PRINCIPLES FOR POWER DELIVERIES – PART 1

Develop your Power Writing skills (covered in my previous articles) and match that with Power Delivery – you get a winning combination in your talks, briefings, speeches and presentations.

In this article I will cover the first two principles of Power Deliveries.

PRONUNCIATION

Good pronunciation is essential in any language. Wrong intonations or inflections can have embarrassing results as any student on Mandarin will confirm. In English it is about correct stress and phonetic sounds, according to the International Phonetic Alphabet. All English dictionaries contain this.

Refer regularly to www.dictionary.cambridge.org if you wish to master your pronunciation skills. It will help you build your vocabulary as well. Check out words you hear in the news media, documentaries, talks, briefings and presentations. We Malaysians often mispronounce words-not surprising, given the standard of English spoken by many these days.

If we wish to communicate effectively and successfully in this ‘global village’ of ours, do make it a habit to learn the correct pronunciation of one or two words a day. Think of what you will achieve in a year! Fluency in words makes us stand apart from the mediocrity of those who do ignore the challenge to do better. It gives us the “winning edge” whenever we speak.

Test yourselves with how these words should be pronounced:

alias, continue, comparable, economic, garage, industry, initiative, penalty, love. motor.

Anyone with a 10/10?

PAUSE

“The right word may be effective, but no word was as ever effective as a rightly – timed pause” (Mark Twain).

Using pause is a skill. It has the effect of:

• drawing back the attention of the listener to you,
• making the attentive listener anticipate what is to come,
• doing away with non – words like the “umms” and ‘errs”, which have reached pandemic levels today.
• creating space for the listener to assimilate what is being said.
• giving the speaker a precious moment to breathe and prepare what is to be  said next.
• An outstanding speaker who, I believe, has mastered the art of pause is  former President Obama. Listen to his inauguration speech or any of his presidential addresses and you will find his masterful use of pause.  Professional speakers, TM World Championship Speakers and those we hear on TED Talks all use the pause for power deliveries.

Practice your delivery and be mindful of the need to pause. In time this will come naturally and add to your power delivery skills.

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PRINCIPLES FOR POWER DELIVERIES – PART 1

Develop your Power Writing skills (covered in my previous articles) and match that with Power Delivery – you get a winning combination in your talks, briefings, speeches and presentations.

In this article I will cover the first two principles of Power Deliveries.

PRONUNCIATION

Good pronunciation is essential in any language. Wrong intonations or inflections can have embarrassing results as any student on Mandarin will confirm. In English it is about correct stress and phonetic sounds, according to the International Phonetic Alphabet. All English dictionaries contain this.

Refer regularly to www.dictionary.cambridge.org if you wish to master your pronunciation skills. It will help you build your vocabulary as well. Check out words you hear in the news media, documentaries, talks, briefings and presentations. We Malaysians often mispronounce words-not surprising, given the standard of English spoken by many these days.

If we wish to communicate effectively and successfully in this ‘global village’ of ours, do make it a habit to learn the correct pronunciation of one or two words a day. Think of what you will achieve in a year! Fluency in words makes us stand apart from the mediocrity of those who do ignore the challenge to do better. It gives us the “winning edge” whenever we speak.

Test yourselves with how these words should be pronounced:

alias, continue, comparable, economic, garage, industry, initiative, penalty, love. motor.

Anyone with a 10/10?

PAUSE

“The right word may be effective, but no word was as ever effective as a rightly – timed pause” (Mark Twain).

Using pause is a skill. It has the effect of:

• drawing back the attention of the listener to you, making the attentive listener anticipate what is to come, doing away with non – words like the “umms” and ‘errs”, which have reached pandemic levels today.

• creating space for the listener to assimilate what is being said.

• giving the speaker a precious moment to breathe and prepare what is to be  said next.

