How about you?

In this article, you will learn:

• 8 common faulty assumptions you might be making;
• the subsequent result on your presentations; and
• how to fix your flawed thinking.

8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions

Eight common faulty assumptions that speakers make are:

1. Deep knowledge of a topic alone will enable me to present ideas on it.
2. My audience members are mind readers.
3. I can present information/concepts that took me 3 months to learn in a 20-minute presentation.
4. Everyone in my audience is equal.
5. I don’t need to practice out loud.
6. I’ll have plenty of time to get there.
7. If I get off the platform/stage, I will be closer to audience members.
8. If I speak at my normal speed, everyone will understand me.

Let’s examine each of these a little deeper.

Assumption #1 — Deep knowledge of a topic alone will enable me to present ideas on it

Knowledge of a subject you are going to speak about is critical, but it is only a beginning to have an impact on an audience. You also need to determine:

• What you want to achieve by delivering the message? In other words, what is your purpose? What do you want the audience knowing, doing, and/or feeling as a result of your presentation?
• Who you are speaking to? What are their expectations, level of understanding, and attitudes. Depending on this, you will organize your materials accordingly, and emphasize the information that is most critical to the audience.
• Logistical considerations — How much time do you have? How many people will be in the audience? What types of visuals will work best? You need to understand all of this to determine how much information you will be presenting — and how to present it.

Assumption #2 — My audience members are mind readers

Unfortunately, audience members never know what you want them to take away from your presentation, unless you tell them multiple times.

Despite what you may think, they are not hanging on your every word. The goal is to be clear and concise. Don’t let them guess.

Assumption #3 — I can present information/concepts that took me 3 months to learn in a 20-minute presentation

Frequently, speakers want to look smart — or demonstrate that they have worked very hard — so they do a data dump. They forget that audience members can only absorb so much information at a time.

Step back and determine what they must know. Leave the rest out, or save it for the Q & A.

Assumption #4 — Everyone in my audience is equal

Typically, there are audiences within an audience. There may be a hierarchy or politics involved. Analyze the audience, and determine which members are the decision makers, and who are the influencers (sometimes they can be the same), and then plan accordingly.

If everyone is equal in rank, play to the masses.

Do your homework. Learn exactly who is in the audience.

Assumption #5 — I don’t need to practice out loud

Thinking through a presentation is very different than speaking it out loud, in a simulated environment, using your notes and/or slides.

Actors, musicians, and athletes all practice. Why should speakers be any different?

Practice helps with fluidity, timing and comfort level. Each time, say it differently, so it doesn’t become rote.

Peter Drucker said, “Spontaneity is an infinite number of rehearsed possibilities.”

Assumption #6 — I’ll have plenty of time to get there

Although the unexpected can happen, speakers should do everything possible to arrive at a speaking event/meeting well in advance.

If you don’t do your due diligence in leaving with ample time, or getting directions, you will likely arrive at the last minute — harried and looking unprofessional.

If other speakers are before you, sit in to get a sense of the tone of the meeting, and how the audience is responding.

By arriving early, you can talk to audience members, and further customize your presentation. And, of course, this allows you time to check your appearance, do some breathing exercises, check your equipment, and to be there to welcome the audience members as they arrive.

Assumption #7 — If I get off the platform/stage, I will be closer to audience members

Many speakers wrongly believe getting off a platform or stage will help them better connect with audience members. But, in fact, the majority of the audience won’t be able to see them when on the same level.

Getting into the audience can work effectively only if …

• It’s a small audience
• The room is set up for this
• You are tall enough to be seen.

Most of the time, the speaker’s need to get closer to the audience can be an annoyance to audience members when they don’t know where to look.

Stay on the platform or stage, and connect with large audiences in better ways, like using questions to get participants to raise hands, and interactive exercises in subgroups.

In a larger venue, try to have the room arranged with several aisles. That way, if you do walk into the audience, you will have a place to go.

Assumption #8 — If I speak at my normal speed, everyone will understand me.

The standard rate of speech in the United States is 120 or 160 words per minute. This varies in different parts of the country.

Speakers need to adapt their rate regionally, as well as when the information is technical and people need time to absorb it, and also when English isn’t a first language. If they don’t adapt, participants may not understood what they’re saying, or key concepts may be missed.

How to Fix Your Faulty Assumptions

Now that you’ve identified these faulty assumptions, how do you fix them?

What do you think?

What faulty assumptions have you made, only to learn the hard way?

Please share your lessons in the comments.

Similar Articles You May Like... The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking Stop Rehearsing! 3 Critical Things to Do Before Your Speech Speaking Survey says: Speaker DO’s and DON’Ts Are Your Speech Gestures Too Small, Too Big, or Just Right? How to Deliver Group Presentations: The Unified Team Approach Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Marjorie Brody is a Hall of Fame speaker, coach to Fortune 500 executives and author of more than 18 books, including Speaking is an Audience-Centered Sport. She is CEO of BRODY Professional Development, a business communication and presentation skills company located in the Philadelphia suburbs that offers tailored training programs, workshops, keynote presentations, and executive coaching. To contact Marjorie, visit www.BrodyPro.com.

