Flickr photo by Panzergrenadier.
Presentation and speaking skills are becoming critical in today's world
Presentation skills are becoming one of the most important softs-kills in addition to your basic core competence in your work, business or personal lives. US politicians have to be effective communicators and public speakers to have any decent chance at becoming an elected official.
Even if you are NOT in marketing or sales, presentation skills are now a must in your school, work and even volunteer activities.
So how does one build up these skills for today's world?
But first taking ACTION!
5 Step process in becoming a better speaker
1) Identify your REASON
Why do you want to be a better speaker? To make more money? To win friends and influence people (as Dale Carnegie puts in so well in his book?) or to be more successful in dating and to find a spouse?
Whatever your reason, it has to be REAL to you and something that MOTIVATES you internally. This is because to be a better speaker requires hardwork, dedication and lots of practice!!!
2) Evaluate your STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES
To improve, you need to know where are the areas you are weak at in public speaking. Is it the fear factor of not being able to stand in front of the audience? Then you may need to work on you being confident enough to overcome your fear and to deliver your speech or presentation smoothly and confidently. Some of you may realise that you already have some inate talents and abilities suited for public speaking. You may be blessed with a deep resounding voice. You may be tall and have attractive facial features. You may be naturally humorous. All these can help you become an even better speaker!
3) Get COACHING
Multi-million dollar earning tennis players have coaches. Even professional public speakers like Craig Valentine gets coaching from Patricia Fripp. You can be coached at any of the hundreds of toastmasters clubs in Singapore! If you are not sure which one to join, you can consider the Open Alumni Toastmasters Club that I am a member of and if you live in the Northeast, Rivervale Toastmasters Club. Just drop me an email at rod.loh at gmail.com and I will forward the contacts of the respective people from those clubs to get in touch with you!
The value in coaching and mentoring comes from having more experienced toastmasters guide you along this journey towards being a better speaker and presenter. I personally have benefitted from 5 plus years of being coached by various mentors, evaluators and other better speakers I have met from my own toastmastering experience.
4) Practice, practice and practice!
There is no substitute from putting theory into action through practice. Even Craig Valentine mentioned when he was at the Hong Kong Convention in 2007 that he still practices and practices even though he is a world champion of public speaking! When you are in a club, you will practice monthly your speeches if you adhere to the basic communication and leadership manual that brings you through the basic foundations of being an effective public speaker!
5) DO IT for real!
Once you have attained some measure of confidence from the hardwork you have put in, you can put your skills to the test in real speaking situations. The confidence you get from being able to effectively deliver your speech and presentation is something that boosts your own value as an employee, business-person, student or volunteer.
Being a public speaker is possible for most of you. The question is, do you WANT it so BAD that you would be willing to invest the time, effort and energy to grow your own skills and abilities?
Speak well and live well!
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3 comments:
April 9, 2008 7:15 AM
Great advise. I would suggest one correction. I believe your readership is much greater than only Singapore. So let us inform everyone that Toastmasters Club are available all around the world. Check http://www.toastmasters.org for a club near you.
You may also find a coach near you for even more improvement.
April 11, 2008 7:46 PM
These are all good points.
I had a baseball coach in high school who said, “You play the way that you practice.” Naturally, practicing public speaking will help. What most people forget though is that it is equally important to practice non-verbal delivery skills as well. It is important to do so as practicing your non-verbal skills will help cement them in your muscle memory. If you do not practice that way, you are less likely to meet with success.
Another thing I would suggest is that you don’t stop yourself in your practice sessions. What would you do if you made a mistake or misspoke? Practice it like you would in front of an audience. Then you’ll be more adept at reacting and thinking on your feet.
There is no substitute for practicing your presentation on your feet before you deliver it. Mark Twain said it best, “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”
Another point I would add to your 6 is that being informal can often be a very helpful during presentations; looking extremely professional and deferring to those higher up during presentations can actually backfire. For instance,if you defer too much to executives, you are projecting that you are not on an equal business stature. Respect the position professionally but relate to the human informally. By speaking to them more informally, you project that you are equal. They will read that as confidence.
It is also important to have a unique point of view; there is a common phrase at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center: “Point of view is worth 80 IQ points.”
I feel that being somewhat informal (but still professional) during presentations and in most business situations is more authentic and engaging to audiences than the stiff formality and rigid “professionalism” that people tend to slip into when presenting about their technology solutions.
Finally, a great sense of humor is important in business; if humor is a strong element of any interaction style, then it will serve you well. It is important to always find opportunities to insert it into your interactions with audiences / customers.
Thanks for the posts!
May 12, 2008 7:10 PM
Hi Michael and Terry
Thanks for your comments and valuable insights!
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