S

I am

Communication
Skills
 Content Development
STEP from THE HINDU GROUP

Led By
Vijayapadma Srinivas
Thara Mohan
Zainab Ummer Farook

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Communication
Skills

This book belongs to

 Table of Contents

15 Public Speaking

Active Listening 80

97 Technology

Writing 114

145 Charisma

Suggested Reading 157

 INTRODUCTION TO
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Dear Nainika,
With reference to your email on the design template for your
brochure, I’d like to know if your team has come to a
consensus on the colour palette. It would help us immensely if
we could get a final decision on the same by the end of this
week. As you are aware, we are supposed to be ready with a
preliminary mock-up on Tuesday.
Regards,
Maryam.

Ma: So, what’s the big news you’ve been keeping under
wraps, sweetheart?
Dad: Yes, tell us. This suspense is killing me!
Me:
Well… remember the performance review I had last week?
Ma: Yes. I thought it went well
Me:
It did. More than well, it turns out. I was offered a promotion
today!
This position has more perks… I can fly down to see you
two more often now!
 Dad: That’s fantastic news, darling! We’re so proud of you!
Ma: This is AMAZING. Congrats, love!!!

Respected teachers and my dear friends,

Imagine if you had a fever that just wouldn’t go away. What
would you do? You’d consult a doctor and take medicines that
have been prescribed to you. And yet, why do we not extend
the same concern to ourselves when our mental equilibrium
doesn’t hold? In light of events that have occurred over the
winter break, I would like to speak about the necessity of
taking mental health seriously…

Ma –
Will be late to come from doctor_hoot99
football practice. I’ll get
vegetables for tomorrow’s #Throwback to a gorgeous
lunch on my way back. Get vacation in Manali,
some rest. See you soon. enveloped in mountains
Love you! and love!

Anandi.

At any point in time, several acts of communication take place

in this world. A designer drafts an email to a client, asking for
clarification on their requirements. A woman sends a WhatsApp
message to her parents on their family WhatsApp group,
sharing the news of her job promotion. The student
representative of a school prepares a speech to be delivered
at the morning assembly. Notes on the fridge, a
caption on Instagram, a recipe in a blog – we are privy to
communication in different forms, crafted to meet different
purposes, across all walks of life.

And yet, markedly different as all instances of communication

are, they also have something very foundational in common.
Can you guess what that might be?

Is it the language? Well, the examples given above are in

English, but surely, you’d agree that communication happens in
all languages.

Is it the use of technology? Newer forms of technology like

social media have changed the face of communication – that is
an undeniable fact. However, communication precedes modern
forms of technology. We’ve been communicating with each
other from the dawn of civilization.

Do these instances of communication have any single field in

common? No. Education, business, leisure, healthcare – every
known field of human activity functions through communication.
It’s not limited to any particular aspect of our lives.

So, what does all communication have in common?

The simple answer is that it gets a message across. All

communication is done with the intent to convey a message.
While the message itself can vary according to context, a
specific piece of communication will have some sort of a
message. Its primary aim is to convey that message to whoever
needs to receive it.

For a message to be conveyed accurately, it has to be

composed with a degree of clarity. What do you want to say?
How do you want to say it? Who are you saying it to? Just as
the content and the manner of your delivery is important,
so is the audience who will be listening to or reading you. You
might have to tailor the contents of your communication and
its style of delivery to the requirements of your audience.

However, as hinted earlier, communication is not bound by

language or purpose or audience. It doesn’t matter if your
language of choice is English, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi,
Spanish, Arabic or Mandarin, the essential aspects of
communication remain quite the same. Regardless of whether
you want to persuade a group of people to do something or
you just want to have a meaningful conversation with
someone who matters to you, if you get the fundamentals
right, your communication will be successful. It doesn’t matter
if your audience is just one person or a hall of thousands, if
you master the basics, your message will get through to them.

Communication isn’t a tough nut to crack, as it is often

mistaken to be. We are all born with the capacity for it. We
can all be great orators and writers if we put in the work to
understand how communication works. A comprehensive
understanding of the many facets of communication – why we
do it, how we do it, how we can do it better – is what we wish
to impart through this booklet. We hope you’ll enjoy this fun
journey into the world of communication and discover quite a
few useful tips and tricks along the way!
 WHY DO WE COMMUNICATE?

