On Your Head: Pace, pitch, pause: master the art of public speaking

 

WHICH is the most common phobia in the world? Fear of flying? Spiders? Heights? No, it is public speaking. However, it is a fear that needs to be overcome because this is a prerequisite for doing well in business. And it can be a nice little earner.

The art of public speaking is a must for any senior executive. It is all about packaging content to become believable, persuasive and memorable. Public speaking can also be a highly lucrative postscript to a successful career. Retired politicians, sports people and academics long to be on the after-dinner circuit.

A surprising number of people have a fear of public speaking — a social phobia associated with an intense reaction to being evaluated by others. The spotlight causes a well-known set of reactions: blushing, mumbling, sweating, stammering. Yet, as a senior manager, you are frequently called on to tell your story, inspire the troops, give presentations and speak at conferences. You represent your team, department and company.

It is, therefore, an essential skill, not just a desirable one. No wonder there are so many companies out there offering help and advice. They deliver a mix of presentation skills and therapy — less on slides, more on feelings, with an emphasis on self-esteem management. And nearly all clients say they receive real benefits.

A great deal of the effectiveness of any talk lies, of course, in the content. However, just as brilliantly structured, witty, even profound content can be undermined by poor delivery, so style can sometimes compensate for content.

There are many amusing yet useful tips for the public speaker. Read a sermon you have heard and it can seem thin or rambling, but great preachers know the value of pace — slow for profound, fast for excitement or wit. Taste the words, modulate the voice, gesture to enhance meaning.

Good speakers know also about pitch — content pitch and sound pitch. The former means getting the content right for the audience, neither too highfalutin’ nor patronising. Equally, it is important that the speaker can be heard clearly.

Then there is the art of the pause — pause for effect, pause for reflection, pause for profundity. Too many politicians have forgotten this. In their manic desire to “keep the conch shell” during the Paxman interview, they overlook the power of pauses. They can be interpreted as doubt or dither, but equally they can, and should, be used to great effect.

Business people do not generally think of themselves as orators. They simply want to ensure they convey an accessible, high-impact, memorable message. They are told to “Keep it simple, stupid” (Kiss) and to look confident, comfortable and committed while “doing the speech”, even if it is not written by themselves.

Speechwriters do know a thing or two about rhetorical devices. They have ABCs, such as anticipation, balance and comparison. Many have studied the techniques of great orators.

And there is a list of useful tips to remember. Contrasts are good: the bad past, the glorious future. Contradiction resolution is good, as are comparing opposites: us and them; the saved and the damned; the path to prosperity and the road to ruin.

It’s good to resolve a problem if it means creating false problems in the first place. And there is a magic number: somehow lists of three words or ideas have a cadence and a force that two or four do not.

People like stories and anecdotes, even if they bear a fairly tenuous relationship to the truth. The former American president Ronald Reagan was a famous exponent of the art. Stories should be memorable, easily retold. They can, like parables (now called case studies), have multiple meanings.

Good speechwriters have to understand the craft of the poet. This is the art of exploiting and exploring not only the meaning but the sound of words and the pictures conjured up by analogies, similes and metaphors.

First you tell the audience what you are going to tell them; then you tell them; then you tell them what you have told them. Tweak their emotions by appealing to their deepest values and anxieties. Make them believe in you through heroic visions of a new and better world. Remember the power of the story, phrase or anecdote that becomes the slogan. Smile a lot; look confident.

Throw away PowerPoint. Learn the art of the scriptwriter and read poetry and great speeches. And practise, practise, practise.

source:.thesundaytimes.co.uk