Listening and understanding; how to do it better

Happy Tuesday!

Previously, I had discussed Julian Treasure’s Ted.com video: five ways to listen better, and how to use this information to engage your audience.

He also gives five great exercises you can do everyday to improve your listening. Here are the five so you can use them yourself:

• Silence – He recommends taking three minutes of silence each day. It resets your listening. Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted. Try to focus and let yourself relax. You may start to notice your focus on listening start to sharpen.
• The Mixer – Even in a noisy place, listen for specific sounds. Sit on a bench in a park or at a table in a food court. Look around first to pinpoint what sounds you want to hear, then narrow your focus. See what you can pick up.
• Savouring – Hear the rhythm and uniqueness of each sound. Sound has beauty  - even mundane ones. Treasure calls it the “Hidden Choir.”
• Change listening positions – From active to passive and passive to active. From reductive to expansive and expansive to reductive. From critical to empathetic and empathetic to critical. Changing your viewpoints and perspectives on how you internalize those sounds, could help you pick up on another level of understanding them.
• RASA – Receive – Appreciate – Summarize – Ask. This will help you conclude what you’ve just heard, and this tip in particular is very handy for presentations.

Listening will serve you well. Good luck!

Pump up your audience: presentation tips

A couple blog entries ago I asked: what does lack of listening mean for us as presenters?

It means we are competing for the audience’s attention. It also reminds us that most people (including our audiences) have short attention spans. To make it easier on your audience and to ensure successful delivery, your presentations should be as clear and concise as possible. I suggest incorporating three clear messages, and they must be repeated throughout.

I’ve come up with a few tips to guarantee an active listening audience:

• Since only 25% of your presentation will be retained, ask yourself: “What do I want my audience to remember?” What are the key messages you want them to take away? How do you put your content together in a way where it will be followed accurately and easily?
• Change your rhythm and pace of delivery. The more your audience hears changes the more they listen. Being an engaging performer means switching up your tone and enthusiasm of delivery. Add a few pauses in there too; pausing gives the audience time to digest what you have just said, take notes and prepare themselves for your next point.
• Do your research. Ask yourself, “What are the beliefs, values and language of this audience?” Understand who you are talking to. What’s the age? Are there more women than men? What kind of line of work are they in?

Try using these tools and let me know at info@releaseyourvoice.com if you have any questions. Also, what tools do you find work for you while presenting? Email your tips in!

Don’t forget, entries are still being accepted for Pamela’s 20 day challenge! Win $1,000 worth of training with Pamela Hart and become a more confident speaker.

Shoot down bullets when it comes to Power Point

Do you love using bullets? Are you bullet-crazy? Well there has been some evidence that shows why bullets are not always the best choice. The research work of professional public speaker, Chris Atherton, in which she tested the effectiveness of using two types of PowerPoint slides in presentations, has proven this.

Using two groups of students, the first experimental group attended a typical bullet form Power Point presentation with a few diagrams. The second group attended a Power Point presentation using “sparse slides”, – still utilizing the same diagrams and visuals. Each presentation had the same auditory content and narrative. Chris tested the students for recall with multiple choice questions and short essays.

Working with a group of independent people, Chris identified 30 themes in the presentation. The essays were marked by counting the number of themes included in their essays.

The students that had experienced the presentations with sparse slides recalled more than 100 per cent compared to the students that viewed the traditional bullet point slides. That is more than double the amount of information retained!

So what can you take from this? As a result of the experiments, It is quite clear; less is more. It will benefit your presentation, as well as the audience to use less information on each slide and increase the use of graphics. This way messages are still clear and concise.

I personally like to use the KISS method: Keep it Simple and Succinct. So give yourself a KISS for Valentine’s Day!

 

How good are you at listening?

I recently saw a presentation on TED.COM  featuring Julian Treasure, who was discussing how well we actually listen. Studies have shown that while we spend 60 per cent of our communication time listening, we only retain 25 per cent of what we hear. That is pretty astonishing.

Julian defines listening as making “meaning from sound.” One way of doing this is pattern recognition. For example, if you are standing in a crowded noisy room, you cannot hear individual conversations but you will be able to hear someone call out your name.

Another listening pattern is “differencing listening.” In this case, if you hear the same sound at the same tempo and tone, after a while you tune the sound out.

We also use filters when we are listening, these filters include culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations and intentions. All sound creates our reality and our listening through that reality.

Julian went on to give examples of having the intention of listening to his wife every day like it was the first time. While his intention is good it is very hard to do!

We also listen through space and time. When you are in a boardroom or auditorium, you can close your eyes and still know where you are because the sounds of the room define the space. Try it. Close your eyes for 30 seconds.

Now what did you hear?

The sound of the someone walking by? The sound of an email coming or an SMS?

Maybe it was the sound of a Skype alert?

So, with this in mind, lets look again at the fact that in our communications we listen for 60 per cent of the time, but only retain 25 per cent of what we hear.

This is because we have found other ways to retain information. We can write it down and video or audio tape information that have made us complacent as an audience. So what does this mean for presentations and reports?

Tune in for the next blog to find out!

Happy New Year! One resolution to make? Be yourself.

From everyone at Release Your Voice, Happy New Year!

