Speak for Yourself
Claire Duffy's blog about public speaking and communication (in real life). Speak well, do well!
Getting mad with dignity – Let the words do the work
When do public speakers and presenters need to get mad? Well…. If you are involved in a cause, or you’re an activist, a politician, or just someone who needs to win arguments to get the job done, you may know what I mean. Appealing to emotion is vital to success, you need to use anger to build momentum for your cause or to show how high the stakes are. But when you’re trying to infect your audience with your passion, you musn’t lose your self-control. You can’t behave as if you were angry in a social setting, or having an argument with a spouse or friend. If you raise your voice too much, speak too fast and gabble, lose control of your sentence structure or start to gesture too wildly, you become that dismissable stereotype: ‘hysterical’.
Female presenters are especially prone to being called ‘shrill’. It’s a throwback to the bad old days of fishwives and harridans. Critics will ignore what a woman is saying, but instead get stuck into the way she’s saying it.
Say something that conveys the seriousness by itself, without having to shout. Craft a piece of prose that is touching, serious, and drops the point on your audience in a way that will leave them shocked and still – but not feeling bombarded or overwhelmed. Deliver it seriously, gravely, deliberately. Then be silent while your point sinks in. Often this type of delivery will be more effective at conveying anger than if you’d got all worked up.
Fictional character CJ Cregg shows us how it’s done. She’s angry about the deaths of schoolgirls in Saudia Arabia. Her voice is calm and her manner collected, she could be delivering a budget report. It’s the words alone that show her white hot fury.
Can you help me? I am developing a toolkit to help public speakers and presenters deal with confrontation and opposition. Your experiences will help. Please comment here to share your tips if you’ve ever met this challenge.
