Professional Development

Clear communication goes beyond perfect grammar: it means cutting through noise and confusion. Vicky Margari reveals how hidden issues like fear, habits, and digital overload can cloud understanding. With practical tools and small steps, she helps teams find clarity and build lasting habits for better communication.

What if training wasn’t the same as transformation?

So many clients start with “I want to improve my grammar”.

I used to ask all the classic questions:
Why do you want to improve your English? What do you need to do with it?

Then I would tell my clients how to negotiate, run meetings, write emails. I would tell them how to use the present perfect and the conditionals. I would give them the phrasal verbs and all the good stuff. They would do well in sessions. Then they’d slip right back into old habits at work.

I kept wondering: am I not giving enough practice? Am I not explaining things well? Why isn’t this creating the change my clients hope to see and pay for? What if training wasn’t the same as real transformation? What was my value as a trainer?

Clear communication in teams: a multi-faceted challenge

It became clear that most communication problems at work aren’t only about language. There is so much more:

• misunderstandings
• assumptions
• digital overload
• unhelpful habits

Sometimes it’s the channel (Teams chat, email, Slack, etc.).
Often, it’s the story we keep telling ourselves (“I’m bad at this.” “They’ll think I’m stupid.”).
Perhaps even good old resistance to change.

I call all these barriers noise. And if I wanted real change in communication, I needed to find and cut the noise, not just teach the rules. I needed to sit down with my clients and look together at the whole communication ecosystem.

Visualise the noise

I use a simple model to help my clients see the noise. It is a basic map, inspired by communication theories and models, such as the Shannon-Weaver Communication Cycle model. It shows the sender, message, receiver, channel, and feedback loop. Noise can be anywhere: vague messages, cultural misunderstandings, the wrong channel or just digital clutter.

Find the noise: curiosity before solutions

When a client said “I want to improve my grammar,” I used to jump straight to solutions. Now, I slow down and ask:

• What does grammar mean for you in this case?
• What do you think happens when you make a mistake? Is that true? What else might be true?
• What would be different for you if you felt more confident? What would confidence look like for you in meetings/emails/Slack?

The answers go deeper than tenses or phrasal verbs. Maybe it’s fear of being judged, confusion about what’s expected, or not knowing how to use email and chat effectively. By asking, not assuming, we can spot the real noise.

💡 Tip: Before offering solutions, ask more questions. Then ask some more. Keep digging. You may find the biggest problem isn’t what the client said it was.

For more on coaching questions and practices, visit the ICF World Coaching blog.

Challenge the noise: small experiments, big impact

A tech team I worked with struggled with digital communication. Their team chat was full of short, unclear messages (“done”, “any update?”). Decisions got buried and nobody knew who was doing what, or where information could be found (spoiler: everywhere, all at once). They thought their English was the problem but what they really needed was clarity and shared habits.

After we found the noise, we picked one practical experiment for each type:

• Vague messages: write clear, specific updates, for example “draft sent to Anna yesterday – waiting for edits”.
• Missing owner/action: add who/what/when to every message, for example “Tom to send report by Friday EOD”.
• Buried decisions: summarise and pin key decisions in chat; log into a shared decisions doc.
• Overuse of chat: move detailed info to email/project board; use chat for brief checks/reminders.

It wasn’t that grammar or vocabulary didn’t matter. Of course, they did. But using simple, practical phrases in context helped the team communicate with more confidence and focus.
Sometimes, the smallest change (a new phrase, a summary, a clear owner) done together makes the biggest difference. Small changes give quick wins and build trust that more is possible.

💡 Tip: Pick one visible, practical habit to challenge the noise. Small, specific changes beat grand solutions.

Tame the noise: sustaining change

Change doesn’t stick on its own. Habits return, and noise creeps back in when everyone gets busy. Real transformation happens when clients, teams and individuals, own the process for themselves.
Here’s how my tech client’s team made their new habits stick:

• Self-regulation: we designed individual checklists that everyone could keep handy and use.
• Accountability: peer reminders became normal. If someone slipped back, a colleague would gently nudge “Can we clarify who’s doing what?”
• Resources: a shared phrase bank made it easy to grab and adapt useful action statements and decision summaries.
• Reflection: they set aside 10 minutes each Friday for a team check: “What’s helping? Where are we slipping? What can we do better next week?”
• Celebration: whenever things went well with fewer follow-ups and less stress, they shared these small wins in the chat.

