Unleashing the Dynamic Speaker In You!

8800 West Bluemound Rd.Assistant Professor of Communications

Dr. Jerralyn MoudryMilwaukee, Wisconsin 53226

Prepared forWisconsin Lutheran College

Prepared by

Brandon Heider

Anthony Nachreiner

Patrick Harrington

May 2, 2012

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Letter of Transmittal

Dynamics R US607 Bel Air Circle

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226

May 2, 2012

Dr. Jerralyn Moudry,Assistant Professor of CommunicationsWisconsin Lutheran College 8800 West Bluemound Rd. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226

Dear Dr. Moudry,

My team has completed the report you requested. The report researches conducting business on dynamic speaking.

The report details dynamic presentations, role of nonverbal communication, and opening and closing of presentations. We have enjoyed this most interesting project. At your request, we will discuss the report with you. We look forward to speaking with your students.

Sincerely,

Brandon Heider Anthony Nachreiner Patrick Harrington

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Table of Contents

Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………………..1

Letter of Transmittal……………………………………………………………………………….2

List of Illustrations …………………………………………………………………………………4

Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………..5

Introduction ...……………………………………………………………………………………6-7

Dynamic’s ……………………………………………………………………………...................8Reducing Anxiety

………………………………………………………………………….8Emotion……………………………………………………………………………………9Preparation ……………………………………………………………………………..9Introductions and Conclusions…………………………………………………………...10Transitions………………………………………………………………………………..11Credibility………………………………………………………………………………...11Tone of Voice…………………………………………………………………………….12Avoid Stumbling………………………………………………………………………….13

Conclusion and Recommendations………………………………………………………………14

Appendences………………………………………………………………………………….15-16Attachment A: Survey Analysis………………………………………………………….15Attachment B: Raw data………………………………………………………………….16

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………...17

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List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Levels of Confidence……………………………………………………………………8

Figure 2. Introductions…………………………………………………………………………...10

Figure 3. Audience Engagement…………………………………………………………………12

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Executive summary

After talking to numerous colleges communication students and doing extensive research, Dynamic’s R Us has come to the conclusion that student’s grades can be drastically improved in speeches and presentations. Though individual surveys Dynamic’s R Us has found students struggle the most with opening a presentation, keeping audience engaged and communicated the message they wanted to get across.

Dynamic’s R Us has decided to focus on numerous elements of dynamic speaking. These elements include Introductions, transitions, confidence, reducing anxiety, credibility, emotion, tone of voice, and closing statements. These seem to be many of the elements that students have been struggling with in their speeches and presentations. By addressing these needs we will be able to assist the students in changing how they go about preparing and delivering their speeches.

It is recommended that students come to the presentation and pay close attention in order to retain many of the tips and advice that will be shared in order to help in their speeches. It is also suggested that students think about what is being said and how it applies to their own speeches and presentations and put the info into good use.

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Unleashing The Dynamic Speaker In You

This report consists of information regarding dynamic speaking that is useful to anyone that has to go in front of people for a presentation or speech, but most useful to college students. The success of any presentation and speech relies heavily on being able to speak dynamically. Dr. Stephen D. Boyd, professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University, sums up the importance of speeches by saying, “Because listeners have better access to information since the internet became commonplace, audiences expect more content from speakers today.” After doing extensive research through experts in the field and conducting research of our own, it has become evident that college students can drastically improve their public speaking skills. In a recent survey that aimed to understand what the average college communication student struggles with in a presentation. The surveys taken listed weaknesses and elements that could be improved upon in speeches and presentations. According to U.S. SBA Entrepreneur of the Year and key note speaking Clay Clark, “Sadly, many people struggle with an enormous fear of public speaking. Just the thought of speaking in front of one’s peers can make some people sick.”

By acknowledging and understanding these facts, it will allow us to address the needs of each one of our customer’s weaknesses more effectively. A point needs to be made that not every person struggles with the same aspect, so our presentation will cover many aspects of speeches. The next sections of the introduction discuss the scope, limitations, sources and methods of data collection, as well as the organization of the report.

Scope of the Report

This report provides an overview of dynamic speaking. Specific aspects that fall under dynamics are tone of voice, confidence, transitions, opening and closing statements, and keeping an audience engaged. This report details problems college students face with presenting information in front of an audience. The report will detail examples and possible exercises to counter negative elements, so students can improve future presentations.

