Igor Rodchenko - Master of the word. Public speaking skill

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Yegorka, who prevented me from writing this book

Foreword

A month ago, one of the participants in my training to the question "Who likes to speak in public?" suddenly answered: "I hate speaking in public." There was no drawing in his words. For half the first day, he rolled his jaws on his cheekbones and yawned nervously. But training is training, it works like a trap. Unbeknownst to himself, the guy was drawn in. Believe it or not, he turned out to be the best in the results of a three-day training. His final work caused a storm of applause. He hated performing because he couldn't do it. It didn't work because he didn't know how to do it. When he understood exactly how to do it, he could. This guy believed in himself, and now he can't be curtailed. He experienced joy.

There are many pleasant moments in life. Do you know what pleasure I experienced when I met the dawn on the Brazilian beach in Trindade? The ocean clapped a two-meter wave along the sandy edge - like a woman rinsing clothes on the river and beating them on a wooden floor. The Milky Way flowed in the pinking sky and went out before our eyes. The sun rose - did not crawl, did not crawl out, but solemnly rose to its full height. I laughed with delight!

And this is just one happy moment out of thousands of others that life has shared with me. But I will tell you that the pleasure that a person gets who knows how to think and speak in public, who is able to be himself and not be afraid of anything when dozens of eyes are directed at him, who knows how to catch the breath of the audience and lead it along, is a pleasure for nothing. you will change.

Someone will say: “Bullshit! Not everyone can!” No, gentlemen! In all my professional life, I have never met a single person who is not able to speak in public. And often it is enough just to tighten the nut or tighten the chain, turn the steering wheel in the right direction and go.

This book is about bolts, rudders and nuts. It's about how to prepare and speak in public. At least once. And experience joy.

We will try to go from preparing for the performance to its completion. Step by step. Sometimes I will tell some stories simply because I am bored writing user manuals. Of course, it will be great if you find an opportunity to get to the training with us at IGRO, then you will do much of what I write about under the guidance of specialists and you will understand something better.

Chapter first

Basic Speaker Training

Once, many years ago, speaking to a huge audience in Nizhny Novgorod, I found myself in a terrible situation. I didn't have enough material. I knew the topic superficially, but I was sure that with my experience, and even after reading a few articles on the plane, I could easily keep the audience for two hours. When I went on stage, the lights were turned off in the hall and several spotlights were directed at me. In the circle of yellow light, I was alone with myself. Cheerfully he began, but after half an hour he stifled and began to howl, waving his hands in despair and repeating what had already been said. Fifteen minutes later, I was struck by the same thought as Ostap Bender in the chess club in the city of Vasyuki: "It's time to tear your claws!" Clutching my heart, I whispered into the microphone: “I'm sorry ... I feel bad ...” Compassionate listeners rushed onto the stage, and I, dragging my right (for some reason) leg, was taken backstage ...

Since then, I have understood forever: the speaker must be ready for anything, and first of all - for his own speech.

Training consists of basic and target levels. Karl Marx would call them base and superstructure. The first involves the constant improvement of their abilities. The second is devoted to the preparation of a specific speech. I am sure that most beginning speakers are getting ready to speak. They have no other choice. Some do it right, some do it wrong. But the more experienced the speaker, the less time he needs to create a speech and the more often he is able to speak with improvisation. Helps him in this basic training, which is lacking for a beginner.

The basic concept is based on knowledge, experience and training.

The Chinese military strategist Jie Xuan taught: “Dig into the nature and destinies of man in order to comprehend the secret of military leadership. Read the ancient books in order to thoroughly learn the methods of action of the troops. Study the images and numbers of the universe in order to have a complete knowledge of the rules for organizing an army. Perform personally all the duties to understand the management of troops. Explore various items to be knowledgeable about equipment. In the hours of idleness, meditate on immaterial things and make plans ... "

We are obliged to know more than others, to be interested in completely different things besides our narrow specialty: sports, fashion, opera and auteur cinema, fiction and the latest discoveries in the field of biogenetics. For this there is the Internet and magazines, bookstores and coffee shops. They exist just for us.

My friend Zhenya Kuznetsov once told me: “The main quality of a good storyteller is curiosity.” There are so many interesting things around, everything that can be useful to us when preparing a speech! You just don't have to be omnivorous. No need to litter your head with cheap junk. I'm talking about the thoughtful choice of information. It is worth wasting time only on a good book, a good magazine, a good movie.

As Mark Fabius Quintilian taught: “For the formation of the mind and style, the quality of the books read is much more important than their quantity.”

Choosing a good book or article is no different than choosing shoes. You need to try on and try to walk. Other people's opinions or recommendations do not matter. You need intuition and your own taste. Take a book off the shelf or open a magazine and read a few pages. If it doesn't work, put it back. That's all. The book that you need today, you do not at stite. Just trust yourself more than advertising. Reading is an art, so I recommend that you definitely read Sergey Povarnin's brochure How to Read Books and Mortimer Adler's recently published Russian translation of the same title.

Speaking of the benefits of reading fiction for a business person. I once read an interview with Olga Slutsker, the owner of the World Class fitness club chain, in the Sekret Firmy magazine. She told how at some point she suddenly caught herself thinking that it was difficult for her to negotiate - there were not enough words. A friend advised me to read Leo Tolstoy at night. The problem was thus resolved.

Don't stop reading! After all, language dries up when we limit ourselves to just browsing the news feed and flipping through business books. Our language needs full-flowing rivers of the best texts so that the vocabulary does not become impoverished and we can speak freely and easily. Talk about different topics.

Public Speaking Skills

Legendary training by Igor Rodchenko

Organization of training:

05.12.19-06.12.19

10-00 - 17-00, Thursday-Friday.

22 000 rubles

The cost if paid two or more months before the start - 20 tr, if paid one or more months before the start - 21 tr, if paid less than a month before the start - 22 tr.

Igor Rodchenko

To speak well in public, you need not only to know where to put your hands and what to say at the beginning. You need to try to change yourself in the public space: learn not to depend on assessments and criticisms, learn to think out loud, and not pronounce the memorized text, learn to see the audience and manage its attention. In this program, we work to achieve real, qualitative changes in the public behavior of participants and at the same time master the most effective techniques that can be immediately used in practice. This approach leads to tangible results.

from the history

For the first time a two-day training called "The Master of the Word" was held in St. Petersburg in 2005. Since then, several thousand people have been trained in this program both in Russia and abroad. In 2010, this program was recognized by the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper as the best in teaching public speaking. In 2013, based on the experience of conducting this program, the Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house published the book Master of the Word, which became a bestseller. Public Speaking Skills.

For whom?

This program is especially useful for senior and middle managers; leaders of public organizations and social groups; people striving for development, who are ready and want to get results and do it under the guidance of a true master.

tasks

In this training, each participant will understand their strengths and weaknesses and learn how to work with them, master various ways of preparing for a speech and work out techniques for interacting with listeners in order to be able to keep their attention throughout the speech. He will master the most effective techniques for overcoming fear and responding to difficult questions and trolls in the audience.

Program

First day

Criteria for evaluating public speaking and individual diagnostics.

First presentation and tips for working with slides.

Common speaker mistakes. Preparation algorithm with a limited time resource.

Public speaking preparation levels:

Work with the content of speech (identifying the main idea, setting the right goal, defining the boundaries of speech).
Organization of space (laws of exact behavior).
Managing emotions and overcoming fatigue (the cause of fear and the ability to overcome it, the secrets of managing emotions).

Exercises, warm-ups, problem solving and individual performances followed by corrective feedback.

Second day

Assessment of the audience: a resource of power and a balance of power.

Techniques for getting in touch with the audience, tasks of the speaker, examples of successful actions, searching for your own techniques.

"Pen work": instant correction of the speaker's behavior.

Creating a map on the basic techniques of managing the attention of the audience.

Techniques for neutralizing negativity in the audience.

Speech strategies: logical models in the organization of speech content as a tool for retaining attention.

Argumentation techniques.

The final part of the speech: how to answer questions from the audience.

Feedback with the designation of development zones in post-training and recommendations.

result

You will perform better.

feedback from participants

“A wonderful training in which the general things are discussed and considered in a wonderful way through the private. The most useful topics for me were the logic in the speech and the work with objections. Very good video recording technique”

Kharchenko Alexey, freelance producer

“I am satisfied. I liked the dynamics of the training, its positive attitude. I saw my “growth zones”, gained confidence, despite the stress of the training topic for me”

Khovansky Alexander, director of "Center of Apartments"

“Very good training in oratory skills, and in general effective speech. I saw that my problems are typical and therefore solvable.

