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1.2 SITTING

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”— Phillip Pullman

As detailed in my bio, I was the licensee and producer of the TEDxWellington events for nearly ten years.

During that time I developed and delivered to all speakers for the later events a five week coaching experience to aid the development of their talks. One year we had an individual we were failing as we were busy encouraging them (along with the other speakers) to stand in their story, project out and connect with the audience in this single way.

Well this person just wasn’t comfortable with this and as the weeks passed it became apparent it wasn’t going to work. I remember the conversation with them exploring other alternatives and the answer immediately came from a simple comment she made about sitting in her office, across from her clients on two comfy sofas and how that was when she was her most authentic self.

That was it, we sat the speaker in a comfy chair and wow, instant success. The talk became intimate and focussed. Delicate as well as powerful.

This was the best version of them to deliver their story in their way, not in our expected way of standing.

It also aligns with a favourite TED talk of mine which is a deeply moving, gentle and poignant, all delivered whilst sitting in a chair (please check out BJ Miller 2015’s TED talk, What really matters at the end of life). Another case of cultivating closeness through the simple act of sitting.

You’ll learn in a later chapter (DIVA) that understanding and stipulating the best environmental factors for you to deliver a great talk is paramount. I’m hoping the above story and examples give solid reasons to think differently in this area (albeit in rare cases).

One word of caution here for those hosting and ‘sitting’ on panels at events: this is a very different domain to what is described above in terms of a solo speaker in a chair. Unless you use clever lighting it’s very hard to create the same effect as I’ve described in the other cases although much of the other stuff in the book can be applied in this scenario.

3.4 VOICE

“Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.”— Charles Mingus

Not many people like the way they sound. However, I guarantee you sound just fine enough.

Accents rule. Lean into them with just a side consideration of clarity for those with thick regional ones. Over the years, due to my international work plus living overseas for over a decade, my Welsh accent has softened. I still roll my “r’s” heavily and when I get excited it comes out wonderfully. I just make sure I enunciate correctly and it’s never been an issue.

I’d like you to consider how cadence, the way you modulate your voice and add stresses to what’s being said, are the inflections that can assist the audience to consider the importance of certain aspects of the story. Important for those who have a quiet ‘flat’ tone and what’s needed for this is to consider elevating the stresses with emotion.

Just like the cadence, the rhythm is another aspect for consideration. Varying the speed throughout any talk can be an effective way to add some ‘colour’ to an orators style. Although, don’t have too much of a difference here as it will sound awful plus confusing, just like someone is playing with a speed dial in your brain.

It’s best to play around with just subtle shifts in both cadence and rhythm which match the emotional range of the subject being discussed, like a little faster when it’s an exciting element of the story with a higher register and then slowing down again to enunciate for the poignant aspects which allows for reflection.

By the way if you want to create tension or make the listeners understand the importance of a statement, just take a second and pause.

A pause is like an underline in writing. 

It emphasises what came before.

Now the other way to do this is to repeat something. However this can only be used sparingly, like cumin in cooking.

Repeating something, even twice in a talk, gets noticed and I would suggest using this trick just once. Focus it on your biggest point or statement or piece of information which is truly arresting. Like a statistic which generates a ‘wow’ from when you share it, or a summarising line or two to distiLl a big topic which you’ve been introducing, or a revealing insight from a lived experience or even report. Again, make sure to be careful with this beyond a one time use.