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 38 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”