Blog Archives - Made Human

Visual Aids. The Speaker’s Friend and Curse

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:41:24 +0000

Slide decks have become a huge part of corporate life. An essential, everyday communication tool serving multiple purposes, often all at once. From guiding and prompting the delivery of the time-poor, under-rehearsed speaker, to illustrating their words for the audience – and sometimes becoming the one document of record.

Slides, posters and props of all kinds can be helpful to everyone when the subject matter is complex and abstract. But speakers often lean too hard on them.

Many talks and presentations in modern business rely heavily on the slide deck as the principal means of communication. Often, it’s based on a stack of PowerPoint slides that took the speaker, or their team, hours or even days and weeks to put together.

We don’t need to dwell on the reasons why. Visuals are neither right nor wrong in themselves. Some talks need them. Some don’t.

But what visuals don’t do is make the new or under-confident presenter a better speaker. That’s because confidence relies on competence, and competence grows through practice.

Practice – What Practice?

But practice at what? Not practice in speaking to an all-bells-and-whistles, multi-slide PowerPoint deck. That’s like making a child who’s learning to ride practice on a 20-gear racing bike.

Instead, I recommend novice speakers find opportunities to stand up in front of any audience, deliver a short speech, from the heart, without notes or visuals, and connect with that audience physically and emotionally. And aim to do it without breaking a sweat! The speech should be prepared and rehearsed, ideally shortly before the day. After that, make opportunities to do it again – and again. This is far more valuable for competence and confidence building.

Until we are comfortable with doing this, anything more complex will be a battle for effect and attention that’s never quite won; neither by the speaker nor the audience.

Ideally, we would all get comfortable with speaking to an audience at an early age, and without visual aids. Some will have had more opportunities than others to do that; perhaps in front of a school assembly, or by debating, or performing in a show. Others may just have made sure they were elsewhere when volunteers were being called on to front up.

It’s almost impossible to grow in competence and confidence as speakers if we don’t work on ourselves first. So the next time you have a chance to front up, grab it.

Peter was a business journalist and BBC TV news anchorman for many years. He also has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker coach. You can sign up here to receive Peter’s insights on communication made human for business – and learn about his online introduction to becoming an effective speaker: Be Your Best Self Up Front.

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Fear of public speaking is natural. So, what’s the solution?

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 22:04:37 +0000

Stepping up your performance in front of new and larger audiences is something for which everyone needs a warm up.

It’s not just the intellectual challenge of facing something new. There’s an important physiological, even visceral component to it too. You need to feel alright about it in your head. But you want to feel OK in the pit of your stomach too.

Have you ever sensed that queasy feeling when everyone’s focus is suddenly on you in a public space, perhaps for the first time?

I was struck recently by the read out from an Australian business school study that looked at barriers to speaking up in meetings, and how to encourage input. The study also looked at how to reduce the whinging and whining that’s often expressed after the event. You know: the conversations that should have happened inside the room actually happening in discreet corners outside the room.

Some of the common reasons given by those who were interviewed for the study were:

The sheer size of the meetings
A sense it was futile to raise questions
Fear of negative consequences from speaking up

When questioned further, the surprising find was that hardly any respondents could give examples of negative impacts from speaking up. So: the researchers concluded that often:

Those feelings of futility and fear were exaggerated
That a culture of silence was the norm
And that, in reality, the employees had much more personal agency than they imagined

You may think this has not much to do with speaking formally in front of an audience. But I think there is a link, a red thread, running through these two types of event. In fact, any public event where there’s an opportunity or invitation for you to speak to a large audience.

We can become so used to not using our voices when we should that we undersell ourselves. We undersell the story we have come to tell.

Or, we fail to face up to those imaginary fears, and pass that opportunity to speak altogether.