Tolstoy Vasily, Principal Software Engineer EMC

“Great training. Dynamic. In addition to useful techniques, tools and practice, there was an opportunity to observe the coach himself. I will take a lot of things into account in my training activities”

Dobrusina Olga, Head of Human Resources at Leroy Merlin LLC

“High level of training, complete immersion in the topic. The result exceeded expectations, since there are no techniques, there is an attitude. For the first time I see the work of a coach at such a high level, when the coach is not only a consultant, but also an assistant.”

Savina Lyubov, Training Manager, LLC Prisma

Igor Rodchenko

Legal support for the publishing house is provided by Vegas Lex law firm.

Yegorka, who prevented me from writing this book

Foreword

This book is about bolts, rudders and nuts. It's about how to prepare and speak in public. At least once. And experience joy.

Chapter first

Basic Speaker Training

Since then, I have understood forever: the speaker must be ready for anything, and first of all - for his own speech.

The basic concept is based on knowledge, experience and training.

1. Knowledge

As Mark Fabius Quintilian taught: “For the formation of the mind and style, the quality of the books read is much more important than their quantity.”

This is what makes good speakers. They have something to say. They have knowledge.

2. Experience

Someone said that the most useful thing in life is your own experience. “Never be afraid to take on something you don't know how to do. Remember, the ark was built by an amateur, the professionals built the Titanic.”

Experience is dynamic, it has the ability to compare and transfer. Yes, it is vital for a speaker to speak in public - during speeches, the main thing is acquired, but you cannot limit yourself to only them. Gain experience everywhere. Learn to compare and draw parallels. For example, with sports. Nothing is more reminiscent of interacting with an audience than boxing or wrestling. And if you do something like that or just watch tournaments on TV, then you gain the experience necessary to effectively operate during public speaking. The same can be said about any other life situations. Take a normal conversation with a colleague. What did you do to convince him? Did it work or didn't it? How did your hands behave, what happened to your breathing, to your face? Which words were heard and which were not? Experience gives understanding, and from understanding right actions are born.

Here's a concrete example for you. I am writing these lines during the Summer Olympics in London. Yesterday, the Russians failed to take first place in the team wrestling in artistic gymnastics. They are not speakers, but an attentive viewer will take the realization of the incredible relationship between the speakers into the treasury of their skill. If you need to make a report in a series of other speakers and the previous one failed his speech, then be prepared for the fact that the negative will be transferred to you. This happens partly because of the specifics of the perception of the listeners - they do not have time to reorganize, partly because of the ape, unfortunately inherent in our nature. Many of us tend to unconsciously pick up someone else's mood and fall under its influence, starting to behave accordingly. That is why an experienced speaker must be able to work against the wave, must feel the general rhythm and easily change it, and an experienced event organizer puts a strong player first on the list to set a good rhythm.

Any experience, of course, requires critical reflection. When in a TV show the heroine shows a bag of so-called letters of happiness and says that she has been sending money for five years in anticipation of the promised prizes, then we are not “experience, the son of difficult mistakes”, but accumulated stupidity.

The speaker accumulates useful experience. Both life and professional. This is the foundation of his success.

3. Workout

Remember the story of Demosthenes, who studied oratory?

When the future genius of eloquence was seven years old, his wealthy father died. Trustees were appointed to manage the estate. Instead of preserving and increasing wealth, they robbed the child: they destroyed the will, seized property, and squandered money. Years passed, the boy grew up, and the desire to punish the offenders only grew stronger. In ancient Greece, such problems were decided by the court. All he had to do was make an accusation and make an accusatory speech himself. The Greeks valued eloquence above many other virtues and, when deciding on punishment (six hundred citizens made up each of the ten colleges of the Athenian court), they believed that if a citizen managed to convince them with his speech, then he was right. Demosthenes decided to use the services of teachers of eloquence. He turned to Isei, the head of a well-known rhetorical school, for help, and for three and a half years he copied other people's speeches. Finally he made up his mind and summoned the offenders to court for the first meeting ...

Whatever Demosthenes did to improve the situation and gain success in re-hearing: he endlessly multiplied arguments; strengthened his health with morning and evening exercises; walked around with a handful of stones in his mouth, thinking that this would help him correct the "ffects of fiction"; I even shaved half my head so as not to evade classes. In the end, he again appeared in court (his hair had already grown) - and ... again a deafening failure! The vile guardians laughed with joy, while Demosthenes, in tears, walked along the seashore away from the place of his shame.

But fate suddenly smiled at him. The old actor Satyr was walking toward me. They said hello. The satyr inquired about the cause of the tears and, recognizing it, asked to read Homer aloud. Demosthenes stood up and recited. The actor laughed and read an excerpt from the Iliad himself, so much so that Demosthenes, amazed, could not say anything - the reading of the Satyr was so expressive. Becoming a student of an old actor, Demosthenes mastered the main secret of eloquence - an effective word. He learned to subordinate his every movement, every sound of his voice, every nuance of intonation and the content of every speech to the set goal.

In theatrical practice, such training is called training or drill. No wonder Demosthenes was trained by the actor. I do not know what can be more useful to an orator than the methods and plans of training developed in the practice of the theater over the past centuries. Who else in our country has been so thoroughly engaged in a person in the space of publicity? Where can you find the same holistic system for the development of the voice and plasticity of the body, attention, will, and imagination? That is why I advise all speakers to read such books as “The Work of an Actor on Himself” by Konstantin Stanislavsky, “Gymnastics of Feelings” by Sergei Gippius, “Amazing Gift of Nature” by Zinaida Savkova, “Technology of Acting Art” by Pyotr Ershov.

From the listed books you need to take exercises and train. Of course, it is always better to do this under the guidance of a specialist, but if there is no such thing, then what, sit and wait for the weather by the sea? No, it's better to try it yourself.

Chapter Two

Five questions - five answers

Now imagine that in a few days you have to speak ... This means that it's time to start preparing (I call such preparation targeted). For preparing a specific speech.

No need to panic. Relax, go outside, go to the nearest cafe, order yourself a cup of coffee or tea with mint, sit, smoke, if you smoke, open a notepad (I personally prefer to carry Moleskine notepads with me) and write in a simple pencil in a column five questions:

These are the main questions, we will return to them, write down, supplement or redo the answers to them, because preparing a speech resembles a stream that can change its depth and direction of flow, and not a quantum standard of length, unchanged, like corruption in Russia.

By the way, while you are finishing your coffee or tea, I will tell you a story about moleskin.

When I studied at school, and then at the institute, of course, we didn’t have any such notebooks. I did not know that Ernest Hemingway liked to write in it, which meant something to me in those years. For example, he taught me how to drink, because after reading "Fiesta" and "A holiday that is always with you", I could not help but try to mix some vodka from my parents' bar with Pinocchio lemonade and throw in a piece of ice chipped with a knife in the freezer . Of course, two classmates were invited to an apartment on the outskirts of the Baltic town, whom I put on the sofa, covering their legs with a blanket. I remember this evening as the most romantic in my life, however, then we all felt sick for a long time from drinking.

I stayed with Uncle Ham for several years. In the album, my mother kept a note that I scribbled in the tenth, when I was in the hospital with meningitis: “Dear mom, dad and Genka! Take me away from here, the temperature is already 37.5, which means you can get sick at home. I'm dying here. I get seven injections a day, and it hurts a lot. And today they pricked as many as eight. If you can't pick it up, then pass me the curly cookies and the book "Islands in the Ocean" by Hemingway. I love you". That's what Ernest meant to me as a child, who liked to write his notes in a yellow-leafed notebook with a hard cover to hold comfortably on your lap. The first such notebook was given to me by a blue-eyed girl whom I loved. She knew how to give gifts. You know what that means. She rejoiced, giving something, more than the one to whom she gave.

Now let's start answering the questions. You need to write answers in short, understandable sentences, while thinking about each word.

1. About what?

The question "About what?" is the topic of your future speech. You can talk about anything, but in order not to torture the audience with an endless stream of words, you need to limit yourself to the topic. Imagine that you, as a specialist in leadership, for example, were invited to speak at a conference. And what exactly are you talking about?

“I will talk about leadership!”

“Great, what exactly are you going to talk about?”

“Well… about what… about, so to speak, leadership… uh…”

Maybe it makes sense to narrow the topic, limit the space of speech? After all, if the topic is designated, for example, as “Could the leader be cunning and ruthless?” or "Eight qualities of a modern leader", then both the author and the listener will become much clearer what it is about.

When St. Petersburg was being prepared for the celebration of the 300th anniversary, I was relaxing in Jurmala and somehow got into a conversation with a nice old Latvian woman who was selling in a small bookstore. “Why,” she asked, “you Russians always grab onto big things? Here in St. Petersburg you are restoring squares, entire avenues, and the entrances are probably dirty. You always have. You need to put your house in order, and then take care of the squares.

When you take on a broad topic, as a rule, you don’t know which side to approach this hulk from, you feel insecure, like a beginner, to whom the manager has set the task to work well, but did not say what to do specifically. The narrower the topic, the easier it is to speak. It is always better when a sea of meaning sparkles in every phrase, and not when the whole meaning and listeners along with them drown in a sea of words.

