This is a sappy story about my vacation and my understanding of the significance of silence. With a home movie too!
I have been preaching, ok I’ll tone that down to lecturing, on the benefits of silence while presenting.
It is all right to stop and allow a good few seconds of silence:
When you feel an um coming
When impact is needed
When you need to take a restorative deep breath
I’ve just returned from Southern Utah, driving home through Monument National Park, and the Sierra Nevadas.
Yes, it is a little shaky. I’m new to recording and loving my new Flip camera.
My driving partner in crime will attest to my awe at the sheer magnificence of red rocks, towering precipices, and gushing or meandering waterways.
They made me quiet. They made me introspective.
I realized that it is all right to be present, in the moment. And I deeply understood what I communicate to my clients. It is ok to stand in front of your audience and allow them to appreciate you and for you to appreciate them.
A quick post today. I am a lover of TED talks and use their high calibre presentations as a source of reference and analysis.
TED curator Chris Anderson was recently interviewed by James Daly. Anderson shared presentation insights that aspiring presenters can use in their own presentations.
Women speakers take note, Anderson is on the look out for interesting women speakers for upcoming TED talks.
We’re always looking out for interesting women. It’s an easy critique of any technology conference that there are aren’t enough women speakers and it’s true. But it certainly isn’t for want of looking and trying. We’d like to have (PepsiCo CEO) Indra K. Nooyi.
Can you remember a presentation that has long stayed with you? What was the secret power that it held? It likely was the passion of the speaker. The presenter was perhaps someone you would consider a good candidate to be a friend – just one of us ‘normal’ folk.
I found a clip of a speech given by Senator Diane Savino speaking on gay marriage legislation that is/will be voted on by members of the New York State Senate. The clip extends seven minutes. I watched the entire clip. This is unusual for me because usually I get bored and turn off clips within a minute.
What makes Senator Savino different? She speaks with passion and believes in her cause. And her passion outstripped her fidgeting and gesturing. The clip received over 327,000 views and over 1300 positive comments.
This comment was one of the few that was negative:
Comment on YouTube from:Monkeysniffer08
wow…. she has some horrible speaking habits…..- pen clicking- fidgeting- rubbing her ear- holding her pen and flinging around with it.
Monkeysniffer noticed and so did I. But I didn’t care.
Her message outshone les faux pas.
Which proves you do not have to be a perfect speaker — just a speaker who speaks with passion and believes in your own words.
Next post I will write about Senator Savino’s speech and her use of rhetorical persuasion.
Here is a young man who has mastered public speaking at the young age of 11. The key — Jonathan believes in what he has to say and he believes in himself. Because of his ability to show us his confidence non-verbally and verbally he allows us to connect with him. We feel the raw him, he lets us share what it is to be in his shoes for a few minutes. A gift.
