Junk Words— Get Them Before They Get You!

Notice the regular “uh” “oh” and “mmm” that infest your speech? TM Paul Chee tells you the way to throw out these parasites that eat on the true essence of your speech.

Have you ever noticed that while delivering a speech, the “and you know”s come up more frequently than the actual things you intended to say? Or have you ever been stuck in the middle of a sentence, not knowing how to continue but for the mm?

Most, if not all of us, can remember such embarrassing times. How then are we to eliminate these junk words from our conversations or oral presentations? How are we to get rid of them before they do us in?

The first step in getting rid of your junk words is to count them. As elementary as that seems, counting junk words would keep you aware of the frequency at which you use them. Be warned that if junk words perpetuate your speech, your audience will start counting them. You want to be known for your ideas, your plans, your integrity, and your vision. Nobody wants to be known as that “you know” speaker.

I cannot tell you how many junk words you can drop before your audience starts to take notice and loses concentration on your message. However I have a challenge for you( zero junk words. That brings us to the second point. After counting and having a feel of the frequency at which we use junk words; now is the time to eliminate them altogether. Before facing the firing squad, first deliver your speech into a tape-recorder. Play it back. Count and take notice of where junk w ords pop out. It would be helpful if you note them down on your written script. Next, deliver your speech again. This time, when you feel that the junk word is just round the corner, SHUT UP! A nicer way of putting it would be to pause. It does not matter if the pause appears at an awkward point in the sentence. Our first goal is to get rid of the junk words. As we cannot speak as fast as our thoughts, these pauses give us time to come up with a more suitable word to replace the

Lastly, speak as how you write not as how you think. Nobody writes with s and “you knows” thrown in. With more practice, you will be able to accomplish this. It is extremely difficult to speak as fast as your thoughts. You do not have to. Your speech should turn out like the final draft of an essay; smooth and coherent. Be confident of what you have to say. And most important of all, be prepared and stay focused.

That is how you can eliminate the junks words from your speech: count them, pause, speak as though you are writing and stay focused. Get those junks words before they get you!

Intrigue, Innovate, Inspire! – Portraying Dynamism in Public Speaking

ATM-S, CL Stuart Tan tells us how important facial expressions and gestures are in making or breaking a good speech.

I was watching a particular male lecturer walk into an auditorium full of fresh undergraduates, awaiting their first lecture for the semester. The lecturer promptly stood behind the lectern. As he was flipping the pages of his lecture notes, it was rather obvious that something was wrong with his gestures. He kept sticking his pinkie out as he turned the pages. In an almost feminine gesture, he swept back his (short) hair, and gestured with his right hand in a limp and somewhat unmanly manner, saying “Good morning class”. Till today, I still wonder if he truly was a male lecturer.
There my interest for that subject died a very prompt death.

And it started to get me thinking. What if toastmasters did not realize the absolute value of gestures when they were speaking? From then, I started to observe the way people speak and gesture at the same time, then I realized that there are key characteristics of the gestures of dynamic speakers.

Firstly, gestures are very deliberate and appropriate. Dynamic and charismatic speakers have gestures that are meaningful and add impact to what is said. Contrary to this, you will still see many experienced toastmasters engaging in incongruent communication. For example, when we want to make a point, we typically use strong gestures, such as slamming our right fist into our left palm. These “sharp” and “strong” gestures are characteristic of impactful, authoritative persuasion. Conversely, gestures that are “rounded” in nature, tend to assist the speaker in appearing more approachable and more friendly. Appropriate gestures means you don’t say “I am so glad to have all of you here in the audience” by slamming your fist into your palm or the table. Likewise, if you wanted to tell the audience “this is an unacceptable policy, and everyone here must vote against it”, using rounded gestures deletes the effectiveness of the spoken word.

Secondly, gestures are varied. I once wrote about the principle of variety in a separate article1. The principle of variety states that the greater the variety of gestures a speaker can use congruently and in conjunction with what he says, the more dynamic he appears to be. Take stock of your own gestures. Do you notice if you tend to gesture around your waist? Do you have the “elbows glued to the waist “syndrome? Do you tend to use one type of gesture most frequently? Consider breaking out of your comfort zone. Portrayal of dynamism typically comes from inner self-confidence. It shows if you use varied gestures, that you are confident of yourself, making you a more credible and believable speaker. Hence, your ability to appear dynamic and charismatic increases manifold. If you notice problems with gestures, try deliberately using gestures beyond your zone of comfort. For example, try using bigger gestures (e.g. stretching your arms wide, gesturing above your head) and gestures that are out of the ordinary. Take stock of the gestures other people have, and try to adopt some of these gestures as you progress in your toastmasters career.