Now, for the sake of interest, I specifically went to the site of public presentations ted.com and looked at the announcements of the latest speeches. As a rule, their topics are already stated in the title. You read and immediately understand what will be discussed:

"Your plan for 200 years";

"Extraction of minerals from sea water";

"How to air-condition a stadium";

"Why X means unknown";

"A New Look at Cleaning Up Oil Spills";

"What We Didn't Know About Penis Anatomy";

“Will our children be a different kind of people”;

"The ideas that ignited the Arab Spring."

When thinking about the topic of a future speech, be sure to find out how much time you have allotted for your speech. Approximately 70-80% of all presentations that I listened to at conferences, business meetings and meetings lasted no more than 20-30 minutes. I think it is worth correlating the chosen topic with the rules of the speech. Otherwise, you will either have to jump on top and crumple your speech, or speak at such a speed that most listeners simply will not perceive you. Either way, it won't work well.

It is always better to say less, but more intelligibly. As in that joke where Zyama owed Iza money.

Izya asks his son to write a letter demanding repayment of the debt. The son brings a multi-page text beginning with the words: “Dear Zinovy Markovich! Would you please ... "" No, - says Izya, - you need to rewrite more concisely. The son brings the second option: “Zinovy Markovich! Dad asks when you will return the money to us. "No no! the father says. “This is also very long, let me write it myself.” And in the end, Izya beats off the telegram: “Zyama! Your mother!

Write down in a notebook the exact topic of your speech: what exactly you will talk about. And move on to the next question.

2. What?

Oddly enough, but to the question “What do I want to say to future listeners?” must also be answered in one sentence. If it works, consider that half of the work is already done. It is then that you will think about the content, figure out what to say in what sequence, and first it is important to decide on what I call the “grain of speech” - its idea. It is important to formulate that main, “royal” idea, from which the whole presentation will grow, to lay a stone at the base of the building on which it will stand firmly. To formulate it simply and clearly, first of all - for oneself.

Elder Ambrose of Optina said: “Where it is simple, there are a hundred angels.” The main idea of McDonald's, for example, can be condensed into two words: speed and affordability. Change this thought - and the whole empire of hamburgers will immediately change, but rather crumble. The idea of Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karamazov" can be expressed in one sentence: "Everyone is to blame before everyone." The novel hatched from this thought.

When an actor creates an image, he first of all tries to find that feature that will determine the whole character of the role.

Remember the old serial film "Shadows Disappear at Noon"? There was a petty hero, superbly played by Boris Novikov. The whole idea of the character in his nickname: Buy-Sell. I read somewhere that when this nickname was found, all the plasticity of the actor and his manner of speaking instantly lined up. Such a petty, cowardly swindler that his mother would sell for a penny.

A good speech should have its own idea. For example, in a presentation on the topic "Analysis of the market for training services" at a conference of providers, the idea may be: "The market has significant development prospects" or another: "The crisis is over and the situation has stabilized." Your task is to develop this idea. It is the idea that will determine the content of the speech, because you will select only those facts that are relevant to it. As an ear grows from a grain, so the whole tree of your performance will grow from an idea.

When I work individually, it happens that the client and I spend a lot of time in order to accurately and in one sentence determine the grain of speech. Without this, empty talk is bound to occur. And when we succeed, then my client becomes accurate in words and ready for improvisation, because, knowing the key idea, he will no longer get lost in the sands of words. And one more thing - this is very important for those who work with difficult audiences - a speaker who knows exactly what he wants to say is difficult to lead astray. He may stumble, but he will not fall.

I remember there was a case. Prepared a group of key specialists for public hearings. It was a project for the renovation of urban areas. There was a lot of material, but as soon as a person came out, started talking, it immediately became clear that he had no point of support. They talked a lot, confusingly, and any question from the audience immediately confused them. There was no confidence in the words, there was no clear position. When the grain “Our project is necessary for the development of our beloved city” was formulated by common efforts, everything immediately fell into place. Arguments lined up, interesting examples went, confidence appeared.

I then watched how the hearings went. The situation was complicated, but the guys understood the main thing that needed to be conveyed, so they easily picked up the topic, discussed with the audience, and actively improvised.

It may seem to you that it is not always so easy to determine the main idea. Well, what is the idea of the annual report? In the same place, there are a lot of different thoughts, facts, assessments, there, in general, we are talking about everything! However, it is not. Open your Bible and read the first verse. Our planet, all life on it, the fate of every person, all the incredible complexity of being began with one Word. If you want, consider it a metaphor. Who cares? Such a metaphor is suitable for a speaker.

And the report at the end of the year should have its own idea. For example, this: "Our company broke into the market leaders" or "The year was difficult, but we survived." Let you never voice this idea, but it will permeate all your graphs and diagrams and create a sense of harmony among the listeners, and not the feeling of a suitcase full of clothes, opening which you don’t understand, either to the beach or to the garage.

If the topic limits the space of speech, then the idea sets the vector of movement and helps to compose the baggage of words.

3. Why?

Why am I writing this book? And there's nothing else for me to do. I sit on the veranda of my parents in a country house near Riga and knock on the keys. I can’t run to the beach - my leg is broken (I slipped in my own kitchen). Here I am writing, stringing words. This is exactly how we perform.

Asking a client after a regional executive meeting, “Why are you saying that now?” - "Well, why, in order to inform, so to speak, to report ..." Listen! Does a woman carry water around the village to carry it? Do people sleep to sleep, do football players drive the ball around the field for the sake of the process itself ?! No, the woman is going to give the cattle fresh water to drink and hopes that the cow will give her more milk in gratitude for such care. People sleep to rest the body, to work with a fresh head, to look better and be in shape. The players are eager to win and the ball is not just chased, but they are trying to score it into the goal and earn a point, assuming to reach a higher place in the championship. Without a goal, a person does not perform a single act. It's just that the goals themselves can be effectively and inefficiently set. A correctly set goal activates our nature, helps to select the right means for achieving it, gives us a strong-willed impulse, and an incorrectly set goal leads us into a dead end, makes us ridiculous, does not allow us to distribute forces and is terribly tiring.

Remember yourself in that ridiculous situation when you need to speak, but you don’t know why. Porridge appears in the mouth, the movements become fussy, the eyes begin to run around, as if you are lying.

Recently, I have observed how speakers' performances depended entirely on how they formulated the goal. I was sitting in the hall of a St. Petersburg hotel at a round table. There were ten such tables, and each seated eight people. We were waiting for the beginning of the seminar devoted to the problems of buying and selling a business. The program included performances by three people.

The first speaker on the list was so well known in the business world that he could afford to wear faded jeans rather than the gray or blue suit the rest of the cast had. However, he looked very elegant.

The speaker came to the forefront, leaned his left hand on the podium and spoke. He looked like a Roman patrician, a little tired from dealing with clients. His speech slowly spread like tomato juice spilled on a tablecloth. It was evident that the orator was pleased with himself: he listened to the sounds of his voice, enjoyed the smoothness of his gestures, sometimes softly grazing. And at that time we quietly chewed: sandwiches with caviar, slices of cheese, tender ham, fruits ... And we paid almost no attention to what was happening on stage.

This can happen to any experienced speaker who knows the taste of success. The desire to please the public becomes an end in itself. Such a speaker becomes an actor who plays himself, allowing us to watch this performance. But, playing a role, he does not see what is happening in the hall. The speaker's attention is focused on their own experiences. And the audience, meanwhile, leaves the theater ...

I call such speakers "peacocks".

Their goal in the performance is to please, to get a portion of enthusiasm, to show themselves. At this point, their attention is focused on their own actions, and the result is a loss of contact with the audience.

…When the moderator announced the second number from the list, an employee of a well-known law firm took the stage. He clearly formulated the task of the speech for himself: to convey information to the audience.

What does a responsible speaker usually do when they want to convey a message? He focuses on the text. The main thing for him is not to forget anything. If it is not possible to read from a sheet, it will read from the screen. In no case does he look into the eyes of the listeners - he is afraid to be distracted and lose his thought. Staring at a point on the floor, he talks and talks and talks. As a rule, quietly, so as not to get yourself out of a concentrated state with excessive emotionality.

What does the audience of such a presentation usually do? These people are probably listening, perhaps recording. But more often they struggle with sleep. When the goal of a presentation is to convey information, the result depends entirely on the desire of the audience to listen.

I call such speakers "woodpeckers".

Their purpose is to voice the prepared text; they work as radio receivers. The result of this approach is monotonous speech, superficial contact with the audience, loss of time control, lethargy and constant fear of making a mistake.

