Now Ye're Talking - to a Public Speaking Coach

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

On a scale of 1-10. How do you rate our public representatives for their oratory abilities? :rolleyes:

Hmm, great question!!
Let me have a think about this before I give you my 'rundown' on our own politicians here....:rolleyes:

Sabre0001

Who would you point to as examples of good public speakers and what can we learn from them?

What should colleges or the education system as a whole do better to prepare people for public speaking and presentations?

What common mistakes or pitfalls do you see in clients (or in the wider population of people who have to give presentations)?

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA wrote: »

Hmm, great question!!
Let me have a think about this before I give you my 'rundown' on our own politicians here....:rolleyes:

Apologies for the delay - I have been extremely busy with clients, but I'll get through all of your queries today.

In order to do 'rate' our politicians, we need to take away the party policy and message content and objectively look at the actual speaking styles (Body Language and Sound of Voice).

Well, why not start with Enda Kenny – While Enda is ‘efficient’ as far as public speaking goes, which means he is well presented, articulate and enunciated; he lacks a genuine stance in his ability to look very comfortable or relaxed when speaking.

I think of him as a functional speaker, who operates on the basis that he speaks enough to get the words out, but without a feeling of doing more than that. He is competent, but not memorable. I feel when he speaks that he doesn’t have a huge interest or connection with the words – they are merely there to be said and not have great impact.


Rarely have I felt he has given genuine or sincere emotion to his words, even though he comes across as plain, to the point speaker.



Mary Harney was (and I’m sure still is) a pro at speaking without notes. She gave numerous talks for 20 plus minutes and spoke quite competently on each subject (again, whether you agree or disagree with her message is irrelevant here).



Pearse Doherty is quite an animated speaker. He uses power in his voice with a strong emphasis and tone on key words that he wants to have a strong impact on. His facial expressions are always in line with what he is saying (therefore if you put him on mute, you would still see/feel the emotional connection to what he is talking about without hearing his words).


Bertie Ahern – the master of using body language and vocals to resonate and relate to his audience. His appearance with the anorak was slick, as we all know, but he also did something else very interesting. He spoke with his head slightly down and tilted, leaning in towards his listeners when he really wanted to be influential or persuasive. His vocal was never strained nor with massive power behind it; but rather a slightly softer tone. He also did not feel the need to articulate or pronunciate his words to be more professional or more in line with his position of authority.

President Higgins has a lovely vocal tone and variety to his voice that lifts towards the end of certain sentences which always sounds as though he is speaking positively about anything. His T's, D's, S's and C's are well pronounced, giving great clarity and diction to his voice. His shoulders are always relaxed and his hand gestures are open with the palms facing outwards (a sign of bringing in his listeners towards him and including everyone).

I have more breakdowns of Irish speakers (in business and entertainment) and so will add to the list, but that's just a few in the political sphere that caught my eye in the last ten years.

Tell me how

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA wrote: »

I have more breakdowns of Irish speakers (in business and entertainment) and so will add to the list, but that's just a few in the political sphere that caught my eye in the last ten years.

In line with this answer, could you give an example of a speaker who you felt was well coached. One who was quite poor when they came on the scene but made obvious improvements over time.

what is your assessment of Barack Obama, he is one of the most renowned orators of this generation. What is your view and could you explain why you agree or disagree?

Thanks for doing this. I find it an interesting subject.

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

Sabre0001 wrote: »

What should colleges or the education system as a whole do better to prepare people for public speaking and presentations?

I believe that we first need to introduce public speaking classes at a young age to encourage children to put their thoughts together to address groups and constructively show them how to do it.
But, without putting too much pressure on very shy children or those who do not like the spotlight on them – I am vehemently opposed to a system where we damage children for good with this through negative experiences that stay with them for life, ie demeaning them in front of others when they are asked to speak in front of the class - it has lifelong effects that I see constantly with some of my clients.


This takes an incredibly skilled teacher to identify each child’s strength when they are up and speaking publically and to bring out their best qualities in order to help them feel relaxed and comfortable.

What I mean is – Young Mary gets up to speak for one minute on what her favourite time of year is. Instead of pointing out what’s wrong with how she is delivering her talk or what she SHOULD be doing (as has been the norm in the Irish education system in the past), the teacher points out what she identifies as Mary’s natural way of speaking is.


The teacher can see that Mary looks comfortable when she uses her hands in describing something that is positive - so they don’t ask her to put them at her side or to stop using them, they work with her in how she gestures with her hands and how to use them to her advantage when trying to make great points in a speech.


