Creating Drama Adds Charisma to Your Public Speaking

Timing is essential when speaking in public. The cliché, “It is not what you say, but how you say it” applies a great deal to public speaking. Where you put your pauses creates drama during your presentation, which maintains an audience’s interest. Throw some humor in and you have them right where you want them.

Do not forget that when you expect laughter to burst at any time, pause after the punch line before being drowned out by the roar of the audience.  Make sure to remember that laughter is extremely difficult to get, so don’t pander to the audience.  Speak conversationally about a funny situation related to your presentation and let the audience find its own humor. Never say, “A funny thing happened….” This telegraphs your attempt at humor and can fall flat if the audience doesn’t find your story funny. You’ll be given a charitable chuckle.

The audience size could also affect the way you use your timing. When the audience is small, the presentation you have will most probably be delivered in less time compared to a large audience. Also, the reaction of a large audience will be longer and not as quick compared to a smaller audience.  As a result, you have to wait until the ripple effect of your punch line gets to your audience in the back row.

Believe it or not, putting that much needed silence in your presentation is one of the hallmarks of a skilled and good presenter. No public speaker should jabber constantly away in the hopes of keeping an audience glued to a presentation with no end in sight.  Good speakers add signposts to their presentation by implying that the end of a presentation is near whether they are at the end or not. Mentally, it makes the audience feel that if they hold on a little longer, it will be all over soon. No matter how captivating you may be, an audience mentally begins to shut down if you don’t provide those signposts. 

Short pauses are effective to use in order to separate your thoughts. These pauses last from half a second to two. You do not have to literally count though, just keep in mind to slow down. This gives the audience a chance to absorb all of your information.  It also helps if you change the inflection in your voice during the end of a thought as this could also signal to the audience that another thought is coming their way. Pauses are also an effective means if you want to highlight something.  Put a pause before any word or thought you want the audience to focus on to sink in.

Creating drama through pauses allows you to be more charismatic and engaging with audiences. A great presentation is a like a chess match. Even if you are leading, you want to draw the audience in by letting them come to you.

For more information on speaking with charisma, visit: Charisma

Becoming More Charismatic: How to Overcome Nervousness When You Speak In Public

 Even if the speech you have is already prepared and you know everything about it, public speaking can be difficult. Many people are very nervous when they speak in public. Here are some tips for you to overcome your nervous feelings when you speak in front of many people.

Preparing your presentation

1. Center on yourself. Try practicing standing properly – with your feet under the hips directly. This position is the best and most stable for speaking in public. Rehearse this position with somebody or in front of your mirror.

2. Your shoulders should be relaxed. The muscles in the shoulders support directly your larynx, so it has a fast effect on your voice. Shoulders should be rolled out.

3. Warming up the voice. You should treat all your presentations as if they were performances. Charismatic leaders know that people are moved emotionally way before they are moved intellectually.  Prepare yourself by rehearsing. Deeply breathe into the bottom part of the lungs. You feel your rib cage is expanding slightly higher than the navel. You should thrice sigh. Sighing is your signal to the body that everything is okay and it is just perfect to relax. Then make a siren sound, starting from a high note to a lower note at the bottom part of the voice range you have. With enough practice, you will be able to find the low note connecting to the place located right above the navel. This is the natural voice pitch that you have.

Managing meeting skills

1. Directing your voice. Every time you speak, imagine that each word you say is like a beam of laser traveling from your mouth to the end person listening to you. Practice this outlook to be able to reach many people at the same time.

2. Directing your thoughts. Pay attention to your thoughts, especially their beginnings and endings. Make your communication complete and fully rounded.

3. Diction as well as articulation. Convey clearly your message.

During questions

1. Give yourself time and space in breathing.

2. Before answering, slightly breathe out first. When you are flustered or nervous, you usually take in more additional air than you need, and you hold onto that air while you try to think. However, this is not helping you. Usually, this method causes you to panic. Remove this habit by breathing air first before you speak, allowing you to relax and thoughts to come in clearly and more logically.