... And then Viktor Afanasiev, a representative of the Ready Business Store company, entered the site. And like a fresh breeze blew. The speaker was calm, smiling and looked each of us straight in the eye. At least that's how it seemed to me. He paused and spoke. Who ate, he stopped chewing, who slept - woke up. The whole room was in the attention. Victor spoke for exactly twenty minutes. Questions followed the applause. Another ten minutes later, the moderator had to intervene to call a break. Victor was immediately taken into a close ring by inquisitive listeners ...

What is the secret of his success? To the exact target. When I approached him and asked about the purpose of his speech, he answered very simply: "I want them to take advantage of my services and come to my company."

I call such speakers "eagles".

Their goal is to reach our hearts, move us to actions and decisions. They provide maximum contact with the audience and are capable of improvisation, because they are not tied to a piece of paper with text. They are active, brave, use humor and never hide behind the podium.

The goal should not be realized in me (“I want please”), not in the process itself (“I want tell oh…”), but in my listeners. A well-defined goal shows result which I want to achieve with my speech. Such a goal can be formulated as follows: I want to... ”Instead of ellipsis in a notebook, write down the result that you want to achieve.

For example, "I want listeners to accept my point of view on this issue" or "I want them to sign a contract."

This is how very simple sentences appear in your notebook. The theme creates boundaries, the idea defines the essence of the content, and the purpose directs all your actions to a specific result.

In addition, I will say that the goal can be strategic or tactical. The first guides your activities in the future, sometimes for several years, and many performances are simply invested in its achievement as if in a box, the second is tactical. This is the result that you must achieve during a particular performance. Do not confuse them - pants can burst from the desire to achieve a strategic goal in one performance.

Speaking of ripped pants...

All short boys have a hard time at school. I myself was second from last in the formation. Therefore, on a date with the beautiful Galya Kopchuk, whom I secretly loved, I had to go in the position of a friend of her gentleman. Of course, Seryoga was a real macho: tall, with black curls, a large nose and bright lips. While they were talking near the entrance door, I sat on a bench and dreamed. You understand what. True, I had one thing that set me apart from many of my friends: real flared trousers, tightly fitting the buttocks and expanding down to the size of small sails. Then it was considered fashionable. Not every mother could sew such chic clothes. For the right flares, a special officer's cloth was needed.

And then one day I wore them to school. It was a risk, I broke the rules, but the game was worth the candle.

Parallel 10 "A", where Galya studied, hung out in the gym. The girls sat on the bench and kept secret. Seryoga and I entered and moved straight to the shells. Serega famously pulled himself up - this is what he did at that moment. And I went to the high jump stand. I replaced the usual 1.45 meters with 1.55 and took a run. Flared trousers flapped to the beat. The bench froze. It smelled like caramel in there. Push, shout, crack... Applause. I took the height, but now I could not rise. And I realized that there was a disaster. Color filled my face.

Seryoga approached, mockingly asked what was the matter. He almost neighed when I answered, but when he saw my eyes, he took off his jacket, laid me on his back, picked me up and carried me. All the way to the medical room, where the paramedic hastily sewed up my trousers. And the rest of the guys thought that I just twisted my leg.

Soon Galya agreed to go to the cinema with me. And Seryoga fell in love with another.

4. To whom?

This question cannot be answered in one sentence. Maybe because it's the most important question of the five?

Any person, a group of people, a whole country has a culture that most accurately expresses their values. How people dress, in what buildings they live, how they eat, sleep, talk - all this is culture, and it can be different. There are closed and open cultures, “male” and “female”, authoritarian and democratic… And for me, one of the most important signs of culture is its monologue or dialogue. This sign is manifested in everything: in the behavior of people, in the norms and rules of communication, in creativity and, of course, in oratory.

I grew up in the USSR, in a culture that was monologue through and through. When I recall lessons at school or lectures at the institute, speeches by Komsomol leaders and delegates to party congresses - those obvious examples of lively rhetoric that I observed, I sadly understand that, with rare exceptions, they communicated with me from top to bottom. No one was particularly interested in my personal opinion, it could be expressed in the yard, in the pub, in the kitchen, but not in public. There, behind the podium, it was necessary to speak other people's words in a foreign language.

A person of a monologue culture does not need a listener and arguments; a slogan, an empty phrase, is more important to him. He is a slave to the habit of reporting information, the same "woodpecker" that I wrote about above. It is more important for him to pronounce the text than to receive a response to it. A monologue speaker is necessarily inherent in the fear of public speaking, he does not know how to discuss - he starts screaming at the top of his lungs, without even thinking if anyone hears him. He himself does not want to listen to anyone, because he is self-centered and does not need someone else's opinion.

This culture has not disappeared along with the disappearance of the Land of Soviets. She has moved on to the next generation. I myself absorbed many of her traits. It is only in recent years that the sprouts of a new culture, the culture of dialogue, have begun to break through. Of course, it existed before, was the basis of Russian pre-revolutionary life, but was destroyed by the Bolsheviks. Sailed away on a steamboat in 1927, was shot at Solovki, froze to death in Kolyma and fell silent along with the bells thrown from Diveyevo churches.

In this culture, it is not you who speaks and not the prepared text that needs to be spoken, but what extends further, behind the body and the text, which, thanks to you, the other understood, what he realized, felt, accepted. It does not matter how he treats you - critically or friendly, it is important that he does not remain indifferent. Let him sit with his mouth closed, but the process of reflection and empathy must go on in it. The result of a good speech is always the merit of both parties: the speaker and the audience. In dialogue, cooperation arises, and outside of cooperation there is no result: understanding, desire, action. In the monologue, the game goes one way. One speaks and the other pretends to listen. When a culture becomes monologue, it dies.

How does this reasoning relate to the fourth question on the list? Yes, very simple.

The question "To whom?" formal for a representative of the monologue culture. What difference does it make to him? He is always the same. He is a German, that a Frenchman, that a hard worker, that a professor - to a light bulb. This is a key feature of such a culture: the inability to react, the inability to be flexible, the unwillingness to listen and understand the audience.

There is a paradox in the dialogue. In it, the speaker is primarily a big ear, not a tongue. Therefore, the question "To whom?" for a truly effective speaker is of great importance.

Audience Understanding: Intelligence

Although the real understanding of the audience comes already during the work, a preliminary assessment of the future audience is necessary.

1. To know how people might be interested in what you are going to say, and if necessary, make changes to the content of the speech.

2. To understand how or in what language to speak about it.

3. To prevent aggression, boredom, misunderstanding that arise when the existing barriers of perception are not taken into account - the difference in age, position, experience, culture.

Orator's spell: “I want to know you so as not to be afraid. I want to know you so that I can be truly helpful. I want to know you so that I can leave as a friend, not as an enemy.”

Once I was lucky to observe the work of one of the best guides in the Land of the Soviets. It happened on the island of Valaam, and the man's name was Evgeny Petrovich Kuznetsov, or, in his own way, Jacques. He was stocky, with a Norwegian beard, gray eyebrows, and a nose like a mashed potato.

On Valaam in the summer - a pandemonium of tourists and pilgrims. In the evening, the guides receive orders, and in the morning they are already standing in a bunch on the pier, waiting for the mooring of the next steamer with a hundred or two guests. What did Jacques do while his young colleagues huddled in the blowing Ladoga wind? He was heading to the deck of the ship and dissolving among the tourists. Five minutes later, Evgeny Petrovich already knew who was on board, where from, what happened on the way, how they had dinner yesterday, how long they stood in the fog, etc. Armed with this information, he returned to the guides and calmly smoked while waiting for his group.

I listened to his tours twenty times. I don't remember him even once starting his communication with the group in the same way as he did before. Not only did the words of greeting change (he would always include some sort of reconnoitered fact from the “biography” of the group), the intonations of his voice changed. With Astrakhan, he was not the same as with Vologda, with hard workers - completely different than with Moscow professors. The approach to people changed, but Jacques himself remained himself - he just knew how to be different. Thanks to this flexibility, he seemed like his own person to everyone. He was loved and listened to with great attention.

So, the better we know future listeners, the more accurately we can act.

Intelligence begins with a question, the answer to which will ensure your success in any audience. It sounds like this: “What do they want from me?”

Once I sat at a conference dedicated to the fight against raider seizures. The air conditioners hummed, the speakers muttered something indistinct, the listeners fell asleep. It was getting to dinner. Feeling the delicious smells, the people began to briskly collect their briefcases and reached for the exit. Suddenly, a moderator jumped onto the stage and made an announcement, after hearing which the audience was dumbfounded. It turned out that one of the speakers - the director of the printing company - had to leave and therefore asked to give him the opportunity to speak now, and not at 4 pm, as scheduled by the program ...

A man in a gray suit came to the podium and calmly began: “Colleagues, we fought off the raiders for three years. I'll just tell you what works in this situation and what doesn't."

He spoke for half an hour, and then answered questions for the same amount. They did not let him go, completely forgetting about dinner. Why?