Limitations of the Report

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The researches encountered some challenges in finding illustrations and statistics and help and support our research. The researchers also lack the time needed to cover all the necessary aspects of such a broad and vast subject.

Sources and Methods of Data Collection

The report used both primary and secondary data sources. A survey was emailed to the clients participating in the training session. The response rate was ten out of sixteen. The results from the survey can be seen in attachment A and the raw data can be seen in attachment B.

Report Organization

The report is in two sections preparation and delivery and each of these sections have sub-topics. In the preparation portion of the report there are mental aspects such as reducing anxiety and emotion. In the delivery portion of preparation the discussion is about preparation itself, introductions and conclusions, transitions, and credibility. In the section about delivery the report addresses stumbling over words and the tone of voice used in presentations.

Benefits

The benefits of reading this paper and participating in the workshop that will take place on May 2nd will help people understand and identify problems that as a presenter someone may have. It will also provide ways to correct and improve the dynamics in a presentation. The knowledge provided is from experience in the field and in previous classrooms. Our presentation and report will help achieve that better grade that college students are looking for and striving for.

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Reducing Anxiety

Giving a presentation or speech is no easy task. Overcoming anxiety and having plenty of confidence are very important elements that everyone can improve on. Many people claim to have physical reactions of sweating, stuttering, and dizziness at the even mention of a speech. According to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, most of these feelings come from coming into the speech or presentation unprepared and unsure what they are talking about. Having good information, experience, and self-confidence will allow you to minimize these nervous feelings.

The attitude and amount of effort that the presenter puts into the speech is a key element in the level of nervousness. Many times the speaker will be too confident in their abilities and thus will not put much effort in preparing for the presentation. These too confident presenters fail to recognize the audience. This is a fatal mistake. Effective speakers will vary their approach and content of their speech so it appeals to who you are talking to. These extremely confident speakers are sometimes too confident and they forget the audience. It is very important to put an equal emphasis needs to be put on the audience and the audience.

There are many ways in order to limit and reduce the speech anxiety. According to the University of Tennessee, it is all about the way you approach the speech. The presenter needs to view the speech as merely an opportunity to share ideas and information with others rather than

having the pressure of giving a speech. The presenter needs to make it feel like the speech is a one on one or small group conversion because most people feel comfortable with talking in these situations rather than in front of many people. People forget that a speech is not a performance, but more a display of your personality and sharing

Figure 1. Confidence

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what you know to your audience. Another key mistake that people make is viewing a speech as an opportunity to fail. This is a poor attitude coming into a speech. You are setting yourself up to fail. This is the direct opposite to coming into a speech with confidence.

The University of Tennessee School of Communication Studies uses the acronym UMP to describe how to eliminate anxiety from your presentations and speeches. The U stands for Understand speech anxiety which explains what the facts of anxiety are and why they happen to people. They list increased breathing, dry mouth, and upset stomach as the most common ones to name a few. The M stands for Manage. Once you have a clear understanding of what you anxiety is it is very important that you manage it. The best way to do that is choosing a topic that you know well and coming into the speech with a positive attitude. The P stands for Plan. This includes preparing and practicing creating an outline is a very good idea. Going over your information multiple times, while paying attention to time, order of information and question if the information is interesting, informative and meaningful are very important in your practice sessions.

Emotion

While presenting a subject, it is important to show emotion towards the topic. “Emotion is a natural instinctive state of mind that derives from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others” (Dolan, 2002). Emotion is central to the quality and range of everyday human experience and people use emotion more than they notice. Their emotion helps them describe what they are feeling, whether it is getting a promotion or losing someone dear, emotion responds to that situation. When presenting, it is crucial that the presenter uses emotion when discussing their topic. Using emotion will help the speaker express their topic, letting the audience understand how the presenter feels about their subject. This will make the audience participate and focus more on the presenter. However, not doing so will cause speaker's presentation to be emotionless, and have a lack of interest. The audience will not focus on the presenter because of the fact they showed no emotion towards their topic.

Preparation

Preparation is vital when it comes to creating the speaker's presentation. “It’s the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use or consideration” (Bayless, 2004). Preparing for a presentation is not always a fun activity to do. Frequently, the many students appeared to be overwhelmed with the assignment that involves presenting a power point or a research paper. Although preparation of the presenter's topic and presentation may be difficult, there are some ways of making their preparation much easier.

