Public speaking skills and interviews

by: Ellen Egan

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I was conducting some interviews recently and I was struck by how important public speaking skills are in the interview process. After all, public speaking is, at its heart, one person speaking to one or many. An interview may be one of the most important public speaking engagements that you have. The fundamentals of good public speaking are also at the centre of a good interview.

1. Preparation. Anyone who has conducted an interview will tell you that it is obvious who as prepared for the interview and who has not. We can easily guess who makes a better impression. Before the interview be sure to learn as much as you can about your potential employer. Google is a great tool for this. Find out about the company philosophy and mission. Find out as much as you can about the future direction of the company. Learn as much as you can about the department you will be working with and the particular job you are interviewing for.

2. Audience analysis. I have gone into detail about audience analysis in previous blogs (just look in the categories). Once again, you will want to find out as much as you can about who you will be interviewing with, what their interests are in this position and customize your interview preparation based on this.

3. Prepare your presentation (your stories). Take a good look at the job description and think of the skills and competencies that will be required and desireable for the job. Then, think of examples in your past where you have demonstrated these skills and capabilities. During the interview you can use thes examples/stories to give a clear picture to the interviewer that you have the experience to be successful at the job.

4. Voice control. Work on your voice before the interview to be sure that you are speaking clearly, loudly enough and confidently. You don’t want a shaky and weak voice during your interview.

5. Non-verbal messaging and body language. You will want to appear confident, interested, honest, caring, etc.  during your interview.  You can give all of these messages through body language by sitting up straight, sitting at the edge of your chair, having good eye contact with the interviewer(s) and smiling.  Of course, you will want to take care that your personal appearance is professional.

6.  Practice .  The key to successful public speaking and successful interviews is practice.  Practice “mock interviews” with friends or family so that you have a chance to answer questions, weave your stories into the conversaion and get confortable talking about yourself.   The more you practice, the more comfortable you will be when the interview takes place.

A good resource which can help both with interviewing and with being successful in your current job is:

How to Be the Person Successful Companies Fight to Keep by Connie Podesta

To your success,

Ellen

Public speaking tips – Breaking down the barriers with your audience

By: Ellen Egan

One of the critical things that we can do with public speaking is to use communication to bring people together despite their differences.  When we bring people together, we can move forward as a team and achieve loftier goals.  As a public speaker, you can motivate people to work together by breaking down the barriers between them.

One of the ways to do this is to first break down the barriers between you and your audience.  I often see public speakers who create barriers between themselves and their audience in order to establish themselves as the “expert”.  There is no need to do this. One obvious barrier comes immediately to all of our minds – the podium. Please come out from behind the podium, it creates a physical and psychological barrier. Being at the front of the room and being the one speaking, already sets you up as the expert, you don’t need a podium for that.

But, let’s talk about the ways you can use the content of your presentation to break down the barrier. Because, if you are able to draw the audience together  and to have them see that you are “one of them”  and have their best interests at heart, your chances of success increase dramatically. One of your goals early on in the presentation should be to unite the audience with a sense of shared goals.

So, how do we do this?

1. Focus on commonalities. We have already discussed the importance of audience analysis – in a nutshell – understanding who your audience is, what they want and need, why they are there and how to best present information to them. Now, use this information to focus on the common ground between them -and you (e.g. they are all parents, they are all taxpayers, they are all rising stars in the industry, etc. with common dreams and concerns).

2. Acknowledge perceived barriers. Acknowledge sources of perceived discomfort early on (i.e. the elephant in the room). For example, “Yes, I am new here and many of you have years of experience with the company…” If you feel comfortable with using humour, then address the issue with humour. Once the issue is out on the table you can get back to the important task of bringing people together.

3. Identify common ground where everyone can agree. For example “we can all agree that we provide important services to our clients”. These statements can provide strong ties between audience members and then to you.

4. Using shared experiences. Highlight shared experiences to build camaraderie. For example “we all remember how hard we worked to get version 2.0 of our software to our clients”.

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These are all techniques you can use within your speech to build rapport with your audience. Another important thing to remember is to Smile. Smiles are very powerful when trying to connect with your audience. It also makes you feel better (honestly, there has been research into the chemical reaction in your brain when you smile – and just smiling really does make you feel better).

To your success,
Ellen

Public speaking essentials – It’s all about your audience

by: Ellen Egan

I have been in public speaking for many years.  I have coached countless peole on how to improve their public speaking skills and how to develop individual classes, seminars, short presentations, etc.  I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am.  I am suprised at how often peole forget what is at the core of their presentation/speech/seminar.

The Audience.  What your audience wants and/or needs to hear should be the foundation of what you present.  You can have the most well researched, fantastic, captivating, etc. presentation that the world has ever seen. But, if its not what the audience wants or needs to hear, it’s no good.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox.  I have done a set of articles on the subject of Audience Analysis (please see www.ezinearticles.com) and a series of blog posts breaking down the aspects of audience analysis and how important it is to developing a strong presentation. Please see blogs starting around end  July 2009.

It all comes down to four big questions.  Who, What, Why and How.

1.  Who -  Who are they?  Your audience- what age, sex, education, background, etc. Get a clear picture in your mind of your audinece and who they are and you will be much better able the understand their perspective and what they need from your presentation.

2.  What -  What is the topic?  What is it about this topic that is important to your audience?  What is the problem that this topic presents and what information are you going to provide that will offer a solution?  What do you specifically have to offer them (e.g. a solution, a service, information)?

3.  Why - Why are they there.  Why are they bothering to spend the time to listen to you?  Do they need this course for a degree or a certification?  Did thier boss require that they are there?  Are they trying to find the answer to a perplexing problem?  Why are you there and what do you want to get out of the experience?

4.  How - How are you going to deliver your presentation so that they can get what they need from it (e.g. Will you use graphs and props.  Will you do a song and dance.  Will you bring in other experts)?  How are you going to customize your presentation, based on the answers to the Who, What and Why, to ensure that they get what they want and need from your presentation.

If you can step up on stage with the full understanding of the perspective of the people sitting in the audience.  And, you have built your presentation based on the understanding of their wants and needs.  You are are 90% or more on the path to success.  No dog and pony show needed.

Keep coming back to these questions as you develop your presentation, and you are sure to prepare a successful presentation.  The added benefit is that you will feel much more confident as you step on stage because you will know that you are presenting something that your audience wants/needs to hear.

To your success,

Ellen