How To Ace Your Project Work



Sections:

1. How To Improve Your Eye Contact

2. How To Tackle The Q&A Segment
3. How To Reduce Your Pause Fillers & Improve Your Language
4. How To Work Your Transitions




1.
on
Eye
Contact


By
Andrew
Zhan



Eye
contact
Tips


• Look for friendly faces and look at them when you give your speech.

• You can even set your “friendly faces” up. Make friends with a few people in the
audience before your speech and let them know that you will be looking at them during
your speech and ask them to smile back at you when you look at them. This will ensure
that you have some audience who are in support of you and you will feel better when
they smile at you as you give your speech. If you have friends in the audience, that is
even better. Set it up with them.

• Look into one person at a time. Really look in the eye. Don’t just glaze over or pretend to
be giving eye contact when you are not.

• Speak to one person at a time. The rest of the audience will think you are speaking to
them as well. Take your time as you are speaking to that one person and move on
naturally to another person.

• As a guide, look at someone in the audience on your left, then the middle, then to your
right. After which you can go back to the left again. But do not do it robotically and
predictably.

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

 • Put aside your notes and cue cards. Having eye contact and establishing
engagement/connection with your audience is far more important than remembering your
speech.

Exercises

• Gather a group of friends as your audience and your objective is to look into the eyes of
one person at one time as you are giving your speech. So it goes like this, you look in the
eyes of the person on your far left and you give your speech. You will keep looking in his
or her eyes until somebody say switch and you move on to the person before the first one,
while continuing giving your speech. This will go on until you have looked at everyone’s
eyes, each for a certain period of time.

It’s a deliberate attempt as a drill to practise having eye contact with the audience therefore it
might be a little bit awkward. But the whole point is to get comfortable with eye contact.

• Look into the eyes of the people you are having conversations with in your daily life!

• After giving your speech, ask the audience who received your eye contact. Then ask who
was engaged during your speech, you will realize its usually the ones who got your eye
contact.

The idea is not to make sure you have eye contact with EVERYONE in the audience. The
idea is to give you a sense of what are your patterns regarding eye contact with the audience
and from there you can improve.





















Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009



2.

on
Question
&
Answer

By
Sean
Loke



“Have
Question
Will
Answer”

A
Brief
Q
&
A
Workshop

Separated
into
3
Segments

(Confidence) Stage  (Control) Stage (Cheers) Stage

INTRODUCTION
What is the Purpose of Mastering Q&A?
• For
Interviews

• For
Press
Conferences

• For
Presentations

• For
the
Usual
Social
Conversations

• For
Teaching


Why it is so important to learn this skill?

• You
never
know
when
someone
will
spring
a
question
on
you,
about
you

or
on
anything
else
for
that
matter

• Answering
the
question
correctly
but
also
EFFECTIVELY
not
only
gains

RESPECT
but
builds
CREDIBILTY
and
SELF‐CONFIDENCE
in
yourself

• You
will
gain
the
RESPECT
of
others
by
satisfying
their
curiosity
or
needs


• Perceived
COMPETENCE

OPPORTUNITIES


• KNOWING
what
people
don’t
know
distinguishes
oneself


CONFIDENCE STAGE ( FINDING THE “QUESTIONS” before the Q&A)

The MOST IMPORTANT FIRST STEP IS KNOWING your CONTENT
Preparing for the Questions “Something is better than nothing”
• Ask
Friends
or
Family
Members
to
ask
you
questions
related
to
the
theme
of
your

project
“Warm
up
questions”

• Ask
your
teachers
who
have
read
your
proposals


Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

 • Do
a
mock
Q
and
A
question
with
your
group
on
the
questions
collected
(
do
a
mock

Video
if
possible
to
hone
your
expressions
and
your
confidence)

• Know
your
facts
and
figures


Predict the Questions

• Do
not
present
everything
that
is
in
your
mind
or
from
your
proposal,
hold
some
back.

