In my training sessions, whenever I announce for a break (whether tea-breaks or lunch breaks), I would intentionally state the returning time to be an exact timing; eg 1.51pm, or 3.23pm.
Even in arranging meetings with clients or friends, i would do the same. Some people finds it to be too exact and, probably peculiar to some! But the psychological reason behind it is that the human minds process it as "sounding exact"; therefore it will register it "almost permanent"; which leads to "easy to remember" by people. As a result, almost 100% of the time I would get "on-time" attendance. So, the next time you are making an appointment with "frequent latecomers", give this approach a go. And do share your experience. Yours sincerely Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
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In one of our earlier posts, I mentioned that in order to connect and communicate with someone, we need to observe which DISC style the person is and we then adapt accordingly.
What if, in the audience, all Four styles are present? How do we adapt our speeches then? The answer is DISC (this)! Using the acronym D-I-S-C, prepare and present your speech in that very same process: Step 1: Start by targeting the D-Style audience. They (Dominant) are results-oriented, so go straight to the point by sharing the results and impact in your speech. This is to get their buy-in, or you'll lose them. Step 2: Next, inject fun and energetic elements in your speech. You will win the I-(Interactive) Style audience with this method. Step 3: Following which, start sharing personal stories. Include some elements of empathy and sincerity to connect with the S-(Supportive) Style audience. Step 4: Finally, go into the details of your speech. Includes figures and charts wherever possible. The C-(Conscientious) Style audience will appreciate you. There is no hard and fast rule. As long as you honour their styles, the audience will reciprocate positively. Till then, thank you for your readership. Towards communication excellence - create a presence, make a difference. Regards, Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!
Where should our eyes be .... when we are presenting, that is?
Imagine you are talking to someone, and the person you are talking to does not look at you directly, and keeps wandering his or her eyes away from you. What would you feel? Awkward? Uncomfortable? Do not feel trusted? You are right. In fact, it is a basic courtesy to look at someone when we speak. The same philosophy goes to when we are giving a speech or presentation. Our eyes should be targeted at the most important direction - our audience! By looking directly at our audience, it shows our commitment and sincerity in our speeches. The audience will then be glued to us. Here are two Pitfalls of Eye Contacts that you should avoid when presenting: 1) Random Eyes - When you are presenting, avoid glancing or darting or eyes away from the audience. You will not look confident. 2) Abandon Eyes - Do not desert your eyes from the audience by mostly looking at your notes or looking at the powerpoint slides. The audience will feel disconnected and you will lose your audience instantly. Here are 3 Eye Connection methods to strive for: 1) Friendly Eyes - Start with a smile and look at each audience at least 2-3 seconds before moving on to the next one 2) Look at EVERY person! - Yes. Everyone counts. Strive to look at every person in the room. Audience will feel connected if you connect with them 3) Prepared with content - It is okay to glance your slides or notes once in awhile but by being prepared with your content, you do not have to rely on the notes to speak, so you can focus on looking at the audience. Give it a try and share your experiences. Till then, thank you for your readership. Towards communication excellence - create a presence, make a difference. Regards, Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!