“Language is the foundation of civilization; it is the glue that

holds people together, and it is the first weapon drawn in
conflict.”
~ Ian Donnelly, Arrival (2016), directed by Denis Villeneuve

It is often said that language is what separates the human from

the animal. Animals have their systems of signalling and
communication, but language is the domain of humans. It is
what makes us different from other intelligent life-forms on this
planet. Communication through language has enabled the
formation of entire societies and civilisations. It underpins our
life as we know it, and yet we take it for granted in everyday
life. Be it drafting complex reports or writing a reminder on
Post-It note, be it delivering a public speech to an audience of
thousands or having a casual chat with a loved one, we have
so many different ways of communicating. But have we ever
given a second thought to why we communicate at all?

REASONS FOR HUMAN COMMUNICATION

What are the myriad reasons that make communication a

central feature of human life? Let us consider a few key drivers
of communication.

We communicate to receive and give information

Sania’s parents are at a store which sells arts and crafts

supplies. They want to get their daughter, a talented painter, a
nice birthday gift. The store is huge; Sania’s parents are very
confused. They thought it would be an easy purchase –
just a few notebooks and a set of paint tubes, after all – but
now they have no clue what to do. They approach a
salesperson for help. When the parents tell him that Sania
uses watercolours, he tells them that the notebook that they
have picked has thin paper. Water will soak through thin paper
easily, making it difficult for watercolour painters to use.
The salesperson gets them the right kind of notebook.
While helping Sania’s parents put together a gift box for her,
the salesperson also finds out that she has an art profile on
Instagram. He tells them that they have square notebooks
which makes it easier for artists to scan and post their art on
Instagram. Sania’s parents happily add a beautiful square
notebook to the gift box.

If Sania’s parents hadn’t asked for help, they would have never
received the information that thin paper is useless for artists
who use watercolours. Their gift to Sania would have been
disappointing. The storekeeper, meanwhile, gave her parents
the information about square notebooks because he learnt that
Sania loved to post her artwork on Instagram. This allowed the
store to make an additional sale and satisfy her parents.

That’s the importance of information. Announcements,

clarifications, questions, comments – no matter what form it is
in, information allows us to understand the situation we are in.
Having the right information allows each one of us to make
better, more informed choices. Just like money, information is
also currency – and communication is how we exchange it.
Communication can persuade or influence people

Varun is planning a movie night at home with his family. His

parents think they should make snacks in the evening, to make
the movie night more enjoyable. His mother already
has a list of snacks ready. They don’t have enough of some
ingredients, but his dad will get them from the nearby
supermarket.

However, Varun and his sister, Vanya, think that they should
order in snacks and dinner. Their parents disagree. Making
food at home is cheaper, they say. They also add that fast food
is less delicious and not as nutritious as home-cooked food.
Varun says that he has a coupon which gives a 40% discount
on whatever they order, so cost is not going to be an issue.
Vanya pipes up, “Ma, Papa, movie night is supposed to be
family time. It’s for relaxing, not doing more work. Ma could
use a break from the kitchen. Papa, you won’t have to go to
the store. Let’s all sit back and chill today!” Varun agreed with
her, and so did their parents.

Our lives – personal and professional – are filled with

disagreements. No two humans are alike. As such, we will
have different thoughts, opinions, and points of view. Often,
we want to convince other people that what we think is right.
Or we will have to find a middle ground with them in order to
work together. But changing other people’s minds, or even our
own, is not an easy task. Thoughtful communication can help
us persuade or influence people effectively.

To spur people into action, communicate!

There are times when people around us need encouragement

or inspiration. It could be a friend who’s nervous about their
Annual Day performance. It could be a colleague who’s stuck
in the middle of making a presentation. It could be the sports
team you play for, looking for hope and guidance ahead of a
crucial match. It could be a beloved grandparent, frustrated
with their new phone. It could even be yourself, the night
before a difficult examination. At one point or the other, all of
us have hesitated in the face of a challenge. We have felt
paralysed in these situations, and we had to be urged into
taking some action.

In Return of the King, the final movie in the Lord of the Rings
trilogy, right before a seemingly unwinnable battle against the
forces of evil, this is what the hero Aragorn says to the people
who are following his lead:

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of
me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we
forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is
not this day. This day we fight!

A powerful, inspiring piece of communication, right? Even the

most scared solider would charge into battle, their spirits lifted
by this rousing speech. Be it an address to a whole nation or a
pep talk for one person, the right words can move even hearts
of stone and spur them into action.

