Manner of Speaking

MASTERING STORYTELLING

Know the three I’s: invitation, imagination and impact.

You’re on the road to becoming your company’s Chief Storyteller. Let’s begin with some good news: You’re already better than you might think. You tell stories every day. Here, we’ll explore three capabilities that will take you well on your way to becoming a professional storyteller. Remember the “three R’s” of your early education: reading, writing and ’rithmetic? Now consider the “three I’s” of storytelling: invitation, imagination and impact. Here’s how you can master them:

1 Invitation. Remember Steve Jobs’ famous invitation to Pepsi’s then- CEO John Sculley when he lured him to Apple by asking, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?” Engage your listeners by stimulating their curiosity and asking them to share in something exciting with you.

2 Imagination. Enlivening people’s imaginations is easy. What happens before you visit the doctor? Or when you’re waiting for the board’s reaction to your latest strategic plan? Your imagination puts on quite a show. Who needs PowerPoint or technological wizardry?

In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy recognized the need for a new narrative to galvanize the space race. Before a joint session of the U.S. Congress, he boldly announced that by the end of the decade the country would be dedicated to “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” Despite widespread doubts, and the fact that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had not yet even sent a man into orbit around the Earth, he electrified the collective imagination of the country.

Imagination is the direct access point to our creativity. Simply say “Imagine this …” and people’s creative juices start flowing. They’re transported to a different and vivid new reality without leaving their seats.

3 Impact. We crave impact. We want to be seen and know that what we do has meaning. In baseball terms, it’s called “looking the ball to the bat.” As a storyteller, that means watching your audience closely to see how your content is affecting them.

In 1995, South African President Nelson Mandela knew he had to shore up his government’s tenuous hold on post-apartheid unity. Adopting the strategy of “Don’t address their brains. Address their hearts,” Mandela convinced the Springboks rugby team, until then the country’s symbol of white supremacy, to join him. At the commencement of the Rugby World Cup final being held in South Africa, Mandela and the team symbolically broke all barriers by singing “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika,” the anthem of the black resistance movement, to a stilldivided nation and a worldwide television audience. The Springboks won the World Cup, and South Africa moved toward reconciliation.

Brilliant ideas without brilliant human connection usually die fast. That connection builds trust and cultivates relationships. When you see how you move others and are moved by them, you grow in stature and authority.

Keep this in mind: What you’re saying isn’t for you. It’s for your team.

Practice Time
Try these techniques at your next team or client meeting and note what happens:
• Be an “investigator” — not a content dumper. Ask, don’t tell.
• Watch carefully how what you’re saying impacts your team.
• Don’t leap to the next point until you see people absorb the previous one. Don’t assume everyone’s with you. Ask questions like “Are you with me?” or “How do you relate to this?”
• Slow down. Don’t race your narrative simply to get to the end. Consider practicing on someone first.
• Create images to get the client engaged in your story: “Imagine this …” or “Picture that …”
• Stop occasionally and observe your effect on everyone in the room.

Remember, your team and your clients are your creative partners. Actress Katherine Hepburn said, “If you give audiences half a chance, they’ll do half your acting for you.”

The Speech Within – By Jeanne LaBella

When Prince Hamlet sought to share his suspicions about his father’s murder, Shakespeare’s device for delivering this message was a play within the play.

Fellow Toastmasters, tonight I am going to borrow from the bard and give you a speech about the speech. The speaking skills I am dispatched to address in today’s project – speech number 5 – relate to body language—how we use our bodies to convey information.

The topic is a fascinating one.  When presenting my last speech to this group, I caught myself standing up here with my legs tangled together. Do you think I was feeling tense?

I’ve seen colleagues signal their own nervousness or tension in other ways when speaking.  One friend’s hands trembled non-stop while he gave a three-minute speech on a non-controversial topic. Others will hang on to the lectern, as if it is vital to remaining standing. Another colleague had clearly been to some kind of speaker training where she had been coached to use her hands to support her message. The problem was her hand movements were not related to her message and proved to be only distracting.

Body language can have a comedic effect that will undermine our intended message.  Think of Vice President Joe Biden’s enormous smiles and rolling eyes during last week’s debate with Congressman Paul Ryan.