He talked about what was really interesting to the audience, about what people wanted to hear and for which they paid a lot of money.

The task of the speaker is to understand the interest of the audience and change his speech in such a way as to take it into account. If possible, the speaker will definitely become an audience interesting .

How do you know what the audience is interested in? A good seller asks questions to find out the buyer's preferences and suggest the perfect choice.

As you prepare to speak, you may want to ask someone who is familiar with your future audience. If there is no such person, ask these questions to yourself, honestly putting yourself in the place of the listeners. For example, questions might be:

Do the listeners care about the problem that I consider in my speech?

What benefit do they expect to get from my presentation?

What aspects of the topic may be of interest to them in the first place?

What problems close to the one under consideration are of interest to the audience?

Answers to some questions may be incomplete and inaccurate. Moreover, they can turn out to be completely negative. And it's good if you manage to understand this in advance. It’s great if, for example, the first question (“Does the audience care about the issue raised?”) Gets the answer “No”. It is much worse to understand this already in the process of speaking. And so you will still have time to make changes and expand the topic in a different way - so that not a single one is left indifferent.

Be careful in assessing the audience, be aware that it only indicates boundaries and directions.

However, it is not enough to find out the interest of the audience, there is still a lot to understand. Here is a table that I usually use when preparing my speeches. The questions are grouped into three areas:

General characteristics of the audience;

Group motivation;

The level of preparedness of listeners.

Depending on the direction of your activity, you can create your own questionnaire according to this model.

Audience score

The information that you get in this way is necessary to clarify the content of speech, the level of complexity of the language and the choice of an appropriate behavioral strategy. The speaker must be able, without changing himself and remembering the goal, to be flexible, to be able to adapt his speech, his manner of speaking, depending on those who are in front of him.

You can limit yourself to the three directions indicated in the table, but if you dream of real friendship with the audience, you need to penetrate the world of your listeners: look into their houses, get into the kitchens and see what they eat for breakfast, see the TV program with underlined programs and movies, listen to their wives chat on the phone, see what these people read at night - if they read at all. There, in the broth of values, ideas, stories and gossip, you will find the most interesting examples and comparisons for your speech.

I'm talking about a preliminary study of the environment that unites future listeners, the culture in which they exist. After all, nothing disposes the audience to itself like a demonstration of genuine interest in itself.

Once, while speaking in Surgut, I casually said that the monument to the pioneers in their city is jokingly called the “monument to the pioneers” (which the taxi driver told me about on the way), and this was enough to cause fun in the audience. Communication immediately became informal, which is what I wanted.

When you begin to study your future listeners in advance, you show respect for them, and respect, in turn, becomes the basis for normal, rather than fearful-aggressive relationships. Only the habit of postponing everything for later or lack of time can interfere with this work.

It is unlikely that I will forget a story that happened long ago, when I still had neither a personal secretary nor a communicator. Negotiations with two potential clients were scheduled one hour apart. Since the offices of the firms were located in neighboring buildings, I expected that I would easily have time to present my program in one place and agree on cooperation in another, in the neighborhood. The first company was an insurance company, and the second one was engaged in construction engineering. I didn't have time to prepare. Already in the car, I opened the newspaper "Business Petersburg" and was happy to find a whole tab dedicated to the insurance business.

When coffee was brought, I remembered one of the articles I had read and mentioned with pleasure the problems faced by insurers, connected this with the need to train employees. Speared as written. The HR director listened to me attentively, nodded, but entered the conversation cautiously and was silent about her insurance business. At the very least, we agreed to continue negotiations, and I hurried to the second meeting. And when I was leaving, I saw a huge company logo above the secretary’s desk, and the word “engineering” immediately caught my eye…

An experienced traveler knows that even carefully collected information about the route will not save you from surprises. Similarly, preliminary information about the audience does not guarantee one hundred percent hit in the zone of their interests and preferences. The face of "Gyulchatay" will show only at a meeting. When you see the audience, when you utter the first words, when you hear the breath of the hall, only then will you understand who you are dealing with. That is why you should never pre-compose an introduction, drive yourself into the framework of a certain behavior. The situation may not be what you expected. The pre-collected information is always very useful, but it should not prevent the speaker from acting as the circumstances require.

That's how much work it can take to answer the question "To whom?". It is possible that you will have to write a whole page in a notebook. In the meantime, the next question lies ahead.

5. Where?

“Being determines consciousness” is the only phrase from a course on dialectical materialism that I remember. At the lectures, we spoke in an undertone about the films of Tarkovsky and Fellini, about Remarque and Dostoevsky, about the play "History of a Horse" with Yevgeny Lebedev in the title role. We had something to discuss while a modestly dressed aunt in old-fashioned glasses monotonously read about the unity and struggle of opposites. Sometimes I turned away to the window - huge, which are only in palaces, and looked at the Neva. She, outwardly calm, heavily carried thousands of cubic meters of cold Ladoga water into the Baltic Sea. The familiar slogan "The Party is the mind, honor and conscience of our era!" was reinforced on the gray five-story building opposite. On the Kirov Bridge, rattling and tinkling, lone trams rolled. It was a simple and understandable world for me. It collapsed after a few years. The borders have opened. Immediately after graduation, I went to Denmark alone to act in films. Through Helsinki and Stockholm. From the Leningrad train I went on foot to the ferry going to Sweden. At the entrance to the seaport, he almost broke through the too clean glass of the entrance doors with his forehead. So clean that I just didn't notice them. My, still Soviet, orientation did not work in a foreign world.

There is an undoubted connection between a person and the space in which he talks, walks and sleeps. The same lecture, given, for example, in the assembly hall of the university or in one of the ordinary classrooms, sounds different. Our behavior changes depending on the environment. A townsman walks and wanders along the street, relaxed, smiling at the sun, and then he went down to the subway, crossed the line separating the open space of the street from the dungeon squeezed from all sides, and his behavior changed noticeably: the step became shorter, but faster, his head bowed, and his gaze roams under the feet of those walking, his elbows are parted to protect him from crowding ... Then he rose to the surface, went into the temple: he steps quietly, looks meekly, speaks in a whisper. The nature of space influences the structure of our behavior.

The speaker, knowing this, should feel very well the place where he will have to speak. A few minutes is enough to walk around, while there is no one, around the stage, to sit in the hall. Get used to the space, feel its influence and integrate yourself into the environment in order to manage it later.

And if the speaker ignores space? For example, he screams, makes noise, walks from corner to corner in a small room, and in a huge hall, on the contrary, hides behind a podium, speaks quietly? There is dissonance. The listener feels uncomfortable and may show their dissatisfaction - aggressive remarks, off-topic questions, noise.

You can master the space along the way, but this inevitably leads to a waste of energy, stiffness or unnecessary fuss.

A comical incident happened to us at the Trainings exhibition in 2006. Those who work in the training market are well aware of this event. It takes place in Moscow, and when I was there for the first time, the exhibition pavilions were in the World Trade Center. I remember that the presentations of the companies were held in bright, cozy halls, the audience was decorously sitting in rows, and the coaches were talking about themselves, standing behind the podium and showing slides.

Two years have passed, and we in the company decided to go to this exhibition with a presentation. We came up with an intriguing topic, we decided that it would be better not to talk about ourselves, but to demonstrate our exercises and various proprietary methods of work. Of course, we planned to involve the audience in the action as much as possible. We learned all the details from the organizers, we even received the plan of the hall by mail. Of course, we paid attention to the fact that the exhibition has moved and the pavilion is now located in the Expocentre. We left the hotel about three hours before the start of the presentation, caught a taxi. We spent more time on the road through traffic jams than on the flight to Moscow with all the registrations. We arrived at the Expocentre when only fifteen minutes remained before our exit.

Hall No. 2, marked with a red square on the plan, turned out to be not a quiet, cozy room, the image of which was gathering dust in my memory, but a little more than human height. Rock music and folk songs blared from the speakers, the noise of hundreds of customers and the laughter of cheerful waitresses in the cafe next door rang in my ears. It was possible to speak only into the microphone, about the demonstration of exercises designed for the communication of the participants, and there was no talk, they could not be heard.

I had to readjust along the way. We pulled out the presentation with great effort, but gained invaluable experience.

Now, if I can’t see the venue in advance, then I ask you to send photos of the future venue and ask a dozen questions. I advise you to pay attention to such "little things" as:

1) hall area;

2) the shape of the hall;

3) seating chart for listeners;

4) furniture and objects in the hall;

5) lighting sources;

6) acoustics;

7) technical means;

8) climate;

9) regulations, time of breaks;

10) what will happen before and after your speech.

Is it possible not to know all these details? In principle it is possible. Usually, there are no deviations from the usual standard conditions for everyone, and any speaker will be able to quickly get used to the new environment.

