You Can Be Successful With Public Speaking

by Suzanne Doyle-Morris, PhD  (Read about her here.)

(Listen to it here.)

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

As someone who routinely speaks to large audiences, one of the most common questions I get from professional women concerns how to get comfortable speaking in front of groups, whether in a boardroom, at conferences or on panels. My number one piece of advice is to join your local branch of Toastmasters International.

Toastmasters is a nonprofit organization that exists to help people develop confidence in their speaking abilities. It has branches all over world and even within many large companies. In fact, the professional network, Women in Banking and Finance, has its own branch, as do many large employers. Members of Toastmasters practice speaking by giving five-minute speeches. They also learn to give feedback to one another on their improving skills—which is invaluable to members’ development as leaders.

When I started my own company, I quickly realized that I would not make a living simply from one-to-one coaching. In fact, I realized I shouldn’t make my living simply through one-to-one work, since I enjoyed working with a larger audience. However, I knew I wouldn’t be a fantastic speaker overnight and that I couldn’t just wing it every time I got up to speak. My audiences and I deserved better than that. So, while I knew I could speak adequately, I also knew adequate wasn’t enough to differentiate myself as an executive coach and speaker. I needed to get better.

I joined my local branch of Toastmasters, which enabled me to practice crafting and delivering a variety of speeches to a group of strangers who would give me supportive feedback. For my first speech, I had to give a five-minute introduction to some aspect of my life. I mistakenly thought, How hard can that be? I chose to speak about the circuitous journey that had brought me, an Australian-born American, to Cambridge.

I was overconfident and it showed—dreadfully. I told jokes that I hadn’t first road-tested for suitability. I managed to defy the laws of physics completely, by frequently drying up and running out of interesting things to say, while simultaneously going over my allocated time. That was an “achievement” I did not want to repeat.

However, that experience taught me to value more highly both my audience and their time, and to always prepare a presentation worth listening to. For any woman looking to enhance her speaking skills, I couldn’t recommend Toastmasters highly enough. I completed the initial round of 10 speeches, on topics ranging from a past French holiday to what I loved about Britain, getting better with every speech. Toastmasters enables you to become more comfortable with your speaking skills, which is a good lesson for any professional.

Listen to today’s podcast here.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

Or on our website, WomensMedia you should read:

Seven Steps to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking or

Add Confidence and Credibility to Your Presentations

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

How To Be An Entrepreneur Working From Home

by Sharon Michaels (Read about her here.)

(Listen to it here.)

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

Working from home can be a challenge. I know about home office challenges from personal experience. My office is directly off our living area, facing the kitchen and it doesn’t have a door. Talk about distractions! Every day I deal with the smells of cooking, staring at the refrigerator and watching the family grab snacks.

The good news is, I’ve learned to rise above these challenges and focus on doing business during my workday. The bad news is, it took time to discipline myself to concentrate on my business and not get distracted. It didn’t happen overnight. In fact, my husband is in the kitchen right now warming food in the microwave and feeding our dog, and there is a part of me that wants to see what he’s doing.

Let me share some tips that are working for me:

1. When I step into my office my mind shifts to business. I put on my business owner’s cap and concentrate my time and energy on doing business. It’s a deliberate and conscious decision – a mindset shift that my office is for working, not playing.

2. I surround myself with my personal and professional motivators. To my right is my current vision board, to my left is my professional mission statement, directly ahead of me is a picture of my husband, our mini-dachshund and me on one of our favorite family vacations. On my bookshelves are my favorite books, family photos and other reminders of why I’m doing what I’m doing.

3. My office is clean, inviting and organized. There are times when I have too many piles of paper on the desk or floor, but generally I’m neat. Being organized is important to me because I work better when I know where things are and can find them without getting frustrated. I straighten up before I leave the room at the end of the day because I want to start fresh and clean in the morning.

4. I have a timer on my desk. I use the timer to keep me on track because I want to use my time wisely. It’s easy to get caught up in social networking or checking email and lose track of time. I set the timer for 15 or 20 minutes and when the timer rings, I finish up that particular task and go on to the next.

5. My husband and I have “moneymaking” signs. Each sign consists of a large green dollar sign ($) placed in a picture frame. When my frame is on the edge of the desk and pointing toward the doorway, that means Do Not Disturb because I’m working on moneymaking activities.

6. I use music as a sound barrier. I have a small CD player and an iPod in my office. When I find myself getting distracted, I plug in my earphones and listen to my favorite music. I particularly enjoy the sounds of crashing waves to help my thoughts focus on writing or creating. When I need energy, I play something “jazzy” or upbeat. My music selections correspond with my tasks.

7. I’ve learned to take regular breaks. When my mind wanders or my thinking begins to get fuzzy, I get up, stretch and take quality time to rejuvenate my mind, body and spirit.

Hopefully, some of these suggestions will work in your own home office. Finding a home-based work environment that will be productive and empowering is personal and individual to each of us. If you have additional suggestions, please share them with us.

Listen to today’s podcast here.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

On our website, WomensMedia you should read this:  Organizing Your Home Office or Happy Business Owners Are Successful Business Owners

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here, or SharonMichaels here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

by Suzanne Doyle-Morris, PhD  (Read about her here.)

(Listen to it here.)

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

As an American woman who has spent 15 of her 35 years living and working outside the U.S., you would expect me to be a huge advocate for what working abroad can do for you career. What you might not expect (I certainly didn’t) is how useful it living and working abroad was for so many of the women I interviewed when I wrote Beyond the Boys’ Club.