But do you know how big these gestures should be?

In this article, you’ll learn to match the size of your gestures to your audience and venue.

What is meant by gesture size?

Just as your voice can be loud or soft, your gestures can be large or small.

For example, consider the spectrum of hand and arm gestures.

• Gestures involving your fingers only are small gestures.
• Gestures pivoting at your wrist are a bit larger.
• Gestures pivoting at your elbow are larger still.
• Finally, gestures pivoting at your shoulder are large.

Okay, how do you choose the right size?

It depends. Gestures that are effective for one audience might be completely ineffective with another audience.

Factors you should consider are:

1. the distance between you and your audience, and
2. sight lines between you and your audience
3. cultural and contextual factors

From these factors, we can derive some basic guidelines for effective body language.

Distance

In general, the farther your audience is from you, the larger and more pronounced your gestures need to be. Small audience = small gestures. Big audience = big gestures.

For example, when seated at a board room table, you might use a small hand gesture. When speaking in an auditorium, you need to use full arm gestures.

Sight Lines

In general, if sight lines are clear, you can make smaller and more intricate gestures. If sight lines are partially blocked, you need larger (and higher) gestures.

Cultural and Contextual Factors

Cultural and contextual factors may impact the appropriate size for your gestures. A few examples are:

• The culture of your audience members may dictate more subdued gestures. (In general, beware the use of large gestures if you are not familiar with your audience’s culture.)
• When delivering a eulogy or news about layoffs, your gestures should be subdued.
• When speaking to children, your gestures can probably be magnified.

In all cases, it is best to research this as part of your audience analysis, particularly if you are speaking to a new group.

Example Scenarios for Speech Gestures

Let’s consider a few sample scenarios to illustrate how the size of your audience (and, by extension, the size of the room) influences which gestures are most effective.

1. Speech Gestures for a Small Group (2-6 people)

Example Scenario: You are having a conversation with a colleague in an office, or sitting at a table with customers.

Guidelines for this small group setting:

• Your gestures can be small and still effective because everyone is close to you.
• Finger gestures and hand gestures pivoting at the wrist can be effective.
  For example, consider the finger gestures displayed by the man in photo A on the right.
• Eye gestures and facial expressions are inherently small gestures. They are critical in an intimate small-group setting, because everyone can see every nuance, both conscious and unconscious.
  For example, the woman in photo B is communicating non-verbally simply with her eyes and facial expression.
• The smaller your audience is, the more likely that you will have their full attention. They will tend to be looking at your eyes with a rather narrow field of view. Therefore, small hand gestures may work best if you raise your hands up closer to your eyes.
  For example, see how the man in photo C is gesturing with raised hands.
• Beware nervous gestures (e.g. tapping your fingers on the table; clicking a pen repeatedly) which are magnified in this setting.

2. Speech Gestures for a Medium Group (7-40 people)

Example Scenario: You are presenting to an audience which is seated around boardroom table, or in a small meeting room. You may be standing, or you may be seated yourself.

Guidelines for this medium group setting:

• Your gestures should be scaled up a bit as the average distance between you and the audience members increases.
• Your eye and facial gestures are still important. People in the front rows may still be able to see every nuance, both conscious and unconscious.
• Hand/arm gestures should pivot from your elbows at least.
  For example, consider President Obama in photo D as he gestures with his arm pivoting from his elbow.
• Watch your sight lines! Hand gestures which pivot at the wrist may be too small for people to see, particularly if you are speaking with a lectern or if views are obscured (e.g. by computer screens).
  For example, the man’s gesture in photo E may be invisible to his audience (and thus, ineffective) because it is blocked by the computer screen.
• Depending on the room layout, you may be able to incorporate some larger gestures with your upper body.

3. Speech Gestures for a Large Group (40-100 people)

Example Scenario: You are presenting a lunchtime seminar at a company, or perhaps a conference break-out session in a large meeting room. There probably is not a significant stage, nor is there raised seating (i.e. you are standing at the same level as your audience).

Guidelines for this large group setting:

• Your gestures should scale up even larger with arm gestures out and away from your body.
  For example, the woman in photo F is gesturing with her arm which is pivoting from her shoulder.
• Eye and facial expressions become less important because they are probably invisible to much of the audience unless you really exaggerate them.
• Because of the obscured sight lines for most of your audience behind the first few rows, this can be the most challenging audience size because they can only see you from the chest and higher. Any gestures you make lower are invisible to much of the audience.
  Note how the man in photo G has raised both his arms just under his face to gesture. This allows audience members to see him above the head of the person in front of them.
• One way to magnify smaller gestures is to hold them for a longer period of time and turn your body slightly as you display it. This increases the likelihood that more people will see the gesture.

4. Speech Gestures for a Huge Group (100+ people)

Example Scenario: You are presenting a keynote address at a conference. Audience seating is elevated as you move from front to back, and you are speaking from a stage which is probably set back from the front row.