However, thorough preparation helps to focus the energy on those for whom it is intended, and not on the piano that suddenly appeared on the stage between the speaker and the audience.

By getting information on each of the points, you will be better prepared to speak.

Hall area

Let's divide the standard platforms for any speaker into three categories, depending on their size. Small hall - up to 40 m 2, medium - from 40 to 100 m 2 and large - from 100 to 1500 m 2 and even more.

In the small hall the speaker is viewed like a fly through a magnifying glass. He can't hide. Therefore, special care is needed in everything related to appearance. An arrow on the sleeve of a new shirt, a sloppy haircut, reddened eyelids, dirty shoes, an extra pound after a vacation, a speck on a sweater - all those little things that you didn’t pay attention to will be noticed by the audience. Do you need it?

I remember once I came to the presentation of a book by a famous coach. A large man, he visually occupied half of the entire patch allotted to him in a small class. The master worked expressively, actively gesticulating, raising his hands and not speaking, but almost shouting. I liked the content, but it was not easy to listen to. Fifteen minutes later, the speaker began to sweat ... I like it when a policeman goes to the movies in a shirt, pressed by suspenders, and his armpits are wet to the waist - I continue to chew popcorn, thinking about the hard work of a man, but when someone in two Steps away from you, sweat pours and dark spots quickly spread over light fabric, it becomes difficult to live.

In a small hall, it is more convenient for a speaker to sit than to stand. Listeners find it hard to perceive us when we literally hang over them. In a limited space, the amplitude of movements also changes - one should move in short transitions of two or three steps with obligatory stops. You need to work with your voice softly, quietly, while maintaining the fullness of the sound, that is, pronouncing each sound without visible effort. In the small hall, it is better to moderate the ardor, act calmly, not generously scatter emotions, and gesticulate with restraint. The fact is that in such a space, the speaker can quickly feel comfortable, confident and begin to accelerate or overact. “Dizziness from success” sets in: melodiousness appears in intonations, gestures become pretentious, at such a time the speaker seems to be playing a role from a dramatic performance. When the audience is still and listening, it is difficult to keep the behavior simple and natural. Listeners begin to reject such a speaker. If you notice this inappropriate tune and pathos in yourself, immediately slow down and come to your senses.

In a small room, it is better to use a TV panel or an interactive whiteboard to show a presentation, rather than a screen with a projector. Otherwise, the picture will be too big, and there will inevitably be problems with the shadow, because there are fewer opportunities to get away from the projecting beam. In the case of such a hall, I consider a flipchart to be the optimal tool for visual accompaniment.

middle hall loved by many. This is the golden mean. Here, the emotional drive of a large room is easily combined with the natural, almost homely simplicity of behavior characteristic of small rooms. The middle room is best suited for slide shows, but it is also acceptable to work with a whiteboard or flipchart in it - only the letters should be significantly larger, and the marker should be taken at least a centimeter thick. If the voice allows, then the speaker can speak without a microphone, but it is easy to switch to a microphone - this will not surprise anyone. The speaker has enough free space to move in different directions, stand or sit. He can touch the listener on the shoulder and immediately move a few meters away. The middle hall gives us many advantages, and only a lack of experience will prevent us from using them.

In the great hall you will most likely perform from the stage. The choice of position depends on the nature of what is happening. Standing behind the podium is allowed only during official and solemn events. The less formalism, the freer the behavior, the farther from the podium and closer to the audience. Sometimes the speaker even jumps off the stage. This is a curious technique, but in this case, they no longer see you from the last rows. This move can be used, for example, to shake hands or offer to answer a question to someone in the front row, but, like any technique, it must be used prudently.

Today, the format of an open round table is very popular, and its participants sit on the stage in chairs. This emphasizes the informal nature of the meeting. On the screen, we see an enlarged image of the speakers, which compensates for the static behavior of their behavior. We can see the details: facial expressions, fine motor skills. This is an interesting, modern type of performance, but you should pay attention to how you will sit. I remember well the picture from the economic forum in Davos. Our fathers collapsed, their legs spread apart, like men after a bath. Not aesthetic. Take an example from the Europeans. In the same forum, they either sat cross-legged or kneeled together. They sat neatly like that, and their socks were long - pale legs were well hidden.

hall shape

It is much more difficult to work in an elongated, narrow room than in a square one. You will be drawn to jump over the front rows and direct your speech into the distance, “to Kamchatka”. Or, on the contrary, you will begin to talk with those who are sitting closer, but forget about the distant ones. We need to pay attention! Prepare in advance for what will need to work as a shutter: send forward, return back, then a little joking in the middle.

In a hall stretched wide, there is a danger of losing those who sit on the edge. A professional can be immediately identified by how he works with the edges. A beginner always speaks in the center to one point, and an experienced speaker easily maintains contact with those who are sitting in front of him, and with those who have chosen a seat at the exit.

It is very difficult to work in round rooms, especially if you are seated on a swivel chair right in the center of the hall to demonstrate equality and democracy, and the audience is placed around. It seems like one among his own, but for some reason he always has his back to someone.

In a hall of any form, the main task of the speaker is to establish interaction with the audience. Everyone should see him, and he should see everyone.

Listeners seating chart

It is not good when there are more chairs or armchairs than listeners. If possible, ask to remove some of the furniture in advance. In the large hall, try to seat people in such a way that there are no voids in the space between the groups. The ideal option is for an assistant to help listeners take their seats according to your plan. More often you have to ask guests who have already settled down to change seats on their own. You should not order or ask them for this service without explaining the reasons. It is much better to take into account the interest of the audience in obtaining high-quality information in order to argue your request. For example: “Gentlemen! If you don't mind, please move to the center of the hall. You will hear better." Say it in a friendly but confident tone. Give a little time, cheer with a gesture, and only then start working. You are the owner of this house! Manage people. Organize them in a space that makes both them and you comfortable. If you are shy, then pay your modesty redoubled efforts to keep listeners in the zone of attention.

If the speaker himself cannot influence the seating plan of the audience, he must take into account the influence of certain positions. The most common scheme: one in front of all.

On the one hand, with this seating option, it is easier for the speaker to manage the audience, since, as a rule, he is on a dais and dominates thanks to this position, and on the other hand, there is space between the speaker and the audience that separates them and can interfere with the creation of a warm, friendly atmosphere. . This is why this seating arrangement is popular for lectures, formal gatherings and meetings, i.e. speeches that require distance between the speaker and the audience.

Another option: group work at a round table or in a circle.

Here, the speaker includes himself in the group of listeners in advance, perhaps deliberately refusing the role of the sole leader. Working in such an audience requires skill. The focus of eye contact is wide. You need to learn how to interact with everyone, that is, turn your body and head, focus your eyes on one or the other participant, but at the same time not spin like a top. A standard mistake is to address only those who are sitting opposite or on the right hand.

This format is good for organizing a general discussion and creating an informal atmosphere. Although my experience suggests that this method of seating is not very comfortable for many. Therefore, it makes sense to start work in a broken circle, when the leader sits down to one of the edges. After meeting and a short conversation, you can offer to close the circle. This technique is always effective.

I often had to work at the next seating.

There are 50–60 listeners, but at the same time they are deliberately gathered in small groups of eight to ten people. It is not easy for a speaker to manage such an audience, because the focus of the listener is constantly shifting to what is happening at his table. This feature should be used, not fought against - for example, it allows people to discuss some topics within groups. The speaker in such an audience can enter the space of the hall and move between tables, reaching the last ones. When seated in rows, we rarely resort to such movements, because it forces the audience to either turn around to see us, or look into the resulting void in front of them. In addition, the situation is so much like a school that some begin to reflexively hide their purses and notes when the "teacher" approaches. But in a hall with seating in groups, the attention vectors of those seated are directed in different directions, and it will be more difficult for someone to look at the stage, they will have to turn their heads. When the speaker moves around the room, everyone can see him.

There are other seating arrangements for listeners. Our task is to assess the alignment of forces and to use opportunities. If it suddenly turns out that the listeners are sitting uncomfortable, but at the same time it is permissible to transplant them, one must not endure, but act. Whoever endures for a long time, he plants the buds.

Furniture and objects in the hall

One of the speaker's bad assistants is the chair. How easy is it to cut off your legs? Hide behind this piece of furniture. We will see exactly half of you. Well, if the best. The speaker, like a beauty from the cover of a popular magazine, must demonstrate herself in every detail. The audience not only listens, but also watches you, receiving some information about you, your attitude to what is being said, through the channels of visual perception.

