By Michael Kelly -
If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message. Here are seven public speaking tools that can help lawyers project confidence in meetings.
Your career will largely be defined by how well you listen, speak and present yourself and your ideas in important meetings. Every impression you leave with an audience may shape future opportunities. A study published in 1993 by Harvard University professor Nalini Ambady and University of California professor Robert Rosenthal found students watching a silent video clip of a lecturer needed just two seconds to form lasting impressions of the lecturer.
Below are seven practical listening and speaking techniques you can use to command a room and leave a lasting impression. These can be applied whether you are speaking to a boardroom, to a conference audience of 300, or even to empathise with clients one-on-one.
Some of these techniques may seem basic or foolish when you first read them – but withhold judgment until you have tried them. Feedback from my clients is that they can be powerful tools when well executed. In addition, always first practice a technique in safe interactions until you become fluent and confident using it.