Finally, dynamic speakers consider facial expressions. I’ve been to many speech competitions where the motivational speaker speaks with a poker face. Imagine “YOU MUST BE SELF-MOTIVATED” with a nonchalant expression. Certainly makes it hard for you to believe the speaker doesn’t it? In speech delivery, consider smiling slightly and raising your eyebrows a little. This baseline expression generally allows the audience to see you as open and friendly. Furthermore, applying the principle of variety and appropriacy, facial expressions can be varied to add impact to the speech.

I used to run a program for singles called “Attracting the People you like”. It so happened that someone approached me during my program to tell me how great it was, and that he was facing a problem I had not yet addressed. He claimed that he had trouble with even initiating a relationship. With a very bland poker face he said to me “I don’t understand why everyone I date tells me I’m boring”. I had to tell him to go look at himself in the mirror.

I can’t emphasize how important it is to ensure that our gestures and facial expressions are used as tools for our benefit rather than against us. While many of these are unconscious behaviors, through our practice at chapter meetings, let’s weed out these poor public speaking practices and look towards excellence in public speaking!

Thinking on your feet – A guide to impromptu speaking

ATM-S Chris Ng Wai Chung teaches you how to survive the fear and trauma of speaking unprepared when you are made to do impromptu speaking in front of an audience.

“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” — Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Revolutionary

About 18 years ago, I was asked by my primary school principal to step onto the stage to explain to about a thousand fellow primary school students why I did not pay my milk-money. Without hesitation, I proceeded to wet my pants. That feeling of deja vu repeated itself when I was 17 in junior college. After applying for the Plain English Speaking Competition, I surprised myself during the auditions for having only said about 5 sentences to a group of stunned teacher-panelists after I was given my first table topic. ( After which I ran out of the classroom )

While the above scenario may seem familiar to many of you, I’ve seen many dramatic turnarounds from the public speaking disasters in my past. Diane was this lady who was my schoolmate in NJC , after her round of auditions, I remember her telling the group of us hopefuls that she really screwed up and was too nervous to perform, she eventually became the best speaker in the JC debates in 1992 with her name appearing in the newspapers after her hard earned victory. And some of us have heard of the “Scat-man” song on the radio ( truth is, he stutters ).

This article hopes to dispel the myths of impromptu speaking and highlights the PREP formula as taught by the Toastmaster’s movement. It will then give some tips on how to build your repertoire of speeches to make it truly memorable.

Impromptu Speaking Basics : PREP formula

There are many strategies which public speakers employ to create the illusion of confidence on stage. Fact of the matter is that most public speakers have butterflies in their stomachs. The trick is to make them fly in formation. The Toastmasters movement suggests the use of the PREP formula and it goes like this :

P : Point—State your point to the question.
R : Reason—State a reason why you raised your point.
E : Example—Give an illustration which supports your above-mentioned case.
P : Prep—Which leads us to the next point.

By employing this strategy, you “daisy-chain” your response to the table topics and could speak endlessly about the topic given to you.

Example,

Topic : Is Batman is more intelligent than Superman ? Elaborate on your answer.

Point : I believe with great conviction that there is incontrovertible evidence that Batman, the caped crusader demonstrates a much greater intellect than Superman, the Man of steel.
Reason : One of the reasons is that Batman, having no supernatural powers, relies solely on his wits and technology whereas Superman is blessed with the powers of flight and superhuman strength.
Example : In the latest confrontation with the Joker, Batman outsmarted the Joker by causing the Joker to slip on a banana peel and fall into gigantic toilet bowl. The latest comic shows Superman beheading Lex Luthor with a casual flick of his index finger and sending his head into planetary orbit.
Point : Which brings us to the question of Superman’s brutality that which could only be found in basest of primates.

And so on and so forth…

Let’s have a harder example,

Topic : If there is a Statue of Liberty in the east coast of the United states. Please explain the significance of building a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast.

