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The most important aspect of public speaking
is to have the confidence to speak in your own voice and with your
own style.
Winter 2003
Volume I, Issue 1
The Latimer Group is solely focused on helping
executives and sales
professionals develop powerful and persuasive communication skills.
Our programs are customized and specifically designed to create
authentic presentations delivered in the voice of the speaker.
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Top of Page
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The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts working the minute
you're born and never stops until you get up to speak in public.
- Roscoe Drummond
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There is no greater challenge and nothing more important in today's
business world than authentic and honest communication. Despite electronic
and overnight mail, fax machines, BlackBerries and pagers, at the end of
the day, effective communication comes down to voice, message and the
impression left with an audience.
We live today in a culture and a business environment approaching the
limits of its tolerance of "spin" and image manipulation. The American
business community and general population are far more aware and
sophisticated than ever. We now view those individuals who are clearly
more concerned with style than with substance for what they truly are:
manipulators who have become too reliant on "spin doctors."
The goal of any public speaking engagement, presentation, or communication
opportunity is to provoke thought, shape opinion and build consensus. To
do so you need to be able to persuade, and to maximize your own power of
persuasion, you need to be able to speak in the most credible voice
possible - your own. If your audience cannot hear and identify your voice,
they may miss your message, and the opportunity to build consensus may be
lost.
What does "speaking in your own voice" really mean? It does not refer
solely to the delivery of your message. It is about more than tone,
gesture, and mannerisms. When I encourage clients to speak in their own
voice, I am referring to the entire communication equation: the topic on
which they speak, the way they organize their content, the way they tailor
the presentation to their audience, the passion they have for the topic,
and the confidence and energy with which they
deliver the message.
When given the opportunity to speak publicly, many of us become
pre-occupied with an image of the perfect public speaker - witty, calm,
smooth, and extremely eloquent. This pre-occupation often leads to one of
two outcomes. Either we become something that we are not, thereby
attempting to speak in another voice and reducing effectiveness. Or we
convince ourselves that we can never be that perfect public speaker,
nerves take control, and confidence and effectiveness are diminished.
Ultimately, we are at our most effective when we speak in the best
voice possible - our own. I am not suggesting that you speak in your own
voice to the exclusion of your audience and their needs. I am suggesting
that you always be mindful of the balance between the establishment of
your voice and what is appropriate for your audience.
In the final analysis, the most effective speakers are the most
authentic ones. And the most authentic speakers are the most confident
ones. And the most confident speakers are well-informed on their subject
matter and carry a passion for it that is naturally conveyed to their
audience.
The ability to speak in one's own voice does not come easily to most of
us. It requires a confidence borne out of real self-awareness and
cultivated through diligent preparation of content and delivery style.
The well known speechwriter and author Peggy Noonan perhaps said it
best: "If I were advising a candidate, I would say 'Don't be so eager
to be bright and quick and clever and memorable. Be you, try to be honest,
speak with all the candor you can muster and say it the way you'd say it
to your family.'"
This is good advice for business leaders and executives, as well as
politicians. The greatest opportunity to communicate with your audience
(whether you are leading the people in your organization, or communicating
with investors, colleagues, etc.) presents itself when you are speaking
plainly, honestly and authentically. When you do so, you become real,
because there is only one you. When you don't, when you try to imitate,
you become the cliché.
How do you avoid being the cliché? Know yourself, know your audience
and know your subject.
Dean M. Brenner
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© 2003 The Latimer Group. All Rights Reserved.
Dean M. Brenner -
The Latimer Group: 203.265.4344.
Feedback or comments: dmbrenner@thelatimergroup.com.
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