Part 10 (1/2)

We send es about our status and power all the time People can have status with power (for example, a constitutional h the person's skills, contacts, insight) People can be do anddominance gestions offered byhow to be or to appear dominant (the firm handshake, the physical stance and so on), work in this area has shown sos Those who are, wish to be seen as or are judged as beingbehaviors:Initiate speech aze in conversationsSlare moreStand more erect and closer to othersPay less attention to the other personSpeak more loudly but in a more relaxed wayHave more facial expressiveness

However, and inevitably, these observations need to be qualified by various issues, particularly the context in which the behavior is occurring and the nature of the relationshi+p between the people involved Nevertheless, we need to recognize status in a group Leaders need, on occasion, to be able and willing to sendof their dominance

We also assert out identity nonverbally Through appearance and es about our personal, but also our social, identity The latter refers to the social group we belong to, or aspire to belong to In every society there are gender roles co attitudes and behaviors that are deemed acceptable, desirable, even demanded, of the two sexes Stereotypically,more autonomous, assertive, doentle, war up we learn various nonverbal behaviors that confirm our sex roles Thus h less, have less expressive faces and gestures, and seem less attentive to visual and vocal cues froreater distances fro and receiving nonverbal eender differences see adolescence, yet it remains debatable as to what extent these behaviors have inificance, or whether they eable socially constructed stereotypes Indeed, this soon became a ”hot” topic between nature versus nurture supporters, as well as those ere politically on the left or right wing What of the nonverbal behaviors of androgynous people, or those with sao a sex change?

Certainly, watching skilful actors play different roles gives a clue as to how they signal personal and social identity nonverbally With keen observations and consuaze patterns or vocal inflections, to convey a wealth of ers often have to give talks and conduct interviews They , and the annual conference They have to talk to their departularly and may have to attend and speak at many conferences Hence the commonness of presentation skills courses, which are almost all about nonverbal behavior

Often politicians and top business people have their speeches written for them, but the skill is in the delivery Both writer and speaker need to know about the ”P-words” Pitch, Poetry, Pause and Pace They need to understandshow Speech-writing is an art, but more so is speech delivery The speakers need the ”C words” Confidence, Cadence, Conviction and Color Speech-ht: it is perfor with zeal and exuberance

Speech- is often pure theatre The orator has to be at once proud and humble, powerful and powerless The speech needs to be both visceral and intellectual Most of all it needs to be personal and emotional, exclamatory and climactic And the speaker needs to show all these eestures, their eye contact and all their reat speech so that they coed oratory By and large, it has been made more difficult Close-ups mean that every small eye movement, every drop of sweat, every wrinkle is seen and commented upon The orator is up-close, intimate, just feet away from the viewer Further, sound-bites dictate the ultra importance of catchphrases Speeches are rehearsed and tiestures, the voice, and the pauses Speech writers revise right up to the lastthe audience, clap, yelp and shriek at the right ti The caestures have been synchronized with speech Cuts to crowd shots are pre-planned by the camera crew

The paradox is that authenticity and naturalness cannot easily be taught Speeches have to be clear, sienuine, but that is often the problem It takes a lot of ”effort” to be natural!

What are speeches for? Their prie people to vote Soood about the leader, the cause and those listening Speeches are about articulating dreams They are not full of numbers, but of passionate conviction Leaders need to be ”one of us” to all their listeners They esture it and shoith their ”sweeps” of the audience

Great oratory is poetry The writer ery It is important to use and understand syivers have often been classically trained They have to articulate with clarity

Good speeches should be, and often are, spell-binding, mesmeric, hypnotic Adolf Hitler knew the secret of oration before scriptwriters and , but nor was Winston Churchill John F Kennedy and Nelson Mandela were young when their greatest and y, hope, the future Youth is passion, optimis and movement

Great speeches are about journeys They need to capture a sense of destiny and destination They create tension by specifying a challenging problem but then they offer a solution They estures like ”hand on heart” or ”praying hands”

Many researchers have studied great orators and indeed great speeches Hitler and Kennedy, Churchill and Mandela were as famous for what they said as how they said it Equally, faive speeches but who are poor orators are often teased for their inadequacies Because speaking to great crowds is often highly anxiety-provoking, the nonverbal behaviors contrast with the verbal This includes sweating, self-touching (particularly around the mouth), and clearly faked and rehearsed sement is one of the most important tasks for business speakers and others