These routines, owned by the team, not me, made the changes feel natural. The new habits stuck. So did the confidence.

💡 Tip: For lasting change, help clients build routines for self-regulation, accountability, resources, reflection and celebration.

Final thoughts on clear communication for teams

I started out hoping for more. More impact, more real-world communication, more clients who felt like themselves at work in any language. Hope is not a strategy. But it can be the reason to take that first, small step toward real change.
If you want to help your clients cut the noise, start with curiosity. Try a small experiment. Help the client and team find the systems that make it stick.

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If you enjoyed this read, you might also be interested in the following articles:

A helpful mindset for business English users

[Workshop Review: “Invisible Body Language” – Communicating in the Digital World with Sabrina Lucidi – Connections]

This webinar organised by Trinity College London shed light on the interconnection between reading and pronunciation. ELTABBer Mike Budden explained why the two go hand in hand, and how teachers can include pronunciation practice in their reading lessons.

We started off with some basic facts:

Mike emphasised that reading is not a natural skill, but a relatively new phenomenon in the history of civilization. While speaking develops naturally, reading has to be learned separately and with conscious effort. Therefore, pronunciation is often viewed as a component of speaking rather than an integral part of reading.

However, Mike pointed out that research and neuroscientific evidence demonstrate a direct connection between them. In fact, science suggests that effective reading relies on a strong foundation in phonological awareness (Dehaene, 2009 and Walter, 2008): when we learn to speak our first language, we also lay the foundations for learning reading.

But what about second language learners, who do not have the advantage of native-level speaking skills?

Effects of missing pronunciation skills on L2 learners

We had a closer look at the challenges second language learners face while reading. The most prominent here is the common separation of pronunciation from reading instruction. This lack of input often leaves L2 learners without the tools to develop their sound recognition skills. So when they encounter unfamiliar words, they may resort to guessing pronunciation or relying on phonetic patterns from their first language. As a result, habitual inaccurate pronunciation can become entrenched over time.

This shows that reading without pronunciation practice can hamper language learning: interference from learners’ mother tongues and false assumptions can easily lead to fossilised mistakes.

L1 interference through cognates: Meaning vs Pronunciation

To illustrate the effect of L1 interference, Mike gave us a simple task involving a sentence translated into various languages:

While we may not understand every detail, we recognise cognates (words that look similar and have the same meaning in different languages). In this example, speakers of English will understand the overall meaning of most of the sentences from cognates such as ‘excellent/eccellente’.
However, this alone won’t enable them to access the correct pronunciation (in this case, [etʧeˈllɛnte]). This shows that relying on cognates to understand a text bypasses phonological understanding in favour of semantic meaning.

What’s more, cognates can easily prompt us to apply L1 pronunciation without noticing. As a consequence, a Spanish speaker might pronounce the English word ‘international’ as they would in Spanish, ‘internacional.’

Mike summed it up:

We are lazy and can read automatically in our L1 without consciously activating the phonology (sound) of the language. When we “understand” an L2 text, we might be inadvertently accessing L1 pronunciation.

So even if we understand the meaning of a text, we need to engage pronunciation to activate the phonological pathway —otherwise, we risk superimposing L1 concepts onto L2 content, relying on guesswork, and cementing errors.
To help us out, Mike shared some ideas on how to include pronunciation in a lesson with us.

Tips for including pronunciation in reading lessons

The best way to practise pronunciation is reading out loud. Mike explained that this should be done at the right time and in the right setting.

He gave us some simple and straightforward tips for this:

1. Create a safe atmosphere and welcome mistakes as part of the learning process. Students need to feel comfortable practising words without worrying about getting them wrong or looking silly.
   (That’s pretty good advice, no matter what you teach, really!)
2. Focus on meaning first and work with the text extensively before moving on to pronunciation. Your students won’t learn much if they have to navigate meaning and pronunciation at the same time. Once they know what they are talking about, they are ready to practise pronunciation.
3. Let your learners practise reading out loud in pairs. This will make them feel more comfortable. As they practise, you can monitor and take notes (as you would in a speaking lesson). Afterwards, you can correct errors by writing the mispronounced words on the board and practising the correct pronunciation as a group.
   (If you notice fossilised mistakes, which are harder to fix, you can make the student aware of them and ask if they want to work on their pronunciation. Let them know it’s their choice whether to focus on changing these habits.)
4. Bonus tip: Make things fun and model pronunciation for your learners at the same time! For example, write a little anecdote as a lead-in and read it enthusiastically. This will take the edge off, and they’ll be exposed to your pronunciation. Don’t worry about your accent and whether it’s suitable for teaching. Your learners need a model, and since you’re their teacher, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be you.

