It’s a painful truth, but the hours and hours you spend researching, organizing, and writing your presentation won’t be the key to your success. The secret to being an engaging and compelling speaker doesn’t come from your content. Research has documented that only 7 percent of our impact on communication comes from the words that come out of our mouths. But 93 percent of our impact comes from the way we look and sound when we say those words. This is what broadcasting is all about: how we use our vocal and non-verbal qualities to present a dynamic and compelling message. There are seven key skills to being a dynamic speaker, which I have captured with the acronym SPEAKER Here is a summary of these key attributes of delivery:
Smile Let your facials be expressive, whether it’s showing anger about something unfair or worrying about something unfortunate or just smiling because you’re happy to be there.
Position Your posture in front of a room says a lot about how comfortable and safe you look. Keep this general rule of thumb in mind: a balanced and symmetrical posture with the weight evenly distributed on both feet conveys a sense of poise and confidence.
Visual comunication To have a real impact on your audience, you need to make members feel like you’ve looked at and spoken directly to each of them individually. Look them in the eye. Talk for they do not to them.
Appearance When you are in front of an audience, your appearance has an impact on your credibility and how receptive they will be to your message. Two areas that have a big impact on your appearance: your attractive and distracting gestures. When you want to look your best, nothing has more impact than what you choose to wear. So, pay attention to the style, fabric, fit, suitability, and color of your clothing choices. If you want a balanced and credible appearance, be aware of and control those distracting gestures that are useless except to drive the audience crazy. Things like jingling change in your pocket, or playing with your hair, or saying “um” every few seconds. Remember, movement that has a purpose has power. A distracting mannerism is distracting because it has no purpose.
Kinesic Kinesics is the science of body movement and how it communicates. When you use your hands to show the dimensions of an object or lift your fingers to represent a number – those are all examples of kinesics. As a speaker, you want to use kinesics. Physical movement and gestures will help you to be more dynamic. The key has a purpose. A repetitive gesture is purposeless and will turn into distracting mannerism. Purposeful gestures seem to naturally accompany what you are saying. They give meaning and power to your presentation.
Expressive voices Expressive is the key here. Flat, monotonous, soft-spoken voices without variety are not captivating. By varying its pace, volume, pitch, and inflection, it conveys much more interest and becomes more engaging.
Resting places If you are gesturing with a purpose, then by definition it means that you are not gesturing all the time. What do you do with your hands when they are at rest, when you are not gesturing? Here’s a basic guideline: Avoid tight, closed positions. For example, hands in pockets, arms crossed, hands on hips, grasping one arm, and the “fig leaf” (hands together in the groin area). On the other hand, the places of rest that combine relaxation with some energy are more balanced but committed. Some examples are: Arms at the sides. Parade of rest. Arms bent at the elbow with the hands together loosely. One arm bent at the elbow, the other arm at the side or in the pocket. Remember, 93% of the impact of your communication does not come from what you say, but from how it looks and sounds when you say it. If your delivery fails, the best content in the world won’t make sense, because you won’t be able to engage your audience.
