A must read for those of us aspiring to be leaders. And in order to be a great leader we need to first be great communicators. This is of course not easy and something I work on every day as I evaluate what I say, how it was perceived and what I might do differently next time. This article highlights ten tips to help us on our way to “greatness”
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/05/29/comment-ten-communication-secrets-great-leaders
Fantastic article about the use, overuse and abuse of PowerPoint. A must read for all current and future PowerPoint users!
This was the title of a recent workshop I facilitated for the Speech and Drama Teachers Association of Victoria. It was fantastic to work with a room full of voice and speech teachers, drama teachers and EAL teachers all committed to supporting their students communicate their message clearly and effectively.
My key message for those wanting to neutralise their accent is to remember that it’s not about speaking like someone different or trying to change who you are. It’s important to remember that accent is intrinsically linked to identity so my focus when working with clients is about identifying the situations where you feel your accent is impacting on your ability to communicate clearly. For example, when speaking with your family or friends it may not be as important to think about your clarity as you feel comfortable in this situation. Whereas, when you are in a job interview, giving a presentation or in a meeting, you may feel that you accent is affecting your ability to get your message across clearly and perhaps you’re often asked to repeat yourself. If this sounds like you then I recommend a program of one-on-one sessions which will target the particular sounds (vowels and consonants), words and situations that you want to focus on.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting more about the different aspects of communication that I target as part of my accent neutralisation program, so stay tuned!
This fast paced and funny Tedx presentation will keep you entertained but also give you some handy tips on how to prepare yourself for your presentations. As presenters it can always be confronting to review yourself and watch a video of yourselves back. Vinh Giang takes us through how to review videos of ourselves presenting and critiquing our “sight, sound and sync”
As Franklin Roosevelt said “Be sincere, be brief, be seated.”
We live in a cynical world where we are trained to second guess what everyone says and never take anything at face value. So, as a presenter, how do you get your audience to believe you? Simple, speak from the heart. Now, you may be thinking this is easier said than done but at the end of the day, if you believe in what you’re saying and that passion and enthusiasm comes through in what you say then your audience will believe in you and your message.
Being sincere means being yourself and this for many people is daunting especially when standing in front of an audience of hundreds or maybe even thousands. But, think about it, if people don’t believe in you and who you are, why should they believe in what you’re saying?
The next time you present, think about it as being less like a presentation and more like a conversation. Think about the conversations you have with your friends and family and the energy you speak to them with about what you do or your interests. That is the real you and that is what needs to be channelled when you present.
Secondly, as I keep saying, be prepared. It’s very difficulty to be passionate and enthusiastic about your topic if you don’t know what you’re speaking about! So, make sure you know your subject well and why you find it interesting, important or useful. Telling your audience why you believe in what you’re talking about will help build a rapport with them.
As Alexander Gregg said “There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first get into your subject, then get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience”
Nancy describes beautifully the power of story telling to communicate our ideas.
From the “I have a dream” speech to Steve Jobs’ iPhone launch, all great presentations have a common architecture. This TED talk is not only informative but inspiring.
http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks#
VocalChord 