Carnegie Language Breakthroughs and the Art of Communication

Chapter 28 The Art of Effective Communication (7)
Third, the speaker should not arrange for VIPs to sit on the podium.A few years ago, Raymond Robbins gave a series of lectures in Brooklyn.He invited me to sit on the podium with a number of other distinguished guests.I declined.The rationale is that it's not good for the speaker.On the first night, I noticed a lot of VIPs moving their bodies and putting one thigh on top of the other, then back down, etc.Every time any one of them moved slightly, the audience's eyes shifted from the speaker to the guest.Next day I reported the situation to Mr. Robbins for his attention.So, in the next few nights, he was very smart to stand alone on the podium.

Bilasque did not allow red flowers to be placed on the stage because they would attract too much attention from the audience.How can a speaker allow a moving person to sit facing the audience while he speaks!He shouldn't be doing this.As long as he's a little smarter, he shouldn't be doing this.

5. Maintain good posture

The speaker should not sit facing the audience before giving a speech, you should arrive at the venue with a new attitude, isn't this better than the audience seeing your dignity before you give a speech?

But if we have to sit down first, we also need to be very mindful of our posture.You must have seen people looking around for an empty seat, isn't that like a hound looking for a place to lie down for the night?They looked around first, and when they found a chair, they quickened their pace and ran forward, and then slammed their bodies on the chair like placing a big sandbag.

People who know the art of sitting are not like this. He usually touches the chair with the back of his feet first, and under the complete control of his heart, keeps his whole body in a relaxed upright posture from head to buttocks, and then sits down slowly. .

As we said earlier, don't fiddle with your clothes or jewelry, because doing so will distract the audience from you.Not only that, but doing so can give the impression of cowardice and lack of self-control.Any movement that doesn't add weight to your speech will reduce the audience's attention to you.In a speech venue, there is no action that does not attract the attention of the audience.Therefore, when you stand, you must remain still and control your body, which will give you a controlled and poised feeling in front of the audience.

When you're about to stand up and address the audience, it's common for amateur speakers to rush into your mouth.You should first take a deep breath and look at your audience for about 1 minute. If there is any noise or commotion in the auditorium, stop and wait until everything is calm.

Keeping your chest up, this posture helps you speak with confidence and gives your audience a sense of strength from you.Of course, this kind of behavior does not mean that you can stand up straight when you stand in front of the audience. You must practice this way every day. Only in this way, when you stand in front of the audience, you will naturally stand up.

Luther Crick said in his book "The Effective Life": "In every 10 people, we can't find 1 person who can keep himself in the best posture... You must use the neck. Hold your neck tight to your collar." He recommends the following exercise every day: Breathe in slowly, but as hard as you can.At the same time, press your neck tightly against your collar.Even if this set of actions is exaggerated, it will benefit you and not harm you.The purpose of this is to straighten the back between the shoulders and to thicken the chest.

How should your hands be positioned?Forget about them.It would be ideal if they could hang naturally at the sides of the body.If you feel like they're a bunch of bananas, don't assume that no one is paying attention to them, or that no one is interested in them.

It’s best if they hang easily down the sides of your body so they don’t draw attention to themselves.Not even the most critical person can criticize you for this pose.Of course, you can also make various emphatic gestures naturally if you want.

But what if you're nervous and you find that putting them on your back, or tucking them in your pocket, or putting them on your desk makes you less nervous?Use your common sense to judge.I have heard speeches given by many of the leading speakers of our time.Many of them occasionally put their hands in their pockets while giving a speech.Brian did it, Depp did it, President Roosevelt did it.Even a gentleman as respectful of manners as the English statesman Disraeli sometimes succumbed to this temptation.But the sky is not falling, and according to the weather forecast, if my memory serves me correctly, the sun will still rise on time tomorrow morning.What a man does with his hands or feet is, of course, a trivial matter if what a man prepares to speak is of value, and he can say it convincingly.Most of these minor details can take care of themselves, so long as his head is full and his heart is full of enthusiasm.After all, the most important part of giving a speech is the content, not the position of the hands or feet.

