© 2008 Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro, Used with permission.

ACTING-BASED TECHNIQUES FOR HIGH-IMPACT COMMUNICATION (adapted from Taking Center Stage, by Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro, Penguin Putnam, 2001)

The best way to increase the overall effectiveness of your speech is to always focus on the needs of your listener. As you rehearse for your presentation, keep in mind the following questions and you’re sure to reach your audience: Who needs to hear this? Why do they need to hear it? What about this information will be new or surprising to them? Is this good news or bad news for them? What response do I want them to have as a result of hearing this? How will I know if I’m getting that response? In addition, here are some tips and techniques for how to rehearse effectively on your own. PURSUE OBJECTIVES — Develop a strong sense of the response you hope to evoke in your listeners through each part of your presentation. For instance, you want them to wake up and see the dangers of their present behavior, you want them to feel excited by a new course of action, you want them to feel reassured by your thoroughness, etc. PERFORM ACTIONS — Attempt to evoke the desired responses in your audience through a variety of means: e.g., by warning, admonishing, inspiring, titillating, cajoling, soothing, etc. PARAPHRASE /AD-LIB — Once you have developed the script for your presentation and rehearsed it a few times, flip the paper over and use whatever words come to mind to express the meaning of the text. This will help you hone in on the major ideas and make the words of the text feel new and meaningful again. “WHAT?” — Imagine that your audience asks you “What?” after each thought or idea in your presentation. You must then repeat the sentence until you have clearly conveyed the meaning. This counteracts the speaker’s tendency to simply assume the communication is clear. This one works best when you have someone actually take on the role of the “Whatter” in rehearsals. ADJUST THE GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES — Change the way you view the speaker/receiver dynamic. For instance, see yourself as a doctor who can cure your patient; or, imagine that you are an Olympic coach giving the final words of advice to a prized athlete before the big competition, etc. This technique can help you “raise the stakes” of your communication and connect more acutely with an audience. START/STOP — In your rehearsals, engage fully after communicating each thought to make sure the people to whom you are speaking have gotten your message. This requires that you really take in the listeners’ responses to what you have said before you allow yourself to deliver the next thought. (If you’re rehearsing on your own, you’ll need to imagine the kinds of responses you might be getting from people in your audience.) If you do this exercise right, it will cause your presentation to take much too long but, that’s okay (it’s just a rehearsal, after all). What you’ll gain is the ability to make meaningful eye contact and a better understanding of the potential impact of your words on an audience. FIND PITCH VARIETY — Experiment with different pitches in order to give emphasis to a particular word or phrase. Good for counteracting monotonous speech patterns. Speakers often punch important ideas into their listeners’ brains by overusing volume emphasis. Instead, imagine that you can “lift” important ideas into their minds by gently changing the pitch. (If you’re having trouble distinguishing between pitch and volume, try singing a passage of the text during a rehearsal. It’s a sure way to find pitch variety.) COUNTERACT DWIP — A downward inflection pattern (DWIP) is one in which the speaker’s energy falls off before he or she finishes communicating the thought. To counteract this pesky habit, concentrate on making the last word in the sentence the most important one. Get used to caring that your listener receive the full value of what you have to say. DIRECT YOUR MOVEMENT — Use your body language or position in the room to support your objectives (e.g., coming out from behind a podium to more actively engage audience in Q & A, gesturing to vivify a concept, etc.). This includes eliminating extraneous movements, i.e., those that do not actively support your objectives. EXPLOIT OPPOSITIONAL STRUCTURE — Look for places in the text where meanings can be offset against each other: past vs. future, best practices vs. traditional practices, good news vs. bad news. This can help clarify the speaker’s understanding of sentence structure, which, with appropriate pitch emphasis, will clarify the audience’s understanding.