The next student John gets up and the teacher can see that he has a soft tone in his voice, as well as lots of vocal variety and animated facial expressions. They work with John in bringing out more intonation in his voice with emphasis on key words that’s already there and



Once students begin to understand that they have their own unique way of communicating and they should bring that out when speaking in public (instead of trying to mimic their classmates), they start to feel more in control and less nervous delivering a speech or talk.

This also means that because they are all doing this at the same age throughout their years of schooling, they are less likely to feel self-conscious around their peers.

After they find their own delivery style, I would suggest working with them in how to construct great content and material for different types of speeches such as:

• Informative
  
• Persuasive
  
• Demonstrative
  
• Anecdotal
  
• Extemporaneous
  
• Impromptu
  
• Historical
  
• And other themes.

When I work with Transition Year Groups, I always give a theme (such as Persuasive/Influential/Convincing) and ask them to come up with a very convincing argument Pro or against something they are passionate about, that they can talk about for 3-4 minutes.


I give them a free run on choosing their topic and I am always pleasantly surprised at how intelligent and well-constructed their arguments are on a wide variety of topics that they are emotionally connected to.

When they start to identify their voice and best delivery methods for them, they build their confidence which sets the foundation for later presentations or interviews they will give in their careers.


I would also suggest running the public speaking classes in sync with what is currently being taught in History/Geography/English and so forth.

For example:
If History classes are on World War 1 – I would suggest that the speech classes should be based around Informative (Factual delivery of the war) and Historical (Relevant dates and time periods of history that shapes the world today).


I also believe this ties in with strategic learning of subjects and reinforces the content, because if a person can regurgitate back a subject in front of a group, they have shown some comprehension of the material.

That’s just where I would start – obviously, there is lots more that should be done in this area and as I mentioned before, public speaking classes should become an essential part of the Irish education curriculum.

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

Sabre0001 wrote: »

What common mistakes or pitfalls do you see in clients (or in the wider population of people who have to give presentations)?

Off the top of my head, these are the ones that first stand out. (In no particular order)

· Not understanding their own style or what works best for them. I see clients trying too hard – which feels forced for the audience and strained for the speaker. If a client feels awkward moving about in front of them, then I generally tell them to plant their feet firmly on the ground and let either their hands or facial expressions or sound of voice be more pronounced.


· When using a podium (which I think should be abolished from all platforms for speeches), speakers who cling on to it and use them as a barrier to audience. This can actually heighten nerves, where the speaker holds on to the sides of it and because they clench their knuckles until they’re white, it has the opposite effect.



· I know it’s a cliché – but lack of preparation. I feel that too many times clients think ‘I’ll wing it, it’ll be fine, I’ll remember to add this or that in’. They never do remember every point and regret it when they leave them out afterwards (I’m sure some of you can identify with that).



· Wedding speeches – having one too many drinks. I can’t tell you how many best men/grooms have told me that they regret having too many drinks before speaking. The same goes for jokes in poor taste – the speechmaker generally regrets them when they fall flat.




· Racing through at breakneck speed just to get to the end. Pausing, pacing, flow and rhythm are so important to helping an audience AND speaker relax and enjoy a talk or presentation.




· Not knowing their audience. Agree or disagree with Trump, when he delivered every single speech on his election campaign, he knew EXACTLY what his audience wanted to hear (and his followers loved him for it!)




· Not caring. – I actually find it irritating to watch speakers who either have done it so many times before that they have lost interest or those that don’t want to be there and so they just rattle on just to get through it.

• Writing out their entire speech/presentation word for word and memorising it. It sounds robotic, boring and too rehearsed.

• Not practicing the words out loud. When you write out a speech, you hear the content and words only in your head - it's internal. When you sound it out though, the words that you stumble over/have a mental block with will come up and you have time before the big delivery to fix them into a different phrase or word to make your point.

• When using PowerPoint, putting too many words on the slides - either making the audience reliant on reading it or the speaker has to read it out. It shows lack of confidence in being able to talk around a subject when just a key word is needed.

• No eye contact - When a speaker makes no effort to engage with the audience and only watches their notes/powerpoint slides. This can make for an uncomfortable atmosphere and a very uninterested audience!

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

Tell me how wrote: »

In line with this answer, could you give an example of a speaker who you felt was well coached. One who was quite poor when they came on the scene but made obvious improvements over time.

what is your assessment of Barack Obama, he is one of the most renowned orators of this generation. What is your view and could you explain why you agree or disagree?

Thanks for doing this. I find it an interesting subject.

