Posts Tagged ‘interview coach new york city’

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Great Speech, Poor Nonverbal Communication

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Ric Elias gives a nearly great speech here, he has a strong attention-getter, a lot of wonderful stories, and a strong call to action, but, unfortunately, that work is undercut by lackluster non-verbal communication; a downward vocal inflection style (especially toward the end of the speech), and uninspired movement.

Ric starts with a rousing attention-getter, he tells the audience about the sensory experience of being on the plane that crashed in the Hudson River.  There are many great details here, the sound of “no sound” as the plane’s engines are cut, the look of terror in the eyes of a stewardess, the thoughts that flashed through his mind as he braces for impact.  There is also an excellent call to action at the end of the speech, a detail that many speakers leave out.  All speeches should strive to create some change in the audience and here Ric challenges the audience to imagine as if they had only moments to live, and to think about what they might change.    This is wonderfully creative.

But, alas, Ric appears a little bit out-of-gas.  He shuffles somewhat listlessly, and gestures without much intention.  He allows his pitch to descend at the end of some sentences.

If you are feeling a little lethargic before a speech, try something simple…like push-ups!  Sound crazy?  It’s not.  Even a few push ups will get the blood flowing, and perhaps enliven your body.  If you have a downward inflection style, work with a coach or colleague on your presentation and make sure to lift the last syllable in each sentence.

Keep in mind 80% of our impression of a speaker is nonverbal!  If you feel your presentation style could use some work, give me a buzz, and let’s set up a free 20 minute consultation.

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Presence and Public Speaking

Friday, December 16th, 2011

I’m a big believer in the present moment.  Why not, right?  The present moment is all you got.

This week I had a client who seemed very tense when he walked in for a coaching session with me.  This is not uncommon; public speaking is one of our greatest fears, it’s perfectly natural to feel keyed up before you speak.  But this guy’s energy felt off; he was cutting me off before I could finish my thoughts, staring out vacantly from time to time, and rushing through his presentation.  The problem wasn’t his tension, but, rather, his lack of awareness around his tension.

I put the problem to my client; why are you rushing?  You feel really “not here”…how do you correct that?  He stopped speeding through his presentation, and breathed for a moment.  He looked at me directly, with self-awareness, with presence, for the first time in our session together and said, “I guess I am a little tense today”.  Yes.  And from then on he was fine.  Not because he felt perfectly relaxed, nobody feels perfectly relaxed, but because he became conscious of his tension, and that awareness itself was enough to do the trick.

Don’t bother with trying to feel relaxed while presenting.  Presenting is nerve wracking.  But do try to be conscious, aware of yourself in the moments before, during and while you present.  Try doing this with a non-judgmental attitude, simply noticing what comes up, even if it’s tension.  If you need a point of focus, follow your breath.  You might be happy with the results.

 

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Rex Ryan and Speaking Passionately

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

What makes a good planned speech?  Structure, yes, but a speech needs feeling as well.  Too often presentations lack fire, emotion, feeling.  Ok so maybe you’re talking about your firm’s software, and not about famine, or war, or politics, but there are still opportunities to connect your values to your speech, and to let your passion show.

I like Rex Ryan’s speech here.  The tone is rude, and tough as nails, but given his environment, that makes perfect sense.  He doesn’t have a lot of structure to what he is doing, but he does the most important things well; he makes eye contact, and he speaks from his heart.

Experiment with going off-script.  This doesn’t mean you wing your presentations, or swear like a sailor like Rex Ryan does.  Bad idea.  It just means you learn to keep it loose and follow your train of thoughts and feelings first, and your notes second.

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Time Stress and Presentations

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Let’s face it, there’s never enough time.    In work, or in relationships, we often find ourselves harried, either consumed by the various minutia that is a part of staying afloat in modern society, bills to pay, jury summons to satisfy, etc., or swamped by work requirements, clients to please, dinners to attend, paperwork to finish, etc.

Of course, this often leads us with little time for our presentations.  So how do we know how much time to spend on our presentations?  And more importantly perhaps, what do we do if we feel we are too busy to prepare?

I recently had a young woman come to me requesting help with a TED speech that she was to give in Bali in two weeks’ time.  I was thrilled to get the call.  An invitation to speak at TED is close to the pinnacle of success in the world of public speaking.  The greatest thinkers in the world are invited to speak there.  What’s more, you are allowed to have a call to action with this speech, to inspire, to push for change, to encourage transformation.  All of the speeches given at TED go out over the internet, and are widely viewed.  For twenty minutes, the world would be this young woman’s stage.

But she had no time.  The irony of her success was that she was now inundated with offers for freelance work, and she didn’t have time to adequately prepare for the speech of her life.  Luckily we were able to work with the confines created by her new-found success, and carve out a dynamic speech.

