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Archive for phoenix based public speaking consultants – Page 6

5 Tips to Make Your Accent More Understandable

July 12, 2019
Posted by Paul Barton
No Comments
Flags of the World

By Paul Barton
Principal Consultant

I get approached from time to time by business professionals who are seeking help because they believe their accent is a detriment to their public speaking or business presentations. This usually surprises me because I find accents to be charming and at times even mesmerizing to listen to (my wife’s Filipino accent for instance).

But whether it’s charming, mesmerizing or something else, your accent is a part of who you are and attempting to change it dramatically would be disingenuous to your audience, and indeed, yourself.

That said, the real question becomes this: Can you be clearly understood by your audience? If the answer is “yes,” then embrace your accent! The problem was probably mostly in your head to begin with. Be yourself and speak with confidence.

However, if the answer is “no” and you are not being clearly understood, there are a few tips you can try to improve the way you speak:

  1. If you speak fast, try speaking slower.
  2. Practice pronouncing words that are used frequently in your business. Make sure you are enunciating the words you are having trouble with and stress the correct syllables.
  3. Record yourself reading a script or a book out loud and listen carefully to see what words aren’t being pronounced correctly.
  4. Listen carefully to TV newscasters and radio announcers. They are trained to speak clearly and typically speak without glaring accents.
  5. Try singing karaoke, watch the lyrics scroll across the screen, and note how the syllables are pronounced. A different part of your brain is engaged with music and often great learning can occur. After all, how did you learn your ABCs and why do you remember that ridiculous radio jingle you haven’t heard in decades?

If after trying these “home remedies” for a few weeks and you aren’t seeing any appreciable improvement, you may want to seek the help of a speech pathologist.

But whatever you do, please don’t try to lose your accent! Accents add a little spice to you and your presentation. Make sure you’re being understood and you will be great!

business communication, business presentations, public speaking, Public speaking skills, public speaking training

Don’t Wing It. Nail it!

June 21, 2019
Posted by Paul Barton
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Public speaking workshop

By Michele Trent
Public Speaking Coach

WHAT DO YOU do when you are asked to give a business presentation to a group? Do you calmly say “yes” and then jump up and down internally with excitement? Or perhaps you calmly say “yes” and then your stomach drops and the chills begin. You dread that day on the calendar and chastise yourself for agreeing to speak in the first place. Or perhaps you are in between those two extremes. You feel OK about presenting but you feel like you don’t have time to put something together that is good. You resolve to just “wing it.” After all, who knows your business or your role in the company better than you do? Well, likely no one.

However, unless you are a fabulously skilled presenter who can organize your thoughts on the fly, you should give time and attention to put together your remarks. Speaking in front of an audience is a privilege. Connecting face-to-face is powerful and when all eyes are on you, you want to be ready. You want to ensure that those who come to hear you speak feel like the time or money they spent was well worth it.

Audience Considerations

There are many things to consider as you prepare for a presentation. For purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on one – the audience. As you sit down to think through your presentation, you should first consider who your audience is. What do you know about them? What are their needs? What might they fear? What victories of theirs can you reinforce? What do they already know about the subject matter? What is it the audience needs to know the most.

Just thinking through these questions will give you all kinds of intelligence you can incorporate in your remarks. Think back to a time when you heard a powerful speaker whom really connected with you. You probably felt as though they were speaking right to you. What made it seem this way? Most likely, that speaker did their due diligence. They understood who would be in the audience and they crafted their remarks accordingly. It is not a coincidence that the speaker connected with you. Nope. It is because they did their homework and understood who you were. You can do the same.

Craft your remarks with your audience in mind. It sounds so simple and yet it means so much. What if you don’t know who’s going to be in your audience? Put on your detective hat and find out. Who invited you to speak? Ask them about the audience. Does this group meet regularly? If so, try and visit a meeting prior to the one when you are the featured speaker. How about a survey? Can you send something in advance with a few relevant questions? Let your contact know that you want to customize your remarks and ask if they would be willing to send out a short survey on your behalf. Incorporate your learnings into your presentation. Is there any information online about the group? What can you learn from their online presence?