So, how do we get better at facing up? Firstly, recognize that thicket of fears as entirely natural. Then, plan a route through them. If the fears come from lack of experience, that route may begin with very simple steps. Prepare to stand and tell a simple story in front of a trusted friend in just 60 seconds. Keep it super simple, but give the story a beginning, middle and end, so it has some shape to it.

You could even record it on your phone and watch it back. What was good about your performance? What could be improved? Then do it again, but better!

If conquering those fears is really important to you and your career, take more steps. Sign up for a speaker workshop, or engage a personal coach. But, more than anything else: practice, practice, get some honest feedback – and do a realistic rehearsal before the real thing!

By Peter Coë

February 14, 2024

Peter was a business journalist and BBC TV news anchorman for many years. Alongside, he also has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker coach. You can sign up here to receive Peter’s insights on communication made human for business – and learn about his online introduction to becoming an effective speaker: Be Your Best Self Up Front.

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Appearance matters

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 21:59:11 +0000

Appearances matter. We all know that. Or we should.

Think about how you warm – or not – to a job applicant appearing for interview, to a salesperson who you’ve never met before as they pitch their product or service, or to a new boss saying their first hellos.

How much were you influenced by their manner: the way they walked into the room, how they were dressed, how they stood, what they did with their hands, or even how they shook your hand? And what part did eye contact and facial expression play in their delivery? Did they smile and engage you, and those around you, with their eyes? Or did they appear nervous, and spend too much time lost in their notes, or staring at the floor?

And what of their delivery? Fluency matters, of course, but did their assertions sound confident and convincing? How was the cadence of their voice? Was their delivery warm and lively – or did they speak robotically, indistinctly, or in a dull monotone?

Putting their appearance and speaking style together: was it consistent or inconsistent with what they were telling you?

Now over to you

Turn these questions on yourself and your own performance when you’re next preparing to deliver an important message to an audience.

Remember, it’s not all about the words. The sound of your delivery as you speak those words will be a major element of the impact you make; how well your audience hear and follow your argument; and the extent to which they remember much afterwards, let alone act on it.

One really effective way you can super-charge your delivery is by replicating the patterns of everyday speech. Most of us don’t speak normally as if we’re reading from the phone directory or dishwasher service manual, yet somehow many of us do slip into that mode when we’re up in front of a large audience.

So, imagine you’re relating a memorable or amusing story in a conversation with just two or three others over the water cooler, or in the bleachers.

And next time you rehearse, experiment with varying your pace, emphasis and tone, to suit the message and value of what you’re actually saying in the moment.

Better still, make a video recording of yourself rehearsing that delivery, and watch it back as if you were someone else on the receiving end. And ask someone you trust to watch it too and give you honest feedback.

Were you convinced? Were they? How could you improve both your appearance and your delivery?

By Peter Coë

November 8, 2023

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Warming Up

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 13:56:26 +0000

Good speakers often have elaborate pre-performance routines that go well beyond rehearsals of the words they’ll be delivering on stage.

I’ve written before about the need to rehearse before any important speech or presentation. But my focus here is on three other components, which can also hugely improve your delivery.

They are: relaxation – breathing – and vocal exercises.

If you have ever sung in a choir, it won’t sound strange that I mention relaxation and breathing in the same sentence as voice exercises. But, if you don’t currently practice any of these things, it will definitely help you as a speaker to develop a preparation and warm-up routine of your own that includes them.

If you practice yoga or meditation, you’ll be familiar with relaxation and breathing routines. If not, I recommend you borrow from these disciplines for exercises that will help you prepare yourself as a speaker, both physically and mentally.

A good time to do them is early in the morning, soon after you wake up – and especially on the day that you’re due to speak.

Then, for the voice, just as a singer prepares their voice by singing scales, actors will do something very similar with simple words and sounds before going on stage.

As a speaker, you can – and should – warm up your voice too; preferably in a private place and in the hour or so before your big moment. An accessible and fun way that actors do it is by rapidly and playfully annunciating a range of easy to recall sounds.

