Communication is key to success

I recently spent two days and twenty hours attending a truly amazing workshop on ‘stage presence’ hosted by Vinh Giang. What I learnt from this workshop, was that our voice is our key to unlocking opportunities, building relationships and trust with people, selling to others what we do each day and why we are so damn good at it. Your voice is what builds CONNECTIONS. A quote from Vinh that sums this up perfectly.

“The purpose of this weekend was about connection. I hope you were able to feel the power of human connection; when we learn how to play our instrument, write great music and learn to listen to and appreciate the music from others – we connect deeply”.

Let me first say that I highly encourage you to attend this workshop for yourself. Even if you think you are a good communicator (which I did), I promise you this will change your world! But what are some key takeaways for you to reflect upon and bring into your every day conversations, meetings, presentations and workshops:

1. We all have a vocal range. From 1 – 10. 1 being quietly spoken, up to 10, being very loud. Use the full range when presenting/communicating. Do not just sit in your default level of 5. You will lose the audience.
2. Like range, we have a speed of talking. Again, a range of 1 – 10. Do not sit in a 3 or a 5 for your entire presentation or conversation. Vary your speed, but at appropriate moments. That is, if you are wanting to highlight the importance of the words, slow….it…..down.
3. Silence is powerful. Have you noticed that you use filler words like, ‘um’, ‘and’, ‘like’ and many more? We all do. Well, slow down and pause. Give yourself time to think about what you are saying. The pause, the quiet, is powerful. Removing filler words makes you appear confident and in control.
4. Use big gestures. There are SO MANY types of gestures but know that using gestures appropriately is great. Keep the arms above the belt and below the neck. This is the power space.
5. Storytelling. Evoke emotions from those you are speaking to. Build a connection and trust with them. Storytelling is the perfect way to do that. It shows openness and venerability from you and people are drawn to that.
6. Body language (posture) is vital to conveying to your audience that you are confident and in control. Don’t hunch over like a teenager scrolling though Instagram on their phone, stand up straight, feet firmly planted on the floor, head up, neck straight and chest out. Be confident in your body.

These were just a handful of the takeaways from the weekend. I encourage you to read, review and research further how to build them into your communications with others. Whether you are presenting to one person or five hundred people, on a video call, running a workshop or just in conversation with a colleague. These ques will change the delivery of your message and the relationship with those in attendance.

So how does this bring success? Everything (in my opinion) in life is linked back to your relationship with others. Whether it is a relationship you build over 30 seconds in an elevator, 2 hours in a new client pitch or 20 hours over a weekend. We all, as humans crave engagement, connection, and trust. If you master your communication, you master your connections.