Connecting with Your Audience

As you learn more about your audience, your confidence will grow. What was unknown and perhaps scary becomes more known and comfortable. Instead of “winging it” and maybe connecting with a few people in a haphazard way, draft your content in terms of your audience and increase your chance of connection. Your audience will know that you care about them when they hear content that is meaningful to them, shared in a relatable way.

When it comes to making a presentation, don’t “wing it.” Instead, “nail it!”

Phoenix Public Speaking coachingNeed help to prepare for your upcoming business presentation? Check out our 1-on-1 personal coaching packages.

business communication, business presentations, public speaking, Public speaking skills, public speaking tips

7 Presentation Tips from a Workshop Pro

June 14, 2019
Posted by Paul Barton
No Comments
Woman speaking into microphone and gesturing

By Jeff Herrington
Guest Blogger

Your industry has asked you to present on your field of expertise. But the thought of presenting makes your palms sweat.

Calm your nerves. Follow these seven tips and you’ll likely get applause from your audience, not rotten tomatoes.

  1. Remind yourself nobody’s going to throw rotten tomatoes at you – Your audience is rooting for you. Still, establishing rapport up front helps. Ask about someone’s lapel pin or laptop case. Don’t glad-hand everyone – that comes across needy. Be friendly but be authentic.
  2. Don’t let a slip break your stride – Correct your malapropism (or excuse your cough) and keep on presenting. People care more about how a presenter reacts to a snafu than the fact they made one. Just smile, say “oops,” and offer your next key point. Your audience will be impressed you withstood a faux pas far better than they would have.
  3. Move around. But don’t make people seasick – When you start, anchor in a location and remain there for several minutes. Once you’re into your presentation, however, feel free to gently roam. Audiences like to know their presenter isn’t some remote-controlled robot. But you’re not a thoroughbred vying for the Triple Crown, either. Glide. Stop. Present for a while. Glide again.
  4. Dialogue more, monologue less – Engagement is the goal. People learn more through conversation (and are less likely to doze off). Pitch questions: ‘Who has encountered this challenge and how did YOU solve it?’ Even let your audience answer one another’s questions. But control the room. This is YOUR presentation, not The Jerry Springer Show.
  5. One point per slide – I’m stunned some presenters still put six bullet points on one slide. Like there’s a dearth of PowerPoint slides out there and we need to conserve them. Deliver your points one at a time, visually as well as orally. You’ll more easily recall what you have to say and your audience will more easily recall what you said.
  6. Expect pushback. Know how to manage it – Challenging authority has replaced baseball as our national pastime. Expect someone to dispute some point you’re making. Here’s where “getting along” must transcend “proving you’re right.” Ask challengers how they derived their view (you may find some truth in their perspective, allowing you to then show how nuanced your topic is). If their view’s incorrect, or outdated, don’t say that. Focus on what the evidence reveals (“We used to think the world was flat, but explorers have disproven that by sailing around the world.”) That moves the dispute from one of opinions to facts.
  7. Conclude by asking for questions. And, for enlightenment – In wrapping up, I ask what surprised the group most about what they heard. What they learned that they hadn’t expected to. What they’ll do differently as a result of my talk or continue to do with greater passion. Their answers should convince your hosts that you got your points across well. And, that they should invite you back to present on another topic.

ABOUT OUR GUEST BLOGGER

Jeff Herrington has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in the U. S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and Germany. Companies that have been brought Jeff’s workshops on-site include JPMorgan Chase, American Century Investments, Arizona Public Service, IBM, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Jeff also has provided consulting expertise for such companies as Coca-Cola France, Whirlpool, John Deere and Wausau Insurance.

In addition to his consulting, coaching and workshops, Jeff also has composed several crossword puzzles that have been published in The New York Times, and he writes under the name of Jeffrey Eaton as a murder mystery author.

You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn or on his Jeff Herrington Communications website.

business communication, business presentations, PowerPoint Presentations, public speaking, Public speaking skills, public speaking tips

‘Presentation Basics’ Coaching

May 24, 2019
Posted by Paul Barton
No Comments

Public speaking is absolutely a learned skill. Using time-tested techniques, you can overcome fears and learn how to be an effective speaker. In this short video, public speaking coach Michele Trent outlines what you can expect in our “Presentation Basics” coaching package.

