Oral Communication Skills, Verbal and non Verbal

Oral Communication Skills, Verbal and non Verbal

1. Oral communication skills

2. Communication
Communication is important to:
•Get your point across
•Educate
•Inform
•Allow for greater understanding
•Provide feedback
•Stimulate new ideas, excitement

3. Types of Communication

4. Verbal Communication
•Requirements for effective verbal communication
–Speaking
–Listening

5. Speak Effectively
•Being able to persuade others to accept your
ideas or to act as you wish is one of life’s most
important abilities.
•By organizing your ideas makes your
arguements more compelling.
–Group your thoughts into threes
–Solve a puzzle
–Begin with the end
–Divide and conquer

6. Listen Supportively
–Assume an attentive an open posture
–Maintain sufficient eye contact
–Demonstrate empathy
–Use verbal cues
•Prompting
•Asking questions
•Paraphrasing

7. Where do you use verbal
communication?
•At home
•With friends
•With parents
•Work
•Stores

8. Speech?
•Speeches are an imperative part of life. They could
be used in any aspect of life whether personal or
professional.

9. What are the types of speeches?
•Persuasive
•Impromptu
•Informative
•Entertaining

10. What are your fears?
•What is your fear in speaking in front of the people?

12. How to overcome your fears?
•Be prepared
•Practice, practice and practice,
•Never memorize a speech
•Rehearse in front of the mirror
•Rehearse in front of your family and friends
•Breathe deeply before getting up to present
•Focus on a spot in the back of the room
•Focus on a familiar face (they usually give you a smile)
•Know what you are talking about
•Dress comfortable
•Know that shyness is no barrier

13. Why is verbal communication
important to business?
•Verbal communication is at the core of what most of
us do
•The essential actions taken by managers and staff
happen almost entirely through verbal
communication. It sets the emotional tone and
builds relationships that ultimately determine the
performance culture of the workplace.

14. If verbal communication is not
effective…
•coordination breaks down
•relationships suffer
•mistakes multiply
•productivity plummets.

15. Disadvantages of verbal
communication
•A major disadvantage is that it may be forgotten or
remembered inaccurately.
•It must be consistent and continuous and the
speaker will need to check that there is a shared
understanding about what has been said.
•The timing of verbal communication is crucial to its
effectiveness.

16. Tips for developing your voice

17. Vary the speed of your voice
•A good speaker tends to talk fast to excite and
energize the listener and slow when they want to
create suspense and anticipation.
•Talking at the same pace all the time can:
–cause the listener to “shut off” and ignore what you are
saying. This is because it all sounds the same, like a
continuous drone of noise.
–“Tire” the listener, because they will not have time to
absorb and process what you are saying.

18. Should I talk slowly or quickly?
•Slow speakers are generally perceives as being less
intelligent, boring, tired or incompetent. They also
tend to waffle, going on forever about something,
when a few words would have been sufficient.
•Fast talkers are better than slow talkers, but only if
they learn to pause, listen and have a 2 way
conversation. They are perceived as being more
authoritative and interesting than slow speakers.
Studies show that people prefer listening to fast
talkers

19. How well do you know your subject?
•You can often tell when someone knows a subject
really well, because they will tend to talk about it
very quickly.
•If however someone doesn’t know much about a
subject, or in uncertain about something, they tend
to slow down so they have time to think.

20. •In general, just remember that you can create
interest in your message by varying the speed of
your voice. Use a speed that is slightly faster than
average, yet slow enough to follow easily.
•You can then slow down occasionally to create
suspense or anticipation of key points. If you can
master this, you will have people hanging on your
every word.

21. Project authority with a low pitch
Can you imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger saying “I’ll be back” with a
camp, nasally and high pitched feminine voice whilst still sounding
authoritative? No, neither can I!

22. •High pitched voices are associated with femininity,
weakness and submissive behaviour.
•A low pitched voice is interpreted as authoritative,
influential, domineering and powerful.
•Low pitched deep voices command respect and
suggest a leadership quality about you.
Try to lower the pitch of our voice to
make it sound more masculine if it does
not already.

23. Same sentence, different
meanings
•Inflections allow the same sentence to have many
different meanings.
•Here are some examples:
–“I did not say I stole the money”
Leaves open the possibility you did the stealing
–“I did not say I stole the money”
Implies you know who did steal the money
–“I did not say I stole the money”
Makes it sound as if you did steal something but not
necessarily the money

24. Control the loudness of your voice
•Too loud a voice can annoy and
irritate people
•Too soft a voice not only can’t be
heard by others, but you will also
convey timidity and a lack of
authority.
•You should therefore aim for a
moderately loud voice to ensure
you are clearly understood and
that your message is delivered
powerfully.

25. Modulating volume
•If you want to dramatize a moment and make the
listener really listen to what you are saying, try
lowering the volume of your slightly. This will cause
the listener to concentrate more deeply on what you
are saying and is usually much more effective that
raising your voice.

26. Shout it!
•If you want to shock the listener
and make sure they understand a
certain point, try raising your voice
suddenly. E.g., “It was all going so
well and then YOU BLEW IT!”
•Used correctly, a raised voice can
emphasize certain emotional states,
whilst also projecting a sense of
dominance.
•However, do not raise your voice
too often, otherwise you will be
seen as a rude and angry person.
Rather, use it sparingly, and when
you want to really emphasize a
point to your listener.

27. Sharpen your articulation
•If you want to be clearly understood, make sure you
clearly articulate each sentence, phrase and word.
•Clear crisp words convey confidence, competence
and intelligence.
•In addition to speaking clearly, you should also speak
concisely. By speaking less you will also create a
sense of mystery about you, which will stir up a
desire in the listener to find out more. This in turn
makes you appear as a more desirable and
interesting person.

28. Pauses allow for information
processing
Bond…James Bond. This famous line from the James Bond movies
is perhaps the most well known use of pausing for impact, and
something which most of us have tried to emulate at some point
in our lives!

29. •Pauses are important because they help to break up
your speech, allowing information to sink in and be
processed by the listener.
•When a listener is hanging on your every word, you
can be sure that they value what you are saying and
are giving you their full attention.

30. Pauses create anticipation
•Pauses are also important for creating anticipation.
Which means the other person can’t wait to hear
what you have to say next.
•Generally speaking, a 1-3 second pause is sufficient
to create anticipation in the listener. However do not
overuse pauses, and make sure the point you are
emphasizing is relatively important. Otherwise they
will lose their effect.