Communication is essential to convey emotions

The 2015 Pixar movie Inside Out follows the life of happy,
bubbly eleven-year-old named Riley, after her family moves
from a small town in Minnesota to the city of San Francisco.
Riley struggles to adjust to her new life, isolating herself and
lashing out at her confused parents. It is only towards the end
of the movie that Riley understands that she’s feeling sad.
She says to her parents:
I know you don’t want me to, but I miss home. I miss
Minnesota. I want my old friends and my hockey team. I want
to go home.

It is when Riley puts her sadness in words that her parents

finally understand what’s going on with their usually cheerful
daughter. This moment of communication allows Riley to
accept the changes in her life, and she begins to settle into her
new life – bonding with her family, making new friends at
school, trying out for the hockey team.

Our wide range of emotions is another unique human trait. We

feel upset, angry, or disappointed (or all three simultaneously!)
when things don’t go the way we expect them to. We feel hurt
and furious when we are treated rudely. We feel scared or
anxious in unfamiliar places and situations. We feel incredible
joy when we do well in a test or get a lovely gift or simply hang
out with friends.

It is human to want to share these feelings with other people,

if only to know that we are not alone in feeling a certain way.
And sometimes, certain emotions change our behaviour – as
sadness did for Riley – and these changes in behaviour can
leave people around us confused. This could lead to
misunderstandings and arguments. This makes it all the
more necessary that we communicate what we are feeling.
Conveying our emotions is an important aspect of
communication.

WHY IS COMMUNICATION IMPORTANT AS A

21ST CENTURY SKILL?
At the most basic level, communication skills are the ability to
receive and convey messages effectively. They can be broken
down into the core skills of listening, reading, speaking and
writing. The receptive skills are listening and reading – where
we receive and understand language. Productive skills are
speaking and writing because learners doing these need to
produce language. Effective language development involves
development of both productive and receptive skills.

But why and how is communication especially important in

the 21st century? To understand that, let’s look at how human
life has changed in the last two decades.

21st Century: A Whole New World

The 21st century has been one marked by mind-blowing
changes happening at an incredible speed. Travel and
communication have become quicker, cheaper and more easily
available because of new technologies. This, in turn, has
affected every other aspect of our lives – education,
healthcare, business, entertainment, agriculture, tourism.

This is the century of the information revolution, brought about

by computers, internet, and smartphones. At the beginning of
this millennium, we could only use mobile phones to make
calls, send SMS-es and play extremely basic games. Now can
we even imagine a life without our smartphones, connected to
the internet 24*7, bringing the world to our tiny palms, one cat
video at a time?

Technology has sped up communication like never before.

Communication is instantaneous, and information is at our
fingertips. We now have access to vast quantities of
information, anytime, anywhere. Anything we want to know is
one Google search away. Wanting to explore the art and
culture of far-flung places isn’t that difficult or time-consuming
anymore. Social media has opened up new avenues to
network and connect with people, to make friends, to run
businesses. And we can pick up new interests and hone our
talents from the comfort of our room, all thanks to various
online learning and skill development platforms. Just as it has
become easier to explore the world, the world has become a
part of our homes.

Naturally, such dramatic transformations in society come with

newer opportunities and unique challenges.
What are 21st Century Skills?

To thrive in the rapidly changing world of the 21st century, we

have to think on our feet, adapt and evolve. The people of this
generation have to be equipped and comfortable with skills
such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, information
literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, active learning,
flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity and social skills,
just to name a few.

One can argue that these skills are not entirely specific to the
21st century – critical thinking, creativity, collaboration etc. have
been a hallmark of human life in the previous centuries as well.
But imagine a child in the 19th century. Their world of
experience would have not extended much beyond their town,
village, or city. Their learning would have been limited to an
educational institution; taking the initiative to learn beyond that,
by themselves, would have been affected by lack of resources.
Even if they did have access to expensive books, finding what
they needed would have been a struggle.

In contrast, for a child of the 21st century, the entire world is

their classroom and playground. They have to deal with a vast
amount of information that’s all too easily available. Over the
course of their lifetime, the child will interact with a greater
number of people than a 19th century kid ever would. These
people are likely to be from various parts of their country and
the world, which means that the 21st century child is in contact
with different cultures and societies – something the average
19th century child would not have had to do. So, even skills of
the preceding centuries, like collaboration and social skills,
have changed in degree and scale.
Then there’s the matter of those skills which are specifically
relevant to the 21st century. Here are some interesting ones!
Media Literacy: Whether it’s through social media, blogs,
advertising or the daily newspaper, all aspects of media
cumulatively affect our perception of the world and what is
happening in it. With such a huge impact on our daily lives,
it is vital that children have the ability to navigate, verify and
trust information.