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Speaking With Charisma and Magnetism Is By No Means Accidental

You might possibly know how jokes can complement your speech. But jokes can also cause your speech to be disastrous. Jokes are both a boon and bane to a speech.

If you are very much in comfort with it, use humor. Just check it first if it fits, serving as a breaker between sections or emphasizing a certain point. A funny and great line or comment that is irreverent can help liven up the presentation that you have and will help people to remember the things you have said. Of course any joke must be related to the topic that you have in some way. If you are not sure about something, you could also use a humorous photo or cartoon (with the permission of the photographer or illustrator, of course) in your slides.

Aside from making jokes or humor in your speech, you could improve your public speaking with these other tips.

- You should be able to grab your listeners’ attention even right at the start. That is why it is important that you start correct – confident posture, eloquent speaking style, controlled voice tonality and impact, and a nice, well-thought speech from you.

- The information in your message should be organized clearly and logically, making it easy for your listeners to follow what you are trying to say. Keep things easy and simple. Divide the information into smaller blocks and work from there. Highlight the points that you want your audience to remember.

- Your most crucial point should be the conclusion, bringing the speech to a close. The conclusion sets the tone of the speech, and lets the listeners think about and ponder on the things you have just said. Literary devices, such as quotes, stories, rhetorical questions, or surprising facts, can be used for concluding a speech, although of course, these devices should relate well to the topic of your speech.

- Deliver the conclusion that you have clearly and slowly. Keep eye contact with your listeners as you speak. Smile at them, thanking them for the time that they have given you.

You should remember all these tips and in due time, you would be surprised to see how these techniques have helped you in your future speaking presentations. Your listeners will eventually understand the information you have given them and respect you for your ability in delivering that information.

To speak with charisma, influence, and persuasion, visit: Charisma

Body Language at Work (Reading people's unspoken words when your livelihood depends on it)

 You can always use body language as a key to success in your work. You could give a good impression, convince clients, and please your boss.  In communication, only 7% are the words and rest of the 93% is accounted for the nonverbal cues, which includes the aspects of speech and body language. 

Appropriate Body Language During an Interview, Meeting Or Presentation

A job interview is usually nerve-wracking. But in order not to be included in the list of rejected applicants, you have to impress your interviewer by being confident. Here are the gestures and body movements you must observe during a job interview.

A firm handshake indicates confidence.  Relax on the chair provided for you, but do not slouch. Slouching reflects laziness. Keep your heap up, and lean slightly forward. Place your hands on your lap, and never in your pocket. The hands-in-pocket gesture signifies nervousness, boredom, and dishonesty. As much as possible, do not cross your legs. But if crossing your legs would help calm your nerves, you may do so but point your body towards the direction of the interviewer. During the conversation, make sure you maintain eye contact to show your interest and eagerness to listen.

Art of Animation

Make use of your hands to punctuate or emphasize what you are saying. You will appear stiff if your hands will stay on your lap during the entire period of the interview. Hand gestures also signifies that you are honest and indeed knowledgeable of what you are talking about. You can do this while sitting or standing. During a presentation, move around, but walk slowly. The greatest presenters are those who can speak confidently with the right timing of body movements and gestures.

Gestures And Movements To Avoid

The wrong gestures, done consciously or unconsciously, could give the wrong impression to your boss, co-workers, and clients. These may be the reason of you getting fired. Therefore, you must avoid the following acts of body language. 

Avoid pointing a finger at somebody, especially your boss.  Even when you are angry or trying to emphasize a detail, it is regarded as a rude gesture. In meetings, refrain from showing signs of boredom and lack of interest. These signs include arms crossed over the chest, eyes on objects other than the person talking or the presentation itself, yawning, signing, drumming the fingers on the table, or tapping your foot.

Signs That You Are Not Doing a Good Job

If you are the presenter in a meeting or an applicant in a job interview, you must observe the body language of your audience as well. Reading their actions and movements could aid you to be aware of their reactions and if you are doing well.