I was very entertained by a Saturday Night Live skit this past weekend depicting Congressman Ryan making points about the economy. Here’s what he did:

• When it comes to loopholes we are going to close them [slowly closes fist]
• When it comes to tax rates, we are going to bring them down [lowers hand slowly]
• When it comes to the deficit, we are going to erase it [motions like erasing blackboard]

Our gestures, our posture, our eye contact, our voice quality are all part of the message we deliver when speaking.  This is true whether we are speaking to one person, or a large group. Part of our preparation for public speaking necessarily entails preparing our body to work in support of our message.

I want to share with you this evening tips I’ve learned for using body language effectively in public speaking. I’m going to do this by breaking the discussion into 4 body parts:

1. vocal chords
2. hands
3. legs
4. eyes

First, the vocal chords. I had the pleasure of meeting the actor James Earl Jones a couple months ago.  He was performing in a Broadway play.  A friend of mine was in the cast.  After the performance one evening, I went backstage to meet Mr. Jones. He is a master of his craft.  One of the best in the field.  I found it telling, but not surprising, to learn that every night before the show, he would join a few (but not all) cast members for vocal chord warm-ups prior to the show.  [examples of warmups].

There are a number of exercises to warm up our vocal chords.  One is simply to run through the vowel sounds:  a-e-i-o-u or a scale – do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do-do-ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do.

A tongue twister is another helpful exercise:  Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers or She sells seashells by the seashore.  You can also do this:  bbbbbbbbbbbb

Healthy vocal chords help you project and enunciate and go a long way toward making your speech effective.

Hands.  Many speakers want to hold something – either the lectern, note cards, a laser pointer. The advice from experts:

• Keep your hands empty.
• Keep your hands free – don’t hide them in your pockets. Don’t hold them together in prayer mode. You will need to use them to gesture and you want those gestures to be natural and relevant to the content of your speech.

And what about the gestures? Experts tell us that gesturing is so natural, you do not need to plan it. The movement of our arms and hands when we speak is as natural as talking.

I think Olivia Mitchell, who writes about public speaking skills said it best:

“By gesturing, you not only unfreeze your body, you unfreeze your mind.”

Legs:  Obviously, don’t tangle them you might fall down. Our feet are attached to our legs. Experts recommend moving as we speak. Movement during a speech has multiple advantages – it can help you as the speaker relax.  It can help keep your audience’s attention. But our movement needs to support the content of our speech. It should not detract from it.  For example, if you are talking about pros and cons, you might introduce your topic in the center of your “stage” or your speaking area.  Then you might shift to one side to present the pros and move to the opposite side to discuss the cons.

You could take a similar approach when talking about events in the past, present or future–  positioning yourself in one spot to talk about the past (perhaps away from the lectern), then moving forward, when talking about the future.

And finally, the Eyes – The eyes are a window to the soul.

What did Joe Biden’s eyes tell us during last week’s vice presidential debate?  For those who agree with the vice president, they may have said one thing; for his detractors or undecided voters, it said something else.  He was criticized in post-debate analysis for laughing and smiling too much when Mr. Ryan was speaking.

Eye contact during a speech offers clues to our sincerity, to our command of our topic.  Our eyes allow us to connect with the audience.

Mastering eye contact is, for me, one of the most challenging aspects of good body language.  Experts advise us to speak to one person at a time.  I’ve been in an audience when a skilled speaker will make a point and look directly at my face. Sometimes, that’s reassuring; other times it is disconcerting.

But it always snaps me to attention.

Speech #2 Creative Collaborations by Mala Nagarajan

Imagine a world without nonprofits. Nonprofits are the lifeblood of many communities, serving to fill a hole left by business and the public sector. Most of us here know this. That’s why we’re with the Talk for Change toastmaster’s club.

How many nonprofits are there? How many are big or small? According to a 2010 Urban Institute report, nearly 45% of the 1.6 billion registered nonprofits – that’s 714,000 of them – have annual budgets of less than $25K. Seventy-four percent of all public charities have annual expenses less than $500K. Not surprisingly, most nonprofits struggle to stay afloat.