The body is the speaker's assistant. The active position is manifested in the active posture. If we hide behind a podium, a table or a chair, then we deprive the audience of the pleasure of seeing us and we ourselves are forced to spend twice as much energy to win listeners. There is even a professional term - "talking head": when the speaker involuntarily begins to compensate for the "absence" of the body with overly active facial expressions and articulation. Today, the plywood podium with the coat of arms and the conference table covered with a heavy tablecloth remind me of the times of my youth, when the speaker mumbled something under his breath, fenced off from everyone by this specially built protection, and the people in the hall chatted cheerfully, not paying attention to the report. Times change. We want to communicate with the speaker, and not just with each other, we want to see him responsible for the words, and therefore not hiding from our eyes.

Of course, there are so-called conventional speeches, when, according to tradition, we find ourselves at the podium or the presidium table. You shouldn't break the rules. But more often this kind of barrier is just an anachronism, a bad habit. It is not for nothing that experienced speakers try to leave this refuge as soon as possible, and experienced organizers have long replaced the podium with a transparent music stand, and instead of tables, they left only chairs on the stage or completely cleared the space. Keep traditions and circumstances, but don't be led by bad habits. Let there be no barricades between you and the listeners.

Light sources

Once in Nizhny Novgorod, I happened to work in a room with full-wall windows. One of them was just behind the place intended for my speech. Late in the evening, my assistant and I checked the hall, prepared materials and left. We returned at nine in the morning, and I began to work. However, a strange feeling immediately arose: I look into the audience, I see people, but I do not feel a response. I guessed what was the matter when I invited one of the listeners to the site. The sun rose high, and its light fell through the uncurtained window so that the figure of the speaker turned into a shadow theater silhouette in the eyes of the audience. There were no facial expressions or facial expressions.

This is one of the reasons why it is preferable to work in rooms with artificial lighting. In addition, when showing slides, you can mute it - with the sun it is more difficult to do this.

It may happen that you are invited to speak on a stage lit by spotlights. No matter how many people are in the hall, you will see only vague outlines of figures. It is very important in these conditions not to turn into an actor and not to play, being "behind the fourth wall". Try to address the audience directly, as if you can see everyone clearly. Move your eyes from one end of the hall to the other, keep the first and last rows. Do not strain your eyes, just imagine that you see other people's eyes turned to you, and talk to people.

Acoustics

If your voice allows you to work without a microphone, do not pick it up. The microphone distorts your timbre, sometimes it sounds and scares people. It is difficult to move with him, it is inconvenient to gesticulate. Of course, there are models that do not need to be held in your hands - the transmitter dangles from your belt, and the clip is attached to the collar, wave your arms as much as you like - but I'm an old school man, and therefore my verdict is this: the speaker is not a pop singer and not entertainer. Can you do it without a microphone? Work without a microphone. If not, humble yourself and practice manipulating him. Here are some helpful tips.

Be sure to check the microphone before starting work. If it is mounted on a rack, adjust it in height. The optimal distance from the lips to the membrane is 15–20 cm, but much depends on the quality of the microphone itself. There is no ideal distance, you need to try.

If the microphone is weak and you bring it close to your mouth, then try to make the membrane look into the corner of your mouth, that is, move it a little. This will reduce the “spitting” effect when pronouncing the sounds “p” and “f”.

Often the microphone begins to shake in the hand. Pay attention to how you hold it. Trembling occurs as a result of excitement and is aggravated by the clamp from the wrong setting of the hand. The shoulder should be free, and for this the arm must be lowered and the elbow must not be held in weight. Do not clench the microphone itself into a fist, but gently clasp it with all your fingers.

You need to work with a microphone, and not be a slave to it. This is a musical instrument that, with the right approach, will strengthen and improve the sound of the voice, and with the wrong approach, it will ruin everything. You can and should move around with it, lower it and raise it, gently turn it on and off, you can move the microphone closer to your lips or away from them, adjusting the sound volume.

Sometimes the microphone starts to "whistle". Lower it down and take two or three steps to the side - after that you can continue to work. It gets so noisy when you accidentally point it at the speaker of the speaker system.

Gesture with your free hand, do not wave the microphone.

Try not to give the microphone to the wrong hands, for example by giving the listener the opportunity to answer a question. I witnessed how the microphone went for a walk around the hall and the speaker lost control of the situation.

As a rule, in Russian rooms, the acoustics are at their best, but there is a hole in the old woman. There may be "pits" that muffle the sound.

This happened, for example, at one of the charity concerts in a small hall on Nevsky Prospekt. The presenter fell into a trap, thinking that she could be heard well, but the sound flew up, and we, sitting on wooden benches in several rows, could hardly make out the words. And only when the exclamations of “Speak louder!” were heard from all sides, the girl realized the mistake and grabbed the microphone. This is exactly the situation when it becomes necessary.

It always makes sense to check the acoustics in the hall in advance, say a few phrases at your usual volume level in order to assess how well the voice will be heard in different parts of the hall. Ask someone to help you by standing at different points in the room and listening.

Technical means

The main rule: never trust someone else's technology. If it is not possible to use your projector, your computer, be sure to test the performance of strangers in advance. However, it is also worth checking your technique before the performance. You should always have a second set of cords in stock. If you have to perform with someone else's equipment, and you do not know the art of controlling it, then carefully write down the entire sequence of keystrokes and turning the toggle switches on and off, and also remember all the connections.

Once we worked in a hotel with a group of top managers of a famous bank. The technique was at the level, some amplifiers were worth it! A local specialist set it up and showed how it works. We used both slides and videos. Everything went well, but in the evening, when we were no longer there, someone de-energized all the equipment and disconnected the wires. And on the morning of the next day, Saturday happened, and it turned out to be oh, how not easy to find a technician ...

Climate

Air conditioning is a useful thing, but for us it can be dangerous. Air-conditioned air dries the throat, cool streams on a hot day are fraught with acute respiratory infections, and the noise of these units will periodically distract the audience. However, there is nothing worse than working in a stuffy classroom. Listeners will be unable to fight the coming slumber. Therefore, it is always worthwhile to ventilate the audience in advance and let the air conditioner work before the start of the performance. If the room gets hot, feel free to take an unscheduled break. Not only will you please the smokers, but you will help all listeners to keep themselves in working order.

If the hall, on the contrary, becomes too cool, be prepared for action.

I watched as one of the speakers at the international conference, which was held in St. Petersburg in a huge and cold hall of the university, did not hesitate to invite doctors and candidates of sciences to stand up and repeat after him a few simple movements. The participants warmed up, smiled, and the speaker successfully completed his speech in a warm, almost homely atmosphere.

Regulations, break times

Your speech should not last longer than the audience will be ready to pay attention to it. It's always best to finish a minute before someone sneaks a glance at their watch. If the rules of speech are set precisely, then to break them means to commit a crime. Listeners themselves may ask you to tell something else, but on your own, without asking, never continue. If you didn’t have enough time, finish with the phrase: “I will be glad to continue our communication next time, and now I will briefly summarize my speech” or “In my speech, I spoke about the main thing, and I am ready to answer questions from those wishing about the details of my proposal in break." Repeat the main idea one more time, finish the speech and leave the platform to applause. Never complain about the lack of time, do not offend the organizers, directly or indirectly accusing them of stinginess, and do not reproach the previous speaker who stole fifteen golden minutes from you.

If you do not have a sense of time and you know that sometimes you lose control of it, ask the organizers for help in advance: let them put a person in the last row with an A4 sheet of cardboard on which you can write the number of the remaining time - five or ten minutes. At the right moment, this person will raise a sign - and you will have time to finish by the deadline. The only problem in this case may be the situation when your performance captures the assistant so much that he forgets about everything in the world.

Don't be afraid to look at your own watch. You do not sit at the table with the neighbors invited to dinner. Still, it's better if you look at the clock, and not the people in the hall.

What will happen before and after your performance

If your speech is not the only one in the program, then it is useful to know who and with what message will speak before you and after you. This will save you from unnecessary repetitions (suddenly the topics turn out to be too similar), help you come up with a link-bridge from one report to another. Be careful in evaluating predecessors. We have such a national disease - to give a kick to someone who has already left. How do you like this bunch: “In my speech, I will not spread my thoughts along the tree, like the previous speaker, but I will tell you the main thing”?

There are several ways to link your presentation to the previous one. For example, with the help of a compliment to his predecessor: “Vladimir Ilyich clearly and unexpectedly revealed the topic under discussion. I will try to supplement his reasoning with my own ideas”, or using a contrast: “You spoke about the weakness of our government, I will speak about its strength; you reproached us for our inability to solve problems, I will tell you about the problems that were solved”, or emphasizing the significance of what was said: “The conclusions made by the previous speaker make us seriously think about the reasons for what happened. My report is devoted to the analysis of the situation”. If you skillfully join the speech just heard by the audience, then you don’t have to swing and push off from the shore for a long time, your boat will already be dragged by a wave of someone else’s energy. The real problem can only be the feeling that the previous speaker was a cut above. In this case, the last thing to do is to announce it to everyone: “It is very difficult for me to speak after such a magnificent orator as Lev Davydovich. I'm afraid you won't find my speech as interesting." It is better to focus on your own performance and not lose heart. After all, no one promised that everyone would be equal - someone will always be the best. It's worth recognizing it.