I would recommend asking yourself a few questions if you feel that you are short on time:

1) How important is the speech, or presentation?  In an ideal world, we would be adequately prepared for every speaking engagement; however, the reality is that sometimes we simply are not.  That being said, if the speech or presentation presents an unparalleled opportunity for you, or may be important for your career, you must find a way to carve out time even if it means telling your immediate supervisor you need the day off, or your spouse you have to cut dinner short.

2)  Are you really that busy?  Ask yourself tough questions.  Are you busy, or scared?  It’s fine to be nervous about public speaking, it’s perfectly natural, but it’s not good when you start avoiding the hard work it takes to pull off a great speech.  If you feel that you are avoiding your speech, talk to a trusted advisor or colleague.  Share your feelings.  Then put together a plan of action and break through your block.

3)  Can I re-arrange?  If there is simply no time, or the time allotted to you for preparation is not adequate, it’s fair to ask to re-schedule.

If all else fails?  Just be in the moment.  Time stress happens to the best of us, and when we run behind, there is no point in beating ourselves up.  If your speaking day has arrived, remind yourself you’ve done the best you can, and step up to the podium with as much courage as you can muster.  You never know, you might still knock it out of the park!

Click here for my May “Language of Leadership” seminar co-hosted with Colleen Culley from Move into Greatness!

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Video Analysis of One of the World’s Best Public Speakers

Friday, February 4th, 2011

Sir Ken Robinson is hands down one of the world’s greatest speakers.  I defy you not to be immensely entertained and enlightened by this twenty minute speech.

Almost every moment here is a gem.  Let’s start with his body language.  Notice how still he is.  Of course, one should feel free to move throughout a speech, there are no hard and fast rules about body language, but few among us have the tolerance to explore stillness while speaking the way Sir Robinson does.

Now let’s take a look at his language…every word is articulated clearly, and he uses an abundance of inflection and pitch.  He hits his content words, and makes every point clear, yet never over-articulates.  Because he is physically relaxed, we are not distracted by his gestures from the most important component of his speech, his ideas.

He uses his wit to wonderful effect in this speech, eliciting a laugh a minute.  Every trick in the public speaking book is used here, analogies, stories, quotes (including a gem from Abraham Lincoln), one-liners…. the speech is crammed with interest.  It’s no wonder his last TED speech was downloaded over 10 million times!

Notice the structure of the beginning of his speech; an attention getter at the top that elicits a big laugh, then a clear thesis statement outlying his topic, than a wonderful analogy is made playing off of the public’s fascination with “resources”.  Now we are hooked, and we know where we are going.  The discussion section of the speech is a series of short, pithy stories.  The story he tells about the child who wants to be a fireman, and is humiliated for not wanting to go to college, is one of the best, most appropriate, and powerfully told stories I have ever heard.  Watch when he polls the audience as to who is wearing wristwatches… he manages to make a point, and leave everybody in stitches at the same time.

I could go on, and on.  Each brilliantly told story weaves effortlessly into his main point: education is in need of reform.  He culminates with a lovely quote from W.B Yeats.

A colleague of mine once said to me; “You know a standing ovation is authentic if the audience stands as one unit, immediately after the speech has finished”.  Sir Robinson’s authentic ovation here was well deserved.

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How to Beat Procrastination when Preparing for a Speech

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

One of the first questions I ask when I hear that an executive is nervous about an upcoming speech is how much time was spent preparing for the presentation.  Sometimes I will hear “Well I looked it over last night”, or “I made a few bullet-points”.  Usually I think to myself, “No wonder you are anxious!”.   A good speech requires work, sometimes hours need to be spent culling together material, weeding out weak points and extraneous data, finding the main point of the speech,  and developing interesting questions to ask the audience.  At the very least, familiarity with the material is essential.

Sometimes we feel tense about a speech simply because we are in the habit of preparing at the last minute.  It’s important to break this cycle.  How can it be done?  Make a plan:

1)  Tell someone you know (a friend, a coach, a spouse) that you are struggling to find time for your presentations, and ask them for help.  Support is important.

2) Set a certain number of hours allotted for your preparation, and report your progress to your coach or friend.

3)  Weed out unnecessary information.  Is your speech loaded with data?  Putting everybody in the room to sleep, including yourself?  Weed out everything that is unessential to your main point, which leads me to my next point…

4) HAVE ONE MAIN POINT TO YOUR SPEECH Ultimately a great speaker does not ramble , but revolves his/her speech around one main theme.  The public schools need reform.  My company invests more selectively than the rest.  You can trust my leadership.  You know what it is, pick it, and stick to it.

If you feel like it will help, post your progress to this blog post.   Let me know what you’ve done to improve your presentations this week, and what you plan to do next week!

Good luck!

Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is a public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in New York City.