The above tips were well received, and one of the attendees mentioned that her adult learners loved reading out loud. Mike gave a simple reason for this:
Reading a familiar text means far less cognitive overload than speaking, as it requires no searching for ideas and words, no answering questions, no logical coherence, etc. Reading out loud is basically practising pronunciation in isolation – which is helpful for reading and speaking alike.

Mike shares more insights and teaching tips on his blog and in his weekly newsletter. You can find his website here: www.mikeblanguages.com.

Final thoughts

This was a helpful and informative webinar, and I walked away with a fresh perspective on the relevance of pronunciation in language learning. Although it often leads a shadowy existence in ELT, it plays a crucial linking role in underpinning reading, and more.

***

If you enjoyed this post, you might also be interested in:

PJ Ryan’s article on how to give motivational feedback

Rachael Harris’s article on empowering students with effective learning strategies.

References and further reading

Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the brain: The new science of how we read. Penguin Books

Walter, C. (2008). Phonology in Second Language Reading: Not an Optional Extra. TESOL Quarterly. 42. 455-474.

Gibson, S. (2008). Reading aloud: A useful learning tool? ELT Journal, 62(1), 29-36. (https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccm075)

3 common myths about teaching pronunciation | Cambridge English

Whether as teachers or presenters – many of us choose to put ourselves in the spotlight. Yet, almost all of us experience a degree of stage fright. Here’s what we can do to start strongly, deliver a clear message to an engaged audience, and end with confidence.

As teachers, we stand up every day in front of an audience, and we’re usually well familiar with our topic. So while a little adrenalin doesn’t hurt, why not overcome at least some of those nerves?
My seven top tips have come about through trial and error; if something unexpected happens on the day, I’ve got the back-up to keep going and succeed.

Tip 1: Have an angle on your topic

A good topic is a great start, but giving it direction is also a hook for your audience. For example, instead of “Sustainable Cities”, how about:

Sustainable Cities:
What can we do to make our cities greener?

Conference titles often have two parts; a question further adds to the potential appeal.

Tip 2: Getting attention

A strong start means ensuring everyone is with you. You can do this in a number of ways, such as:

• asking a hands-up question (e.g., “Hands up if you’ve ever given a presentation” or “run a marathon”,  etc.)
• telling a personal / relevant anecdote
• stating a fun / shocking fact
• or (maybe!) by telling a joke

Don’t forget, too, to smile and make eye contact!

Tip 3: The take-away

After listening to any talk, there should be some sort of change in your audience. The K.A.B. framework is helpful in defining this:

K = knowledge
A = attitude
B = behaviour

1. If you’re delivering facts, you’re potentially changing your listeners’ knowledge.
2. If you hope to change their attitude, then maybe illustrate why those facts are important.
3. To further change their behaviour, additional persuasion skills on how they (someone else) might benefit from applying those facts will be useful.

To illustrate, in writing this post, perhaps I can …

• demonstrate strategies you can use (= knowledge)
• show you how these help build confidence (= attitude)
• encourage you to try out the strategies – or even sign up to give a talk! (= behaviour)

Another way of looking at the take-away is to remember the W.I.I.F.Y. – What’s in it for you? – the speaker’s reminder to make their audience aware of why it’s worth staying and listening to you!

But there’s also my aim, slightly different from the audience take-away.
For example, in this article/talk, my own aim is to outline and illustrate seven strategies, clearly and with examples (… so that my audience will feel more confident when delivering a presentation = the WIIFY).

Tip 4: How to organise content

Being very familiar with our topic, it’s easy to forget that we’re delivering something new – or in a new light – to an audience. They need signposts throughout – at the start, during the presentation, and also a reminder at the end of the key message. So a clear and logical structure is crucial.