Guidelines for this huge group setting:

• Your gestures need to scale up again. Full body gestures are necessary. Don’t hold back.
• Small gestures, like small objects, are invisible. Gestures with your fingers (e.g. putting up three fingers to indicate your third point) are invisible. Your audience will see your arm up, but they cannot see your fingers.
  For example, consider Steve Jobs as he unveils the MacBook Air in photo H. He realizes that most of his audience cannot really see what he is holding. (And his hands and face are even smaller!) So, a photo of a manila envelope appears on the screen behind him to compensate.
• Eye and facial gestures are invisible. This does not mean you should have a “dead” face. Quite the opposite, you should still have expressive eye and facial gestures because this will tend to keep your vocal variety high.
• Because of improved sight lines, you can probably use “low” hand/arm gestures that are centered around your stomach and waist.
• Also, your legs are now visible and you can exploit this to great advantage with full body gestures such as strolling or kicking.
• In rare cases, a video system may be used to magnify you for your audience, as with the woman presenting in photo I. If this is the case, smaller gestures can, once again, be seen. Large gestures are probably still more effective.

In Summary

Always be aware of the distance between you and your audience and the sight lines in the room. Based on this knowledge, scale your gestures accordingly and you will be effective.

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Looking for public speaking experts on Twitter?

Two years ago, Six Minutes compiled an extensive list of public speaking bloggers.

Now, we’ve enhanced the list to include Twitter accounts for those bloggers.

As of this writing:

• Twitter List — 73 bloggers listed:
  @6minutes/public-speaking-bloggers
• On Six Minutes — 117 blogs listed:
  Public Speaking Blogs

You can follow Six Minutes on Twitter here: @6minutes

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This super-sized review features topics including:

• new public speaking books;
• writing a eulogy;
• eye contact vs. eye communication;
• speaking with notes;
• tools for slide color schemes;
• the validity of learning styles (are they a myth?);
• moderating a panel; and
• being successful as an introvert.

Resources for Speakers – Public Speaking Books

Check out these recently released public speaking and communications books:

• Presentation S.O.S.: Persuasion in 9 Easy Steps by Mark Wiskup
• Talk Less, Say More: Three Habits to Influence Others and Make Things Happen by Connie Dieken
• How To Say It With Your Voice by Jeffrey Jacobi
• Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces by Paul Dickson
• Great Webinars: How to create interactive learning that is captivating, informative and fun by Cynthia Clay

In Review: Six Minutes

• How to Deliver Group Presentations: The Unified Team Approach
  Your group needs clarity, control, and commitment, according to guest author Chaunce Stanton.
• Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety
  The sixth article in the series touring the foundational Toastmasters manual.
• Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson
  An insider’s view of what it takes to succeed in the speaking industry.
• The Best of Six Minutes: 2007-2009
  Highlighting reader favorite articles in the first two years of Six Minutes.
• Book Review: Better Beginnings by Carmen Taran
  One-of-a-kind book dedicated to developing great speech openers.

Speechwriting

• Jonathan Thomas preaches depth rather than breadth in speeches.

A “wide” presentation is one that covers a vast amount of information without going into much detail on any one point. [...] The audience gets a shallow view of many points, resulting in few, if any, being recalled. [...]

Instead, narrow your presentation focus to a few key points.  Go a little deeper to explain each of those points in a way that the audience will be able to keep up with, understand, and retain.

• Kelly Decker highlights how President Obama uses a powerful analogy.

Put your politics and feelings about health care and the economy aside to learn a great lesson here. Obama brings ideas to life with his words. [...]

He used the concrete analogy of a mop instead of what most politicians and business leaders might have said [...]

But instead, he drew a picture. Simply. Right away, you can see that mess and that mop.

• Denise Graveline provides tips for writing a eulogy.

Try to find a theme or ethic that defined the person’s life and build the eulogy around it. [...]

Try to tell some things that no one else knows [...]

[...] focus on telling a personal story that evokes something you want to share about your mother, ideally a story that involves you.

Delivery Techniques

• Jim Anderson reveals why speakers are boring, and offers some antidotes.

Let’s be frank here – most speakers that you listen to really aren’t that good. [...]

All too often a speaker will focus exclusively on what they are going to be saying and spend little or no time thinking about how they are going to say it.

If you need an analogy to clear things up, this would be like a chef who worries about what ingredients go into a meal without spending any time thinking about how to actually cook the thing. Sure he’ll be able to make something, but it’s not going to taste very good.

• Angela DeFinis contrasts 4 methods for delivering a speech: reading, memorizing, impromptu, and extemporaneous.

Ultimately, the speech delivery method you choose will depend on many factors, such as how formal or informal the presentation is, how well you know your subject, who the audience is, and your own comfort level. When you take the time to analyze these factors and educate yourself about your choices, you can make the best decision about what method to use and give a great speech.

• Bert Decker focuses on the difference between eye contact and eye communication.

Eye contact is fleeting. It can be in passing, just a glance or a fraction of a second. [...]

Eye communication is connection – think of eye contact on steroids. It’s the act of two pairs of eyes connecting and the contact leading to communication. Eye communication involves more extended eye contact (at least 3-5 seconds for speakers communicating to a group) that forms a bond between two people.