For example, by reciting a nonsense verse with all the energy you can muster, followed by a series of your favorite tongue twisters; or the letters of the alphabet, repeated five times each in quick succession.

Better still, if you can get in there before anyone else, do your warm-up in the same room or auditorium that you’re about to speak in.

The only challenge is to not feel self-conscious about actually performing any of these warm-up routines. So don’t!

Think of them as entirely normal and necessary, for you to be a bigger and more memorable version of yourself!

Peter (PJ) Coë; Nov. 3, 2023

PJ Coë was a business journalist and BBC television news anchorman for many years and also has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker trainer and personal coach. If you or someone you work with needs help to prepare for a speaking engagement, you can email him directly at: pj@pjcoe.com.

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Giving It Oomph!

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 11:15:00 +0000

I reckon anyone who’s ever rehearsed before speaking to an audience will have heard this before from a well-meaning but impatient critic: “Just give it some more oomph!”

“Thanks for that,” you think to yourself, “but that’s easy for you to say. I thought I was doing OK. What else am I supposed to do?”

It’s true that “give it more oomph” is not the most helpful feedback you can receive if you have had little experience of speaking to an audience, or you have never had voice coaching. It doesn’t really tell you what your delivery is missing.

Effective delivery requires not just rehearsal and familiarity with WHAT you’re going to say, but also a keen sense of HOW you are going to speak it.

Spoken English that’s engaging and easy on the ear for your audience should mirror the style and inflections of an everyday, lively conversation between any two people. Typically: well-modulated voices.

And what is a well-modulated voice? It’s NOT that you have to have been to a posh school. (It’s nothing to do with accent, regional or otherwise.) But it IS about a voice that’s warmed up, well hydrated, and makes full use of pitch, pace, power and pause; in other words, a voice and a delivery that reflects the nuances, energy and emphases you hear every day in animated conversations between two people.*

To warm up your voice before you rehearse or deliver a speech or presentation, choose a favorite verse or two of poetry, a limerick, or a couple of tongue twisters, and read them aloud to yourself – clearly and deliberately.

Note the punctuation marks and line endings, and make good use of these to introduce some natural pauses and inflections in your delivery.

Pausing in these places has a three-way benefit: it will give you more opportunities to breathe, you’ll gain greater control of your delivery, and you’ll give your audience more time to assimilate and appreciate not only your words but also the sense of what you’re telling them.

Peter Coë; July 19, 2022

Peter was a business journalist and BBC television news anchorman for many years, and has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker trainer. You can sign up here to receive Peter’s regular insights on communication made human for business. You can also learn about his online introduction to becoming a confident and effective speaker: Be Your Best Self Up Front.

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Keeping it Super Simple

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 11:33:51 +0000

If you’re new to public speaking, the chances are you’ll want to craft what you’re going to say in writing before opening your mouth. It’s a good place to begin. I always recommend starting with a simple outline; a few bullet points of what you want to cover – not an essay!

Young reporters moving from print journalism to broadcast newsrooms tend to think they already know how to write for a general audience. So, it’s often a shock when the first feedback they get from the program editor is: “Too long. Too wordy. Too complicated. I’ve switched channels already!”

We can learn from broadcast news writing, as the basic rules apply to public speaking too.

Keep sentences:

Short and conversational – no more than one sub-clause
Free of unnecessary detail
Simple in vocabulary. Prefer: doctor to physician, use to utilize, learn to ascertain
Active in mood: “The cat sat on the mat”, not “The mat was sat on by the cat”

and avoid trying to convey too many ideas at once. More than three main points or take-home messages in one speech, argument or pitch is already too many. Likewise, one point or one main idea in a sentence or slide is enough.

Finally, remember that keeping it simple is as much in the quality of the prep as the speech itself.

