Comments on: Talking Fast http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/01/30/talking-fast/ Linux, politics, and other interesting things Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:32:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: vid http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/01/30/talking-fast/#comment-11985 vid Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:03:38 +0000 http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/01/30/talking-fast/#comment-11985 hi, Try talking/rehearsing in front of the mirror. It works because I get to see how strange I look when i am nervously speaking fast or gesturing too much or am too stiff and rigidly boring sometimes, all of which makes a person babel faster. The mirror helps to monitor the body language or the lack of it and also voice, speed and pitch (tells if you are nervous). While talking I keep a keyword tree (the binary) in mind so if the talk goes on a complete tangent, leaving me with less time to cover other points, i just link it back to another nested part of the topic i want to cover and work upwards or branch around it. I hope I made sense and it helps :) hi,

Try talking/rehearsing in front of the mirror. It works because I get to see how
strange I look when i am nervously speaking fast or gesturing too much or am too stiff and rigidly boring sometimes, all of which makes a person babel faster.

The mirror helps to monitor the body language or the lack of it and also voice, speed and pitch (tells if you are nervous). While talking I keep a keyword tree (the binary) in mind so if the talk goes on a complete tangent, leaving me with less time to cover other points, i just link it back to another nested part of the topic i want to cover and work upwards or branch around it.

I hope I made sense and it helps :)

]]> By: Shannon http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/01/30/talking-fast/#comment-11925 Shannon Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:54:33 +0000 http://etbe.coker.com.au/2008/01/30/talking-fast/#comment-11925 One of the techniques I believe they advise in public speaking courses is to "create a character" that you become when you're speaking. In other words, you imagine the style of confidence, tone of voice, and delivery methods that your "ideal self" would have, and then you focus on becoming that character when you're speaking, the same way an actor projects himself into a acting role. This way, you remain partially mentally focused on the presentation, rather than getting carried away into unconscious over-enthusiasm by focusing solely on just the content. It is a trade-off, of course, in that you may not get to cover all your intended material. But you need to also think about how much of a content-driven but badly presented speech that loses audience attention will actually get absorbed and retained by the audience. As compared to a perhaps less detailed but more exciting speech with zing and character, the delivery of which makes nodding heads spring back to alert interest and higher information retention. One of the techniques I believe they advise in public speaking courses is to “create a character” that you become when you’re speaking. In other words, you imagine the style of confidence, tone of voice, and delivery methods that your “ideal self” would have, and then you focus on becoming that character when you’re speaking, the same way an actor projects himself into a acting role. This way, you remain partially mentally focused on the presentation, rather than getting carried away into unconscious over-enthusiasm by focusing solely on just the content.

It is a trade-off, of course, in that you may not get to cover all your intended material. But you need to also think about how much of a content-driven but badly presented speech that loses audience attention will actually get absorbed and retained by the audience. As compared to a perhaps less detailed but more exciting speech with zing and character, the delivery of which makes nodding heads spring back to alert interest and higher information retention.

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