Point : Liberty without responsibility will result in chaos and anarchy.
Reason : While a Nation like the United States may find comfort in truth, justice and the American way, the lack of responsibility will find justice very elusive indeed.
Example : While the “Land of the free” could brag about the freedom of speech in their society, can a Caucasian ever have the freedom to utter the words “nigger” without reprisal or litigation in New York or death in the Bronx ?
Point : Which leads us to the point where by the liberties of a society is limited by the responsibility exercised by it’s citizens.

For Intermediate speakers : Speech frameworks

The PREP technique is all it takes to survive a gruesome one to two minute table topics session, but for longer speeches, the constant use of this framework, could put the most attentive speakers to sleep. Intermediate speakers consider the following frameworks which could be constructed to supplement their speeches. If the speaker’s level of proficiency were a pimple it’d turn dark and purple at this stage.

Three of the most commonly observed frameworks are highlighted here.

a) Basic framework

This style begins by an introduction to the subject matter, a definition to the problem and plenty of sign postings which guide the listener to the actual body of the speech. The body of the speech contains about 2 to 3 PREP cycles which reinforces the point the speaker wishes to make. And the speaker concludes the speech by a call to action or reaffirms his stand on the subject matter. The speaker would usually employ the phrases “First of all”, “Secondly” and “Finally” to break his speech down into logical components.

b) Pros/Cons Framework

This framework considers a yes/no problem like “Should abortion be banned in Singapore”.The speaker then proceeds to use the “On one hand…”and the “On the other hand…” in the speech body to consider both sides of the coin, then the speaker concludes by taking a stand and giving the reasons why one case is stronger than the other.

Caution : Practiced wrongly, the speaker will seem to be indecisive at a taking a stand so be sure to make one case weaker than the other.

c) Chronological

This framework applies to questions where historical examples be used to reinforce the points the speaker has to make. Questions like “Is the feminist movement still relevant in modern society today?” The speaker could begin the body of the speech by using the words “In the past,,,” and then subsequently use the words “Now times have changed…” and even take the opportunity to contemplate the future by considering “Perhaps in the near future we would be able to…”

Advanced speakers : Unique Selling Propositions

The greatest speakers have something special which distinguishes them from other speakers in that they are unique and offer something to the listener be it hope, joy or enlightenment. At this point, you should think of Marilyn Monroe who has that pout which made her a legend or Jennifer Lopez’s….errrrmmm….beautiful face.

Here are the possible things advanced speakers do to make their speech truly memorable.

a) The Flirt : Charm the audiences by enforcing a personal stake in the presentation.

Many impromptu speakers flirt with the audience and end up with most of the awards when the event is over. This technique keeps the audience riveted by picking on someone from the audience – this creates a personal atmosphere. Occasionally, if a roast becomes inappropriate when used on someone else, the speaker would often employ himself/herself as subject matter.

A Microsoft salesman in a technical conference had probably made arrangements with a fellow employee to seek permission to use him in a speech delivery would begin by saying “Suppose our friend, here James, is feeling naughty and decides to do this to the operation system because he does not want his boss to see these pictures…”, it makes the audience attentive and brings a human dimension to the speech.

b) The Laugh-a-minute : Just employ humor over and over again

Everybody likes a jokes or two, so long as the joke is politically correct and does not involve a pair of donkeys and a beautiful princess. ( you are supposed to laugh at this point…)

When employing this technique, the speaker uses humor, his improvisation and some jokes he heard in the past and blends it in his speech. Puns could be used as well if it is tasteful in nature.

“He is arguably the best public speaker in this club. To say that he is the best public speaker would lead to a heated argument. “

or

“Urggh !!! It was so bad, a bed-ridden quadriplegic in an intensive care unit could play the piano better than her daughter did !!! “

c) The fountain of knowledge : Tap into books for knowledge and wisdom

The problem with “knowledgeable” people is that they seldom possess the right skills to package the information to make it interesting, this technique is therefore risky at best. The speaker has to read widely and possess special skills, here are a series of leads which could allow a speaker to dazzle the audience with his showmanship and knowledge.

- Quotes

A speaker always has a arsenal of 20 or so quotes which can be used for most occasions.

- Ancient philosophy

The speaker should focus on general themes which could only be covered by such a subject matter like Happiness, Decisiveness, Friendship, Wisdom. The occasional reference to a philosopher like Socrates could reinforce the point made in a speech. It would also be useful to understand that people have begun thinking about the same questions that we have

- Business / Management

For working audiences the occasional reference to Peter Drucker or Bill Gates may be used to show how well informed you are. More importantly, many motivational speakers tend to give jaded audiences the impression that they lack solid content in their presentations.