The following are a few sample structures:

• A series of Wh- questions (3-4) to divide the content
• P.R.E.P. Make your point; give a reason; add an example; restate your point.
• S.T.A.R.R. Define the situation; describe your task; explain the action you took; show your results; offer recommendations.
• Chronological: for describing a sequence of steps, or reporting back on an event.
• A mnemonic – using the letters of a relevant word – to aid memory, e.g. a guided tour of B.E.R.L.I.N. might focus on the Buildings, Entertainment options, top Restaurants – and so on.

Your choice of structure will obviously be one that best fits the type of talk you’re giving.

Tip 5: Involving your audience

While it’s important to hook your audience at the start, they’ll be far more engaged if you can do this in different ways throughout your talk.
Whatever size your audience, the following are simple ways to achieve this:

• Y/N Questions, Wh- Qs, rhetorical Qs
• “You have 60 seconds to write down as many …”
• “Order these five items according to …”
• “Which of these three is incorrect?”
• “Discuss XY with a partner; you have 1 minute.”

Keep moments of interaction short, but regular.

Tip 6: How to start

My own starting tips include an A, B, C, and D: get my audience’s Attention (Tip 2), highlight the Benefit (Tip 3), Credibility: explain why I’m “qualified” to give this talk; and Direction: how I’m going to proceed.
Here, it’s enough to give a brief outline of the content, and what’s going to come first.

I also focus on Soundscripting * , especially for the very beginning (when I might be distracted by whatever’s going on in the room).
In a nutshell, soundscripting is putting the text in a bigger font, double-spacing it, putting key words in bold (or upper case), and adding a slash (/) between words where I want to pause, or an end-of-line break for a longer pause:

With this, I can read and easily look up (and back), knowing that while I might not be focusing clearly on the content at this point, by using the marked-up script I know the message will be conveyed clearly.

Extra starting tips might also include mentioning timing, when you’re happy to accept questions, and if/when you have reference material to share.

Tip 7: How to finish

It’s usually a relief to reach the end of a talk – but it takes careful planning to ensure your audience also gets a sense of achievement and a clear take-away. Write down, word-for-word, what you’re going to say. Include a conclusion and/or summary. Perhaps come full circle by referring to something relevant mentioned at the start, or offer a call to action: what can your audience do next to put some of this into practice?

And, finally, smile, and accept – humbly! – the applause.

So what’s your take-away?!

References and Recommended Reading

* Soundscripting, ref: Powell, M. (1996). Presenting in English. LTP.

Atkins, R. (2023). The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence. Wildfire.
Groskop, V. (2019). How to own the room. Collins (book, and weekly podcast available on Apple, Spotify etc.).

***

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

Wow Your Audience without Words: Top Tips from a Public Speaking Expert – Connections.

Artificial Intelligence has become a “household item” in recent times. But how can it make life easier for you as an English teacher? In this blog post, we’ll explore ways you can interact with AI to use it as a virtual colleague and personal teaching assistant rather than just a tool.

This was my first interaction with AI back in December 2022:

I asked ChatGPT for a joke about oat milk in Berlin. Just like that overpriced oat milk latte, AI tools started as something I tried because everyone was talking about it. I spent the holiday season treating it like a party trick. But when January rolled around and school was back in session, everything changed.

Faced with designing Business English certification exams— a task I felt neither qualified for nor excited about—I discovered AI could be more than just entertainment. I kept hearing that people were doing A-M-A-Z-I-N-G things with AI… getting output that was mind blowing.

But my first attempts were basic:

Please write six possible titles for this text. 3 options should be true, and 3 should be false but could be true.

The results weren’t revolutionary, but they showed potential. It was useful to some extent, but I kept feeling like it was not what everyone was hyping it up to be.

As I went down the AI-for-teaching rabbit hole, I realized that effective communication was quite literally the key to unlocking its potential.

The Power of Communication

Think about attending a TESOL Conference. You’re in the plenary surrounded by teachers—some novices, some veterans, some teaching kids, others training corporate executives.

If someone simply asks, “Write me a lesson plan”, how useful would that response be?
The lack of context and specificity makes it nearly impossible to provide a meaningful lesson plan.

