Lessons - Standing Out and Being Different | Peter Hopwood - Speaking Trainer, TEDx Coach

How being different is good for presentation. That's fine, but in the world of zoom and virtual being different is How do we achieve that because We have all these different tools. We want to engage people we want to maybe suspend judgment We want to focus on our voice and how do we how do we be different? Yeah, good really good question. I think the first thing that comes to mind for me certainly is that We have to all our signals. We have to amplify them Right, so however we are in the real world. We need to amplify them slightly more here So right now you can see just by I'm looking now at the screen at myself My hand is here other hand is here because it's in this frame. I can see I'm really aware of this this sort of square frame That I'm in right now and my hands are up here They're like they're sort of like here where you know level with my chin and sort of down here And I'm sort of playing in this area and I'm really happy and comfortable with that area But it's deliberate if I was talking to you in the real world having a coffee I would not have my hands up here. I'd be like ridiculous weirdo. What the hell is he doing? So but I can do it here because it lets you see my hands It lets you see what I'm doing on my hands and I articulate better when I use my hands And it just gives you this hopefully maybe it doesn't but I think it does hopefully it gives you this impression You listen more to what I have to say and certain key words and certain things I'm saying in certain phrases You remember more because I'm using these slight gestures as well my background what you see behind me Here's one thing to remember we can we can control this completely If we're meeting somebody at their office or we're at a conference and we're on a stage All these environments are not our environment environments. We don't choose these. It's not ours But here we can choose it We're fully in control and we can feel comfortable, right? This is my spot Often we have our own zoom spot. Don't we own virtual exchange spot where we do what I call I imagine that's where you do Well, I know it is where you pretty much do all most of your Podcasts perhaps your yes, you know virtually exchanges as well. So we feel really comfortable Right, so we can we're actually in our own comfort zone and that's a good thing So feeling comfortable in our own environment is a good thing and it lets people in kind of you're letting I'm letting you into my little area. This is mine and it's it's it's a very It's where I live and you're in it now and I guess, you know, that's where you were perhaps you live there as well I do. I do love you over there. Yeah, great. Wonderful So we're kind of like there's an intimate part of us that we've both shared already Even before we begin Now if we have a if we had a background a like a fake background or a digital background That doesn't always give us this what we have now Right, so just think about how to make connections and how to stand out what we wear What we wear can sometimes be something that people remember I look I'm looking at you now and to your right to your left but to my right books on the shelf Yeah, a nice bookshelf you've got the the blue lights probably down below on the ground that's beaming up perhaps yeah, that right yeah Um, and there's nice light coming on your on your eyes on your face. I see you got the lights on center all your expressions You look great and like so I can see all your expressions. There's no distraction. There's no kind of like Something that's stopping me your voice Your you have an external camera. I'm sorry an external microphone. I'm sure yeah, right you're using Whatever you're using. It's good quality So good quality sound is always something that makes people feel It's more appealing like I said before when it goes lower a lower tone. It's more appealing So quality sound is appealing and not distracting and as we go through this whole This whole pandemic and this this this journey's COVID journey together and as the months and even perhaps years go on We expect better quality sound in our exchanges, don't we and we expect better quality visuals in our exchanges when it all started last year We kind of okay, we're kind of accepting that okay, maybe the camera's not right or the the lighting's not great and and the sounds not good But really a year and a half on We've had enough time to to to really think about how we're going to present ourselves So so even before you begin the setup is a such an important part Doing things slightly different so you can again you can see I'm standing up. I was gonna ask you. I'm not standing up And I actually wanted to my bookshelf is in high enough my bookshelf isn't high enough I want to stand up, but Ah Right because because I would tell you you You could get if I was look if you asked me now if if I thought you were standing out I'm not sure because you that bookshelf for me could be actually a tall bookshelf correct Yeah, I would love to stand up. I have a standing desk and everything but it's that's the next that's the next step in the background because it gives you energy, right? So Yeah, I feel more In control of My sound because the air is coming in better through my body. I can I can actually move better here I don't know whether you've noticed, but I My body sometimes I'm leaning forward like yes Sometimes I lean my head to the sides perhaps or we'll go like this perhaps towards the camera leaning sometimes I lean back And the great thing about this is it is different. It's different than just let's say always sitting down and and not moving We need to move the bet the more we move not Fast movements, but the more we create movement the more people's brains are our kind of Triggered does that makes it does it does so the more we're moving we have to keep things moving and that And and and switching things up sometimes I speak a little bit faster sometimes I'm a bit lower maybe even go towards the mic a little bit more More of this this kind of a time Sometimes I'm I'm as I say right up closer to the to the script to the camera even my hands are going closer Sometimes I'm back here. There's other things you can do as well, which again make makes it stick out This is something from I used in a in a keynote not so long ago. So using Instead of a PowerPoint using like cards, this is just a bit of card with the with a title on it bang and people see that they remember it and it goes away and then I continue So you remember what you probably remember what was written on there because it's different the color perhaps as well There were so many things you could do so bringing things to the To the environment you're in Can can can be memorable. I'm going to ask you now. I'll ask you now. So scots I I've got some books right in front of me. I would love you just to grab one of those books. Yeah, from your shelf Favorite one and bring it and show it to me on the screen You've got great books and you put them in colors. I can see and it is one of this is this is a great That's a great one Okay, and this is my one rules of work So the rules of work. This is my one here and that's your one there and so This this I then could then ask I could ask you I could say tell me tell me about this book Where did you get it? Why did you buy it? There's a story behind every object every single object. There's a story behind it I can just I could go like this look. This is a bottle of water. This is an object. There's a story behind this Isn't there where I bought it why I've got this bottle? Why not a smaller bottle? Why didn't I buy juice? I mean, you know, so bringing things to Bringing things to to this environment. We can't do that in the real world We only we can but with this we can all bring something And so I ask you bring a bring a book to To this to this exchange and show it on the screen a book that you've chosen When I ask you that you're also intrigued probably to know what I've got yeah, I'm sure you are And I can then give you I was gonna ask you. Well, that's that's one of the that's one of the other questions at the end So I I want to get I want to get a book recommendation from you, but I guess that's it Well, that's the first one I grabbed. I've got a whole load of books If you do ask me that I might get another book But the thing is bringing objects and bringing things to the equation bringing things that you can't do otherwise These things help people remember and they're different and they're They're um, yeah, they they change things up. There's something called. I love this. It's it's called an attention reset It's where you kind of you mix things up Throughout your call or throughout your webinar or throughout your presentation. So as you see I use this I could use that for the for the the titles. I could then bring an object to the To the to this exchange. I could then tell you an anecdote a small mini story I could then tell you maybe I'm giving you an analogy about something I could then give you maybe it may be a big statement about something. I could then give you maybe a The statistic perhaps So every time I share one of those things your brain Translates that in a different way. So like it appeals to different parts. It breaks the pattern It breaks the pattern. I mean, so if I if I was to just if I would yeah, that's it breaks the pattern It shakes things up It juices things up and it shakes things up. I could just talk to you about statistics numbers figures more statistics numbers and figures Throughout this whole conversation, right? You'd remember a couple, but it would get boring and you would You would probably tune out, but if I put in statistics then I'd through through in a story That was relevance to to the main message then I may be then I may be asked your question Maybe asked you you know, what do you think about that or I asked you to challenge me on something And then I maybe bring you know bring an object in not this book again But I bring in another object in yeah, so it's just like shaking things up And making sure there's there's differences that trigger our brains constantly