Public Speaking - Making it look easy (3)

In my previous posts I shared some ideas on preparing and delivering a public presentation.  But what extra thing can you do to make your presentation buzz? 

Admired speakers are able to use humour in a way that engages their audience in the subject to a surprising degree.  Only recently, I saw the audience of a young speaker responding out loud to his rhetorical questions, so engaged were they in his material.

However, there are some pitfalls to the use of humour; it takes a degree of caution to be able to pull it off without mishap.  There’s nothing worse than a speech full of jokes that misfire!

But do not be discouraged.  The good news is that, with a few simple ground rules, new public speakers can use humour successfully and effectively every time. 

Ground Rule for Humour #1:  Be yourself and be humble

When we are attempting to be funny, there is often the temptation to think and behave as though we are being smart and clever.   Your humour should be a reflection of the real you, not some sophisticated superior you that you imagine you are presenting as.  The reality is, you are more likely to be perceived as a person who is trying to look clever, rather than one who is.  Authenticity is the way to people's hearts, not pretentiousness. In the words of Captain Danielle Strickland, "I have never heard a fantastic sermon delivered by a jerk!"

Ground Rule for Humour #2:  Your funny story must really be funny

Does the story you are telling make you laugh?  If it doesn’t, it is not likely to make your audience laugh.  If there is any doubt don’t use it. 

Ground Rule for Humour #3:  Good delivery is essential

The number of times I have heard a funny story fumbled because the speaker forgot the punch-line or missed out an important detail is too great to think about.  That is the kind of experience that leaves everyone with a moment of cringe.  Be very sure of your material and even practice it and refine it in front of a friend before “going live” with it.  

Other delivery issues to be aware of are:

• It has to sound convincing and real,
• Inject some limited acting into it; voice modulation, gestures and expressions can all add to the power of the story,
• Keep it short.

Ground Rule for Humour #4:  Keep it relevant

Usually, the only reasons for using humour are to:

1.       Illustrate the point you are making in your address, or

2.       As an icebreaker / rapport-builder at the beginning of the speech, or

3.       As an attention grabber or “lightener” when things have got a bit heavy.

If it doesn’t serve one of these goals it probably doesn’t belong in your speech. 

Ground Rule for Humour #5:  Keep it appropriate

Gauging what is appropriate and what is not for a particular audience is important.  If you go too far you will lose their support.  The better you know your audience the more accurately you can assess their sense of appropriateness.  (Be aware that the same audience may have different sense of appropriateness on different occasions.  For example, a more graphic description may be used in a Saturday night fellowship meeting than in a Sunday morning sermon.)

You also need a clear sense of what you consider appropriate and inappropriate.  An expression or turn-of-phrase you may use with family and friends might be considered disrespectful from the platform.  On the other hand don't forsake your authenticity. 

There is never a place for unclean humour, not even in a male-only audience.  Despite many speakers’ behaviour to the contrary, there are many men who do not wish to be exposed to unsavoury humour.  Most likely they will remain silent in your audience, but you will have devalued yourself and your message in their eyes. 

Ground Rule for Humour #6:  It’s OK to have the occasional flop

I once addressed an audience of sergeants and senior officers of the Western Australia police force.  As I got up to speak in my Salvation Army uniform, they all sat looking up at me in their police uniforms.  On the spur of the moment I decided to say as an icebreaker, “I see you all had the same problem as me this morning - couldn’t decide what to wear to the office.”  No one laughed.  Later in the same address, I referred to one of their senior officers (my host) in a humorous way, and again no-one laughed.  One or two further attempts at humour were met with blank stares.

Sometimes, it just doesn’t work – and that’s OK.  (Afterwards, several members of the audience said how helpful the address was and my host apologised for their “stuffiness”.)  The important thing is to move on.  In no circumstances explain your story or apologise for it.  If it didn't work, it didn't work, and that is the end of it. Trying to squirm out of it will only make things worse. 

Ground Rule #7:  Enjoy yourself

I am convinced that humour is a gift of God, the whole idea of which is to help us enjoy our interactions with each other.  Enjoy the humour you inject into your speaking, let it be an expression of your personality, and use it to spread happiness and fun, especially if there is some serious subject matter that you have to get through.

Coming up in Public Speaking – Making it look easy:  Running a Q&A session, responding to objections, hints on preaching from the Bible, and sharing a meaningful testimony.

Public Speaking - Making it look easy (2)

In my last post I shared some ideas about how to prepare your mind and your material for public speaking, but when you actually get in front of the audience/congregation how will you go?  Speakers often find themselves embattled with thoughts like: 

• Will I fall apart with nerves? 
• Will I present as professional and competent, or bumbling and silly? 
• Will you be boring?