• Rich Hopkins lists 7 tips for speaking with notes.

To effectively use cards, print one point per card – one sentence only that will trigger the segment you’ve practiced 100 times. Triggers get you to the story, and prevent you from reading from the card. At most, have a short Transition sentence and the Trigger on each card, to help you go from one point to the next.

In addition to Triggers and Transitions, quotes that must be read correctly belong on notecards, as well as statistics, research attributions, poems – anything that must be word for word.

• Kathy Reiffenstein suggests how to deliver a difficult speech.

How do you deliver these kinds of messages with grace, poise, and confidence?

1. Be clear and concise
2. Empathize
3. Explain but don’t make excuses
4. Maintain eye contact
5. Find a silver lining

Visual Aids

• Dave Paradi shows how to improve a slide which includes a graph from another source.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Garr Reynolds reviews Kuler, a tool to help you choose slide color schemes.

Although scores of good books on color theory have been written — many even for non-designers — most working professionals just do not have the time to delve deeply into a study of the complexities of using color. The good news is that there are online resources that can help you create harmonious color themes without requiring advance knowledge in color theory. There are a few really good online resources such as ColorSchemer and Colourlovers, but my personal favorite is Kuler.

• Chris Atherton says the only rule that matters is the rule of attention.

[This blog post is] ostensibly about the mistakes students make when they give presentations, but really it’s about how the only rules you need to know about giving a good presentation are the ones about human attention.

Speaker Habits

• Stephanie Scotti ponders what it takes to own the room.

This is no longer a ballroom, or a boardroom, or a trade show hall… it’s your living room. And the audience, each and every one of them, is a welcomed guest.

Just as you would greet guests arriving at your home, adopt the same attitude in welcoming listeners to your presentation. This simple change of perspective allows you to project confidence and manage the dynamics of the room. Because, after all, you’re the host.

• Martin Shovel cautions you against blindly accepting scientific speaking theories. Among other arguments, he points to a video from Professor Daniel Willingham which argues that learning styles (e.g. visual vs. auditory vs. kinesthetic) are a myth.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Kathy Reiffenstein provides 10 tips for moderating a panel.

1. Act as the audience’s advocate
2. Hold a pre-event briefing
3. Make short, interesting introductions
4. Set the stage up front
5. Manage the timing and balance
6. Be prepared and be flexible
7. Don’t answer questions directed at panelists
8. Be aware of your body language
9. Develop a strategy for questions
10. Look at audience, not panelists

• Jim Harvey notes that confidence can decrease your effectiveness.

The problem for experienced and skilled presenters is that they often become ‘performers’ and switch off the thing that made them good in the first place, their warmth and honesty as a person.

• Lisa Braithwaite distinguishes between our four vocabularies: reading vocabulary, listening vocabulary, writing vocabulary, and speaking vocabulary.

How do we explore our vocabulary and get greater usage from it? When I suggest exploring your vocabulary, I’m not suggesting using bigger or more complicated words, or necessarily learning more words (although that’s not a bad idea). What I am suggesting is saying what you really mean and using vocabulary to be more clear in your communication. Especially if, like me, you find yourself in a rut using the same words over and over, and you know there are better options.

Professionally Speaking

• Joanna Martin probes how to choose a speaking niche.

I had one participant wanting to niche in teenagers because he saw his purpose as helping to empower them. There’s one huge problem with trying to sell to teenagers though. Do they have the money to spend on your product or service?

Communication Skills and Personality

• Nancy Ancowitz reflects on the challenges of being successful as an introvert.
  (Thanks to Denise Graveline for flagging the New York Times article.)

One day, something clicked for me. I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a popular personality assessment, as part of a team-building program at work. To my surprise, I discovered that I was an introvert — and that this wasn’t a handicap or a disorder, but just an aspect of my personality with its own strengths and challenges.

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

When you’re asked to present as part of a panel of experts or a team making a sales pitch, you might think that there is safety in numbers and that you need to prepare less than if you were speaking on your own.

The truth is that, for your audience, a group presentation is only as strong as its weakest presenter. Here’s how to help your team create a strong and unified group presentation.

3 Ingredients of Great Group Presentations

The three ingredients to develop and deliver a unified group presentation are clarity, control, and commitment.

1. Clarity
   • Clarity of Purpose
   • Clarity of Roles
   • Clarity of Message
2. Control
   • Control Introductions
   • Control Transitions
   • Control Time and Space
3. Commitment
   • Commit to a Schedule
   • Commit to Rehearsing
   • Commit to Answering Your Audience’s Questions

Incorporating these elements will give your audience a “seamless” message.

Ingredient #1: Clarity

Clarity means clearness of purpose, thought or style. Developing clarity within your group will help you develop a clear message for your audience.

Clarity of Purpose

Just as your presentation will have a clear purpose, expressed in a thesis statement, your group should create a Charter Statement that explicitly captures the group’s desired outcome.

The charter is different from a thesis statement. The thesis specifically frames the presentation message whereas the charter frames your group’s purpose. This Charter Statement becomes the test of everything that will go into the presentation and help guide the efforts of the team. The charter and the thesis may overlap, but even your thesis statement must be tested against the group’s Charter.

