Publication: Tayo Solagbade’s Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS Page (PSIP) Newsletter

Date: Monday 15th October 2012

No: 59

Title: Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [234-803-302-1263]

Blog URL: http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/blog

Archive (For E-mail only version started 14th May 2012): Click here to view

Archive (For Blog version started 24th September 2011): Click here

Hi,

Please find below the latest issue of my weekly Public Speaking Ideas page for 2012. 

SD Nuggets Blog™ New posts from last week that may interest you! Entrepreneurship [Tuesday]: A Permanent Solution To Africa’s Low Per Capita Protein Consumption(Feat. World Bank Grant for Your Farm Business) Self Development [Wednesday]: Read To Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills & Converse More Intelligently! Career Development [Thursday]: Secret Formula for Succeeding At Your Job Parenting [Friday]: Is Your Child Silently Screaming For Help? Writing/Blogging [Saturday]: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself) – No. 2 in series on comments. *Extra post on Parenting [Sunday]: Are You Setting Up Your Child To Fail? (Read This To Find Out) Want me to write for you? Click here…

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No. 59: Wine Making…& Your Speaking Proficiency

The wine making process is one that intrigues me a lot. It all began when I got my first job, 18 years ago, as a trainee sales coordinator in a wine manufacturing SME in Lagos.

This was five months after completing my compulsory one year of National Youth Service (NYSC)*: I served as a Math/Physics teacher in two secondary schools in a remote Niger state village that wasn’t connected to the national grid. In other words, I NEVER saw public power supply all through my stay there

 

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By way of interest, I developed my passion for coaching kids (and parenting) during that period, when I found that many of the students struggled with certain basic principles. This made me employ multiple approaches to presenting information to them, to facilitate their understanding.

Recently, I was able to put that experience to use for the benefit of my own kids in tackling challenges I discovered they had with Math. If you’re a parent, read my new SD Nuggets post titled “Is Your Child Silently Screaming for Help?” It provides insights into my methods, which you may wish to adapt for your kids.

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Back To Wine Making As It Relates To A Speaker’s Development Of Proficiency…

The wine making process is fairly similar to beer making – both involve brewing and fermenting at start. But in the later stages things get done differently to the processed raw materials (e.g. fermented wort) to produce beers, wines, spirits.

Now that I look back, it actually feels like I was destined to work in the brewing industry! I say this because only three months after joining the wine company, I scaled tests, and selection board interviews to win a place as one of twelve new Graduate Management Trainees in Guinness Nigeria (1994). And a few weeks later, I commenced my induction as a trainee brewer.

My exposure to world class brewing/manufacturing took what I’d learned in the wine maker to a whole new level. But one trend remained: similar preliminary processing eventually differed depending on final product type being aimed at.

For instance, the more refined the product had to be, the longer the processing tended to take: Stouts take relatively shorter time to brew, ferment, filter and mature, compared to Lagers.

And the handling requirements for the latter are more stringent because of it’s very delicate nature – clarity in glass is a cherished quality indicator for instance, which the slightest error can damage irreparably. Unlike stout which can tolerate “rougher treatment” with less severe consequences.

However, when it comes to wine making, age is one word that means a lot to the quality of the finished products.

You may have heard the saying that “wine tastes better with age”. Or that “old wine tastes better”.

Those are not unfounded assertions.

Once the initial processing has been done right, the best wine makers all over the world do not take their cold storage cellar management processes lightly.

The conditions under which young wine is left to mature, are crucial to it’s development of the taste that wine lovers appreciate. And that will determine the rating they accord it.

Your Audience Will Be Your Connoisseurs

And you can be sure some of them will be skilled at evaluating speaker performance. Such individuals will probably get asked by the meeting planner to rate you, in comparison with other speakers. That could determine whether or not you get called back, or considered for other events in future.

So, how proficient are you currently at speaking? You may know your stuff well.

But can you speak engagingly on your subject to audiences who want to hear you, without boring, alienating or intimidating them with your expertise? Or with awkward mannerisms, stiff deliver etc?

Let’s say an expert on surgery has to deliver a talk to young school athletes and their parents, on how to boost recovery following post-injury surgery. He’ll want to avoid technical medical jargon, and probably employ more stories and analogies to pass his message across effectively.

That’s not something everyone finds easy. People try. But nature can be stubborn. That’s when we get zoned out in our passion for our subject, and by the time we’re done, it’s too late: we would have lost the audience!

(This is why it sometimes helps to find a coach or mentor to provide guidance and support)

I can relate to the above in a way. Audience feedbacks on forms I give out indicate that I sometimes speak too fast for a few of my listeners to follow.

And it’s not just them: the first day I spoke with Burt Dubin on phone, he started by saying “Tayo, slow down, slow down, so I can hear you clearly…!”

I’ve therefore been practicing speaking slower without sounding stiff or unnatural. While reading, I also discovered from articles by Burt Dubin, and Communispond that PAUSES can be powerfully used to improve delivery and audience comprehension. So, I plan to incorporate that into my delivery as well.

Final Words: Baby Steps Can Be Better!

Note here that my wine analogy does not imply you need years (like some wines are aged) to “refine” your speaking proficiency!

What I’m saying instead, is that the changes you make may not produce results overnight.

However (and this is where the wine analogy is most relevant), you MUST maintain the right conditions (mental and action-wise) needed to bring about the results you want, for as long as it takes!

It was Abe Lincoln who said “I may be slow, but I never walk backwards”.

I often advocate taking baby steps as against trying to make quantum leaps – especially when reaching your goal requires sustained effort. That can usually not be hurried.

Taking baby steps can pay off better, because it slows you down enough to ensure you internalize essential lessons. Those lessons will help you manage successes that will come from becoming a better speaker, IF you do not quit.

Comments?

What do you think of the above message? Do you have any personal experience to share on this subject? Are there some other points you feel can be added, to help persons looking for answers? Please share your thoughts – click here to post a comment on the blog!

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