BNM Professional Consulting Services, Inc.

Very few people actively enjoy public speaking. If it’s something you dread, you may have even specifically chosen a career because it has little or no public speaking involved. 

But giving a speech isn’t something that can be avoided forever. At some point, you’ll rise high enough in your career or will have a life event like a wedding that will require a speech. If that first speech is looming around the corner, take note of these five simple public speaking tips:

1. Practice

This sounds simple enough, but some people get so nervous about giving a speech that even practicing it makes them nervous. If you’re one of these people, face the music and run over your speech as many times as you can. Read it on your computer, read it in your Lyft, and read it when you wake up in the morning.

Perhaps most importantly, read your speech out loud. Reading it out loud is the only way to find sentences or words that might trip you up. The more you read it out loud, the better you’ll learn it, and if you know your speech inside and out, that will actually help you sound less rehearsed when you deliver the real thing.

2. Run it by a trusted friend

Choose the friend carefully – you want someone who can honestly critique what you’ve written but also deliver criticism without breaking your heart. Ideally, they should be knowledgeable about the topic of your speech. Letting someone else into the process can give you a confidence boost and help you iron out kinks before the big day.

3. Set yourself up for success

If you have any sort of control over where or how you’ll give your speech, use that control to give yourself the best speech-giving environment. For example, holding the paper that your speech is written on can be a nightmare for a nervous speaker, because your hands might shake and then the paper will shake and everyone will see. If you can stand behind a podium and speak into a mounted mic, that’s probably going to be best. Likewise, plan to wear clothes that don’t show sweat, and make sure you have water handy.

4. Remind yourself that nothing terrible will happen

Even if you are the person with the shaky hands and everyone sees the sweat dripping down your forehead, everything will be fine. Nobody is going to judge you for being nervous – people are much more empathetic than you think. 

If you’re really nervous, it never hurts to admit that to your audience at the start of your speech. It’s not ideal, obviously, but owning up to your nerves is itself an act of bravery and will help get the audience on your side from the start.

5. Turn to an executive speech coach

Whether you’re a first-time speaker or have been giving speeches for years, everyone can become a stronger communicator. Executive speech coaching can help you find personalized tips for conquering your fear, finding your confidence, and delivering more impactful speeches. 

Contact us today to learn more about how a Chicago speech coach can help you further your career.

For children, language and communication skills aren’t things that come about naturally. Language and communication are both learned, and it turns out that the very best teachers of language are parents and guardians. 

Of course, not every child will develop language at the same rate or with the same proficiency, even within the same household. Children are all different. But study after study has shown that parents play a huge role in language development for their children. 

That means parents can and should be taking active steps to help their children develop strong language and communication skills. The basic steps are probably all things you’ve heard before – it’s vitally important to read to children from birth onward, to sing to them, and to talk to them. This is a great place to start.

In addition, it’s always helpful when parents can get books into the hands of children. As soon as a baby is able to grasp, one of the things she should be grasping is books. Fabric books and board books mostly end up as chew toys at first, but eventually baby should start to turn the pages and look at the pictures. This is called pre-reading, and it’s an important skill that lays the foundation for reading success down the line.

Singing can also become more interactive as your child grows. Classics like “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Old McDonald” are great opportunities for active participation. Your child can choose the next person on the bus or the next animal, and eventually they can start singing the song along with you. 

Finally, it’s important not just to talk to our children but to be mindful of how we talk to them. Complete sentences are best, and there’s no need to limit your vocabulary or “dumb things down” for your kids. You want them to be able to understand you, of course, but a “big word” every now and then is the chance for your child to learn something new. Likewise, when your child makes a grammatical mistake, rather than correcting the mistake or letting it lie, it’s often most helpful to repeat the sentence or phrase back with the appropriate grammar. For example: “He do’s it.” “Oh, he does it?”

It’s also critical that we as adults be mindful of our emotions and how we communicate them. It’s very easy as a parent to sometimes get frustrated, and that’s ok. Because when our children see us get frustrated and how we handle those situations – what we do to communicate our feelings and how we calm ourselves down – they learn from that.

We’re fed a bit of a false narrative when we’re growing up. We’re told that if we keep our heads down, get good grades, and have great extracurriculars, we’ll someday have successful careers. But a few key things are left out of that equation. First off, our grades stop mattering about three years into our professional lives. Second, while being someone who works for good grades can show how dedicated, smart, and analytically minded they are, those qualities are only half of the equation. 

The other half of the equation is communication and social skills.

The vast majority of management and executive-level jobs in this country require the ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing. In order to stand out, you need to be able to tell your story. and to get your ideas heard, you need to present them in a way that is organized and impactful. That’s why with the New Year upon us, you should seriously consider making, “become a better communicator” one of your resolutions.

