In order to better serve our readers, The Prinz Law Firm has invited experts in sales, business and leadership development, immigration, tax and accounting services, healthcare, and many other areas, to act as guest contributors on our blogs providing our readers with a broader range of content to help further your success.
Our first guest contributor is Bill Moller, an award winning broadcast journalist and communication consultant.
Did you know that talking in public is the No. 1 phobia? Yet being able to talk effectively in public whether before a large audience, at a networking event or leading a meeting…has everything to do with inspiring an audience, getting a job or building your client base.
And it’s more than what you say that sells you and your ideas. When you speak the impressions listeners form about you are based mostly on what are called paralinguistic cues – the qualities of the voice, the expressiveness of the face and body movement.
These non-verbal cues supply the subtext for all that we say. Do we come across as confident or nervous; are we inspiring or boring; do the people listening to us retain or forget what we’re saying?
It is essential that we consider how we carry ourselves and use our voice if we want to have impact and grow our business.
Yet the thing is we have no idea how we’re perceived. When you hear your voice recorded and played back you cringe, right? With doubt in your voice you plaintively plead, “I don’t sound like that?” But everyone else in the room will say, “oh yes you do.”
My expertise is in helping executives give speeches and corporate sales
teams win competitive bids by becoming more self-aware. They work on the
“what,” I help them with the “how.”
And how important is the “how?” Well, it determines if you
are leaving the best possible impressions. If you do it right:
- People will like you and be more inclined to trust you
- You will better sell yourself and your ideas
- People will want to do business with you
- They will be more inclined to make referrals to you
- And, not to exaggerate too much, you will get more out of life and be happier
I will now give you the two most basic things to do to leave strong, lasting, positive impressions.
1. The simplest single thing to draw people closer to you and like you…the warmest, friendliest thing that relaxes and disarms an audience? A simple smile.
The smile is one of the most basic biologically uniform expressions of all humans. There is a lot of research that shows smiling carries all kinds of benefits for the smiler and the smilee.
Get in the habit of making a smile your default expression. While most people wear a blank face, you hit ‘em with warm engaged smile.
2. Along with a smile…to be an impressive speaker you also need to have an air of confidence.
How do you look confident when you don’t feel confident? Simple. Stand before a mirror and slightly roll your shoulders back. Bingo – you now have the look of confidence.
And get this! A couple of researchers at Berkley found that when you project confidence, even if you have butterflies in your gut, it will be PERCEIVED as legitimate confidence and it’ll actually make you FEEL more confident. Isn’t that neat?
So start practicing right now. Sit or stand with shoulders back, your back straight, head up, and eyes bright and alert. It’s show-time and you are ON.
In all that I teach, smiling and appearing confident are the two simplest and perhaps most important adjustments you can make to change how others perceive you. Add a dose of enthusiasm and you are now a killer presenter, team leader or public speaker.
And you know what, not only will people respond to you differently at the office but in any encounter, professional or personal. So there you have it…a lesson in life skills.
As an awarding winning broadcast journalist and President of Bill Moller Communications, LLC, Bill helps executives, sales and project management teams develop confidence and a strong professional presence in order to leave positive lasting impressions and better sell themselves, their ideas and their businesses.
For a number of years Bill was an on-air host at WGN Radio and WLS-AM. Bill was an anchor, talk show and business show host at CLTV, from its launch in 1993 until February 2006. For his writing, reporting and anchoring he has won three Emmys, two Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists, and two first place Associated Press awards among others. He has also served as emcee or moderator for dozens of events.