Start Speaking Strongly
A video tip for you today on starting cleanly and precisely in a way that can potentially give you more impact if you’re chairing a meeting or emceeing an event or you’re giving a presentation.
https://vimeo.com/sarahdenholm/start-strongly?share=copy
It’s probably something you’ve never thought of before, and it’s an easy one to try. This will work in all sorts of scenarios too – even socially.
And if you’re a nervous speaker who’s never quite sure what’s going to come out of your mouth when you start to speak, it will definitely help you too.
Keep your mouth closed, literally, until the first words have loaded themselves into your brain and then onto your lips. Only then do you open your mouth and speak.
When you do this, it does give greater impact and you have usually a stronger sense of authority and certainty about what you’re saying. And people hear you differently when when we start with so or hey or um, which is incredibly common, isn’t it? All of those fillers.
When you don’t do that, it has a different impact and people hear you and pay attention to you differently because you have more presence.
So if you’ve never thought about doing that, keep your mouth closed until those words are ready and preloaded from brain to lips, and you will start strongly.
More ideas on opening your talk or presentation:
2 ways to open if you’re nervous: starting speaking well.
And 7 ways that don’t work very well: ways NOT to open a talk or presentation.
Best wishes with your public speaking and presentations!