This naturally leads us to the often misused posture problem.My first speech class was taught by the dean of a midwestern college.As far as I can remember, the subject of this class was posture.Sadly, for me this class was not only useless, it was considered wrong and absolutely harmful.He taught me that I should let my arms hang loosely at my sides, palms facing back, fingers half-bent, thumbs touching my thighs.He also trained me to lift my arm in a graceful curve, make a classical turn of the wrist, and spread out first the index finger, then the middle finger, then the little finger.After this aesthetic and decorative lesson, I was asked to lower my arms along the same graceful but unnatural curve, and to rest on the outside of my thighs again.The whole performance is extremely deadpan and artificial, totally unreasonable and terribly unreal.It's ridiculous that deep down in his heart he still feels that what he's teaching can't be learned anywhere else.

However, he did not teach me to create a unique set of movements; he did not encourage me to develop a sense of gesture; Relax, learn to be spontaneous, break out of my conservative shell, talk and act like a normal person.The whole performance is regrettable, as lifeless as a typewriter, as lifeless as a bird's nest built last year, and as absurd as a TV farce.

It is unbelievable that such absurd remarks can still be heard from professors in the 20th century.Just a few years ago, I had a book on speaking postures on my bookshelf—the whole thing was an attempt to make man a machine.It actually tells the reader what gesture to make when speaking this sentence, what gesture to make when speaking that sentence, which situation to use with one hand, which situation to use both hands, and which situation to use both hands. Lift high, which one should be raised to a medium height, which one should be lowered, how to bend this finger, and how to bend that finger.Once I saw 20 students standing in front of a class of students, reading the same sentence from this book at the same time, and making the exact same gestures on the exact same sentence. Feeling very ridiculous, contrived, time wasting, robotic and unhealthy.This mechanized speech concept has given many people a very bad impression of speech teaching.The dean of a large college in Massachusetts recently said that his school does not teach speeches because he has not seen a practical method of teaching students to give reasonable speeches.I agree [-]% with this dean.

Nine out of ten books on speaking posture are a waste of paper, and they are not just a waste of good paper and good ink, because any posture that the student learns from these books is likely to be a big misleading one.If you want to learn useful postures, you can only try to figure it out yourself, cultivate it from your own heart, from your own thoughts, and from your own interest in this aspect.The only gestures of value are the ones you're born with.An ounce of instinct is worth more than a ton of rules.

Gestures are nothing like dinner jackets, which can be put on and taken off at will.The latter is only an outward manifestation of one's inner instincts, like kisses, colic, laughter, and seasickness.

And a person's gestures, like his toothbrush, should be something exclusively for his personal use.And, just as everyone is different, so should everyone's hand gestures be different if they just go with the flow.

Two people with different characteristics should not be trained to have exactly the same gestures.You can imagine how absurd it would be if the tall, clumsy, slow-thinking Lincoln used the exact same gestures as the fast-talking, irascible, debonair Douglas!

