Persuasion a La Aristotle

Posted on March 13, 2010March 13, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

I just read a great series of articles by Andrew Dlugan of Six Minutes Blog fame. Andrew has reminded us that Aristotle wrote the definitive work on what it takes to be persuasive over 2300 years ago.

He defines the three aspects of persuasion, Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Then he writes an article about each of these qualities that add up to delivering a persuasive message.

Andrew’s article is called Ethos, Pathos, Logos:
3 Pillars of Public Speaking.

I am Sandra Zimmer, author of It’s Your Time to Shine and founder of Self-Expression Center. I offer group training and individual coaching that can help you transform fear of speaking and become a compelling, persuasive speaker so that you can shine when you share your ideas, insights and expertise. You can download a copy of my Grounding Exercise or an eBook version of It’s Your Time to Shine at www.self-expression.com.

We Need Different Kinds of Minds in the World

Posted on February 28, 2010February 28, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

I just watched a fantastic video at TED.com. Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autistism as a child. She says the world need all kinds of minds, including the autistic minds. Autism is a wide spectrum of symptoms and many autistic minds are brilliant. They think in pictures and patterns, paying attention to the details that the average mormal mind would ignore. Watch Temple Grandin speak at TED.

I have been interested in autism for many years. I always thought that autism was a sign of creativity and intellect. Temple Grandin proves that! She says that many brilliant minds like Tesla and Einstein are on the autistic spectrum. The problem is that autistic kids are not being developed for their interests in science. They need to be challenged and turned on to their own abilities that derive from their fixations.

Well, I say we have a lot of brilliant kinsethetic people who can’t speak in public because they feel so much! My Zimmer Method for training people to speak allows sensitive achievers to integrate their bodily-felt sensations of fear and anxiety, transforming that felt energy from fear into emotional flow.

Temple says to use the fixation of autistic minds to motivate them to create. I say use the feeling of fear and anxiety in highly senstive people to help them open up to their natural passion so it can be expressed.

I hope you’ll watch Temple Grandin speak in front of thousands of people at TED to see how someone who does not “fit” can inspire and excite others from the stage.

Outer Presence for Speaking – A Power That Others Sense

Posted on February 7, 2010February 7, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

Presence is also an external quality that others sense and to which they respond. Other people perceive your presence as a magnetic force and they are drawn to you, because presence is actually a radiation of psycho-physical energy emitted from your body. It is your life force emanating from your body, and it occurs when you have learned to concentrate and focus your energies in and around you. The strength of your presence makes you very attractive to others, and you become able to hold their attention.

Stars in every field of human endeavor possess presence. That’s what makes them stars – that intangible “something extra” that makes some people stand out as unique and compelling, able to excite and energize others. A fortunate few come by this presence naturally. However, it can be developed by the rest of us, including those of us with stage fright.

Here is the thing that may surprise you. People who have great stage fright have the potential to develop a star quality presence because they have so much passion! The more fear you have, the more feeling that is flowing through your body. When all your feeling is brought into concentrated focus and integrated with your mind, you will have enormous power of presence. You can harness all that feeling, so it is available to fuel your life and fill your communications with passion.

Grounding

Presence happens when you are so deeply relaxed into yourself and accepting of yourself that you feel free to be genuine. The secret to presence is to be fully grounded in your body so that you have a full-body sense of awareness. When you are grounded and present, you experience sensation and awareness in every part of your body, all the way down to your toes. It may sound strange, but many people live with minimal or limited awareness of their bodies. They don’t have much sensation or awareness below the neck, and they tend to stay focused only in their heads.

The phrase “being in your head” literally means your attention and energy are overly focused in the head region. Our society has tended to place much emphasis on “mind over body,” and our religious roots have even taught us that the body is something that is bad or potentially evil – something to be subdued and repressed using the power of the mind. Without getting into a long discussion of Western societal attitudes toward the body, suffice it to say we need to reclaim our entire bodies, most of which are located below the neck.