Information Literacy: Information literacy is the hyper ability

to know when there is a need for information, to be able to
identify, locate, evaluate and effectively use that information
(both text and data) for the issue or problem at hand.

Technology Literacy: International Technology Education

Association (ITEA) defines ‘technology literacy’ as one's
ability to use, manage, evaluate, and understand technology.
This also includes the impact it has on our lives.

Communicating in the 21st Century

So many skills needed for us to flourish in the 21st century!
Yet they all have one common factor: communication. Old or
new, all skills are acquired and demonstrated through our
ability to communicate. No matter how well we think we’ve
learned something, if we can’t communicate that knowledge
well, all of it will have been for nothing.

The complexities of modern life further emphasise the

importance of excellent communication skills. Yes,
communication has always been a part of human life.
However, due to the challenges of the 21st century, it has
also changed in nature.
Firstly, communication happens at lightning speeds now.
Earlier, with regular letters, we could take the time to absorb
the contents and respond at our own pace. With the advent of
e-mails and text messages, immediate responses are
expected. That means that we have to process a lot of
information in a smaller period of time and respond
accordingly, without getting overwhelmed. Therefore, our
communication skills also have to be quicker and sharper.

Secondly, as pointed out earlier, we are in constant touch

with people who come from countries and cultures that are
very different from ours. This gives us a fabulous opportunity
to learn new things, but it can also lead to many
misunderstandings. Even the smallest mistake can cause a
lot of hurt. Communication that happens in a cross-cultural
setting has to be clear, precise and sensitive. It should leave
no room for any sort of misinterpretation. People capable
of this sort of effective communication will be held in the
highest regard.

Thirdly, social media has massively changed how we

communicate. New words and abbreviations have entered
into popular usage. Emojis have become an unavoidable part
of our online language. While these new features do make
communication faster and livelier, they are not suitable all the
time, in every situation. We have to be mindful about how we
communicate in different spaces – for example, using emojis
in formal emails is largely frowned upon. If you use official
language in your personal chats, you will be laughed at.

This might make it seem like our personal and professional

lives are completely separate, but that is not always true in
these times. Again, social media has a major role to play
here. In the 21st century, we live a significant part of our lives
online. Our teachers, bosses and colleagues are also our
friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram. What we
communicate on our social media profiles, and how we say it,
reflects on our character. In other words, the contents and
manner of our communication reveals who we are as people –
and on social media, our lives are always on display, always
up for judgement. If a person keeps sharing rude and hateful
memes, they could be reported at work. If a student uses
abusive language against other students and bullies them
using their personal social media account, they might get in
trouble with school authorities. Whether it is offline or online,
no matter what the platform, it is important to be and
communicate the best version of ourselves.

In a nutshell, life has changed so drastically in the 21st century

that communication has also changed along with it. Newer,
faster gadgets and gizmos keep shrinking our world, affecting
everything we do, warping our sense of time, constantly
reshaping our language. And we humans, creative and
resilient, have learnt to keep up with the times. Undoubtedly,
learning how to communicate according to the needs of these
strange new times has become the most important skill
needed in the 21st century.
 CHAPTER 1
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Long years ago... we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time
comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full
measure, but very substantially.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will
awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes, but
rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an
age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds
utterance.

- Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, “Tryst with Destiny.” Speech delivered on

August 14th, 1947.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit
down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of
oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character. I have a dream today.

- Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream.” Speech delivered on

August 28th, 1963.

15
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States
have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious
apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the
end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the
air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall
fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall
fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall
never surrender…

- Winston Churchill, “We Shall Fight on the Beaches.” Speech

delivered on June 4th, 1940.

Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the
politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country
decides something wrong is something right. This nation was
founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we
stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the
consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell
you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river
of truth, and tell the whole world – “no, you move.”

- Captain America, delivered in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #537

(Released January 3rd, 2007)

Three historical speeches and a fictional one, all equally

unforgettable. The first, delivered by the pioneering statesman,
Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of India’s independence, a historical
turning point that demanded a vision, a blueprint for a newly-formed
nation. The second, American civil rights activist, Martin Luther King
Jr. sharing his dream of a country where

16
 people of all colours would be deemed equal. His call for an end to
racism in the United States, delivered to a crowd of more than
2,50,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington
D.C., was a defining moment of the civil rights movement. The then
British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, delivered the third speech
during a session of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, at a
key point in the Second World War. Lastly, an iconic event from the
Marvel comics – Captain America urging Peter Parker/Spider-Man to
stand true to his convictions using the image of a tree to indicate
steadfastness.

