Transform your communication skills in three steps

Most people focus their preparation for communication on the verbal, they should be concentrating on the vocal and visual. We must be knowledgeable of our subject matter and competent in putting together supporting data, but we know how important it is for us to pay attention to other areas of preparation. For people to believe us, we must be believable. And, in order to be believable, we must learn to look and sound credible.

The dictionary states that Communication is the process of transmitting information from one person to another. We all communicate. Easy, right?
However, Effective communication is the ability to transmit a message to the receiver where the message has the same meaning to the receiver as the sender. Check this out!
Stamford University Professor Dr. Albert Mehrabian proposed 3 elements of face-to-face effective communication:
1. Verbal – Words, Content – 7%
2. Vocal – Tone, Pitch, Intonation – 38%
3. Visual – Body Language, Facial Expression, Gestures – 55%
He states that the non-verbal elements are particularly important for communicating feelings and attitude.
If the spoken words disagree with the tone of voice and nonverbal behaviour, people tend to believe the tonality and nonverbal behaviour.
The following is an example of incongruence in verbal and non-verbal communication.
Verbal: “I do not have a problem with you!”
Non-Verbal: person avoids eye-contact, looks anxious, has a closed body language, etc.
It is more likely that the receiver will trust the predominant form of communication, which to Albert Mehrabian’s findings is non-verbal (38% + 55%), rather than the literal meaning of the speaker’s words (7%).

Verbal:
Start with your vocabulary. Choosing the right words to say in a particular environment. Those words are based on everything you know. Your life experience is just waiting to be spoken, verbalized and shared. It’s your content. What you say. Your grammar, idioms, accents, slang, even acronyms. Turning your content into a story that everyone will want to hear and understand is the goal. Yet it’s only 7 % of what people get from you emotionally when you talk.

Vocal:
38 % of what people get when you communicate, is how you say what you say.
This is the most effective tool we have for communication. Our Voice. It has the ability if used properly to captivate, stimulate, educate, motivate and activate any audience, anytime and anywhere. It can influence and impact the lives of everyone you touch. It tells your story.
I help you identify your authentic voice by exercising the Five ingredients of vocalization. Pitch, pace, tone, melody and volume.
Your tone of voice adds or takes away from what you are saying. Vary your tone and pitch. Learn to have a melodic voice.
Pause and pace yourself to engage your audience. Let them hear the meaning of your words in the way you articulate them. And it’s all about your breath. If u dont breathe you can’t vocalize. Here’s something you can do right now to improve the quality of your voice. It’s called Belly Breathing and it’s the way singers and great public speakers do it.
Please stand. Take a few breaths as you normally do. Now… Put both hands on your belly. Have your fingers meet in the middle. Relax for a second, now through your nose take a deep breath in. Feel your belly rise. Hold it to the count of five. Now Expel air through your mouth, to the count of five.
Now do it again and on the exhale say AHHH. Practice this often.

3. VISUAL (NON-VERBAL):
55% of what people get when you’re communicating.
This refers to every visible aspect of communication – anything that the eye can perceive. From your body language,clothing and hairdo to your PowerPoint Slides. What picture is the audience getting? What message are you sending with your posture, gestures, facial expressions?
Simply put. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it, and what you look like while saying it.

Don’t hesitate to sign up now for a free consultation and questionnaire. You will also receive “Six Tips for The InterActive Pitch Video. A bit outside the box and totally on target.