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 in business – preparing to deliver a proposal

by: Ellen Egan

Public speaking is important in every business setting.  Very often in business, you will need to deliver a proposal or a pitch to a potential client.  In these situations, you will want to do more than just display your technical expertise, you will want to persuade your audience to take some action. Certainly, you will want to include some technical information to inform your audience about the product or idea you are presenting.  but, keep in mind that the ultimate outcome you want  is to sell a product or an idea.  By preparing your presentation properly you can achieve your objective of informing your audience and encouraging them to take action.

There are four important questions to answer in your preparation:

1.  What is your purpose?

2.  Who is your audience and what are their needs?

3.  What is your main message and how can you best support it?

4.  What definite action do you want the audience to take?

It is important to start by defining your desired outcome.  Do you want the audience to buy your product or service? Do you want them to take a specific course of action? Are you looking  for agreement or approval? Be specific about what you want your proposal to accomplish.

Analyze your audience.  I have written a blog series and several articles about the importance of audience analysis and the steps to do this successfully.  Audience analysis is the cornerstone to successful presentations.

Design your main message around the wants and needs of your audience. Frame the features and benefits of your product, service or idea around the wants and needs of your audience.

Be sure to tell your audience exactly what you want their course of action to be.  This is where presentations often fall flat.  The presenter doesn’t tell the audience the action they want them to take.  Be very clear about this.  Tell them exactly what you want them to do – it will be much easier for them to do it.

The classic advice in delivering a proposal is

1.  Tell them what you’ve got.

2.  Tell them what it’s going to do for them.

3.  Tell them what you want them to do.

If you prepare for your presentation with these ideas in mind, you will be on the road to delivering a successful presentation.

If you would like to learn even more about effectively getting your message across Click Here

To your success,

Ellen