Cat Got Your Tongue?

Have you ever had a speaking engagement that you practiced for, day after day, until you had it memorized verbatim? Ever find yourself stumbling over those same words once you were in front of an audience? Guilty. Here at Temple, StratComm majors are required to take a public speaking course. But one course won't eliminate the occasional slip-up. So what do you do when you're at a loss for words? Below are a few tips on regrouping yourself during a speech:

1.     Incorporate your own experience to answer the question while buying time: It's perfectly okay to say, "I've never been asked that before," or "Let me think back to when I first experienced that." It will buy you time to remember what it was that you wanted to say. If it doesn't then just move along to your next point, don't sweat the small stuff.

2.     Don't um and ah: These two words are tell-tale signs to the audience that you are lost. Use longer phrases to mix it up and buy you more time than two letters will. 

3.     If appropriate to the question, use the time-buying phrase to redirect the answer to a point you want to make: If someone asks you a question that you don't have an answer to, or that a simple no would suffice, use a time-buying phrase to transition into your next statement, or redirect.

4.     Don’t say anything: At least for a couple seconds! It’s okay to just take a couple seconds to recollect yourself, it’s better than stuttering through or peppering your speech with ums and ahs.

What are your best strategies for regrouping during a speech? Let us know!

Useful Tips on Writing for the Ear

In the public relations industry, being able to write a speech is essential for any PR professional. As a PR student, I realized writing press releases and pitches are constantly presented in our daily duties and classroom curriculum and seldom speeches. Indeed, writing a speech is an important skill we should all hold as public relations/communications students; and it’s important we know the difference between writing for the eye and writing for the ear. 

Writing for the ear should be concise, catchy and consistent. To further enhance and improve your knowledge of writing speeches, below are some helpful tips.

1. Remember a speech is intended to be heard, not read- A speech has listeners, not readers therefore you should write as you would speak. 
2. It should have unambiguous objectives- As any writing, it’s important to have clear and consistent objectives. Having a thesis will surely engage your audience and permit them to follow on. 
3. Be sure to use concrete language- It is important you paint a picture to your audience while delivering your speech to help them visualize what you are presenting. Unlike written work, the reader does not have the advantage of rereading if they had any difficulty understanding a sentence or two. 
4. Know your audience- Tailoring your speech to cohere with your audience is nothing but a smart move.  Nowadays in any industry it is essential to know your audience. 

Whether you are writing a speech for President Obama, a product launch or even for a school event, the aforementioned tips can be used as a head start to writing speeches. 

Do you have any experience with speech writing? Let us know what did and didn’t work for you!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kadesha Holder

Life of a PR & Theatre Student - Take one!

What do public relations and theatre have in common?

Why did you decide to minor in theatre?

The aforementioned questions are ones I encounter each day. Yes, I am completing a major in public relations and minor in theatre and guess what? I love it. Although this combination isn’t the norm, the differences between the two are amazing mainly because they create a balance in my life.

Public speaking plays a major role in PR and unfortunately public speaking isn’t one of my strong points. However, acting and playing the role of a character are strong points of mine.  Here are some things theatre has taught me, and how they help me develop as a PR professional:

Enunciate Your Words - Its important that your audience understands you clearly and theatre teaches you how not to gabble your words. 

Make eye contact with the audience- This factor is essential to a great speech and it keeps your audience engaged.  Theatre improves your ability to connect with an audience. 

Stand firm and grounded in your beliefs- This factor definitely adds to your deliverance. It’s important to believe in what you are saying as it permits your audience to be convinced and also gives them reason to believe you.  In theatre, the main objective is to convince your viewers and make them believe your character. 

Use different voice levels- This factor eliminates any form of monotony and it captures your audience attention. 

Breath control- This is important seeing that your speech should flow nicely. Theatre teaches you beats which is the pause or break you take while speaking. 

All in all theatre has allowed me to have confidence when I’m speaking in public. To all my communications and public relations majors, try taking an acting course as an elective and experience the beauty of the arts and witness yourself evolve into a stronger public speaker. I am certain that theatre can add to your development as communication/PR students. 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Kadesha Holder.

How to Make Your Speech Better than the Last Guy's

There is little worse in this world than sitting through a long, boring, and drawn-out speech, especially when you know that you’re the next one up. So how do you prevent continuing to bore the audience when it’s your turn? Here are some tips from Ragan.com and my own experiences to help ensure that your speech isn’t as bad as the last guy’s.