 Controlling nervousness

Understand that even the most accomplished of speakers have a degree of nervousness before speaking.  And it is important that they do; it provides the level of alertness and focus for a good delivery.  But the speaker must be in control of the jitters, and not the jitters in control of the speaker. 

There are myriad techniques that speakers use to control nerves, but they all come down to two basic principles; relaxation and cognitive restructuring. 

My personal approach is to pray for peace, do a quick relaxation exercise, take comfort in the fact that I have done all the preparation that is reasonable (Note the word “reasonable”.  There is no place for perfectionism in this!), and that if I mess up probably the most damage will be to my ego and not much else. (In fact some of my worst speaking experiences have resulted in the best responses.)

What are your non-verbals saying?

As you move to the rostrum all eyes will be on you, but don't be intimidated by that.  Step up confidently (even if you don’t feel it).  Smile and greet the person who introduced you.  Shake his hand and thank him if it is appropriate.  Don’t allow yourself to feel rushed arranging your notes.  Take your time. What seems like an eternity to you will be only seconds in reality.  When you are ready, look up, smile warmly and greet the audience. 

For the rest of the address, have a portion of your mind checking in on your non-verbals from time to time.  Here are some of the traps that it is easy to fall into:

• Rushing through the material (which usually affects diction and proper explanation),
• Looking down at the lectern and not up at the audience,
• Focusing on one or two friendly faces in the audiences (intimidated for the one or two, excluding for the rest),
• Fidgeting and fiddling,
• Moving about too much (can be very distracting, even disconcerting, especially to the people in the front row),
• Not moving about enough (can make you seem uninterested in your subject),
• Reading from full notes (can be done, but it is quite a skill to make it convincing),
• Being under-dressed (as a general rule dress a tiny degree smarter than audience),
• Being over-dressed (if you’re too formal a more informal audience will struggle to relate to you, especially in Australia and UK). 

Timing is everything

One of the worst ways to get your audience offside is to run overtime.  If you are not confident about timing develop a "Plan B" in case timing gets away from you.  One technique is to go through your notes highlighting those things that can be omitted.

Are you communicating or just talking?

Your audience will tell you if they are with you or not.  Watch their non-verbals.  By this means you will be able adjust your style and content.  If you suspect that you have lost them here are a few techniques you can try:  

• If it’s an interactive kind of event ask a question or two, 
• If it’s not, mix up your tone or non-verbals, perhaps move around the platform a bit,
• At a push you could stand in silence for a few seconds whilst looking around the audience, but you need a good reason ready; “In that five seconds about 28 people around the world died – and 4 of them died in poverty.”  

Closing

With speaking, as with many other things in life, the principle of “primacy and immediacy” applies.  That is, we tend to remember the first and the closest of something, and forget much of what came in the middle.  (Remember your first kiss?  Remember your last one?  Remember all the kisses in between? Point taken?)

Finishing strongly means wrapping up by reinforcing your main points and calling the audience to action. AS with the start, strong non-verbals, confident, warm and engaging, are the key.  You can use: 

• A moving story,
• A list of questions that challenge the audience,
• A simple expression of thanks for their attention and ask that they seriously consider your comments. 

You've got to be joking

Good use of humour is something that can make your presentation buzz, so in my next post I am going to share some ideas to make it work well for you and help you get round some of the pitfalls. 

Public Speaking - Making it look easy (1)

There is no doubt that as a leader, sooner or later, you are going to have to speak to a congregation / audience.  You may have to address members of the community to ask for donations, deliver a Bible address, or simply give a thank you speech to your team members. 

Are you ready for it? 

Have you noticed how some speakers seem to be able to address an audience in such a relaxed and competent manner that it seems to be no effort at all? 

Well, they didn’t get like that by chance.  Even accomplished speakers have to follow some important principles in preparation and delivery. 

Here is the first of a number of posts on the issue, starting at the beginning; the preparation.  Most people who are nervous about presenting in public are much more relaxed when they have prepared well. 

Preparing the Mind

But even as you begin the preparation of your material, preparing the mind is also important.  Consider these important mind preparation questions:

