Q:
How did you develop Power Speech?
A:
I developed Power Speech by modifying theatre training techniques
for non-actors and then testing them to prove their effectiveness
in the business world. Power Speech gives nervous speakers confidence,
weak speakers strength, and boring speakers the means to captivate
a restless audience. The techniques are designed to deepen your
sense of conviction and broaden your range of influence over
others.
Q:
Does this mean I need to become an actor?
A:
The moment your presentation begins, you are acting the role
of presenter. This does not mean that you’re pretending
to be a presenter. Nor does it mean that you must become someone
else in order to fulfill your task. Radically altering your
true persona – also called “character acting”
– will only confuse your audience and muddy your performance.
Your best bet is to magnify your true persona by “playing
through yourself.” We admire famous film actors precisely
because they look/sound exactly the way we are accustomed to
seeing/hearing them on the big screen. We seem to just know
who they are; their appeal changes very little from one movie
to the next. Famous actors who played through themselves –
Cary Grant, John Wayne, Jimmy Dean, and Marilyn Monroe –
used talent and technique to ensure consistent performances.
Their ability to deliver the goods time and again gave them
enough star power to fuel box office hits. This is a smart way
to do business; it has nothing to do with phoniness, misrepresentation,
or exaggeration. But it has everything to do with maximizing
personal truths, with being utterly believable so that people
experience the truth of what they see and hear.
Q:
Who uses Power Speech?
A:
Power Speech is used by a wide range of speakers - including
physicians, CEO’s, salespeople, garage mechanics, teachers
at all levels of education, motivational speakers, scientists,
artists, doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.
Q:
What about using Power Speech techniques at work?
A:
Within a given day at work, you might very well find yourself
playing the roles of leader, analyst, devil’s advocate,
problem solver, and public speaker. Needless to say, these are
vastly differing roles that necessitate highly developed performance
techniques. The roles you must play are constantly shifting
in order to accommodate:
1.
Your need to accomplish specific objectives.
2. The pressures and obstacles you face in accomplishing these
objectives.
3. The other “actors” (colleagues, office staff,
clients) in the scene with you.
4. What happens on a moment-to-moment basis.
Q:
Doesn’t this all make me sound too rehearsed?
A:
When you give a presentation, the words you use are your script.
For some speeches, you must follow a rigid script that was written
(like a play) prior to your performance. For other speeches,
you must be able to improvise freely. Either way, like an actor,
your presentation effectiveness is determined by how well you
deliver your lines. You must strive to make your presentation
sound both conversational and convincing. Your delivery affects
whether you are perceived as trustworthy and this, ultimately,
determines whether you have the power be persuasive.
Q:
What If I have a lousy speech to deliver?
A:
Nobody is excited by ideas alone. People react to oratory excellence.
Great speakers can read the phone book and, by making brilliant
choices, enthrall their audience. In other words, you can make
people listen by holding the stage with physical and vocal expressiveness.
Thus, if you are stuck with a weak script, you can use Power
Speech techniques to make those lousy lines take flight. This
is when having technique saves the day and is downright fun.
Q:
What else can you tell me about being an actor?
A:
It’s interesting to note that your presentation goals
are identical to film actors with star power. In order to look
and sound your best, you must hone your stage presence. You
maximize your presentation skills so that the audience finds
you riveting. You deepen the truths of your message so that
people really “get” what you are saying and come
to trust your wisdom. You leave them wanting more so that they’re
eager to return for another command performance. And to top
it off, you gauge the audience like an old pro based on the
laughter, groans and/or applause you receive. Wouldn’t
it be great to receive a standing ovation every time you took
the stage? You can do it! Just remember: If you aren’t
presenting to the best of your capabilities it isn’t because
you aren’t acting. You are always acting. It’s just
that you aren’t acting well.
Q:
What can I accomplish if I’m not naturally
expressive?