Not
necessary
to
give
everything
just
because
you
know.


• Prepare
optional
hidden
slides
that
you
feel
might
answer
“questions”
perfectly

• LEAD
YOUR
AUDIENCE
TO
ASK
THE
QUESTIONS
YOU
WANT
THEM
TO
ASK!


Understand the different types of Questions

• Close
Ended
Questions‐
Elicit
Short
answers


“How old are you?”

• Open
Ended
Questions‐
Broad
and
Require
Longer
Answers


“How did you develop this idea?” “

“What is the basis of this presentation?”
• Leading
Questions‐
Phrased
so
the
respondent
answers
in
a
certain
way
(Could
be

considered
as
traps)


“When you covered that point just now, you weren’t sure were you?”
• Hypothetical
Questions‐“What
if”
type
of
questions

o 
Require
Imaginary
Answer
(Not
encouraged
and
not
to
your
advantage)

o Can
be
used
to
draw
out
and
reveal
your
guests
personality

o When
cornered
with
such
questions,
ask
the
asker
to
be
specific
for
the
benefit

of
the
audience




Know the “Questions Seekers”

5 Wolves in the House !
WHO: Who is asking the Question?
o Is
the
person
married
or
single?

o What
is
the
person
occupation

o What
is
the
history
or
background
of
the
person?


WHAT: What is being asked?

o The
content
of
the
question



WHEN: When it is being asked?

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

 o What
is
the
background
of
the
society
at
this
period
of
time?
Recession?
H1N1?


WHERE: Where it is being asked?

o Classroom
setting
“In
front
of
students”

o At
an
Symposium


o At
a
forum

o At
an
Interview


WHY: Why is it being asked?

o Why
is
such
a
question
being
asked?
Is
the
“asker”
curious
or
unsure
or

skeptical?


HOW: How is the question asked? But more importantly HOW should you answer it?
o From
all
the
information
gathered
above,
you
should
be
able
to
answer

questions
carefully
and
correctly!


“DOING
ALL
OF
THE
ABOVE
WILL
GENERATE
CONFIDENCE!”


CONTROL STAGE ( HAVING the RIGHT ANSWERS during the Q & A)

Knowing the Answers to the Questions
• Buy
time
for
responding
to
the
Question:

o 
Asking
to
Repeat
or
to
Clarify
the
question
such
as
asking
the
audience
for
a

specific
event
when
caught
with
a
hypothetical
question



• Answering
the
Questions
Effectively

o Answer
the
questions
Clear
and
Concisely
yet
giving
out
layman
examples
for

easier
interpretation
for
the
audience
when
necessary

o Reinforce
the
message
of
your
presentation
through
your
answer,
often
some

content
of
the
presentation
may
have
been
forgotten

o Don’t
be
hasty
to
answer,
THROW
YOUR
QUESTION
back
to
the
floor
for

audience
relation

o Be
confident
and
convicted
in
your
answer.
That
alone
can
help
you
even
if
you

feel
that
you
do
not
know
the
answer
very
well.



• Taking
a
Positive
Stance
in
Replying
(
Gain
Sincerity
by
showing
relation
to
you)

o Have
the
mood
to
answer
your
judges,
Facial
Expressions


Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

 o Like
for
example
why
do
you
oppose
to
putting
a
stop
light
at
the
intersection
of

the
street?
People
have
been
injured
Answer
the
question
with
“I
opposed
to
“

gives
a
negative
feeling
that
the
injuries
have
no
affect
on
you

o Instead
reply
with
“The
injuries
are
of
grave
concern
to
me”


o If
you
do
not
know
the
answer
to
a
question,
answer
it
to
the
best
of
your
ability.

