In Parts One and Two, we have covered the mentality needed to be a professional presenter, how to structure the talk and how to deal with hostile audience questions. Now we turn to the delivery components. In the online world and in person, our voice is such a powerful communication tool. We hear those deep throated DJs on the radio or actors in the movies and realise we don’t have the same instrument.
Actually, no one cares. In business, we are all amateur presenters, because that is not our main job. If we want to be a full time professional speaker, then that is a different question. Our day to day job is running our section or the company or battling away in our defined professional field. We speak in front of audiences as a subset of our main tasks. So we go with the voice we have.
I have a rather husky voice. This is the product of 50 years of kiai or the yelling, that goes on in karate training. I would love to have a mellifluous, baritone voice that harkens the angels, but that is not going to happen. The chances are you are not going to throw your job in and become a full time DJ anytime soon either, so you go with what you have too.
What we can control is how clear and concise we are. Many people think out aloud. What escapes from their lips is the short form version of that internal conversation, in the form of ums and ahs. To eliminate this habit, learn how to purse your lips, ever so gently together, so that no sounds can emerge. When you speak, you open your mouth and when you are not speaking, your lips remain pursed. You decide what you are going to say and you hit it straight away, with no hesitation, then purse your lips when you finish. If you are thinking what it is you want to say, you do that while keeping your lips pursed. Keep practicing this technique and you will eliminate ums and ahs from your speech.
Who we speak to is also important. Now a lot of people speak fervently to their notes on the podium or their laptop screen or turn around and talk to the main screen in the room. They are certainly not talking to the audience. I remember Professor Walton teaching us about Pre-war Japanese history. He spent every lecture staring into space, about three meters above the heads of his audience. I don’t recall him making any eye contact with anyone during the whole lecture series in that semester and I would guess, in his entire career as an academic.
As a presenter, we need to speak to our audience. Sounds simple, but so many people get this wrong. In the online world, they are talking down to the faces on screen, instead of talking to the camera mounted at the top of the laptop. In the real world, they are whizzing their eye contact around at lighting speed, effectively looking at everyone and no one at the same time. There is no engagement going on.
Eye power is so powerful, so let’s use it. Lock eyes with your audience, one member at a time and engage that person for around six seconds and then pick up the next person at random. If you spend less time, it is not having any personal connection and if you keep burning a hole in their retina, it feels too intrusive. Don’t connect with people in any predictable order – keep your audience on their toes, awake and with you throughout your presentation.
In person or online, watching your audience allows you to adjust for their situation. If they look puzzled, then they probably didn’t get the point and you may need to rephrase it. If they are looking disengaged, then you need to get them involved using rhetorical questions. These are good because as the audience member, you don’t know if you are going to be called upon to answer it or not. Getting people to raise their hands is good and probably twice is the maximum number of times, to use this technique before it feels manipulative. If they are raising hands or giving you a green check when online, you can use this more often during the presentation.
Energy in conversation with a colleague or a friend is not the energy you need when presenting, whether online or in person. Crank it up around 40% higher than usual and start pushing our your ki, your intrinsic power, to the audience. Stand up straight, if in person and sit up straight, if online. Also if you are giving a presentation online, then try and arrange it so that you can deliver it standing up. It will bring a lot more physical energy to the audience and bolster your confidence and credibility.
Use a headset when presenting online for the best audio quality possible and if using a microphone with a live audience, try to use a lavalier microphone, so that your hands are free for gestures. Gestures are critical exclamation points in you talk. They bring power to what you are saying, bolstering the power of the words. Online still use them, although when seated, the range of movement is a bit more constricted, but still employ them for emphasis.
Online or in person, the basics are the basics and we must master them. We make a few adjustments for the online world but they are not game breaking. Practice remains the key and so rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