You’re very welcome – I’m enjoying this!
Although, I'm finding it a little tougher than I thought when putting answers down into long sentences, when I’m used to just speaking on this topic – maybe the opposite of what you guys feel with public speaking :rolleyes:


In relation to politics, I actually sometimes find that the opposite can happen to great speakers. Ie. They start off as very passionate and emotionally connected with a great ability to deliver in a relatable manner and style that resonates with their audience. What then occurs is that they are ‘media’ trained out of it to sound more polished and they tend to use only soundbytes that are insincere.

A great example of this is Brian Cowen, to be honest. He was a phenomenal debater in school, one of the best, even though his public speaking skills weren’t great. He could and should have been coached to bring out the mannerisms he used with his debating techniques (where he spoke with a lot more clarity and articulation) .


Instead, they worked with him on his body language and had him using his hands far too much.
By the end of his role as Taoiseach, he was so unnatural looking with his body language and gestures that it looked as though a puppetmaster was controlling his movements.
As far as speaking goes, I actually hated seeing that.


Barack Obama
As you’re probably aware, Obama is the highest paid speaker in the world right now and will probably be able to command an incredibly high fee for at least the next 3 years (unlike Clinton who had a much longer spell of high speaking fees until Obama came on the scene).

Again, they are actually great examples of renowned orators, but with two completely different styles and delivery techniques.


Barack’s style is an interesting one. He actually uses his depth of voice to get his point across. He is one of those speakers that if you put your hand on his chest, you can feel the strong vibrations come through when he is only reciting the vowels of the alphabet. That’s how deep his ‘sound’ goes, that it does not come from the full vocal cords, but rather his chest. I find that very interesting.

His pausing is also excellent – after every point that he really wants his audience to hone in on, he stops briefly for a second, lets the words or phrase drop and then picks up again. I mentioned in another post how much I admire those speakers who can hold their silences with quiet confidence and he is one of the absolute best.

His stance is controlled and composed – calm and collected. He doesn’t inspire confidence through high energy, but yet he did it, particularly on his first campaign trail by being the opposite of a typical motivational speaker.

I actually think his next gig should be as a guest public speaking coach at an open event – I think he could nearly triple his fee for that!! :cool:

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

Sabre0001 wrote: »

Who would you point to as examples of good public speakers and what can we learn from them?

Some great well-known public speakers are/were: (you may agree or disagree with these depending on your personal/political views on them)



Adolf Hitler - Hands down the most persuasive and influential speaker that has been recorded (in my opinion).

Hitler managed to get HUGE buy-in from his audiences, was very convincing to the general public (granted the timing of his rise is notable in history) and swayed more people to his way of thinking than most other leaders in history.

Hitler’s style was very interesting. Although we remember him for a high energy speech with a raised voice and great emphasis on key words – he actually began all of his speeches in a low pitch and tone.

He carried his voice higher and higher (particularly with radio) as he went through his speeches, which meant that he rallied his listeners from a relaxed pace into an emotionally charged stance from start to finish. Very interesting technique!




Margaret Thatcher is another interesting one for me – She had the crystal clear ability to state her case, with crisp articulation and diction and then never waiver or roll back on the words she had just uttered.


She did it with a rigid stance that had her listeners attentively listening and you could hear a pin drop when she spoke.



The complete opposite of that is Nelson Mandela – whose soft spoken tone and relaxed body language gestures made it easy to listen and he evoked a sense of inspiration, without overly exaggerating his communicative style.



Special Mentions:

Overly animated facial expressions (Eyebrows)– Michael O’Leary

Relaxed facial expressions (smiling and inviting) – Richard Branson

Vocal Variety – Gay Byrne (think of when he was changing the subject on the Late Late Show – and he would drop his voice at the end of a sentence, but raise it up to let you know he was changing direction with ‘Now then…..’



Again, I’ll add more to this as they come to me.

Persephone kindness

How did you build up a clientele? And what qualifications/ experience did you have?

I'm a Public Speaking Coach, AMA

Persephone kindness wrote: »

How did you build up a clientele? And what qualifications/ experience did you have?

I have a great domain name/website that ranks very high in Google on searches for public speaking courses and coaching in Ireland.

I was in Training and Development for a number of years (self employed) and loved training in the area of Presentation Skills.
(Qualifications were from CIPD, IITD and ILM)

I went back to the U.S. to work with my former Speech Coach to start honing in on exactly how I could devise American style public speaking techniques and transfer the teaching methods over to Irish clients. (There is a slight difference in the two delivery styles )

Once I started to piece together full workshops/sessions/courses/private coaching mechanisms; I was able to collaborate with schools, 3rd level institutes, corporates, non profits etc in what they needed and how I could help their groups.

Persephone kindness

Thank you! That's very informative

Boards.ie: Niamh

Thanks for all of the questions and to our guest for her very interesting and lengthy answers! I feel almost ready to try public speaking myself now