Peter Coë, July 12, 2022

Peter was a business journalist and BBC television news anchor for many years, and has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker trainer. You can sign up here to receive Peter’s regular insights on communication made human for business. You can also learn about his online introduction to becoming a confident and effective speaker: Be Your Best Self Up Front.

The post Keeping it Super Simple appeared first on Made Human.

Reading aloud

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 22:33:15 +0000

Have you noticed how many of us will find any excuse for not rehearsing their delivery before a speech or presentation?

Rehearsing is as normal as breathing for experienced speakers, but for those who aren’t born show ponies it often feels awkward. Best avoided, even if what they’re going to say is largely scripted already.

Many adults have half-buried memories of being compelled to read aloud, or perform in some way in front of an audience in junior school, or perhaps in college. Ever after, rehearsing or simply reading out loud becomes a disagreeable chore, never done out of choice.

The truth is that the voice is a tool, and a versatile one, but the human physiology that supports it – not least the brain – is complex, and the voice only performs well with custom and practice. Most of us aren’t addressing an audience of more than two or three people every day, so this is all the more reason why rehearsal matters.

The best place to start is by reading aloud what you’ve already prepared. It doesn’t have to be perfect, particularly if no one else is listening, just good enough! And if the actual space you’ll be speaking in for real isn’t readily available, then do it at your desk – or your backyard. But do it standing up, and be loud. Make it real!

If it sounds good enough to you, do it again – and this time record it on your phone or video camera. Then review and critique it. You’ll be on your way to outstanding!

By Peter Coë

June 3, 2022

Peter was a business journalist and BBC TV news anchorman for many years. He also has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker coach. You can sign up here to receive Peter’s regular insights on communication made human for business. You can also learn about his online introduction to becoming a confident and effective speaker: Be Your Best Self Up Front.

©️ 2022 Made Human LLC | All rights reserved

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Hope and Renewal

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 22:17:26 +0000

As Christians celebrated Easter this weekend and Jews gathered for the Passover Seder, many also looked beyond the bible to the here and now for signs of hope and rebirth.

Russia’s war on Ukraine, clashes at Jerusalem’s holy sites, and violent weather events dominated last week’s news. But there was much that was positive too, for anyone looking for it.

The preacher at one service in Philadelphia admitted, though she was often asked, that she hadn’t a clue what life was like after death. So, instead of a literal resurrection story for Easter morning, she found inspiration in a marriage ceremony that took place during the week on the scrappy outskirts of Kyiv. The bride wore fatigues, and the wedding party (all of whom were in Ukraine’s territorial reserve) carried rifles and RPGs.

A vivid demonstration, ran The Washington Post’s headline, that – even in war – life and love must go on.

Back home, public and private spaces across America’s north-east are finally emerging from the big chill and bursting with new life. Close on the daffodils and Japanese cherries have come the tulips.

In the garden of the nation’s first hospital in Philadelphia, founded by Ben Franklin and Dr Thomas Bond in 1751, in a blaze of red and yellow, some two thousand now bloom.

I was reminded too of the wonderful example of resilience and reinvention set by Betty Reid Soskin, America’s oldest park ranger.

The child of Louisiana Creole parents, Betty was born in 1921 when the lynching of Blacks was a national epidemic, white women had only just been enfranchised, and most African-Americans in the Deep South could not vote at all.

After her family relocated to California, Betty’s remarkable life, recalled in her 2018 memoir ‘Sign My Name to Freedom’, encompassed war service in the factories of the home front to founding a Gospel music store in Berkeley in 1945 (only recently closed) to community activism and songwriting for the Civil Rights Movement.

At the age of 82, Betty left her state job to help create the Rosie the Riveter, World War II National Historical Park in Richmond, California, where the role of women and African-Americans in the war industries is explored and honored. Betty became a park ranger there after its completion, helping to interpret the history for visitors.

Betty finally retired from the National Park Service at the end of March this year. 100 years young.

“What gets remembered is determined by who is in the room doing the remembering.”

