This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 95.
Three ways to drive your audience crazy in a presentation and how to avoid them with Mary Melissa.
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Hey, Mary Melissa, welcome to All Ears English.
How are you doing? I'm doing well, Lindsay.
Thank you for having me on. Hey, thanks for coming.
At the beginning, you and I were chatting a little bit.
You mentioned that you're a golfer. Is that right?
Yes, I am. So I've been playing golf actually for about eight or nine years now.
It's just a fun hobby that I enjoy and going out with my family and playing.
That's awesome. And where are you based now?
I'm in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So I'm in the southern, southeastern part of the United States.
Oh, wow. Is golf big in the south? Yes, I would say it's definitely bigger in the South.
Well, I mean, it's big everywhere, usually in the United States, especially among business people, which is fun.
But, you know, down the South, you know, especially in Florida and areas where it's warm a lot more than in the... you know the northern states but i would say it's pretty popular that's cool can golf be frustrating at times i think of golf as possibly the most frustrating sport that exists oh it's such a love-hate relationship there's some days where you are just on the highest of highs and other days you just want to throw your clubs away It sounds like it.
That's great. That's awesome. All right.
Well, very cool. So anyways, today, Mary Melissa, we have you on the show because you have an interesting message for our listeners, especially for our business listeners, our students who, you know, use English in the business space.
And that is you. You've observed a bunch of presentations and you have three things today that will drive your audience crazy if you're presenting.
Is that right? Yes, definitely. Okay. So our listeners are going to want to listen up today, guys.
Take notes today because this is straight from the audience's perspective and also from the perspective of a teacher that's worked with a lot of students in the business world where she's seen these mistakes happen as well.
So we've seen it from both sides kind of.
Is that right? Yes, definitely. Okay. All right.
Let's dive into it then. Let's go straight to it.
So what's the first thing that our listeners should avoid if they don't want to drive their audience crazy?
Alright, well, the first thing that I would like to say is that always make sure to enunciate your words.
No one likes to be sitting there and not be able to hear what you're saying.
So trying to run your words together, especially if you have a limited amount of time, and you have a lot to say, it's better to try and You know, try and slow it down, you know, as much as you can, because you want your audience to be able to connect with you as much as they can, especially through eye contact.
That helps as well. But especially if you are speaking in such a manner where that someone could read your lips, that they know what you're saying.
It's also really helpful in that instance.
Why do you think people don't enunciate?
Do you think they get nervous and they just go too fast or what happens?
Well, I think a lot of times we just, you know, you might get a little hot up there and you're a little nervous or a lot of eyes looking at you.
Because being in a presentation's point of view, like being a presenter, it's different.
You're not usually up in the middle of the room in the spotlight all the time.
And so when we're in those positions, I think we just get really nervous and self-conscious and not really sure how to handle it.
But I think if you can just remember for yourself that you know that this is going to happen, it's definitely better in the long run just to be conscious of it and try and slow down so that way you don't mumble.
So that way at the end of the presentation, people are like, oh, what was that thing you said at the beginning?
Yeah. Right. Definitely. Yeah. I know when I get nervous, I definitely speak faster.
I don't enunciate as well. I almost. But it's it's hard.
It's hard to kind of slow down and to say like to realize we're doing it right because we're in this cloud of being blind and we're just trying to get through the presentation.
And by the time we how can we slow ourselves down and notice that we're not actually enunciating?
And I think a good point, a good reference is to look at the people who you're talking to.
I know their body languages can be pretty responsive to what you're saying.
So if they are nodding their head or maybe if they're not looking around the room very much, saying like, oh, well, I'm not interested in this.
It's very important, I think, to keep a...
Not an intense view, but just a conscious outlook of who you are talking to.
Make sure they're giving you eye contact, if they're nodding their heads.
Or if they have their head cocked to the side, like, huh?
I'm not really sure what they're saying.
That kind of thing. I think it's definitely a good point of view.
Oh, that's a great idea. That's a great idea.
I love that idea. Make eye contact with our audience because it's true.
I mean, people can't help but respond even kind of subconsciously.
