Monthly Archives: August 2011

Engage Your Audience!

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In a recent presentation skills workshop, when I asked the ten people to tell what they wanted from the workshop, I was surprised to hear that over half wanted to learn ways to engage the audience. I realized I had not planned on giving enough attention to this important element of presentation skills. So before the day was over, I shared some ways to do that. Bruce Springsteen said it well about engaging the audience: “The life of a rock and roll band will last as long as you look down and can see yourself, and your audience looks up at you and can see themselves.” 

          We are not musicians but speakers; thus we may have to work harder at making the connection with our audiences. One way is physically to move into the audience. When I stress a point, I may take two or three steps toward the listeners. This action lets them know that I want to make sure they are with me as I share this information.

          Another method is to involve the audience in some activity to process the point you are making. This can be very simple. For example, when I talk about goals or priorities or how a person should spend his or her time, I will sometimes use the following activity.

          Each person gets a blank piece of paper to tear into four equal quadrants. I say, “On each quadrant, write something that you hold of great personal value.”  Then I have them fan the four pieces out as they would a deck of cards.  I say, “Wad up the least important of the four to throw away.” Then among the three, they choose the one that is least important. When two are left, they choose the one most important. This dramatizes the difficulty in choosing what is important in life and how we will spend our time. At this point, the audience has been a part of the content of the speech.

          A third way to engage the audience is ask participants’ opinions on the idea you are discussing. I often talk about stage fright and I will sometimes start the discussion by asking them first if they experience stage fright. Most will answer that they do and then I’ll ask what their symptoms are. This results in an energetic give and take with the audience about the different ways we show anxiety when we are about to speak. That engagement allows me to move into good techniques on controlling too much anxiety.

          These three ways can help engage the audience so that they feel a part of developing your successful presentation.   

Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is Professor Emeritus of Speech Communication, College of Informatics, Northern Kentucky University, near Cincinnati. He presents keynotes and seminars to corporations and associations whose people want to speak and listen effectively. See additional articles and resources at www.sboyd.com. To book Steve, call 800-727-6520 or email him through his website.

 

Nothing is More Unique!

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Over the past 40 years I have listened to literally thousands of college students’ presentations and hundreds of business people’s presentations. Although not a grammarian, I hear repeatedly in those speeches a glaring error—the misuse of unique. No one seems immune to this error, yet it is such a simple one to correct! Unique means “one of a kind.” Thus there cannot be “most unique” or “more unique.” If you use the word unique, there can only be one in existence. Each of us is unique. No one in the world is exactly like you or me. Yet I hear people say, “He is one of the most unique people I know.” Simply say, “He is unique.”

This word is usually in any list of misused words. Yet many who otherwise use the language well fail by saying, “The dessert was very unique.” The tiramisu was either unique or it wasn’t. The word unique stands alone.

This blog may be similar to other blogs, but mine is unique.

Speak by Number

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When I was a boy, a popular pastime was to paint by number. You would buy a kit that included an outline of a picture or scene and each part would have a number. A key told what color to paint a certain number. The “artist” would then paint the colors according to the corresponding number and behold! Once you painted in all the numbers, you had completed a “real” painting.

I think speakers can also use numbers which, when connected to the content, produce an excellent presentation.

The number ONE means to have one clear theme throughout the presentation. Sometimes called the thesis, it is the essence of your speech in one sentence. If the main idea is not clear to the speaker, then neither will the theme be clear to listeners.

Number TWO refers to the use of contrasts. With contrast you are showing differences to dramatize a point. In a presentation, especially a persuasive one, the salesperson is seeking to show how his or her product is less costly than the competition. The minister might be showing the difference between heaven and hell. The politician could be concerned that his constituency sees how his holding office will be a great improvement over the job the incumbent is doing.

THREE is the number of pieces of evidence you need to prove a point or help an audience understand how something works. The number three has held great power and intrigue for humans through the centuries. We think about time as past, present, and future. We divide our meals into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In popular literature we have all kinds of threesomes, from the three witches in Macbeth to the three little pigs. A speaker should have three specific instances, or three statistics, or three examples in proving points. This makes sense to the human mind.

