Ever get your mords wuddled??

I know, I know! I geek out on communication…!!

I wanted to share an observation that may resonate with you and help you when speaking in public.

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Yes, that all time no1 fear!

The thing you’ve been shying away from, saying you couldn’t possibly stand up in front of people and speak… ??

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Well, I was asking my students in the Courageous Influential Speakers’ Academy who their speaking role models were… and why.

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Various names were in the frame from Tony Robbins, Brene Brown, Jim Rohn, Gary Vee to name but four.

What was the common reason?

Authenticity!

Presence!

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It got me thinking re how we can cultivate the art of authenticity and presence when speaking, especially when nerves are getting the better of us.

It also came up this week with the TEDx speakers getting ready to hit the stage at the conference in 10 days.

Nerves can do strange things to your powers of recall and communication in general.

You can get your mords wuddled! (spoonerism – where you swap the initial sounds of words in a phrase.)

Have you ever found yourself starting to write one word and finish it off with the end of the next word in your head?

Getting your worddled?

That second one can also be a feature of a fast processing brain – you’ve already gone onto the next thought before finishing the first.

Yep! Been there, done that!

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Well that’s something I have particularly noticed with speakers especially when you combine fast thinkers AND nerves!!

The “Let’s get this over and done with asap!” results in shallow breathing and compounds a fast-processing brain: the speed of delivery can increase AND the energy tails off towards the end of the sentence as the speaker has already finished that thought and gone on to the next one…

Except the audience hasn’t! ?

We are not privy to the fast-paced action going on inside the speaker’s brain and are left wondering “what was that?”

You see, English tends to cram the important content words at the ends of sentences so when the breath, energy and therefore the volume and diction fade away so does the meaning!

A confused audience is a zoned out/bored audience and may even physically get up and walk out!!

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What’s the answer?

PRESENCE!!

You have taken the time to write those words. If they’re in your presentation honour them with your attention, your mindfulness, your Presence!

When you

respect

each

word

whether a content word (such as those juicy nouns and verbs that carry the who did what)

or the syntactic words eg the “little” words (like “a”, “the”),

question words that indicate the nature of the sentence as a question (“what”, “where”, “who” etc),

then the meaning is carried, and you have taken your audience on the journey through your ideas

which is, after all, what you intended!

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The way to be present for your audience is to be present with the content.

Watch your audience to see how the concepts land.

Are you going too fast?

In your excitement, passion, (and maybe nerves?!)

are you losing the clarity, the flow, the presence?

If you are, take a moment!

It’s OK to pause,

to breathe!

You will feel better for it!

And so will your audience!

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Maya Angelou said that people will forget what you said, what you did but never how you made them feel.

You want your audience to remember you because you made them feel at ease,

so that they could remember

that you had something to share that made sense to them,

maybe challenged their thinking,

inspired them to take action.

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If you’re not present with your content and your audience, in contrast they could feel

bored,

confused,

cheated of that time they spent with you.

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So, if you’re a speaker, in whatever context whether in front of a group or with your family, if you want to influence, I invite you to be present and be a conscious communicator!?