Author: Gail Zack Anderson

1. Listen to your outgoing phone messages for a few days. How are your vocal habits and voice quality? These are habits you can practice every day.
2. For better projection, open your mouth wider, so that you can articulate each word clearly. This helps with both volume and enunciation.
3. To reduce vocal stress, sip lukewarm liquid. Don’t clear your voice repeatedly, or you will make matters worse. Remember that strain in your voice is almost always more obvious to you than it is to your audience.
4. To sound more confident, avoid sentences that end with an upward note at the end, making them sound like questions. Instead, end each sentence (or phrase) with a downward emphasis.
5. Too many ums? Slow down slightly. Become more at ease with a pause. Rehearse your content out loud, not just in your head.
6. Avoid common qualifier words like “hopefully, maybe, a little, just…” which weaken your message. Be direct and forceful in your wording.
7. Breathe before you begin speaking. You’ll have enough breath to end each sentence with full voice; and you won’t trail off at the end of a sentence.
8. Try to keep from thinking ahead too much – if you lose your train of thought, you will end up with more fillers.
9. Use a voice recorder or listen to your voice messages to check your enunciation, volume and clarity.
10. For greater vocal interest and inflection, emphasize 2-3 key words in each sentence. Experiment with which words to emphasize, making sure you don’t change the meaning of the sentence.

Sadly, if your presentation is like most, your audience will remember very little of what you say. This is especially true if it is fact-filled, detailed and linear. You will be more successful if you think about creating and delivering a high-level message, and using facts and detail only to support your message. After all, it is the message itself you want them to remember, right?

Here are some tips to ensure clarity and focus in your next presentation.

1. Be sure you are clear about what your message really is. Don’t get hung up on the details until you have looked at and clarified the big “so what?” of your presentation.
2. Your message should provide context and overview, making it easy to listeners to follow your presentation.
3. Don’t have a series of messages. Just one compelling message simply stated, easily understood & remembered.
4. Condense your message to one sentence, targeted to the time, place and people in front of you. Talk their language, and focus on their concerns about this issue.
5. Use this powerful targeted message to begin and end your presentation with impact.
6. Get to the point in one minute or less. If you have a clear message, start with it, and add backfill as you go.
7. Use 3 short statements or questions to pique audience interest, then quickly tie them to your message. Presentation launched!
8. To increase retention and understanding of your presentation, tie all content to your message.
9. Don’t memorize your entire presentation, but rehearse until you are fully fluent and confident in stating your opening and message.
10. Use your message for a clear, compelling ending. We tend to remember what we hear last, so leave a positive impression.

Here is great news: once you are crystal clear with your intended message, the presentation almost writes itself. Try it today.

Slide shows getting boring? Next time you get ready to deliver a presentation using slides, review this list and commit to delivering your slides with impact.

1. Decide if a slideshow is really needed. If it adds value to the audience, use it. If you are using it as a crutch, skip it.
2. Don’t just tell. For every slide or major point, find a way to enliven it with an illustration, example, image or story.
3. Everything you say does not have to be on your slide. Everything on your slide doesn’t need to be said.
4. Interpret slides; don’t read them line by line. Tell a story, provide context, have a conversation about the content.
5. Be radical: present without slides. Or use just 1 or 2. If this is too radical in your organization, prepare slides but don’t use them unless you need to.
6. Use something besides a slide; consider flip charting a spontaneous discussion, use a handout for an informal talk, pass around a prop, or do a demonstration.
7. Too many slides but don’t want to delete them? Instead “hide” them. They won’t show up in slide show but are there if you need them.
8. Use a remote slide advancer so you have something in your hand, and so you don’t have to be glued to the lectern.
9. Use the remote slide advancer to start your slideshow smoothly.
10. Get your own slide advancer, so you can make it look smooth and easy.
11. Look at your laptop instead of the screen, so you don’t have to turn your back to audience. If you must point to the screen, keep your shoulders and torso facing forward.
12. Use special functions for impact: in slideshow view, press B for a black screen, press B again to return to slides.
13. At the end of your presentation, don’t click to black. Have a final slide with your contact information, a call to action, or your title slide repeated.
14. Want to move from one part of your presentation to another? In slide show, type the number of the slide you want and enter. Voila!
15. Track your time by using a remote slide advancer with a timer in it. Or use your smart phone or iPad timer to count down the time remaining.

Slides don’t have to slow you down and bore your audience to tears. Use this tip sheet to take a fresh look at how to deliver with impact.

 

Next time you open PowerPoint to create a slide deck for a meeting or presentation, remember these super-quick tips to ensure better-looking, better-functioning slides that add visual value to your talk.

1. Highlight key words by bolding, not by underlining.
2. Avoid Random Caps, ALL CAPS, and inconsistencies in capitalization.
3. Stamp out ugly “bumper sticker” boxes. Soften the edges, eliminate lines around them, and consider using a build so they appear only when you click.
4. Use SmartArt to quickly create graphical elements.
5. Use plenty of photos, as long as they add value. Show people and places the audience will enjoy seeing.
6. Take and use your own photos and video clips in your slides. No worry about royalties or copyright.
7. Walk to the back of the room to see how your slides actually appear to the audience. Edit as needed.
8. Streamline visuals: put less on each slide, delete surplus bullets, punctuation, words & boxes around things.
9. Don’t use the same headline on each slide; instead let the headlines tell your story, show movement within the presentation.
10. Generally avoid dark backgrounds and stale templates unless corporate mandates. A clean white background looks fresh.