An outstanding speaker who, I believe, has mastered the art of pause is  former President Obama. Listen to his inauguration speech or any of his presidential addresses and you will find his masterful use of pause.  Professional speakers, TM World Championship Speakers and those we hear on TED Talks all use the pause for power deliveries.

Practice your delivery and be mindful of the need to pause. In time this will come naturally and add to your power delivery skills.

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THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE

Getting our message across with Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity is basic to every speech, presentation or briefing. Word Power is essential as it helps us project, persuade, promote and project through correct word choice. The other important ingredient is Effective Language.

What, then, is Effective Language?

Let us begin with what it is NOT. Effective language means doing away with the following:

Complex Words – words with three or more syllables: detrimental, approximately, endeavour, indisposed, temperamental. These words can be easily replaced by shorter, simpler words. Do you know what they are? There are often used complex words which we understand but, the general rule is, use a simpler word if possible.

Circumlocution. It is “beating about the bush” – talking around a point before getting to the point. Have you ever asked a question and experienced this before the answer is given?

Verbosity. Lengthy and unnecessary words to get a simple message across. During WW2, when asked to sign a White House Security order reading: ”It is mandatory to extinguish all illumination upon vacating of the premises”, President Roosevelt responded with “Why the hell can’t we say ‘Switch off the lights when you leave’.”

Tautology. Using words that do not add to the meaning of the word prior to it. We hear of “repeat again”, reply back”, “armed gunmen”. Do you see which words are not required?

Apologies though for using such complex words to describe what effective language is not. English is indeed a strange language!

The key to Effective Language is therefore Simple Language. People use ‘big words’ and ‘flowery’ sentences to IMPRESS. Well, remember that we speak to EXPRESS and never to IMPRESS.

Keep it simple and you will certainly impress your listeners.

A closing thought:

“Simplicity is greatness and all great men are simple.”                                                                       Anon                                            

Getting our message across with Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity is basic to every speech, presentation or briefing. Word Power is essential as it helps us project, persuade, promote and project through correct word choice. The other important ingredient is Effective Language.

What, then, is Effective Language?

Let us begin with what it is NOT. Effective language means doing away with the following:

Complex Words – words with three or more syllables: detrimental, approximately, endeavour, indisposed, temperamental. These words can be easily replaced by shorter, simpler words. Do you know what they are? There are often used complex words which we understand but, the general rule is, use a simpler word if possible.

Circumlocution. It is “beating about the bush” – talking around a point before getting to the point. Have you ever asked a question and experienced this before the answer is given?

Verbosity. Lengthy and unnecessary words to get a simple message across. During WW2, when asked to sign a White House Security order reading: ”It is mandatory to extinguish all illumination upon vacating of the premises”, President Roosevelt responded with “Why the hell can’t we say ‘Switch off the lights when you leave’.”

Tautology. Using words that do not add to the meaning of the word prior to it. We hear of “repeat again”, reply back”, “armed gunmen”. Do you see which words are not required?

Apologies though for using such complex words to describe what effective language is not. English is indeed a strange language!

The key to Effective Language is therefore Simple Language. People use ‘big words’ and ‘flowery’ sentences to IMPRESS. Well, remember that we speak to EXPRESS and never to IMPRESS.

Keep it simple and you will certainly impress your listeners.

A closing thought:

“Simplicity is greatness and all great men are simple.”                                                                       Anon                                            

My Power Speaking Course has gone Virtual! Enquiries – call ITD World, Penang 04-2262114 or 04-2283869

BUILDING ELOQUENCE

My last article dealt with the subject of Eloquence and its barriers.

–         Did you discover your barrier/barriers?

–         Do you want to improve, to become an eloquent, confident speaker?

–         Are you prepared to do what it takes? Then read on!

• Build a Positive Mindset.

• Visualize yourself giving a presentation with confidence, clarity and conviction. Picture an appreciative audience, listening intently and applauding your effort.

Do this regularly.

• Believe in yourself, that you have in you all you need to be an effective, eloquent speaker.

