have been speaking from our childhood. Many of us think that since we have been speaking from when we were very young, we are good speakers. Just because we can run naturally, it does not mean we can compete in the Olympics! We need training for becoming a professional runner or speaker.

We can improve our inflection by doing some simple exercises. One way is to record your speech for one minute and listen to the same through your ear phone. Listening to your speech through the earphone will eliminate unnecessary noise when you listen to your own voice. In fact you can do this recording once a month and see your progress in effective public speaking.

Here's an exercise:

Keep a voice recorder and try this voice inflection exercise when you record your voice. Read the following sentence in your normal voice.

“Seetha did not show up for work this morning”

Now say the same sentence with ‘surprise’ in your voice.

Now make the same statement in a ‘casual’ voice.

Next, make it sound like a ‘secret’.

Turn it into a ‘question’.

Replay the recorded and see for yourself how differently you should speak when you speak with different feelings.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 26: Tips on Public Speaking: pitch, tonality, variation

'They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel'

Carl W. Buechner

You may have a great product or service to offer to the customer. You may be excited about its value to the customer. But what is the use if the excitement is not passed on to the customer? The purpose of public speaking is to touch the feelings of the audience. This is where face to face communication is more effective than written communication. In fact an effective public speaking is much more than face to face communication. It is heart to heart communication!

In order to touch the mind of the audience the speech have variations of pitch, tonality, volume, emphasis. You may have to catch the attention of the audience by low pitch and high pitch; by stressing some words with a low volume  or high volume.

This will convey not only the content of your communication, but also your feelings and emotions associated with the same. Next time when you see a movie notice how the actors deliver a dialogue. In fact the voice is recorded before the shoot. The person who gives the voice will actually act in front of the mike with all the feelings associated with the words.

In the next newsletter I will give an exercise.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 25: Tips on Public Speaking...Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel'

'Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The purpose of communication is to bring about a change in the mental state of the person or the group of persons with whom we communicate. It is said that only 7% of the communication takes place through words and the 'soft aspects' of communication decide the quality of communication much more than the words.

One of the tools to make public speaking effective is 'emphasis'.

When we read a written document some words are in italics, some words are bold, some words are underlined and some words carry a '.....' mark to draw our attention to those words. Some people also use highlighters to draw our attention. These are the key words which convey the meaning and the context of the message. These words convey the intent of the communicator.

When it comes to oral communication, especially in public speaking, we use 'emphasis' by stressing some words, by using different tonality and pitch when we pronounce those words.

Correct emphasis may change the meaning. For example, ‘Thank you very much’  can be stated in a flat voice. The same be said ‘Thank you very much’, with proper emphasis on the word 'very' to make it more personal.

More about emphasis in the next newsletter.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 24: Tips on Public Speaking: Communicating beyond words.....

"Talkers have always ruled. They will continue to rule. The smart thing is to join them."

Bruce Barton

Many of us believe that communication is do with words and our command over the language. It may be true with regard to written communication. But, when it comes to spoken communication, the way we deliver our message is very important. That is why you will find that even great writers will not be good speakers.

In writing you communicate through your words; in speaking you communicate through your voice. That is why breathing right becomes very important in public speaking.

The normal breathing is through the nostrils and the breath is filtered and warmed, sometimes breathing also takes place through slightly opened mouth.

Take a deep breath through slightly opened mouth. After your diaphragm is full take some more. You will notice that there is some more space to fill. Similarly, empty your lungs by breathing out. When you feel you have fully emptied your lungs, breath out still. You will feel that there was some more breath. This means that you have the ability to speak long sentences without taking long breath which will result in a smooth vocal tone without jerkiness.

The quality of breathing will decide some of the parameters such as inflection and emphasis which we will see in the next few newsletters.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 23: Tips on Public Speaking. Delivering a long sentence in one breath!

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

Buddha

When we were born we were breathing right. But as we grew up, we forgot our natural breathing and lost our natural breathing. We have to unlearn and relearn how to breath. This is all the more relevant to deliver a professional speech.

It is possible through some exercises.

Take a deep breath and see how far you can read through this grouping of words. Make sure you are making each of the words come alive as you say them.

Don’t just race through them understand and  interpret!

Collecting and projecting,             and rattling and battling

     receding and speeding                 and shaking and quaking

   and shocking and rocking             and pouring and roaring

  and  darting and parting                and waving and raving

and treading and spreading          and flowing and going

       and whizzing and hissing              and heaving and cleaving

     and dripping and skipping             and foaming and roaming

      and hitting and splitting                 and moaning and groaning

  and shining and twining                and dropping and hopping

The quality of our communication and our voice will project our personality. The purpose of communication is to bring about a change in the mind of the person with whom we communicate.

These finer details will go a long way to improve the quality of our communication.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 22: Tips on Public Speaking: More on breathing....

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.

 Lee Iacocca

In an hydraulic braking system, the brake will not work if there is a leak. In the context of speaking, how we use the air we inhale and exhale is very important.  By doing some breathing exercises, we can improve the quality of our speech and delivery.

Do the following simple exercises:

1. Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose. Hold for a few seconds. Exhale very slowly through the mouth. Repeat this exercise five times.

2. Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose. Exhale slowly making the sound 'ahh'. When you do this use your diaphragm.