For example, if your group agrees that your general purpose is to sell your product, and, more specifically, you know that the key decision maker in the audience is leery about cutting checks to companies like yours, build that into your Charter Statement.

The purpose of our presentation is to sell our Product to ABC Company by overcoming the objections of the company’s Purchasing Officer through clear examples of how our Product provides a fast return on investment.

The Charter Statement will come in handy when you have a team member who may want to go “off track” to tell personal anecdotes that don’t pass the test of the group’s charter.

Clarity of Roles

Personalities come into play when groups meet to develop presentations. Jockeying for position and ego struggles can quickly deplete the group’s momentum, resulting in hurt feelings and, potentially, a weaker presentation. Providing clarity to group roles helps to establish expectations and keep the entire group moving towards a common objective: a great group presentation.

Identify the roles your group needs during message development. For example, to ensure that team members are meeting assignments, select a Project Manager. This person isn’t the “boss of the presentation”, but rather will focus on schedule and assignments.

Other roles could include a Gap Analyst who is responsible for identifying “gaps” in content and support materials (handouts, graphics, etc.), which in turn could work closely with other roles within the group like the Chief Researcher.

Capitalize on the unique personalities within your group to develop roles that work well for all, but be sure to discuss the roles openly so they are clear to everyone.

Clarity of Message

Instead of writing “speeches” for each individual speaker, try creating one master presentation, a unified narrative, and then decide who speaks to which points, and when.

This is a shift from the traditional segmented method of group presentations where often group members are directed to “give five minutes of talking” and then are left to develop content independently.

In a master presentation, each speaker may weave in and out at various points during the presentation. When done well, this fluid dynamic can hold an audience’s attention better by offering a regular change in speakers’ voices and presence.

By using a master presentation, your group will ensure that each of the presenters will stay “on script” and use cohesive language, smooth transitions, and (when using visuals) consistent graphics.

Ingredient #2: Control

Group presentations face unique logistical challenges beyond just developing presentation content.

Control Introductions

Your audience notices how your group introduces itself, so plan those introductions with your presentation.

Your presentation may be part of a larger event that includes an emcee who will introduce the team. If so, be sure that you provide pertinent information to the emcee that will allow her/him to generate interest in your presentation even before you begin speaking.

If your group is responsible for making its own introductions, however, you will need to decide if you will introduce your group members in the beginning, or when they first speak. Your group also will need to decide if each member introduces her/himself, or if one member will introduce everyone.

There is no one right way to do introductions, but your group must decide how to do them before the day of the presentation.

Control Transitions

Decide how you are going to “hand off” from one speaker to the next. In the “master presentation” approach, you may want to consider simply have speakers pick up a narrative right where the previous speaker left off.

If you use the more traditional segmented approach, each speaker may cue the subsequent speakers by identifying them and their subject matter. For example:

“…and speaking of quality control, no one is more qualified the Bob Johnson. Bob is going to tell us about how this team will deliver a quality project for you.”

Another option is to assign a group emcee who will handle transitions between presentation sections. Your group will need to determine which option makes the most sense based on your presentation style and audience expectations.

Control Time and Space

Multiple speakers translate to occupying more physical space, and the potential to gobble up more time with introductions and transitions.

If you will be presenting in a small room, consider where each speaker needs to be positioned to quickly reach the speaking area, and whether they will sit or stand when not speaking.

Your presentation must fit within your allotted time, so you will need to time your group’s presentation, including equipment set up, introductions, and transitions.

Ingredient #3: Commitment

Commitment from each group member is going to give your presentation the best content and flair that will impress your audience.

Commit to a Schedule

Once you know the date of your presentation, create a schedule that includes specific milestones, such as “presentation draft due” and “final rehearsal”. Having a specific schedule allows members either to agree to the group’s expectations or to offer dates that better fit their personal schedules.

Additionally, you can assign specific responsibilities to the scheduled milestones; for example, who is responsible for bringing the handouts, projector, and laptop to the presentation?

Commit to Rehearsing

Rehearsing is one of the most important steps for presentation success. Have your team members agree from day one that they will make themselves available to practice with the group.

If you find group members who lack the commitment to rehearse, consider finding group members who will commit. Practice makes perfect, and no rehearsal means your group doesn’t know what will happen to the content, timing, or quality of the presentation. Do those sound like things your group would like to leave to chance?

Commit to Answering Your Audience’s Questions

Once your formal presentation is over, you may see some raised hands in the audience, ready to pepper your group with questions. Your presentation is not over yet. How you handle those questions is as important as the presentation itself. A well-done presentation means nothing if presenters fumble questions so badly that they appear incompetent.

Have each member develop a list of potential questions and then, as a group, review the list. Discuss who will be responsible for handling which types of questions. Are there any questions important enough to build into the presentation?

From a Rag-Tag Group of Speakers to a Dynamic Presenting Team

By incorporating these three ingredients into your next group presentation process, you will find that you not only develop a presentation that your audience loves, but your group will transform from a rag-tag group of speakers into a dynamic presenting team.