It's been decades since these speeches were given, and yet they
continue to echo in our collective memories. Quote a line from them
and people will instantly recognise where it’s from – that’s how
outstanding they are. So, what is it that etches these speeches so
deeply into our memories? What makes them remarkable?

Is it the flair of language? That the speeches use images and symbols
that are powerful and memorable? That they use references that their
audiences will understand and relate with? That they use repetition of
phrases to create a rush of feeling, to inspire people, to drive home
their point further? Or is it just the strength of their conviction, the
sheer self-belief these speakers had when they shared their thoughts,
ideals, and dreams?

Is it their body language? Is it how they carry themselves with

confidence? The way their facial expressions vary in intensity
throughout their speech, reflecting a particular moment’s emotional
weight? Is it how their gestures emphasise their point?

17
Or it could even be how they control their voice – modulating it
according to what is being said, lowering and raising it according to
the emotion as well as the importance of what they’re saying.

Further still, is it how they engage with the audience? After all, if your
audience aren’t fully invested in your speech, it can’t quite claim to
have been successful. You could plan to say the most profound
things, but if these things don’t connect with the audience, did your
content make an impact at all? So, what should a good public
speaker do to keep the audience engaged? Deploy humour, improve
their sense of timing or make eye contact? What about having a few
ice-breaker activities and Q&A sessions to reach out to the people?

In public speaking, as in most forms of communication, how you say

things matter just as much as what you’re saying. Fret not, the
non-verbal aspect of it can be learned and honed just as much as
your abilities with language. In this chapter, we shall discuss all these
factors mentioned above, and more! In an age where public speaking
often takes place with the aid of technology like PowerPoint
presentations and other audio-visual tools, this chapter will also
touch upon how to put together slides in a way that’s informative and
doesn’t distract the audience from the speaker/presenter. Keeping
yourself, the speaker, as the focus when there are visual aids is a
tricky, delicate operation – care should be taken so that you don’t
merely reproduce what is there on the slides. This chapter will let you
in on the secrets of how to pull this off like a pro!

Come, join us on what promises to be a fun voyage through the dos

and don’ts of public speaking!

18
 AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Imagine that you are standing in front of an audience, speaking on a
topic. You see in front of you people fiddling with their mobile phones,
talking to peers sitting near them in hushed tones, or in the worst
possible case, yawning. What do you think this indicates? Perhaps,
your manner of delivering the speech has not been successful in
engaging your audience.

Without engagement, an intentional attentiveness from the audience’s

side, effective communication is not possible. The only way to engage
an audience is to simply give them a reason to listen to you. These
‘reasons’ may include the manner in which you speak as well as the
matter that comprises the speech. This may sound simple; however,
this can prove very difficult for most speakers. Let’s look at a few
aspects of effective audience engagement and how you can
develop them.

EYE CONTACT
A team of researchers from Cornell University, USA, conducted an
interesting study on the characters displayed on cereal boxes and
their effect on child shoppers. While walking along supermarket cereal
aisles, children seemed to be more attracted to cereal boxes with
characters that made eye contact with them. It was found that,
invariably, a child was bound to pick up a box featuring a bunny or
any other character that looked directly at them. In the journal,
Environment and Behaviour (SAGE Publications), the researchers
reported that “Eye contact with cereal spokes-characters increased
feelings of trust and connection to the brand”.

19
WHY EYE CONTACT?

What is made clear from the research quoted above? The

importance of eye contact. If an inanimate object can create such a
superior level of influence with just eye contact, imagine the influence
that a human being with the power of speech and eye contact can
have. Let’s look at how eye contact can help you in public speaking.

Maintaining eye contact with your audience helps you focus

Sometimes during a speech, when you let your eyes wander, they
may latch on to random objects that may distract you and make you
lose your line of thought. However, if you maintain eye contact with
the members in your audience, you feel accountable for the words
coming out of your mouth. This may be a tricky feat for many;
however, we shall discuss some pointers on how to maintain eye
contact later.

It makes you look confident

While teaching, if your teacher was to constantly refer to notes or the

blackboard, would the class be effective? Unlikely. Firstly, the class
may soon become unruly and consequently, the teacher may lose his
or her credibility in front of the class. Similarly, if you do not make
eye contact with your audience, you are perceived as an uncertain
speaker. On the other hand, when you maintain eye contact while
speaking, you communicate conviction in your own words.