Before preparing a presentation the presenter must first find a topic that suites their qualifications. This will assist them by making their presentation more related or comfortable for the speaker. Once the presenter has chosen their topic, the next step is researching the speakers’

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topic. Researching the topic will help the presenter learn more about their topic and will assist them with their power point or paper, depending on what the professor assigns them with. After the presenter has researched their topic the third step is creating an outline of their presentation. This will help the presenter keep their presentation organized. Being unorganized will cause the speaker's presentation to be very confusing to the audience and the teacher as well. Once the presenter has created their power point or finishes their paper, the next step is practicing the performance of the speaker's presentation. Practicing before a presentation will help the presenter not only sound superb but help remember what they are going to say at their presentation. Not practicing the presentation will cause the presenter to be confused and sound unprofessional with their presentation. Lastly, before presenting the presentation always anticipate the audience asking questions about the topic. One way to improve on this is writing down some difficult questions that the speaker might think the audience might ask and practice what your answer will be towards the question. Not anticipating questions might cause the presenter not to answer the students question because of the fact they do not know the answer to it.

When it comes to power point or research paper presentations, dynamics are important towards any topic. By understanding the three types of dynamics, credibility, emotion, and preparation the speaker should now start to understand these three methods and use them in their future presentations. Always use credibility in any presentation because it makes the presenter's presentation not only trustworthy but them as well. By using emotion to express the topic, the presenter's audience will be intrigued and focus on the speaker more. Remember, preparation is important when it comes to creating a presentation. By now, the steps on preparation will become clear towards the speaker's presentation not only ready but confident as well.

Introductions and Conclusions

Once you overcome you anxiety the next most important thing is how you open and close you speeches. The introduction is very important because it is the first thing the audience hears and dictates how the rest of the speech is going to go. There are many dos and don’ts to having an effective introduction. The most important do is to grab the audience’s attention by using a story, quote, or personal experience. This will allow you to gain the audience interest in what you are talking about and have them listen to what you are saying because it is interesting and not just

because they have to. According to James Helmer, Oral Communication Center at Hamilton College, it is very important to establish your creditability in the introduction along with identifying your topic and why it is important and

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interesting. He goes on to say that it is key to mention the main topics in your speech and to have a good transition into the body of you speech.

There are also many things you need to steer clear of. They include things like starting your speech with a “um” or “okay” or apologize for any part of your speech or your abilities. Also stay clear of complaining about the food, commendations, facilities or speeches. Stay clear of using cheap tricks to get people’s attention. These come across insincere and very cheesy.

The conclusion of your speech or paper is also just as important as your introduction. The conclusion is going to be the information the audience is going to remember the clearest. The conclusion should include a summary of all your main points along with restating your thesis. Forming a state of closure within your speech is also a very important element of the conclusion. There are also a couple of things you need to avoid in your conclusion. You should never open up new areas of discussion or change you viewpoint on an issue. Although the common conception is to say thank you in your conclusion in order to show the end of your presentation, Mr. James Helmer says that this is not a good idea. You need to end you speech with a bang that is going to be remembered.

Transitions

The success of your speech or presentation could very well rely on how you transition from topic to topic. Transitions allow for you speech to flow smoothly, but many people forget to plan for transitions. According to Lenny Laskowski, an international author on confidence public speaking, there are many ways for you to smoothly transition from topic to topic. He says that using bridge words or phrases like furthermore, meanwhile, however. Using a question or using point by point method are also good ideas. Mr. Laskowski also shares that using a personal story and adding a visual aid are very effective ways to transition.

Not everyone can master transitions as much as they would like to. There are many common mistakes that people make. The biggest mistake is that people don’t use transitions. These transitions help you move from point to point in a smooth style. The second biggest mistake is that people have their transitions way too short. They do not spend the adequate amount of time to bridge the two points together. Presenters need to spend enough time in order to connect the points. The first biggest mistake presenters make is they try and use the same transition throughout the speech. This causes the audience to be bored and the transition loses its effectiveness. You need to use some creativity in creating and using your transitions.