The number FOUR is the sound of the first part of a word important in your preparation: forethought. You want to give forethought before you start writing ideas down on paper. Writing main points or evidence you want to include may limit your thinking. The more forethought, the more your mind will be stretched in looking for ideas.

The number FIVE refers to the last five minutes of your talk. These may be the most important part of your speech because here is where you want the strongest evidence and clearest explanations. Don’t forget: The audience remembers best what you say last. Those last five minutes should clarify understanding and move people to action.

A presentation after SIX o’clock p.m. should have humor in it. People have worked all day and they want to enjoy themselves with good food, fellowship, and humor. You don’t have to be a comedian, but you can include an embarrassing personal experience, show a cartoon (with permission), tell a short joke, or give a one liner. You want people to smile and be in a festive frame of mind.

The word SEVEN comes from a Hebrew root word that means complete. The presentation should be complete with evidence and structure. Everything should make sense. To be complete, the introduction should have an attention device and a preview. The body of the speech should have two or three main points with corresponding evidence for each of the points. The conclusion should include a summary and a move to action step. All three parts of the presentation should be tied together with smooth transitions.

Often people in certain occupations deliver the same speech many times. The CEO might report to different divisions of the company throughout the United States, Asia, or Europe. EIGHT is the maximum number of times you want to give the same material without rearranging or seriously revising the content of your presentation. If you don’t, the material on the day you give the speech for the ninth time will be boring to you, and certainly to the audience. Use different stories, or rearrange your points. After eight times the speaker may have better ideas. You might add a new attention device or deliver with a different style.

The number NINE conjures anticipation. 10 follows 9, 100 follows 99, 1000 follows 999 and so on. We may anticipate change, or reaching a goal, or accomplishing a great feat. Going from the year 1999 to 2000 was traumatic for people, with a tinge of uncertainty and anticipation of how things might be different. Anticipation is an important method of holding the attention of the audience. We want to know how the story will end, or the solution to a problem, or new research that holds much promise for a new drug or cure.

I stop at the number TEN because this is a logical progression of thought for us. We have a “top ten” list. The anesthesiologist will say when starting the medication, “Now count to 10.” In other words, ten is a logical place to stop. In a successful presentation, know when to stop. We have all heard speakers we enjoy listening to, but our pleasure is diluted if the speaker speaks five minutes too long or begins to repeat material. That is why having a clear conclusion is so important. When you follow earlier advice and have a specific summary and a thought-provoking ending sentence, you are more likely to stop at the right time.

Public speaking can be very effective and fairly simple when you speak by number.

Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is Professor Emeritus of Speech Communication, College of Informatics, Northern Kentucky University, near Cincinnati. He presents keynotes and seminars to corporations and associations whose people want to speak and listen effectively. See additional articles and resources at www.sboyd.com. To book Steve, call 800-727-6520 or email him through his website.

Silence is Golden

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       Since I retired a few weeks ago from the university, I don’t talk as much. I don’t lecture up to twelve hours a week. I spend more time in silence; I have more time to think about my speeches and sermons. I spend a lot of time writing and preparing presentations in the quietness of the Cincinnati Mercantile Library in downtown Cincinnati or in the carrels of the Northern Kentucky University library.
         Even though my careers center on talking, there is less stress when I don’t talk as much. I don’t have to worry about saying too much or saying something I might regret because I did not think it through carefully enough. Not talking as much gives me more time to do other things. I find that I observe more closely and ponder more deeply.
         Ausonius said, “He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak.”  Solomon in his wisdom made the point that there is a time to be silent. I think all of us could communicate better if we spent more time in silence.
         Use silence to underscore what you do say. When I pause a moment, the person I’m talking to looks at me expectantly. (Unless it’s my wife; she’s more likely to take that opportunity to toss in her two cents worth.)
          Practice important conversations by going over mentally what you plan to say. Spend private time each day either anticipating your responsibilities for the day or pondering what you learned that day before you retire for the evening.  
          I wish our leaders would spend less time on camera talking about issues and spend more time behind closed doors thinking and studying issues. The decisions might be of higher quality.
          We pay the ultimate respect by a moment of silence. We honor a person’s life by a period of silence. We can be surprised to the point of silence.
           When I am silent, I learn more; I find out more about others and myself. I observe more, and I am less stressed. I have taught that in my listening seminars for years, but now I am even more aware of the truth of the importance of listening.
            The title of this piece is just part of the idiom. The entire quotation is “Speech is silver; silence is golden.” Maybe we should all seek a little more gold and a little less silver.   