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that great communication skills are either something you have or you don’t. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best speakers got that way by practicing and by always looking for ways to improve. Some people are more naturally charismatic or funny than others, but everyone has the ability to be a better speaker with practice. A winning smile will only get you so far – you need a lot more than that to organize a convincing sales pitch to an important buyer. The further up the executive ranks you rise, more will be expected from you in terms of ability to communicate a vision.

It’s also important to remember the social aspect of communication. You may be able to deliver a great speech, but how are your interactions with co-workers? Do you have a hard time relating to the people you work with or have trouble knowing where the lines are in social situations? Those are communication areas that can be improved with guidance and practice.

The best leaders rise to the top because they never stop learning. If you’ve hit a plateau in your career or want to make the jump to the next level, it’s time to begin working with a Chicago executive speech coach to build your confidence and effectiveness as a speaker. Contact us to set up a free executive speech coaching consultation.

One of the best and worst things about the holidays is all of that time that our kids get off from school. Winter vacation can be a wonderful chance to reconnect as a family, but it can also mean a lot of time away from helpful resources like your child’s school SLP. 

Fortunately, there are a lot of simple speech therapy activities that you can do at home with your kids, and you can even incorporate a holiday theme. Setting aside some time a few days a week to enjoy an SLP craft, game, or other sort of speech therapy activity with your child will help them keep up the progress they’ve been making in school, and head back to class in the New Year on the right foot.

Here are a few of our favorite holiday themed SLP activities:

Stocking Surprise – If you’re working on new vocabulary words or practicing particular sounds, buy or make flash cards with the words/sounds you want to practice, and put them in a stocking. Have your child pick out cards one at a time and practice saying the words aloud. You can double up the cards to make this into a simple matching game, or you can replace the cards with physical objects to make the game a bit more fun. For example, if you’re practicing “st” words, you can fill the stocking with stickers, stars, a stone, a straw, a stamp, and a stick.

Tree Ornament Sentences – Head online to download a free printable worksheet like this one, or make your own. Draw a tree and cut out a set of paper ornaments, then write the words that you want to practice on each ornament. Have your child use the ornaments to decorate the tree with short sentences. You can also take turns placing ornaments on the tree to create silly sentences together.

Holiday Mad Libs – For older kids who are learning about parts of speech, it’s always fun to get some holiday themed Mad Libs and fill them out together. Have your child come up with all the different words, then let them read the finished Mad Lib out loud.

Caroling – Singing is a great way to improve confidence and vocal strength while practicing articulation, and what better time of year to sing than this! Break out your family’s holiday favorites, or try learning a new song together in order to practice particular sounds.

An informative speech is exactly what it sounds like – a speech that delivers useful information to the audience. The goal of an informative speech isn’t to persuade anyone of anything – rather, you’re simply conveying necessary information. 

An informative speech at work can take many different forms. Perhaps your boss has tasked you with teaching everyone how to use a particular program. Maybe you work in HR and need to deliver the annual review of sexual harassment policies. Or maybe you need to brief your boss on the pitches that two different vendors gave you so that they can decide between them.

Whatever the case may be, delivering an informative speech can be a tricky challenge, because informative speeches often turn into dry lectures. Without an argument to be made, informative speeches must simply get across a set of facts, and finding an engaging and entertaining way to do that can be tough.

Fortunately, when it falls upon you to give an informative speech at work, there are a few things you can do to help liven up your presentation.

1. Keep it quick.

Don’t make your speech or presentation any longer than it needs to be. Get the points across quickly, and that’ll make it easier for everyone to retain the information – and for them to walk out of the room after the speech still liking you.

2. Incorporate a story.

If appropriate, drawing from your own experience to illustrate a fact or make a piece of information easier to digest will help engage your audience and keep their interest.

3. Use hand outs and visual aids.

If you know you have a lot of important information to get through, give everyone a hand out of the key points up front that they can take notes on. If someone zones out mid-speech, at least they’ll have your sheet to refer back to. 

And using a PowerPoint or Prezi is a great way to make dry information more exciting. You don’t want to go too crazy, but the occasional GIF or meme can go a long way to liven up an informational meeting.

4. Only share the need-to-know information.

There are exceptions to this rule – like when covering harassment policies – but in most cases, covering only what people really need to know will help everyone retain the important information. You may find the history of a particular company fascinating, but if your boss just wants to know about their product lines, that’s probably what you should focus on.

Dyslexia is a common learning disorder, but the early warning signs of dyslexia are much more varied and complex than most people realize. Dyslexia is often thought of as simply transposing letters, leading to difficulty reading or spelling. But dyslexia can take many different forms, including trouble with breaking words into syllables, fluency, and comprehension.

