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What came first - the chick or the egg ?

Don't worry, I am not digressing. While it may not be easy to answer this question, let me put forth another -

They say, "Listen before you speak."

What do I listen to, if nothing has been spoken?"

It is simply assumed that the group of people in front of whom you are supposed to speak, is your audience; that they are there to listen to you.

The fact of the matter is - It is a quid pro quo kind of a deal. 

When you stand in front of 10 or 200 people, what you initially have is a crowd. They turn into your audience when you listen to their needs. 

Now, no one is going to stand up and before you begin, tell what they want. It is for you to answer these questions -

• What is the purpose of my speech or presentation?
• What would the people like to hear? Is there any particular emotion I wish to evoke.
• How loud should I be while speaking so that the person in the last row can hear me and yet the eardrums of the person in the front seat, are not ruptured?

With the abundance of content on the internet and books, this would help you to structure your speech. It would help to decide what needs to be included and that which needs to be left out.

For example, you need to talk about something that you love.

Now your passion for, say cricket, makes you download pages of information on the 'gentleman's game'. Next day, you stand on the stage to pour that knowledge in front of the people, only to end up having a handful of people paying attention to you. 

This is because an essential component was missed - Love.

The idea is to first let the people know as to why you love the game. It is important to share the passion and get people on board before the information can be disseminated.

However, no matter how good your content is, if you are barely audible beyond the first row,people are not going to put any extra effort to try to listen, 

I have used the term 'Your audience' and not 'Audience' for the simple reason that those who become interested in listening to you, turn into your audience. They may not act in the same manner with the person who comes up next. 

To create a larger audience, eye contact plays a vital role.

Standing on the stage, you are supposed to be the centre of attention. However, everyone likes to feel important and the people who are there to listen to you, are no different.

It is not about looking in the eyes of each person, but rather addressing all as a group, instead of just favoring those sitting on one side.

Having said all this, let me share one bitter truth.

There might be some who, even after you have put in all the efforts, would still not listen. It is probably because they are not there by their own choice or have come with the simple intention of creating distraction.

Instead of focussing on these, whom I call 'seat fillers', give your complete attention to your audience. However, if the former comprises a sizeable number, it is time to revisit the questions.

 

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This is what I see normally happening in most of the organizations when I check with the sales and marketing team; they get a target from the management and there will be a manager who will just check out whether they are reaching it or not.  I feel most of the time, this strategy fails, certainly if the product they are selling is new or costly.  The sales team come up with execuses for not selling it because the customers will start demotivating them saying it would not sell at this price.  So, here's where you need a mentor who can sit with the team and brainstorm ways to reduce rejection and penetrate more effectively into the market.  A simple thing that people need to do is just CONNECT with the customer by serving more than what they pay for, you will stay far ahead in this competitive world. Customers are very smart, they will not allow anybody to treat them as "money-paying machines," they would expect the best out of what they spend.  If a sales person is able to convince the customer that the value of the product is more than the money that the customer holds in his/her pocket, the sale is done, there is no other magic.  But to do a presentation of that finesse, one needs excellent training and that is what infisel does through a variety of workshops.

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The best way to overcome phobia is being exposed to what you fear, first in a safe and supportive environment and then slowly graduating to more ‘risky’ situations.

• Start by planning and preparing your speech ( Keep it short and simple )
• Practice your speech in front of friends and ask for feedback(both positive as well as negative)
• Don’t mug up your speech. Chances are , you will forget what you mugged up. Focus your mind of just the key points. Write those points in small cue cards and glance at them ONLY if required.
• As you learn from feedback, keep taking every opportunity to address people. It could be a small meeting at work or informal gatherings. The more you attempt at getting yourself exposed to such situations, the quicker your phobia will disappear.
• Do not obsess about looking perfect or being perfect all the time. None of us are. We are all Work In Progress (WIP).
• There are worse things that could happen in life than getting booed out when you are making your speech. Look at rejections as being temporary.
• Last but not the least, celebrate every single success of yours at public speaking, however small it may seem to you.

All the best ! - By Midhun Manmadhan

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The biggest challenge most of us face when facing an audience is frayed nerves. The moment we get up and face people, our mind is filled up with all kind of thoughts. "Is the audience judging me ?", " What if I forget the talk ?", "Do I look presentable ?" etc.

It is quite normal to feel stressed under such circumstances. However, we do not have the luxury of time to rationalize our thoughts and get our head to think straight when we have so many people waiting to hear our talk.

What do we do under such circumstances ?

Running away is surely not an option. The quickest and easiest way out of this would be to desist from thinking and judging for a moment and focus on action. Your actions have the power to change your thoughts.

1. Look up at the audience , establish and maintain eye contact
2. Speak up in an audible and firm tone of voice

These two actions are sure to get the attention of your audience and make them sit up and notice your talk.

Why does this work ?

You don't look away when someone is looking at you. You can get your audience to engage with you by maintaining eye contact. When you speak loud and clear, and project your voice, it demands the attention of the audience. They would surely sense conviction and confidence in your tone.

 

So the next time you have a public speaking engagement or even an office meeting, don't forget these two tips. You'll be surprised at the results that you get !

 

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Good question! While some people are born with the natural talent of presenting, especially in front of a crowd, we are all not so fortunate! Even many skills actors, performers and public speakers have learned tips and tricks on body language, voice projection, crowd stimulation, and other engagement strategies. Also, we have to know our audience. How we present the same topic to our peers or seniors or juniors would be different based on their understanding of that subject. It also depends on what we are presenting, and how we are presenting. Are we presenting on a stage? Or in a board room, sitting down? Are we presenting on the phone, only with our voice or on a video conference? How we present ourselves in different situations also has a skill to it. read less

I would say know your subject well. That gives you confidence and confidence is a key to success. Practice is an important aspect of any presentation. So practice at least for five times before presenting. You could face a mirror and do so. Cause you will get to know your own body language and you yourself is the best person to judge. Most of the times when you rehearse in front of family or friends in order to console you they do not give you the correct feedback. You can contact me with anymore suggestion you require. read less

When you say presentation learning, are you referring to creating power point presentation? or presenting the ppt in a way to impress the crowd? If you need to learn power point, join someone who will teach Power Point. And for doing effective presentations, you need to get in touch with someone who trains on effective communication skills. Infact i do teach this. I can do this online or live 1 on 1. regards, Sree Harsha read less