Oral Reports/Speeches/and Other Oral Briefings That Make You Cringe

Oral reports, speeches, or giving oral briefings seems to make way too many people nervous when they find out they have been tasked to give one. The purpose of this post is to give you guidelines to help you not only give a professional briefing, but also set your mind at ease a bit.

PREPARATION: Always make sure you have produced the best report you can on the topic given the timelines. Practice your report in front of a mirror, video camera which you can review afterwards to see what you need to improve on, or friends to work out the bugs and make yourself more confident in the topic and speaking in front of others. You will find that you are more critical of yourself than your audience will ever be. Practice is imperative because even if you are the world’s foremost authority on a subject, if you get up there and stammer and hesitate awkwardly, it will make you appear as if you don’t know what you are talking about.

THE SPEECH: When speaking, always make eye contact with your audience. If making eye contact makes you nervous, at least give the perception of making eye contact. This can be accomplished by focusing on a point just past your audience while speaking. Get your audience to participate by asking for a show of hands on different non-embarrassing questions. Or, you can ask a member of your audience to relate a story on the subject of your speech.

The steps to a good briefing are:
1. Attention getter
2. Introduction
3. Overview
4. Main Points and sub-points
5. Review
6. Conclusion

The attention getter can be anything to grab their attention. A simple, but appropriate joke or a stunt seems to work great. Years ago I had to give a briefing on stress and how physical exercise can alleviate the negative effects of it. After all the other presenters had spoken, it was my turn. The emcee introduced me and then stepped aside for me to take the podium. I just sat there with my head down pretending to be preoccupied with something. The emcee walked over to where I was sitting and quietly told me it was my turn to speak. At this point I threw my notes into the air, screamed “I can’t take this, I quit!” and started out of the auditorium. As I neared the doors leading to freedom, I turned around and started back towards the podium. As I walked to the front again, I asked out loud “How many times have you felt so overburdened that you wanted to do what I just did?” No one, including the emcee, expected that and I had 100% of their attention. Having just scared my whole audience, I felt more at ease to make my speech.

The Introduction is a short spiel about who you are, your topic and what your qualifications are to speak on this topic. Keep it short and sweet.

The Overview is the non in depth synopsis of what you are going to say. “Today, I am going to speak to you about the negative effects stress can have on both your physical and mental well-being and how exercise can not only relieve the physical effects of stress, but can also strengthen your mind to combat it in the future.”
The main points and sub-points is where you speak about the most important aspects of your topic. An example would be:
1. Stress
a. Signs of stress
b. Positive effects
i. Physically
ii. Mentally
c. Negative effects
i. Physically
ii. Mentally
2. Exercise
a. How exercise combats stress
b. Cautions to exercise

Depending on your situation, (i.e. professor’s lecture) you may have to go into more depth.

The review is where you repeat the highlights of what you have just spoken about. “Today, I gave you information needed to identify when you are under stress. How to identify whether or not it is good or bad stress. The physical and psychological effects of that stress. How exercise relieves stress and symptoms to watch for while exercising to ensure you do not harm yourself relieving the stress.”

Then, all you have left to do is thank your listeners for their time and attention and ask if there are any questions. You can always tell when you have done a good job because there will be a few questions that indicate you have stimulated interest in your topic and compliments tied in during this last phase of your speech.

Also, when giving a briefing, it is beneficial to give your listeners something to view so that they can follow along and keep them attached to what you are saying. Whether it be something as simple as a dry erase board or a PowerPoint presentation, eye candy is beneficial.

If you use a PowerPoint presentation, use the following suggestions:
1. Do not put word for word what you are going to say, use bullet statements.
2. Bullet statements are just brief main or sub-point reminders for you.
3. Do not use unnecessary sound effects. They are distracting and will eventually become annoying if used too much.
4. Do not use transitions for slide changes, but may be used to introduce one bullet statement at a time. Too many transitions are a distraction – Keep it simple!
5. Do not put in charts and graphs as filler. If there is an important point that can be represented by a chart, okay; otherwise stick with the bullets.
6. Use language and terms that can be understood by everyone in your audience.
7. Do not use acronyms without spelling them out first.
8. Avoid color combinations that clash or may make it hard to read by your audience.
9. Keep your presentation as short as you can while still covering the topic adequately.

