Guest Post: Jagadish Harihara Subramanian

Jagadish is a Master's student at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and one of Chris' Summer 2011 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world oral communication.

Being “social” beings, we all want to interact with other beings and the best way to do this is through oral communication. Communication is identified in many forms of human activities, like asking for food when hungry, asking for help when in trouble, warning others in danger, asking questions, answering queries, sharing ideas, cracking jokes, singing songs, etc. All these types of communication are best done with a mix of voices and gestures -we call it “Real-world Oral Communication.”

Technology and globalization have made the modern world a smaller place. The challenge naturally arising from it is the need for effective communication to reach a wider audience. The message to be delivered can be critical news, an important warning or an innovative idea that has to spread to - may be - the whole world! Such type of communication is called “Information Dissemination.” Whatever the message is and how much ever big the audience is, the best way of spreading information is through oral communication. Human brains can easily capture voice and gestures because it is the most primitive and natural form of communication.

One of the advantages of oral communication is the ability it provides the speaker to persuade. In this competitive world, our victory depends upon how effectively we can persuade others to do things our way. A clear, purposeful, targeted and well-articulated speech will attract attention; but not necessarily persuasion. For persuasion, the speech has to be precise, coherent and logical. We can achieve this only by understanding the passions and predispositions of the audience, and by tactfully organizing various phases of our speech. We must start with an idea or a statement acceptable to the prejudiced mind of the listeners. Otherwise, they might quit listening in the beginning itself. Once they get along with us, present the idea we wish to persuade in a way that will agree with the passions of the listeners. They will then pursue this idea as one of their own goals. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech is a good example of persuasive speaking. Instead of simply calling for ‘racial equality,’ King articulated how promoting racial equality would make each one of them uphold the U.S Constitution and its ideals better. This touched the patriotic minds of listeners and resulted in the intended action.

Along with the advantages, oral communication brings about certain disadvantages, too. The fact that it is very hard to hide our emotions when talking can result in bad conversations. Sometimes, we may want to slyly move away from expressing our inner feelings directly to a person. But if confronted in a conversation, it may get spilled. At some point in our lives, we may be forced to participate in “difficult conversations.” A discussion with a subordinate regarding a complaint against him, an unavoidable conversation that may embarrass the other person, a heated argument, etc., are examples. Failure to handle such difficult conversations can result in fights, losing trust, ego-clashes or hurting others’ feelings. We may either become too passive and lose the argument/conversation or become too aggressive and think we have won. However, in either case we lose. To reduce the difficulty, converse politely and don’t be too aggressive or passive. Also get to the point soon!

Oral communication is like a deadly weapon that you can use to persuade others do what you want. But beware! If you don’t use it carefully, it may recoil!

Guest Post: Deepak Rangarajan

Deepak is one of Chris' Summer 2011 Professional Speaking students at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College. Here he writes about real-world oral communication.

I strongly believe in the quote “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people” by William Butler Yeats. Yes, it is true that in real world, most of us fail to communicate information in simple terms. The reality is the more succinct the information, the easier it is to understand. In the current competitive world, the majority of companies have started emphasizing communication skills and as a result lots of job opportunities are available for those people who can articulate their thoughts effectively.

Effective communication must follow some basic rules : The topic must be concise; it must cater to the needs of the audience; it must be attractive enough to make the audience listen; it must be presented with positive body language; the speaker must be relaxed and try to connect with the audience. There is enough evidence to suggest that any information communicated visually will reach the audience faster than those communicated verbally. The reason is that people get attracted to what they see and hence it is highly recommended that one should incorporate efficient oral communications with visual representation. In addition, there are circumstances when we had to face difficult conversation, such as negotiating salary with Human Resources. In such scenarios, we must first try to engage with the people by sharing feelings or exchanging pleasantries and inquiring questions such as how is he/she doing or talk about something that is of mutual interest to both of us. This will make the audience like our conversation and they will gradually connect with us.

