Here's some insights from today's session:
Gestures
My first speech was about three things I like about elephants- I said "one thing I like about"... while holding my index finger up, but didn't give a hand gesture for the second or third thing...
One audience member said this seemed a little odd, and broke the continuity of the speech, and I agree with this- it's inspired me to think about ways I can bring more subtle patterns into my speeches to give it some extra structure. Me and @Vijay Patel discussed changing our pose subtly for each point.
Imagine you were talking to a friend
This makes both the speaker and the audience feel at ease, and could even work in formal settings.
three voices: trust what’s gonna come next- stay in the present-
Don’t thank the audience for listening to me
This is interesting because the reason why I started the speech off with 'Hello everybody, thanks for coming to this talk about...' is because I was imagining that I was speaking before a paying audience at a speaking engagement, so I don't think it's too bad, but I can certainly see how it might lower the perceived social status of the speaker to thank the audience before speaking. Perhaps the gratitude being expressed should be the audiences'
Allow time for a wind-down, ‘in summary’
I think this is great advice, the speech I gave which this feedback comes from certainly ended a little rushed, and could've been improved if there was an 'in summary' outro to wrap it all up.
Other notes
Another thing that come up was: what's the function of an intro? Share your thoughts below…
When we're giving speeches we’re pretty much transferring what’s in our mind to our audiences, so it can be helpful to try watching our imagination as while you're speaking...