15 Top Tips on Public Speaking

It seems to me that the main reason why people get anxious about speaking in public is that they are not sure what is expected of them. Here are 15 tips to help dispel that anxiety by making sure you are well prepared.

These tips will help you feel confident that you know your stuff, and also that you know why and how it will be relevant to your audience.

Tip 1: Imagine you are speaking just to me and answer this question: What do you want me to know?

Tip 2: Why should I care about what you want me to know?

Tip 3: Why do I need to hear it from YOU? What’s your special connection with the message?

Tip 4: Would you pay to hear YOU speak?

Tip 5: Record your voice and ask yourself and some close friends if your voice is attractive.

Tip 6: What’s your reason for speaking? Money? Influence? Ego? Passion? Just be clear about it.

Tip 7: When you have credible answers to tips 1-6, write your Core Message (the ‘carry away’) in a single sentence.

Tip 8: Develop your message in 3 streams of argument or thought, e.g. Problem / Consequence / Solution.

Tip 9: Decide on your call to action. What do you want people to do when you have finished speaking?

Tip 10: Create an opening ‘Hook’ — something unexpected or dramatic that grabs attention right at the start.

Tip 11: Write out and learn your opening and closing paragraphs. Just use prompts for the rest, to sound more natural.

Tip 12: Decide on the ‘point of arrival’ or climax of your speech or presentation and build up the energy to that point.

Tip 13: Practise in front of a mirror or camcorder. Watch your gestures and body language.

Tip 14: When you are confident of your text, answer (aloud) the questions in Tips 1-3.

Tip 15: Unless you are in a speech contest, don’t try to give a world class performance. Just be sincere and passionate.

For more detailed help, go to www.pkpcommunicators.com or call 0845 165 9240     (local rates).

Phillip

Tell to sell

Make a point, tell a story; tell a story, make a point. That’s an easy enough mantra to follow in speeches and presentations, but what kind of story should you tell?

The three factors that work in story telling are:
1. They illustrate the point and are easy to understand and remember
2. We are all conditioned, from childhood, to like stories
3. They can connect with your listeners’ backgrounds

The first two are fairly obvious, but the third one often surprises people when I raise it during my training courses. Backgrounds?

Let’s take an extreme example, just to make the point. Suppose you are pitching to the owner of a small business. Did you stop to consider why he started that business? One such small business owner told me, only the other day, “I started this business because no one would give me a job.”

Another (geeky) micro business owner told me his technical expertise is such that he is always in demand, and he doesn’t have to market himself.

For people like them, you may want to avoid stories about gregarious situations and talk, instead, about self sufficiency and the virtues of independence. Talk about the injustice of bureaucracy and the triumph of the ‘small’ over the ‘large’.

At the same time, be aware of your own background story, and avoid pleading your own position. Remember, the main purpose of the story is to advance your business case, not to entertain or to beat the drum of self interest.

Think about how movies can touch your own emotions. That’s the power of story telling.Go ye and do likewise

The Tyranny of Poverty

Jane is a young widow with three children. Her husband was killed two years ago, and she was left to cope with a two-year old and two school-age children, together with three dogs and a cat. The only money she has is from State Benefits, totalling a little under £250 a week.

When her husband was alive, he registered with the Job Centre and was led to believe that they would pay his gas bill with British Gas. It was a mistake and Jane was eventually faced with a debt of about £4,000, which she has managed to bring down to £2,500.

In the colder months her gas charges are £70 a week, including a £10 debt repayment. Being in debt to British Gas she is on the highest tariff and unable to switch to a cheaper supplier.

She spent many hours and a lot of money trying to speak to someone in British Gas about the problem, calling their premium rate number and hanging on interminably.

Eventually they noticed and called her to set up the repayment scheme.

On the second anniversary of her husband’s killing she had absolutely no money, not even a penny, and therefore could not buy even the smallest bunch of flowers for his grave.

Jane, and probably thousands like her, are suffering from the tyranny of poverty. When you have no money, you cannot easily sort out problems like the one with British Gas, you cannot assert your rights, you cannot deal with the obstructive bureaucracy and mini hitlers that make life even more difficult.