When I was younger, the thought of having to speak in front of a group 10 people made me so nervous that I would not be able to sleep for several days before speaking. Now, I have given speeches to several hundred people at one time and it’s nothing more than a walk in the park.

Just remember that for a good speech: Grab their attention; Tell them who you are; Tell them what you are going to tell them; Tell them; Tell them what you told them; and Wrap it up.

I hope these tips help you on your future endeavors in public speaking.

Nature’s Opera

A strobe flashes accompanied by the clash of cymbals

Far off at first but ever growing nearer

The wind exhales in advance of the darkened skies

Flowers and trees turn their leaves into the wind

In hope of quenching their thirst from the long and hot days

One soft thump on the ground followed by another

The crescendo builds as the tempo quickens

The birds dance through the falling droplets as insects take to flight

And life begins anew as the dust is washed away

Taking Time to Enjoy Life

They say to take a walk through nature and see what it offers, so I did and came home with a case of poison ivy.

They say to take time to stop and smell the roses, so I did and got stung on the nose by a bee.

They say to go out in the country and smell the fresh air, so I did only to find out I have hay fever.

I think I may stay inside until winter returns.

Shallow

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines it as:

Adjective
Of little depth.

Noun
An area of the sea, a lake, or a river where the water is not very deep.

Verb
(of the sea, a lake, or a river) Become less deep over time or in a particular place.

Today, we’re going with the adjective as a way to describe some people.

After mowing for several hours (I have a lot to mow), I went down to my lake to do a little fishing. As I fished, something I read kept nagging at me more and more. The guy I spoke of earlier who is always negative said something about his new neighbors that kept bothering me. He said they had 8 cars parked in their yard the other day. There were heavyset men in sleeveless shirts known as “wife beaters”. There were heavyset women in shorts and bikini tops. He said they were all on their front porch drinking beer and building a pyramid out of the empties. He claimed that their grass was so high you couldn’t see the pyramid. He complained that their trash cans had been sitting on the curb since they moved in and they had lived there for two weeks. Ok, they just moved in and either had a house warming party or maybe a party for those who helped them move.

For this, he called them “white trash”. Later he said that they didn’t seem to work and didn’t but assumed they had a windfall in the natural gas industry prevalent in his area. Since he has not seen them go to work in the first two weeks they live in a new home he assumes they don’t work? Last time we moved, I took a month’s vacation to get the new household set up. Then this afternoon he posted a picture of the place which these people had purchased for somewhere around $325,000.00. It was a nice brick home that he guessed was about 2800 square feet on a 3/4 acre lot. The front lawn was nice, however the hedge in front of the porch needed to be trimmed up. In the driveway was a newer SUV with a newer horse trailer behind it. There was nothing to indicate that these people were going to ruin the neighborhood. Shoot, if they can afford a $325K home, a new SUV and a new horse trailer, they have something going for them!

So, I posted a message suggesting that he go over and introduce himself and welcome them to the neighborhood. He ignored this and added that everyone in the neighborhood was upset about these people moving in. What was it about his new neighbors that was making this guy so uncomfortable. I looked back through his previous posts. He hates people who wear cargo shorts, he hates people who wear sleeveless shirts, he hates overweight people, he hates this and he hates that. Now, I understand! This guy is shallow! I can see him in his dress shorts, sports shirt and fancy comfortable shoes standing there judging others he does not know in order to feel high and mighty! I have friends and relatives that are overweight and don’t dress up, but are the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

Then, it hit me that he also fits the bill for being a bigot too. Wikipedia defines a bigot as “someone who, as a result of their prejudices, treats other people with hatred, contempt, and intolerance on the basis of a person’s race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, language, socioeconomic status, or other status.” So, what causes bigotry? It is usually present in people who through low self esteem feel inferior or threatened by others; or are raised with the stereotypical view of others based upon their parent’s low self esteem.

What makes me different from this shallow bigot? I thought about this at length too. I am not stereotyping someone by their dress, weight or party habits, I am basing my opinion of this person on the statements he has made. In closing, I would ask that people not be shallow and/or bigoted, but instead take the time to become familiar with others before forming an opinion of them.

Orange Chicken with Raspberry Glaze

I added the recipe I came up with for Orange Chicken with Raspberry Glaze to the “Let’s Get Cooking” page. Made it last night and was a hit with the wife. Not difficult to make either.

What is Your Quality of Life Factor?

