Driving home recently from an outdoor party, I noticed as I was getting near to my home town that the road was wet – very wet, with puddles at the sides.

‘I wonder what’s happened here?’ I thought. ‘Perhaps there’s been a burst waterpipe.’

It was only when I realised that the roads were very wet for the final 2- 3 miles home that it dawned on me that there must have been a local downpour.

I laughed at myself for not thinking of that in the first place. I live in England after all!

But no rain had been forecast, it had stayed dry for the party and we hadn’t had rain in a few weeks so it wasn’t my first thought.

That made me think about how our experience shapes our viewpoint and perception and why it’s important to hear from people with different experiences and different perceptions.

Which is why it’s important to share your stories.

Why not a book a call with me...

Imagine a situation where what you can see doesn’t quite match what you’re hearing.
It might be one of those film clips where the original soundtrack is replaced by something else, designed to make you laugh. Imagine some footage of a formal occasion where the voices and music indicate a completely different scenario.

When our eyes and ears are bringing us conflicting messages it can become confusing.

Picture someone saying how passionate they are about their topic while slouching and their head hanging down.

Picture the opposite, where someone is bouncing around seemingly full of energy at the same time as saying that they’re the shy retiring type.

Do you believe your eyes or your ears?

It’s the same when you’re giving a talk or presentation. However underconfident you’re feeling, act as if you are feeling confident and your audience will believe their eyes.

Do you need help with becoming more confident in...

‘You’ve taught me how to read properly.’

Honoured to be asked to read a popular bible reading at my niece’s wedding, I wanted to make it a bit different. I wanted to read it so that people would really listen as they’d possibly never listened before and for 1 person at least as this feedback shows, I achieved that.

How had I done that?

I had to read it as if I’d never read it before – but as with all good presentations, that required practise.

I experimented with which words and phrases to emphasise; I practised looking out at the congregation; I practised so that I could read it without my emotions tripping me up.

It’s the same with your own presentations. You need to practise so much that it sounds as though you just made it up.

Need help with that? Get in touch to arrange a call.

https://calendly.com/storycoach/30min

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach and professional speaker.

She...

How fast should you speak when you only have a short time to deliver your message?

Generally speaking, speeding up in order to cram more content into your allocated time isn’t the answer. You’ll leave your audience exhausted and confused.

But sometimes adding a bit more pace is absolutely the right thing to do.

Pace is a great indicator of the mood you want to convey so if you have something exciting to say then speed up a bit.

When you have something more serious then slowing your pace helps drive that message home. Even separating out your words gives time for your audience to process what you’re saying.

Either way, keep your sentences fairly short. Too long a sentence delivered at speed becomes way too hard to process. Too long a sentence delivered with gravitas loses impact.

In summary, use pace to add quality, not quantity.

Need help with taking your speaking to the next level? Book a call with me to see how I can help.

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