Credibility

Credibility is the single most important factor in any speaker's success. “Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message” (Lindholm, 2005). Credibility involves trust between your audience and the speakers’ information as well. Let’s say that a businessman comes to the door and persuades the customer in purchasing a box

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of cookies from their company. The Businessman tells the customer that they should buy some cookies but does not provide any information about the cookies, why they are selling these cookies, and does not show any background information about their company. By not receiving more information about the cookies, the customer decides not to purchase any cookies. The Businessman lacks credibility because he did not show enough information about the company and the cookies. However, if a Girl Scout went in place of the businessman, the customer would more likely purchase a box of cookies. The reason for this is that just by looking at the girl’s uniform and company, the customer can know much more about the girl scouts’ background and would believe her more than the businessman. This is because of the Girls Scout names’ credibility.

When credibility is involved in presenting it is important that you have plenty of facts about your topic. Having a lot of information will make the presenter sound credible and their paper will have more credibility as well. However, not having information about the subject will make the presenter sound as if they don’t understand the topic either, making the audience not believe the presenters topic. Another thing to look at when focusing on credibility is the tone of voice. Verbal communication is important when it comes to presenting a topic. Credibility is also fused with verbal communication, while presenting, it is important to sound like the subject is the most interesting topic that the speaker has encountered. However, not doing this will make the speaker's presentation unbelievable.

Tone of Voice

The best story tellers let their voice tell the story. They don’t allow the words to just come from their lips; they let the tone of their voice emphasize the words coming from the story. When a parent tells a child a bed time story, they read the words but the tone of voice is what captivates the child into the story. In a presentation do not allow the information to present itself. When college students present especially freshman/sophomore students forget about voice. They just want to say what they need to say and get out of the spot light because they are worried about what people think or say. To effectively get a presentation across they need to worry about how they sound instead of how long they are up there.

The information is important but the way to say the information will get the message across the way the audience needs to receive it. “It’s nothing new to say that stories are one of the most powerfully effective ways of communicating an idea. A

Figure 3. Audience Engagement 12

well-told story tends to bypass many of the critical filters that we put up to block the onslaught of claims and sales pitches that assault us every day” (Howser, 2012). Don’t treat the presentation exactly how to tell a story, but have flow in the voice, do not be a monotone. “Successful delivery takes into account the voice, breathing, body language, and the flow of words” (Frímannsdóttir, Whiting, 2011) these concepts when taken into consideration in a presentation keep the audience a lot more focused into the presentation. In the voice, raise and lower the pitch of it. When something is important emphasize it with voice and tone. The tone is vital in pitch, it has to be strong when speaking and showing confidence that the information is credible and that this is important information the audience should retain as well.

Avoiding “The Stumble”

This is something that troubles almost everyone in any presentation having clear concise thoughts during a presentation. Other ways that lead to stumbling in the middle of a presentation is when people think on the fly of what to say in a presentation. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Effective sportscasters don’t memorize their scripts, and news anchors on television do not memorize word for word what they’re going to say. They know the subject and the basics to communicate the story effectively, but leave a little wiggle room to go off the cuff so the story sounds authentic. Memorizing in the news or sporting news industry looks too fake and shows the audience that they are reading off a script or prompter, which makes them less credible.

College students try to memorize word for word what they’re going to say. Do not do that like mentioned above know the basics and important information and that will allow for a little wiggle room. In other words have a mental outline of what to say during the presentation. This requires practicing the presentation before hand. Sportscasters and news anchors practice saying their scripts before they go on the air, so they create a mental outline of what to say. To avoid the stumbling practice the presentation. Practice makes perfect and the more the presentation is said out loud, mistakes can be avoided and an outline of what to say begins to form. With a mental outline when presenting the information try to stay within the outline and try not to go outside the box at this point. The practice is for that, to experiment what to say and say something clever to deliver the point home. Experimenting during the presentation is the wrong time to try that. To avoid stumbling or so many thoughts going on in your head practice your presentation before hand and build a mental outline of what to say for the presentation.

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Conclusion and Recommendations

The findings of this report suggest the importance of dynamics in successful presentations and speeches. Although not everyone in a natural public speaker, dynamics is a skill that can be learned through practice and having the knowledge to improve you’re speaking skills. By having an understanding will lead to more success in the future. Therefore, the following recommendations are made.

1. Any person who gives presentations and speeches should study the elements of dynamics in detail.

2. Dynamics should be taken into account in preparing for any speech or presentation.3. The drastic effect that dynamics can have or not have on speeches and presentations

should not be underestimated.

