110 Techniques of Communication - Boiled Down Summary
David JP Phillips touches on 5 presentation techniques out of 110 skills he thinks are critical for high performing public speakers. Now he only talks about several techniques instead of the entire 110 skill set (I assume in part so you purchase his course to find out more) but touches on some fundamental considerations worth discussing. I'll try to summarize what I got from it here and my thoughts.
Phillips talked about the following:
Keep Open body language - The intention during your presentation is to be warm, open, inviting, authentic and genuine. Body language can either support or oppose that. So be conscious with your arms, hands, shoulders, chest, feet and the messages they can communicate to an audience.
There was actually another body language Ted Talk that discusses this specific thing as well by Amy Cuddy here.
Your Movement On Stage - Where and how you move on stage is important as well. It's something no one considers in your elementary school, high school or even university presentations but once you watch professional speakers at tech talks look like they're chatting in a Ikea display room, walking and space-taking become important.
Moving forward, closer, towards your audience become meaningful subtleties which again, convey additional subtext.
Functional Gesture Use - Hand gestures and nonverbal cues should be functional. What that means is they should have inferred meaningful use - not just swinging your arms cause you heard you should use body language. So, counting with fingers to convey points of interest. Gesturing in an upward diagonal for growth or gesturing in a downward diagonal for diminishing value. No using gestures (no matter how subtle) if they are not intuitive.
Slow Your Pace - People need time to digest your points, think about what you say, and make connections. So especially when you're delivering that punch line, that important statement, the headline of your presentation. SLOW. DOWN. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it and although it can feel awkward speaking slowly if you are shy, unconfident, worried about clarity, and all the rest, it is in fact a powerful tool to command attention, attain confidence, and demand listening.
Hit Pause - Pause is powerful. You are okay with pauses elsewhere in your life, so why not a presentation. You pause to take breaks from video games. You pause your subscriptions or services when you are rethinking or reconsidering things. Pausing during your presentations gives people time to digest what you just said. It highlights or emphasizes the important bits of your presentation for you.
Silence Is the Better Time Filler Than "Ums" , "Eeh", & "Aah's" - When you fill empty space with sounds that are not functionally intentional for your presentation, you are filling empty space with irrelevant sound. When you replace it with silence, you give the interpretation that it was intentionally silent.
Um , Eeh, and Aah are the verbal fidgeting we do when we are stressed, buying time, thinking still, or nervous. It's the equivalent of picking your nails or shaking your leg - not helpful. So, be intentional with stopping it. Sure, it won't be a quick or easy process. Sure, you'll still make mistakes, slip up, make those sounds when you didn't want to. But it doesn't make it any less important to try and do.
Look Up - It apparently lets the audience know you're thinking. Now, we’re not talking about straight up. We’re talking like at a 45 degree angle at a diagonal, looking off into the distance in thought kinda behavior. I interpreted this as communicating intentionality, presence in the moment and genuine connection with the audience. People can honestly memorize their presentations and not make genuine connection with an audience. But without authentic connection with your specific audience in the moment, it can feel fake, rehearsed, or "inorganic".
Now I don't have experience with giving large stage presentations, but I imagine there are tidbits of information that support connecting with and reading the vibe of your audience. So having moments of authentic real-time thinking, adapting your talk as you go, and demonstration of listening (so your talk varies depending on the engagement and interaction of your audience) is the ultimate goal.
An Audible Inhale - Breathing is good. Breathing is a good moment for pause too. So having those audible breaths in is a good moment to incorporate pause and also communicate to the audience that something is coming up next. If you didn't have anything else to say, there wouldn't be a need for such an audible and deliberate breath in so the subtext is you have more to say and the listener should be ready to listen.
Smile With Your Eyes and Laugh - David Phillips talks about a Duchenne smile and the main distinction is the wrinkles in the corners of your eyes. It is considered a feature of authentic happiness whereas simply curling the corners of your lips or showing your teeth may simply be attributed to a polite smile or controlled smile. Once those eye creases are introduced, it tends to be a more genuine and authentic communicator of happiness.
He also talks about an audible laughter which can communicate a punch line coming to the audience. Now, I imagine this would only work on a presentation where humour is used. It can be a little weird if you have a serious talk and then suddenly laugh if you are a serious person and not known for your humour in the workplace.
The way I interpreted this was to be genuinely happy about the talk and the jokes or delivery. A presentation that I find funny or I find genuine is going to translate into smiling and laughter at my own slides. This will naturally lend itself to your delivery, lower your stress levels, and make for an overall more enjoyable experience for you as the presenter and for the audience.
My Take-Aways 🥡
What I imagine high level presentations to be are much more a choreographed dance or acting session in that, each pause, every intonational difference, each movement on the stage has an intentional purpose. If you go onto stage and wing it, hoping for the best, sure, there are some charismatic people that make it work (like Gary Vaynerchuk) but not everyone is like that. And so if you in your truest heart know you aren't like that, this can be a way for you to experience that same level of higher level success. So what do you have to lose? Time? Effort? What do you have to gain? Public speaking skills that can last you a lifetime of success?
For me, paying attention to my own presentations, how I use gestures intentionally and whether my delivery on my information would make me genuinely laugh or smile resonated. I think those are good guiding compass points for me to take a leap forward.