According to Hornden, who practiced law with Lincoln and wrote his biography:
Lincoln did not gesticulate as much with his hands as he did with his head.He uses his brain a lot, that is, in the strengthening part, he shakes his head hard.This gesture is especially meaningful when he is trying to emphasize one of his claims.Sometimes the movement comes to a sudden halt, as if sending a spark to something flammable.He never gestured like other speakers did, as if cutting air and space to pieces.He never acts theatrically... As the speech progresses, his movements become more and more free and easy, until they reach a point of grace.He has a complete sense of spontaneity, a strong character, and therefore he appears dignified and very noble.He despises vanity, ostentation, affectation, and hypocrisy... While he diffuses his insights into the minds of his listeners, the long, thin fingers of his right hand contain a world of great significance and emphasis.Sometimes, as a sign of joy and joy, he would hold his hands up at an angle of about fifty degrees, palms up, as if eager to embrace the spirit he loved.If what he was trying to express was disgust, for example, when denouncing slavery, he would raise his arms, clenched his fists, and wave them in the air, expressing real disgust.It was one of his most effective gestures, expressing one of his most vivid determinations to trample in the dust what he hated next.He always stood squarely, with the toes of both feet on the same line; that is to say, he never put one foot before the other.He will never hold onto or lean on anything for support.Throughout the course of the speech, he made only slight variations in his posture and attitude.He never yelled or walked up and down the podium.To make his arms a little easier, he sometimes grasps the collar of his coat with his left hand, thumb up, leaving his right hand free to make various gestures.

The famous sculptor Saint-Gaudens once carved his posture into a statue, which stands in Lincoln Park in Chicago.

Roosevelt was more energetic, passionate, and active than Lincoln.His face was alive with expressions.He clenched his fists, and his whole body became a tool for him to express his feelings.Politician Blyth often holds out one hand, palm open, when he makes speeches.Greystone would often slap the table with his palm or stomp his foot on the floor, making loud noises.Rosebery had a habit of raising his right arm high and then swung it down with endless force.Of course, not everyone possesses this kind of power. Only the speaker's thoughts and beliefs have considerable power. Only in this way can the speaker's posture be strong and natural.

Natural and dynamic, they are the ultimate expression of action.British politician Burke's gestures are very clumsy and extremely unnatural.The famous British orator Peter, waving his hands in the air, "like a clumsy clown".Sir Henry Kelvin was limping and acting strangely.Sir McCauley's behavior on the podium is also unflattering.Same goes for Gladden.So does Barnier.The late Sir Curzon said at the University of Cambridge: "The answer obviously lies in the fact that great orators have their own unique gestures. Although great orators must have beautiful appearance and graceful posture, if the speaker is unlucky It's ugly and clumsy, and that doesn't matter much."

Many years ago, I heard the preaching of the famous Gypsy Smith.His speeches have made thousands of people believe in Jesus, and I admire his wonderful speeches very much.He also uses gestures - and quite a lot, but in a way that doesn't feel unnatural in any way, which is ideal.As long as you practice and apply these principles, you will find yourself making your gestures in this way.I cannot give you any rules for the use of gestures, for everything depends on the temperament of the speaker, on his preparation, his zeal, his personality, the subject of the speaker, the audience, and the conditions of the room.

However, I still have a limited number of suggestions here, which may also be of use to you.Don't repeat a gesture, or it will be boring and monotonous; don't use the elbow to make short, jerky movements; movements from the shoulders look much better on the podium; gestures don't end too quickly ; if you use your index finger to emphasize your thoughts, be sure to maintain that gesture throughout the sentence.Most people ignore this.This is a common but serious error.This mistake weakens what you are emphasizing, and makes unimportant things seem important by comparison, making the real point seem less important.

When you're speaking in front of an audience, use only those gestures that come naturally.As you practice, force yourself to gesture if necessary.Because offstage, when you force yourself to do it, it's so lucid and stimulating, and before long, your gestures will come naturally.

Close the book.You can't learn gestures from a book.When you are giving a lecture, your own impulses and desires are the ones you can trust most, more valuable than any instruction any professor can give you.

If you forget everything we said about gestures, and you're about to give a speech, remember this: If a person is so absorbed in thinking about what he has to say, and so eager to express his opinion, that he If he forgets his own existence and talks and behaves naturally, then his gestures and expressions will not be criticized.If you doubt this, you can walk up to someone and knock him out with a punch.You will find that when the person stands up, he will give you an almost flawless conversation.

The following three sentences are the best description of the typhoon in the speech:
a. Fill the bucket.

b. Knock off the plug.

c. Let nature take the leap.

(End of this chapter)