English Communication: Meetings- How to Succeed in the First Five Minutes

Everyone goes to meetings.  You could be there to persuade.  Or you could be there to take in or contribute information.  Whatever your purpose, the first five minutes are not about impressing other people.  The first five minutes are about putting people at ease.

The first five minutes are your first impression.  Standard advice is great: smile, make eye contact, and offer a firm handshake.

Here are some other etiquette tips for meetings.   The first one is so simple and very basic to the North American culture.  If someone asks you how you are, don’t just say, “Fine.”  Instead say, “Fine, thank you. How are you?”   It seems obvious, but people often forget to do this, and it is likely to be interpreted that you are concerned only with yourself.

The second tip is for introductions.  Use your last name when you are introducing yourself.  In the American culture, our information systems are organized around last or family names. So for future reference people love to know what your last name is.

The third tip is that if you are a visitor and someone asks if you’d like something to drink, request water and be sure to thank them when they hand it to you.  People want to do something nice for you. And this little gesture is not too much. This is a certain way to make them feel good about themselves without inconveniencing them.  So little, yet it builds connection.

Next time: Are you going to a meeting to persuade?  More tips for putting people at ease.

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Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercises.

Practice Makes Confidence

Simulate the real conditions. The more closely you can imitate actual speaking conditions in your rehearsal, the more confident you will be for the actual presentation. Use your actual notes. Use the actual clothes. Will you use a handheld microphone? Most people don’t have a sound system in their home for rehearsal purposes. Comedy coach John Cantu told his people: When you practice at home, use a hairbrush to simulate the microphone. The average hairbrush is about the same length as the average microphone.

English Communication Skills:  Time of Day Tips for Presentations – Afternoon and Evening Presentations

Knowing  the  barriers associated with different times of the day can help you think of clever ways to maximize your impact in a presentation. Nice! What you are learning for presentations is, of course, also true with meetings.  Use the same clever solutions!

Afternoon             

• Listeners will need a coffee break.  Do make coffee available—or risk the likelihood that they’ll interrupt your message to seek out coffee and miss a chunk of what you have to say.
• People may be overwhelmed with data.  Rather than hit them with lots of hard data up front, consider a low-key opening so they can ease into your message. Also provide lots of handouts so they can review details later.
• Attendees may need to leave early to start the commute home.  Nothing is worse for listeners than you running overtime at the end of the day.  People want to head home–make that happen as promised.

Early evening

• Attendees may arrive late (and tired) from working all day.  Respect their situations.
• Parents with young children may need to go home early to put their children to bed.  Have a table at the back of the room so early departures can take the promotional material or info sheets without distracting the rest of the audience.

After-dinner speech

• Audiences may have been drinking alcohol at a cocktail or beer and/or wine reception.  Be prepared for loud chatter.
• People may simply want to socialize- and may resent a serious speech (especially one that runs too long).  Engage them with your topic, your enthusiasm, your stories, and your brevity!

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Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercises.

Tip: Sending a Message with Facial Expressions

Use your face to accentuate key points. Act what you are saying. Are you incredulous about a statistic you have just spoken? Raise your eyebrows in disbelief. Are you describing a strategy you disagree with? Frown.

English Communication Skills: Time of day tips for presentations–Lunch

As human beings, we like to combine business with pleasure.  Thus, presenters are asked to do the noon meal.  Here are some tips for you so that this occasion for presentation can indeed combine work with pleasure.

Presentations during lunch:

• Lunch presents problems for listeners, who, of course, want to eat.  Never talk when your listeners are trying to enjoy the main part of their meal.  If you must talk during dessert, that’s doable. But be prepared for the sounds of clinking forks and rattling coffee cups.
• Lunch also presents a double problem for speakers.  Ah yes, you need food for energy.  But you can’t eat a big meal right before you speak because it will just sit there in your stomach as a big lump.  Then there is the added danger of getting food stuck in your teeth.  Distracting? Yes!  It is distracting for listeners to watch the  spinach stuck between your front teeth flapping in the breeze of your “s” and “z”.  Best option?  Consider doing a light snack before you arrive.  Then skip the served meal.  Use your table time to relax and find out what other people are thinking.
• Participants want to talk with their friends.  Do make your luncheon talk as informal and conversational as possible – so listeners feel like you’re at the table conversing with them.
• Luncheon groups want to have fun.  Give them fun—real life examples, anecdotes, clever quotes.  Remember: Lunch is meant to be a relaxing break in their day

Presentations Immediately after lunch

• Listeners may be drowsy after eating a big meal.  Make the opening of your speech attention-grabbing.
• Post-lunch attendees may not be able to arrive on time.  If you don’t want your opening to be interrupted, consider starting a few minutes late.  You could even usher late arrivals into the room personally.
• Listeners may have a difficult time switching from an “entertainment mode” to a “learning mode.”  Consider opening with something lighthearted to make that transition easier for them

Next time:  Pitfalls in afternoon and evening presentations

Click here: www.cleartalkmastery.com/scheduler to sign up for a Free Sample Lesson with us! 

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercises.