The Energy in your Presentation: Not a Fossil Fuel !
In the original black and white movie, Count Dracula walks into a big
loud party in a castle. He’s all duded up in a tux. Heads turn.
All conversation stops. This guy is putting out shear energy- and he’s
not even talking!
I share this with clients who feel the need to
clear their throats or sip a lot of water during their presentations.
Others start developing a raspy voice. Many of these annoyances come
from the bad habit of speaking and projecting from your throat!. Folks
get so caught up in looking at their audience and thinking that their
speaking voice comes from their mouth’ that they forget- or don’t know- that
the innervation of our voice is actually from our stomach! (For the moment-
please forget about the word ‘diaphragm’.) We all want to communicate our
passion and sincerity- and keep our listeners spellbound- but there’s a much
easier, more effective means of achieving this. Let’s tackle the
problem!
Energy- as in “You need to put more energy in your
presentations/interviews/speeches”.. or “You need to stop shouting!”
The real goal of your ‘energy’ should be defined via the mindset of
‘I’m standing here before you because I’m the best person to share what you
need to know. You’re lucky it’s me because I really know what I’m
talking about- and I’m seriously excited to have the opportunity to talk
about [ your topic]. ‘
In fact, you can even use the italicized part in
your opening remark. But many speakers take ‘energy’ to mean: boost
your volume close to a shouting level and decide which words you want to
‘punch’. Then they get caught in ‘up-speaking’, or what I call
upticks. This is the ending of every sentence up/up/up without
‘landing’ until you catch yourself and calm down. Three bad things
happen:
1. Many speakers going
for a louder voice are pushing from their throats instead of from their
stomachs. This creates a tighter sounding, thinner and sometimes
higher voice. Tight because the throat isn’t meant to propel words..
thin because you’ve lost all torso resonance.. and high because the
straining from your throat also tightens your vocal cords- thus making your
pitch higher. Remember that your voice is ‘pumped out from the stomach’ and
develops a lovely, natural resonance by vibrating in your torso as it passes
up through your vocal cords- and out through your mouth. You can be
clever.. warm.. deadly serious.. friendly.. or as loud elements in your
presentation call for- (eg. hammering home a point) but you don’t want to
push out your voice from your throat.
2.
‘Punching’ or ‘emphasizing’ individual words only serves to relegate your
information into a series of: isolated words! As many of my clients
know: I refer to it as ‘oomphing’. This is not clear communicating:
lose.. cut
full
overcharge
I’m hearing a
caveman grunt- trying to communicate with the few words he/she’s learned.
(yes, I am wondering if we need to say caveperson now). Here’s what
this person is really intending to tell us :
Our pension system
stands to lose 1.8 million dollars in state revenue- which is a nearly 40%
cut compared to last year.
Our former CIO James Smith takes full
responsibility for what happened.
We discovered that their company
earned more than $50 million dollars in fees by conspiring with outside
vendors to over-charge 180 clients.
Please assure you’ve done
extra research on your topic. The extra knowledge that has padded your
perspective becomes gold in padding your confidence. Now your body is
relaxed.. your pumping your voice out from your stomach.. your brain is
relaxed because you’re imparting what you’ve decided.. and you’re standing
there, sharing it. Please remember to provide your information in
complete units. I call them ‘cognitive chunks’. Do not be afraid to
try this. The ‘energy’ within the information will naturally fall into
place… and your face will in turn soften and become more emotive as you’re
more attuned with what you’re saying. And trust me- you’ll look
better.
3. In effort to impose
an overlay of hoopla and excitability- often when it’s not warranted- many
of you are imposing a ‘fake energy’, as distinguished from fake news.
This wreaks havoc on the real sentiment behind your information. I’m
hearing sentences broken into a series of segments that veer upwards..
[pause].. upwards.. [pause].. and finally ‘land’ with an up/down at the very
end. Mid-sentence upticks make you sound nervous or rushed, and the
‘up/down ends’ definitely create a semantic implication of ‘there you go!
bet you didn’t know that! Whoa!’ . This often does not convey the real
sentiment that you intend to communicate.
Try fixing
some or all of these bad habits by practicing a few sentences. Grab some
notes or text from a presentation or speech that you’ve done- or one that
you’ll be doing. Think about projecting from your stomach and not
forcing your voice.. do not get caught up beforehand with ‘what you should
emphasize (hint- remember the cognitive chunks) ... and trust that the
facts/implications/innuendos that your brain is aware of will create the
natural flow and up/down inflections of your voice. You’ll first whiz
through the information quickly to yourself to ‘internalize’ it.. it’s ok
to use a quiet muttering voice as you do. Then- go for it! If you’re
successful, you’ll be hearing a new, improved voice that better reflects a
smart, relaxed, likeable person.
Each of us has a unique
voice and manner of communicating. The personal dedication you bring to
your work registers in different ways among you and your colleagues.
Many of us react to the same information differently.. and then there’s the
small matter of our widely divergent personalities! If you allow
your anatomy to help you speak and project in the most natural, effortless
way.. if you’re in touch with the greater and more localized nuances of your
story.. if you remember that each listener in the room has their own
personal reactions to your information.. if you don’t try to impress us by
trying to impose a speaking style that you believe you need to achieve-
then you have found your Personal Energy- and your listeners will like you,
trust you, and want to get their information or inspiration from you again.
Joanne Stevens
News consultant Joanne Stevens has written extensively about broadcast writing, reporting and anchoring, including columns in the former print version of RTDNA's Communicator Magazine, and earlier versions of the RTDNA website. She has taught at Columbia and New York University and serves as a news award judge for the New York Press Club. She has returned to RTDNA.org to offer a new series of News Coach columns with tips, best practices and more. - Click on the RTDNA logo below to learn more.
