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    Pause: Standout Whenever You Speak
    Pause: Standout Whenever You Speak
    Pause: Standout Whenever You Speak
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Pause: Standout Whenever You Speak

    By Barry Kuntz

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    About this ebook

    Tens of millions of people world-wide fear and even loathe speaking in public. But speaking to impact and influence others is a critical life skill. It’s not enough to have the best product, the best service or the best idea—you need to be able persuade and convince others that what you’re offering is the best. That requires the ability to present your product, your ideas and yourself in the most compelling yet authentic way. It’s very difficult to be successful professionally and even personally without being able to influence others.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJan 12, 2018
    ISBN9781543923063
    Pause: Standout Whenever You Speak

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      Book preview

      Pause - Barry Kuntz

      it!

      Chapter 1 -

      Is Anybody Listening?

      Yes…They’re Thinking Too

      Tom was captivating. As the senior marketing executive of a major global software company, I held on to his every word. So, did everyone else within earshot. We were all listening. But that was at the reception, 20 minutes before.

      Now, talking to 1,500 people he seemed so different. The audience came with great anticipation, as did I, but you could see that hardly anybody was listening. They seemed bored to tears, many hovering over their smart phones, getting caught up on their texts. Some began walking out.

      The man on stage today was an experienced, well-respected marketing professional. Engaging an audience, any audience, should have been his strong suit; clearly it wasn’t.

      Why couldn’t he be the same person he was at the reception, confident and engaging?

      It really boiled down to what he was saying and how he was saying it, was not holding anyone’s attention. Nobody was listening.

      At the reception, when everybody was leaning forward, hanging on his every word, he was just being himself. He was natural, authentic. His ideas were crisp and to the point. We trusted him.

      Now, while standing in front of an audience, he lost all of that. Yes, he spoke with perfect style, proper grammar, and long flowing sentences, pausing appropriately at commas and periods. However, you couldn’t help but think he appeared stilted.

      It was clear that Tom knew his subject, because he had pushed out lots of good information. However, the point of his presentation wasn’t revealed until five minutes to the end.

      Perhaps he thought, as many do, that’s how an adept orator speaks. Really?

      Presentation success, getting your audience to think about, and perhaps acting on, your message, depends on what you say and how you say it. Simply put - impactful structure and style.

      You could tell that Tom was a very likable guy, but he was not the man I saw at the reception, a genuine, experienced marketing leader simply having a conversation.

      It’s Not That Difficult

      Here’s the good news - speaking with impact at any time or, in any environment, is not as difficult as it might first appear. In fact, the principles of great style and structure are simple and straight-forward.

      With practice, presentation skills can be improved; the opportunity to become an impactful speaker is very achievable. In fact, you already have a strong base to build upon. Surprised? Most people are.

      A key first step is identifying when we speak at our best. For most of us, it’s during a relaxed conversation with friends, colleagues, or family. Almost any conversation. Still surprised? Well, if you weren’t any good at it, your family might still stick by you, but you wouldn’t have too many friends and your colleagues would dive for cover when they saw you approach the lunch room. I’m sure that that doesn’t happen to you.

      When Your Audience Remembers

      Think about the last, great conversation you had with a friend. Likely, you remember every detail. Weeks later, you could probably have repeated most of that conversation to another friend. Why? Because it was invigorating. So much so, you could almost finish each other’s sentences. What was going on? What made it so good?

      At a very high level, while one of you was talking, the other was listening. Then you reversed roles throughout. Was your grammar pristine, polished? Did you speak in eloquent sentences, careful to pause appropriately at commas and periods? Not likely.

      What Makes Relaxed Conversation So Enjoyable?

      Let’s break it down. When you’re talking, informally or formally, enjoyable communication is all about style (how you speak) and structure (how you organize what you say). When you’re listening, it’s about truly hearing what the other person is saying, thinking about what it means to you and perhaps, offering appropriate comment.

      When we speak with friends during a conversation, our style is presented as a constant exchange of ideas. It is very much two-way. The more relaxed and engaged the conversation, the more difficult it is to find any complete sentences. Incorrect grammar and sentence fragments abound. Thoughts stop in mid-flight, veer off in new directions, or get reiterated in a different way. Sentences get chopped up into pieces. Ideas really, separated typically by pauses. Sometimes pauses can be quite long, other times, quite short. They appear everywhere and anywhere, without any apparent reason. Often times, people will pause in the middle of a word.

      As well, when we speak to a friend or colleague in a relaxed setting, we continually check in with them to ensure they get the point. How? With simple eye contact, when we deliver our ideas.

      Highly educated or not, this is how we talk, and we love it. The appeal for this style is universal. We are so adept at it; we don’t give it any thought. That is why relaxed conversational style works. It’s perfectly imperfect!

      From a structural point of view, people seldom ‘ramp-up’ before getting to the point. Instinctively, they know to get their point out right away. To do otherwise would jeopardize the attention of their audience.

      Then What Makes Most Presentations So Dull?

      In my workshops, I’ll ask participants to imagine a young lady named Linda who is out for dinner with her friends. She begins telling the others about her latest vacation; the beautiful resort, warm sun, delicious food and then, one of her friends says, Linda, why don’t you stand up and finish your story? At that point, I can see some of my students shiver with nervousness. Why? In my example, it’s the same presenter - Linda. She’s addressing the same topic - her vacation, to the same audience - her friends. They’re still in the same environment – the restaurant. Why be nervous?

      It appears that while we are so comfortable just being ourselves talking to others in relaxed conversation, we seem to think we’ve got to up our game, be more polished in a more formal setting, and that formal setting could be across the table pitching a client, updating management, even

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