Take a fresh look at your slides today; do they pass the “great to look at” test? If not, take 5 minutes to polish them. Your audience will thank you!

There was Mary, with a goofy smile on her face, telling her audience about a serious situation they were going to be facing. They had a hard time buying it.

There stood Frank, welcoming new customer to a plant tour, with a sour, grim facial expression. They didn’t feel the vibe.

Do facial expressions matter? Of course, so today let’s see how to make sure your face reflects appropriately your message.

Try these:

1. Go neutral first. Make sure your face is relaxed and neutral. It should be neutral but pleasant. No frowns, no tension, no licking your lips. Check a mirror. This is your go-to facial expression.
2. Smile! Practice in front of a mirror. Relax tension from your face. Soften your eyes. Now smile with your eyes as well as your mouth.
3. Serious face. Practice looking serious and concerned without frowning or scowling. Think of a serious but not horrendous situation and reflect that on your face.
4. Get feedback. Ask someone you trust to evaluate your face as you speak informally. What habits do you have that you may not be aware of? How expressive is your face when you are speaking naturally?
5. Now see yourself. Video record your next rehearsal before an important presentation or meeting. As you review it, pay attention to your face. Is it expressive? Appropriate to your message?
6. Bring it. Be aware as you speak of what your face is reflecting, and change it up as needed to match and reflect the meaning of what you are saying.

Next time you present or speak in a meeting you should be more aware of the impression you are making facially and be able to use a fuller range of facial expressions.

Should you or shouldn’t you? There is nothing like sharing a good laugh during a serious presentation. And nothing worse than humor that backfires. No wonder so many people shy away from humor altogether. Yet…you want to give it a try. OK, then, here are some guidelines to help you decide when and how to insert humor during your next meeting or presentation.

1. Don’t try too hard. The more you push humor on your audience, the less funny it is. Watch for humor that happens naturally.
2. Don’t open with a joke; jokes are difficult to tell, easy to mess up, and often offend someone. Rather than a joke, find the humor in the moment or in a story.
3. Do find your special brand of humor. You might be good at word play, physical humor, or a clever remark.
4. Do test it out on others. Tell the story over lunch, or try it at a team meeting. If no one finds it funny, let it go.
5. Don’t laugh at your own stories. Watch comedians and entertainers; they most often watch the audience and refrain from laughing at the own jokes. Or if they do, it’s a chuckle only.
6. Do keep it short. Time is money—don’t spend it on what can be perceived as a waste of time. Make it short and pertinent or skip it.
7. Don’t go for the cheap shot. If there is a chance you will hurt someone’s feelings or speak in an inappropriate way, just let it go. Why chance it?
8. Do be cautious with sarcasm. If this is your preferred humor style—and you know who you are—be sure you know your audience really well, since sarcasm can easily be misunderstood.
9. Do try safer humor; cartoons, word play, spontaneous humor, dry humor, a funny quote. See how your audience reacts to these attempts before you go all-out.
10. Do take yourself lightly but no put downs. It’s a fine line to walk. If you can do it, take yourself lightly. Just don’t go too far with self-depreciating humor or your audience may not be able to take you seriously enough.

Bottom line: tread lightly, experiment with safer humor attempts, and yes, give it a try if you think your audience can handle it!

_____Be present. Listening well requires your full attention. You truly can’t listen well while checking email, reading a report, or texting. If it is important to listen, then stop what you are doing and listen fully. Good listening doesn’t allow for multitasking

_____Pay attention to what you are hearing. What is the person speaking really saying? Why? What words are they using? How sure are they about what they are saying? Is this something you expected to hear? Are they being factual or emotional?

_____Listen between and beyond the words. What is the tone of voice of the speaker? What is the expression on their face? What does their body language tell you? Look for congruency between what they are saying and how they are expressing it non-verbally. For example, if the person says everything is fine, but their body language is closed and their face looks sad, there may well be more to the story, or else something else is going on.

_____Don’t prepare your reply while listening. It is oh-so-tempting to prepare your argument or next comments while you are listening, but this negates your ability to stay focused on listening. If you catch yourself thinking about what you want to say, try to stop and return to listening.

_____Be sure you can hear. Have you ever sat in a crowded restaurant or coffee shop and found it nearly impossible to hear your companion? If you can’t hear, how well can you listen? If the conversation is important, find a quiet space without interruptions or noise.

_____Maximize phone conversations. If the conversation happens by phone, be sure you have a good connection. It is difficult to listen well when phone coverage is cutting in and out during a conversation. Can you pull over so you can listen fully? I recommend it highly! I also recommend having a closed door when you are having a conference call meeting so you won’t be distracted by other people popping in to ask you a question, or other activities going on around you.