For some of the women I interviewed, foreign travel and overseas job postings provided some of the best chances for profile-raising. These opportunities can be very exciting for ambitious women and are highly correlated to career growth. A willingness to travel demonstrates commitment to your employer as well as the ability to be highly adaptable in changing situations.

Getting these experiences in early, before having a partner or children, is a challenge many women take advantage of, as it allows them to “tick the boxes” when being considered for advancement later. They know it is much harder to move a family later in your career when you have other commitments. If foreign experience is something many of your senior colleagues have, it is definitely something to consider. It is better to take on those challenges early, so that a lack of overseas experience cannot be held against you later on.

To this end Zoë Ingle, of Positive Energy, the network for women in oil and gas, also recommended learning a foreign language—depending on where your industry is growing and developing.

She recalled, “I remember sitting in a meeting with four women who had very different career paths within the energy industry, and it arose that all four of

them had learned Russian, a part of the world where we now spend a great deal of time negotiating. It was not their mother tongue, but they all recognized that learning the language was one of the most important decisions they had ever made.”

She smiled about another woman she had met within the network who said to her, “You can’t describe the authority you feel when you sit down to a meeting with all Middle Eastern men to negotiate and you can speak Arabic—they know instantly you mean business.”

This issue might seem a particular concern only for women in certain industries. However, it is worth bearing in mind in any field where you can see that progression is correlated to, or even enhanced by, at least one overseas assignment. This means it can be relevant for women in consultancy, investment banking, accountancy, and science and engineering as well. Working abroad demonstrates adaptability, tolerance and in many cases an ability to think laterally that is prized by employers, even if you don’t learn another language.

For example, I will never know how much of my career has been helped by the fact that I have lived and worked in four different countries, but I suspect it has certainly made me more interesting to potential employers and clients, as well as giving me a wider range of perspectives. Plus, being an Australian-born American living in England is one way I am easily remembered—a plus for any woman looking to raise her profile.

Listen to today’s podcast here.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

Or on our website, WomensMedia you should read:

Learn Your Client’s Cultural Sensitivities Before You Travel or

Leadership Skills: Boost Your Business Acumen!

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

Who are you looking at?

By Stacey Hanke (Read about her here.)

(Listen to it here.)

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter.  We make it easy!

Have you ever had a conversation with someone whose eyes darted away from you? You might have wondered if they were looking at the stain on your shirt or a hair that was out of place. You probably began to focus on where they were looking rather than what they were saying.

You’d be surprised by the number of individuals I work with who believe they have good eye contact, when in reality they don’t lock eyes with their listeners long enough to create relationships. Relationships are important in business.

Last week I asked a new client, “What do you feel are your communication strengths?” He responded, “Eye contact.” As he responded his eyes were darting everywhere.
Relationships are built on trust, and maintaining eye connection helps to develop trust. Would you trust someone who, when speaking to you, consistently avoided your gaze? Eventually you would probably lose interest in the person and question their credibility. You might wonder what they were looking at, or walk away because you felt the message was unimportant.

You’ve been hearing me refer to eye “connection” rather than eye contact. When speaking to a group, eye contact can mean scanning your listeners—even looking above their heads. It often means looking at several individuals while completing a thought. This is how I distinguish between eye contact and eye connection.

If you want to connect with, and gain the trust of, your listeners, try to complete one sentence or thought per person. Then, take a moment to pause as you transition your eyes from one person to the next. When your eyes dart from side to side, or when you glance at the floor or ceiling to gather your thoughts, you jeopardize trust in you and your message.

When you forget what to say, where do you tend to look? If you look at the ceiling or floor, or at your PowerPoint slides—anywhere but at their listeners—you are disconnecting. If you utter words such as, “uh,” “um,” “well,” or “so,” you instantly communicate to your listeners that you don’t know what to say. Eye connection will help you avoid non-words and gain control by allowing you to think on your feet. When you are focused visually, your thoughts will be more focused.

Changing from eye contact to eye connection takes practice and concentration. Begin today to practice the following techniques:

• When speaking to two or more people, complete one sentence or thought per person.

• Only speak when you see your listener’s eyes. Pause when you look away.

• Pause when you refer to your PowerPoint slides, handouts or notes. When presenting ideas, look only at your listeners.

• Ask listeners you trust to give you feedback when your eyes dart or when you look away from them while you are speaking.

• During meetings, group, or face-to-face conversations, practice connecting with the eyes of your listeners as you convey one complete sentence or thought at a time.

• When speaking on the phone, focus your eyes on nearby objects. Complete one sentence or thought before looking from one object to another.

Tips when speaking to a large group

When speaking to a group of 30 or more, you may be unable to see the eyes of everyone. Select an area of the audience to focus on. The listeners who are sitting within that area will feel as though you are connecting with them.

Be sure to visit our site, WomensMedia to get Expert Advice for Business Women.

For quick updates for Business Women you should follow NancyFClark on twitter here, or StaceyHanke here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter.  We make it easy!
On our website, WomensMedia you should read this: Add Confidence and Credibility to Your Presentations

or this: Seven Steps to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking

It may help to listen to Speak Up: Using Public Speaking to Further Your Career—How To Promote Yourself Without Bragging
or read it here.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter.  We make it easy!