They'll cross their arms or look down and that'll be kind of often a direct response to what you're saying.
And so we can get a barometer of how we're doing and maybe what we're doing wrong by looking at our listeners, our audience.
Okay. I love that. So that's the first tip.
So what would be your second tip? The Oh, well, okay.
So even before you begin your presentation, what I like to say is a good rule of thumb because I've experienced this numerous times.
And while you know the listener or the presenter has good intentions, it's so really annoying to when you first start a presentation to thank everyone.
Oh, okay. It's a common thing to do because we see on the award shows nowadays when someone accepts an award, they go, thank you, thank you to so-and-so.
And now we are, I don't know, presupposed in a way.
Do you want to thank everyone that's helped our project or thank everyone for being there?
When in reality, they're there to hear your project.
And you can thank everyone who's contributed at the end.
So honestly, I think it just boils down to get to the point kind of thing.
You're in a business meeting. Everyone has busy things you have to do.
Everyone has meetings. So they're here to listen to you talk.
And so get talking. Yeah. I like to say, get talking.
I love that. Get right to it, especially in this culture, right?
I mean, I think this is also something that could vary culturally.
And that's kind of the danger for our listeners, for our audience members here.
If our listeners are taking their presentation norms from their home countries, maybe Brazil, maybe Japan, and just kind of literally just translating them into English and using those same norms in the US or in England, it's just not going to work.
So I know, and I think that in certain Latin American countries, there's a lot more formal around the beginning of presentations and recognizing people and a more formal kind of way to start it.
But I agree here in the US, at least, you got to get to the point.
We spend so much time talking around a subject that may do even talking about the subject sometimes.
Oh my gosh, that's huge. So just get to it.
Get to it. Exactly. Just get to the point.
Get to the point. And you're right. I mean, if you want to thank people, if you want to say certain words of acknowledgement, you can always do that at the end, but you're going to lose your steam.
Like you have a certain window of time, maybe it's a minute, maybe two to catch the audience's attention, right?
And you'll lose that pretty quickly. It'll be like, oh yeah, yada, yada.
Yeah, we get it. You thank them. It's nice.
But you're here- Because you know, usually I'd say that, you know, the topic of what the presentation is going to be.
And so when you're like really interested and you really want to hear it.
So having that little monologue at the beginning, I don't know, just kind of makes it a little blah.
Totally agree. You have to hook them. And it's so important.
It's so important. It's not about talking at the audience.
It's about, you know, working with them to build excitement or inform them on something.
I love that. Good tip, Mary Melissa. Thank you.
Thank you. What would be your third tip then?
These are great tips. I'm loving these. What would be the third way that we can avoid driving our audience nuts?
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Exclusions apply. See details online. So I would say definitely in the United States, especially among our younger generations, that we have a definite ability to say like or um, or maybe even and a lot more than we should.
So listening to a lot of presentations recently, I've heard a lot of People get up and they're just really nervous.
It goes back into the enunciating your words kind of thing.
And they get really nervous and they get a little hot and a little bothered.
So, you know what I mean? They just get nervous.
And so they use these words like or om as a crutch when they really don't need them.
And so I actually – this is pretty bad, but I honestly got so bothered by this.
I started counting how many times someone would say like in a five minute period.
And I honestly got up to 50 times and that's too much.
I mean, I think the words like should be used when you're giving an example of something, but never as a verbal crutch because it's just not necessary.
Oh, that's great. I mean, we all need to remember this.
This is huge. So yeah, you're right. In American English, at least, especially the United States.
I don't know why we do. I mean, you said you've seen it more when people are nervous, right?
And presentations are definitely a scenario where we're likely to get nervous.
How do we not do this? How do we make sure?
Or maybe, for example, if our listeners are still using fillers, even from their native language, you know, that might be happening, right?
Bringing in those fillers. How do we avoid filler words in a presentation?
What do we do? So what has helped me in the past is honestly, it's just practice and paying attention to what you're saying yourself, maybe not even in a presentation setting, but also in everyday conversation.
So if you realize, I don't know, maybe you'd be speaking with someone and then you say goodbye and you think to yourself, hmm, I just said like a bunch of times in that sentence.
