I talk about Speech, Language and Voice topics all year long. Let’s talk about something new: your hearing. After all, there are social, psychological and physical consequences of having a hearing loss at work and at home, including isolation, withdrawal, problems with concentration, embarrassment, shame, guilt, anger, depression and anxiety. I’d like to offer you some tips to preserve your hearing and tips for communicating!
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Mary was a young emerging leader full of promise at the large company where she worked. Her skill set was exceptional… She was extremely bright and very creative. She exceeded expectations in most all of her work responsibilities and she was identified as a high potential. One area of concern, however, was around her communication style. I was asked to do an assessment. When she and I got together, she told me that she wanted to be perceived as self-confident, competent and credible. Mary looked the part…she dressed nicely, she stood tall and she made eye-contact when she spoke. Her voice however, did not align with the visual image or the way in which she wanted to be perceived.
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Diane, a new executive director, was given new responsibilities at her organization that included standing before the board to talk about current company projects. Her presentation skills, however, were not at that level. She knew she was in trouble because she feared public speaking so much that it nearly immobilized her. Not being able to speak in front of groups is real career stopper and nearly became a career stopper for Diane. As much as Diane wanted to be a credible, and an influential authority on her topic…
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If you are giving a speech in the near future, I’d like to challenge you to try something new… Your task is to pick a topic that you love to talk about and create 10 different possible openings for your presentation on that topic. Your dynamic opening is going to help your listeners decide if they want to listen to you and they will decide in 30 seconds or less. Making a strong positive and interesting opening will help you make a great first impression and help them to decide if you are credible.
Here is an example of what I’d like you to try. I frequently talk about executive speech and voice branding because I want to create an awareness about how you can control the way you sound to your desired perception. Here are 10 different ways to start my presentation using 10 different styles:
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Have you been as riveted as I have been to the television as the winter Olympics unfold? There is nothing like an evening spent watching these great athletes with the fireplace roaring and a warm cup of tea in my hands. I love to watch the couples dance on ice and the aerial events; my husband prefers hockey or downhill skiing. The athletes’ stories of courage, hard work, determination, and overcoming obstacles is a clear indication of how their success didn’t occur in a straight path upward.
But why should all the much earned glory, and more importantly, those coveted gold medals go to those we see on TV? Don’t you deserve your own gold medal this winter? I sure think so. And that’s why I’m sending you a gold meda–to remind you that this is a great time to go for the gold! O.K. a photo isn’t as fancy as one of the 259 medal sets that will be awarded this month but I wanted to do something to get your attention.
Here are a three areas of communication that are the gold standard to strive towards to develop your leadership skills:
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When I first began presenting to audiences, I noticed that physically, I felt terrible (my stomach hurt, I perspired profusely) and because I was extremely focused on what people would think, my nerves turned my voice into a high-pitched, shrill voice. I wasn’t loud enough and I wasn’t credible.
Check out these two ideas that got me over my fear of public speaking. Once I started doing these two strategies, public speaking no longer was a fear of mine but rather something I looked forward to! These can help you, too!
Continue Reading No CommentsDo you get nervous before you present? Did you know that stress often creates vocal symptoms? The most common voice symptoms associated with stress include: tight voice, voice breaks, weak voice, and a shrill, high pitch. If you experience these symptoms (or any others) in stressful situations try the following exercises before speaking:
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I hear this all the time. Many professionals tell me that they hate the way that they sound when they hear themselves on a recording (video or audio). Of course, there is a good reason for that…when you speak, you are hearing yourself from within your head, with all the amplification of sound waves bouncing off the bony structures of your head. When you are listening to yourself from “outside” of your head, it sounds completely different. However, the way you sound on the recording is the true you! Yikes. Does that make you cringe, too?
Do you like the sound of your speech and voice? Are you aligned? By that I mean do you sound like the executive leader that you are? If not, let me tell you how great communicators benefit when they align and sound like leaders using their speech, language and voice skills:
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Do you ever feel like you have a great message to share but just can’t quite communicate it adequately to get people to act or be inspired? Maybe you feel no one listens and you don’t get the respect you want from your colleagues and managers. You aren’t alone if you do.
There are many potential reasons that interfere with a solid presentation. I like to think of these reasons as distractions. When a distraction is present, there is little hope of getting your message across because your listener will start paying attention to that. And once they are paying attention to a distraction, they are no longer listening to you. And once they are no longer listening to you, you have lost credibility and influence. Here is just one example of how a distraction interfered with a young executive’s credibility.
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