Explode Ambient Silence! – Business School Presentations | #powerpointdesigners

For public speakers, one of the most insidious destroyers of confidence is the silent room, a room flooded with ambient silence.

A room full of expectant faces, furrowed brows, and imagined hostility.

All wrapped in a cocoon of intimidating quietude.

A room filled with intimidating silence that is almost tangible, suffocating.

This ambient silence can undermine your presentation before you ever start, so recognize it now for the threat that it is and prepare yourself to grapple with and defeat this enemy of the great presentation.

Hostile, Ambient Silence

The tendency of every student presenter with whom I’ve worked is to match the energy of their presentation energy to the ambience of the room, whether imagined or real.

This can lead to presentation disaster.  Here’s why.

I introduce here the notion of ambient silence.  This is the kind of silence in a room that can clutch you by the throat, force you to speak in a squeak.

That can force you to speak so no one can hear you, so that you need not worry about what you say.

In this case, ambient silence is the destroyer of presentations and the scourge of unprepared presenters.

While silence can be your friend, more often than not it is a bitter enemy of your presentation.

Ambient silence can impress itself on your presentation unless you are aware of its effect on you and your audience.

Silence as Oppressor

Ambient silence weighs heavy in the room.  The occasional cough can echo loudly.  Whispered conversations intrude and are quickly squelched.

It is a hostile landscape littered with mines that you will trigger if you don’t tread lightly.

It is into this landscape you march, fearful and defensive.  Ready to deliver yet another fearful and defensive presentation, because you let the oppression of silence dictate to you the terms of your presentation.

Too often, you lose before you start, because you modulate your voice – both volume and tone – according to the ambient silence.

Your voice cracks.

It cannot be heard beyond the second row.

And it gets worse as you go, because you feel yourself failing.  Your mouth goes dry, your voice cracks and grinds along.  Your knees are weak.  Your fingers fidget.

You just mounted the stage, but you can’t wait to sit down.

All of this because you yielded, unconsciously, to the ambient silence of your room.

You Can Fix This Easily

You have two options to pursue simultaneously.

First remedy:  always have music softly playing during the lead-in to your talk, whether for 10 minutes or 100 minutes.  Select the music to set the mood.

Second remedy:  recognize the silence as a tool for you to use as you construct a presentation experience.

You set the tone of your presentation.

You break the silence when you choose and in the most effective way possible, with your standard introduction learned here on Business School Presentations.

Speak loudly and confidently, dictating the aural terms of the presentation rather than have them dictated to you by the mere absence of noise.

Crack the silence.  Dictate the terms.

This way, you launch into your presentation with confidence and brio.  Your voice is clear and strong.  And you have let everyone know that you are in charge.

Thus, you achieve personal competitive advantage from the first moments of your presentation by dissipating silence in a powerful way.

Remember the especially powerful effects you can achieve when you seize control of ambient silence in your business presentation .  It’s a sure way to build your professional presence on the podium.

For more superb business techniques like breaking ambient silence, consult The Complete Guide to Business

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