Developing the experience of presence requires you to become full-bodied. Full-bodied awareness is more than just muscle relaxation. It is awareness of the flow of psycho-physical energy in every part of your body. As you develop awareness and energy throughout your whole body, you begin to radiate an external quality of presence that others will sense. Your presence will touch people on an unspoken level, increase your power to influence and hold their attention.

Preparing for a 60 Minutes Interview

Posted on January 31, 2010January 31, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

Wow! I just read a dynamite article on how to prepare for a hard-line interview such as with 60 Minutes. It is found on The Ammerman Experience Newsletter. I know Terri Ammerman and she runs an outstanding media training program. If you are facing a really hard interview with killer media sharks, I encourage you to read this article.

The Inner Experience of Presence for Presentations & Public Speaking

Posted on January 24, 2010January 24, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

Presence is an inner state of awareness in which your attention is fully focused in this moment. You are “being here and now,” as many other spiritual teachers have instructed. Okay, so where is here and now? It simply means being in your body! That is having attention focused inside your physical body. The only place where you can be totally here and now is inside your own body. To use the words of the Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, “you have come home to your body”. When you are deeply relaxed into your physical body, you experience a heightened awareness of physicality that is focused in the here and now, in your body, at this time, and in this place. When attention is focused in the body, then all levels of awareness follow. You can feel your feelings and emotions, you can think clearly and you can sense your connection to spirit.

Being fully relaxed into your body connects your mind and emotions together. The body is the vehicle for feeling your emotions, containing your thoughts and expressing the self. When mind and emotions are brought together in the body, you feel whole, balanced and flowing. You think what you think, feel what you feel, and do what you do in the present moment with total clarity. In this blissful state of integrated awareness, you experience that wonderful, elusive sensation commonly referred to as flow.

In a state of integrated presence, your awareness is expanded to encompass the whole of your Self. Your attention is multi-dimensional, in touch with mind, body, emotions and spirit – all at the same time. You are super-aware that your spirit is fully grounded in your body. With this expanded awareness comes a sense of internal size; you feel big inside because your awareness is so expanded. The more grounded you are, the bigger and more powerful you feel. That’s not to confuse feeling big with an inflated, or egotistic, state. Quite the opposite; in this state of enlarged consciousness, you are able to be expansive and generous toward others.

The inner experience of being big is what happened to me onstage while playing Morgan Le Fey in Maui. The spontaneous occurrence of becoming present on stage caused my awareness of Self to expand and fill the auditorium. I became “full of myself” in that good way – not full of ego, but full of spirit. The paradox is that the more grounded in your body you become, the more aware of your spirit you become. Grounding gives you roots, so the wings of your spirit can soar. The results are greater freedom to express, increased confidence and self-control.

Also, because your awareness embraces your whole Self, you do not get caught up in any one aspect of yourself. You don’t become too mental or “in your head” or become overwhelmed by emotions. You are aware of thoughts and of strong emotions, but neither controls you. Both thoughts and emotions are flowing. They are integrated, so no one thought or emotion is able to split off and take over your body. You may feel fear and anxiety, but you realize that they are only emotions that are flowing within your Self. You are able to contain them, so they do not become the entire focus of your awareness. You are bigger than your thoughts or emotions. You remain detached and accepting of yourself. As a result, you have all your thoughts and feelings available to channel into your presentation, performance or communication.

Acting: What Do You Want to Become and Be-Comfortable Expressing?

Posted on January 17, 2010January 17, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

I just saw Meryl Streep accept the Golden Globe Award for best Actress in a Comedy Feature Film. She said she is very clear that she is just the vessel for other’s stories and other women’s lives. But don’t we all know that she has opened herself to be a channel to allow full expression of all human qualities. There is nothing she can’t express!

I have been designing a new class that fuses acting in movie scenes, self-discovery, color psychology and meditation to free people from inhibitions in a fun, exciting experience of acting movie scripts.

I have always known that acting was a transformational experience. In fact, I think I was drawn into acting as a teenager because I sensed it would transform my life and make me “somebody.” The training that actors receive and the skills they practice as they play roles help them transform their lives by experiencing and expressing universal human qualities represented in their scripts. The actor who plays a leader can’t help but take on the qualities of leadership. And what a thrilling way to learn to express yourself!