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Chaunce Stanton provides marketing communications support for the professional services industry, including architects, engineers, and scientists. For more than eight years, he has routinely helped teams develop messages and craft polished presentations for multimillion-dollar projects. Chaunce is an enthusiastic member of Toastmasters International in St. Paul, Minnesota’s Metropolitan Chapter.

The focus of her article — her TEDGlobal 2009 talk — is now available on video. Watching it will be the best seven minutes of your day. Click here to watch it.

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• How to Deliver the Talk of Your Life

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Does your voice put your audience to sleep? Does it put you to sleep?

Do you find it hard to  conveying emotions with your voice?

Are you easy to listen to, or does your voice let you down?

The sixth Toastmasters speech project guides you to harness the power of your own voice. This article of the Toastmasters Speech Series examines the primary goals of this project, provides tips and techniques, and links to numerous sample speeches.

Why is This Speech Important?

The objectives for this speech project are to use your voice to complement your message:

• Use voice volume, pitch, rate, and quality to reflect and add meaning and interest to your message.
• Use pauses to enhance your message.
• Use vocal variety smoothly and naturally.

Your voice is the best tool in your delivery toolbox. You must learn to use it effectively to enhance your presentation.

Tips and Techniques

1. Plan Around the 4 P’s: Pace, Pitch, Power, and Pauses

Be conscious of all four major vocal variables, and work all of them into your speech.

1. Pace — One of the easiest ways to incorporate variable pace is to slow down through key statements.
2. Pitch — A convenient way to hit different pitch points is to play with different emotional content. A sad voice takes on a different pitch than a content voice, which is distinct from an excited voice, and so on. Stories are good speech building blocks for many reasons, including how they bring a speaker’s voice alive through different emotions.
3. Power (Volume) — Don’t overdo it with changes in volume. Again, align your variations in volume with emotional content. Anger or joy tends to bring out a loud voice. Fear or sadness calls for a quiet voice.
4. Pauses — There are a multitude of ways to incorporate pauses in a meaningful way (watch for a future Six Minutes article dedicated to pauses). For this speech, keep it straightforward. Make sure you’ve got short pauses following every sentence, and longer pauses at the ends of paragraphs or transitions within your speech.

2. Be Deliberate (Keep Score if You Have To)

Don’t just write a speech and try to incorporate vocal variety on the fly as you deliver it. You won’t get any value from this speech project if you take that approach.

As you write, edit, and rehearse your speech, select words or phrases where you will consciously vary your voice in each of the four P ways. As you grow as a speaker, you’ll hit all four of these unconsciously, but when you are learning, it’s okay to be a little more deliberate.

Consider annotating your speech with colored pen to highlight vocal variation opportunities.

You might even consider making a “scorecard” in the margin of your page, and giving yourself one point for each vocal manoeuver. Shoot for a score of at least 3 for each P.

3. Align Your Voice with Expressive Gestures

One of the best ways to bring out your most expressive voice is to use expressive gestures, particularly facial gestures!

If participate in teleconference calls or webinars, you may have learned this trick. Even though nobody can see you, it really helps to stand up in your office and give body, hand, and facial gestures as you talk on the phone. Your voice will naturally come alive, as if synchronized with your gestures.

The same trick applies to face-to-face presentations as well. If you are expressive with your face and other gestures, your voice tends to naturally align.

4. Ditch the Notes, Keep Your Head Up, and Project Your Voice

Maybe you have used notes for the five previous Competent Communicator projects, but now is a great time to break free of your notes.

• When you glance down to read notes, your neck and throat bend and can get contorted. Your voice tends to be low, or poor quality, and low volume.
• Without notes, you’ll be able to keep your head up high and your eyes on your audience. With your head high, your neck and throat will be stretched out, and the quality of your voice will be much more resonant.

5. Exaggerate Words

If your speech allows, find some words where you can play with the pronunciation to add some vocal spice to your delivery. For example:

• Instead of saying “The car was a long way from the beach,” you could say “The car was a looooooong way from the beach”.
• Instead of saying “The hamburger was delicious,” try “The hamburger was deeee-licious.”

6. Don’t Speak About Vocal Variety

When choosing your topic for this speech, avoid the temptation to speak about vocal variety, like this guy (who admits he “cheated”). If you do, you are missing the point of this speech project.

Your objective for this speech project is not to educate your audience about vocal variety. Your objective is to incorporate vocal variety to enhance your delivery.

You have infinite speech topics at your disposal… explore!

What I Did for Speech 6

I chose to deliver a biographical speech about Theodor Seuss Geisel, the children’s book author better known as Dr. Seuss.