• Write down what you wish to overcome and the action needed. Take positive steps to do so.

• Find a Mentor. Ask around, persevere until you have found on, then commit yourself fully to the journey.

• Build knowledge. Read, attend courses on speech training, watch video clips, join a Toastmasters Club. Practise what you learn.

• Expand your Vocabulary. Make the Dictionary and the Thesaurus your best friends. Learn a word a day and you will see definite improvements.

• Work on your pronunciation. Every Dictionary has the IPA symbols in the opening pages. It gives the sounds that must accompany these phonetic symbols. When you check a word for its meaning, it is also spelt phonetically, and therefore shows how that word is to be pronounced.

• Get rid of speech mannerisms. Also known as Speech Distractors or Non-words-these are the “umms,” “aahs” and “errrs’ we hear so often when people speak. Listen to the news and see how these are used in answer to a question or when explaining something. Newscasters of some well-known TV stations are among the biggest offenders.

To avoid this irritating habit, practice the pause when speaking. “Zip the lip”, find the word then continue speaking.

1.

• Avoid slang. It may be fashionable to say “yep’ in place of “yes” or “ ‘kay” in place of “alright” but that is not the way to eloquent speaking.

Remember, while a speaker may have excellent material for the audience, it will never get this across effectively unless the delivery is powered by the essentials of eloquence, pitch, pause and pace.

A closing thought.

“Kindness in thought leads to wisdom, kindness in speech leads to eloquence, kindness in action leads to love.”  Laozi

2.

SPEAKING WITH ELOQUENCE

“Great is our admiration of the orator who speaks with fluency and discretion”

                                                                                        Marcus Tullius Cicero

         Eloquence carries a speech, a talk or presentation. It connects the speaker with the audience, keeps them engaged throughout and successfully ends with a clear message, take-away or call to action.

        The root word for ‘eloquence’ is ‘eloquentia’ in Latin. It means the ability to speak fluently and in a graceful style which captivates the listener. This article will focus on some barriers to eloquent -or fluent-speaking and how they can be overcome.

• Speech distractors (mannerisms or non-words) like “umms”, “errr”, “aahhh” which are so frequently used when people speak. Many cannot begin a sentence or answer without the “Ummm”. Listen to the daily news and you will get an earful!

How does one cure this bad and irritating habit? Simply “Zip the Lip”. In other words, just pause a moment, find the word, then say it.

• Poor enunciation – the lack of clarity in the sounding of words. They sound more like a mumble.

To overcome this, be conscious of opening the mouth to speak up and out. Practice ‘throwing’ your voice.

• Mispronunciation of words. The benchmark for speaking in English is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It is carried in all dictionaries and shows what the symbols are and how they should be sounded.

 The best source I have found to improve our pronunciation skills is at www.dictionary.cambridge.org.

• Speaking in monotone. This is speaking in a continuous tone that can often     

lull the listener to sleep.

Learning to ‘modulate’ the voice will overcome this. Speak high at times, speak low at times-vary the pitch to maintain audience attention.

• Rapid speaking. Listen to on-board announcements in some of our local airlines and you will see what I mean. It frustrates the listener trying to keep up with the speaker.

Apply pause e.g. 3 seconds between each sentence or statement, and pace, speaking slow to cover important points and picking up speed for the less important ones.

     Speaking eloquence is necessary to get a message across effectively.

It elevates us from being an average, mediocre speaker to one who is

articulate and commands audience attention and engagement. It’s an

on-going process and will require much effort on your part.

      As Zig Ziglar says:

                        “It’s all in the glands – the sweat glands”

HOW TO WRITE A POWERFUL SPEECH (PART THREE)

The last two issues covered Planning and Strong Starts/Strong Endings. Planning lays the foundation for writing to begin.

• OUTLINING. This is the first step and should cover the following:

• The introduction: greeting, objective, attention-grabbing statement.