Perhaps the worst consequence of having no money is the effect on your morale. The self-employed will have some understanding of this. When times are hard, as at present, and orders dry up, the dwindling bank balance can be dispiriting and cause a person to lose the confidence to go looking for business. It affects your self esteem when you can no longer afford the things you used to buy without a second thought.

Jane has long since passed that point. She is scratching around to survive and to provide the occasional treat for her children, often compounding her debts in the process.

There are days when she wonders if it’s worth carrying on. So how does she cope? Anti-depressants.

That’s the tyranny of poverty.

How to develop your creativity

I suppose the obvious place to start is with a definition of Creativity.

It is the ability to solve a problem, see something that others do not see, represent a commonplace thing or notion in a new or novel way. That’s similar to one of my favourite terms: perspicacity.

It is ‘discernment’ or the ability to spot an ‘angle’ – some unexpected or beneficial attribute that has the potential to produce a desirable outcome. It does not have to be completely original, except in the way it applies to the current situation.

Here are some pointers to awaken your own creativity. It can give you the edge in business.

The Art of Problem Definition

Technical people are often self-limiting: they believe that the facts speak for themselves. This is known as the ‘engineer’s mentality’.

Engineers, however, need to be creative. They need to look for new solutions, and use their training to solve riddles and substantiate their findings.

Marvin Minsky, co-founder of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes creative thinking involves two components: courage and critical thinking.

Burt Swersey, lecturer in mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic, teaches students a methodology for creative product development, including these steps:

1. Define the problem. Get past the obvious, and find answers that are valid all the time.

2. State the objectives. Don’t limit yourself by considering only what seems possible. Be visual, create flow charts.

3. Generate multiple alternatives. What other means are there of achieving the same result?

4. Evaluate alternatives. Create models and determine how each meets customer needs.

5. Build. Turn theory into practice.

A good starting place is to sit with another person somewhere other than your usual desk, (a) to get free of your ‘usual’ mind set, and (b) to get someone else’s perspective on the issue. Choose a topic that excites you, or a problem you need to solve.

Next, write the topic at the top of a sheet of paper and brainstorm the matter together, writing down all the ideas that you can think of in relation to that topic. No editing, as that can interrupt the create flow. See what emerges.

Practise brainstorming regularly. It will open up your creativity.

Phillip

Email etiquette: getting it right

Some of my clients have asked for advice on the right way to communicate by email. May I share it with you?

These days much of our business correspondence is conducted by e-mail rather than the conventional ‘snail mail’. Unhappily, certain conventions have been lost or overlooked in the process, and can get in the way of doing business, especially when there are cultural differences involved.

TYPICAL PROBLEMS:

• Sloppy layout
• Poor spelling / typing errors
• Incorrect grammar or punctuation
• Wrong forms of address
• Lack of formal opening and closing
• Missing reply information
• Wrong tone for the person being addressed
• One country’s conventions not acceptable in another country
• Risk of virus infection
• Divulging others’ email addresses
• Manners

Sloppy layout: Get professional help to establish templates. If possible, use a header, to make your email look like a regular letterheading. Otherwise how will it look different from the many spam messages?

Spelling/Typing: Always use the spellchecker, but also use an English dictionary (spellcheckers are American). Be especially careful to avoid writing “their” when you mean “they’re” and “your” for “you’re”.

Grammar/Punctuation: If in doubt, ask someone who knows. Phrases such as “between you and I” will diminish you in the eyes of some clients, and so will misplaced apostrophes. Never use one for a plural.  “I received your letters” is correct. “I received your letter’s” is wrong.

Language: The phrases and vocabulary you use will pigeon-hole you, perhaps at the wrong level. For example, “some cool stuff” and “Cheers” are not ideal for business letters.

Forms of address: When approaching a business contact for the first time, it is unwise to write “Hello there” or “Hi” or even “Dear John”.

Opening/Closing: Some emails leave out the salutation altogether. Others omit the name and title of the sender. If you are running back and forth with reply after reply on the same topic, and to someone you know well, it’s all right to omit the salutation.

