Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [5]
3. When I hear my voice on an audio tape, I don’t sound like I thought I would (instead, it sounds high-pitched, harsh, or nasally). Why do I sound like that?
4. My friends (or colleagues) say I talk too fast, or they have trouble understanding what I just said. How can I slow my speech down, or improve my pronunciation?
5. At my age, can I change my voice (lower the pitch, get rid of a regional accent, etc.)?
6. When I stand up to speak before others—even a small group—what can I do to avoid the stage fright I feel? (Once I begin talking, I’m fine, but I still get sweaty palms and so forth beforehand.)
7. How should I sit (with legs crossed or uncrossed, leaning forward or backward, etc.)?
8. What should I do with my hands (put them in my pockets, place them on the conference table or podium, or put them out of sight)?
9. When I’m giving a talk or lecture, how can I organize my thoughts so that I don’t ramble?
10. What should I do when I’m asked a question that I refuse to answer (or don’t want to comment on or don’t know the answer to)?
11. I’ve been asked to go on television or radio for the first time and I’m nervous about it. What can I expect once I get to the studio, and what should I do once I’m there?
12. I saw myself on TV, and I thought I looked terrible. Why was that? (Was it because I had on no makeup, or because I wore that certain color, or because my hair was too teased and sprayed?)
This book addresses all of these questions, and many more that you may have.
As you develop your public presence, you must learn to anticipate. When you arrive for a public appearance, it is too late for you to change your clothes, rewrite your speech, or learn how to sit under the lights and in front of the camera lens.
That’s why this book takes you step by step through such subjects as what to wear in public (including the best colors to choose), day-to-day makeup for women, TV makeup for men and women, and other aspects of your personal appearance.
You will learn how to improve your speaking voice, how to take care of your voice, the importance of proper breathing techniques, and how to work with a tape recorder.
Another chapter will take you through the process of organizing, writing, and giving an excellent speech, including how to stand at a podium, talk into a microphone, and answer questions from the audience.
You will find out how to deal with reporters and other members of the press and how to hold a press conference. You will also learn about appearing on radio, going on a book tour, and handling difficult media situations and hostile questions from the press.
Another section in this book will take you inside a TV studio, telling you what to expect, what TV lights and cameras do to your appearance, how to dress for the TV cameras, and how to sit and use effective gestures. You will learn how to be interviewed on TV and how to work with a prompter, among many other things.
As a person creating your own public presence, you should strive to be true to yourself in analyzing your own abilities and goals. You don’t have to be handsome or pretty to appear successful in the public eye or to make a worthwhile contribution to society. After all, you have special skills, knowledge, and experiences that have put you in the public’s unblinking eye in the first place. What matters at this particular point is what you do with what you have already achieved.
Look at those who have made the most notable contributions to society in any given field. They come in all shapes and sizes and ages, from different ethnic, racial, cultural, educational, and economic backgrounds, with varying degrees of natural ability. And they all have something special in them—to contribute or teach or communicate—that got them where they are ... just like you.
Lillian Brown
Washington, D.C.
ONE
YOUR PERSONAL APPEARANCE
I’ll never forget one day in the mid-1980s when that old saw “clothes make the man” came vividly alive for me.
I was escorting a U.S. senator out of a TV studio where he had just completed a taped interview