Now imagine the same request in a special interest group meeting, where you get to share everything about your context, student needs, specific challenges, and get to ask/answer questions. The quality of guidance you’d receive would be dramatically different.

Just as the usefulness of that lesson plan request depends on the details you provided, so too does the effectiveness of using AI in teaching. By understanding how to communicate our needs to AI, we can maximize its capacity to support and enhance our pedagogical practice.

Approaches to Interacting with AI

While effective communication is crucial when using AI, its impact varies depending on how we choose to interact with it. There are two primary approaches:

1. using AI as a Tool
2. using AI as a Collaborator

● Tool: AI performs tasks for you, similar to a computer or software, providing generic responses and acting like static teaching resources. It’s useful for tasks that require minimal customization, such as generating vocabulary lists.

● Collaborator: AI works alongside you, offering ideas, sharing insights, and actively engaging with you to brainstorm lesson plans, suggest activities, and support learning at different levels. This approach requires a deeper level of interaction and understanding, allowing AI to provide creative solutions to specific teaching challenges.

Understanding these approaches can make a big difference in the output we get, and ultimately, how useful that output is.

After all, what is the benefit of AI when you only get generic content that you can’t even use?

Understanding Prompts: Your Teaching Instructions

To effectively use AI, especially as a collaborator, understanding how to craft good prompts is essential. A prompt is like a set of clear instructions for AI. Just as we wouldn’t ask students to complete a task without providing them with specific guidelines and understanding of what they need to achieve, we shouldn’t approach AI with vague requests. For instance, instead of saying “Write something about grammar”, we would give students a detailed assignment like:

Create a short dialogue between two friends using at least three examples of conditional sentences.

Similarly, when working with AI, we need to craft prompts that are precise and well-defined to get the desired output.

Good prompts include:
– Context about your teaching situation
– Clear objectives
– Specific constraints or requirements
– Student background and needs
– Available resources and limitations

Practical Implementation

Let’s give it a try. Think of a topic and an audience for a class. Go to Claude.ai or Perplexity.ai (my favorite ones – the latter adds sources in the output!). Then, use the prompts below and analyze the output.

AI as a Tool

First, let’s look at how a typical prompt might be structured when using AI as a tool:

Create a lesson plan outline for a 60-minute class on [topic] for [type of students].

Example:

This basic prompt lacks the key elements that make for an impactful AI interaction. We need to provide more context, specify our objectives, define constraints, and consider our students’ needs.

AI as a Collaborator

To interact with AI as a collaborator, you can break down your request into chunks, providing more context and detail.
For this purpose, feed it information in chunks, like you’re having a conversation with a fellow teacher:

Chunk 1
#Identity: You are an experienced [type of teacher].
#Task: Let’s brainstorm engaging activities for a lesson on [topic] for [type of
students]. What are some creative ideas that incorporate hands-on learning?
Chunk 2
Based on these activities, how can we structure a 60-minute lesson that maximizes
student engagement and understanding?
Chunk 3
What potential challenges might students face with this topic, and how can we
address them in our lesson plan?
Chunk 4
How can we incorporate formative assessment throughout the lesson to gauge
student comprehension?
Chunk 5
Let’s refine our lesson plan to include differentiation strategies for various language
levels and paces.

Analyzing the Output

Once you receive the output from both AI as a tool and as a collaborator, analyze it as a whole. You’ll likely find that this chunk-approach yields results that are more tailored to your specific needs and context. If you don’t feel like experimenting, here is an example of output generated with the prompts above: TOOL vs. COLLABORATOR.

Go Beyond Lesson Plans!

While using AI to create lesson plans is a valuable application, the real power isn’t in generating quick worksheets or generic lesson plans. It’s in having a tireless collaborator who can help you:
– differentiate instructions for diverse learners
– generate creative solutions to teaching challenges
– adapt materials to specific contexts
– save time on routine tasks so you can focus on what makes the biggest impact

Here are a few ideas you might like to try (yes, ChatGPT came up with this list, I edited it):