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Attachment A: Survey Analysis

Methods

We thought one of the best ways to address the struggles in presentations for our clients is to find out what those struggles are. Our group came up with a short survey for our clients to answer if they wanted to. If they did respond to our survey their names would not be revealed in our presentation or report. We sent out the survey through email on Friday April 20th, 2012 and waited til April 25th, our last response came Monday April 23rd. Based upon those responses we would see where our clients overall struggles were. Once we know the area that our clients struggle with we can focus exercises towards those specific problems.

Procedures

We sent the survey through email to our clients and asked them to respond to the survey. The questions were focused on what were our client’s struggles in the dynamic aspect of presenting. Three questions used a rating scale from one to ten. The focus of the questions were, confidence, opening a presentation, and how they felt they kept their audience engaged. The fourth question was an open ended question asking the client to tell us in their own words what they thought their weakness was in the dynamics of their presentation.

Results

We received nine responses from our clients. This number was a little lower than what we were hoping for. We got a little less than half of the class to respond to our survey. With these nine responses we found that for the first question the average number was 8.00. We felt with this response that our clients did feel some confidence going into a presentation. When it came to question two the number was 5.9. We found that when it came to opening a presentation they didn’t feel strongly about it. The third question was about how our clients felt if they keep their audience engaged in their presentation. The average number was similar to question two. The number was 5.45. People felt like they didn’t keep their audience engaged in their presentation. We noticed this as well in the open ended question responses. One client said “People losing interest or forgetting what I’m saying” so one of our focuses will be how to keep the audience engaged in the presentation. A problem that was revealed in our open ended questions were that people struggled remembering what to say or stumbling over their words or not having a clear mind to process what they were trying to get across in their presentation. Clients stated “remembering what I need to say and the order I need to say it in” another said “stumbling with

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my words or saying something I don't mean”. How our group is going to address is this with simple solutions like practice the speeches in advance.

Attachment B: The Raw Data

Respondents Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 41 9 7 4.5 People losing interest or forgetting what I'm saying 2 8 5 7 Weakness is searching for what to say if something slips out or thinking out loud

3 7 6 7Biggest weakness in presenting is not having the confidence and need to know information better. Also must practice more before presenting.

4 5 7 6 Too nervous and not confident, so I always easily forget some content I prepared for the presentation. 5 6 5 5 My biggest weakness would be thinking too much that I am going to forget what I am going to say. 6 6 3 3 Organizing information in a fun and easily to understand

7 7 7 6

During a presentation, I usually tried to finish that as soon as possible, regarding it as a kind of task. However, I realized it is meaningless because I didn’t get audience involved. I like to recite what I need to say, which is very stiff during a presentation.

8 9 4 4 Stumbling with my words or saying something I don’t mean. 9 9 7 5 Remembering what I need to say and the order I need to say it in.

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Bibliography

Bayless, M. L. (2004). CHANGE THE PLACEMENT, THE PACE, AND THEPREPARATION FOR THE ORAL PRESENTATION. Business CommunicationQuarterly, 67(2), 222-225.

Dolan, R. J. (2002). Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior. Science, 298(5596), 1191.

Frímannsdóttir, I. B., & Whiting, B. (2011). Dynamic Presentations for Strong Leaders. DeltaKappa Gamma Bulletin, 77(4), 31-37.

Helmer, J. (n.d.). Speech Introductions and Conclusions: Some "Does" and "Don'ts". OralCommunication Center. Retrieved April 24, 2012, fromhttp://academics.hamilton.edu/occ/intro

Howser L. R. (2012). Presentation Dynamics. Retrieved April 25, 2012, fromwww.presentationdynamics.org

Jane H. Oitzinger and Daniel C. Kallgren. College Teaching, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Spring, 2004), pp.64-68

Laskowski, L. (n.d.). Writing a Speech: How to Use Transitions Effectively :: Public SpeakingTips from 997 Ways To Be A Great Speaker. Public Speaking Tips from 997 Ways ToBe A Great Speaker. Retrieved April 24, 2012, fromhttp://997waystobeagreatspeaker.com/2009/03/writing-a-speech-how-to-use-transitionseffectively/

Lindholm, T. (2005). Group-based biases and validity in eyewitness credibility judgments:Examining effects of witness ethnicity and presentation modality. Journal of AppliedSocial Psychology, 35(7), 1474-1501

Oral Communication / Speech Anxiety | College of Communication and Information. (n.d.).College of Communication and Information. Retrieved April 24, 2012, fromhttp://www.cci.utk.edu/commstudies/oral/anxiety

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