by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Speaking effectively can help make a world of difference when you are trying to stand out among your competition.
Linda Deshauteurs, divisional governor of Toastmasters in Florida, spoke to the Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors meeting last month at the San Jose Country Club on how to become the speaker and leader you want to be.
“Who needs to be able to get up in front of an audience and speak?” asked Deshauteurs. “Who needs to be able to communicate? We communicate all the time.”
Since many businesses in Jacksonville are service related, Deshauteurs said you have to be able to speak in front of your peers and customers effectively.
“What will distinguish you from your competitors is your ability to communicate and your ability to reach your customer and make that sale,” she said.
Toastmasters International was started 83 years ago and it teaches people the tricks of being able to speak effectively.
“It has given me the ability, technique and style to be able to be more effective,” she said. “If you are more effective, you are more confident regardless of what you sell. At some point in your life, you are going to need to communicate with someone effectively. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.”
Deshauteurs gave 10 tips for public speaking.
First: know your material.
“Pick a topic you are interested in,” she said. “If you are in sales and selling real estate, you certainly need to know about the real estate you are selling or the services your company can offer. It’s very important that you know what you are speaking about.”
Second: practice, practice and practice.
“One of the keys is to practice out loud,” said Deshauteurs. “The spoken word is very different than the written word. Something that looks just fabulous in writing might not sound exactly the same when you try to get it out of your mouth.”
Third: know the audience.
She said to ask beforehand who your audience is and who you will be speaking to.
Fourth: know the room.
“If you are speaking in a room, find out how big the room is and if you will need a microphone,” she said. “If you are out selling or have a client coming to you, you want to have the room comfortable and make your client feel at home.”
Fifth: relax.
“Feeling some nervousness before giving a speech is natural and even beneficial, but too much nervousness can be detrimental,” said Deshauteurs. “Nervousness can make us forget. Nervousness can make us say things we don’t mean or not say things that we really want to. It’s important that we relax in front of an audience or in front of our clients and feel comfortable.”
Sixth: visualize yourself giving your speech.
“Visualize a lovely audience who are paying attention and not falling asleep,” she said. “They are smiling back at you when you say things. It is a powerful tool, especially in sales. Visualize yourself winning.”
Seventh: realize that people want you to succeed. They want you to do well, so they are not bored and can come away with new information.
Eighth: don’t apologize.
“Speaking is a solo act. If you mess up, skip something or forget something, just move on and don’t call attention to it,” said Deshauteurs.
Ninth: concentrate on the message, not the medium, particularly in sales.
“In sales, it is very important to know what your message is, to have a specific goal, to have a reason to speak to someone and to have that focus and go to the close,” she said. “It’s the same in speaking. If you get up and talk about a topic everything you speak about is with a particular focus, which is the close and the message you want people to come away with.”
Tenth: gain experience.
“Mainly, your speech should represent you – as an authority and as a person,” she said. “Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking.”
Deshauteurs also discussed the 10 biggest public speaking mistakes: starting with a whimper, attempting to imitate other speakers, failing to “work” the room, failing to use relaxation techniques, reading a speech word for word, using someone else’s stories, speaking without passion, ending a speech with questions and answers, failing to prepare and failing to recognize that speaking is an acquired skill.
According to Deshauteurs, business savvy people who flop when speaking have failed to recognize that public speaking is an acquire skill that improves with practice and honest feedback.
“Speaking for 20 minutes before the right group of people can do more for your career than spending a year behind a desk,” she said.