A:
Don’t worry. Few presenters begin with an innate ability
to act. Even if you’ve suffered from stage fright your
entire life, you probably have a keen awareness of what it takes
to act, and act well. For example, when you were a teenager,
you had to convince your parents to give you the car keys so
that you could go out on a date. The promises you made were
part of a carefully calculated plan to get what you wanted (the
keys _ the car _ the date). You were acting, using the extent
of your persuasive skills to convince mom and dad that you deserved
their trust. You may have willingly played on their sense of
compassion, guilt, duty, or love in order to influence this
“key” decision. Later in life, the roles may be
reversed: You withhold the car keys until your teenager agrees
to drive carefully and return the car with a full tank of gas
by ten. At one time or another, the actor in you may have played
both of the featured roles in this particular scene. In order
to achieve your goal – regardless of whether you were
the key taker or giver – you were forced to give a persuasive
performance. Even if you’ve never thought you were much
of an actor, you’ve been busy acting all your life, trying
to get what you want through an increased level of persuasive
clarity. There’s a little bit of ham in everyone –
life makes sure of it.
Q:
Can you tell me more about yourself?
A:
Some background: I’m a Professor of Acting at the University
of California, Irvine. For the past seventeen years, I have
trained actors and directed plays for a living. How did I become
a corporate trainer? The different hats I wear – acting
coach, theatre director, and seminar leader – are woven
of the same fabric. Whether I’m working in an acting studio,
rehearsal hall, or hotel ballroom, my techniques are based on
theatre training principles. I’ve lived and breathed these
techniques for the entirety of my professional career. They
have proven effective for high performers in education, theatre,
and the business world. Thus, theatre training is the driving
force behind every fact of Power Speech seminars.
Q:
Am I alone in my fear of public speaking?
A:
Not at all! Most of the people I train suffered from an acute
fear of speaking yet nearly everyone was intent on overcoming
those fears. As you probably know, fear of speaking doesn’t
feel good, especially when it undermines your ability to perform
well under pressure. I discovered that Power Speech worked for
everyone who had a true desire to improve, an open mind, and,
most importantly, time to practice.
Q:
What’s the real key to improving my speaking
skills?
A:
Practice makes perfect. You can’t swallow a magic Power
Speech training pill and transform into a dazzling speaker overnight.
I wish that you could – it would certainly save time.
But Power Speech doesn’t work that way. You’ve heard
it before, and it is just as true here: Practice makes perfect.
High performers the world over achieve success through two principles:
1.
Acquire solid techniques.
2. Practice those techniques until the cows come home.
These
two fundamental rules hold true for race car drivers, tennis
players, jazz musicians, opera singers, and ballerinas. For
example, a tennis professional must learn how to hit effective
ground strokes, serves, and volleys. Each of these shots requires
proper balance, racquet position, and body motions. Once the
athlete learns these techniques, she must perfect her shots
by hitting six thousand balls a day. Lackluster practice leads
to unforced errors, missed points, and lost matches. Masterful
technique leads to sizzling winners and championship trophies.
A concert pianist confronts similar issues. Practicing scales
lays the groundwork for interpreting and executing intricate
passages. And only a fool would enter the Indianapolis 500 without
having driven in circles countless times. How does a driver
keep his cool and control a racing machine that is traveling
around impossible curves at high speeds while other maniacs
are trying to edge him off the track? You guessed it: practice,
practice, practice.
Q:
Any final words of encouragement?
A:
You might still be thinking that you would never give a live
performance of your own free will. Remember that even if you
have no innate desire to act, you can still improve your stage
presence through diligent practice. It isn’t as complex
as brain surgery nor as terrifying as a tooth extraction. Quite
the contrary, improving your presentation skills is exciting,
revelatory, and fun. Think of yourself as an explorer standing
at the launch pad, ready to commence your Power Speech journey.
You believe that you have the “right stuff” to acquire
new presentation skills; you have the determination to improve
and the willingness to practice. Power Speech techniques are
your rocket fuel. And the sky’s the limit.