On one of the forums I visit regularly there is a member who has a great deal of negativity attached to all of his posts. He constantly posts about how much he hates this or that and how the things/people he hates interferes with his happiness. This in turn made me think about quality of life. I mean I really started contemplating how our surroundings affect our happiness. The smoke started rolling out of my ears because I was thinking so hard about this subject. After a while, here is what I came up with.

1. Happiness, which for the purpose of this theory is the state in which you are content with your surroundings, is affected by:
a. Locus of Control. If we have an external locus of control, i.e. believe we have no control over what happens in our life, this will have a negative affect on our happiness. If we have an internal locus of control, it will have a positive affect on our happiness.
b. Perception. How we perceive people and situations will affect our happiness. If we perceive situations or people as stressors; negative affect. If we perceive situations or people as challenges that can be overcome; positive affect.
c. Self Esteem. Low = negative. High = positive.
2. The level someone Hates something is affected by a combination of external locus of control and perceiving situations or people as stressors while having a low self esteem.
3. Between Happiness and Hatred, there is the state of “Null” Null is the state of being where you are indifferent to your surroundings. It does take away from happiness, but can be easily either be eliminated or become hatred by a positive or negative perception adjustment.
4. The average person spends 33% of their time in an unconscious state where quality of life is not affected. This leaves 66% of the time where the quality of life can be either positively affected or negatively affected.
5. Hatred has a compounding negative affect on the quality of life. The longer you carry it around with you, the more it takes away. If you start out with 20% of your life hating things it has a 30% affect. The next day, that 30% grows to 45%. The 45% then becomes 67%, etc.

The Quality of Life factor is a combination of both happiness, hatred and null. It can be represented by the mathematical formula:

To improve the Quality of Life Factor you can do the following:
1. Remember when you hate something or someone, the only person negatively affected by the hate is YOU!
2. Make it a habit to meet EVERYONE with a smile and a pleasant greeting. This will not only help yourself in increasing your happiness, but will either make someone else’s happiness level increase of if they are one of those with an extremely low quality of life people, make their factor lower because you have something they don’t.
3. Instead of looking at different situations as uncontrollable, take a moment or two and determine how to overcome the situation and then proceed to do so. This may take several attempts, but it changes your outlook from an external locus of control to an internal one.
4. At a minimum of three times a day take a minute or two and think about something that gives you happiness.

So, what is your Quality of Life Factor? If you subscribe to my theory, what will your Quality of Life Factor be tomorrow, next week, or next year?

Mine is at 98% (98% contentment and 2% null). I don’t have time in my life for hatred.

Another Day Older

As if the gray hairs showing up one or two at a time in an effort to keep me from noticing was not enough; the aches and pains that follow start out quite subtle at first as if they thought I would just think I overdid it the day before and then gradually increased in intensity. Then, it was the different “scopy’s” the doctors started recommending. A colonoscopy here and an arthroscopy or endoscopy there seemed to be recurring subjects on my doctor’s mind.

Yesterday, I started out cleaning out the overflow tube to the lake that my resident beaver felt the overpowering need to block again; then it was on to moving dirt, mowing and cleaning the garage. I took some time out midday to do a little fishing to relax and then returned to work. While moving some equipment in the garage, I turned in a manner that was evidently the wrong thing to do for a person my age and felt pain from about my right kidney radiating all the way up into the neck. I sat down for a few minutes and the pain subsided. I stood back up, did some stretching exercises and with all signs of the pain gone, went back to work. Towards evening, when I came into the house I noticed that I had gotten a pretty thorough sunburn on my neck and arms, but the pain in the back was nothing more than a small ache that was not too bothersome.

I woke up this morning and went out mushroom hunting with my wife and when we returned I checked myself to make sure no ticks came home with me, showered and felt like I needed a nap. When I woke up I found that pain was back in full force. I had trouble just getting into the sitting position in the bed. With the help of my wife, I made it out to the recliner and put a heating pad on the back which seems to ease the discomfort, but I am now stuck in the recliner until I retire for the evening.

I am supposed to attend classes this evening, however there is no way I could make the 70 mile drive and then sit in plastic chairs for four hours tonight. I notified my professors via email, took two pain pills and am halfway reclined in my trusty overstuffed chair with my laptop computer my means of contact with the rest of the world.

Who would have thought that getting older would be such a pain in the neck, and back, and hands, and…..