#How to Become a Great Public Speaker?

Undoubtedly this element will finally show and convince others about your confidence and fluency in English.

# I meet so many young students,professionals ,teachers and managers who come up to me after my training workshop and tell me that even though they have lot of ideas and good hold on English Grammar,they are still not able to speak with confidence.

#So what is it that one needs to do to become a great speaker?

#Let us discuss few important pointers and as usual not talking about easy breezy tips, I would love to share some powerful and practical tips today ,that will surely help you to improve your speaking skills:

#1. MT = MT stands for “Mirror Talk” , sounds cliche but it really works believe me I say so because I did this a lot myself. 

     I would like to acknowledge that I was a very reserved and a shy girl at school and college even though I had great ideas, I never had the courage to stand up and share those ideas but I soon realized after I stepped into the corporate arena that if my ideas were to be heard they have to wear my voice and it was then, that I decided I will do everything possible to improve my speaking skills.

     

I    I found my best friend in mirror and I started sharing everything with my friend before I could actually speak up in front of the others and it really helped,because mirror just like a true friend never interrupted and also it gave me regular feedback in terms of  my body language my confidence while I was speaking and rehearsing ,it gave me a clear picture about how and what I was speaking and I was wise enough to note every bit of it and hence I started working on it too.

     So the first tip is to do a lot of “MT” Mirror Talk, it is a lot of fun too believe me and it helps us to feel like a celebrity and I enjoyed every bit of it and let me share openly  that  “I do MT even today”  before going for my seminars, guest talks or motivational talks, I still practice in front of Mirror and it really adds to my confidence.

Surely there is a lot of psychology that goes behind it , like it helps you to see how confident you look , it helps you to add more intonations and on top of  it, this helps you to improve your facial gestures and body posture too.

Mirror is certainly a true friend, it supports and it encourages you to look good, feel good and sound good.

  

#2. Magical moment  of movements : Well, it plays certainly the biggest and the most powerful role in communication.

Some call it as Body language, some name it as “Non-Verbal” language and now the new term is ruling that is “Bio Language” however If I have to talk about my journey of connecting and communicating with professors, Teachers, students, friends and corporate geeks I would say I have always experienced a magical connect when I communicate with the confident bio language along with the words as it supports and add more power and grace to the words.

It could be as simple as a curve on my face while I greet and meet or it could be use of my hands to express my opinion and point during a training workshop.

So, do practice the magical technique and use these small yet powerful bio language tips to make you sound and look likes a celebrity and a true star.

Believe me just few quick tips that I am about to share will help you to work on your bio language.

1. Please use your hands and facial expressions along with the powerful words by understanding the meaning of the content first.

2. Always maintain an eye contact but do not stare at people and embarrass them and point to note here is

A. Always focus on the face of the other individual but not on their lips and cheeks

B. Focus on their forehead, eyes or at the bridge of their nose. So don’t keep your eyes glued at one position.

3. Use of hands confidently.

4.Feet Talk : We never focus on our feet, because we are so much into face , upper body posture that we ignore totally the feet talk.

A. We point our feet  towards the interesting zone, it could be people or that place so make sure you are not pointing your feet away from people you are talking to.

B. Stand confidently and while giving presentation or lectures you can move around slowly and as I am not an expert in body language but out of my experience I would just say that context is more important because one body language gesture could mean something else in a different context but the main idea here is to share the importance of the feet language too.

C. For ladies it looks very elegant when they sit with legs crossed at ankles.

 #3. Intonations : Well, language is like a river that flows ,and to speak in a beautiful flow we must master the art of Intonations too.

I strongly agree that being a non native speaker we need to practice this art however if you start to understand the words and have good vocabulary it will be easy to master this art of Intonations.

Well, let us define “Intonation”.

Simply put the high pitch and the low pitch in our voice, when we speak can be defined as Intonations and if you want a simple word to relate it means “Speech Music” .This speech music will help us to understand the meaning of the words better.