1. Auditing and Improving Lesson Plans – AI can analyze your lesson plans for clarity
2. Rewriting Instructions for Clarity & Accessibility – AI can simplify, rephrase, or scaffold
3. Turning Student Mistakes into Puzzles or Mini-Lessons – AI can collect common common
   student errors and gamify them into a “spot-the-mistake” challenge or turn them into
   personalized micro-lessons for improvement
4. AI-Powered Role-Play Simulations – AI can act as a business partner, client, or manager in realistic email exchanges, negotiations, or meetings, helping learners practice professional communication
5. Differentiated Choice Boards – AI can create customized choice boards with varied business communication tasks (e.g., writing a memo, recording a voicemail, analyzing a contract) based on students’ learning preferences
6. Rubric Suggestions & Alignment – AI can refine rubrics to ensure they align with learning outcomes, providing example feedback comments for different proficiency levels
7. “Explain It Like I’m 5” – AI can simplify complex business jargon, contract language, or technical terms into beginner-friendly explanations, with options to adjust formality

AI Tools Designed for Language Teachers

While general AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are incredibly versatile, our field has seen the emergence of specialized tools designed specifically for teachers and language teaching that don’t require you to spend time thinking about how to write the best and most useful prompt.

Here are a few that you might like to test out:

Eduaide.ai
● 15 generations/month
● Limited Feedback Bot
● Enhance & Transform Features
● Has higher education options

To-teach.ai
● Up to 5 exercises, 3 worksheets, and 2 lesson plans monthly at no cost
● 5€ or 10€ per month. You can apply for a 30% discount for teachers.
● Editable output

Twee.com
● Free basic functions
● Specifically for language teachers
● 5 runs / day for Text Tools
● 3 runs / day for Media Tools
● 5-min input limit on media
● Unlimited interactive sharing

MagicSchool.ai
● 70+ tools for free
● Limited use of the chatbot
● Limited use of tools but it is unclear what that limit is
● Has higher education options

Final Thoughts

AI in language teaching can be a powerful tool when used thoughtfully. It might challenge your assumptions and push you out of your comfort zone. However, it can also be the extra set of hands you have always wanted to better support your students.

The key isn’t to use AI for everything, but to use it for the right tasks. Not to replace your teaching expertise but to amplify it. Start small, experiment, and remember that the skills you develop will serve you and your students well into the future.

So, take the plunge!
Explore, experiment with different prompts and share! I’m always interested in hearing how you use AI.

You can find me here:

Mariana’s Learning Space
hola@marianaslearning.space
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianaaramirez

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If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in using ChatGPT in the classroom.

The Fine Print

Here are some important considerations when using AI:

● Environmental Impact:
While many AI tools offer ‘free’ access, there’s always a cost – if not monetary, then environmental. Each query, each generation, and each interaction requires significant computing power and energy. Reflecting on this hidden
environmental price tag, how might this reshape your approach to AI use? How could you balance the innovative potential of AI with their ecological impact? What criteriacould you develop to determine when AI use is truly warranted?
● Bias and Mistakes: AI is inherently biased and can make mistakes. Be cautious and verify information to ensure accuracy.
● Mindful Use: Ask yourself if AI is truly needed for a task. For example, do you really need AI for that email?

Disclaimer

The information in this blog post is accurate to the best of the author’s
knowledge at the time of publication. However, the field of artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, with frequent updates and changes to AI tools and their capabilities. Therefore, the suggestions and examples provided here may yield different results over time. Readers are encouraged to experiment, critically evaluate the output of AI tools, and adapt their prompts and strategies accordingly.

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Some time ago, I had the pleasure of attending Friederike Galland’s “Speechless Rhetoric” workshop. What sounded a bit counterintuitive at first, turned out to be a day full of wow moments, personal growth and insights into public speaking. Here are my key takeaways for becoming a better speaker.

After welcoming us into her home and feeding us fresh cinnamon buns with strawberries and cream, Friederike kicked off the day by lifting the secret behind offering speaking workshops – without actually focusing on speaking.

She explained that, due to our cognitive evolution, our brains are hardwired to focus more on visual cues than auditory input.
Therefore, body language plays a key role when giving a speech:

If it feels “off”, it can undermine the speaker’s message, no matter how interesting the content is, whereas effective body language and a punchy delivery can captivate an audience – even if the presenter is trying to sell sand in the Sahara.

Overcoming content

With the above in mind, we started practising speaking. There was no speechwriting, and there were no scripts involved.

