Public Speaking- The Power in Pauses

You know that pauses are great for giving people time to process your information.  Pauses are also a perfect strategy for catching audience interest. But that is not all.  Instead of getting flustered with the unexpected, either from you or your surroundings, here are several other clever uses for your pausing:

• When you want to create audience interest
  • “Maybe you are trying to figure out if this will affect you. [Pause] It will. [Pause] With force. [Pause]  Right in the wallet.”
• When you need to take a brief break
  • To sip some water
  • To adjust your papers
  • To take a breath
• When emotion overcomes you and you need to collect yourself
  • When your smooth delivery goes awry due to emotions when reminiscing, such as at a memorial. Simply stop talking – pausing until you can continue.
• When an interruption distracts the audience’s attention – or your concentration
  • Surprised by unexpected interruption? Rather than look flustered, simply pause – and give yourself time to organize your thoughts.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Rerun from Nov 11, 2015

Acknowledgments and Confirmations- The basics

“Life is not so short but that there is always time for courtesy.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Letters of acknowledgment and letters of confirmation are similar.  The letter of acknowledgment says, “I received your letter (email, telephone call, gift, materials).”

The letter of confirmations says, “I received your letter (email, message, contract)  and we agree about the matter.”  This letter can serve as an informal contract.

Rerun from 11/16/2015

Public Speaking:  The Silence is the Gold—Where to Pause

Have you noticed that the best presenters use pauses when they talk?  You know it sounds and feels good.  Where are they pausing?  Here are three examples:

• After introductory phrases or clauses
  • “By the time we finish with this endless series of meetings [Pause] we may have a brand new set of problems.”
  • “Even though the corporate meeting went well, [Pause], middle management people still feel uneasy.”

• Before conjunctions [but, or, and, because, etc]
  • “We strongly argued for revising the plan [Pause], but they didn’t take our advice.”
  • “We must include this expense in the budget this year [Pause] or encounter serious consequences next. ”

• When doing a long list of items
  • “We’ll need to contact the vendors [Pause], double-check our contracts [Pause], verify all details [Pause], confirm the agenda [Pause], and allow time to make adjustments.”

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Rerun from Nov 4, 2015

Acceptances: Paragraphs

Here are some well-composed paragraphs of acceptances.

I will be delighted to have dinner with you on Friday, the fourteenth of April, at seven o’clock.  Thanks so much for asking me.  I can hardly wait to see you and Rueben again.

Thanks for telling me how much the children at the Thomasville Afterschool Program liked my storytelling the other afternoon.  I’m happy to accept your invitation to become a regular volunteer and tell stories every other Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.  Do you have a computer projector so I could do visuals with some of the stories?

I’m looking forward to your graduation and the reception afterwards.  Thanks for including me.

Your bid of $7,560 to wallpaper our reception area has been accepted.  Please read the accompanying contract and call with any questions.   We were impressed with the attention to detail in your proposal and bid, and we are looking forward to your work.

Rerun from Nov 9, 2015

Public Speaking- Gestures

When doing a presentation, gestures are a wonderful way to get people’s attention and to emphasize information.

Watching for gestures of professional presenters or debaters is a great way to alert you to gestures you can use. Study and engrain in your memory what you see.

Here are observations from the most recent Republican Party debate.  During the broadcast this week, candidates took the stage to present their ideas and win votes for the USA Republican Party presidential nomination.  Debate moderators and guest commentators also used gestures whenever they were talking.

My favorite observations about gesturing:

1. When the standing presenters were not deliberately using gestures, they had their arms and hands extended down along the sides of their bodies and relaxed. The sitting moderators and guest commentators placed their arms in a relaxed position on the table.
2. Gestures were used only when emphasizing points of their narrative.  There were not random movements.
3. The gesture matched the verbal content.
4. Most pleasing was when first one hand was extended forward, then the other, then both hands extended to emphasize points.
5. Sometimes fingers and hands were formed to represent or picture an idea, such as “large” or “small” in size.
6. Because the broadcast would be viewed on a television or computer screen by millions of people, the gestures were kept relatively close to the body. This is in contrast to large and broad gestures often used for one- person- only presentation to a large group. In this case, the large gestures can be easily seen by people in the back of the room.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Rerun from 10/29/2015