- Great Literature

Another general field which demonstrates how people behave in interesting circumstances. Ralph Waldo Emerson is probably the most misquoted writer in the Toastmasters movement. The poet/philosopher has written widely in topics like “Self-Reliance”, “Love” . The ever popular William Shakespeare has written works which paints a pictures of the human condition in various circumstance in many of his Great works.

- History

The ability to remember a date will be viewed favorably by a discerning audience. More importantly the ability to relate the various events which happened in the past with some degree of accuracy would mean that the audience would be informed of history, thus, ensuring that “history does not repeat itself”.

Conclusion

We’ve covered some fundamental aspects of impromptu speaking to an audience and reviewed some techniques found within the Toastmaster movement. We examined the various frameworks that could be employed for different forms of questions and we finally considered some means to make the impromptu speech a memorable one.

If you, kind reader, would like to have just a summary of this entire article, I guess I could only conclude that impromptu speech could be trained. Whether you are a novice, expert or guru, there would always be room to develop a new technique or style to dazzle the audiences in the next club meeting.

Here’s wishing you great time in next table topics session !!

Hi, I’m a freshman.

CTM Kiruthika Ramanathan thinks otherwise in her relation of how she landed up joining Toastmasters.

“Hi Kiruthika” a familiar voice called over the deafening din in the matriculation maze. I turned around, relieved to see the familiar face of a JC senior.

“What are you doing here?” Dumb question. For the past half an hour I had seen nothing besides the hundreds of seniors approaching nervous freshmen asking them to join some club or another. So far, I had already signed up for Judo club, political society, volunteer action committee and about ten others. Heaven knew where I was going to find the time to attend all the activities when lessons started.

“I am here on behalf of the toastmasters club. c’mon up here and let me tell you all about us.” At that moment all wanted to do was go home and curl up with a nice cold drink. It was really hot in the hall, despite the aircon – but hey, I couldn’t very well tell her to get lost could I? Especially not when, barely two minutes ago, I had felt so glad to see her. So making the decision, when actually there was no decision to be made, I followed her to the small booth with a banner that said “TOASTMASTERS CLUB”.

Six dollars!! I walked away from the table after paying the membership fees. And that was the umpteenth activity that I had signed up for…. Maybe I just won’t go for the meetings….

It turned out that those were pretty much the only ECA meetings that I attended.

I have been with NUS toastmasters for two years now and I would not be exaggerating if I said that my experience in the club was one of the most enriching ones in my life.

Under the guidance of expert seniors I picked up invaluable information on preparing speeches, body language during speeches, vocal variety, impromptu speaking and many others aspects of speaking that I thought that one had to be born with to display. I am now a competent toastmaster – the invaluable experience that I had gained was reinforced by a certificate from the renowned toastmasters international organisation. I have come a long way from being the stuttering schoolgirl that I was and I am sure you can too.

Communication Is Important

TM Oei Hsin Hsi gives his take on why communication skills are important, and the benefits of improving your skills in this area.

Let’s face it. We talk everyday. We communicate verbally with our friends, colleagues, and family members. In general, women speak 6000-8000 words a day. Men, however speak 2000-4000 words. This may explain why women are better communicators than men (though some might vehemently disagree), but we’ve digressed.
Why is communication important? Communication facilitates the exchange of information. We inform, teach, influence, negotiate, mediate, persuade, lead, motivate, and inspire. Communication assists in bringing people closer together. It is capable of doing so many things. It aids people in their aim to achieve goals. Many people subconsciously recognize the importance of oral communication. But are we really capable communicators? If not, are we taking affirmative measures to improve ourselves?

Oral communication is utilized the most to facilitate a conversation between parties. It’s easy, fast and convenient. It’s simple. Or so we think. Still, miscommunications are daily occurrences of life. Miscommunications between friends and colleagues cause unnecessary strains within the relationship. Miscommunications between loved ones cause both sides to go through undue emotional stress. Miscommunications between corporations can be costly, incurring wastage of both time and resources. Miscommunications between countries endanger millions of lives. Judging at how easily miscommunication can occur, it is important to understand how it occurs. Meaning to say: develop an awareness of how you yourself communicate with others.

