Speaking Well In Public

After delivering a recent session on Actors’ Tips for Trainers, I was asked by one of the group how using actors’ techniques in the art of speaking at work supported authenticity. His thought was that people can see when you’re playing a part and that we need to be our word. He felt that we can over-focus on technique and miss out on speaking with purpose and conviction, suggesting that this is where the audience can become cynical.

So often we develop a shell we think will protect us from whatever it is we fear when speaking in public. Those vocal habits, the ums, ers and repetitive phrases [anything rather than allow a pause!]; the physical habits, the rocking backwards and forwards, pacing, fiddling and other displacement activity; and the reliance on safety nets, peering at notes, staring at the powerpoint or over the audience’s heads, are all piled on like armour, building up over the years. Actors are trained to strip all this away, to relax physically and mentally and to connect with the audience, and to develop the tools of their trade, their breathing and voices, so the story can be told.

I concluded that far from making the public speaker less authentic, using these techniques can only help you to become more so.

I attended a good drop in Action Learning set and one to one meeting with a business coach at the open air Pavilion Gardens Cafe in Brighton yesterday. Coaches and self-employed freelancers in discussion and sharing ideas and skills over tea and scones. Highly recommended. I also saw the concept of “paying it forward”  in action when one friend offered a favour to another, who then offered help to a third. There may not be so much money around, but there’s more than money out there.

Autumn’s a restless time of year, a time of change for everyone, with leaves falling, changing colours and a new light. For me, pulling on tights, scarves and boots always triggers memories of the weight of a bag of books on my shoulder and the start of a new school or college year. For children going to school for the first time, students going away to uni, graduates off travelling on their gap year or parents seeing them all off, it’s a difficult, exciting and challenging time; time for something new and fresh.

The local colleges’ new brochures are brimming with evening classes and ideas. So how are you going to celebrate the new season?  Take a look round the site and see what we have to offer to give you a boost to your confidence, skills and CV to take you into 2012.

Catherine Hakim of the London School of Economics, writing in Stylist Magazine September 2011, explains that ‘attractive’ means looks, yes, but that manners, courtesy and charm are often forgotten:

“Attractive people sell more, work better in teams, are more productive and profitable for employers … social intelligence is increasingly valuable in knowledge economies.”

So self-presentation really does matter both in social and business situations, as it directly affects just how successful you’ll be. Your interpersonal, non-verbal and public speaking skills all form important facets of your personal impact, guiding how employers, colleagues and clients see you.

Dr Farrokh Sharifzad, writing in Absolute Magazine August 2011, says:

“It only takes a newborn a few weeks to learn the value of their smile.

Using the facial muscles that create a smile affects both the smiler and the recipient of that smile. Research shows that using muscles that create a smile triggers the release of serotonin in the brain. This hormone is the feel-good one. The more serotonin being secreted into the brain, the happier you will feel…

From ‘Society Small Talk’ by Anon c. 1880

“The common error with the many is their rapid or, so to say, slovenly manner of speaking; the slurring over of the final syllables, the dropping the voice before the words have been but half-uttered, and the running a string of words together with hurried ungraceful accents, too often starting with a jerk and concluding with a rush.”

Perhaps the language is a little old fashioned, but the advice is right up to date:

Speaking too quickly means your audience will find it hard to keep up, not speaking clearly means they’ll have trouble understanding you and not projecting consistently means they just won’t hear everything.

Not much changes!

Do formal situations leave you tongue-tied and out of your depth?

Do you have difficulty chairing meetings?

Are your skills and abilities better than many of your bosses – save that one key skill, confident public speaking? And might this be why you haven’t yet reached your full potential at work?

Have you not yet started your dream business because the thought of presenting your business plan to your bank manager fills you with dread?

Do you worry that your anxiety might be discovered?

Do you feel that others can sense your fears – and exploit them?

Would you love to have a party piece; tell a joke, or recite poetry?

So what’s really getting in your way?

Did you know you can do so much more?

Speaking Well In Public can help.