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Speaker
and the audience
“The
ultimate purpose of your speaking is to affect change in the
lives of your listeners.”
—Philip
G Rochford
Audience
response
There are four principal ways in which you interact with the
audience and by which the audience evaluates you as a speaker.
These ways are:
What you do.
How you look.
What you say.
How you say it.
The manner in which these things are done will cumulatively
impact the effectiveness of your presentation. To be an effective
speaker, you should be yourself and not try to imitate someone
else. Certainly you can be influenced by the excellent approaches
of other speakers but you are unique. You must maintain your
uniqueness.
Each person has a special individuality. As a speaker you
need to nourish and develop your own uniqueness. You can certainly
adapt other speaking approaches to your own special style.
However, your own personality will be the spark to put force
and sincerity into your speaking. There is no other individual
in the universe like you. It is your real claim to contributing
your special speaking talents.
Elements of the delivery can be broken down into six principal
areas:
The presence of the speaker.
The content of the speech.
How the speech is integrated.
Vocal variety of the delivery.
Eye contact with the audience.
Body language.
Nurturing
While you have been speaking from a baby, you need to polish
your skills to excel in this modern age. To learn and be a
more effective speaker, you need to have specific coaching
to deal with your speaking needs. Attend my advanced speaking
workshop on October 6 and 7 at Cascadia Hotel and move to
a higher level of speaking performance.
Your presence as a speaker is determined by the overall impact
you have on the audience. This occurs from the moment you
proceed to the lectern, and until you return to your seat.
Your presence is determined by the following:
Your stance when introduced as the speaker.
Your walk to the lectern.
How you are dressed and its appropriateness.
The way you stand throughout your presentation.
Your countenance.
This means that, as a speaker, you must be confident, pleasant
and enthusiastic. You must be alert to the audience and respond
with empathy to the needs of the audience.
Research has shown that the message is conveyed through words,
voice and body language. This is effected in the proportions
of seven per cent, 38 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively.
The actual crafting of the content is the basis for building
the communication process. The structure, logic and integration
of the ideas in the speech must be powerful.
Humour
A word about humour and jokes would be timely here. Laughter
of the audience is important but the humour must not be overdone.
The jokes or humour must be tied into your message. In this
way, when the audience leaves and they remember the jokes,
the messages are also recalled.
When you make your joke, have the courage to wait for the
audience to laugh. Don’t rush into your next sentence
to fill the silence. Further, avoid jokes about minorities,
religion, politics, race and sex. These areas will upset sections
of the audience and you will alienate your audience needlessly.
The voice and the way it is manipulated is five times as powerful
as the words in communicating the message. Vocal variety is
thus indispensable to an effective speech.
Vocal variety is determined by the rate of words, and pitch
and volume of the voice. This can be used to support the ideas
behind the words. The voice can be soft, assertive, joyous,
sad or solemn as the situation warrants.
Your body language communicates more than your words and your
voice combined. You can use this knowledge consciously to
increase your speaking effectiveness.
Remember the adage that “your actions are speaking so
loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying.” Effective
communicators ensure that their body language is co-ordinated
with their words and voice.
Eye contact
Your eye contact draws and keeps the attention of the audience.
Moreover, by keeping eye contact with the audience, you can
interpret the reaction to the various sections of your presentation.
It also facilitates keeping a live link with the audience.
Truly, “the eyes are the windows of the soul.”
Select people in strategic parts of the audience with whom
to make eye contact. In this way you are seen by the audience
as giving attention to everyone. You have to avoid paying
continuous attention to only one section of the audience.
Engage a member of the audience with your eyes until a point
is completed.
This should take some three to five seconds. You then look
at the next selected member of the audience and repeat the
process of completing a point. Move on to another person and
repeat the process. This continues until the speech is ended.
Your delivery must be like casual conversation rather than
like reading a document. To be a masterful speaker you have
to “say” your piece, not “read” it. The
real effective speaker is a storyteller. The presentation
can be integrated by having “idea” words that link
the various sections of your speech.
For example, if the topic is war, the idea word for a particular
section may be “starvation.” This would trigger
the section on the wastage of resources that could feed starving
communities.
What really is the purpose of your speaking to an audience?
Is it to showcase your knowledge? Is it to experience the
power of control? Is it to satisfy your ego? The purpose of
speaking to an audience is to inform them, persuade them,
and entertain them.
The ultimate purpose of your speaking is to affect change
in the lives of your listeners. This must be done simply,
clearly and with an entertaining slant. With modern technology,
the communication process and the artist’s repertoire
provide a level of entertainment that has crossed over to
the public speaker.
Call 633-7856 to identify and achieve your goals and visit
http://www.nurturinglife.com
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