Misunderstandings arise because people take oral communication for granted. We make unrealistic assumptions about people and events. We stereotype. We fail to listen properly. We mispronounce words. Our body language was incongruent with our verbal content. We perceive things differently. Quarrels and heated arguments arise as a result. Instead of communicating to establish a level of understanding, we’ve achieved otherwise. Failing to do that will result in an automatic failure to achieve whatever goals we had in mind in starting the dialogue. Hence, it is important to be proficient in oral communication to do away or at best minimize the occurrences of misunderstandings and to achieve our goals.

Proficiency in the art of oral communication will create a favorable first impression. We’ve often heard that it’s the first impression that counts. It may sound superficial but it rings true in many ears. It is this first impression people will judge you. People judge another person’s intelligence based on how capable they are in expressing themselves verbally. Hence mastering oral communications is made more important.

This form of proficiency will also enable us to build rapport more easily with others. In order to cooperate and collaborate with others, seek to accept and understand them. Through shared meetings and conversations, a person will be able to get a rough feel of another person’s character from the way they project themselves. With that knowledge, one would be able to relate more effectively with that person.

Possessing excellent oral communication skills will come as an added advantage in giving presentations. As undergraduates, we’ll be required to make presentations in front of a group. It has been said in USA that the fear of public speaking outranks the fear of death. For those who’ve experienced some form or another of addressing mass audiences, you would understand the familiar lump on the throat, the sudden awareness of the thumping of the heart, the leaden legs when approaching the front, etc. Why does this fear come about?

The fear of public speaking originates from several fears. Fear of ostracism, fear of standing out, fear of criticism, fear of ridicule, fear of being an outcast, fear of being different. It is no wonder most of us shake when given the mike. Being aware of the fears is already halfway to conquering it. All that’s left is practicing and gaining the confidence to address the crowds.

By this time, I hope I would have convinced or at the very least, make known to you that oral communication is an important aspect of our lives. So what are you waiting for?? Join NUS Toastmasters and let’s learn together in our journey to become better communicators!!

Making the First Move

TM Gladys Lee gives pointers on how to make that first move and secure that relationship with others.

Very often, I observe that Asians who attend any social gathering with their friends in their small groups often stick to their own cliques for the length of the gathering. Even though they may have made brief talk with a few people outside their clique by the end of the party, they remain pretty much confined in their small social circle.

Why is this so? Is it because we Asians are too shy to make new friends, or are we just too contented with our present network of friends such that we do not feel the need to increase our number of social contacts?

I am inclined not to believe so, because I know of many Asian friends who have increasingly realised the importance of and are paying more attention to networking. Being social creatures, we need to make use of the many opportunities that come our way to forge some new friendships. After all, it wouldn’t hurt to have one more acquaintance, would it?

You may then ask, “If networking is so important, what can I possibly do to improve on my social interaction?” In this essay, I shall give some pointers to address this, sharing with you some of the experiences I had encountered to illustrate my points.

As Asians, we normally wait to be approached by the other party or to be introduced by a mutual friend, before warming up to the occasion and making small talk with our newfound acquaintance. This is probably due to the Asian notion of “politeness”, that makes us view making bold moves to get to know someone as being rude or having some ulterior motive. I had come across this guy who introduced himself to a girl once before, and ended up being teased by his friends as being “buaya”! (In Singaporean Hokkien dialect context, this has a negative connotation-it means a guy who has an affinity for girls)

However, I think it is time we broke down those old social walls that keep us from meeting new people. After all, what is a little teasing compared with the number of potential friends you lose as well as the wealth of experiences they have to share with you?

In this aspect, we can learn something from our American counterparts. Being the friendly, open and spontaneous type of people they are, they generally tend to make the first move. At a dance performance I attended in the US, I heard a lot of spontaneous cheering and clapping after it ended, but at a similar dance performance I attended in Singapore, the Singaporean audience merely gave the customary applause. At social gatherings, the Americans come up to you and say, “Hi, my name is so and so, what’s yours?” This simple conversation starter very soon develops into an animated conversation on issues like family life, school or work, religion and even on hotly debated topics like feminism and cruelty to animals.