3. Inhale deeply. Exhale in short explosive bursts like 'huh! huh! huh! huh! huh!

4. Inhale slowly and count aloud clearly enunciating each number until you run out of breath. This is a good warm up exercise and will improve your articulation.

5. Read the following sentences as many times as you can. The sentence is filled with words that uses air while pronouncing.

He hid at home and sobbed when his sister seized whatever he had on top in the thin five shelved closet

Like a footballer should know how to train his foot for hitting a ball, a speaker should know how to use his voice!

N C Sridharan

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Tips on Public Speaking: 'CONNECT' 21: Breath Right!

'The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most

difficult to play'.

Richard Strauss

Do you know that the quality of your breathing will decide the quality of your communication? You have seen how an wind instrument artist uses the instrument such as a flute. He will inhale, take a deep breath and blow the air through the flute and produce a melodious music.

The same principle applies to voice production.

Our voice is also like producing a music. If we do not breath properly, we cannot deliver a good speech. In fact, breathing right is very important not only for speaking, but also for general health.

Many of us are under the mistaken impression that we speak through our throat. But the reality is the voice originates from the diaphragm. Place your hand firmly on that V-shaped breath bone just below the rib and you can feel the diaphragm working gently. When you inhale, your lungs get filled up with air pushing the diaphragm down and out. When you exhale up goes the diaphragm allowing the wind to go through the vocal chord.

A proper understanding of this mechanism is very important to enrich the quality of your voice production. 

In the next few newsletters we will see how to use our breath for effective public speaking.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 21 : Tips on Public Speaking: How to Use Breathing to Speak?

'The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play'.

Richard Strauss

Do you know that the quality of your breathing will decide the quality of your communication? You have seen how an wind instrument artist uses the instrument such as a flute. He will inhale, take a deep breath and blow the air through the flute and produce a melodious music.

The same principle applies to voice production.

Our voice is also like producing a music. If we do not breath properly, we cannot deliver a good speech. In fact, breathing right is very important not only for speaking, but also for general health.

Many of us are under the mistaken impression that we speak through our throat. But the reality is the voice originates from the diaphragm. Place your hand firmly on that V-shaped breath bone just below the rib and you can feel the diaphragm working gently. When you inhale, your lungs get filled up with air pushing the diaphragm down and out. When you exhale up goes the diaphragm allowing the wind to go through the vocal chord.

A proper understanding of this mechanism is very important to enrich the quality of your voice production.  

In the next few newsletters we will see how to use our breath for effective public speaking.

N C Sridharan

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Yoga and Bharathanatyam Fusion!

India gave two priceless gifts to the world - the Bharathanatyam and the Yoga. Students of Sri RM Jain Vidhyashram, Tiruvellore, India 602001 give a fusion of these two in the form of a heart stopping episode on the eve of the 19th Annual Day celebrations on 7th Feb 2015.Only SRMJViens can do this....we will rock the world.If you like this please share this with others..NC Sridharan and Radha You may also send your feedback to ncs_sridharan@yahoo.com http://youtu.be/l3LoUYpA_co

365 Exciting ways to live - 90

90 / 365 Respect and Remember Names

If you want to win friends, make it a point to remember them. If you remember my name, you pay me a subtle compliment;

 You indicate that I have made an impression on you.

Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.

 

 Dale Carnegie

 

Do you give importance to remember peoples’ name? It is a basic courtesy you can show to any person who is introduced to you. A name is a very emotional thing for a person. The happiest time for a parent is the day when they give a name for their child. From our childhood days we have been repeatedly called by our names. When we achieve something, we are given a certificate carrying our name and we proudly show it to many people.

Don’t we feel happy when someone addresses us by our correct name? Remember the following basic etiquette:

·         Take interest to remember a person’s name.

·         If there a special way in which the person wants his name to be spelt based on    

      numerology or other sentiments, respect the same.

·         When you address a letter, use the correct spelling with the correct first name, initial etc.

·         After meeting a person on several occasions, don’t embarrass him by asking his name once again or calling him by a wrong name. You are insulting him.

There so much in a name!

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

'365 Exciting Ways to Live' is an ideal gift for any special occasion and a good reading material for supervisory development. You can also gift this book to the school or college you studied....

www.thetimefoundation.com

 N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

'CONNECT' 20: Tips on Public Speaking: Avoid Mumbling.....

Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.

Brian Tracy

Have you heard of the word 'mumbling'? Mumbling is saying something very quietly and indistinctly. When we mumble others will find it very difficult to hear what we say. It is also called murmuring or muttering.

The major cause for mumbling is not opening the lips adequately. We have to pronounce the vowels and consonants properly. When we speak with a closed lips, we will not be able to pronounce the vowels and consonants distinctly and this will affect our articulation.

You can correct mumbling through some simple exercises.

Stand in front of a mirror and whisper the vowels a , e , i , o , u and notice how your lips move.  Open your mouth and exaggerate as you shout these vowels sounds. Again notice how your lips move when you shout these sounds. Repeat this exercise and practice speaking with your mouth open.

You can try one more exercise. Take a pencil or pen and bite it between your molar teeth and speak! Read a paragraph from a book. Practice this exercise for about five minutes.

This will relax your lips since you cannot move your jaws in this position.

Try these exercises and you will notice your diction and articulation improve.

N C Sridharan

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