Presentation techniques

Giving a presentation is one of theto soe of UK citizens would rather have their leg cut off than speak in public Public speaking is inherently different fro, often no verbal feedback, and no safety net The speaker feels vulnerable, tense and lonely standing in front of a potentially malicious audience One starts to wonder how people do it so well (or not, as the case ht be)

There are two components to a successful presentation: content of the speech and its delivery Both what you've got to say and how you say it are important Speech-writers, for exa what they would have said, but thinking of what their ”character” would And playing the part of the character is paramount to be believed and listened to The word ”naturally”, as used by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama are different, as are their intonations, and their scriptwriters know this

Of course, such acting skills ht not be as necessary to report your coures But they do help if for no other reason than to gather confidence and lose inhibitions On the other hand, it is words that paint pictures, not gestures or facial expressions, so ure 61 Verbal communication in front of others is a circular process Verbal communication in front of others is a circular process The e is put across to be received, the audience reacts with approval, disapproval or indifference; the feedback is gathered and analyzed by the speaker, who either tries to ride a wave, improve his/her delivery or liven up the atra is a tay activity with the audience It usually involves both the speaker and his/her listeners However, because of the stage lighting, some speakers may not be able to see their audiences very well, or, if the audience is large, only see the faces of the people in the first fes In this sense, visual inforh speakers often develop acute hearing as a feedback mechanism

The nature of public co It is not a conversation where an array of signs and cues, easily picked up by aluide the co, where, while one speaks, the other listens Public speaking and presentation-giving is a ue, well practised, often anized Because one party to the communication process (the audience) has to reed periods of tiing or worthy of attention

Types of speakers

So what can we learn from successful speakers? What techniques do they use? What tricks do they employ, both verbally and nonverbally?

Many businesses eanizations (speakers' bureaus) with dozens of speakers ”on their books” They tend to be academics, media stars, politicians and successful business people who are paid handsomely for relatively short after-dinner or conference speeches In one sense, there is nothing new about the concept of a motivational speaker Our parents had Billy Graham, Lord Soper and, of course, Churchill In those days, such speakers were alious, political or military contexts They had the ability to uplift the heart; to perk up the dispirited; to energize the weary and to convert the indecisive

So how do motivational speakers perform and what can we learn froenre: the elist; the sincere believer; and the serious comic Curiously, they are very different in style but sielist is really an American export Such speakers require plenty of audience participation One is required to ju and perfor the course of the elists is often musical and full of rhythm The sincere believer is the street corner preacher who tells his , passion and anecdote The serious coht club act that is full of riotous hue, which may be delivered in a quite different tone There are various others whose job is speaking: barristers, teachers, media people and lecturers

Churchill had a curious approach to speech-giving He would putthem spontaneously He would revise and rehearse extensively beforehand One of his tricks was to dictate speeches to secretaries rather than to write them himself That allowed him to listen to the speech as it would be delivered and polish the words ”on the go” His notes were also reraph, sience in speech preparation has clearly paid off for the for the most cited and best remembered It comes as no surprise, then, that Members of Parliament in the UK touch the foot of Churchill's statue for luck before giving a speech in the House of Coe outstanding Other famous historical speakers include Elizabeth I, rote poetry and was fah her classical schooling; and Shakespeare, hile he reat speeches himself, wrote one of the most influential ones in his play, Julius Caesar

Hitler exploited the power of oratory All the details of his perforeratedhis rallies, sound a devices were planted around the stadiums to enhance the perceptual effect of his speeches His lack of inhibition while speaking was also particularly convincing

By analyzing celebrated speeches and perfor characteristics of the es that became memorable (see Table 61)

Great speeches meet these conditions precisely The result is audiences who are inspired and , cathartic experience for the listeners

ARE ALL SUBJECTS MADE EQUAL?

Next is the issue of the subject For a psychologist, it in and treatment of sexual perversion” rather than ”Advanced lishnovels into movie scripts” easier than ”Irony in Restoration comedies”