The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 44: Aug/Sept 2019 | Page 38
BUSINESS ADVICE
THERE’S MORE TO PUBLIC SPEAKING
THAN JUST SPEAKING!
When you stand up to talk there is more to think about than simply what you are
going to say. Chris Dawes, founder of Swindon-based Open Dawes Training, looks
at another important element – physical communication.
It may sound strange coming from trainers
in public speaking and presentation skills,
but we don’t want to focus on speaking
here. We want to look at everything else, all
those forms of non-verbal communication,
which, if done well, enhance your talk or
presentation - and if done badly can detract
from the effort you have put in.
STAND TALL
When you present, stand up straight and
take your hands out of your pockets. This
will give you presence, aid your ability to
command the room, and make you look and
feel more confident.
SAY CHEESE!
Always smile, it’s a natural relaxant (try it
now), which creates a connection with the
audience and is likely to make them smile
back. Remember, they are on your side and
empathising with you – this isn’t an audition
for Britain’s Got Talent! Just avoid doing
anything negative that they’ll notice and
remember - leave them to focus on the talk.
MAKE EYE CONTACT
One of the most important rules when
presenting is to make eye contact. It is often
said that a presenter should look at one
person for two or three seconds at a time
but have you tried to count the seconds while
delivering a speech?
Our advice is to look at a different person
at the start of each new sentence. This will
seem more natural and be easier to follow.
Make sure you look at everybody, even if they
are in the margins of the room. Equally, if
someone appears uncomfortable when you
make eye contact, avoid your look returning
to them too often. Avoid eye darting – quickly
glancing from person to person – which can
come across as insincere.
DON’T PLANT YOURSELF
Move around while you talk. Changing
the focus of your eye contact will help you
achieve this, as you will naturally take steps
as you look at different people. However,
don’t move too much and never pace.
THE HANDS HAVE IT
Your hands are important in helping you
to emphasise a point, so you need to move
them. However, our advice is when they are
‘resting’ you put them in front of you, one
palm gently on top of the back of the other
hand. This is an ‘anchor point’ and returning
to this anchor will help stop you overusing
your hands whilst leaving them free to use to
add emphasis. Avoid clenching, wringing or
clasping your hands.
WATCH YOUR BODY LANGUAGE
There are many little habits to avoid,
including fidgeting (perhaps with a pen lid),
touching your hair or face, jingling keys,
gripping the lectern, table or microphone
stand for dear life… the list continues.
Finally, here is our golden rule that you
should never break – don’t turn your back on
the audience. You may simply be checking
your slides but it’s bad manners and makes
you hard to hear. With ‘presenter mode’ in
the likes of PowerPoint, you are able to use
your laptop in front of you to see the slides,
what is coming next, and any personal
notes – there’s no need to look at the screen
behind you.
If you’d like help with verbal and non-
verbal communications skills when
presenting, get in touch with Open Dawes
Training. We run CPD accredited public
speaking and presentation training for
groups and individuals, either inhouse or
at Open Dawes’s training centre at Nexus
Offices, Swindon.
For more information visit:
www.opendawestraining.co.uk, call 01793
238259 or email:
[email protected]
External help could be the game-changer
for your business
By Paul Holmes, PCH Business Support
An external perspective on a business
problem can solve that problem – when a
business owner recognises he or she needs
help to change.
I’ve recently been holding free one-to-
one sessions through the Growth Hub at
Cirencester for local SMEs owners who
recognise they need to do something
different.
Kay Ransom, a multiple award-winning
photographer came along recently, has now
become a client and has given permission to
share some of her story.
Kay has been running her business for
14 years working locally, regionally and
nationally with a focus on events.
During our hour-long session, I asked
a series of questions to get a sense of how
the company runs as well as its strengths
and challenges. This enabled me identify a
starting point for change.
We established Kay’s goals, looked at how
she operates, what works and what doesn’t,
as well as identifying a need to substantially
change the revenue stream to better reflect
her talents.
Kay has worked tirelessly at building
relationships with well-known brands and
national corporate clients. This has provided
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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019
some good revenue, however, as is common
with bigger companies, with each change of
personnel the relationship has to be rebuilt.
We identified building strategic
relationships with a range of event
companies would significantly change the
way Kay works. The aim would be for them
to use her services as part of their own
packages.
“Paul combined a great mix of conveying
his wealth of knowledge with great listening
skills. Paul has lots of positive energy
and I see him being a fab influence on my
business,” Kay said.
Our second aim is to develop Kay’s brand
- moving away from ‘have a photographer
at your event’ and towards ‘Kay Ransom,
narrative story-teller who will bring your
event alive using skills built up over 14 years’.
We’ve also identified additional specialist
skills which will allow Kay to run photo-
related training and development events
monthly. This ‘one-to-many’ approach, can
increase revenue stream significantly. One is
Painting by Light photos - similar to writing
your name in the air with a sparkler on
bonfire night.
The benefit of working with an
experienced external adviser is that they
can often see ways forward which are
not obvious to you – or you can see the
opportunity yet cannot work out how to move
realistically towards it.
PCH Business Support offers a monthly
business support service, detailed
business reviews and help with growing
your business.
To find out more visit:
www.pchbusinesssupport.co.uk
Email:
[email protected]
Call:
07715008521
“An external perspective
on a business problem
can solve that problem -
when a business owner
recognises he or she needs
help to change”