10 Minute Magic !
Lalit Khanna
MD SL Consultants, Director at SL Professional Services Pvt. Ltd (Business Management Consultancy Company)
There are times of snappy tweets, short 'txt' messages, 10-second ad spots... you get my drift. It is essential to grab attention, and do so quickly. Journalists, for instance, are now under enormous pressure to convey the latest news faster than ever before.?
To do so calls for maintaining not only a wide network of reliable sources who provide information on the trot, but also of analysts who can give succinct interpretations of a development in 10 minutes flat. People in other professions too face similar pressures.
Thus 10 minutes is sometimes all you will get to make your biggest career move, or clinch a vital deal. How do you utilize them effectively?
Here are some tips to help you start:?
Sort of, sorted: You lose your audience when you punctuate your sentences with fillers such as sort of, you know, like, and so forth. These meaningless expressions dilute the impact of your words. Avoid them, and focus on the key points you need to make. There are also ways of enhancing impact, such as voice modulation and the appropriate use of humour. But learning these takes time and training.
Speak with passion: Good speakers are those who speak with a lot of feeling. They do not engage in verbal pyrotechnics. Many do not even try to be witty. They draw attention because they communicate clearly, and make you feel they care about what they are saying.?
"It is very important to feel something and then say it. Every sentence should have a cogent thought behind it, or convey important information.
Live in the moment: People who grab attention are those who are not burdened by baggage. They tend to be very here-and-now. They connect promptly to developments around them, which enables them to respond to evolving situations fast.?
Add value, differentiate: There is no need to be flashy.