Tag Archive for: public speaking
For all sorts of reasons, speakers will decide not to use a microphone. They are not confident that they know how to use it, they believe their audience will be able to hear them, they consider that they have projection skills, they have spoken in the venue before … and more.
For all sorts of reasons, though, a microphone can enhance a speaker’s success. Here are three….
1. It is very easy to take our voices for granted. Vocal chords are, in fact, easily damaged and that damage can be permanent, irreversible. Even though you are capable of projecting, the sustained effort of projecting can contribute to damage. A microphone will help prevent you straining your voice.
2. Generally, you become familiar with the size of group you can speak to comfortably, without straining your voice, and so that everyone can hear. There are, however, other reasons that people may not hear, beyond the size of the group. It may be that your audience is elderly and hard of hearing. It may be that there is a little child or children in the audience who are noisy. It may be that there is machinery either within the room, like an air conditioner, or outside. It may be that there is another function or a noisy kitchen beside your room. It may be that people in your audience do not share your native language or do not understand some of your terminology.
Obviously, you need to research your audience to discover how they will affect your need for a microphone. Visit the room before your presentation if you can. Find out what is happening on the day and at the time you will be speaking. Test the acoustics. High ceilings can make it more difficult to be heard, for example.
And yet, despite all your research, you cannot always foresee what is going to be happening on the day. So if at all possible have a microphone available, and then if something unexpected happens or the audience is too large for your comfortable projection, then you will be prepared.
3 A microphone has the ability to improve your voice, not just prevent it being damaged. It will give you the ability to speak in a more conversational, more personal way and connect more strongly with your audience. If you have a lapel or handheld microphone it will also allow you to get closer to your audience for an even more personal approach. It is also a great way to add power to the points you want to emphasise.
It can also improve a soft voice, although this is difficult. Generally a person with a softer voice needs to speak directly into the microphone, always. Because of the inability to project, if they turn their head away at all, the voice will be lost.
So learn to project, but always ask for or accept the offer of a microphone. It will add impact to your speech and help save your voice. And you can always leave it off if you so choose.
© Bronwyn Ritchie If you want to include this article in your publication, please do, but please include the following information with it:
Bronwyn Ritchie is a professional librarian, writer, award-winning speaker and trainer. She is a certified corporate trainer and speech contest judge with POWERtalk, a certified World Class Speaking coach, and has had 30 years' experience speaking to audiences and training in public speaking. In just 6 months time, you could be well on the way to being admired, rehired as a speaker, with the 30 speaking tips. Click here for 30 speaking tips for FREE. Join now or go to http://www.30speakingtips.com
80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters
by Jerry Weissman
Weissman shows you how to
Content: Master the art of telling your story.
Graphics: Design PowerPoint slides that work brilliantly.
Delivery: Make actions speak louder than words.
Q&A: Listen more effectively, and handle even the toughest questions.
Integration: Put it all together in one seamless, winning presentation! => http://bit.ly/NCM4ER
Every day we face the challenge of persuading others to do what we want. But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too. => http://bit.ly/JzqjVU
The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.
A. J. Cronin
(Overcome your fear of public speaking, and WIN!!)
With the right preparation even the most nervous speaker can deliver a winning presentation. Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies shows you how, from drafting your content to honing your tone for a perfect delivery. More confident speakers can find expert advice on getting visual aids right, impromptu speaking, dazzling in roundtables, and much more. http://bit.ly/IRsnKf
The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach
Jerry Weissman
Learn the successful presentation techniques used in over 500 IPO road shows and featured in The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company.
Filled with illustrative case studies of Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, and many others, The Power Presenter will bring out the best in anyone who has to stand and deliver.
Readers of The Power Presenter will have access to video clips referenced in the book. => http://bit.ly/ICHA1E
It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
~~ Mark Twain
(Thank you so much for your insight, Sir, again!!)
So much is written about the problems of PowerPoint. There are so many lists of dos and don’ts for PowerPoint presentations. But in the end, the answer to producing an engaging, successful presentation actually does not originate in the use of PowerPoint itself. It originates in the speaking skills. Good PowerPoint presentations are presented by people who are good speakers first, and who apply those skills to their PowerPoint as well.
A good speaker does not allow PowerPoint to be a wall to put between themselves and the audience. She uses it as a visual aid to the words and the presentation style of the speech. It is not the dominating feature of her presentation. It has to be the speaker, who leaves the impact and the memories with the audience, not the PowerPoint slides, excellent though they may be. Her speaking skills will make the difference. PowerPoint simply supplements them.
With or without PowerPoint, a good speaker will respect his audience. He will prepare the speech so that he can give full attention to the audience and engage fully with them. If he is reading his slides, or using them as a memory prompt, then that respect is obviously diminished. Did he care so little for this audience and this occasion that he could not be bothered to fix his material in his head so that he could engage with them?
With or without PowerPoint, a good speaker will be able to engage with her audience using many techniques. Speaking is so much more than the words used. If it were not, then those words could be put on the slides and emailed or printed and posted. Making a presentation in person gives you a vastly increased chance of persuading, inspiring or affecting your audience with all sorts of vocal, content and presentation techniques that are completely impossible with words alone. So if you put all of the words on the slides, or many of the words, then the attention of the audience is focussed on those words and you waste the power of your presentation techniques.
With or without PowerPoint, a good speaker has the skills to maintain attention and engagement. This negates the need for flashy, distracting animation. It negates the need for multiple slides for each point. The slides should be unobtrusive and supportive of the spoken word, not the focal point of engagement and attention.
With or without PowerPoint, a good speaker is prepared. In PowerPoint, this means having words in a font size suitable to the room so that they can be read easily by anyone in the audience.
She knows how to use the equipment and has set it up and tested it, if at all possible before the presentation begins.
She can adapt her presentation to allow for audience interaction. The presentation is flexible so that she can respond to questions and obvious needs specific to this audience.
She has spent the time necessary to make the slides as effective as possible. This means giving time to design, ensuring all backgrounds, layouts and font are consistent. It means ensuring that the backgrounds are simple and do not create distraction from the main point and image. It means choosing images and words that support the message and no more. It also means choosing images that will appeal to this particular audience as well as establishing the brand and personal image that she chooses to represent. None of this can be done successfully by either putting the presentation together at the last minute or chopping pieces from other presentations that were not designed for this audience or situation.
All of these attributes of a good speaker – respect for an audience, being able to engage an audience, and being prepared - are also what make a PowerPoint presentation successful.
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(c) Bronwyn Ritchie
If you want to include this article in your publication. please do. but please include the following information with it:
Bronwyn Ritchie is a professional librarian, writer, award-winning speaker and trainer. She is a certified corporate trainer and speech contest judge with POWERtalk, a certified World Class Speaking coach, and has had 30 years experience speaking to audiences and training in public speaking. In just 6 months time, you could be well on the way to being confident, admired, successful, rehired. Click here for her 30 speaking tips FREE. Join now or go to http://www.30speakingtips.com
The 7 Principles of Public Speaking
Richard Zeoli
With The 7 Principles of Public Speaking, Richard Zeoli makes the common sense, gimmick-free program he’s offered to business leaders and political candidates available to everyone. => http://bit.ly/IjaYFJ
