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Effective Speaking and Presentation

PM : JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2001 Leeis a career communications-computer specialist assigned as technical advisor to the Office of the Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary (Contracting) staff. Sheis currently participating in the Defense Leadership and Management COMMUNICATIONS SKILLSE ffective Speaking and PresentationSelling Ideas, Gathering Support,Motivating AudiencesCAROLYN J. LEE32 Effective communication skills areessential for program managers most of their activities involvethe selling of ideas, gathering ofsupport, or motivation of the pro-gram office staff and contractors, andoften include Speaking opportunitieswith the Department of Defense (DoD),other Services, or Congress and itsstaffers. Certainly, public Speaking is en-tirely in the realm of possibility fortoday s program managers in carryingout their day-to-day activities and re-sponsibilities.

Effective Speaking and Presentation Selling Ideas, Gathering Support, Motivating Audiences CAROLYN J. LEE 32 E ffective communication skills areessential for program managers — most of their activities involve the selling of ideas, gathering of support, or motivation of the pro-

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Transcription of Effective Speaking and Presentation

1 PM : JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2001 Leeis a career communications-computer specialist assigned as technical advisor to the Office of the Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary (Contracting) staff. Sheis currently participating in the Defense Leadership and Management COMMUNICATIONS SKILLSE ffective Speaking and PresentationSelling Ideas, Gathering Support,Motivating AudiencesCAROLYN J. LEE32 Effective communication skills areessential for program managers most of their activities involvethe selling of ideas, gathering ofsupport, or motivation of the pro-gram office staff and contractors, andoften include Speaking opportunitieswith the Department of Defense (DoD),other Services, or Congress and itsstaffers. Certainly, public Speaking is en-tirely in the realm of possibility fortoday s program managers in carryingout their day-to-day activities and re-sponsibilities.

2 To be Effective , program managers mustbe masters of the three skill areas thatmost affect delivery and acceptance ofideas: audio, visual, and the feelings ofboth the speaker and the Giventoday s business environment of acceler-ated time management and minimal op-portunities for actual contact, delivery ofinformation in the most Effective and ef-ficient means possible helps to ensure thecorrect message is delivered, understood,and appropriate feedback obtained. Ad-ditionally, it minimizes confusion andwasted effort due to misinterpretation ofthe data when both parties are succinctand are able to feed back the Assessment RevealsStrengths, WeaknessesPROFILOR is a teaching tool that affordsstudents the opportunity to receive 360-degree feedback from supervisors andpeers on 24 critical skills required of pro-gram managers.

3 It is administered to allstudents attending the Advanced Pro-gram Management Course, Defense Sys-tems Management College (DSMC).When properly administered and actedupon, PROFILOR allows students tofocus and target some of their learningon those activities that can have enor-mous benefit back in the , my PROFILOR results in-dicated that Effective Speaking was anarea for personal improvement judgedby my peers as well as my deficiency in my professional bear-ing is a hindrance to my career and adetriment to any acquisition effort thatI may encounter in my future career. ThePROFILOR suggested two primary areasupon which to focus my efforts in cor-recting this shortfall: Speaking with enthusiasm and ex-pressiveness.

4 Speaking effectively in front of a group. In the time allotted for the Program Man-agement and Leadership curriculum ofthe Advanced Program ManagementCourse, I worked to improve those areasby employing materials available inDSMC s Learning Resource Center(LRC), outside reading, suggested prac-ticing techniques during class exercises,and while teaching a graduate-level col-lege course and theUse of Language According to Broadcaster Earl Night-tengale, When a person doesn t knowhow to use the language, he or she willbe forever barred from entering the size-able and enjoyable world of privilege ..Poor speech cannot be hidden away. It sthere continually, as obvious as a cigarbutt in the punchbowl.

5 3Dr J. Mitchell Perry, a consultant for ef-fective communications, states that if ourvoice is an instrument, then language isthe , we must prac-tice with our voice just as we would anymusical instrument, and then master thelanguage we put through that instru-ment. While most of us consider our-selves articulate and comfortable withour mother tongue, it is readily appar-ent that in professional Speaking therules change somewhat and we arejudged as an authority based on our useof , Inflection, Volume, PaceThe first thing an audience will noticewhen the speaker begins is the tone andinflection of the speaker s voice. Whilemost people understand that a mono-tone dialogue is disastrous to a message,few of us consciously vary the volumeand pace of our speech to preclude sucha delivery.

6 However, in a formal settingthe importance of voice is amplified andevery aspect placed under scrutiny ei-ther intentionally or unintentionally. Byincreasing and decreasing volume onimportant words, speeding up or slow-ing down the tempo of our conversation,and Effective use of pausing, a speakercan force the audience to adjust their lis-tening skills to match the new pace, thuspreventing listeners from becoming toocomfortable with what s happening andfrom going into automatic listeningmode. An added advantage is that it re-quires the listeners to remain more at-tentive, which, in turn, improves thePM : JANUARY-FEBRUARY 200133chances that they ll actually hear andunderstand what is being MessageWhat is being said is equally importantas howit s being said.

7 Several authorssuggested reading as the best way tobroaden one s vocabulary and to becomecomfortable with a variety of words. An-other suggestion was to read aloud notonly to synchronize the brain and thetongue, but also to become comfortablesaying the new words as well as under-standing what they mean. A broader vo-cabulary obviously does not mean at-tempting to astound the audience withverbiageand verbosity, but an articulate and elo-quent speaker commands more respectthan one who appears to be stuck inmiddle-school English class. FillersMost of us have phrases or words withwhich we are comfortable and use with-out realizing how distracting they canbe to our message. Most of us easily rec-ognize the you know and umm spacefillers, but other words such as always and never may evoke subconsciousnegative responses and torpedo the ideawe are trying to convey.

8 Other phrasessuch as why don t you, which impliessomeone isn t doingsomething correctlynow and requires ac-tion on their part,and to be hon-est, which implies the speaker hasn tbeen honest up to this point, can evokethe same becoming more aware of what is beingsaid and changing to words that engen-der support and understanding or de-flect hostility, Effective speakers will makethe audience feel more responsive andeager to listen to their message ratherthan retreating while they form a defen-sive I ve concentrated on the speak-ing skills in the first part of the article,due to its immediate relevancyto my PROFILOR assess-ment, a speaker s physi-cal appearance audi-ence s first impression is of equal impor-tance.

9 While someaspects of our ap-pearance such asskin color, gender,and height cannotbe changed, we canmake the most ofthe first impression overall image andprojection of appearancesuch as clothing selec-tion, hair, and even theappearance of our handsaffects how we, andthereby the authority ofour message, are per-ceived. The type of clothingmust be appropriate to thesetting and the audience,When a person doesn t know how to use the language,he or she will be forever barred from entering thesizeable and enjoyable world of privilege .. Poor speechcannot be hidden away. It s there continually, asobvious as a cigar butt in the punchbowl. Earl NightingalePM : JANUARY-FEBRUARY 200134fit appropriately, and demonstrate aware-ness of basic grooming requirements(neat, clean, and in good repair).

10 Theseelements are obvious. To address a con-gressional staff, one s dress should beconservative and professional in keep-ing with the institution. Conversely, ifaddressing a student research group ona field day to a museum, the attire shouldreflect the more casual aspect of the en-vironment. Often program managers willbe required to engage an audience withwhich they are little research is required to make themost of the image projected. Speakersshould inquire as to what is considerednormal dress for the audience, especiallyin today s environment of business ca-sual. By dressing inappropriately, speak-ers can inadvertently advertise that theyare not one of them (intended audi-ence) or are obviously out of touch withwho and what the audience is as an or-ganization.


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