Presenting in French

Well, okay, not actually presenting in French (‘cos I am rubbish at it!) but hearing French people do presentations has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. I’ve just spent two weeks in France with my family (and have come back to work for a rest).

Now, I have to admit that my French isn’t very good. In fact, at school I was actually pretty much forbidden to take an O-level in it; they recommended I take something I would actually stand a chance of passing. Since then I’ve taken classes at lunchtimes and things though, and I’ve got a good smattering. Sometimes I can understand what’s being said to me in France and sometimes I can’t. What’s the difference between these times?

Clarity. Specifically, clarity of diction.

It’s just the same for presentations, I’m afraid. Just as the guy behind the bar in France could speak so that I understood him by making his words crisp, clear and individual, so the presenter can make him/her self more easily understood in the same way.

If your diction is excellent you’ll get away with a lot of other stuff, too.

For example, presentation skill trainers often tell you that to be clear you need to speak slowly. In fact that’s a gross simplification; you need to slow down enough to avoid problems with echos and so on, sure, but hands up the number of us who actually make a presentation in such big spaces? No, I thought not.

In fact, when they say you should speak slowly during your presentations what they actually mean is that you should speak slowly enough for your words to be clear.

I say: if your diction is very good, just like my helpful French barman or presenter, then the rate at which you can speak (and still be clear and understood) is higher.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting that you can conciously use this trick to speak more quickly in your presentations (though expert presenters can and do!) just that if you’re nervous when you present (and who isn’t!) and you are talking quite fast as a result, it’s sometimes easier to improve the clarity of your diction than it is to slow down the rate at which you’re speaking.

Of course, how you do that is another matter – and covered in other posts.