Let me support with an example.

When you understand what you speak and you make sense out of it, just like your mother tongue you don’t need to practice it separately just focus on understanding few concepts.

1. When you ask a question, your pitch will go high.

For instance: Could you please get me  a book ?

So this means that the sentence ending should be in high pitch.

2. If you are saying a simple statement or declarative you should have a low pitch .

My name is Anu.(Pitch will go down)

3. If you have many things to mention in one small sentence then you go in a flow.

For instance:

I love to study,dance,swim and travel.

So words like study, dance and swim will go in the same flow and the pitch will fall down with the word travel.

4.    Connect the words: When you practice speaking , please make sure not to stress on every word too much ,(remember that language is like a river it needs to flow)try to connect the ending of the word with the beginning of another word.

For Instance : Bob is on the phone

Will sound like  “Babizon da foun” If a native speaker will speak.

 #Points to remember:

·         Try to emphasize the important words or when you have something important to share and

·         Use a low pitch when you finish the sentence or when you see a period/full stop.

For Instance : 

Tomorrow I have a meeting at 4:00 clock. (Important information is meeting, so do stress on it )

4:00 clock (Pitch would go down as it is the last word in the sentence before the period).

Stretch the words: It is also seen that native speakers sometimes stretch the words where they want to draw attention.

Example : I request all of you (“Awwwlllll “instead of all ,so this word is stretched to show the stress and importance of the word “All”)

Contract the words(Squeeze two words) : Remember while you practice your speaking skills, in order to sound natural, please do learn to contract the words like  “Shouldn’t “ instead of “Should not”, ”Wouldn’t” instead of “would not” , “They’ve” instead of “They have”.

So it means two words are made shorter for speaking purpose by adding apostrophe as explained above.

 #4.JAM Sessions : Well, just as much as this word sounds sweet, so are the results, it is indeed a great exercise for the beginners to practice speaking these are “Just A Minute” sessions ,wherein you have to think about any topic randomly and quickly start talking about it without stopping and pondering too much, see how and what you will talk, your brain will try to talk continuously and certainly the tongue will support, its magical and entertaining too, you can play this JAM with your friends or even entire family ,just pick a simple or any topic of your choice that comes to your mind, like let me give you a few now:

1.Family

2.Challenge

3.English Language

So, hope you tried all the above three  topics and enjoyed it ,make sure you do this and later when you get time to think , do get some nice ideas dressed in beautiful words and vocabulary.

 #5.Grammar: When we talk about fluency in English most of us dread about the grammar part, but to be very frank we shall not worry about it so much as it is not a big deal to master all the tricky parts of grammar, all we need to speak fluent English is understanding of  few concepts like tenses, subject and verb agreement and I don’t think we need a separate grammar book to learn this because when we are reading, listening and speaking we are acquainting ourselves to these grammar concepts which will come naturally and the grammar that we are taught at school.

Having said that it doesn’t mean that you stop focusing on the grammar rules, as we are living in the era where technology is helping us learn so we shall make best use of it ; even today when I have few questions , I immediately check it on you tube and prepare my own notes (I maintain a separate notebook for Grammar ) as we have many videos which are presented by great English teachers in India and from teacher all over the world, so never stop learning.

Few days back in my English Grammar book I prepared the tenses chart , so you can also do the same to just keep going back to the nuts and bolts to stay correct and flawless .

And to add this tinge of confidence,please do register for my upcoming book titled "English & Business Etiquette" and just drop a line @ vinumanhotra@gmail.com

#Business casual is certainly not so casual!

"Dressing well, shows your manners and it is also a creative way of expressing who you are,without having to use words"

#However I will be very honest,that the biggest challenge for me as an HR Head was to come up with a "Business casual" dress code .

#Casual Fridays and Smart casuals, were few terms that made my job even more complex while framing few guidelines for my company.As there are no set rules for business casuals and mainly it depends upon the workplace,the culture and mainly the nature of work itself.