Many people mistakenly think that acting is faking or pretending. But you can’t call what Meryl does “pretending.” Acting is being real with what you think and feel in the moment in the playing of the script. Great acting is breathtaking truth and authenticity!

If you want to learn to be authentic, if you want to be all you can be, if you want to express yourself freely and fully, get yourself to an acting class. There is a reason we revere actors. That reason is that they are willing to be fully expressive. Full expression is attractive, compelling magnetic and powerful. In no other kind of training but performing arts do people learn the techniques that free their full self-expression.

When you practice a role you become those qualities and you be-comfortable expressing those qualities. So, ask yourself, what movies do you want to star in? What roles do you want to play? Get the script, learn the lines and practice the scenes. Become those qualities, be-comfortable being more of who you are.

Presence for Public Speaking is a State of Integration

Posted on January 12, 2010January 12, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

The opposite of stage fright is presence, the powerful state of being integrated. When you are integrated, all of your human energies, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, are working together, with no part of you split off or dis-integrated. You are connected to your whole Self*, and able to express yourself fully.

Athletes know about the integration state because they are very physical. Athletes are trained to relax deeply into their bodies and focus attention on the here and now activity of playing their game. In the process, they often stumble into the experience of presence while on the field or court. In recent years, mind/body experts from the sports world have taught about this wonderful state of flow and tried to devise ways to train athletes to create it consciously because it allows for excellent performance.

Dr. James E. Loehr, author of Mental Toughness Training for Sports: Achieving Athletic Excellence, describes the integration state as the “ideal performance state.” He has created a composite description of the inner climate of athletes when they achieve this state:

I felt physically very relaxed, but really energized and pumped up. I experienced virtually no anxiety or fear, and the whole experience was totally enjoyable. I experienced a very real sense of calmness and quiet inside, and everything just seemed to flow automatically. I really didn’t have to think about what I was supposed to do; it just seemed to happen naturally. Even though I was really hustling, it was all very effortless. I always seemed to have enough time and energy and rarely felt rushed – almost at times as if I were performing in slow motion. I felt like I could do almost anything, as if I were in complete control. I really felt confident and positive. It also seemed very easy to concentrate. I was totally tuned in to what I was doing. I was also super-aware – aware of everything but distracted by nothing. It almost seemed like I knew what was going to happen before it actually did.

Dr. Loehr’s internal climate for the ideal performance state is the same state of awareness as presence. Presence is experienced both internally by the Self, and externally by other people. It is an inner experience of being totally here, now. It is also an external quality that others sense as a palpable power.

The processes I describe in my book It’s Your Time to Shine can help you to create some of that inner climate and maintain it while you are presenting, performing or communicating.

Senator Jack Reed Speaks on Fox New Sunday

Posted on January 10, 2010January 10, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

I enjoy watching Chris Wallace’s show Sunday mornings. He usually stirs up debate on political issues by asking leading questions to guests and panelists from both political major parties.

I usually watch with partial attention while getting dressed for my Sunday meditation group. Once in a while someone on his show speaks with unusual clarity and comes through so clearly that I stop my activities and watch and listen. What captures my attention are the qualities of presence, calm simple language and clear-headed messages that don’t seem to push an agenda, but rather are focused on what is true and what is best for the whole.

Today January 10^th, I was captured by Senator Jack Reed who spoke with true authority about issues relating to Al-Qaida and protection from terrorism. I don’t wish to get into political debate myself because I feel so ill-equipped to know what to do. Rather I want to talk about Sen. Reed’s speaking style and demeanor, not what he said, but how he said it.

What impressed me was that Sen. Reed was centered, grounded, present and pleasant as he spoke, taking time to share his awareness, understanding and points. He was very relaxed in his body, in possession of his whole self. He was not emotionally intense, not pushing emotional energy at Chris Wallace. He was not agenda-pushing.

Everyone else on the show, except some of the regular panelists, was speaking with an energetic pressure, coming from an emotional intensity that created a noise that distracted me from hearing their message. I did not want to listen to them. I could not hear the other speakers because I had to deal with the overly pushy energy coming from them as they spoke. It was too much work to sort through the emotional energy they were pushing out, so I just did not listen.