You would detect if the other party is getting bored if their focus of attention is not on you. This is evident by the absence of eye contact. Observe their hands as well. Even if their eyes are on you, but if their hands are busy, it may mean they are thinking of something else. See if their fingers are playing with their pen or drumming on the surface of the table. Boredom is also indicated when the person in front of you begin to slouch back into their chair.

Signs of opposition to your ideas and opinions are also determined when the other party crosses their arms, wrinkle their forehead, and tilt their head. 

However, the signs above sometimes do not reflect how someone really feels. What is important is that you know how to prepare yourself in critical times at the workplace.

For information on how to speak more persuasively, visit: Charisma

Relax Your Way to Public Speaking to Increase Your Earning Potential

Believe it or not, fear of death is actually second to the one greatest fear that the majority of humanity seems tensely afraid of: fear of speaking in public. 

If fear is all that you are thinking, then forget about that presentation that could earn your company and you the necessary sales. Presentation and public speaking is one of the most efficient as well as effective manner in making your products and services known. Why deny your product or service the chance to be heard? If you are still afraid, try your very best to focus on the various positive after effects of making that presentation.  Create in your mind the numerous clients, customers and contact persons you might not get to see or be involved with if you let that unnecessary and irrelevant anxiety take hold of you. Your presentation may only take thirty minutes but the long term effects of your pitch or presentation might go a long way.

If the fear is still gripping you, try to do the following exercises to help your body relax and warm up to whatever it is you plan to do in your presentation. Turn that negative energy into a positive one and see who benefits best from it. 

Warm up your body.  Are you wearing high heeled shoes now? If you are, please take them off now. Then go and stand up. Try to stand on only one leg. Then shake the leg that is off the floor. Switch legs and do the same thing again. What you are doing is taking the negative energy of anxiety towards the floor and out of your body. Though this may appear and sound so out of this world, it actually works.  For your information, actors use this as a warm-up exercise prior to attacking any scene. 

Hold out your hands, shake them, fast. Put your hands over your head and bring them to your sides. Repeat the same process. Doing this continually will take the tension off your hands and arms so any movements you make with them during your presentation will appear natural.

Ease the tension present in the muscles of your face.  In order to do this what you could do is chew in a manner that is exaggerated. 

These exercises are done for the purpose of warming any part of your body that is edgy, uptight or taut from being too nervous thinking about how you will do in your presentation. Do not think too much though as it only adds unnecessary stress. Relax and your audience will relax along with you.

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6 Steps to Becoming a Powerful Public Speaker

Public speaking ranks right up there in terms of the things we are afraid to do. Whether it’s the fear of being watched closely by others, or the insecurity and self-conscious feeling of slipping up during the presentation, these six tips will help you give a polished, professional speech that you (and your audience) can be proud of!

1. Know your audience. This is the single best piece of advice for delivering a presentation. What are their interests? Their backgrounds? Why are they coming to hear you speak? What ideas do you have to share with them? Approaching your speech as more of a “me-to-you” discussion rather than a full-blown broadcast makes it less stressful.

2. What do you want your audience to do as a result of your speech? What’s really at the heart of your presentation? By concentrating on the “end result” rather than slogging through the beginning, you create a powerful punch that drives home your message instead of rambling on.

3. Share a story. In public speaking circles, this is called a “hook” – something that gets your audience’s attention and makes them sit up and listen. Start off by asking questions or sharing an experience you had. People like to be active, rather than passive listeners. By giving them something that they can identify with, you’ll find that these people are just like you; that makes giving a presentation a whole lot easier. Be sure your story has a beginning, a point, and an ending. There’s nothing quite as bad as telling a story to an engaged audience and then forgetting why you told it!

4. If you’re selling a product, focus on the benefits instead of the features. People would much rather hear WHAT a product can do for them than HOW it does it. Narrow down your product’s features until you get to the core of how it solves a problem. If you need help with figuring out the difference between a feature and a benefit, ask yourself “So what?” For example, if you’re selling a vacuum cleaner that has a hypoallergenic filter, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself “so what?” The answer would be something like, “It picks up dust, mold and pet dander”. Again, “so what?” Answer, “You’ll feel relief from runny nose and sneezing plus itchy, water eyes.” Now THAT’s a benefit!