Do you enjoy enjoy working in harmony with your colleagues at work? I believe you do. So am I. I had an experience working with an ex-colleague who was so direct in her approach. On the other hand, I prefer to enjoy the working environment and get things done in the process. In the initial stages, we had minor tiffs and disagreements. I felt there was a need to address this; else I would be going to work as if I was going to a battlefield everyday. In theatre improvisation, there is a philosophy which says "Make Others Look Good." I contextualised this to the working environment where, in whatever we do, always make our colleagues look and feel good (no! This is not "carrying b*lls! Well, afterall, there is no harm in making others happy. In the Law of Universe, if we make other people happy, some other people will make us happy). So I felt that, one way was to adapt my communication style to that of my colleague's. That helped to solve differences - which led to higher productivity. If you are facing with similar situation, or know of anyone who does, here’s a quick 3-step method to help you get along well with your colleagues (or family members and friends). STEP 1: Activate your “Empathy” and identify which behavioural style your colleague is. Based on the research done by William Marston on behavioural styles, he explained that people demonstrated their emotions based on these 4 behavioural styles: Dominance (D), Influential (I), Steadiness (S) and Compliance (C). D-style person exudes a direct and decisive behaviour. He/ She wants results or outcomes fast. I-style person exudes a positive and optimistic outlook. He craves interaction with people. S-Style person exudes a relaxed and “homey” approach. He/She does not usually share his/ her emotions but have a strong sense of loyalty and the need to serve others. C-style person exudes his/her attention to detail and enjoys structured settings and sets of procedures to follow. Numbers, figures and data are C-style person’s favourites. STEP 2: Adjust your communication and interaction style to suit the different groups of people to maintain a positive experience: With a D-Style person – speak with directness, remain brief and straight to the point. Focus on the business and the results. Offer suggestions to solve the problems and maintain control. With an I-style person - speak with enthusiasm and allow some form of social interaction before going down to business. Share information in a big picture format because I-style person is not too attentive to details. If possible, include humour in the conversations. With an S-style person – speak with a relaxed pace and do not be alarmed when he/she keeps quiet most of the time – because S-style person prefers to listen than talking. If you would need any decisions from an S-style, give him/ her ample time to think and deliberate. With a C-style person – speak direct and to the point with less small talk. If you would need any decision from a C-style person, provide him/ her with as much detailed information (such as facts, figures and data) as possible and allow him/ her time to weigh all things down. STEP 3: Let the conversation flow with Step 1 in mind. Do note that there is no right or wrong way. The key word is to ADAPT to the personality and everything will go smoothly. That’s a quick 3-step process. You can even contextualise this method in other settings, example at home or at networking session. Did you manage to apply it? How did it go? Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
Dananjaya Hettiarachchi won the World Champion of Public Speaking 2014. Here we looked at what are the 8 elements that made him tick:
1) Theatrical attention grabbing opener with analogy. Dananjaya’s opening style was an attention grabber and theatrical. He took time to take the flower out of his left pocket (in theatre, this is called ‘moments’) and used it as an analogy in his speech. He even addressed the audience as “flower” because of the positiveness of it. That immediately made the audience as part of his presentation. 2) Engage Audience with questions and hand movements. Twice, he asked the audience to raise hands to respond his questions. “Raise your hands, if…” This is one of the simple yet effective method to get the audience to agree and respond to your questions. By getting the audience to move, that is a way to engage and eliminate any boredom. Interestingly, he didn’t use this method at the beginning of his speech (like some other speakers would) to grab attention. This is a mark of a confidence speaker. 3) Using parents as an emotional connection. Everyone has parents. By using his parents’ attributes (his emotional mama and cool dad) as anchor points to start his story, he gets the audience to relate with him easily. That again is a good connection. 4) Comic Timing for humour. His didn’t use slapstick humour to get attention or audience to laugh. He uses effective gestures and comic timing to illustrate “… when putting everything together, you’ll get my momma (or my dad)”. Audience laughed at that gesture (which he did twice) and during that moments when the audience laughed, he paused and let the audience enjoyed the laughter. I would call it a “sin” if you continue your story when your audience is laughing. 5) Stage movements – Moving with a reason. He used the different parts of stage to illustrate the different points of his story. At Stage Left (I call it ‘Stage Left’ because from the point of view as a speaker), it would be the story about him and his mother. At Centre Stage, it was about him and his father and also about him and this “strange” man he met during his table topics presentation. Stage Right would be about him and his father’s good friend. These different movements were different anchor points and brought the audience in the journey of his interaction among the different characters. 6) Gestures. See how he used his gestures – he used different hand gestures to illustrate tears of joy (right hand gestures), tears of sorrow (left hand gestures) and tears of shame (pointing to him, because in the story he had let his mother’s down.) 7) Using Repetition and punch lines. “I see something in you, but I don’t know what it is”: he used it three times as part of his storytelling… That’s repetition…a very good tool to get messages anchored in the audience’s mind. He also used it as punchlines to good effect to get good laughs. 8) Closing the speech. Towards the ending part of his presentation, he went back to the “flower”. It was a good link and recollection as to where he started off and talked about the flower again. And he ended it with his punchline, “When I look at you, I see something in you” which by then, the sentence had already embedded in the minds of the audience and got the audience in stitches again. He ended the show by portraying a “Star” calibre by throwing the flower into the audience. He won the audience (and the judges)! In conclusion, these are 8 elements that were present in Dananjaya Hettiarachchi’s speech that made him a winner: Good Script + Good Delivery + Theatrical elements = World Champion! Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factoey Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!