Worst
case,
be
honest
and
admit
that
you
do
not
know.
Say
that
you
will
take

the
question
into
consideration
(really
mean
it)
and
move
on.

o You
might
add
that
you
will
be
glad
to
get
back
to
them
with
an
answer
at
a
later

time,
or
another
speaker
might
answer
that
question
at
a
later
time



• Satisfy
the
Question
Asker

o Give
the
judge
“credit”
for
asking
the
question
even
ifs
it’s
a
dumb
question

o DON’T
PRAISE
THE
QUESTIONS
Instead
of
saying
that’s
a
good
question,
just
say

“thanks
for
asking
that
question”
this
will
eliminate
the
impression
that
other

askers
will
get
when
their
questions
are
not
responded
with
a
“
that’s
a
good

question
too”
Make
everyone
feel
good
about
asking
questions

o Read
the
judges
FACES
“Elaborate
more
if
they
look
confused”

o Bring
the
questions
askers
or
unbelievers
to
be
on
your
side



• Maintaining
Formalities

o Rest
of
the
group
to
be
standing
with
hands
in
front
or
behind
them
and
not

sway
side
to
side
while
another
teammate
is
answering
the
question


“DOING
ALL
OF
THE
ABOVE
WILL
GENERATE
CONTROL!”

CHEERS STAGE (Enjoying the Applause after the Q & A)

• Wrap
up
with
a
good
conclusion

o Sum
up
the
questions
asked

o Lessons
learn
from
it


o And
how
it
helped
reinforce
and
clear
any
doubts
about
the
presentation!

o Smile
and
Leave
the
Stage
Professionally




“DOING
ALL
OF
THE
ABOVE
WILL
GENERATE
CHEERS!”


ConfidenceControl Cheers

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

3 - Pause Fillers
While it is acceptable to use vocalizations and fillers occasionally when pausing
(such as um, er, well, and okay) occasionally, they should not be used too often.
Likewise, filler phrases like you know and something like that should be avoided.
They don’t reinforce the message and become distracting if used repeatedly.

Tips for Nonnative Speakers

Fluency is often a concern for nonnative speakers. It helps to know that fluency is
not a question of speed (one can be fluent as a fast or as a slow speaker); rather, it
is a question of appropriate pausing and the connectedness of thought groups.
Pauses should occur only at the end of thought groups and sentences; and the
words within a thought group should be linked closely together and not separated
by hesitations or unnecessary repetitions of syllables. Make sure you rehearse
sufficiently to be able to finish each thought group and sentence without
interruptions.

Example:

Say the following tongue twister fluently (not necessarily fast). Stop only at the
end of the indicated thought groups (slash) and sentences (double slash).
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.// A peck of pickled peppers Peter
Piper picked.// If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,/ where’s the peck
of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?//

Fluency for nonnative speakers is also often a matter of following a natural

English-language rhythm. English differs from some major languages (e.g.,
Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French) in that it is a stress-timed, rather than
syllable-timed language. In English, the stressed syllables in important, content-
carrying words (e.g., full verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs) create a regular
beat and the typical rhythm of English. The time between the beats remains the
same; i.e., unstressed syllables—no matter how many—have to share the space.

Example:

Say the following sentences out loud while clapping your hands on the stressed
(underlined) syllables. The beat should be the same for each sentence.

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

 Bears came.
Lions came.
The lioness came.
The lioness arrived.
The lionesses arrived.
The lionesses have arrived.

Since English is a stress-timed language, each of the above sentences has the
same length. By contrast, in syllable-timed languages, where all syllables have
approximately the same length, the first sentence (Bears came) would be much
shorter than the last sentence (The lionesses have arrived), since the last sentence
has many more syllables than the first.

Try to create a regular, stress-timed rhythm in your speech. It will match your
audience’s aural expectations and make your speech appear more fluent.

Volume. Make sure that everybody in the audience can hear you without
straining. To project your voice effectively, it helps to direct it to the person sitting
farthest away from you. Even when you vary the volume of your voice at appropriate
times in your speech, keep in mind that everyone needs to be able to hear you.

