Speaking your way to Success –10

Your audience sees you before they start listening to you. And your body starts communicating with your audience much before you start communicating through your speech. The way you walk, shake hands, the way you sit. Body language can be an excellent tool and can synergize with your speech and make it very effective, or if not used or ignored, can spoil your effort.

Gestures and body movement are like spices in a soup – they can either add or distract, depending on how much you use. You need to be cautious about your gestures and movements. But before doing anything about them you should first be aware about their existence, which you can do by watching the video recording of your test presentation. You need to look for following –

·         If you are rattling coins or keys in your pocket.

·         If you are twisting your ring

·         If you are standing too rigid

·         If you are fixed at just one place or hanging on the lectern.

·         If you are rubbing your palms often.

·         If you are rocking from side to side

·         If you are drumming your fingers on the lectern

·         If you are blowing your hair out of your eyes.

·         If you are licking your lips

·         If you are constantly pushing up the bridge of your glasses.

·         If you are playing with your jewelry or twirling my hair (If you are a girl of course)

·         If you are stroking your beard (if you are sporting one)

·         If you are chewing gum during the course of your presentation

If you find some other gesture movement, which is not natural and looks odd, you need to work on it,

Some speakers seem glued to the lectern, clenching it with both hands as it were a life preserver in a storm-tossed ocean. Use it as a tool, not as a crutch. Better yet, come out from behind the lectern during your speech. Hiding behind the lectern during the entire course of your speech is not conducive if you wish to establish contact with your audience. Usually they have microphone on the lectern that forces you to stand behind it, so you should find out from the organizers if they can organize a lapel microphone for you, which will not hamper your movement. The movement shows your confidence, but the movement should not be too paced and distracting. The movement should be used ideally to establish contact with various section of the audience. Movement is important for two reasons: It helps you to relax and adds energy to your speech. It causes listeners to pay closer attention to both you and your message.

Movement is good but swaying or repetitive patterns of movement distracts audience from the message you wish to communicate. It also shows you as an over anxious, desperate, impatient person. You should also become aware of – and eliminate any repeating motion, such as finger pointing or rubbing your hands together as mentioned earlier also.

A speaker’s upper body is considered as public space and waist below as private space. You should see that your hands stay in the public space, they shouldn’t end up in your pockets and stay there for the entire course of lecture.

Don’t clench your fist, use the “fig-leaf” stance of placing your hands in a “V” over your crotch area, or hold both hands at chest level as if you are in a prayer. It is best for both hands to remain empty, at your side, raising them to gesture when it is appropriate. Keep your palms visible, hands held forward with palm up convey sincerity and openness.  

You need to work consciously and cautiously on your body language, as speech coach Patricia Fripp says – “An audience doesn’t remember what you say. They remember what they see.”

Your gesture should supplement your thoughts. Descriptive gestures help visualize your listeners size, shape, location or movement. Suggestive gestures convey feelings, emotion and attitude – such as frowning or shrugging your shoulders. But excessive use of these gestures may look irritating.

Some of us have the habit of slouching. If you have this habit you will carry it to the stage as well, If your friends have pointed out and you know that you have this challenge, keep telling yourself “Stand Tall!, Stand Tall!!” After some time you will find that you have fixed this challenge and now you ARE in fact standing tall.

Our clothes also communicate a lot about us. Dress appropriately for the occasion. It’s a good idea to dress conservatively and using dark blue, black, or grey shades. Women should ideally wear solid color dresses or office suits. Avoid excessive jewelry and bangles that ring every time you move your hand.  

Shoes should be neatly polished and shining. You should check them before you enter the auditorium.

Wear a mild perfume. Strong perfume which fills the entire room as you enter is never a good choice.

It is suggested to dress one level “above” your audience.

Few words about using the microphone, Often you will be asked whether you prefer a hand-held microphone, a clip-on wireless lavaliere (Lapel), or a mike attached to the lectern.

The wireless clip-on leaves you free to walk around and use both hands for gestures, but you can’t control volume and if you are standing under the overhead speaker it will produce screeching sound.

The handheld microphone allows you to control the volume by the distance you place it form your mouth, however it leaves only one hand free for gestures.

The stationary microphone frees both hands and lets you control the volume, but prohibits walking around.  

I guess I mentioned this somewhere in my previous posts on this topic (Speaking your way to success), but as this is the last one in the series, I would take the chance of repeating myself. Remember “You” is a winner and “I”, “me”, “mine” is a loser. “You” is a powerful word in communication. When you start your communication everyone in the audience has a question in her mind, “What is in it for me?” People are interested in themselves. So, before going to deliver your speech, check how many “I” and how many “You” you have used in your text, if the ratio is not ten to one in favor of “You”, re-write your speech.

Humor if used sensibly, carefully and at right place can work as an excellent catalyst to communication. It’s an icebreaker, it relieves tension, it creates rapport with the audience, it gives listeners a breathing spell. It produces atmosphere for communication.

It has been proven that information delivered in a “light” or entertaining form is remembered longer than more seriously derived material. I would share a link of a TED talks by our own movie star Shahrukh Khan, sharing his thoughts on humanity, fame and love;  just observe how cleverly he uses humor to connect, associate with the audience and then communicates what he wishes to, and by the response of the audience at the end of his talk you can easily make out that his humor worked in a great way.

https://youtu.be/0NV1KdWRHck  (Link to the TED Talk.)

I hope you liked the video (I hope you clicked on that link and watched the complete 17.51 minutes long video).

You liked his speech because of the following attributes that the speech has.

1. Humor is relevant and it is connected with what he wishes to convey.

2. He has not used “canned” jokes which are actually forced humor.

3. His humor flowed through his speech; he hasn’t forced any anecdote, quote or one-liner into his presentation.

4. He is using story about himself.

5. His humor is short and witty.

6. None of his jokes, humorous quips and quotes are not sexist, racist or ethnic so it doesn’t hurt anyone.   

Best way to improve your speech is watch other speakers, make notes, what you liked in the speech and why, don’t imitate anyone, have your own content and style. You are special in your own right, you have special capabilities which might be hidden now, if you work smartly you can discover the real you and harness your immense, unlimited potential.

Good luck.