I had a personal experience in my previous organization when our CEO presented a session about our quarter performance. Most of us had already experienced similar presentations from other top management people and felt uninterested. To the surprise of all, the session was very interactive as our CEO articulated his thoughts clearly, the slides were very succinct, and he emphasized more on the visual part rather than text in his presentation. For instance, he conveyed the quarter performance and his message for the future through an attractive picture. The message he conveyed was “You are only looking at the trees, but I am looking at the forest;” it had an image of a person looking at the entire forest and a person looking at a single tree. The actual meaning was that each of the employees was only looking at the task that was assigned to him/her rather than focusing on the holistic picture, i.e., the company goal, which was to empower the world to learn. The employees were very attentive throughout the session and understood what their levels of responsibilities were. Hence, this was one such case where an effective oral communication with visual representation made people realize their responsibilities.

Guest Post: Nisha Balasubramanian

Nisha is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world presentations.

Aah! Presentations. It rings a warning bell every time you come across it. The very fact that we have to speak to a professional audience is frightening enough, let alone the stark reality that we have to make an impression as well. So, what makes a good presentation?
The 3P’s to a good presentation are:
- Prepare
- Produce
- Present

The most important key to a good presentation is to know your audience. It is imperative to design your presentation according to the taste of your audience. Know what you are speaking about and buy into the idea that you would be presenting. How else would you be able to sell it to the audience, if you are not convinced yourself? Think from the audience’s perspective. Be very sure of what you want your audience to take away from the presentation. This helps you to be well prepared and have a sense of direction for the presentation.

Once you have the directions, couple that with a title that is catchy and creates immense interest in the audience and you have a perfect recipe for a good presentation. It always helps to start with an agenda so that the audience knows what they can expect. This surely helps to give flow to your presentation as well. Follow the 6 X 6 rule, i.e., have six words per line and six lines per slide. This not only gives good clarity to your points but also prevents the audience being distracted by the slide when you talk. Present accurate and relevant facts. You don’t want to be embarrassed by the audience questioning your facts. So now that you have the contents in place, have prepared interesting power point slides, and are all set with the presentation, what next?

Most of us do the ‘prepare’ and ‘produce’ parts perfectly but fail to pay enough attention to how we present. What good is any food which doesn’t look delicious? One way to spruce up your presentation is to use technology to your advantage. Use of laser pointers and overhead projectors does add value to the presentation. Positive and minimal body movements, a clear and modulated tone, fluent speech and a likeable demeanor go a long way toward making the presentation a roaring success.

Some of the key dos and don’ts of a successful presentation are:
1. Develop the presentation around two or three main messages.
2. Keep the presentation short and simple.
3. Use short phrases instead of long, winding sentences.
4. The presentation should be consistent and cohesive.
5. Always cite the source of your data, if you are quoting it.
6. Add pictures wherever necessary and relevant. Pictures can make the presentation very comprehensible and interesting.
7. Practice in front of the mirror; it is always better to be prepared.
8. Be alert to questions during the presentation and make sure to answer them comprehensively after the presentation.
9. Have a pleasant demeanor, and more importantly, be a story teller.

And most importantly learn to RELAX!! Take deep breaths to ease out the nervousness and try to be yourself, after all you are the presentation.

Once you follow these basic fundamentals of a good presentation, I am very sure you will end up wooing your audience. All the best with your presentation!

Guest Post: Lulu Chen

Lulu is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. This is her second guest post on the blog. Here she writes about real-world presentations.

Imagine on a beautiful Monday morning you are sitting down to listen to a presentation. What kind of presenter will help maintain your good mood from the weekend? A gentleman who talks in a very long-winded way? A scholar who tells you all the nitty-gritty details of his research works in the past three years? A junior analyst who is very nervous and has no spare attention for her audience? No! They will definitely color your Monday blue.

So, don’t be the one that ruin people’s Monday morning! A good presenter should be selective, sticky and able to receive feedback from her audience.

Being selective in the amount of information to be presented is crucial. Presentation is used to communicate a concept or idea which is generally new to the audience. Our brain takes time to process new information, and before it fully understands the current batch it does not have the capacity to entertain the next batch of information. After a few rounds, if our brain cannot catch up with the presenter, it will close off, leaving the presenter talking to a pool of quiet air. So, be selective in presenting points. It’s best not to give an overwhelming amount of new information. If it’s really a lot, group them into magic number ‘3’. Pace out the speed of talking and leave time for audience to digest. It is also important not to give all the back-stage details of the point you want to highlight. The audience’s attention span and patience are limited. They will ask questions if they are interested in the details. Plus, it’s never the last time you meet with the audience – take your time to slowly tell them your story.