_____Find a private place. Having a performance conversation or even a development conversation where someone else can hear it is the kiss of death for the listener. These conversations need to be help in private. If you don’t have an office you can go to, could you use the cafeteria at a very quiet time of day? Or a local coffee shop? I know of some cases in which workers that needed to find a quiet place for a phone conversation ended up sitting in their cars for privacy and focus.

_____Be OK with criticism. To avoid defensiveness, even if you are hearing criticism, listen for the kernels of truth in the comments. Ask yourself if the person has your best interest at heart. If yes, listen with an open mind. Remind yourself that feedback is a gift. We don’t like every gift we receive, but we should try to accept it gracefully. We can decide later what to do with it.

_____Don’t let your reaction derail you. Usually it’s OK to postpone your reaction and ask for the discussion to be tabled until you can sort things out. Sometimes we get pressured to have an immediate answer, but unless it is an emergency situation, you do have the right to ask for a continuation. That said, if your boss or client wants an answer now, you could provide a preliminary answer while reserving the right to adjust it once you have all the information or time to think it through.

_____Paraphrase, don’t parrot. Once in a while it helps to mirror back what you are hearing. It can help the speaker by hearing his or her words reflected back. Instead of repeating back word for word what was just said, try putting it in your own words, or summarizing. Just don’t exaggerate or minimize the impact of what the other person is saying, rather, try to reflect accurately the tone and emotion behind their words.

_____Listen without judging. Once you have made up your mind about what the person is telling you, it is easy to stop listening. Instead, consciously suspend judgment so you can continue to listen. Once you start telling the other person what you think of what they said, you are no longer in listening mode, but in telling mode.

_____Don’t interrupt or talk over the other person. This is rude and can be distracting to someone who may be struggling to share something with you. We think faster than we speak, so use this time to think about what they are saying, not what you want to say.

_____Encourage the speaker. Eye contact, full attention, nodding and words like “go on” and “tell me more” go a long way to keeping you in listening mode and the speaker in speaking mode. If you need to ask a question, be sure it stays “on track” and is meant simply to clarify or to encourage. Open ended questions are usually best if you want to keep the other person talking.

It is said that listening takes up the greatest part of our communication time during our work day. Make the most of your listening time by being a more skillful, mindful listener. It will pay off in clearer communication and better relationships.

Presenting? Don’t obsess over how to stand and move in order to project confidence; follow these guidelines and you will look—and feel confident when you speak.

1. Stand tall from the ribcage; this looks confident–strong yet relaxed. Keep your head straight but not rigid.
2. Plant your feet, weight distributed evenly between both feet and place your feet just a little apart for balance.
3. Don’t rock, sway, or shift from foot to foot. Instead, try to balance on both feet for a position that signals confidence and control without rigidity.
4. Stand in the center of the front of the room for your opening, move every 2-3 minutes or at the start of each new topic, then return to center for a strong close.
5. Like to move around? Try this: move from point A to point B deliberately, then stop and plant your feet again.
6. Stand still or move? Standing frozen in place; not good. Pacing; not good. Try to achieve a balance between stillness and movement
7. Still not sure? Ask someone to video record your presentation (or a rehearsal) and then watch it to see if you move too much or too little.

Ah the angst–what do you do with your hands. We rarely wonder about them until we stand up to speak and then suddenly it’s all we can think about. In our pockets? Locked up tight? Behind our backs? No, no and no. In case you are wondering, here are the things you should be doing.

1. You can have your hands relaxed near your waist, at your sides, or loosely in a steeple. All these are considered “neutral” positions.
2. Let yourself gesture naturally, and then let your hands go back to a relaxed or resting position.
3. You can also look and feel a bit more relaxed by holding a remote slide clicker. You do have one, don’t you?
4. For great gestures; the gesture comes with the thought, and then the words catch up. So don’t force a gesture, just let it happen naturally.
5. Observe yourself (and others) to see if you gesture a lot or a little. For most people a mix of gesturing and stillness is best.

It’s really not that difficult. Keep your hands relaxed and natural, and then forget about them and focus on your listeners.

 

 

Are you ever tentative about speaking in front of others? Do you fear you will make a mistake or look foolish? Do you ever worry that people will disagree with you? If so, it’s possible that you aren’t completely committed to your own communication. Before you lead another meeting, sales call, presentation or training session, read on about how to “own” your next speaking engagement:

1. Are you passionate about the topic? Or at least excited? If you aren’t sold, it will be a very long day at the lectern.
2. Instead of worrying about yourself, focus on what you are giving your audience.
3. Remind yourself this is your presentation, you are prepared, and you know your content.
4. You have a good plan; stick with it and speak with confidence.
5. Don’t second guess yourself or try to speak like your boss would.
6. Move past self-consciousness by focusing on the audience, the content, your breath.
7. It’s not about you; it’s about your ability to connect.
8. It’s not about you; it’s about your audience and your ability to give them something of value. Focus on what you are bringing, not how they are reacting.
9. You won’t be perfect no matter what; just do your best. Made a mistake? Move on.
10. Monitor sabotaging self-talk that says you aren’t good enough; you are!

What do you think? Are you ready to “own it?”