Tone: Err on the side of caution. Don’t be familiar with a client or someone senior, and never write what you may regret the next day.

Conventions: See Opening/Closing. In some countries you are expected always to use a salutation.

Virus & Junk: In business circles, it is considered very bad manners to send a virus, so install and regularly update your virus checking software. It is also bad form to pass on chain letters, however well-meaning they may be. And never pass on email advertisements.

Divulging addresses: If you send an email to a whole group of unconnected people, use the BCC (blind carbon copy) to avoid exposing others’ email addresses without permission.

Manners: Capital Letters in emails are regarded as SHOUTING. Use *stars* for emphasis.

For a confidential course in Business Writing, email admin@pkpcommunicators.com

Phillip

Who speaks for your company?

If your first response was to think of the CEO, Chairman or some other top person, please pause and think again. I wrote this blog a year ago, but recent experiences in shops and restaurants have prompted me to publish it again.

I went for an eye test, returning to Specsavers in Bromley, where I got my previous specs. I was greeted warmly by Sanchoy, the dispensing opticians whose professionalism last year prompted my return. I told him so and, with a happy laugh, he called out my remarks to the store manager, who said something like, “That’s what we like to hear” and returned to staring out of the door.

Who was speaking for Specsavers?

I contacted a car repair shop to ask about some remedial re-spray work and was told, “We only do MGs, and sometimes some other sports cars. If we want to. We have so much work.”

Would you give them any business?

I rang a well-known organisation that sells things online. When eventually I managed to speak to a person, she told me, in her Sarf Lunnon voice, “If you wanna order anyfink you have to do it online.”

Who was speaking for the company?

When certain organisations started painting “How am I driving?” on their vans, they were trying to integrate every public contact with their expensively created image. They were also, subtly, telling their drivers to behave as representatives of a public-friendly organisation. The message bypassed the Sainsbury driver who was competing aggressively with other traffic this afternoon in Sydenham.

Every single person who is in contact with your public is the one who speaks for your business, and is the one who determines how your business is perceived in the market place. In some ways, more than the Chairman, the MD or CEO, the PR company, or the sales team. Because it is the attitude shown in day-to-day transactions that will matter more than polished presentations or Press Releases.

Every surly shop assistant, every curt telephone manner, every unhelpful tax inspector, reveals a serious training need. In these days of harsh economics, who can afford to ignore it?

The prevailing culture in a company can be determined my a single person. In West Wickham High Street I called at what was once  a family-run business, and which was renowned for the helpfulness of everyone there. The owner’s approach had been adopted by all the staff.

Sadly, things have changed. A new culture prevails: not so helpful, weak on welcome, critical of competitors. I kept my wallet in my pocket. They seemed to have little business. Is it any wonder?

Phillip

Smiling is good for your health. And it’s free.

 

Some years ago, I had an office in Charlotte Street, central London. One lunchtime I was walking down the street when I came face to face with the head of a TV Channel. He made eye contact and looked, for a split second, like he wanted to speak.

For some reason I never figured out, I put my face into neutral and passed him by. Perhaps I didn’t want to seem a ‘fan’, an ogler of the famous. I don’t know. And it was not the first time.

I once did that when I encountered Sir John Gielgud, even though I had always admired his work and even won an elocution contest at school by copying his delivery of a Cassius speech from Julius Caesar. He looked at me as I entered the cafe where he was sitting, and I passed him by without speaking.

What could I have said … “Oh Sir John, I’ve admired you for so long …” No. I don’t think so.

Fast forward a number of years to this very week. Monday morning started chilly, and I was striding through Mayfair in the early morning. Passing one of those discreet hotels in a side street, I noticed a doorman in full uniform, rubbing his hands against the chill. I caught his eye as I passed and smiled. He smiled back and his shoulders lifted immediately.

I was still feeling the pleasure of that fleeting exchange when I arrived at my destination. It made me beam at the receptionist, and she added a megawatt or two to her returning smile.

The doorman, the receptionist and I all had a great start to our days. Our spirits lifted, and I’m sure we all related better to those we met. Just because of that smile.

It was so easy to do. And it cost absolutely nothing.