Henry Higgins was right.  The moment we open our mouths to speak, people judge us.  If we have New York accents, we get stereotyped.  If we speak with a southern drawl, same thing, different stereotype.  And if we speak like a professor, I would bet that many people avoid us like the plague.

Of course, we can overcome these stereotypes with the positive qualities of our character.  We can sound like Tony Soprano and act like Mr. Rogers.  But the lingering effect of the stereotype remains.

In our practice at Sims Wyeth & Co.  we are asked to improve the voice and speech of employees whose are having trouble being heard.  This takes several different forms.

First, there are those who have difficulty getting to the point.  This is most likely a thinking problem and a habit with obscure roots, not a voice and speech problem.

Then there are those who speak English as a second language.  We are a country of immigrants, but when 12 individuals in one department come from 10 different countries, there are many accents and many sets of ears trying to listen to many different pronunciations of English.  If the conversations are crucial to strategic business issues, it’s a problem.

Then we have some good old American mumblers.  These people need to learn how to use their articulators.

And then there are fast talkers, slow talkers, close talkers, soft talkers, and too-loud talkers.  And up-talkers, nose-talkers, and talkers who sound like they have marbles in their mouths.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark in Shakespeare’s play called Hamlet, written around 1603.   He hires a bunch of actors to put on a play that he’s written, and he gives them coaching on how to speak their lines.

Four-hundred and six years later, what he says remains good advice for a presenter too.  Look how he’s telling them to speak clearly—“don’t talk as if you had marbles in your mouth,” he’s saying.

Also, he warns them not to wave their hands around too much because while passion is a great thing in a speaker, too much passion damages their credibility and distracts the audience from what they’re saying.

Here it is:

“Speak the speech I pray you as I pronounced it to you,

trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it as many of your players

do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the

air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently; for in the

very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion,

you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it

smoothness.”

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Act 3, Scene 1

Go to executivespeechcoachny.com to see more ancient wisdom from a speaker coach who was actually a Prince.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Every great store has a theme.  Nordstrom’s has the theme of customer service.  Starbucks has coffee.  L.L. Bean used to be great when it stuck to its theme of outdoor clothing you could pass down to your children.
 
Sims Wyeth & Co is a store that sells presentation skills, and one item that some customers want to find on the shelf is PRESENCE. 

So, I choose as my theme for a month the idea of PRESENCE.  What is it and how do you get it?
 
If you ever had the pleasure of seeing Merce Cunningham, the great dancer and choreographer, you may know what presence is.  

Johnny Carson had presence, more than Dave, Jay, and Conan combined. 

Bruce Springsteen has presence, even when he’s not filling a stadium with his energy. 

And Roseanne Barr has presence–she radiates mischief.  Sarah Palin too, although her presence comes more from combativeness.

All of these people  have presence—a magical aura that makes them appealing to others.  We suppose they were born with it, they did nothing to cultivate it, and they didn’t have to do anything to send it our way.  It just leapt off them like light off a mirror.
 
I will challenge that notion for the next month, until October 15th.  I will argue that all kinds of people can have presence, that it is a multi-dimensional attribute that can be cultivated, and that it can be thrust upon all of us by the circumstances of life’s ups and downs.
 
So my assignment is to answer two questions:  What is presence?  And how do you get it?

Stay tuned for a month of presence.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.