Agenda-pushing is speaking with an emotional intensity to sell one’s point of view. It has a make-wrong intention to it. There is always a “my side” and “their side” of the issue. This is not persuasive. When people agenda-push, their emotional energy creates a distraction from what they are saying. Listeners will feel some kind of pressure behind their words that seeks to force people to agree.

With Sen. Jack Reed, I could hear everything he said because he wasn’t trying to convince me or pressure me to think in a certain way. He was simply sharing his understanding and his points as he thought and felt them. He was speaking the truth as he understood it. I was mesmerized by his comments. I stopped what I was doing and paid attention, because I could hear him so clearly.

What can we learn from this to help people hear what we have to say?

Stay centered and grounded when sharing important ideas. Stay in your own skin.
Take time to speak calmly, clearly and pleasantly.
Don’t use a pushing energy when speaking.
Speak from connection to your thoughts and genuine emotions.
Speak from neutral emotional intensity.
Speak by sharing your ideas rather than making others ideas wrong.

What occurs to me about all this is that speaking with inner authority is compelling. Authority is what causes others to listen. But it is not easy to express. Not so many people even at high levels of position and visibility are able to speak with true authority.

Seth Godin on the Discomfort of Leadership

Posted on January 9, 2010January 9, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

Seth Godin, author of Tribes, writes a blog on leadership at sethsblog.com. He quotes his book, “Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.”

He continues with:

“It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers.
It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail.
It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo.
It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle.”

And this.” When you identify the discomfort, you’ve found the place where a leader is needed.”

The discomfort I have worked with for 20 years is the discomfort of being the center of attention and speaking in front of groups. People who have this discomfort have it because they have a lot to say and it is scary to have that much to say! And what if they don’t say it perfectly? The magic of this particular discomfort is that when you face it, it transforms into power and energy. Discomfort is a sign that there is real energy present in the situation. Are you willing to face your discomfort about speaking, performing and sharing your talents with the world? Are you willing to lead?

Startling Introductions for Talks, Public Speaking and Communications

Posted on January 5, 2010January 5, 2010 by Sandra Zimmer

“Jump right into the middle” and “open the shoot and let the bucking bronco out of the pin” are my mottos for opening talks, speeches and communications to groups. I don’t like to hear speakers mumble phrases like “I am so honored to be here” or “Thanks for inviting me.” No one is listening to that kind of stuff, because they expect it to be said. In fact, audiences aren’t listening at all in the first minute of most talks. They are busy chatting or shuffling around to get comfortable and ready to listen. Audiences expect that the speaker will take some time to get into her subject matter. One of the reasons speakers are often so uncomfortable in the first 5 minutes of their talks is that they know they are not connecting with listeners yet.

Well, I say “Startle them!” Say something that will cause them to listen NOW! Say something that will capture their attention instantly. It is so much fun to experience a whole group focus on you instantly when you open in a way that snaps them to attention. Here are five great ways to open a talk that will compel listeners to really listen.

“Imagine…a situation.” Paint a picture of an intriguing situation that causes their minds to go there.
Ask a compelling question. “Have you ever…been so comfortable in front of a group that you felt you were at one with them?
Start in the middle of your story. “I was just about to lose my costume in front of 200 people when I first experienced the power of presence to transform my relationship with an audience.”
I’ll never be able to forget “the day I first experienced being at one with an audience.”
Impact statement opening. Say the most dramatic, surprising or shocking thing you can say about your topic. “People who have the most stage fright have the potential to be the most impacting speakers of all, because they have the feelings!”

To help you make your startling opening even more powerful, stand silently for a few seconds when you step up to the podium. Take a few seconds to presence yourself and make soft eye contact with listeners. Your silence will interest them. Your soft eye contact will magnetize them, drawing their attention to you. Then, jump in! Make the very first words out of you mouth one of these six ways to open your talk. Once you get the hang of a startling opening, you’ll delight in opening talks and you won’t have that dreaded first 5 minutes when you are waiting to get comfortable and connected.