CONNECT' 51 - Tips on Public Speaking - connecting with the audience

'A good teacher, like a good entertainer first must hold his audience's attention, then he can teach his lesson.

John Henrik Clarke

Connecting with the audience...

The audience play a very important role in your public speaking. You need to build and maintain a good rapport with them. In some way you may have to involve them in your speech. Here are some suggestions.

• You may start with a question to the audience. For example: 'do you know what Neil Armstrong said first when  he landed on the moon?
• You may make them curious. For example: I have something very funny to share with you which you will remember forever. But I will tell this only at the end!
• You may get some clarification from the audience. For example: Can anyone explain what causes colour blindness?
• You may five some interesting information which is common for all the audience in general. For example:  I am sure all of you have school going kids. I am going to explain what causes loss of memory.

It will be a good idea to know about the profile of the audience and their mix, their age group, their interest areas etc. You can talk to the organisers of the event to know this.

These may appear to be small issues, but they are relevant to make your speech interesting.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 50 - Tips on Public Speaking - Daily Preparation

Daily Preparation

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” 
 Benjamin Franklin

Being an effective communicator also requires certain amount of consistent preparation. Like singing and dancing, public speaking is also a skill to be developed on a continuous basis. This is more so when you want to be a professional speaker. A professional singer practices singing every day. Periodically he updates his skill and looks forward to the next opportunity to apply something he learnt recently.

This principle applies to a professional speakers also.

The following tips may be useful:

• Attend to as many public speaking events as possible. Keep watching the talk shows on television. Observe how a news readers delivers the news watching the diction and pronunciation.
• Keep collecting short stories to be included in your speech. Make a flash card or have it handy on you iPad.
• Collect as many jokes as possible and have them readily accessible. You can categorise them as students jokes, doctors joke, lawyers jokes etc.
• Update your language proficiency on a regular basis improving grammar, idioms and phrases, metaphors, similes etc.
• Improve your listening skill so that you can meet the arguments in a group discussion or debate etc.

Remember that unless you have the passion, you will not do the above!

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 49 - Tips on Public Speaking - Impromptu Speaking II

'It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech'.

 Mark Twain 

More on impromptu speech

I would like to give some more tips on how to deliver an impromptu speech.

• Decide whether you want your speech to be humorous or serious. If you want it to be humorous, may be you have to select an appropriate joke which will fit into the topic on which you are speaking. If you want it to be serious, may be you can tell a story or share an experience.
• Keep the profile of the audience such as age and cultural background so that you can match your delivery to suit them.
• If you have some time, even a few minutes, it will be a good idea to prepare an outline of your speech including the joke and the story.  
• Keep in mind the dialect and the language of the audience when you speak so that you make a point to suit their profile.
• Keep a watch on how much you speak. Someone said that a speech should be like a miniskirt: should cover what has to be covered, but create a curiosity to know what is not! Be conscious what you are saying.
• Never say something which you will regret later. Spoken words, sped arrow and spilt milk are gone forever.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 48 - Tips on Public Speaking

Impromptu Speech

It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart.

 Oscar Wilde

There may be occasion when you may have to deliver a speech with little or no preparation. This is called impromptu speech. For example, you be attending a function such as a farewell party, birthday, wedding day etc. You may be asked to 'say a few words'.

When such an occasion presents itself, don't panic. On such occasions, people do not expect you to present a perfect speech. More often than not you will be able to anticipate such occasions given the context of the occasion and how your profile.  In anticipation, you may notice and take note of what others are saying which will be useful when you have to deliver the impromptu speech.

Here are some tips to deliver an impromptu speech:

• Say what you are going to say, say what you have to say and say what you said. This will be a useful structure for your speech.
• Don't feel stressed. Wear a pleasant smile on your face. Be your own natural self. Make eye contact.
• Avoid rambling and mumbling.
• Be informal and easy. Give some jokes, share a story or an experience.

Impromptu speech is an important personality trait which will decide your image.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 47 - Tips on Public Speaking - Telling a Joke

How to tell a joke

“The gods too are fond of a joke.” 
Aristotle

Since public speaking is face to face communication, you have to keep the attention of the audience on what you say retaining their interest. One way to do this is by using humour.

But there is one word of caution: if you are not a humorous person, don't attempt it. Telling a joke should have a natural flow, else it will be counterproductive.

There are lot of advantages in telling jokes in your speech. Jokes will bond the audience cutting across age, race, gender or class barriers. Humour relaxes the audience and makes them more receptive to what you say. In this frame of mind they may be more interested to listen to you. It may make them to link what you said before the joke, what you are saying currently and what you are going to say next. Humour makes your speech live. Humour will help to enliven your speech especially when the subject of your speech is dry.