# So, I decided to take few tips from an Indian professional, and I was lucky that I met this gentleman who introduced himself as Mr.Bengal ,he was the 1st runner up of Mr.Bengal aka "Sharad Ghosh" and the first thing that he crisply told me, when I happened to discuss my confusion about the "business casual" was that "business casual never mean you only think of getting away from the business formals; all you need to remember is just having a little relaxed look and the focus should be on the term Business".

#And he also said that, when in doubt it is always good to stay in more formal look than going for more casual look.

#So let me now present to you all some great tips ; after having understood in detail about the business casuals from Sharad,who is also working as a counselor at INIFD (Siliguri) apart from being a well known face in modeling.

Let us first try to decode this confusion for lovely ladies @work.

Business Casuals for women in India:

Let us first try and understand what exactly is the business casual.

#Style of clothing that is less formal than the ( formal )business wear, however it still gives a professional and businesslike impression as it is worn at the workplace.

# Don’t let the word casual stay in your mind, while dressing on Fridays and Saturdays keep workplace in mind; is a simple rule for the Business casuals, that are allowed in many Indian offices on weekends.

#Western business casual dress for women mainly include slacks, Khakis and chinos, Long skirts (knee length Skirts) and business dress. A cowl neck top or a boat neck silk top would look great. or neatly ironed cotton shirts always look great and you can be creative with colors mainly during daytime business events on weekends. Avoid wearing jeans and T-shirts.

#My personal choice would be to pick something which is free spirited and feminine and that would be from my recent favorite “Fable street”  it is certainly a match for any women, trying to flaunt the bold, creative or a complete professional look. It certainly offers something unique and absolutely Wow.

#In ethinic Indian wear, you can flaunt Kurtas with palazzo or Salwar kameez. Avoid wearing the leggings (slex) with Long Kurtis, instead go for Salwar or a simple trouser.

#The best store to shop for kurtis and kurtas in India is “Khadi India” clothing store in Connaught place, New delhi.

#Do remember it is always good to wear a stole/scarf or a jacket.Even though if you are going outside the office for daytime event and you pick an ethnic Indian wear ;better wear a complete look and I believe that a kurti goes with a stole or scarf pretty well.

#Casual jackets.

# Sweaters in winters with different patterns and colors.

#You can carry your colorful handbag and wear accessories matching your attire.

#Open toe shoes and sandals however don’t wear flats and flip flops even on weekends.

Business Casuals for Men in India:

#Number one rule is don’t get too sporty.

# "poor man's velvet," which is popularly known as corduroy is a popular choice for business casual along with Chinos,Khakis and cotton pants keeping the “Jeans” away.

# Polo shirts , shirts in a variety of colors, though not too bright, and if the shirt is 100% Linen, I highly recommend it because linen shirts are best for hot and humid temperature as they are good conductor of heat and your linen attire will remove perspiration  and will offer you maximum breath-ability and keeps you cool.

# Sweaters and turtlenecks in winter with different patterns and casual jackets.

#Loafer shoes with socks on and leather shoes and for some outdoor events even sneakers are good choice if they are kept clean and dirt free.

# Do match your belt and shoes with your overall look.

So remember that even when you wear business casuals, you still need to appear well groomed, neat and a true professional at work (With a little relaxed look).

#To get more insights you have to wait for my upcoming book titled "English and Business Etiquette" and to register for this book please email me at loyal.anu@gmail.com

Resume Vs Visumé

#Are we promoting ourselves enough?

We need to ask this question to see what kind of image we project and are we really projecting any image or not because most of us feel shy to talk about ourselves and promote ourselves as that is considered arrogant.

However one simple and easy way to deal with this issue is to know your professional achievements very well, and never shy away from presenting it at the right time to the right people.

So when we talk about creating an image of ourselves,to be presented to our potential employer, what comes in our mind?

Yes,you guessed it right, "Resume"

Resume is that piece of paper that reaches out to so many people, even before we get to meet them and it conveys a lot about us. isn't it?