Instead, the whole day was filled with little partner exercises, improvised speeches and feedback rounds. Each exercise was followed by each participant briefly speaking about their experience in front of the group, so we all had something to talk about. (For example, one exercise involved looking into another person’s eyes for two minutes). The feedback then consisted of observations about the delivery and tips for the next round.

By the end of the day, everyone had made half a dozen little “speeches” – without worrying about content at all.

Speaking tips

Here are the speaking tips Friederike gave us during the workshop. All of them are “non-verbal” tweaks to support effective speech delivery.

1. The Queen doesn’t hurry

The first tip was simple:

Take your time as you make your way to the stage.

It can be challenging to feel other people’s gaze on you, but this is your moment and you are setting the tone. If you’re nervous, your audience will pick up on that and reflect your nervousness. If you want to create rapport and grab your listeners’ attention, take your time, catch your breath and relax. Friederike told us to remember that “the queen doesn’t hurry”. And as the Queen or King of your speech, you have all the time in the world.

We practiced this a number of times. Whenever someone made a “rushed entry”, Friederike would ask them to sit down and try again, with the conscious choice not to hurry. It quickly felt natural after a few rounds.

2. …and she’s carrying shopping bags

After practising the entrance, we discussed an issue that a lot of speakers face – the right posture. This is more of a beginner’s problem, so with time and experience, you’ll feel more comfortable in your skin.

For practical purposes, the tip Friederike gave us was to “imagine carrying shopping bags”. That way, if you stand in front of your audience, your arms and posture will naturally fall into place. Once you start speaking, you will (also naturally) start gesturing, which is fine. Thus, think of the “shopping bag posture” as the baseline from which to proceed, and come back to it whenever your hands aren’t busy.

3. Tap into the power of the pause

Once you’re standing in front of the audience, it’s tempting to start speaking right away to avoid that dreaded awkward silence. However, Friederike suggested the opposite: to lean into the silence and use it to your advantage.

If you start with a pause, you will create tension and grab your audience’s attention. They will sense that the silence is the lead-up to something meaningful. As a consequence, whatever you say will carry more weight and people are more likely to listen closely.

Thus, it’s best to take a moment before you start talking. Have a look around and get a feel for the audience and the room. If you can, briefly look at every individual person and acknowledge their presence. Then, begin your speech.

4. Speak to one person at a time

We then went on to discuss how to speak to engage the audience. Friederike’s top tip here was to break down your speech into small chunks and make rotational eye contact while speaking.

So when you start, pick a person from the audience and make eye contact with them. Say your first phrase or chunk of lines. Speak to them directly, and only them. After that, focus on a different person while you deliver your next phrase. Keep repeating this for the rest of your talk. Only speak to one single person at any given time.

If you keep making eye contact throughout your speech, you’ll create a sense of privacy and immediacy. And interestingly, everyone will feel addressed, whether or not you have directly spoken to them. As a result, your audience will feel more engaged and interested in your speech.

5. Find your cheerleaders

This tip ties in with the previous one. When you give a speech, your audience will be diverse: not everyone will be equally attentive and eager to listen. So if you sense a lack of interest in some corners, look out for people who are engaged and supportive. They will be the ones to nod in agreement, laugh at your jokes and generally give you signs of acknowledgement.

These are people you can reconnect with to make personal eye contact, and they can help you through rough patches if your speech doesn’t quite go as planned. Plus, you’ll feel more confident and supported.

Bonus tip: Accept the applause

Once you’re done speaking, you may be tempted to leave immediately and breathe a sigh of relief because it’s finally over. While understandable, that’s not the best way to end a speech. Here’s why: you have established a connection with your audience. They’ve enjoyed interacting with you, and they want to show you their appreciation. If you run off immediately, it will feel like you’re cutting them short.

So Friederike’s advice was to see the applause as part of the speech and to allow yourself to receive it. After all, you’ve delivered a great speech, so give the audience a chance to celebrate you! Also, it will feel more natural and calming to embrace the applause, as it will give you non-verbal feedback and closure.

Enjoy becoming the best speaker that you can be, and don’t forget your shopping bags!

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If you’d like to put the tips from this article into practice, one of the best ways to do so is to join a Toastmasters group in your area. You can find your local club on the Toastmasters website: https://www.toastmasters.org.

You can find out more about Friederike Galland and her work on her website and LinkedIn profile.

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If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in this post with presentation tips for English trainers.