The Power of Public Speaking

David Scully, School of Business, Algonquin Collegescullyd@algonquincollege.com

“I became a good speaker as other men

become good skaters: by making a fool of myself until I got used to it.”

George Bernard Shaw

Fight or Flight? Role of Persona

• A “mask” that you put on to deliver something to an audience

• Your social role or character when performing (speaking publicly)

• Characteristics and behaviours you adopt to create a unique “you”

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Communication really begins at level 3 (love/belonging)• Our interest in other people helps us with social and

esteem needs, and lets us focus on the still higher needs

How is a presentation going to enhance others’ lives?• Can a speaker appeal to a variety of needs up the

pyramid? (physiology, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualisation)

• Need to think about the diversity within the audience as well

What you should never do to an audience

Never simply read your material.

Yes, be organised, but unless you know people will hang off every word you say, you’ll lose your audience.

Be aware of the paralinguistic, or non-verbal, side of communication

• A classic UCLA study (Mehrabian, 1971) found that messages received often depend little upon the words spoken

Words7%

Body Lang. 55%

Voicing38%

Significance to Au-dience

How we take in information depends on how our brains work: i.e., on our hemispheres

Left hemisphere• Math• Words, concepts• Deductive

reasoning• Precise thought• Logic Conscious

Right hemisphere• Art• Images, sounds• Inductive

reasoning• Abstract thought• Analogy UnconsciousYou need to communicate to both sides of your

listeners’ brains – speak the other language

Pay attention to these factors in non-verbal communication:

Body• Proximity• Posture• Eye contact• Hands• Platform

Voice• Volume• Speaking rates• Pausing• Articulation• Pitch

Proximity• Intimate: 3” (side) 20” (front/back)

– Voicing: whisper > soft voicing

• Social: 20” 5 ft.– Voicing: soft > conversational

• Public: 5 ft. +– Voicing: semi-full > loud

Work with a variety of proximities, where possible

Posture• Be relaxed, but physically

alert (see “karate balance”)• Good posture enables

good circulation, breathing• Allows for better vocal

projection• Shows confidence

Eye Contact• Importance of the “scan pause”• Keep distributed, meaningful• Watch for questioning faces• Speakers rated as “sincere” make three

times more eye contact than those rated “insincere”

• “Smiling eyes”

Hands

• Use hands deliberately• Use for emphasis, imagery• Avoid holding anything, if possible

Hands

Consider effective uses • Counting• Finger pause• Drawing in• Shaking off• Waving away• Pointing to a “scene”, “place”

Platform

• Resist the urge to stay in one place (or to pace)• Note all the space for movement – use it• Use movement deliberately

Platform

• Should be linked to content; don’t move just for the sake of moving

• Remember: standing still is boring!

Volume

• Use a strong base volume to establish credibility and confidence

• Be aware of the furthest people away in the room – reach them first

• Vary volumes as much as possible–Aim to “hit” key words

Speaking Rates• Consider the difference, in words per

minute, between thinking and speaking– thinking: about 800 wpm– speaking: 140-180 wpm

• Allow pauses for body language• Speaking too quickly affects other non-

verbal communication• Aim for a slower rate for complex or

significant information

Pausing

• Pausing leaves space for non-verbal communication

• Make time to scan-pause• Include also

– Major pauses – before new material

– Dramatic pauses – to emphasise points

PausingBenefits of effective pausing:• helps avoid fillers (um, like, ah, er, you

know, basically, stuff-like-that…)• shows confidence, self-respect

• provides speaker with time to think, regroup, transition

• provides audience with clues and opportunity to absorb information

Articulation

≠ pronunciation clarity, precision of speech

• Speak clearly, crisply, dramatically• Exaggerate every syllable, if necessary,

for key words or ideas

Articulation Errors

Errors of Omission– Febuary, libary, wanna, goin’, dint, an’,

coulda…Errors of Addition

– Acrost, hice, haudit, filum…Errors of Substitution

– Lemme, didja, swedder, thum, genelmen, ax, dis…

Practice!Three free throws.

Knapsack straps.

Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

Pitch• Every person has a natural pitch level• Pitch range for humans: 3-4 octaves

– Vibrant speech: 1 full octave– Professional performers: 2 octaves +

• Inflection: changing pitch on words, or even syllables

• Monotone speakers are limited – too focused on left-brain communication

♫♫

Pitch• Cadence: the use of tone to indicate the

close of a phrase (sentence, thought)• Be careful with uptalk – an unconscious

non-verbal

• Friedrich Nietzsche: “In conversation, we are sometimes confused by the tone of our own voice, and misled to make assertions that do not at all correspond to our opinions.”

♫♫

Organising Content• Memorise only your outline

• Use verbal signposting– Previewing– Summarising– Changing direction

• Remember your non-verbal signposts – pauses, hands, pitch (esp. cadence)

Remember the “rule of three”Three words, phrases, images…

Using Notes• Never read your notes!• Cue cards? These are distracting, and

keep your hands from communicating

Use “trigger sheets” – pages with minimal information that you can leave in front of you to look down on if you get stuck

END