• It presents our Educational Qualification
• If we have Experience in the professional field, it conveys that
• It also gives few necessary personal and contact details
• Sometimes it even conveys our interests and Strengths

But I wonder if it is able to present my attitude,my personality and my X factor?

Of course not, so how can I present all these traits,which are not presented  in the "Resume" well, the answer is Visumé

Resumes Vs Visumé

#Well, I strongly believe one thing that will change within a year or two is the way we reach and connect with our prospective employers.

#We relied a lot on resumes and as an HR I have given a lot of advice myself as to how to market and present yourself on that piece of paper called “Resume”.

#Many professionals were highly paid to conduct specialized workshops to just help the young professionals get their resume right and all of a sudden there is no demand of these resume writers and seeing it decline within 15 years span is showing signs that technology is really changing at a very high pace and we all need to match it to stay up to date.

#I am a big fan of “Visumé” myself now, and I strongly believe this video resume will help you to stand out and present a real you, which is far  better than the written resume.

What is a Video resume?

#Visumé  as it is popularly called, is a small video created by a candidate and uploaded on a particular website, these websites work with the various companies and are closely in touch with the HR department, and they help in forwarding your video profile to these companies, who are looking out for the resources to join their esteemed organizations.

#The video resume can be even directly forwarded to the HR team and according to the job profile , you may keep the video simple or specific to the company’s requirement.

#And yes we do have expert in these field as well, just like the way we had in the written resumes we have professionals who can help you create a perfect Video resume.

So I am sure that this is a great tool in your hand to market yourself , when compared to the traditional resume.

Tips on creating Visumé:

1.    Keep it simple and short not over 90-120 seconds

2.    Wear a professional attire while creating the video and imagine that you are sitting with an HR professional, so give complete attention to your “Visual Image” hence bio language also plays an important role.

3.    Keep the background and location also simple and professional.

4.    Do prepare and practice well, A simple and crisp script with your confidence can get you your dream job.

5.    Create not just one but few videos for different kind of companies and you can dress accordingly while creating the video.

What are the benefits of Visumé:

1.     A video resume helps you to capture your attitude and personality. Explains and presents you far better than the traditional resume.

2.      You get to speak, what you think are your USP’s: As you are the creator of the video ,you get a chance to talk about your strengths ,your unique selling points, unlike the HR interview where you probably give answers only to the question asked by the recruiter/HR.

3.      Very easy to create as any video which is as small as one minute to 2 minutes maximum, is not at all a tall order.

4.     Visumé is the new norm, well to stay current, Visumé is the best option as it has taken a lead over the traditional paper resume.

5.      Visumé helps you to present your social skills ,it also shows the potential employer that you are more awake as an Individual towards the latest trends and technology.

 
Possible disadvantages of Visumé:

Though I can't think of many,I would like to share one for sure that is;

#Few studies find that these video resumes are actually unfair and discriminatory in nature , hence it is wise to keep these video resumes ready with you and do check with your prospective employer before sending them over to their HR Team.

While I talk about this topic of promoting yourself, I certainly would like to suggest all my readers to check out the book “Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It! By Peggy Klaus.

That will certainly give you a lot of insight and wisdom for your professional and personal life as it helps you to value yourself and understand your accomplishments and most importantly why they matter and when and how you need to present as most of us  shy away from even talking about the very crucial professional highlights sometimes hence it could be highly perilous for our career and life.

#So keep reading and learning and don't forget to drop a line at vinumanhotra@gmail.com

Finessing the Business Meal.

#Craft of connecting in business world is very crucial and when we know that connections are very important , why not connect with some business contacts over the business meal?

Away from your board rooms and from the clutches of technology if given a chance to meet your client a new contact and build connection over the meal, will you be up for this business meal?

Or 

#You feel that you cannot show up to the meal with confidence?