As far as New Year’s Resolutions go, Pamela’s staff member, Katharine Sawchuk, is a big fan of Oprah.com and came across this little nugget of advice; for this New Year – be yourself! Here are some tips:

• Tell the truth to yourself. Think about how much of your self-worth is based on what you do, how you look, who you know, what you’ve accomplished (i.e., the external stuff). The more you let go of being defined by the external, the more freedom, peace and power you can experience. And, as you really get honest with yourself, you may realize that outside of these external things, you don’t really know who you are. As scary as this may seem on the surface, it’s actually great news and can give you access to a deeper and more meaningful experience of who you are.
• Appreciate who you really are. What do you appreciate about yourself that has nothing to do with anything external? In other words, what personal qualities (of being, not doing) do you value about yourself? The more you’re able to tap into what you appreciate about who you are (not what we do), the more capacity you have for real confidence, peace and self-love.
• Practice just being you. As silly as it may sound, you have a great deal of experience being phony or being how you think you’re supposed to be. It actually takes conscious practice to be able to just show up and be who you are. Practice alone, with people you know, and with total strangers. This is all about awareness: paying attention to how you feel, what you’re thinking, what you say and how you show up. It’s not about getting it right or doing anything specific; it’s about letting go of our erroneous notions of how you think you’re supposed to be and just allowing yourself to be who you are in the moment.

All the best in 2012.

Learning to diffuse conflict

The holidays can be a stressful time for a lot of people. Unfortunately, it’s not always about cheer and eggnog. Sometimes there can be disagreements among family members and friends – especially if that eggnog gets involved.

If you’re the host, or just a concerned party, sometimes a little conflict resolution is required. Pick your battles, of course, however if you feel a certain blown-out situation needs a little finessing, then by all means take Santa’s reigns and diffuse away.

Simple tips from Inspired Abundance can make conflict easier to deal with:

1. Break the tension. Do something completely out of character to break the tension. Laughter can go a long way toward diffusing conflict. Don’t expect it to solve the whole problem. However, it will give you a chance to take a break from the anger so you can gather your thoughts, cool down, and begin to work toward a solution.
2. Adhere to company policy. If the problem is at work, refer to company policy. While a company may not consider every possible issue in their handbook, it may address many common problems. Using the company policy as a guideline prevents claims of favouritism.
3. Act quickly. If at all possible, avoid putting off the conflict for a more convenient time. Allowing conflict and ill feelings to remain will only serve to make your office or home stressful. It’s best to deal with it immediately.

Finding a resolution:

1. Identify the problem. This is the first step to resolving a conflict effectively. You’re not likely to solve a problem if you have no idea what it is. To determine what the problem is, talk calmly and listen to each other without judgment.
2. State your needs. It’s quite possible the person who’s angry doesn’t really know what the problem is. Each person should write down any needs that aren’t being met. Do they expect a raise they haven’t received? Maybe they’re not getting enough sleep. Are they dealing with a long-term illness in their family? Voicing their needs may reduce some of their anger.
3. Find a solution. Now that you know what’s bothering the other, you can work on resolving the conflict. It’s planning time. Ask questions: What can be done so that both people are satisfied with the outcome? How can we work together to fix this problem? If we cannot resolve the issue right away, what can we do to work toward a resolution? When both people are more intent on finding a solution rather than arguing or fighting, you’re more likely to find a solution both can be comfortable with.
4. Follow through. Be sure to follow through with the steps necessary to solve the initial problem.

What are some of your conflict-resolution tips? Email us! Info@releaseyourvoice.com

Feeling good; asking questions; finding happiness

The following questionnaire is from Oprah.com, it’s to encourage well-being and healthy, positive thoughts. Something we all need every now and then!

It’s about searching and finding your intentions; don’t worry if a question is intimidating, think of it as jumping into a cold lake. Embrace it! It’s about what you need in order to feel “happy and fulfilled.” We all need to remember to make time for what matters to us.

Here are the questions:

1. Who am I? How do I think of myself? What are my strengths and weaknesses?
2. Who do I want to be?
3. Why am I here? Why am I important? What is my mission?
4. What am I missing? The time to read a book? A close friendship?
5. What’s my motivation for wanting to improve my food and exercise habits? If it’s to look better, do I expect favorable results to bring love?
6. Am I afraid of making changes or of taking risks (quitting a boring job, getting out of a bad relationship)? Do I fear failure or the responsibility that could come with success? Could I embrace change instead as an adventure?
7. What has stopped me from keeping resolutions in the past? Is the obstacle (or obstacles) still present in my life? If so, how will I navigate it this time?
8. When I’m tempted to wander off track, what could I say to myself, or do, to stick with the original plan?
9. How can I build in support for myself? Ask a friend to be a health buddy? Join a walking club?
10. What am I doing in my life that’s hurting me? Smoking? Drinking too much? Letting work interfere with relationships?
11. What are the sources of joy I need to feel whole?
12. Am I happy?

“If you don’t have the energy to make changes now, ask yourself these questions again in a month or two. And consider that in order to part with what has become habit or routine, you may simply need to take a leap of faith. “So many of us are in jobs we hate or relationships that are stagnant, but we’re too paralyzed to change,” says surgeon Nancy Snyderman, MD, whose books include Dr. Nancy Snyderman’s Guide to Good Health for Women over Forty. “As we age, we stop taking risks.”

Happy Wednesday, everyone!