5. PowerPoint presentations are great but they can be overwhelming – or downright boring. Instead, give your audience something to DO by providing them with fill-in-the-blank flip charts or “team activities”. These help reinforce and emphasize your message in ways that a computer presentation simply cannot.


6. Make sure your speech ends in a way that reiterates the beginning. Speakers can get carried away with the details and leave their audiences asking, “What was the point of all that?” People naturally digest information in “chunks”, so focus on the big picture rather than all the pieces. If the details are just as important, save it for an after-speech handout that the audience can take with them and read over at their leisure.

If you keep these six tips in mind, you’ll not only have an easier time overcoming your fear of public speaking, but you’ll have a very appreciative audience who will in turn be more receptive and eager to try your product or service.

To speak more persuasively, visit: Charisma

If There Was No PowerPoint, Would You Have Enough Charisma to Perform?

Most of the presentations made nowadays are made with the help of PowerPoint. There are also class teachers and lecturers who use PowerPoint to make the teaching and learning process more interesting. However, it is the professional who makes presentations without the use of PowerPoint, while following some of their age-old beliefs for presentations. 

Presentations without PowerPoint prove to be quite boring. This is because the presentation will be monotonous, with no music background or visual aids to help in the presentation. PowerPoint presentations usually provide a change for the audience in the presentation, and also give the crowd some visual explanations to the points that are being told in the presentation. So without PowerPoint in the presentation, it is very important that the presenter use some creativity in the presentation. This is because it is only this creativity that will keep the audience interested and motivated in the presentation!

The most important thing that has to be remembered to give a successful presentation without PowerPoint is to exactly know what you are talking about.  If you are well versed with the matter you intend to present, you can very well present it without the help of PowerPoint.   However, make sure to make your presentation only after learning about the temperament and nature of your audience. Remember that it is of no use talking to the audience as a group of employees. Instead, make it a point to tailor your presentation to meet the intelligence of the audience you are facing. 

When beginning the presentation, you have to present it while keeping the end of the presentation in mind. You have to know what the purpose of your presentation is, as without PowerPoint you might lose the interest of the audience! Make sure you see, hear and feel what exactly it is that you want people to respond to in whatever it is that you say.  Make a strong start to your presentation. Without PowerPoint, it is very much important that the first words and your appearance set the right tone for the audience to listen to you throughout the presentation. One of the best ways of making a connection with the audience without the help of PowerPoint is to tell a story or an anecdote that has universal appeal. 

One of the main things that have to be done when giving a presentation is to practice on the speech as much as possible or at least memorize the outline. This is the only way of looking polished while speaking.  It is indeed a false notion that using PowerPoint slides in a presentation will make a person a dynamic speaker.  The process of becoming a dynamic speaker lies in the hands of the speaker. Only practice can make one a successful speaker, and this is one skill that cannot be delegated to anyone else. 

If PowerPoint is not used in a presentation, it is important that props be used instead. This is because a prop is basically worth a thousand words.  With props, people tend to anchor thoughts in their minds to these props.  It is no difference if the prop is large, small, funny or serious, as long as it relates to the point that you are trying to make and that the audience sees it! Another way of making sure that the audience loves you despite the fact that you don’t use PowerPoint in your presentation is to bring solutions to the problems they have. With your research of the audience, you would already have an idea to what their problems are; it is only up to you to bring new ideas to them to try.

Remember that when you are not using PowerPoint, you are the visual aid of the presentation. People will then gain more interest in whatever it is that you say, instead of visuals or fancy slides or overheads. So basically, without PowerPoint, it is important that the speaker be more self-confident and well versed in his speech. Without this, it may be quite impossible to imagine giving a presentation without PowerPoint!

To learn to speak more persuasively, visit: Charisma