Friday, October 2, 2015

Should you begin reviewing your speech by watching the video as a silent movie?





































On September 28th Fred E. Miller blogged at NO SWEAT Public Speaking about how VIDEO Allows YOU to See and Hear Yourself as...(Others See and Hear You!). I agree with him that video is a powerful tool, but disagree with his suggested review sequence:

First: Watch with the sound off
Second: Listen without watching
Third: Watch and Listen


He said watching with the sound muted should come first since nonverbal trumps verbal. I would suggest instead that you watch and listen first, listen without watching second, and watch with the sound off third. You aren’t a silent film actor (or a mime), so you are not used to conveying a message without words. Why would you start by doing something that probably will be disappointing and knock you down? 

Back in 2012 at Public Words Nick Morgan blogged about Seven ways to rehearse a speech, which were to:

Rehearse the Content
The Logical Structure Rehearsal
Rehearse the Non-verbal Conversation
Rehearse the Emotions
The Walk-Through Rehearsal
The Opening Rehearsal
The Dress Rehearsal


Nick mentions The Babble Exercise, which also could be used for a practice video:

“One really useful exercise for improving your non-verbal performance is the babble exercise. How does this work? You stand up in front of one or two very close colleagues or friends, and give the speech without using recognizable words. Instead, babble, while trying to convey as much of the speech as you can with your facial expressions and gestures.”

A movie poster for Counted Out (1914) came from Wikimedia Commons.

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