Settling into my first month doing my new daily show, The Final Bar, one of the biggest lessons I am learning is how to speak more effectively. Throughout the course of my career I have learned a lot about communication, but having only a 30-minute window has given me an entirely new perspective on mindful communication.
In only 30 minutes I attempt to share numerous amounts of ‘digestible nuggets of wisdom’, if you will, which undeniably can be a challenge.
Two of my favorite quotes about communication are:
“One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.” - Will Durant
“The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.” - Voltaire
The two biggest takeaways (for myself at least) from these quotes are simplicity and silence.
What I have found is that when I have a 30-60 minute presentation, I tend to speak very quickly to ensure that I am able to get all of my information and key takeaways out, rarely taking a break to breathe. When I finally finish my presentation or do stop to catch my breath I quickly discover that I am out of breath from furiously rushing through the information. It winds up having a ‘fire hose’ type of effect where so much information is coming out so quickly that the audience is not able to digest all of it.
Pause. Take a breath. Continue.
In a presentation setting, silence is a good thing. You can still speak quickly and thoughtfully, simply pause when you need to. You will be surprised by how huge of an impact that simple ‘dramatic pause’ can make.
One of the ways I find myself using this tool most effectively is to write “SLOW” at the top of my presentation notes. This is a tool I have used since college that reminds me to say half as much yet get twice as much across to my audience.
I know this works well for me because when I do this I speak more deliberately when presenting. In other instances where I forget to use my “SLOW” method, I find myself rushing through the material.
My challenge to you is to determine how you can better use silence and simplicity to speak more intentionally and mindfully when communicating with your audience.
RR#6,
Dave
Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Please see the Disclaimer page for full details.