You should use the right type of jokes which will fit into the subject. You should do a good home work in selecting subject wise jokes, contextualising the same with your speech and practicing before your speech. Else, it will be a failure. Timing is also very important.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 46 - Tips on Public Speaking - How to tell a story

How to tell a story

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.

Robert McAfee Brown

Story telling is also an art! Anyone can tell a story, but everyone cannot tell a story in an interesting way. The purpose of telling a story is to retain the attention of the audience on us. We can make a story from our own experience also. For example, we can explain what interesting experience we had when we were trekking last summer.

You may note the following tips for telling the story in an interesting way:

·         Make the story short. If it takes too much, the audience may switch off.

·         Make use of simple words and sentences so that everyone understands it.

·         Make the story relevant to the context.

·         The story should not offend the sentiments of the audience in any way.

·         Use variations in pitch and voice modulations to retain the attention of the audience.

·         Make eye contact and ensure rapport while telling the story.

Let there be a beginning, the body and the end. Explain how this story is relevant for the subject of your speech. Have a good collection of short stories and have them handy. Keep updating the list. Ensure you don't tell the same story everywhere you speak!

Practice story telling regularly and get the skill.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 45 - Tips on Public Speaking - Using Stories and Jokes

Stories and Jokes

It is 10 times harder to command the ear than to catch the eye.”

Duncan Maxwell Anderson

When you have to reach something to someone, you should deliver it in the same shape you intended without any damage. The package should ensure that there is no transit damage or loss. This applies to delivering your speech also. You should plan how to deliver it and ensure that the audience receive the message in the same way.  You should also use the concept of 'packaging' your speech so that the content, the logic and the spirit of communication is 'not lost in transit'!

Stories and joke serve this purpose. They help to retain the attention of the audience to what you say. You should understand that unless and until the audience are interested in what you say, they will switch off.

Stories and jokes help you to package your speech sin such a way that the listener understands the substance of your message correctly. They help your message to 'embed' in the minds of the audience. That is what grand parents did when we were young! But over the years we have forgotten how to tell a story or a joke.

In the next few newsletters we will know how to tell a story or a joke to make our speech interesting.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 44 - Tips on Public Speaking - Pitch of Your Voice

The Pitch of Your Voice

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.
Joseph Conrad

In a way public speaking and singing in a concert are similar. Both use voice is the medium to impress the audience. Both use the throat and the vocal muscles to project what the person wants to deliver. Both have to be pleasing and appealing to the ears of the audience. Both establish an emotional bond with the audience using the sound as the medium of communication.

Pitch is the highs and lows of our voice. Varying and using the appropriate pitch will be pleasing to the ears of the audience both in singing as well as in public speaking. Pitch is determined by the rate of vibration of the vocal cords and by how tight or relaxed is our vocal cord. This vibration in turn is determined by the thickness of the vocal cords. Whenever we are overcome by extreme emotions such as irritation, anger etc., the thickness of the vocal cords are affected.

When we speak, as I said earlier, we should use inflection. Here is how the pitch of our voice is important to show our emotions. Pitch is not a genetic factor, though we may our own natural pitch. We can certainly control our pitch while speaking as present a emotionally powerful voice.

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 43 - Tips on Public Speaking - Voice Projection

Voice Projection

'To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks'

Ben Johnson

Your voice projects your personality. Unlike in writing, in public speaking how you 'sound' is very important. Your voice should be attractive enough to keep the attention of the audience on what you speak. stop reading this page and do an exercise. Take a voice recorder. Your mobile phone is good enough for this exercise.

Speak for one minute on anything. It could be your hobby, the weather, politics or anything on which you can speak for one minute. After speaking, plug in your earphone and check on the following parameters which will decide your voice projection:

• Is your voice high pitched?
• Is it nasal?
• Is it whiny?
• Is it hoarse, husky, rough etc?
• Is it monotone?
• Is it too soft?

You should be audible in the first place. If people cannot hear you, they cannot follow what you are speaking. Your voice level should be adequate. Shouting may be jarring to the ears. Mumbling will not deliver the message. If you are using a microphone, check the volume before you start addressing the audience. If you are not using a microphone, ensure that the person seated in the last row will be able to hear you without any difficulty.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 42 - Tips on Public Speaking - Pace of Your Speech

The Pace of Your Speech

The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven't thought of yet.
Ann Landers

You may be very proficient in the language in which you speak; you may use metaphors, similes and idioms; your diction, pronunciation, articulation and inflection may be good. But, what if you speak too fast or too slow? Your rate of speech is very important to decide the quality of your communication.