Wow! This seems easier said than done, you may think. Yes, very often tips on how to start a conversation and so on are available, but putting them into action can be a problem. The essence lies in being bold enough to carry it out. My advice is to start by approaching someone one-to-one, or if you feel comfortable enough, one-to-three or four. Sometimes, when the group is too big, you tend to have second thoughts about going up to introduce yourself in front of so many people.

The second thing to bear in mind is to be confident of yourself. Realise that the other party is as excited to meet you as you are about meeting him or her. Even though you happen to stutter a little at the start, push those minor imperfections to the back of your mind and move along with the conversation. As you tell more about yourself and hear what the other party has to say, you become more absorbed in the conversation and very soon, you will have overcome your initial nervousness, and your newfound acquaintance will have delighted in having found such an amicable friend!

Much as being bold and talking is essential, you must be careful to ensure that the conversation does not become a one-way traffic. Listening to what the other party has to say is equally important too. Even though your friend may enjoy hearing about your experiences, I’m sure he or she has his piece to say as well. This is when the Asian quality of tactfulness comes in. Always be mindful when the conversation is not proceeding in the two-way fashion that it is supposed to proceed in, and skilfully divert the topic such that your friend can have his share. A useful way would be to say, “I believe you’ve heard enough about me, and I’m sure you have even more wonderful stories to share with me. Why don’t you tell me some of them? I’d love to hear them.”

Although the conversation may end when the party comes to an end, the interaction should not stop there. Kindly request for the person’s namecard and present yours too. In this way, there is a chance for a possible follow-up on this new friendship.

These are just some basic points to take note of when you go out to meet someone for the very first time. Have fun trying them out and happy networking!

TM’s Guide to Humor

Want to give a sugar-and-spice wrap to your speech? TM Paul Chee, in keeping with this month’s theme of humor, attempts to examine some of the finer points in giving a humorous speech.

In our world today, we are bombarded on all sides by negative images and suggestions, more so after the Sept 11 attacks. Therefore, a speaker who is able to weave humor into his speech is greatly appreciated. People want to be entertained. They want to laugh. Although making your audience laugh sounds elementary, it is actually a complex art.

The art of using humor in your speeches is not to be taken lightly. No doubt you will be judged regardless of whether or not you inject humor. However, the use of humor can make or break a speech. Successful use of humor to bring across your points can leave a lasting impression on your audience. You will be appreciated for bringing about heartfelt laughter. The same holds true, if you handle the use of humor poorly. Skillful use of humor can enhance your reputation as an effective speaker (and probably get you more presentations). Whereas poorly handled humor in a presentation can damage or destroy your credibility.

What then is humor? Humor is defined as “the mental faculty of discovering, expressing or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous”. Put simply, humor is a form of expression intended to arouse amusement. Wit, on the other hand, is defined as, “the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception, especially of the incongruous”. Synonymous with wit are, humor, irony, sarcasm, satire and repartee, which are all modes of expression intended to arouse amusement. But there is another element to wit. As the saying goes, “Wit punctures, humor pictures.” A person with wit delivers witticisms that are cleverly witty and often biting or ironic remarks with the ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse.

Here are rules to follow in the delivery of a humorous speech:
1) The use of off-color, risqué or blue humor, humor which derives its “effectiveness” from shock value, sexual content, or relation to bodily functions has no place in the repertoire of the professional speaker.

2) The second rule is that things can be funny only when we are “in fun”. There may be a serious thought or motive lurking underneath our humor. We may be only “half in fun” and still perceive things as funny. Ask yourself, “Is this audience “in fun”; do I dare use humor; can they be moved into “in fun”"?

3) The third rule is that being “in fun” is a condition most natural to childhood, and that children at play reveal the humorous laugh in its simplest and omnivorous form. To them every untoward, unprepared for, unmanageable, inauspicious, ugly, disgusting, puzzling, startling, deceiving, shaking, blinding, jolting, deafening, banging, bumping, or otherwise shocking and disturbing thing, unless it be calamitous enough to force them out of the mood of play, is enjoyable as funny. Can something be said carelessly by a speaker that can move an audience out of “in fun”? A speaker must be aware of the mood of the audience at all times.

4) The fourth rule is that when we are “in fun”, a peculiar shift of values takes place. Pleasant things are still pleasant, but disagreeable things, so long as they are not disagreeable enough to “spoil the fun”, tend to acquire a pleasant emotional flavor and provoke a laugh. Someone who can think funny has the natural ability to see the humor in the painful lessons of life.

