Why I don’t like men in grey suits (and neither should you)…
This week a new client starts the program ‘Find your Story’ at Sparklin’ voice. Peter is CEO and wants to upgrade his presentation and communication skills in order to give better speeches. In preparation of our first meeting, he has sent me one of his old speeches. Reading through his notes, it became immediately clear to me… This is a speech from the men in grey suits (though I assume Peter is not a member of the grey men’s club).
The grey men’s club
You probably know them too. The men of the grey men’s club all look the same and have the same profile. They are a bit older, have huge, valuable knowledge and expertise, they take their work seriously, adjust to the norm and… often wear grey suits.
When they have to speak grey colors their words and stories. Their speech is clean, formal, filled with facts and figures, includes a lot of “thank you’s” and often rates a 9/10 on the scale of boredom because of its predictability and lack of inspiration.
For the record, this says nothing about the person behind the speech. In my life I have met many of men in grey suits and often they had a warm personality, they loved to talk and had good humor. Unfortunately nothing of this personality was represented in their speech. That’s a pity!
A sparkling voice to the rescue?
To be honest, I don’t think so. No sparkling voice can ever make up this kind of presentation that lacks a story and/ or a personality since a voice cannot sparkle when it’s filled with grey… and believe me no-one is 100% grey!
So it’s good to explore what is the reason behind every grey story.
I don’t know who invented this kind of speeches (formal, neat and where you cannot be you) or why this has become thé norm in a professional contexts. Studies prover we love to listen to speeches that inspire, challenge and/or move us.
I am sure and convinced we can do better! Let’s add some color and soul to our speeches, presentation and communication.
Let me tell you a story
Since 2008 I worked as a tour guide in Antwerp. The standard guided tours were all about dates, names and styles. I worked hard to remember them, tell them and at the same time try to maintain the attention of my audience. Not that simple!
It’s in this work that I discovered how much I gave my voice away. I’ve worked so hard to try to entertain in order to be heard, using a loud voice and a strict face. After such a tour I had lost all my energy and that didn’t feel good.
At a certain point I started to tell stories about things that happened on previous tours. Since I got the groups that non of my colleagues wanted (we knew at advance they were not going to be interested), I had gained a lot of funny incidents. So when I said: “Last week this happened with a group”… everyone listened! A little bit of gossip immediately grabbed the attention of every participant, although my voice sounded more soft and silent.
In the end I started my own gossip tours and they were instantly successful!
It made me think… How can I translate this knowledge into other contexts?
My favorite tips
The three V’s (voorbeelden, verhalen en vertellingskes)
Examples, stories and fait-divers make every speech a success. It’s one of my most important advices I got in my teachers training (though the professor was fired afterwards because he had to learn us how to make a teaching plan). It works every time!
You are unique!
You are unique and have knowledge and experience that belongs to you and no-one else. Make sure you show this to your audience so they can see who you really are. Facts and figures are nice, but can always be searched for afterwards. The more you show yourself, the more magnetic you’ll become.
Dare to stand out (instead of trying to fit in).
Nobody is waiting for the next copy of the grey men’s speech. Choose a format that fully represents your personality and your style so you can stand out in what you’re good at to shine on stage.
Add a little color to grey
Tone of voice, resonance, humor are necessary ingredients to add the extra sparkle to your presentation and communication.
Sparklin’ voice can help!
Are you or do you know any grey M/V/X that could use a little help with telling the story, the speech or presentation? Find your story is a 100% custom made program to helps you finding the right tone of voice, the words and story to stand out, shine on stage and create impact and success.
You’ll learn how to speak more attractive and grab the attention of your public, colleagues or employees without having ‘to work’ for it.
Contact me for more information or let’s talk and see how I can help you.
I’m looking forward to hear from you.
Katrien
Final notes
I mentioned grey suits, but it could also be black, blue or colored ones.
I do like grey suits… Sometimes.
I talk about men, which is maybe too much stereotyped. This is never my intention. The grey men’s club just sounded nice to prove my point. If you’ve read the article you’ll know why.
This article could also just be about V and X (in grey suits).
The clients old speech wasn’t all that bad.
As I mentioned before… You are unique! That is the bottom line… Always!
