Coach Notes - Speaking Skills

October 2006

Keep all of this in mind as you develop the structure and content of your speech and choose visuals that support—and don’t sabotage—your purpose. And don’t forget to build into your presentation ways to involve the mind and body of the audience.

Practice

The more you rehearse, the more confident you’ll feel and the more natural you’ll sound. A solid suggestion is to memorize at least the first four minutes. Tape and time yourself. Be aware of your “vocal color,” the pitch, pace, punch and passion of your delivery. Observe and analyze your posture, appearance, gestures, eye contact and energy level. The goal is not to script every movement or rise in volume, but to become aware enough in the moment to notice yourself and what you’re doing while you’re in front of your audience. Watch and listen to other speakers; see what works and what doesn’t.

Fear Not

If you would rather die than speak in front of others, remember this: Speaking is about them (your audience), not you. It’s about communicating to the people who want or need what you know. You are the channel for this information, nothing more. When you speak in service of your message, fear dissipates remarkably.

Prepare

Find techniques that work for you to help you warm up your body and voice, calm your mind and inspire your attitude. Prepare for the most difficult questions that might come up during Q&A. Above all, look and sound like you mean what you’re saying. Own the power of your knowledge, of your performance.

As Marian K. Woodall says in her book, Speaking to a Group: Mastering the Skill of Public Speaking: “Speakers have power; GREAT speakers have GREAT power.”

Powerful Questions

The poet e.e. cummings wrote: “Always the beautiful answer, who asks a more beautiful question.” Indeed, solid strategic plans, strong work relationships, high morale and improved performance are all byproducts of good questions. This potent communication tool can help you discover important information about your work, yourself, your associates, your customers—and create insights that otherwise might have remained hidden.

Asking questions without leading, prompting or interrupting shows that you’re really listening. It encourages us to suspend assumptions, which helps prevent miscommunication, unrealistic expectations, stress, damaged relationships and unfulfilled responsibilities. Below are just a few questions that can have powerful effects on your work and life. Just be sure to LISTEN to the answers.

What is it that you’d like to see accomplished and how do you see it happening?
What are your thoughts? Your concerns?
What self-limiting fears, thoughts or actions do I want to leave behind?
What’s the most important priority to you with this and why?
What would you like to see improved?
Can you help me understand that a little better?
What’s in the way of improved performance? How can I change that?
If I could change one thing in my life/business that would have the greatest impact, what would it be?
What prevents me from being able to place more focus on this?
Are my actions today compatible with what I wish to leave behind as a legacy?