For more information about all of our 1-on-1 personal coaching packages, see our coaching page.

public speaking, Public speaking skills, public speaking tips, public speaking training

Presentation Structure: What, So What, Now What

May 20, 2019
Posted by Paul Barton
No Comments
Pile of scrap wood

By Paul Barton
Phoenix Public Speaking Founder and Owner

IMAGINE you are going to build a house with the finest building materials available, but without a foundation or a frame. What you’d have is a mess. That’s what a speech or business presentation with great content but no structure is like. Structure helps your business presentation to be digestible. It keeps you on point and helps keep you on time.

In a previous blog, public speaking coach Michele Trent wrote about the need to have an introduction, a body and a conclusion to every speech or presentation, and she explained the format in the easy-to-understand terms “tell ‘em what you’re going to tell them, tell ‘em, and tell ‘em what you just told ‘em.”

Intro, body, and conclusion are the fundamental parts of a presentation.

Presentation Structure

Here’s a different way of thinking about the structure of a presentation that may help you organize your thoughts and frame your points – what, so what, now what.

Here’s how it breaks down:

  • What (Introduction) – What is your presentation about.
  • So What (Body) – Why does it matter to the audience.
  • Now What (Conclusion) – What are you asking the audience to do (the call to action).

Sequence is Key

One key to this organizational format is that it must go in the proper sequence. Have you ever been asked to sign a petition in a parking lot of a grocery store? I never sign them. Why? In part because the petitioner is skipping the “What” and “So What” stages and going directly to the “Now What” stage. I don’t know what they are talking about or why it matters to me, so I can’t commit to taking action.

Don’t assume your audience knows what you’re talking about. Establish a good foundation. Build facts and examples upon that foundation to clearly outline why the issue is important. Then clearly explain what action you want your audience to take.

With a solid structure, you can build a strong case for the change or action you are seeking. Next time you’re preparing a presentation, think about your structure. When you apply a solid structure, you’ll have a great presentation.

RELATED POST: Your Teacher Was Right — Structure Your Speech

business communication, business presentations, public speaking, Public speaking skills, public speaking tips

Your Teacher Was Right — Structure Your Speech

May 6, 2019
Posted by Paul Barton
No Comments
Professor gesturing to students

By Michele Trent
Public Speaking Coach

You probably remember giving class presentations or speeches in middle school or high school. If it was anything like my experience, you weren’t given a tremendous amount of guidance. You were given a general idea of what your topic was to be about, you were told how long to speak, whether you could use visual aids, and not to talk too fast.

As for the structure of your remarks, it was pretty much – tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em, and then tell ‘em what you told ‘em. Albeit simple, this is still sound advice. When it gets right down to it, your presentation will have an open, a body, and a conclusion. Of course, there’s quite a bit you can do within each section but, at its core, this is the basic structure.

One simple way to elevate your next presentation is to give extra thought to the opening and closing. Many times, presenters just want to get to the guts of the presentation and forget to set it up for the audience and let them know what they are going to hear. Likewise, at the end, it is tempting to go right to the questions and then neglect the close. If you sum up the points you have made, you will drastically increase the likelihood that your audience will remember what you’ve just said.

One reason you may sway from this tried and true formula is that it might seem redundant to you. If you mention your main points three times and then unpack the points during the body of the presentation, isn’t that overkill? Nope. You are familiar with your message. Your audience is not. While they may have varying degrees of knowledge (your manager may have heard the points from you already), they are not immersed in the details the way you are. Plus, we live in a fast-paced, content-overloaded, culture. People are getting message flung at them from all sides. When you have their attention, walk them through your material in such a way that it is impossible to be misunderstood. It is better to have one person say “sheesh, I’ve got it already” than five people walk out scratching their heads wondering what the heck that was all about.

As part of your opening, clearly lay out what you are going to present. Then, present it clearly with illustrations, examples, data, and application. Finally, sum it all up, so that everyone knows the key takeaways. If we all applied this simple structure that was given to us in grammar school, we would find that many of our meetings would be more productive simply because we would be walking out with the same set of important learnings.

Do you have a business presentation on the horizon? Think through your remarks. Are you planning to tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em, and then tell ‘em what you’ve told ‘em? If not, you may be missing a simple and direct method for clearly communicating what it is you have to say.

 

business communication, business presentations, public speaking, Public speaking skills, public speaking tips, public speaking training
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