When I was in high school, I had this one teacher, Mr. Adams, who was constantly fiddling with the change in his pocket. It was distracting to say the least.
Then in university there was Professor Evans, who when lecturing had a habit of pacing from one side of the lecture hall to the other four times in a row, stopping to take a rest by leaning against his desk for a couple of minutes, then getting up, clapping his hands together and starting the process all over again. His lecture laps, as my classmates and I liked to call them, were almost hypnotizing, and as a result I often found myself dozing off in class – though the intermittent handclaps were rather effective in jolting me awake again. (In fact, I wonder now if that was their intended purpose!)
Then there’s my co-worker Jane, who during work presentations incessantly twirls her pen in her fingers – dropping it regularly – so that you find yourself paying more attention to her pen and whether she’s going to drop it than what she’s actually saying.
This last one reminds me of this clip from the TV show “The Office,” where the staff are listening to a presentation by their boss, Michael Scott, but are distracted by the DVD screen in the background.
Funny, isn’t it? And true: Audiences are easily distracted.
We all have our own little quirks and mannerisms, and it’s important to know what they are so we can work on toning them down – if not eliminating them completely. (Confession: I myself have a pen problem. Put one in my hands and I’m either mindlessly clicking the nib in and out or pushing the cap around in circles with my thumb.)
One of the best ways to discover if you have any distracting mannerisms is to watch yourself on tape. Videotape your next presentation and then watch it afterward looking for anything you might be doing that could serve as a distraction. Do you make the same hand gestures over and over? Are you constantly adjusting your glasses or tucking your hair behind your ears? Do you clear your throat too frequently? Are you pacing back and forth?
Learn your mannerisms today and you’ll deliver a more effective presentation tomorrow. I promise. Now if someone could just tell Professor Evans….
P.S. In Inspiring Speakers news, we’ve added a new section to our Speaker Resource Centre this week. We now offer a series of teleseminar resources for building your speaking business. Visit the Speaker Resource Centre today to check them out.
Till next time!