I didn’t understand the extent to which small nonprofits struggled until my partner became the executive director of one that served South Asian survivors of domestic violence. With an annual budget of $250K, and a small staff of five and many volunteers, the organization had trouble getting the scale it needed to make its infrastructure run smoothly and efficiently. In fact, I’d find myself driving my partner to the store to get supplies and toilet paper, because she was the only one permitted to have a purchase card. No doubt her time could have been much better spent directing the organization than running errands!

Experiencing and observing these types of issues in many of the small nonprofits I volunteered with, I became very interested in using my management, technology, and organization development experience to research and think about ways to alleviate the infrastructure issues experienced by small nonprofits.

10 Habits of Highly Organized People

(Oprah.com) — 1. Walk away from bargains

Just because you can buy a cashmere sweater for $20 or three bottles of ketchup for the price of one doesn’t mean you should. “Ask, ‘Do I have something similar?’ and ‘Where am I going to store it?’ before making a purchase,” advises New York City professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, author of “Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life.”

2. Make peace with imperfection

Efficient people give “A-level effort” to the most important projects (say, work assignments or a kitchen redesign), and for the rest they do just enough to get the job done, says Renae Reinardy, PsyD, a psychologist who specializes in hoarding disorders. Maybe you give yourself permission to bring store-bought cookies to a school bake sale or donate a bag of stuff — unsorted! — to Goodwill. “Trying to do every task perfectly is the easiest way to get bogged down,” says Reinardy.

Oprah.com: How to stop trying to be perfect all the time

When Your Mind Goes Blank

At a recent Talk for Change meeting I gave my 6^th speech. The objective of the speech was to research your topic. I spent weeks combing facts and statistics about early childhood education, something I’m very passionate about.

 My big moment finally came and I started off the speech with a bang. I really had the audience going, but then my mind went blank. The rest of the speech was an endless blur of me rambling and trying to get through my important points. It was so disappointing because I prepared for the speech, but I didn’t get my full message across.

 Once I finished, my fellow Toastmasters rallied around me with support and encouragement. In fact, they even inspired me to try the speech again.  For you see great Toastmasters know that, “Winners Never Quit, and Quitters Never Win.” ~ Vince Lombardi

Should you ever find yourself in my predicament, be prepared with the following tips on What to Do When Your Mind Goes Blank:

23 Traits of Good Leaders

By Rachel Farrell (from CNN.com)
Leadership is one of those nebulous terms — you hear it all the time but it has various definitions. The traits that make up a good leader can vary depending on the organization, team, manager and work environment.

Leadership can also vary in style — are you someone who dictates the group and doesn’t listen to anyone else’s opinion? Or do you lead with a more bureaucratic or democratic style?

“Every leader has a particular style of leadership that is innate. However, the behaviors, attitudes or methods of delivery that are effective for one staff member may in fact be counterproductive for another,” says Michael Burke, account supervisor, MSR Communications, a public relations firm.

“Great leaders are aware of their own style and make the effort to learn how their style actually comes across to their team. They learn to flex their leadership style to individual team members so that they communicate and behave in ways that motivate and inspire.”

Here is what five leadership professionals consider to be traits that make up a good leader:

An, Uh, Er, Um Essay: In Praise of Verbal Stumbles

By Michael Erard (reposted from Slate.com)

Modish public speaking coaches will tell you that it’s OK to say “uh” or “um” once in a while, but the prevailing wisdom is that you should avoid such “disfluencies” or “discourse particles” entirely. It’s thought that they repel listeners and make speakers appear unprepared, unconfident, stupid, or anxious (or all of these together). Perhaps the biggest foe of “uh” and “um” is Toastmasters International, which charges speakers a nickel for every “filled” pause (that is, for every pause that’s not silent). Each of their 12,500 clubs around the world has an official “ah” counter.

But “uh” and “um” don’t deserve eradication; there’s no good reason to uproot them. People have been pausing and filling their pauses with a neutral vowel (or sometimes with an actual word) for as long as we’ve had language, which is about 100,000 years. If listeners are so naturally repelled by “uhs” and “ums,” you’d think those sounds would have been eliminated long before now. The opposite is true: Filled pauses appear in all of the world’s languages, and the anti-ummers have no way to explain, if they’re so ugly, what “euh” in French, or “äh” and “ähm” in German, or “eto” and “ano” in Japanese are doing in human language at all.