We should know that the audience in front of us should not only 'hear' but also 'listen' to what we say and translate the same into understanding. The way we deliver our speech will affect the quality of their listening. One important parameter in our delivery is the pace of our speech and its speed.

Speaking too fast is a common mistake some speakers commit, knowingly or unknowingly. There may me various reasons for this. May be by nature we talk fast. Or we may be tensed up or excited and speeding up our speech may be our physiological response to manage our tension and excitement. Whatever be the reasons, we need to keep the audience perspective when we speak.

If we are too slow or too fast, the audience will switch off and disconnect. It will be a good idea to record our speech and listen to it to check the above parameters.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 41 - Using idioms in Public Speaking

Using idioms in public speaking

It is delivery that makes the orator's success

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

It is said that a picture is worth thousand words and an experience is worth thousand pictures! Good speakers create a mental picture in the minds of the listener so that their speech is remembered vividly. Metaphors and similes create a mental picture. Idioms are yet another way to make your speech interesting and figurative. Idiom is a manner of speaking that is natural to a native speakers of a language.

As I said earlier, we have to read lot of short stories and novels in the language in which we want to be an expert public speaker to understand and use idioms appropriately. I give below some popular idioms and their meanings.

• Clear as bell: to understand clearly
• Get up on the wrong side of the bed: to start the day on a less happy note
• Bone of contention: a topic which contains a dispute for discussion amongst the parties
• Blessing in disguise: something good which is not recognised in the first instance
• Doubting Thomas: a sceptic person who needs a tangible evidence to believe
• Against the clock: a hectic dash or running against time

Next time when you have to give a speech try to use idioms appropriately.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 40 - Tips on Public Speaking - Using Similes

'Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

How to use similes

Use of similes is also another way to make your speech interesting and attractive. Just as in metaphors, in similes also two things are compared. But the difference is we use 'connecting' words such as 'like', 'as' in a simile which is not the case in a metaphor. In metaphor we say 'A' is 'B' as though the two are identical. But in a simile, we say 'A' is like 'B' since A may not be identical to B.

I give below some examples of similes:

• He marched off to the field like a soldier on a mission
• His laughter was like a thunder
• My child screamed like a police car siren
• He ran like a race horse across the finish line
• He looked as proud as a peacock
• Like a newly hatched chick, the infant stared at her proud parents
• My son is as smart as Albert Einstein
• She sang as a cuckoo

The purpose of metaphor and simile is to paint a vivid picture in the mind of the listener. However, we should use them as naturally as possible. We should read a lot of novels and stories and understand how to use them with a natural flow.

N C Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 38 - Tips on Public Speaking - using metaphors

There are three things to aim at: first, to get into your subject, then get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience'

Alexander Gregg

Using metaphors in public speaking

A good speech should have a high impact on the audience and leave a powerful impression in the emotional state of the audience. One way to do is to use metaphor and simile.

A metaphor identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing by highlighting the similarities between the two. It is like saying 'A' is 'B' even though A and B are two different things. In this comparison we do not say 'A' is like 'B', but we say 'A' is 'B'.

One popular example is 'All the world's a stage' from Shakespeare's As You Like It. Read these lines:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;

We know that the world is not a stage and the people are not players. But the reason why we use this metaphor is to emphasise what is the similarity between our life and the various roles we take in our life.

One way to connect and understand a metaphor is to explain it with the use of the word 'because'. For example, 'all the world is a stage because we are expected to play our role whether we like it or not!

NC Sridharan

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'CONNECT' 37 - Tips on Public Speaking

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Making your speech interesting

In a written communication, if the reader switches off, he has an option to come back to the place where he left and continue. But, in a face to face communication, if we do not 'arrest' the mind of the audience and keep it with us, he will lose his interest for ever. Like what we do in a  television channel, he will tune out!

As I said earlier, the purpose of public speaking is to bring about a mindset change in the listener. This is possible only when we engage his mind to the content of our speech. The content has to be made interesting by the quality of our delivery.

The following tips could be useful:

1. Create a mental picture and an image in the mind of the listener on the point which we want him to appreciate.

2. Use idioms, phrases and proverbs to make the speech interesting.

3. Use metaphors and similes to add a visual effect in the mind of the audience.

4. Tell stories and jokes to drive home an important point.

In the next few newsletter I want to discuss a few important tips on how to make your speech rich and interesting using the above tips.

N C Sridharan

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