How to overcome pause fillers

1) Recognise that you have them
In order for you to overcome pause fillers, you need to first recognise that you do use them in
your daily speech. In a typical toastmasters meeting, there will be a person taking up the role of
an "ah-counter". The "ah-counter" is someone who will count your pause fillers so that you are
made aware of how many you make in the course of the meeting. I recall during my very first
few toastmasters meeting, I made easily 20-30 pause fillers during the course of doing a 4 to 6 or
5 to 7 minute speech.
It was only later when I became aware of the number of pause fillers in my speech.
2) Getting comfortable with pauses
The way to reduce your pause fillers is to be comfortable with short pauses in your speech. If
you listen to speeches of important men and women, you will realise that many of them speak
with gravity and with deliberate pace, pausing before major utterances to lend credibility to their
spoken words. If you want to be like them, get comfortable with the natural pauses in your own
speech.
3) Be well prepared
One of the other ways to overcome pause fillers is to be well prepared. When you are well
prepared you will be confident enough with your material to field questions, deliver your speech
and convince the audience of your message.

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

Let's overcome pause fillers by recognising it, getting comfortable with pauses and to be always
well prepared for speaking opportunities.
Speak well and to live well.

Tips in reducing your pause fillers:

1. During your practice speeches, have a rubber band on your wrist. Pull the rubber band when
you speak through and pick up a pause filler. This would trigger your mind to remember to avoid
speaking on it.
2. Develop self-conscious in knowing the numbers and type of pause filler you have. “Once
bitter, twice shy” – as long as you know where and what made you got it, you can reduce and
eliminate it.
3. In table topic, control your nervousness and don’t display it. Rely on something familiar which
you can relate to.
4. Review your counts at every meeting (if you visit clubs on regular basis)
5. Always ensure that you notice that your pause fillers are decreasing gradually.
6. If your pause fillers keep increasing, make an effort to reduce it further. I believe that
something has caused you to increase proportionally.
7. Your pause fillers are waste words. For every erm, you waste 3 seconds in your speech. Time
is very precious in your speeches.
8. Don’t fumble and look at your notes! You will create opportunities to have pause fillers.
9. Know how to take advantage of having long pauses during your speech to create an element of
suspense & surprise. “Silence speakers louder than words”

Some Tips for Learning How to Speak English

Irregardless of the language that you are trying to learn, connecting the way words sound with
how they look on paper is a difficult task. Because the pronunciation rules for English are not
consistent, you may often come to points where you will have a difficult time determining how
to say things correctly.
It is also important to realize that the English has accents and dialects like any other language. As
a result, you may feel confused when you are told to pronounce a word in a certain way, only to
hear it spoken in a different way by someone else. Nevertheless, there are still a number of
methods that you can use to develop your English speaking skills.
Using a Tape Recorder
In many cases, when you are concentrating on how to form sounds, you may not be aware of
how they actually turn out. A tape recorder is very useful for helping you learn the results of
your efforts. As you listen, you will be able to hear the difference in what you intended to sound
out, and what actually occurred. You can also compare these results to tapes of native English
speakers and work on specific sound groups that are difficult to manage. A tape recorder will
also help you learn how to control the pace of your speech, as well as your breathing pattern.
Listen and Repeat Numerous Dialects and Accents

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

Once you have mastered the basic sounds, it may be helpful to listen to these words spoken by
people with different accents. As an example, you might want to try and imitate everything from
Texan accents to Irish ones. In the process, you may find that some letter pronunciations fit
better with your own natural speech patterns.
As you listen and repeat from tapes, it is very important to experiment and find out what will
make you speech clear and understandable. You can also find numerous samples of spoken
English on the internet. If you visit sites like You Tube, it is possible to download videos on just
about any subject. Some video producers may even have content available that shows you the
proper lip and tongue positions to form specific sounds. You can also select materials that match
a hobby or other personal interest, and gain the benefit of hearing a native English speaker at the
same time.
Voice Chat
At some point, you will want to gain steady practice in conversational English. If your computer
is equipped with a sound card and microphone, you may be able to find internet chat rooms that
also support voice chat. That said, you may not find this of much help if your internet connection
is too slow.
Unfortunately, learning to verbalize in English will be very difficult if you do not actually speak
out loud. If you cannot find someone to practice with, you can still use a tape recorder, or
practice with videos. On the other hand, if your computer has the necessary hardware, you may
find that you have unlimited opportunities to carry on conversations with native English speakers
from all over the world.