Less Well-Known Dyslexia Warning Signs

The most common sign of dyslexia is when a child who is otherwise academically capable has more difficulty reading than he or she should. But if you notice some of these other warning signs in your pre-school or elementary school aged child, it may be time to talk to a speech language pathologist (SLP) about dyslexia:

• Difficulty paying attention in class/constant daydreaming.
• Complaints of headaches, dizziness, or stomach aches while trying to read.
• Apparent problems with vision despite normal eye exams.
• Behavioral problems in class.
• Strong performance in creative and physical activities but poor academic performance.
• The omission of sounds or letters when reading or writing.
• Persistent confusion with left and right.
• A tendency to guess what word comes next instead of sounding it out while reading.
• Low self-confidence or feeling “dumb.”
• Difficulty telling time or counting specific objects.
• Persistent ear infections.

If in fact your child is struggling with dyslexia, an SLP can be a great help. First and foremost, an experienced SLP can help your child understand just how common dyslexia is and that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. They have no reason to feel “dumb” – all dyslexia means is that they need a little extra help.

Next, an SLP can work with your child to find strategies that work for them to find their focus, unscramble letters, and make reading fun again – or for the first time. Reading is not only a fundamental skill; it should ideally also be a lifelong joy. The right SLP can help your child discover that joy and feel more confident in and out of the classroom.

To talk to an SLP in Chicago about speech therapy and dyslexia, give our office a call. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have, or to schedule a free consultation. 

The big presentation is tomorrow. What should you do tonight to help ensure that everything goes smoothly? Here are our five tips for preparing for a presentation the night before: 

1. PracticeIf you haven’t already – and even if you have – it never hurts to run over your presentation one more time. Give the presentation to your spouse. To your friend. To the mirror. To your cat. Whatever will help you get the key points of your presentation down, do it.  

The goal is to know the material backward and forward so that you DON’T have to memorize every last word. If you know the material, you can speak conversationally about it and answer off the cuff questions – which you should encourage your spouse or neighbor (or cat) to ask you. But if you’re instead memorizing the exact words you want to say, your presentation will come across as wooden or overly rehearsed. 

2. Eat a healthy dinnerEat foods that are familiar to your stomach and that you know won’t cause any gastrointestinal distress tomorrow. Don’t drink, save for perhaps one beer or a glass of wine with your meal. And remember to hydrate. 

3. Stop practicingEspecially as you get closer to your bedtime, put your presentation aside and let your mind relax. Watch a favorite show or play a game. You don’t want to be thinking about your presentation right before you go to bed, because then you’ll start fixating and won’t be able to sleep. 

4. Pick out your presentation outfitYou don’t want to give yourself added stress in the morning when you realize the suit you were planning to wear is still at the cleaners. Choose your clothes – right down to your socks and/or jewelry – and actually set them out so that you know everything is clean and ready to go. 

5. Get lots of rest, and set lots of alarmsTo help ensure that you can sleep soundly, set a few extra alarms for yourself in the morning. That way you won’t wake up every five minutes worrying that you’ve overslept. If possible, set them on a few different devices on the off chance that you accidentally leave one device on silent. 

6. Rock itOnce you’ve done all your preparation, the only thing left to do is to trust yourself and go into the presentation with confidence.And if confidence isn’t something that comes naturally to you, you can always try executive speech coaching. A Chicago speech coach can help you refine your presentation, bolster your speaking skills, and deliver your speech with gusto. To learn more, give our office a call today. 

If you’ve ever cheered your heart out at a sporting event or spent an evening belting out your favorite songs at karaoke, you’ve probably been hoarse the next day. “Hoarseness” is a term used to describe a voice that is raspy, breathy, strained, has irregular changes in volume or pitch, or some combination thereof. Hoarseness is a symptom that can result from a wide range of causes, some of which are short term – like yelling too loud at a concert – or long term. 

When hoarseness is a persistent problem, it can be the result of laryngitis, lesions to the vocal cords, or polyps or cysts on the vocal cords. All of those problems are more likely to arise if you’re a person who uses your voice more than the average person on a daily basis.For example, teachers, people who work at loud job sites like construction workers, and tour guides can all be susceptible to voice and vocal cord issues. Hoarseness can also affect high-energy children and children with louder than average voices. 

If hoarseness occurs regularly and goes untreated, it can make the damage to vocal cords worse, sometimes requiring surgery to correct. But with the help of voice therapy, many children and adults can reduce their hoarseness naturally. 

Voice therapy and speech therapy are related, and a trained speech language pathologist can help with both. Voice therapy involves teaching the person who is dealing with voice issues how to lessen or eliminate harmful vocal behaviors like shouting and whispering. It also involves learning exercises for properly warming up the vocal cords and using them in a way that makes it easier to be understood without resorting to harmful voice behaviors. Often, a few sessions a week for four to eight weeks can be enough time to help correct harmful behaviors and learn new vocal habits that will protect your vocal cords. 