In the history of oratory and public speaking, the notion that good speaking requires umlessness is actually a fairly recent, and very American, invention. It didn’t emerge as a cultural standard until the early 20^th century, when the phonograph and radio suddenly held up to speakers’ ears all the quirks and warbles that, before then, had flitted by. Another development was the codification of public speaking as an academic subject. Counting “ums” and noting perfect fluency gave teachers something to score.

Webinars and Teleconferences: Adapting to Wired Public Speaking

Webinars and teleconferences are similar to standard public speaking in many ways, but they also require some significant adaptation.  Due to technological limits and the nature of long-distance communication, the speaker is harder to understand and usually lacks a very important public speaking tool: body language.  To compensate, speakers have to focus more on clarity and audience engagement, and rely even more on some tried and true public speaking basics, such as vocal variety, organization, and of course practice.

Clarity

The purpose of webinars and teleconferences is to get your message across.  Use these tips to overcome the technical and distance challenges:

Avoid this...

Housekeeping: Start with a solid introduction that explains your purpose and format, outlines your agenda, and introduces all the presenters.  Go over all relevant technical instructions, such as muting, volume controls, asking questions, raising hands and using other webinar features, several times.

Eliminate distractions: Speaking from your desk is often harder, not easier.  Have a colleague run teleconference tools or webinar software while you speak.  If possible, go to a different room where no one will disturb you.  To eliminate background noise, ask callers to mute themselves or do it for them right after your introduction.

Supporting materials: Well ahead of your teleconference, send participants all documents, visuals, and any other information they will need.  On webinars, make sure the same items are displayed clearly and slowly enough for everyone to follow.  When you are finished, send participants all supporting materials and items for follow-up, reiterating your main points and requests in the email body.

Frequent and specific referencing: When referring to documents, visuals, and other information, guide participants to the exact place you want them to look.  Mention specific page numbers, paragraphs, and even sentence beginnings.  Whenever speakers begin or answer questions, have them state who they are so participants can follow.  State clearly when you are moving on to the next part of the agenda.

Pace, volume and length: These basics of clarity hold true on webinars and teleconferences as well.  Speak slowly and clearly enough that people listening over a bad connection can follow.  Speak loudly for the same reasons.  Keep your points and answers to questions succinct.

Keeping it Professional: 5 Debating Tips for Team Discussions

Debate has always been far more than a structured discussion in a room that comes with two teams and a jury.  We see it each day in a multitude of forms.  Some are more hostile, others are just for fun.  Some are organized and some come as uncoordinated banter over wine late on a weekend night.

These five tips are for the kind of debate that we are most likely to see in nonprofit professional life: a cooperative team discussion where the goal is to identify merits and drawbacks rather than to “win.”

The Great Kitchen Debate

Concentrate on clarity.  Many terms can be interpreted differently by different people.  “Conservative” and “liberal,” for example, can both mean different things based on perspective.  Cliché terms and jargon can easily be interpreted incorrectly, especially by people who disagree with the speaker.

Use evidence.  To make an argument believable, cite concrete, objective evidence.  Your own opinions, theories and gut feelings are not evidence, nor are those given by experts or authorities.  To back up your argument well, use objective facts.  Similarly, make sure these facts come from a reputable resource and use more than one source where possible.  While you may support certain interest groups, religious groups or individuals, their publications are designed to promote their views and should not be used to support your arguments.

Impromptu Speaking Tips

At some point in our careers or personal lives, we have to give an impromptu speech. The next time you’re put on the spot, be ready with these handy tips…

What do I say?

1. Decide quickly what your one message will be – Pick one message and focus on that main idea
2. Do NOT try to memorize what you will say – Think about the message, not the words
3. Start off Strong & with Confidence – Try to plan what your first sentence will be
4. Maintain eye contact with the audience – Focus on their forehead if you can’t look them in the eyes
5. Have a good conclusion

Just remember, keep it conversational and think of the audience as a group of friends.