10 tips to improve the way you speak English

September 02, 2005
Part I: Want to 'neutralise' your accent?
Many deserving candidates lose out on job opportunities because of their vernacular accent.
Can I 'neutralise' my accent?
Yes, you can. All you need to do is train yourself to speak English as comfortably and perfectly
as you speak your mother tongue.

How do you train yourself? By inculcating certain practices in your daily lifestyle. These will get
you closer to sounding like a native English speaker and equip you with a global accent -- and
you will speak not American or British English, but correct English.
This is the first step to learn any other accent, be it American or British or Australian.
Lisa Mojsin, head trainer, director and founder of the Accurate English Training Company in
Los Angeles, offers these tips to help 'neutralise' your accent or rather do away with the local
twang, as you speak.
i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak English well and try to imitate them.
When you are watching television, observe the mouth movements of the speakers. Repeat what
they are saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of their speech.
ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of English, slow your speech down

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a
hard time understanding you.
Don't worry about your listener getting impatient with your slow speech -- it is more important
that everything you say be understood.
iii. Listen to the 'music' of English.
Do not use the 'music' of your native language when you speak English. Each language has its
own way of 'singing'.
iv. Use the dictionary.
Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols of your dictionary. Look up the correct
pronunciation of words that are hard for you to say.
v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find difficult to pronounce and ask someone
who speaks the language well to pronounce them for you.
Record these words, listen to them and practice saying them. Listen and read at the same time.
vi. Buy books on tape.
Record yourself reading some sections of the book. Compare the sound of your English with that
of the person reading the book on the tape.
vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.
Pay special attention to 'S' and 'ED' endings. This will help you strengthen the mouth muscles
that you use when you speak English.
viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every day.

Research has shown it takes about three months of daily practice to develop strong mouth
muscles for speaking a new language.
ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.
Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and avoid listening to themselves speak.
However, this is a very important exercise because doing it will help you become conscious of
the mistakes you are making.
x. Be patient.
You can change the way you speak but it won't happen overnight. People often expect instant
results and give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if you are willing to put some
effort into it.
Quick tips
Various versions of the English language exist. Begin by identifying the category you fall into
and start by improving the clarity of your speech.
~ Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and the 'Indianisms' that creep into your
English conversations.
~ Watch the English news on television channels like Star World, CNN, BBC and English
movies on Star Movies and HBO.
~ Listen to and sing English songs. We'd recommend Westlife, Robbie Williams [Images], Abba,
Skeeter Davis and Connie Francis among others.
Books to help you improve your English

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

 * Essential English Grammar by Murphy (Cambridge)
* Spoken English by R K Bansal and J B Harrison
* Pronounce It Perfectly In English (book and three audio cassettes) by Jean Yates, Barrons
Educational Series
* English Pronunciation For International Students by Paulette Wainless Dale, Lillian Poms

Want to 'neutralise' your accent?

September 01, 2005
How would you describe the term communication?
Is it merely the 'act' of sending or receiving a message, or is it the 'process' of sending a message?
Actually, it is both the act of sending and receiving a message as well as the process of doing it.
The process of communication also involves getting the desired response.

Heard of accent neutralisation?

