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Listen And Breathe: An Interview With John Watkis – Part 1

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And we see it we automatically know and can even tell when someone is reading something that is written We re like ah they re reading And it s usually not their fault it s that they re reading something that was written to be read by the eye not for sound John Watkis This episode s guest knows a thing or two about public speaking and connecting with an audience he s a high-stakes performance coach a professional speaker and the author of Speaking Notes The Eight Essential Elements to Make Your Speech Music to Their Ears not to mention the first Canadian-born actor to play Mufasa in the Disney musical The Lion King Clients seek him out when they have to communicate at their best during presentations pitches and interviews His name is John Watkis and this week we ll be having a fascinating discussion about public speaking storytelling voiceovers and everything else about sound in between nbsp How People Judge You We begin with John s earliest memory of sound a harrowing encounter with a Winnebago when he was just four years old From there we talk about his childhood in Toronto and how people s mistaken impressions of him based on his Jamaican heritage led to an early understanding of how sound and voice influence people s unconscious biases It was always apparent to me that the way you speak will determine how people judge you and the perception they have of you nbsp Writing for the Ear John goes on to tell us about the subtle differences between writing for the ear and writing for the eye and how an experience near the start of his career revealed to him the hidden link between composing music and crafting speeches We look at the eight elements great music and great speeches share and how they both use rhythm to make a lasting impression That s the hook he tells us it s the one part we stick to Well speeches are very much the same nbsp The Sound of Trust We also discuss just how much information we convey without even realizing it without necessarily saying a word John explains the origins of a popular statistic about body language and talks about how cultural differences can challenge the way we re used to reading people s emotions When there was a misunderstanding or a lack of trust he recalls in a landmark study 7 of that distrust came from words 38 was the tone of voice 55 was body language nbsp Getting Used to Silence One thing public speakers quite often misunderstand John explains is the power of silence What is missing he says and you ll find most speakers don t want to use it is silence When we speak about sound the sound of silence can be uncomfortable Most of us use filler words and sounds to avoid awkward silence but he shows us how silence can be an important part of communication and how we can use it to create a powerful impression on listeners nbsp Episode Summary Sound voice and unconscious impressions Writing for the ear vs writing for the eye The eight elements great music and speeches share Body language tone and establishing trust How to effectively harness the power of silence Be sure to listen next week for part two as we talk about empathetic listening the unexpected ways a speaker can connect with their audience and the overlooked importance of breathing Connect with the Guest Website https johnwatkis com https johnwatkis com Follow John Watkis on Facebook https www facebook com zumba john 5 https www facebook com zumba john 5 Connect with John Watkis on LinkedIn https www linkedin com in johnwatkis https www linkedin com in johnwatkis Tweet to John Watkis on Twitter https twitter com johnwatkis https twitter com johnwatkis Try the High-Stakes Performance community free for 7 days https www highstakesspeaking com plans 135624 bundle token 4c022e1905d1f5699f43f8baf72992d0 amp utm source manual Click here to visit this podcast episode

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