To learn more about voice therapy or to set up a consultation with an SLP in Chicago, give our office a call. The right Chicago SLP can help you identify the root issues that might be causing your or your child’s hoarseness and can help ensure that you don’t do long-term damage to your vocal cords. 

Giving memorable speeches isn’t rocket science. There are several things you can do to help ensure that your speeches are engaging, impactful, and memorable.  

But! Knowing what will help and actually putting that advice into practice are two different things. For example, if we were to tell you to “be funnier,” that isn’t exactly helpful.  

With that in mind, here are nine of our most practical tips for giving engaging speeches AND advice on how to put our tips into practice. 

1. Give your speech structure.Take the time to plan out what you want to say, and organize the information you need to get across into a beginning, middle and end. This sounds self-explanatory, but you’d be amazed how many rambling speeches we’ve heard. You want to present your thesis, offer evidence to support it, counter any potential arguments, and finish by summarizing your main points. 

2. Keep it brief.If you want to be a memorable speaker, don’t give your audience too much to remember. Stick to the main point that you want to make, and don’t veer too far from it. Shorter is almost always better. 

3. Speak at your audience’s level.The fastest way to bore an audience is by explaining things to them they already know. Likewise, the fastest way to lose an audience is to speak over their heads. Understand who it is you’re speaking to and what information they’re coming in with, and start from there. 

4. Use humor and drama as appropriate.Again, this is an area where knowing your audience and your subject matter is key. If you have sobering statistics to share, don’t shy away from sharing them with gravitas. And if you know your audience will respond to humor, look for ways to keep things light. That might mean incorporating funny memes into your slides, turning to YouTube for a funny – but also appropriate – clip, or engaging the audience in some way. 

5. Include facts and figures.Talking in generalities won’t help anyone. Your audience wants to learn something from you, whether you’re giving a graduation speech or a sales pitch. Make sure you teach them something of substance and value. 

6. Bring a handout.Especially if your presentation is statistic-heavy, you should never expect your audience to take notes. Instead, put together a sheet with the key things they need to know. That way they’ll have something to take notes on, and even if they don’t, they’ll walk away with the pertinent information. 

7. Read the room.Interacting with the audience may not always be appropriate or needed, but you should always keep an eye on how the audience is reacting to you. Comedians sometimes do this when they tell a story that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere – they’ll interrupt themselves and say, “I can feel you pulling away from me, but this is going to pay off, I promise.” The joke always gets a laugh while also reassuring the crowd that the speaker is paying attention. 

8. End with the call to action.If you want your audience to act, give them a reason and a way to do so at the end of your presentation. 

9. Leave time for questions.Being ready, willing, and enthusiastic about taking questions will help your audience get more of what they want out of you and give you opportunities to clarify points that may have been missed or misunderstood.And if all else fails, give us a call to learn about our executive speech coaching services in Chicago. 

A foundational part of learning how to speak is learning how to form the sounds used in language. Certain sounds are easier to form and come earlier, such as the “M” and “D” sounds in “mama” and “dada” – two very common first words. Other sounds are more difficult to create, like “Z,” “S,” and “Th.” Most children struggle with a variety of speech sounds for a few years, and most are able to articulate the majority of speech sounds by age four. By age eight, most children have mastered all of the sounds of speech. 

But for some children, certain speech sound milestones take longer to achieve. When children have trouble making certain sounds and being understood when they speak past the age of four, that could indicate a speech sound disorder. 

The important thing to keep in mind is that every child develops differently. If you suspect that your child may have a speech sound disorder, the first thing to do is set a doctor’s appointment. At your child’s regular checkups, your pediatrician should monitor your child’s verbal development, but it’s important to advocate for your child if your pediatrician doesn’t inquire about your child’s speech. (This can be a particular problem if your child is shy and doesn’t speak up at the doctor’s office.) 

When pediatricians suspect speech sound disorders among children, they order a hearing test. This is because your child may not have trouble articulating herself at all but rather may have trouble hearing how particular words are supposed to sound. 

If hearing issues are ruled out, the next step is to look at other possible causes. Again, it may simply be that your child needs a little more time to develop, or she may have a strong accent (depending upon where you live). Other possible reasons for children speech sound disorders include developmental disabilities; physical abnormalities of the lips, tongue, or nose; or disorders that affect the nerves involved in speech. 

If your child has a speech sound disorder, a speech language pathologist can help. A qualified SLP can work with your child using play therapy to work on the sounds she has trouble with and practice techniques that may help her speak more clearly. 

To learn more about speech sound disorders, read over these resources from ASHA and Stanford Children’s Health, or give our office a call. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have or to set up a free consultation.