Call centre~ He has got a strong Malayalam accent.
~ She is Bengali but speaks with an impeccable English accent.
~ He speaks with a broad/ heavy/ strong/ thick Bihari accent.
~ I thought I could detect a slight south Indian accent.
~ He spoke in heavily accented English.
What exactly do we mean by the above statements? An accent is the peculiar style and rhythm of
speaking a particular language; we also call it 'speech music'.
Factors like mother tongue, socio-economic background and medium of education influence
one's accent.
Which brings us to accent neutralisation. It means removing all traces of the mother tongue
rhythm and adopting the native rhythm of the language you are trying to learn -- English in this
case.
With the onset of BPO and international job opportunities in the Indian market, there is a
demand for candidates who can speak English without their local accent creeping in.
Your English, influenced by your Hindi?
Many speakers do not realise they are incorporating English words in Hindi sentences or Hindi
words in English sentences.
Take for example:
* "Pitaji, time kya hua hai (Father, what is the time right now)?"
* "I have hazaar things on my mind right now (I have thousands of things on my mind right
now)."
Today, 'Indian English' is widespread and well-known for its many eccentricities. For this
reason, its 'grammar' must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Indian accents vary greatly from those who lean towards a purist British language to those who
lean more towards speech that is tinted with the 'vernacular' (Indian language).
~ The most common instance of modified sounds is the changing of the sounds of English letters
like 'D', 'T' and 'R'.

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

~ South Indians tend to curl the tongue more for the 'L' and 'N' sounds.
~ Bengalis (from both India and Bangladesh) and Biharis often substitute 'J' for 'Z' (as in 'jero'
instead of 'zero').
~ People, especially from the Sindh (this pertains to both Indians and Pakistanis) have the habit
of changing the 'W' sound to 'V' (as in 'ven' instead of 'when'). The rule to follow to overcome
this habit is to 'kiss' your 'Ws' and bite your 'Vs'.
What we are striving for is the ability to communicate effectively, especially in the English
language, which has the reputation of being one of the most complex languages to learn. I
reiterate -- not difficult, but complex.
The intricacies of English
First, let's understand some of the intricacies of the English language through these two verses
from a very popular poem titled Poem Of English (author unknown).
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover.
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice.
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel and canal,

Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four,
Gas, alas and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

What's special about this verse? Words spelt differently have similar pronunciations.
For example, turpentine is pronounced as tur + pen + tien, where as marine, which also ends with
'ine' is pronounced as mar + een. Words spelt similarly have different pronunciations, not to
mention the ones that sound nowhere near to the way they are written.
For example, you have psalm (pronounced as Saam) and ache (pronounced as ake as in bake).
Once you are aware of these intricacies, you will find that your pronunciation improves
dramatically.

Copyrights © Take The Stage 2009

4. on Transitions
By Melvin Joseph

A) Conventional Ways of transition…

1) …With that, I shall now pass on the mike to my next speaker who will be touching on …
2) …With that, I shall now pass on the mike to my next speaker who will be touching on…
3) …With that, I shall now pass on the mike to my next speaker who will be touching on…
4) …You GUESS!!!

One of the many reasons why speakers lapse into this repetitive sequence is because of the sure-
win tactic which is fundamentally short and sweet. However, in resorting to this conventional
sequence of transition, one impedes the variety of creativity one could muster.

B) Strategies/Methods...

1) Question and Answer (Role Play)

What this strategy does is a strong flavor of animation added to the presentation. For example,
after the first speaker has delivered the point across, in lieu of saying “with that, I shall now pass
on…” one could add in a tinge of dramatic flair such as “…speaking of St. Andrews Cathedral in
City Hall, I am still thinking of ways to value-add the site to raise tourist awareness. I wonder if
someone could help me…” Immediately after this sentence, the next person takes the cue for
his/her presentation. You get the point.

2) Prose/Poetry/Quotes with link to the topic/section you are about to speak – Rhetoric

This strategy requires a question asked rhetorically to invite the next speaker or a short poetry
with regards to the next topic one has to speak.

Rhetoric
Assuming the next speaker to be speaking on The importance of conserving St. Andrew
Cathedral.

“To keep or not to keep, that is the question!” – Derived from Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be
that is the question!”

Could you think of more???

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