We’ve probably all been through presentation, negotiation and time management training. We’ve probably even been trained up on specific skills relating directly to our jobs. But who will teach us the other other skills that we never thought we’d need? Some of the skills I’ve mentioned below can be outsourced, some are neglected and some have been completely forgotten about. What they all have in common is that they are all invaluable skills that will always come in handy throughout our careers.
Speech writing techniques. Do you prepare each time before you present or just wing it and hope to get through it? Do the words tricolon, antithesis and parallelism form part of your vocabulary? I bet that you’ve all heard these techniques before in famous speeches (most use between 3-4), so why not give them a crack when you’re preparing for your next presentation? While there are many great speech writing tips, some are very easy to use and will absolutely improve your next presentation. Here is a good guide to some great speech writing techniques.
Knowing your own body language. Professor Albert Mehrabian has stated that only 7% of a message is conveyed verbally, through words. The other 93% is split between tone of voice (38%) and body language (55%). The question I have is how aware are you of your own body language? We’re all guilty of touching our nose, our lips, and our forehead between 2,000-3,000 times a day and these all imply that we’re either subconsciously nervous or dishonest. For more tips like this, here is an article from Psychology Today.
Learning basic production. Never underestimate the power of a good mock-up. While it can be difficult to communicate creative ideas, it’s nearly impossible without a clear visual. A great skill to have is creating your own mock-ups. While we’re not all art directors or copywriters, the very nature of a mock is that it’s a demonstration of what the idea could look like. Have a crack at making your own in either PowerPoint for basic ones or try getting your hands on an Adobe Creative Suite package for some more complex ones. Also, try your hand at creating a basic video because you never know when it may come in handy.
Learning the art and science of storytelling. In his 1897 book, What is Art?, the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy defined art as “an infection.” Good art, Tolstoy wrote, infects the audience with the storyteller’s emotion and ideas. The better the art, the stronger the infection. Story telling is not only one of the most powerful ways to communicate, it’s also the oldest – it has been around for centuries. PowerPoint has been around for about 40. What went wrong? Author Jonathan Gottschall discusses the powerful science of storytelling in this fascinating article.
Learning to follow through. One of my favourite quotes is “modern art = I could do that + yeah, but you didn’t”. The power of being able to follow through with an idea, a proposal, and a proactive idea is an indispensible skill that I find is a habit of successful people. True, everyone has great ideas, but very few follow through to see. This is a trait of a typical ‘completer finisher’ personality archetype, where these people will never start something they won’t complete properly and to a high standard.
What other other skills do you have?
Andrew Da Silva
MediaCom
Manager, client communications planning