#If you answered “ Yes” don’t worry  or lose sleep as  bunch of key rules  below will help you show up with confidence at any business meal so be it a power breakfast, brunch , office party or a  classic 13 course classic French meal, you would be able to ace them all.

#Let us understand what are few important pointer,one needs to take care, so let us begin

#Arriving

As a host ensure you are arriving early on the day of the meeting. So that you can secure the best table and greet your guest on arrival.(Do not forget the firm handshake)

If possible Pre-sign the receipt and include the tip for the waitperson.

#Purse & Briefcase

Having arrived now the question is where shall you keep your purse/Handbag or briefcase.the answer is simple ,it goes on the floor not on the way for sure, just keep it  close to your chair, ladies do not hang it on the chair or place it behind.”It goes on the floor”

#Digital Companion

The most important companion without which we cannot imagine our lives is our cell phones and I- phone however it is highly recommended to switch your cell phones off and also make sure they don’t even reach the table.

We are equal

Remember it is a business setting and you need to leave the gender aside so please do not pull out someone’s chair for them as they can do for themselves.

Be a guest

If you are a guest please be a good guest and follow the host.

#Napkin

When you are seated, take your napkin and place it in your lap or if you are attending a very  formal gathering, where there is a definite host or hostess, wait for them to place their napkin in their lap first, and you follow them like a good guest — simply unfold it and do remember to unfold it quietly below the table and remember it is a napkin and hence it should not be used like a tissue at all.

Another rule about tehnapkin is that once you’ve placed it on you lap,it should never touch the surface again until you have finished your meal., if you have to be excused for some reason in the middle of the meal you may do so by placing your napkin on the chair.

The 'rest' and 'finished' positions

Place your knife and fork in the rest position (knife near the top of plate, fork across middle of plate) to let the waiter know you are resting," Pachter writes.

"Use the finished position (fork below the knife, diagonally across the plate) to indicate that you have finished eating."

Inedible food

#Do not spit it into your napkin.

Be very careful when you actually give an order for meal however if you have prdered and you have that inedible food in your mouth and you are in the conversation, do excuse yourself to fix the situation and you use the restroom for this quick fix. In other cases  you may use your thumb and index finger to remove the morsel and then make sure to wipe your fingers with the napkin.

#BMW Rule

I remember reading this wonderful mnemonic that has certainly helped me and I am sure it will benefit you too.

BMW in dining etiquette stands for "bread, meal, and water," so remember that "your bread-and-butter plate is on the left, the meal is in the middle, and your water glass is on the right," 

Utensils turn

Well it must be little difficult for most of us to know all the utensils use as it is not taught in school or at home in our growing up years, however it is never too late to learn and with practice it might turn into a habit our second nature so let us add the dash of silverware and utensils knowledge too.

Remember two simple rules here ; rule number one is  “Start on the Outside and Work Your Way In” and the rule two here is “ Forks go to the left of the plate, and knives & spoons go to the right”

And yes another thing  to remember is that most of the time the utensils above the plate are the dessert fork and spoon, although these may sometimes the dessert fork or spoon can be placed parallel or diagonal on the plate .

#Finger food

Bread is finger food , so tear small pieces with your fingers and butter them (with your butter knife) as you go — do not bite off a piece of bread and do not butter a whole slice of bread at one time. If the butter is located on a central dish, take a portion of it and place it on your bread plate.

#A-La-Carte

It is always good to go for food that is easier to eat and hence if you go with a regular Buffet or a set meal which is offered, it may sometimes be messy to enjoy every item of that set meal, so it is always good to go with A-La-carte, where you can order separate items as per your need and comfort.

#Discussing Business

Business meal doesn’t mean that as soon as you sit down you start talking business please  respect the social setting and begin with  social conversation with your guest after you have been seated; wait until your beverages and initial courses are served and eaten  before beginning business conversation.

Well, these are just few tips from my end today and to know more you have to wait for my upcoming book titled "English & Business Etiquette" so to get your copy,don't forget to register by sending an email to me @ vinumanhotra@gmail.com.