• Don’t Ramble: No one wants to hear a long, rambling story that where the point is lost half way through. I’m reminded of Mitt Romney’s story about why he decided to run against Ted Kennedy in 1994 (starts around the 42 second mark). His audience was sympathetic but the pundits haven’t been.

• Use Hand Gestures: Use hand gestures to help convey your messages. As a few of my distinguished colleagues have pointed out in no uncertain terms, I have a few go-to hand gestures when I’m speaking in public. If you’re in the same predicament, check out these tips on using appropriate body language to effectively communicate with your audience.

• Move Around: Step away from the podium and towards the audience to address them in a more personal manner. Movement can be very effective in reducing the boredom induced by your speech’s content.

• Humor Me: No, seriously. Make your audience laugh to break up dull parts of the speech. Remember: it’s not the end of the world if you make a mistake during your speech. Maybe a joke is all you need to get back up to speed.

Tips on Overcoming your Underwhelming Speech

Admittedly, I'm not the best public speaker. In fact, I just finished writing my speech for class, to be presented tomorrow. I always thought that it was the delivery that mattered the most, as long as you have a lot to say, you're in the clear. But what if you don't have anything to say on your topic? How will you gain the attention of your audience? Check out these tips on how to "deliver an exciting speech on a dull topic":

• Put a face on your topic: Connect the subject of your speech to your audience; give them a reason to listen to you or empathize with your call to action. In my case, I told a story of someone who was affected by my topic. Not only does this serve as an effective attention-getter, it also helps your audience to remember your speech over a run-of-the mill informational presentation.


• Take your time: You want to respect your audience's time and get your speech over with. However, if you rush through your speech so fast that you garble your words and neglect to emphasize key points, you will have defeated your purpose. Slow and steady wins the race; pace yourself and make it easy for your listeners to understand the important areas of your speech by both physically and vocally stressing your words.


• Don't rely on your PowerPoint: My teacher stresses this, use your visual aid, but don't depend on it. You should definitely interact with it, show pictures, videos, main points, etc. but try not to read straight off your notes. By declining in your extemporaneous mode, you will lose your connection with your listeners and fail to communicate your points.
  

Do you have trouble 'reviving' your underwhelming speech topic? How do you 'bring it to life'? Let us know!

Cat Got Your Tongue?

According to several studies, public speaking is the number one fear among adults, topping the fears of flying, heights, sickness, and even death. What is it exactly that has so many people nervous about speaking in public? Is it the fear of being judged? Or is it the fear of being unprepared?

Whatever the reason may be, public speaking is something that everyone must do at some point in their career - no matter what their vocation may be. Whether you are an engineer, an accountant, or a public relations director, knowing how to confidently present to your colleagues and clients is an incredibly important skill to possess.

To conquer the number one fear of adults, I’ve created a guideline that I’ve titled “The 3 P’s of Public Speaking.” These are little tricks and strategies that I have learned through various public speaking classes along with my personal experiences of presenting.

1. Prepare. Many people lack confidence when addressing audiences because they do not feel comfortable and knowledgeable about the information they are presenting. This can easily be conquered by conducting as much research as you can gather. The more educated you are about your topic, the more confident you will be when presenting it. Also, draft several outlines of your speech, making sure that your points are easy to follow and your transitions are clear and concise. Audiences naturally drift in and out of presentations and you want to make sure they can jump right in to where they left off. This can be done by using recognizable (yet smooth) transitions and key words that are repeated frequently throughout your speech. The more prepared you are for a speech the less anxious you’ll feel.
2. Practice. Practice as many times as you possibly can. Many people make the mistake of thinking they can just “wing” their speech, but often times those mistakes lead to discombobulating, confusing, and unorganized speeches. It is important to practice because the old saying is true; practice does make perfect (or at least brings you a lot closer to it). The more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel with the material. The majority of presentations have a time limit and even in the professional world presentations are expected to meet allotted time slots. With practice you can establish your rate and delivery techniques so that your speech is both time efficient and effective. Stand up and deliver your speech out loud several times, finding out what you need to improve on, whether its your tone, pitch, rate, or volume. The more you practice the more it will show when presenting.
3. Present. Take advantage of every public speaking opportunity you come across. The more you present, naturally the more comfortable and confident you will become. You can gain more experience by joining organizations or clubs that provide opportunities for you to present or by seeking out opportunities within your job or internship. It is also important that after every presentation you gather feedback from your audience because critiques only help to strengthen your skills for the next presentation.