Never Stop Dancing

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An article in The New Yorker featured the career of Dick Van Dyke, who at almost 85 years old was singing and dancing in A Musical Memoir. One of the themes throughout the article was his high energy level. In fact, on Thanksgiving Day of last year he appeared at a mission on Skid Row, entertaining the residents while they ate. His comment, “I sing and dance. That’s what I do.”
I think that philosophy is critical whether becoming a better speaker or getting the most out of our lives. Never Stop Dancing is even the title of an excellent book by Gordon Livingston. I completed my career as a professor a couple of months ago and in advance I asked a colleague if she would dance out of the classroom with me at the end of my last class. She agreed.
As scheduled, she showed up and we danced down the hallway. What I did not know was that word had gotten out and about 150 students lined the hallway to watch the event. Our secretary filmed with her flip camera and you can watch us dance at Steve Boyd Fare Well Dance.
I’ve been taking dancing lessons for 17 years and I don’t intend to stop dancing. I’ve been teaching and speaking for several decades and I plan to continue speaking as often as I can and experiencing as many new things as I can.
This philosophy should guide our daily lives. For example, as a speaker I want to continue to improve. I believe my best speech is my next one. Each presentation I deliver gives me more experience. I urge all speakers always to seek to improve. Never stop dancing.
You can always make improvement if you keep working at developing your skills. This is true whether you are learning a new technology or simply working on your golf game.
Remember the life philosophy of Dick Van Dyke: “Never stop dancing.”

 

Communicating Through an Impasse

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            The impasse in Washington over the debt ceiling demonstrates how hard negotiations can be. This is probably the most difficult kind of interpersonal communication to engage in. Too often our emotions intervene and we can’t get over our emotional hump to reach a win/win situation.

            Here are some tips on how to negotiate successfully.

            Don’t use emotional language. Don’t say how awful or dumb the other person’s idea is. Instead ask an open question or use a non-judgmental comment such as, “There might be another way of looking at our issue that I’d like to share.” 

            Stress what you can agree on. For example, we all want our economy to remain secure, no matter what political party we represent. We might even agree that we don’t want to go into more debt. But how we go about achieving these goals is where we are struggling to reach a reasonable solution.

            Have a cooling off period. If emotions get too high, take a break. Go get lunch or set a time for the next day or next week. Name-calling or certain words used such as wouldn’t or couldn’t or shouldn’t may indicate it is time for a break in the discussions.         

            Develop as much specific support as you can for your position. The more effective you are in providing evidence from a variety of sources for your position, the more likely the group can reach a satisfactory solution for everyone. Using strong evidence raises the bar for everyone to provide sound reasoning for a point of view.     

            Keep a positive and upbeat approach to the issue. Make it clear that you are sure a resolution can be reached and that everyone has the interest of all involved. Include statements like, “I know when we work through this, our organization will be much stronger because of the conversations we are having currently.”

            Keep the discussions limited to the people who are involved in the decision-making process. Don’t go public with the discussion until you have reached agreement. Usually when participants go public with the content of the negotiations, not much is happening to resolve the issue. Not hearing anything about the discussions may indicate a resolution to the issue is being made.

            Listen more than you talk. Seek to get as much information as you can to better able to assimilate the different points of view and eliminate the impasse. When I listen, I develop my credibility in the eyes of the person talking and thus increase my own chances of being heard when I do speak.  An excellent way to insure that you are listening more than you are talking is about asking good questions that require the other people to talk.

            Get to know the other person personally. President Obama and Majority leader John Boehner recently played golf together. This can’t help but create a bond beyond the negotiating table.

            I’m convinced that a resolution will be reached—or may already have been reached by the time you read this. One major reason is that all involved have the best interests of our country at heart.

Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is Professor Emeritus of Speech Communication, College of Informatics, Northern Kentucky University, near Cincinnati. He presents keynotes and seminars to corporations and associations whose people want to speak and listen effectively. Visit his site to read other valuable articles on effective speaking and listening.