So just becoming cognitively aware of your own habits will translate into your presentation style.
That way, when you are nervous, you will those habits that you have automatically amplify themselves.
So that way, in order to help this, just try and monitor it yourself, which I know is pretty difficult.
But also having someone close to your family or close to you or close friend and you tell them about this, you could say, hey, I have this problem where I think I just say like or I'm too much or, you know, other filler words.
Having someone else monitor that with you is also really helpful.
Yeah, I love that. I like the idea of, you know, being able to, well, self-monitor, as you said in the beginning, really develop a lens, start to always observe at the end of a conversation.
Okay, how did that go? What did I say? How did I feel about the way I communicated just now?
And also sharing it with a family member or friend, like, hey, this is a goal that I'm going for.
This is what I want to do less of in 2018.
And they can hold you accountable. You have to share your goals, right?
You do, especially in that sense. I mean, this is a skill that develops over time, so it's not going to happen overnight, definitely.
But it's definitely one of those that if you harness it well, it will serve you so well in the long run because people will want to listen to you.
Because I know that after listening to some of these presentations, I'm like, I don't even want to ask you a question because I just know that there's going to be so many likes that I won't even have my question answered.
Right. Yeah, I think some of this also depends on input, right?
Getting good quality input, listening to people who don't maybe don't use like as much.
Maybe it's likely to mirror what we hear, right?
Exactly. And that's what makes it so difficult is that we're so used to hearing other people say it.
Yeah, it influences how we speak. which is, you know, it's pretty, it's terrible to say, but it's true.
You know, that saying that the people you hang out with, you know, you adopt some of the words that they use or slang that you use, which is so true.
And so it's honestly, it's pretty bothersome that our society, at least in the United States and our culture, that it's just almost like a norm.
And so defying that norm is huge. Actually, my father was a pretty big influence in my life because he was the one who told me that this was one of the one things that will make someone not like you in less than a minute.
Oh, that's really interesting. That's good advice.
Yeah. So going up in elementary school and high school and all throughout my education, my dad always said, whenever you're getting up in front of someone, try and don't say like or um, because if you don't, they'll respect you for it.
And your presentation grades will be better.
And ever since then, my dad's, he's been pretty helpful.
My presentation grades have been pretty good.
That is so cool. I love it when dads have such good life advice.
I love that. That's so cool. My dad's pretty great.
Yeah. He was one of those things, you know, that was definitely a good tip to, you know, to remember.
Okay. Okay. So that's a great tip that we can, you can now pass on to our listeners and thank you for that.
Those words, wise words of wisdom, as we say.
So just to recap here, the three ways that we can avoid killing our audience here.
Yeah. is is to uh make sure we enunciate our words and to make sure we don't thank everyone right at the beginning don't lose that momentum and of course as you said avoid like um and other or other fillers from your um native language guys okay and i just said um yeah it's okay it's okay All right.
Well, this has been great. Thank you so much, Mary Melissa, for coming on the show today.
And I love your accent. It's kind of like a light Southern accent.
Is that right? Am I on target there? Thank you.
Yes, I would say so. Yeah, it's cool for our listeners to be able to hear different accents.
And you said you're from Chattanooga. Is that right?
Yes. Okay. Okay. Very cool. So guys, the Tennessee accent.
Very interesting. Very interesting. All right.
So tell us a little bit about the teaching that you do over at Spoken.
Do you work with business students then?
Yes, primarily. So with the lesson that's spoken, each of our lessons are garnered to a specific criteria or aspect of the business world.
So, for example, I actually just worked yesterday with some students.
And one of the lessons I was working on was presentation skills, actually, oddly enough.
And I was talking about running a quick business meeting and the points of how you should do it properly, things you should avoid, helpful phrases you can use to help make transitions easier and different things like that.
Okay. I love that. So that sounds right up the alley of our listeners here, of a lot of our listeners who are really wanting to be able to work in English.
Mary Melissa, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you so much for having me. This has been awesome.
We really appreciate it. Oh, no problem.
All right. Talk to you soon. Bye. Thanks.
Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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