Even if I didn’t cure your fear of public speaking I hope that I offered some valuable and helpful advice for future presentations. If worse comes to worse, you can always rely on the age-old trick of imagining your audience in their underwear (although I don’t always recommend it!).

Tips for Acing Your Next Presentation

As college classes come to an end, many of us have just a few things standing between us and the end of the semester, namely final exams and presentations. For Communications and PR students, these presentations may be some of the last of our college careers but will probably not be the last of our professional careers. Below are some tips from Lifehack.org's article "18 Tips for Killer Presentations."

1. 10-20-30 Rule: A powerpoint slide show should contain no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes, and be written in no less than 30 point type.

2. 15-Word Summary: You should be able to summarize each idea in 15 words. If you can't, try writing down the idea and choosing 15 important words that summarize it.

3. Speeches are About Stories: If your speech is going to be long, use stories to connect with your audience.

4. "That's a Good Question:" You can use statements like this one to buy yourself more time to organize your thoughts when answering tough questions. These filler sentences are less noticeable to your audience than littering your answers with "ums" and "ahs."

5. Breathe In, Not Out: When you feel the urge to use fillers, pause and take a short breath in.

6. Put Yourself in the Audience: Try to see your speech from the audience's perspective when writing it. Think about what they might find confusing or boring and use WIIFM (What's In It For Me) as a guide.

To read the rest of the tips from the article, click here.

Public speaking: all about your mindset

In your public speaking class or in your personal experiences, have you ever been encouraged to approach your speaking from an acting mindset? In his blog post for the Harvard Business Review, Peter Bubriski points out that public speaking classes have borrowed many of their techniques from the acting profession in recent years.

"[T]he energy and creativity this can unleash can be a good thing when it leads to well-told stories that inspire colleagues, customers and stakeholders to action," he says. "But it doesn't work for everyone."

If you are one of those people that does not feel comfortable or is not a natural at using acting techniques in your public speeches, Bubriski suggests a rather insightful alternative mindset you can try: "think of practicing speaking skills like practicing a sport," he advises. "With a sport you're not pretending to be someone else. You are training your body and your mind to achieve feats of skill--building your muscle memory with drills and repetition," he explains.

How can you do this? Bubriski explains that it starts with an awareness of your own skills. He recommends looking at yourself and recognizing the "instruments, and how versatile, flexible and capable they are." Chances are, you have a lot of strengths that can be applied--you just have to learn to channel them for use with public speaking. Bubriski's sports mindset could be a way to help this come about.

Do you think this mindset would be helpful? Will you give it a try? Do you have another metaphor for public speaking you think our readers would find useful?

Special Topics: Social Media

Attention Temple PR majors (or any Temple student who has taken Intro to PR): this spring, the Department of Strategic Communication is offering a special topics course on social media (STRC 4440-002). This course is a great opportunity to learn how to use social media in a strategic and measurable way that provides direct benefits to the company and/or client!

The class will be offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the 10:00- 10:50 a.m. time slot. If you are interested, stop in and see Diane Johnson in room 216 of Weiss hall (you must register in person). The only prerequisite is the completion of Intro to Public Relations(STRC 2552). For more information, e-mail professor Dale Wilcox at dwilcox@temple.edu.

The department is also offering a special topics course this spring in sports media (STRC 4440-001).

Take advantage of these great opportunities to diversify your skills!

The changing world of public speaking

"These days, speakers everywhere are facing crowds apparently more interested in what's going on in their own laps than in the talking head at a conference they forked out good money to hear," said Russell Working in a recent post for ragan.com.

The advent of social media and portable Internet technology has given people access to (1) information that they want, when they want it, and (2) the ability to share their opinions about what's going on in front of them in real time. Both of these realities have important implications for those speaking at meetings, conferences, and even those leading lectures in educational settings.

In his article, Working shares some insight for public speakers.

1. "[Y]ou must adapt to the change with a sharper message," Working said. In many cases, the audience is simply using social media to process what you are saying and relay the main takeaways of your speech.
2. Speakers can embrace new media and encourage their audiences to pass along their content via social media. Some communicators caution that this can result in the audience missing some of your content as they type. They can also misinterpret what you are saying because they aren't taking as much time to process your information before they post it.
3. Research has shown that multitasking is counterproductive. At the same time, speakers must learn to succeed in this new reality. Speakers should "push themselves to become better storytellers."

Be sure to check out the article for yourself, as Working also provides a list of "ways to make it work for you."