5) The last rule is that grown-up people retain in varying degrees this aptitude for being in fun and thus enjoying unpleasant things as funny. But those not richly endowed with humor manage to feel a very comic feeling only when within the playfully unpleasant thing, there is a pleasant one. Only then do they laugh uproariously like playing children. And they call this complicated thing or combination of things at which they laugh, a joke. Audiences made up of individuals who have retained in varying degrees the aptitude for being “in fun” provide the humorous speaker with a great challenge; that of reaching all present.

An effective way to achieve the above is to be self-effacing. In other words, poke fun at yourself. This would ensure you do not offend anyone in the audience and at the same time bring forth laughter. Most importantly, have fun with your speech. After all, there’s no point giving a humorous speech when even the speaker thinks it’s not humorous.

Conquer the Fear

TM Rashmi Chhiber shares some tips to help make public speaking, a speak-easy session

Be it a group of 5 people or a whole lecture theatre, speaking in the presence of people always leaves me with sweating palms and wishing fervently that I would somehow melt into the material space around me! Thankfully though, all is not lost!!! Over time, one does accumulate tips which help to reduce the apprehension one feels before giving a speech. As TM Hsin Hsi says in his article “Communication is important” that Being aware of the fears is already halfway to conquering it.

This article will complete the remaining half of the journey by giving you tips on how to overcome that fear.

The first thing to deal with nervousness is to know that you are not the first person to feel this way. Thousands of people before you, and thousands after you will go through the customary phase of feeling nervous. You would have seen a few such people yourself. People who speak at a super-sonic speed, with a bit of mumbling and a lot of jumbled-up words .but everyone gets through the phase, and so can you. It might take time but eventually one does get there. Nervousness is greatly reduced by planning out what one needs to say in the speech and preparing for it. You must decide on the topic, which in most situations would be a give-away. Then plan your speech around this topic with 3-4 main points. If you are not sure about the topic, research on it. Use the web, or the library, or even talk to your friends and colleagues, to be sure you know what you are going to talk about. Great speakers have had varied styles of speech delivering. Some use a lot of anecdotes, others use a good deal of humour. The best approach is to use your own style, and not mimic anyone. When you try to ape someone else’s style, the effort you put in doing that is rather unnecessary and may backfire if you falter in the presence of others. The key is to give the audience some substance in your speech. The style should complement the content, and not be a burden that you have to carry on your shoulders throughout the speech.

After you plan your speech, go about rehearsing it. Rehearse the pauses, the gestures, the modulation of the voice. These little nuances are what make any speech entertaining for the audience. The moment the audience connects with you, you will feel your nervousness disappear and you will actually enjoy delivering the speech from that point onwards. And when you finally do go ahead and deliver your piece, always remember that the audience wants you to succeed. They too know the fear of public speaking and so their appraisal about your speech will be much more lenient than what you would imagine it to be.

The skill of impactfull public speaking is one which will take you a long way. Make sure you don t let your fear spoil that journey. Conquer the fear!

Vocal Care

CTM Dominic Zou speaks up on the oft-neglected topic of vocal problems and what public-speakers need to do to keep clear of them.

We’ve all heard so much about body language and speech organization, but where the voice is concerned, not much has been said. I think I need to speak up. I’m sure we’ve all heard about speech therapists reciting horror stories about teachers and telemarketers who lost their voices. Well, vocal problems are an occupational hazard for public speakers too.

Hydration
Perhaps one of the most underrated requirements of the voice would be water. The human body contains so much fluids, it s basically a walking bag. Most Singaporeans tend to under-drink at any rate, and usually one s voice does result in localized and general fluid loss. A dry mouth stinks. It s also sticky and impedes articulation. A dry throat also gets hoarse easily. Plain water is the best. Isotonic drinks aren’t that suitable since public speaking does not consume that many calories as say, running a marathon (some wonder what the distinction is). Keep your distance from the sweet sugary stuff.

Saliva
Sweet stuff tends to thicken the saliva, giving a similar effect to that of dehydration. So too do starchy foods, especially pastries. On the other side of the scale of saliva viscosity, acidic/spicy/piquant stuff such as chili can make your glands secret e copious amounts of watery saliva. That’s generally okay, so long as you don’t over-salivate, especially on stage. Apart from the comic effect of flooding the back of your mouth as you speak, leading (in extreme cases) to frothing, over-salivation doesn’t look that good either. But chili does have another positive effect.

