Are You Straining To Speak?

I just returned from a networking event. The venue was crowded and noisy. The host tried to get our attention by speaking over the crowd. We had difficulty hearing him and he was obviously straining his voice. Straining your voice can cause laryngitis, vocal nodules and inflammation. A vocal pathology affects your image but can also cause you to cancel meetings and lose business. Too many people misuse their voices. To protect your voice, here are some tips for good vocal hygiene:

Never speak above noise. Find a quieter venue or use a microphone or an amplifier. Chattervox or VOISTA digital voice amplifer are two portable, cordless products you can carry with you.

Avoid dairy products 24 hours before a long speech. They create mucus build up. Drink water with lemon at room temperature. Coffee can restrict the veins. Alcohol has a drying effect.

Use abdominal breathing to project your voice and to remove tension from the neck muscles.

Hydrate the day before. Drinking lots of water will reduce dry mouth.

Do some neck roll exercises to relax the muscles.

Pause so you can fill up with enough air before your next sentence.

Take turns speaking. Who said you have to do all the talking? Let a partner have the floor to make announcements or introductions.

Don't speak at full volume. Practice speaking more softly when talking to an individual.

Resist clearing your throat. Take in air and swallow instead.

Practice vocal rest. People are constantly on their cell phones and taxing their vocal folds. Try 1o minutes of silent meditation each morning. Better yet, practice the art of listening. It will save your voice and pay great dividends in building relationships.

How is Public Speaking Like Cooking a Meal?

On Christmas day, my husband prepared a delicious fish dinner. He started with bass made with ginger and scallions,and prepared scallops which were sliced in half and sauteed in a glaze of orange marmalade with lemon and orange zest and ginger. The side dishes were a ratatouille of zucchini and squash, steamed spinach and a medley of mushrooms and onions. After complimenting his cooking he said, "The hardest part is the preparation." How true! It seems like most of us enjoy the fun part of cooking-eating. It's the same with speaking. Most presenters enjoy being in front of an audience but they don't give as much thought or time to planning and preparation. Every chef knows the importance of shopping for the freshest produce. Then they set up the kitchen with the right tools. Once a system is in place, the process of chopping, dicing, and mixing takes place. The chef needs to get the heat just right and test the food to know when it's done. It takes hours and hours of prep time for a 15-30 minute meal.

When it comes to speaking it's 90% preparation and only 10% delivery. Unfortunately, too many presenters wing it. They throw together a few message points on a slide and then stand up and deliver them. They continue from beginning to end without checking in with the audience. That's like putting a high flame under the pan regardless of what is cooking.

When a chef "throws a meal together", it's based on years of practice and principles of cooking. And when a speaker makes speaking look easy, you can bet it's because of preparation and experience. The writer Mark Twain once said, "It takes about two weeks to give a good impromptu speech." If you had company you wouldn't leave your meal to chance. And good presenters don't don't throw their presentations to the wind.

The secret sauce to good cooking and good speaking is this: It's all in the preparation! To learn more about preparing a presentation read chapter six in Knockout Presentations.

DiResta Communications, Inc. Communicating With Impact!

Unhitch the Technical Glitch

Murphy's Law was in full effect. My associate and I conducted a live teleseminar together. We rehearsed the night before using the conference service. She did a live recording of a different class the day before and it went off without a hitch. So we knew the service was reliable.

The day of our teleseminar we hit a glitch. As soon as we started the recording feature several people were kicked off the call. A flurry of emails warned us that they couldn't get back on. While my colleague furiously contacted tech support I carried on with my part of the seminar.

What should you do when you've prepared your presentation and you still get derailed?

Take a lesson from champion ice skaters. When they fall on the ice they get up and keep going. Immediately after the call, we recorded the same content without any listeners on the line. We then sent the link to everybody who registered. We offered them the recorded call, an offer to call us with any questions, and a refund if they were not satisfied. Only one person asked for a refund. (We sent her the link anyway).

What's the lesson here?

1. Always anticipate what could go wrong and have a back-up plan.
2. Choose reliable technology. (Higher priced plans provide better service).
3. Rehearse using the technology and know that it can work well one day and not the next.
4. Keep going. Continue your presentation with the people who can hear you.
5. Do the right thing. Your reputation and integrity are more important than any profits. Your reputation is your profit center. If requested, we would have refunded every participant. Your content is only part of the message. Customer service is the REAL message.