Sticky is another tactic to knock your points into other people’s minds. As we can infer from the word ‘sticky,’ the presenter should focus on the topics and craft simple messages to deliver the topics. While simple, they need to be concrete as well. For example, if the CEO of UPS tells his express delivery guys, ‘We need to provide best services to our clients,’ the delivery guys may not know how to deliver the ‘best service.’ But if the CEO says, ‘We should not open any delivery package on our own; we need to ensure 100% on-time rate; we will not deliver package to wrong places,’ then it’s more sticky and concrete for the delivery guys to follow.

Last but not least, listening to and observing the audience is the critical part that makes your presentation a success. It’s always good to make the presentation a conversation, which requires the presenter to listen and interact with the audience. The audience will feel more respected if they are being heard. In addition, by observing the audience, the presenter will know what she should skip and what to expressively elaborate, so as to keep the attention of the audience.

In summary, as a likable presenter, we should always be selective, sticky and observant to our audience.

Guest Post: Sharat Sannabhadti

Sharat is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. This is his second guest post on the blog. Here he writes about virtual communication.

If you are an international student like me I am dead sure you will have ‘Skype’ on your laptop. If not Skype there will be some software similar to ‘Skype’ that lets you chat with your family back home free of cost! Isn’t that great? I can talk to my family whenever I want, and with video chat it is just like talking to them face-to-face. The technological developments in communication have so drastically changed our lives! Thanks to virtual communication, we are connected to each other 24/7.

Today we use some or the other form of virtual communication almost daily in our lives. There is email, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, chat applications, social networking sites, blogs and what not. Why is everyone communicating virtually today? (Sometimes I have even chatted with my teammate sitting right next to me instead of talking to him face-to-face!) Here are some major advantages of virtual communication that I can come up with:

1. Lets people situated at different corners of the world communicate
2. Saves travel cost
3. Saves time

In fact during the recent global economic downturn many organizations cut down on their travel costs by conducting virtual meetings. The movie ‘Up in the Air’ takes it one step further. In the movie, they use video conference calls to fire people. Videoconferencing primarily helps to save on travel costs and time. But one other major factor is that through video conference calls they can avoid the awkwardness of letting someone know that they are being fired to their face. It is strange because even in the case of videoconferencing it is just like talking face-to-face. The key point here is that it is almost ‘like’ face-to-face conversation. There are some key differences. The main advantage in this case is that the communication can end whenever the person giving the bad news wants it to end. Virtual communication does not score high when it comes to sharing human emotions as compared to face-to-face communication (although video communication has reduced the gap by a great amount). Many projects involving virtual teams fail just because of the lacking ‘human touch’ in such type of communication. It is difficult to develop a high level of understanding, co-operation and comfort with someone whom you have known only through e-mail conversations.

There are advantages and also disadvantages to virtual communication. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Virtual communication is only going to develop further. Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have brought in a whole new dimension to our lives. There will definitely be newer inventions coming up in this space and it will be interesting to see how they change our lives!

Guest Post: Nidhu Nalin

Nidhu is one of Chris Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here she writes about real-world presentations.

In today’s fast paced and competitive business environment, do you think the ability to perform your task is enough for you to succeed? You would agree with me when I say that it is definitely not enough. In addition to having the right skills to do the job, it is equally important to have the right presentation skills. Before we dwell into factors driving successful presentation, there are two key things which you need to keep in mind. First of all, you as a presenter need to very well understand your audience. The crux of all types of communication is your audience. Next utmost thing is that ‘YOU’ are the presentation, not the material.

Take your time to prepare very well for the presentation. This starts with knowing the material to be presented thoroughly. It is also important that the data being presented is accurate. This is very critical factor when it comes to business presentations. You might just lose out on that $2.5 million deal, if your projected return on investment of 30.5% misses out the decimal point and looks like 3.05% on your slide package. Always carry all the required materials which will come in handy. One of the worst things you do not want to do is to read the slides. You can carry notes to remind you of the key points which you intend to cover. You can also consider providing handouts to the audiences, if required. Logically organize all the topics you plan to cover. There should be a smooth transition when you switch between the topics. What could define the limit of oddity when you suddenly start talking about the soft drink to be launched by the company in between of explaining the benefits of the new mascara?