Your team is doing badly and is not meeting the KPIs. You have some good ideas to share and rectify the situation, but even before you finish your sentence, you got "shot down" by your other colleagues.
You felt demoralised and didn't want to contribute anymore... That's it? You do nothing after that? It's perfectly okay to feel that way at that moment. Losing a battle does not mean losing the war. Keep calm and continue to contribute your ideas. Don't underestimate your ideas! Here's a 5-Step Method you can do should you encounter similar situation: 1) Prepare/ Structure your ideas into mini-speeches that has "Intro, Main Points, Conclusion/ Call To Actions" 2) Request for "permission" to speak. Permission here does not mean you need an approval, but rather to create a "presence". Stand up to speak. 3) If someone "shoots down" your ideas before you can even finish your sentences, smile. Then acknowledge that person's viewpoint. 4) BUT continue standing up. Be firm yet polite and say that it is only fair to share & discuss opinions after one has finished speaking. "Seek permission" again to continue or end your speech proper. Once again, you are creating presence and a polite way of saying "Hey, you shut up. Listen to me first!" 5) Then continue share and convince others of your ideas as you had planned. That idea may be the catalyst your team is looking for. Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!
What is one thing in common we face when taking examinations?
Anxiety! Anxiety and examinations are almost synonyms. Just like fear in speaking to the public, anxiety in examinations can it be managed too. Below are 5 simple steps that you can do to cope, and ultimately eliminate that examinations anxiety. This is based on my experienced over a few a years of sitting several major examinations and professional certifications. Pre-Exam: #01: Prepare early Create a timetable where you can systematically practise for the examinations. Some start revision 2 or 3 months in advance, some start earlier. As people say, practice makes perfect; but I believe in Practice makes Permanent! #02: Learn for exams according to your preferred styles Different learnerss have different ways to learn. So do not be puzzled why some people learn at cafes with music played at the background (these people are auditory); some prefers to be alone (introverts); some needs to see diagrams, mind maps, charts etc (visual learners). #03: Have enough sleep An average person sleep between 7-8 hours per day. So keep to that timing. #04: Dont' go to the examination hall with an empty stomach Empty stomach will leads to lack of focus. During Exam: #05: Read ALL questions before attempting any Researchers from Netherlands and Australian universities made studies and found out that students who read the questions performed significantly better that those who didnt; and they also reportedly had lower examinations anxiety.
1) Speak slowly
Generally, if people are nervous, they tend to speak very fast. Too fast like the MRT! And often, audience cant get your message. To overcome this, take a deep breath and speak slowly and comfortably. 2) Sincerely Smile! Do you know that smile can change a behaviour? Let say someone is angry with you, just give that person a sincere smile, that person may not be that angry anymore - well at least won't be as bad as initially. If you smile, people will associate you with a friendly and confident person (even if you know you are shivering inside!). Other people wont get angry easily with confident people. 3) Say Goodbye to Slouching. Don't slouch! Stand tall, chin up and make sure both your feet must be waist-width apart. Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
In any stand-up presentation, the slides is an AudioVisual Aid; not the main attraction.
The presenter (You!) is the Star of your own presentation. So keep your texts on slides to a minimal (but more graphics is advisable instead). Because audience wants to see, listen & learn from you! Some tips to keep your slides with minimal texts: 1) Create a presentation that has 3-5 Main Points/ Categories 2) For each Main Point, have only 3-5 sub-points per slide 3) For each sub-point, have only 3-5 words per sub-point 4) Use pictures and graphics 5) Do not use animations unnessarily Yours creatively Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antiote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
Let say your team of 4 is making a decision as to which is the holiday destination that the four of you would want to go to; among the three countries already identified. eg Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan.
One method of creative decision making is to use "$10" voting. Which means each team member can vote by "allocating" the different amount (based on total $10 per person) for each country. Then, after the voting session, tally up the totals allocated amounts. The country with the highest amounts wins. Eg: Member A votes : HK = $5; Vietnam = $3; Japan=$2 Member B votes : HK = $2; Vietnam = $7; Japan=$1 Member C votes : HK = $3; Vietnam = $4; Japan=$3 Member D votes : HK = $5; Vietnam = $2; Japan=$3 Total Tally by each country: HK = $15 Vietnam = $16 Japan = $9 In this example, Vietnam wins as it has the highest amounts ($16). So, Vietnam is the holiday destination for this example. Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
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