Question	Preparation of the Mind
Who am I speaking to?	Imagine you are speaking to just one person, the stereotypical member of the audience.  What are his/her interests, needs, understanding of the subject, educational level, sense of humour, etc? (If you don’t know him/her find out.)  This will influence both what you say and how you say it.
What is the occasion?	Imagine yourself in the room at the event. The occasion will influence the style, degree of formality, use of humour and much more.  If you’re not sure it is OK to ask the organisers of the event about these things.
How long am to speak for?	Be prepared to not say some of the things you want to because of the limitations of time.  With experience you will work out the relationship between the length of your notes and the time it takes to deliver them, but if you are new to it, you may actually have to time speaking it out loud.
What is the purpose of your address?	Ask yourself “What do I want to be different after I have spoken?” (Eg: the community members will be seriously thinking about donating, the congregation will be challenged to live a more effective spiritual life, my team members will know that they are appreciated.) Everything you say and do in your presentation should contribute to this goal.
Will my knowledge of the subject be up to the task?	If you are not very familiar with your subject (working with it on an almost daily basis) you must research, research and research.  Typically accomplished speakers spend about an hour research for every hour in preparation, and about three to six hours research and preparation for a 20 minute address.
Are all the arrangements going to be OK?	Get there early enough to check the data projector, where you will stand, the microphones, etc.  If you emailed you presentation, take a spare copy on a USB drive.   Sometimes, despite your best efforts, some or all of these things can go wrong.  When this happens be gracious and professional.  It’s a sure way to win the sympathy, support and admiration of your audience if you display grace under pressure.
Will the audience understand who I am, what I do, and why I am here?	Provide the organiser with a short bio of yourself, and with a new audience, spend a minute introducing yourself, your role and your organisation.

Preparing the Material

If you are preparing a Bible address, there are some special rules that you will help you, but more of that later.  For now, let’s look at general public presentations.  Here is just one approach of many. 

1. Whatever you’re speaking on it’s always a good idea to start with prayer.  You want to be able to acquit yourself well and faithfully reflect the message you and God want to get across.
2. Work out in a single sentence the essence of what you want to say, a central statement.  Write it in the centre of a piece of paper in landscape orientation.
3. Around the central statement write thoughts and ideas that support the central statement and expand on it.  An icebreaker / introduction, the use of humour, illustrative material and a strong close are all important elements to include.
4. Re-arrange your material in a linear form.  Make sure that the progression is logical, linear and definitely not rambling.  Expect to have to leave some material out – not because it’s bad material, but it does not serve the bigger picture of presenting in a logical way.  By the way, logical does not mean lack of passion.  If you are passionate about your material you will be more engaging, but it must always be logical.
5. Prepare your slide presentation to underscore or explain your address, making sure that the slides are simple, uncluttered and actually enhance (rather than distract from) what you are saying. 

My next post will assist you with some pointers on how to deliver your presentation. 

People don't leave the Army; they leave their leader!

Front-line Leader, the Army stands and falls on your leadership!  

Research evidence indicates that dissatisfaction with leadership at the front-line is the number one cause of team dissatisfaction.    

According to leadership guru Tom Peters1, the primary cause of people leaving an organisation, such as a corps or ministry team, is overwhelmingly because of their leader, not the broader organisation.  And, in most cases, if members of the team are not performing to their best it is because of shortfalls in how they are being managed and led.  

The front-line leader (corps officer, local officer, etc) is unquestionably the key to the effectiveness, retention, and full engagement of members of any team.  

Even in a great corps (or division or territory), a member of a ministry team who is at odds with his team leader is likely to be a poor performer.  Conversely, if the corps (division, territory) is not so good, but the team member serves with a great leader, he is more likely to be highly effective for the Lord. 

In fact, although they rarely express it this way, people who leave the Army, are not really leaving the Army, rather they are leaving their leader.

So the frontline leader should not consider developing leadership skills as important; he should consider it as essential, a "strategic obsession"  according to Peters.   If you are heading up a youth team, it is not enough to learn the skills of running youth groups and ministering to young people, you must know how to lead your team.  If you are a YPSM, it is not enough to know all about teaching kids, you also need to be practicing leadership that will enable your YP workers to be inspired.  The leader of a team of social workers cannot satisfy herself with knowing social work, she must also be an effective leader.  

Here are some of the ways you can develop your leadership ability:

• Access good leadership training programmes; at least one seminar on leadership per year is the minimum.  Alternatively, do a formal course on management and/or leadership.
• Get a mentor.
• Read about leadership; two or three books each year as well as a subscription to a management/leadership magazine,
• Get a mentor.
• Consider joining a management association.
• Get a mentor.
• Find websites and blogs on leadership.  Spend at least an hour or so each week on it. 
• Get a mentor2.

1.  Tom Peters is a commentator on management and leadership.  His most well known work, co-authored by Robert Waterman, "The Pursuit of Excellence", published in the early eighties, was a best selling management book of it's day and a seminal work that has had a profound effect on leadership since it was published.  This reference is taken from his latest on-line offering, "Excellence Now" at http://excellencenow.com. 

2. Did I mention the importance of getting a mentor?  A mentor is someone who offers the benefit of their experience and will act as your listener, guide and advisor .  He/she will support, advise, correct, guide and coach you. 

Questions to Consider

1.  What have I done to develop my leadership skills this year, this month, this week?

2.  Who can I ask to be my leadership mentor?