Three Kings CLub

Why do we speak to an audience at all? A question asked by many people who have sat through a less than inspring presentation.

We speak to either: Inpsire – Persuade – Entertain or Inform. Most of all though we speak to make the audience richer for having heard us speak.

Ralph Smedly the founder of Toasmtasters said “We learn better in moments of enjoyment”. For the audience to enjoy your speech/presentation you need to connect with them through their mind  and to touch their emotions.

David Brookes the 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking said “Don’t just tell us -Take us” he was saying tell a story to make your point. In doing that we need to have a good structure and stories that are relevant to your message.

The audience must know where you are going with your speech otherwise they will get lost and lose interest.

Another way to connect with your audience is to use props to support what you are saying and these act as bullet points for you, taking you from one segment to the next.

Also you need to use pause, vocal variation, pitch, projection and power in your voice.

I often see speakers talk to the front row when this is not enough, we need to reach everyone in the room to connect with them all.

Most importantly as a speaker we need to have something relevant to say.

Think about what you want to share and start writing.

Let us look at vocal variety in these sentences.

“I walk the fields of this great nation and see beautiful scenery stretching before me in every direction. I see rubbish, plastic bags, tin cans, drink bottles and paper waste struggling to grasp hold of the fences it clings to, filling our streams and open spaces. I feel for the earth and all it has to offer as mankind spoils it with throwaway garbage.”

That is said without any emphasis and is read directly from the page. Interesting words yet a boring delivery.

Now let us use emphasis and vocal variety to enhance the message.

“I walk the fields of this great nation and see beautiful scenery stretching before me in every direction. I see rubbish, plastic bags, tin cans, drink bottles and paper waste struggling to grasp hold of the fences it clings to, filling our streams and open spaces. I feel for the earth and all it has to offer as mankind spoils it with throwaway garbage.”

The Green section is said with delight in the voice and wonderment, The Purple section is said with disappointment and hurt, the heavy black section is said with anger and frustration.

See how when vocal variety can add to the flavour of a speech and look at how you can add value to your speeches. As vocal variation adds the colour to the pictures being delivered to the audience and lets us use our minds to connect to the scenes.

Remember to use pause and lots of facial and hands gestures so that we can visually see what you are describing to us.

Now let us put the vocal variation in different parts of the speech to create a different meaning and feeling with the audience.

“I walk the fields of this great nation and see beautiful scenery stretching before me in every direction. I see rubbish, plastic bags, tin cans, drink bottles and paper waste struggling to grasp hold of the fences it clings to, filling our streams and open spaces. I feel for the earth and all it has to offer as mankind spoils it with throwaway garbage.”

See how this is very different from that above.

A speaker can also can further impact with photographs projected onto the wall using powerpoint or they could discard bags of the garbage onto a large plastic sheet onto the floor so we can see the waste.

Remember when we speak to an audience it is not about us – it has to be about the audience enjoying what you are saying and being moved by you.

The next time you give a presentation, see how you can make it better by using pause and vocal variation.

Today I would like to mention Evaluating others.

Those of us who are rostered to evaluate a prepared speaker should do the following:
Contact the Chairman to confirm that we will be at the meeting to do our role.
Contact the Speaker to ask what speech number and manual they are speaking to.
Ask if there is anything in particular that the speaker would like you to specifically look at in his/her delivery.

On the night collect the manual from the speaker and complete the evaluation in it.

Address the members in the third person when delivering your evaluation which must be positive and helpful with constructive supporting comments that will help and assist the speaker to become more confident when delivering this type of speech assignment in the future and to add to their previous speech knowledge.

Remember to use the CRC method.
Commend
Recommend
Commend
Summary.

Possibly start by applauding the speaking for giving an “Informative – Persuasive – Motivational – Inspiring – Entertaining Speech that completed the speakers assignment.
Tell us how the speaker met various objectives in their delivery [don’t recap the speech or comment on your own personal similar experiences]
The speaker needs to hear what they did well and how that affected you. What you liked.

Now give 1 or 2 recommendations that the speaker can take on board and use.
Eg: if the speaker was reading their speech, comment on how it would be good to use pause so that the audience can take in, what has been said and the speaker can look ahead as what is coming next, thus allowing them to look up and at the audience.
Tell the speaker how this will create empathy with the audience.

Another area might be the use of gestures. The speaker may have used a few, but we would like to see more and make them specific so that we can visualize what the speaker is sharing with us and how that will enhance our enjoyment.

Or you might talk about the structure of the speech, were you able to clearly follow it or was it confusing, let the speaker know what they could do better. Eg: have an impact opening a clear structure and a memorable conclusion.

It might be about keeping to time.
This comes down to preparation and if the speaker sees the light turn to amber they should be looking to wind up the speech, when it turns to red they should be making their closing comments. They must not introduce new material at this point even if it means that they haven’t completed what they want to say.
The audience does not know how or when the speech is meant to end so the speaker is always in control and can close at any point as soon after the red light. Tell them this.

Finally give one or 2 more commendations: Eg
Talk about vocal variety, the speech relevance to you and the audience or how you learnt so much about the subject or the speaker form this presentation.
Always tell them that you are looking forward to hearing them speak again and finally summarise if time permitting what you have covered in your evaluation.

Now remember we have not walked in the shoes of the speaker or been on their journey so we do not know how vulnerable they might be to critique, therefore we must be enthusiastic and warm in our praise and our critiquing of their speech delivery.
This is not about you it is about the speaker and giving positive helpful feedback to them building their confidence so that they look forward to speaking again.

Over the years I have seen some excellent evaluations and some not so.
Always remember that you are evaluating this speaker’s presentation and not the level at where you are.

If you cannot think of something that will help the speaker improve their presentation then don’t invent things for the sake of doing so.
Better to be honest and say that with my skills I can’t think of any improvement that I can recommend to this speaker today. Add that they might like to chat to others in the room for more feedback.

Anyone of us can be crushed by words and how they are said to us. Think about the speaker and the audience including our guests – would they like to join us if you gave a harsh evaluation?