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In
one of the best books written for acting - A Practical Handbook
for the Actor (1986). Bruder et al. postulate that "acting,
like carpentry is a craft with a definite set of skills and tools."
Giving a presentation is very much like acting - you are alone
on a stage, you are there to convince people to believe you and
your message and, you darn well better know your lines.
Bruder et al. tell us that acting is practice and hard work and,
it involves the following ingredients which I list here selectively:
1. A strong clear voice, good clear speech
2. Semantics
3. The ability to work off the other person
4. Will, bravery
5. Common sense
The other night, when I was watching KQED (PBS in the SF Bay Area),
a moderator was interviewing well known CEOs. Imagine my surprise,
when the CEO of UPS opened his mouth and out came a high pitched
voice which didn't fit my image of the head of a large corporation.
Now obviously, he was at the top, he was otherwise very well spoken
and didn't need voice lessons for success. However, my point is
that presenters, like actors, should know what they sound like
and have themselves filmed, analyzed, directed, and led in any way
they can to sound and look good. By the way, there are many voice
coaches who specialize on helping people change their voice pitch.
As I pointed out previously,
sounding good is when you pick dynamic, active, physical words
to make your points. Clear language = Clear thoughts.
In the case of the presenter, the "other person" is the
audience. Haven't you ever been to a presentation and thought "what
planet is this guy on, how can he speak to us this way, does he
think we're stupid?"
Even if you are speaking off of your PowerPoint slides, you have
to be aware of your audience. Are people shifting frequently
during your speech, do they exchange glances after many of your
points, are they laughing at the right places? I remember giving
a talk not too long ago and apparently my choice of stories didn't
go over well with that particular audience. At that time, I hadn't
pre-planned to have alternative anecdotes, so I hurried through
the talk and vowed to be better prepared the next time (and to know
my audience better). However, I did listen to the audience and was
able to cut off the ''offending" stories - I could have fallen
flat on my face instead of just sounding bad (small consolation).
To get up and talk in front of groups - big and small - takes a
good amount of will power and lots of bravery; and leads
to the last point.
To put on a good presentation, you have to have common sense.
Some of my clients don't realize and often don't believe me, that
excellent presenters - these people who casually get up and blow
people away by their dynamic productions - have in fact - spent
hours and hours preparing and practicing their performances, frequently
helped by trainers from a team such as ours. Common sense tells
us that almost no one can spend just an hour or two writing and
practicing the delivery of a talk and sound great. As actors do,
presenters must take the time to hone their set of skills to put
on a good show and, if you feel that you need to be prodded and
prepared to look good, contact us.
Angelika Blendstrup, PhD, is a business communications consultant
(www.professional-business-communications.com)
who helps foreign-born executives with problems understanding the
complexities of American business culture and the English language
to communicate effectively. Learn more about
Angelika...
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