• Assemble the three points to be covered (Rule of three concept – one of the most powerful for speech writing). Include three sub-points per point if required.

• Insert quotes, stories, factual or statistical information to give substance to the message.

• Outline the summary of your speech in the conclusion. Close strong as discussed in the Planning stage.

• WRITING.

• Expand on the points to be covered.

 –    Be accurate, brief and clear.

 –    Choose words carefully to inform or ignite, move or motivate.

 –    Ensure smooth transition from one point to another. Use key phrases like  

       “Next I will cover….”    Or “My next point is….”                                                                         

•       Key question to be addressed while writing: Am I writing with the interests  

             of the audience in mind?

• EDITING. It is a check to ensure:

 –  Flow, continuity, clarity.

 –   Correct grammar, facts and figures

 –   Relevance of stories, quotes, statistics.

            –   Strong Opening and Closing.

            –   Time allotted can be met.

1.

Test what has been written. Read through it, ask also for feedback from a colleague or family member.

• RE-WRITING.

Based on Feedback, amend the affected parts. Once again check for a smooth flow and ask the final question: Will this speech (talk or presentation) get the desired response from the audience?

After this comes Practice, Practice and more Practice!

A closing thought from Phil Collins, Former Speech Writer for Tony Blair:

“Remember that every speech has something of ‘You’ in the writing. Don’t take that away when you write. Be yourself. Be comfortable in your own skin”

  HOW TO WRITE A POWERFUL SPEECH (PART TWO) 

In the last article we looked at the all-important task of PLANNING. In this article we shall focus on strong starts and finishes which are critical elements in the Planning stage.
HOW TO START STRONG
The idea is to capture the attention of the audience from the beginning. This can be done through any of the following:
• A startling Fact or Statistic e.g.

“This iPod has enough of memory for you to listen to music all the way to the moon and back”

• A story to illustrate human values, behavior, life-changing events – any topic which ties in with the theme or core message.

• Ask a question. It gets them thinking and engaged as you pause and then continue e.g.

“Do you see how the current crisis is going to change the way we live our lives from now on?”

• Use a famous quotation. These often express our thinking more powerfully. They also lend support to what we say.

HOW TO FINISH STRONG

• Use any of the techniques listed above. Ensure you summarize the points covered in the main body of your speech. End with a story (work it in to your time allocated}, a “Take-away”, a question/challenge:

“Planet Earth or plastic Earth? It’s your choice.”

Once the Opening and Closing have been settled, we can move to the next stage, which will involve Writing, Editing and Re-writing. This will be covered in Part Three.

A closing thought:

“The best way to make a good speech is to have a good beginning and a good ending – and have them close together.” Unknown.

HOW WRITE A POWERFUL SPEECH (PART 1)

Word Power, which I covered in my last article, must be applied in both spoken and written forms of communication. We may be eloquent speakers, but the script, the written part, must excel in its structure and content for the delivery to be effective.

The key to a powerful speech is to:

Here are some useful tips in the Planning Stage.

1.       Decide on your theme or core message.

2.       Audience profile, needs, expectations.

What is it you are going to offer your audience? What is your “take-away?”  are you going to make an urgent call to action?

Remember it is not about you. It is about the audience. Always have their interests foremost. They are there because they want something from you. Your task is to deliver!

This will give you an idea of how much time you will need for preparation. As  a general rule it should be two hours of preparation for every minute of speaking.

3.       Time given.

          Use stories, interesting facts, analogies, quotations.

4.       How to make it interesting?

5.       Will audio visuals help?

Generally, 60% of an audience responds to audio visual stimulus. The rest of them are contented with just listening.

 6.      How do I start and finish with impact?

This is all important. Think of something to “Wow” them, something to capture their attention from the very beginning. End with a very clear message, a ‘take-away’ or a call to action.

A closing thought:

“Speech is the representation of the mind, and writing is the representation of speech.”   Aristotle.