This topic was fantastic as it begged for me to use my voice in a wonderful variety of ways:

• My “normal” speaking voice was used for “bones” of the speech — the biographical details which formed the framework. Even in this section of the speech, I used vocal variety to emphasize key words, phrases, and points.
• I included numerous quotations from his stories, each carefully selected to both (a) illustrate the biographical details and (b) allow me to convey a different emotion or mood. Each of these required varying the pitch, pace, and volume. For example, I included:
  • Happy, sing-songy passages from Fox in Sox and The Cat in the Hat
  • A stalwart, committed passage from Horton Hatches the Egg
  • An angry passage from The Lorax (this was one of my all-time favorite moments in Toastmasters as I used one of the audience members as a “prop” to be the source of my anger)
  • An optimistic passage from Oh, the Places You’ll Go

Reading Dr. Seuss books and other stories with my daughter is one of my favorite activities. Therefore, this topic revealed an inherent passion, and I knew this would come through in the quality of my voice.

Toastmasters Speech 6 Examples

Here are a few sample video speeches which may provide inspiration for you. As you watch some of these videos, ask yourself which speakers are using vocal variety to enhance their speeches, and which are missing opportunities. Then, try to emulate the best behaviors in your own speech.

• How to Communicate with Me by Shana(?)
  • Pauses are used effectively, particularly before/after transition statements. This (along with clear language) helps convey the structure of the speech.
  • Increase volume and pace when impersonating another person @ 2:00
  • Varying voice to mimic personality traits on “the person who needs love more than information” @ 2:35
  • Emphasis on the word “perturbed” (to make it sound perturbed!) @ 2:55, and the great emphasis on  “I wish you’d show me more respect” (in a way that is demanding respect)
  • “I was in this one loooooooooong class about muscles” @ 4:05
• For the Love of Animals by Emilie Staryak
  • Effective use of pauses throughout, particularly in the opening minute of the speech, to enhance the understandability. For example (starting @ 1:00), notice the pause after phrase  “herding, hauling, and hunting”; brief pauses after after “loyalty” and “security”; and then the longer pause after “companionship”.
  • Effective exaggeration used in the phrase “DESperate meOW” @ 2:08
  • Notice the variation in pitch @ 2:25 and 2:40, and also how this is accompanied by gestures
• The Art of Procrastination by Chance Litton
  • Effective vocal variety throughout.
  • The speaker’s variation in pace and pauses conveys much of the humor.
• Is Your Dream a Loud Gong or a Faint Whistle by Daniel
• Unknown Title by Anonymous
• Last Child in the Woods by Paul Miller
• That’s Just Rude by Dianne
• Friend or Foe: It’s All In Your Perspective by Robin
• Sioux Hockey Fan by John Sanders
• My Turn Around by Jerome Moore
• Who Wrote That Book? by Stephanie Bryant
• Beyond the Nineteenth Hole by Glenn Woodson
• It’s Your Money by Anonymous
• Unknown by Dick
• The Upside of Failure by John Armstrong

Next in the Toastmasters Speech Series

The next article in this series will examine Speech 7: Research Your Topic.

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

If you have absolutely no idea how to get there, this book will show you what is required.

Jane Atkinson’s The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business is packed with advice to prepare you to make the jump to $15,000 speaking fees, whether you are six months or six years away.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

What will you learn from The Wealthy Speaker?

The Wealthy Speaker is a comprehensive insider’s view of the speaking industry. Jane Atkinson guides you through all aspects of a keynote speaker’s business, including:

• Positioning yourself as an expert first, speaker second
• Developing your message
• Setting and negotiating fees
• Development of marketing materials
• Creation of your website and demo video
• Building your contact database
• Working with speaker’s bureaus and event planners
• Growing your business and hiring staff
• Selling products

The Wealthy Speaker is written with authority, and Atkinson’s extensive expertise in the speaking industry is apparent. This isn’t a book with theoretical ideas that might work. These are lessons learned from her successes and failures in the trenches.

Numerous case studies highlight successful speakers and industry insiders. These are fairly short (1-2 pages), but highly enlightening.

Throughout the book, you’ll also find worksheets and personal assessments. These exercises are well-designed to help you apply the lessons to your personal situation.

As a final note, you won’t find much information here at all about honing your speaking skills. And that’s a good thing because that’s not what this book is about. I was happy to see this book kept its focus on the business of speaking, not the mechanics.

What I wish was in The Wealthy Speaker

As much as I learned from The Wealthy Speaker, it’s not perfect. You cannot cover everything in 208 pages. So, what’s missing?

First, as Atkinson states early in the book, the book has a bias towards business models based primarily on keynote speaking. So, you won’t find specific information here to carve out a wealthy career as a trainer, seminar leader, or speaking coach. Perhaps we’ll have to wait for the sequel: The Wealthy Trainer?

Second, a few topics could use more treatment.

• For example, the section on website management is thin. To be fair, Atkinson defers to “experts” for this topic. The topics which comprise her core expertise (e.g. positioning, marketing, speaker’s bureaus) are handled much better.
• The information on contracts also feels skimpy. I expected to find more samples and a richer resource here. Perhaps the rationale here is that wealthy speakers delegate the contract work to staff?

Third, while the table of contents is detailed, there’s no index or appendices (e.g. a list of all the resource websites mentioned throughout the book). This reduces the usefulness of The Wealthy Speaker as a reference tool. Maybe this will be added in the second edition?

The Bottom Line

The Wealthy Speaker is excellent value, and easily worth the purchase price. An investment of $11.53 is a small, small price for gaining so much knowledge.