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Colbert’s Congressional Tesimony

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Since I seem to be big into blogging about Steven Colbert lately, I thought we would take a look at his congressional testimony from last week.  The big question batting around the internet in regard to this speech is whether the tone is appropriate or not.  Mr. Colbert was invited to speak in front of the House of Representatives in regard to illegal farm workers and the issue of immigration.  Apparently someone had the brilliant idea of sending Mr. Colbert into a field to pick fruit for a few hours, and then testify before the House of Representatives on his experience.  Of course, Mr. Colbert was completely outlandish, stayed in character, and, on occasion, mocked the very work he was presumed to defend.

From a public speaking standpoint, you could say that Colbert was tone-deaf, didn’t analyze the occasion thoroughly enough, and was inappropriate, but I think there is a larger question here begging to be asked, namely… what are these Representatives thinking!? ;)   And what is up with all the moralizing by politicians and the media regarding this speech?  What did they think would happen?  Mr. Colbert is a COMEDIAN.  Why is he being invited to weigh in and give a speech before a sovereign governmental body on a topic of monumental national importance?  It’s absurd.  Personally, I think Mr. Colbert’s speech was perfectly appropriate.  Satirists satirize.  That is what they do.  If the House of Representatives wanted an expert, they should have invited one.  They invited a satirist, and the invitee turned the whole absurdity-pie around, and launched it into the face of those deserving, the House of Representatives.

What do you think?  Bad taste or brilliant speech?

Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is a public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in New York City.

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Steven Colbert, Eric Schmidt and the Art of Q and A

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Eric Schmidt
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox New

In this  Q and A segment, Steven Colbert grills Google CEO Eric Schmidt about privacy on the net in hilarious fashion.  Colbert is amazingly relaxed in front of the camera, and his one-liners are to die for, but let’s look at this Q and A from Eric Schmidt’s perspective.  How do you think he handles these questions?

I think he does a good job because he abides by a simple rule when it comes to Q and A’s; keep it simple, stupid.  There is no reason for endless answers.  Be as clear as you can, tell the truth, give you opinion, and avoid straddling the fence….you know, avoid answering questions the way most politicians do. ;)

When asked about Google in China, Schmidt’s simple answer: “We didn’t like their laws.”  When asked about a comment he made about net privacy: “It was a joke.”  This doesn’t mean that Schmidt doesn’t elaborate, he does, but he does so in a concise fashion.  It helps a good deal that he is not afraid to smile, he is reasonably in on Colbert’s joke, and he uses open gestures.

What do you think?

Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is a public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in New York City.

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Making a Point with a Light Touch

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Many speeches have a serious tone…but is it possible to drive a point home with a light touch?  I think so.  Seth Goldin gives a funny, and informative speech here on the concept of “broken”.  The speech is hilarious, he uses visuals brilliantly, but what I think is most interesting is the sly way Mr. Goldin makes the listener contemplate what is “broken” and what is not.

Mr. Golden starts with a great attention getter, he has recently received a series of rebate cards, four of them to be exact, worth $30 a piece.  Of course, he can’t use any of them effectively.   He makes the choice to bring the cards on stage, and uses them as a type of prop, flipping through them as he tells his story, and then, bang, he throws them at the audience and states: “broken”.

The word “broken” is used repetitively; he riffs off of it, showing slides of ridiculous ad campaigns, and useless signage in order to make his point.  With each slide Mr. Golden gets a laugh, and then uses this laugh as cover for some more serious questions:  Why are useless ad campaigns designed?  What are the reasons for ineptitude? What is “broken” and what is not?

If I had to quible a bit with this speech, I would say that Mr. Golden apologises a bit too much.  There is never a reason to state “I am winging it” in a speech.  Luckily he has charisma to burn, and pulls this off…but I would not try it at home.

So what do you think?  Can you make a great speech, and keep it light?

Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications. He is a public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in Manhattan.

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Roger Clemens and Non Verbal Communication

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

I’m always telling my clients that 80 percent of our impression of a speaker is non-verbal (that’s right, that speech you’re sweating over right now means much less than the quality of your voice, your posture, and how you gesture), so what do you think of this photo of Roger Clemens testifying before Congress?  As many of you know, Roger Clemens, the former Yankee, and former shoe-in for the Hall of Fame, is going to be indicted for lying to Congress about his use of performance enhancing drugs.

I think this image is a powerful reminder that our bodies rarely lie.  No matter what we say, our true feelings will be revealed by our facial expressions, our posture, and our tone of voice.  This image just reeks of duplicity; the cocked head, the sideways glance, the backward-moving energy.  Throw the jerk in jail.

Here is Harry Markopolos testifying before Congress.  Harry is the guy who tried to blow the whistle on Bernie Madoff to the SEC to no avail.  What do we see here?  Definace, a steady gaze, forward-moving energy, confident gestures.

What do you think?

Jeffrey Davis is the owner of Speak Clear Communications.  He is a public speaking coach and accent reduction coach in New York City.

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