I am a big fan of Farhad Manjoo. He is the Slate.com technology writer, and he has a great gift for writing about technology in language that Luddites like me can understand.
But this time, he left out some really important material…
His most recent offering is a short video. Where he misses me is the title: Get Better at Public Speaking (though, the subtitle is a little better: Farhad Manjoo reviews apps that help you talk in front of a crowd). The video highlights cool apps that you can use to help you in your presentations: a remote PowerPoint or Keynote slide advance app, a “timer,” app, and a teleprompter app. All cool.
But none of these will make you a better speaker — if you don’t keep working on the actual speaking basics. Before you use any technology, you first have to learn to actually speak, well, in front of a crowd, whether that crowd is 10 or 10,000. So, here are some areas for you to work on:
• learn to use your voice effectively. Pronounce your words fully, with great vocal variety, so that you never speak in a monotone. And with effective verbal punch, emphasizing key words with higher volume or lower volume or a well-placed pause. And, generally, don’t use your library voice — be loud enough to be heard easily.
• work on maintaining exceptional eye contact. If you are not looking into the eyes of your audience, they will think you are disconnected, and they will feel disconnected (and so will you).
• learn to move – your hands, your arms, your feet. All purposefully, with no distracting movements, but with high energy.
• and, before you do any of this, learn to prepare well, with thorough research, and with great and attentive organization and editing. If you can say what you have to say clearly, simply, in the most effective order, it will go a long way toward making you a better public speaker.
Remember to always focus on the basics. And the basics of good, effective public speaking start with — speaking!
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(check out this earlier blog post: 2 Ways to Guarantee a Failed Presentation).
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