About the Author – Jane Atkinson

Jane Atkinson has 15 years of experience helping speakers secure more bookings at higher fees. She is a business coach for speakers, specializing in positioning and marketing. You can read more about her on her website: Speaker Launcher.

Jane previously shared her expertise as a guest author on Six Minutes with 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool.

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Since then, we’ve added 172 more, all of which are available free in the article archives.

Today, we celebrate the best articles of Six Minutes as determined by you, the reader. We list reader favorites in the major Six Minutes categories, from speechwriting to speech critiques, from visual aids to speaker resources.

It has been a pleasure sharing these articles with you. Thank you for your readership, and thank you for all of your emails with great suggestions and feedback.

Please Share With Your Colleagues

Six Minutes has over 4000 subscribers and thousands more read the articles on the website every day. If you know someone who would benefit from Six Minutes, please email this article to them and encourage them to subscribe.

Best Overall

Readers’ Favorite:

• Toastmasters Speech Series

Honorable Mention:

• Speech Preparation Series
• The 25 Public Speaking Skills Every Speaker Must Have

Speechwriting

Readers’ Favorite:

• Selecting a Speech Topic

Honorable Mention:

• 5 Speechwriting Lessons from Obama’s Inaugural Speech
• How to Use the Rule of Three in Your Speeches
• Don’t Skip the Speech Outline

Delivery Techniques

Readers’ Favorite:

• Leading the Perfect Q&A

Honorable Mention:

• Never Read Your Speech… Never?
• How to Deliver the Talk of Your Life

Visual Aids

Readers’ Favorite:

• How to Improve Your Slides with the Rule of Thirds

Honorable Mention:

• Six Simple Techniques for Presenting Data: Hans Rosling (TED, 2006)
• Use PowerPoint Visuals, Not Bullets – What the World Eats
• PowerPoint Design Wish List: 8 Modest Proposals

Speaker Habits

Readers’ Favorite:

• The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking

Honorable Mention:

• How to Study and Critique a Speech
• How to Practice Your Presentation
• 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool

Resources for Speakers

Readers’ Favorite:

• Gifts Public Speakers Really Want: Dozens of Christmas Ideas

Honorable Mention:

• Toastmasters: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
• Public Speaking Blogs: The Definitive List
• Speaking Survey says: Speaker DO’s and DON’Ts

The Lighter Side

Readers’ Favorite:

• 12 Days of Public Speaking Christmas

Honorable Mention:

• 32 Reasons a PowerPoint Slide Deck is Nothing Like a Bra
• Haiku for Public Speakers

Speech Critiques

Readers’ Favorite:

• Martin Luther King Jr. – I Have a Dream

Honorable Mention:

• Majora Carter – Greening the Ghetto
• Al Gore – 15 ways to avert a climate crisis
• Steve Jobs – Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

But do you know how to develop a mindset that will enable you to devise effective speech openings?

Carmen Taran’s Better Beginnings: How to capture your audience in 30 seconds is a one-of-a-kind book entirely dedicated to helping you master this critical speaking skill.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

What’s the best thing about Better Beginnings?

Most speech opening advice begins by telling you the types of openings you can try. For example, you might open with a personal story, a startling statistic, or a quotation. However, none of these types of openings are inherently focused on your audience. (A story or statistic can be focused on the audience, but it might not be.)

I really like the approach taken in Better Beginnings because it is organized not around types of openings, but according to the emotional or cognitive response you would like to trigger in your audience. Audience-focused!

Better Beginnings guides you to spark the desired response in your audience, with the following chapters:

• Anticipation
• Specificity
• Inquiry
• Incongruity
• Novelty
• Uncertainty
• Complexity
• Ease of Comprehension
• Indulgence
• Staging

Each chapter includes numerous examples to illustrate how you can generate the desired response in your audience. This includes not only what to say, but how to say it and stage it. Consider these examples:

Incongruity (conflict between what your audience expects and what is actually said)

Like many of the great blues and jazz artists of our time, I found myself onstage at Carnegie Hall high on drugs.”

Novelty (new ideas competing with existing norms)

Our customers have been used to square tea bags. What if we made them round?

Who should read Better Beginnings?

I think every speaker will benefit from this book, whether you speak with visuals or off the cuff, to investors or children.

It is the most thorough treatment I’ve ever seen for starting your speech.

A Coffee Table Book about Speaking?

The format of the book is also unique — it’s a coffee table book! On every other page, you will find a full-page photograph to complement the writing and further spark your creativity.

Because of all the images, Better Beginnings is a quick read. Most books that I review take me two weeks to read through. I finished Better Beginnings in just two relaxing evenings before bed.

Visually, this book will stand out from every other one on your bookshelf, your coffee table, or your bedside table.

About the Author – Carmen Taran

Carmen Taran has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design, a Master’s degree in Multimedia Design, and a Doctorate in Instructional Technology. She is a co-founder of Rexi Media, a presentation skills consulting firm.

In the brief video below (click here if you don’t see it), she pitches the key strengths of Better Beginnings.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.