Opening up the throat
Chili does this by cheating – it causes a slight swelling in your throat. Opening up is actually best achieved by muscular warm-ups. An open throat allows for easier air flow (and less laborious breathing), as well as better resonance. The vocal variety is also important, as you coul d always imitate a constricted, throaty rasp muscularly when you’ve got an open throat, but not vice-versa. The key to all this is muscle relaxation.

Warming up
Like other muscles, those in your throat need to be warmed up before you engage them intensely, such as when giving a public speech of more than 5 minutes. Relaxation exercises usually start with breathing, followed by throat openers such as the prolonged sigh, or humming, or long vowels.

Voice and breathing are then combined in more complex warm-ups that require coordination usually stuff like the laughing is contagious song, familiar to most dramaturges and choristers. Launching your voice into 5th gear without warm-ups may lead to itch, hoarseness, and eventually loss of voice. The same goes for engaging in sound effects and other extremes, such as shouting or rasping. It’s just like doing your 2.4km run right after jumping out of bed.

What about range and power?
After puberty, range is more or less fixed, and tends to mellow very slowly as time creeps by in its petty pace. Any attempt to go beyond one’s tessitura (i.e., the comfort zone) usually requires more of technique than of stretching the range. Your vocal cords (that’s C-O-R-D-S, without the H) can only go that far beyond their natural limits. If you want to try, start soft. Hum. And keep practicing, again and again, until you achieve a suitable resonance. That’s about it. Volume is well, not a practical goal. Just keep focusing on diaphragmatic breathing, and your resonators.

Power exercises from within the tessitura is, similarly, a matter of practice. However, the potential for muscular effort is much greater. But don’t overdo it. Two (temporary) things may happen if you do you lose your voice, and you get a headache. Remember that vibrations occur throughout your skull, and if you resonate well and loud for too long, well you get dizzy.

Resonate?
There are plenty of resonators, it’s quite hard to squeeze mention of all of them into an article like this. Then again, they’re not that related to vocal fitness and care. Perhaps I’ll deal with them in later issues or as the subject of my future Toastmasters projects. There are many other issues to be dealt with, such as acoustics, breathing, timbre, articulation, and yes, resonance, and I would like to be more vocal about them (ha! ) in future. For now, I hope this write-up helps to heighten your awareness of this particular aspect of your voice, and I formally offer this as an excuse for the constant presence of a water bottle beside me at Toastmasters meetings.

Speaking For Impact: Connecting with Every Audience

TM James Ho reviews this Shirley E.Nice book and tells you what Nice means by connecting with the audience.

This is a very good book. How good it is? Let me tell you.

Ten chapters that teach you quite a bit about speaking amd the techniques when dealing with different types of audiences. Every chapter is a lesson in itself. I shall just talk about the first 3 chapters and I leave you, the reader, to read the rest of the book. But, trust me, this book is worth reading, every single word of it.

Chapter 1 talks about the demands of the audience nowadays. They want the speaker to get and hold their attention, entertain them, talk to them on a personal level, be an expert in the topic, being time-efficient, have an important message, know their language and the working environment, say things that can be implemented on the spot and/or new ideas, give them answers, solutions and tips, give them something to remember and, last but not least, make their lives better.

Chapter 2 talks about the speaker’s window, where it is divided into 4 parts, namely, platform, blinders, and source. The platform is what the audience sees when you make a presentation, where it reveals your context and issues, your position in the topic, and where you can be easily seen. The mask hides whatever you do not want the sudience to see. The blinders are what is perceived as been invisible but actually can be seen by the audience. Finally, the source is where your message and passion live.

Chapter 3 is about the speaker’s platform, of which was earlier discussed in Chapter 2. However, in this chapter, the prospective speaker will learn about connecting the audience with his/her stories; Connecting the audience with his/her expertise, either due to special skills or knowledge, substantial experience, achievement and contribution or recognition and acceptance, and knwoing whether he/she is a content speaker or a process speaker; and also to learn how to connect the audience with his/her uniqueness, either through the skill of building a special connection with the audience or the skill of delivering his/her own unique gift.

What I have just depicted are only what is found in the first 3 chapters. There are 7 more chapters and each is interesting on its own. I felt really uplifted after reading this book and I hope you will too.