Betty Reid Soskin (1921 – )

Peter Coë; April 18, 2022

Peter was a business journalist and BBC television news anchor for many years, and has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker trainer. If you would like to learn more about how he can help you or a colleague develop as a speaker, you can email him directly at: peter.coe@madehuman.us

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Half-Baked Apologies Won’t Do

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:54:45 +0000

Hollywood actor Will Smith’s on-stage slapping of Chris Rock echoed around the world. It was shocking, not just for the assault but also for Smith’s foul-mouthed hollering that followed.

He compounded it with a self-pitying acceptance speech for best actor Oscar and a limited apology for the offense caused. All of this from a previously much-admired actor, on live television, and broadcast to the world.

Most comment in the aftermath was critical of Smith, both for the assault itself and his subsequent actions.

However you apportion blame, Will Smith certainly had a lot to apologize for. He should have done it promptly and fulsomely; addressing all those he had hurt, not least Chris Rock. Instead, he behaved for the rest of the night as if he himself was the victim, and at the same time entitled.

Nearly 24 hours passed before he apologized publicly to his victim, and nearly a whole week before he rightly announced his resignation from the Oscar Academy.

Even if we’ll never have our actions exposed and scrutinized by an audience of millions: how should we behave after messing up in public? How should others behave?

Compare the six years in office of David Cameron as British prime minister. His achievement was in large part down to his smoothness as a public speaker, not only in crafted speeches but also in his handling of challenges from his political opponents.

Not long before Cameron’s career-ending Brexit vote, his carefully crafted mask cracked forever after just one off-the-cuff put down of a senior, female opposition MP.

“Calm down, Dear” was what he said to her in an unscripted moment across the floor of parliament, as she challenged him vigorously (and rightly) on a point of fact. His office tried to dismiss the remark later as a joke. That he was echoing the words of Michael Winner, a famously chauvinistic film director, in a much repeated car insurance ad only made things worse.

In summary, apologies that work are: timely, considered and inclusive. Half-baked, late apologies won’t do.

Sign up here for my weekly insights on communication made human for business. On the same page, you can check out my short, online course for public speakers.

Peter Coë, April 6, 2022

Peter Coë was a business journalist and BBC television news anchor for many years, and has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker trainer.

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Grace Under Fire

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 18:13:40 +0000

Who couldn’t be impressed by the grace and composure of US Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson?

Dipping into the live senate confirmation hearings, I was impressed by her calmness and patience in the face of days of exhaustive, often hostile and many times irrelevant questioning.

Much of what KBJ had to contend with was showboating; not questions at all. She was either interrupted before she could finish a sentence or the questions were outside her judicial brief and designed to make a fool of her. “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?” asked one senator. “Do you agree that babies are racist?” asked another.

Wisely, she deflected them all.

The most hostile senators weren’t really testing her suitability for the job.

Judge Jackson, set to be the first black woman on the nation’s highest court, is one of the most highly qualified candidates in its history. Instead, her would-be interrogators were playing to their private galleries: partisan TV shows, their constituency base, and the funders of their re-election campaigns.

The judge’s courteous and thoughtful manner gave us lessons on facing a difficult audience. Here are a few of my takes:

If you’re being quoted out of context, say so
Ask for questions to be clarified or repeated if they’re muddled or obscure
Do acknowledge every question. But you don’t have to answer every question in the way it’s put
If questions are outside your brief or expertise, say so. Never bluff an answer
Take your time. Pause for thought before you answer
Recognize that some questions are just statements or opinions. The people expressing them are not that interested in what you have to say. They just want to be heard
Never feel you have to refute, in the moment, every half-baked notion put to you
When they go low, you go high
Stay calm. Be courteous. Drink water

Peter Coë; March 25, 2022

Peter anchored BBC television news for many years and has nearly 30 years’ experience as a speaker trainer and personal coach. He has a short, online course for public speakers.

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