One good way to organize your presentation is by using the diamond approach which is depicted in the adjacent picture. You can start with explaining the purpose and end with a definite action plan.


Practice your presentation. You can start with practicing in front of the mirror followed by engaging your friends to see you presenting. It definitely helps to understand your weak points and gives you a chance to improve. Also, keep a check on the timing when you are presenting. Allocate appropriate time to each of the sections of your presentations.

Adding humor to your presentation is a very tricky option. You need to be very careful about what and who is being made fun of. Someone might get offended or people might not react to your jokes at all. The safest bet is to crack jokes on yourself.

With all these preparations done you are ready for the presentation. Arrive early at the venue and check to make sure that you have all the logistics in place like computer, power, AC, and lighting. Relax before you begin and be confident. Open the pitch with a warm welcome and start talking. Do not move around too much in the room as this might give them a feeling of watching a tennis match. Maintain positive eye-contact with your audience; this will help the audience to connect with you. Another way to engage audience is by asking questions. Ask relevant questions. It is always good to present your relevant personal experience in the form of a short story to the audience. Now don’t tell me that you do not have any interesting story to tell. Everyone has. If you do not have any, then that simply means that you haven’t really put your brain into thinking. Time your presentation well. Do not go beyond the stipulated time. However, being short is not a crime as no one is going to get annoyed with you for delivering short speech. An important point is that the audience should be able to take away the purpose of the presentation with them. Hence, it is important to summarize in the end and to nail the final points. Best presenters in the world were not the best during their first presentation. Nobody is born with the right presentation skills; however they are built over time with the right attitude and preparation.

Guest Post: Adhivitheey Gouri Shankar

Adhivitheey is one of Chris' Summer 2010 Professional Speaking students. Here he writes about real-world meetings.

Did you know that most professionals who attend meetings on a regular basis admit to daydreaming (91%), bringing other work to meetings (73%) and dozing during the meeting (39%)?[1] That’s significant time wasted. So what can we do to make meetings productive and promote invitees to participate constructively rather than avoid meetings?

I have had very productive meetings where everyone had a sense of accomplishment and a few where the meeting seemed to lack purpose. I believe that this happens when the coordinator is unclear of his/her objectives and calls for a meeting more as an errand than to satisfy a requirement. To conduct productive meetings, one must document objectives clearly and invite the right set of contributors. They must inform participants of their role and the contribution expected towards reaching actionable, time-bound decisions.

Some meetings fail in spite of well-defined objectives because of inefficient mediation. The mediator must not only send out invites and arrange resources but also demonstrate credibility of participants, model behavior and bring up the right questions. I have also noticed how by endorsing of dismissing an idea, mediators sometimes severely hamper healthy discussions. They must promote the sharing of ideas while channeling discussions towards reasoned conclusions.

Finally, a meeting’s success can be measured based on the relevant action items it generates. However, agreed action items and their reasoning are of no use unless documented accurately. I have attended meetings where topics discussed and the conclusions noted were very different in the meeting minutes. Clarifying doubts, accurate note-taking and timely summarizing are essential components of a productive meeting.

One way to make sure all the above parameters are considered is to use Prof. Chris Labash’s 5P method: Purpose, People, Preparation, Participation and Point. We start with deciding the meeting’s “purpose,” which helps us determine if it is a requirement or can be substituted with a better means of communication. We then consider the number and set of “participants” who can effectively contribute to the purpose. “Preparation” involves arranging resources and sending out a draft agenda to make sure participants are prepared to contribute with ideas. Once the meeting begins, the moderator should facilitate “participation,” by encouraging thought and leading the meeting to a logical conclusion. Finally, “point” deals with action and taking away something tangible and measurable from the meeting.

[1] A network MCI Conferencing White Paper. Meetings in America: A study of trends, costs and attitudes toward business travel, teleconferencing, and their impact on productivity (Greenwich, CT: INFOCOMM, 1998), 3.