In a competitive program, you can take into account in advance exactly how the audience will perceive you: favorably - after the speech of partners - or wary - if opponents have come forward. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed. I will talk about the features of working in a complex audience a little later, in the section on interaction with listeners.

By answering the question “where?”, evaluating the features of the venue for the future performance, you can take a lot into account and avoid unpleasant surprises. However, this preparation will not relieve you of the need to respond to changes that may occur. Snow sometimes happens in June, and rain in January.

So, the first stage of the path to the performance has been completed. It could take a few days or a few minutes. In any case, one sheet of your notebook should be completed. Like me.

Here is a live example of preparing for a performance that took place in May 2012.

Before you take the next step, you need to let the thoughts rest in your head. All stages should be separated by a pause. As my plastic and stage movement teacher Kirill Chernozemov said, “art is not a horse, you don’t need to drive it.”

Chapter Three

Content Invention

This chapter is devoted to the informational preparation of a speech, or, as the ancient Greeks said, "the invention of content." The task is to create a text that will correspond to the topic, accurately express the idea and help achieve the goal. For me, this is the most boring section in all the rhetoric textbooks I have read. I confess that because of the inner longing that I experienced, plunging into the world of compound sentences, I could read no more than three to the end. A textbook written in a simple and engaging way is a rarity these days. It seemed to me that most of them were created not to teach me to understand and speak, but to turn rhetoric into a boring and incomprehensible subject for most, by the way, providing the author with another scientific title.

By the way, when a person has nothing to say on the merits, he will definitely let in the fog. Either he will begin to pile up meaningless arguments, or he will begin to hide behind unnecessary terminology. I will never forget how I read books on cultural studies, preparing for the exams in graduate school. Some of them I literally sorted out with a dictionary, and when I finally understood what I read, I got angry because of the time spent. By God, everything that was printed on a whole page easily fit in two simple sentences.

End of introductory segment.

Jie Xuan. Military canon in a hundred chapters. – M.: Europe, 2011.

Marc Fabius Quintilian. Twelve books of rhetorical instructions / Per. from lat. [incomplete] A. Nikolsky. Ch. 1–2. - St. Petersburg, 1834.

Current page: 1 (total book has 13 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 3 pages]

Igor Rodchenko
Master of the word. Public speaking skill

Legal support for the publishing house is provided by Vegas Lex law firm.

Yegorka, who prevented me from writing this book

Foreword

This book is about bolts, rudders and nuts. It's about how to prepare and speak in public. At least once. And experience joy.

Chapter first
Basic Speaker Training

Since then, I have understood forever: the speaker must be ready for anything, and first of all - for his own speech.

The basic concept is based on knowledge, experience and training.

1. Knowledge

As Mark Fabius Quintilian taught: “For the formation of the mind and style, the quality of the books read is much more important than their quantity” 2
Marc Fabius Quintilian. Twelve books of rhetorical instructions / Per. from lat. [incomplete] A. Nikolsky. Ch. 1–2. - St. Petersburg, 1834.

Choosing a good book or article is no different than choosing shoes. You need to try on and try to walk. Other people's opinions or recommendations do not matter. You need intuition and your own taste. Take a book off the shelf or open a magazine and read a few pages. If it doesn't work, put it back. That's all. The book that you need today, you do not at stite. Just trust yourself more than advertising. Reading is a whole art, so I recommend that you definitely read Sergey Povarnin's brochure "How to Read Books" 3
Povarnin S.I. How to read books. - M .: Book, 1978.

And recently published in Russian translation by Mortimer Adler with the same title 4
Adler M. How to read books. A Guide to Reading Great Works. Moscow: Mann, Ivanov i Ferber, 2011.

Speaking of the benefits of reading fiction for a business person. I once read an interview with Olga Slutsker, the owner of the World Class fitness club chain, in the Sekret Firmy magazine. 5
Kovalenko V. Principles of Olga Slutsker // Secret of the Firm. - 2008. - No. 18 (250). - 12 May.

She told how at some point she suddenly caught herself thinking that it was difficult for her to negotiate - there were not enough words. A friend advised me to read Leo Tolstoy at night. The problem was thus resolved.

This is what makes good speakers. They have something to say. They have knowledge.

2. Experience

The speaker accumulates useful experience. Both life and professional. This is the foundation of his success.

3. Workout

Remember the story of Demosthenes, who studied oratory?

In theatrical practice, such training is called training or drill. No wonder Demosthenes was trained by the actor. I do not know what can be more useful to an orator than the methods and plans of training developed in the practice of the theater over the past centuries. Who else in our country has been so thoroughly engaged in a person in the space of publicity? Where can you find the same holistic system for the development of the voice and plasticity of the body, attention, will, and imagination? That's why I advise all speakers to definitely read books like The Actor's Work on Himself. 6
Stanislavsky K.S. The work of an actor on himself in the creative process of incarnation. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2011.

Konstantin Stanislavsky, "Gymnastics of the Senses" 7
Gippius S.V. Acting training. Gymnastics of the senses. - St. Petersburg: Prime Eurosign, 2007.

Sergei Gippius, "An amazing gift of nature" 8
Savkova Z. V. Amazing gift of nature. - St. Petersburg: IVESEP, Knowledge, 2009.

Zinaida Savkova, "Technology of Acting Art" 9
Ershov P. M. Acting technology. Op. in 3 volumes. - T. 1. - M .: Gorbunok, 1992.

Peter Ershov.

Chapter Two
Five questions - five answers

Now imagine that in a few days you have to speak ... This means that it's time to start preparing (I call such preparation targeted). For preparing a specific speech.

By the way, while you are finishing your coffee or tea, I will tell you a story about moleskin.

When I studied at school, and then at the institute, of course, we didn’t have any such notebooks. I did not know that Ernest Hemingway liked to write in it, which meant something to me in those years. For example, he taught me how to drink, because after reading "Fiesta" and "A holiday that is always with you", I could not help but try to mix some vodka from my parents' bar with Pinocchio lemonade and throw in a piece of ice chipped with a knife in the freezer . Of course, two classmates were invited to an apartment on the outskirts of the Baltic town, whom I put on the sofa, covering their legs with a blanket. I remember this evening as the most romantic in my life, however, then we all felt sick for a long time from drinking.

I stayed with Uncle Ham for several years. In the album, my mother kept a note that I scribbled in the tenth, when I was in the hospital with meningitis: “Dear mom, dad and Genka! Take me away from here, the temperature is already 37.5, which means you can get sick at home. I'm dying here. I get seven injections a day, and it hurts a lot. And today they pricked as many as eight. If you can't pick it up, then pass me the curly cookies and the book "Islands in the Ocean" by Hemingway. I love you". That's what Ernest meant to me as a child, who liked to write his notes in a yellow-leafed notebook with a hard cover to hold comfortably on your lap. The first such notebook was given to me by a blue-eyed girl whom I loved. She knew how to give gifts. You know what that means. She rejoiced, giving something, more than the one to whom she gave.

Now let's start answering the questions. You need to write answers in short, understandable sentences, while thinking about each word.

1. About what?

“I will talk about leadership!”

“Great, what exactly are you going to talk about?”

“Well… about what… about, so to speak, leadership… uh…”

When St. Petersburg was being prepared for the celebration of the 300th anniversary, I was relaxing in Jurmala and somehow got into a conversation with a nice old Latvian woman who was selling in a small bookstore. “Why,” she asked, “you Russians always grab onto big things? Here in St. Petersburg you are restoring squares, entire avenues, and the entrances are probably dirty. You always have. You need to put your house in order, and then take care of the squares.

"Your plan for 200 years";

"Extraction of minerals from sea water";

"How to air-condition a stadium";

"Why X means unknown";

"A New Look at Cleaning Up Oil Spills";

"What We Didn't Know About Penis Anatomy";

“Will our children be a different kind of people”;

"The ideas that ignited the Arab Spring."

It is always better to say less, but more intelligibly. As in that joke where Zyama owed Iza money.

Izya asks his son to write a letter demanding repayment of the debt. The son brings a multi-page text beginning with the words: “Dear Zinovy Markovich! Would you please ... "" No, - says Izya, - you need to rewrite more concisely. The son brings the second option: “Zinovy Markovich! Dad asks when you will return the money to us. "No no! the father says. “This is also very long, let me write it myself.” And in the end, Izya beats off the telegram: “Zyama! Your mother!

Write down in a notebook the exact topic of your speech: what exactly you will talk about. And move on to the next question.

2. What?

When an actor creates an image, he first of all tries to find that feature that will determine the whole character of the role.

If the topic limits the space of speech, then the idea sets the vector of movement and helps to compose the baggage of words.

Seal

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