Tips for Teleconferences
Tips for Teleconferences Pause so another person can speak. Save complex questions for e-mail unless you need an immediate answer. Rerun from July 7, 2014
Practice Makes Perfect
Practice Makes Perfect Rehearse out loud. The only way you can tell how your speech will sound is to do it and listen to it. That means you have to say it out loud. Doing the speech in your head and listening to it doesn’t work – that is not the voice your audience will hear. […]
Earn Your Audience’s Attention!
Earn Your Audience’s Attention! Let’s turn our attention to those first words for your presentation. 1. The audience has given you their time. But their attention is something you have to earn. 2. The only way you get them thinking and participating is to seize their attention, to grab them. 3. Questions are good grabbers. So are […]
Pauses In A Presentation, Part One
Pauses In A Presentation, Part One If you are an ESLer, your audience welcomes pauses in a presentation. If it is a lengthy pause of more than two seconds, smile at them, so they won’t think you forgot what to say next. 1. Pauses give the audience time to process words when they are said in accented English. […]
Don’ts for Effective Preparation and Speaking
Don’ts for Effective Preparation and Speaking 1. Never read a speech to an audience. They deserve better and so do you. Recall your own experience. Have you ever been impressed when a speaker read a talk or sermon to you? If you answer is, “No,” then don’t inflict the same injury on others. 2. What about reading notes? […]
Where Should Your Hands Be?
Where Should Your Hands Be? 1. Where should your hands be? When you begin, they should hang naturally by your body. Then they should describe and emphasize what you are saying. 2. Ideally, you should gesture with one hand at a time. When you move both you waste energy without getting any […]
End Your Presentation With A Bang
End Your Presentation With A Bang The end of a presentation, especially at a luncheon, needs to feel like dessert – sweet and satisfying. Show your enthusiasm through lively gestures, facial expressions, and speech volume. Restate your viewpoint. Send them back to work with a lift.
Public Speaking- The Power in Pauses
Public Speaking- The Power in Pauses You know that pauses are great for giving people time to process your information. Pauses are also a perfect strategy for catching audience interest. But that is not all. Instead of getting flustered with the unexpected, either from you or your surroundings, here are several other clever uses […]
Public Speaking: The Silence is the Gold—Where to Pause
Public Speaking: The Silence is the Gold—Where to Pause Have you noticed that the best presenters use pauses when they talk? You know it sounds and feels good. Where are they pausing? Here are three examples: After introductory phrases or clauses “By the time we finish with this endless series of meetings [Pause] we […]
Public Speaking- Gestures
Public Speaking- Gestures When doing a presentation, gestures are a wonderful way to get people’s attention and to emphasize information. Watching for gestures of professional presenters or debaters is a great way to alert you to gestures you can use. Study and engrain in your memory what you see. Here are observations from the […]