Eye contact is a two-way street

If you are not looking your audience in the eye, it’s highly likely that
they are not looking at you either. If they are not looking at you, they
are certainly not listening to you.

20
 When their eyes wander, their thoughts wander as well. Sustained eye
contact will ensure that the audience, in return, maintains eye contact
as well as pays careful attention to the ideas conveyed by you.

It encourages reactions from the audience

When your listeners see you scanning the audience, they feel
motivated to react and express their agreement, disagreement,
even curiosity towards your ideas. They may also feel liable to
somehow acknowledge you- by nodding or other non-verbal cues
such as raising of eyebrows or verbal cues such as raising questions.
Through eye contact, you can convert passive inattentive listeners to
active listeners who may even be interested in providing you with
valuable input.

It helps you gauge audience response and react accordingly

If you have sustained eye contact with your audience, you can
understand from their facial expressions what they feel about the
ideas you express. Thus, you can respond accordingly. For example,
if you see a member of the audience raise an eyebrow to express their
disbelief at something you said, you could address that by saying
“Yes, it may sound unbelievable, however I have numbers that prove
this”, or something to that effect.

HOW TO MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Follow the three second rule

Try to maintain eye contact with a member of the audience for at

21
least 3 seconds. Anything less than this is too short a duration and
may be perceived as dubious. Anything more than 3 seconds may
seem like you are singling out the member of the audience, and that
is not appropriate.

Divide the audience into sections

When you have a large audience in front of you, it would be wise to

divide the room into sections. Then, you can address these sections
by shifting your head towards them by taking turns. This method will
also help if you have stage fright. It will seem as if you are
maintaining eye contact with individual members, however,
you are merely looking at a particular section of the audience.
Not into the eyes, but at the T zone

This is another useful little trick if you have stage fright or feel
uncomfortable gazing into someone’s eyes. Instead of looking at a
member of the audience in the eye, you can choose to look at the
point where the nose meets the forehead. Again, this creates the
impression that you are looking directly at them, but you are not.
Try this method with your friends and family to see if it works!

Know when to break these rules

Some among the audience may be quite uncomfortable with making

eye contact. They may make this obvious by shifting their gaze or
breaking eye contact with you. As a considerate speaker, it is your
job to recognize these signals and make them feel at ease by trying
not to fix your glance at them again during the course of your speech.

Another scenario in which you can break eye contact with your
audience is, if you need to refer to your notes, especially

22
 if they are numbers or other data. However, However, it is advisable to
maintain eye contact while introducing a new idea.

Practise Practise Practise

To quote perhaps what is the most used adage, practice makes

perfect. Practise making and holding eye contact with people in
normal conversations- with friends and family, at school, when you go
to shop. Slowly, but surely, what you practise will become a habit and
then, your very nature.

HUMOUR
Jacob’s Founder’s Day speech experience:

At the end of every academic year, my school gave away three

‘Founders’ scholarships and at the beginning of every year, past
awardees would be invited to speak on stage, both about how to win
this scholarship award as well as the benefits of doing so. It was, after
all, not only the most prestigious one but also came with a sizeable
cash endowment. I had won this award last year and was one among
the three speakers invited to speak on stage. Unfortunately, I was the
last of the three speakers and by the time I took the stage, the
audience had already zoned off due to the onslaught of dull advice
from the last two speakers. It was pitch silence in the auditorium as I
looked over the sea of blanks faces with vacant expressions. My voice
boomed across the room, “So how many of you wouldn’t mind getting
the Founders scholarship? Stand up and clap if you wouldn’t mind

23
getting it.” Having been asked to gather here for this very purpose, the
audience had no choice but to concede admitting that they ‘wouldn’t
mind it’ and stood up to clap. As the audience was on their feet,
clapping emphatically, I gave a smug smile and said loudly, “Why,
thank you thank you! I have always wondered what a standing ovation
felt like… and now I know.” The audience broke into laughter and
when they sat down, I could see the expressions of boredom replaced
with a curiosity to see what I was going to do or say next. I realized
that with just a little humour, I had won back their attention.

WHY HUMOUR?

What did you learn about humour from Jacob’s experience? Humour
is a magic wand that can change the mood and feel of your speech
within seconds. Let’s look at how humour can help you in public
speaking.

It helps to form a bond with your audience

Jacob’s Founder’s Day speech experience:

Laughing with someone is the best way to break the ice and form a
bond. Humour bridges the gap between the stage and the audience
and makes you seem more human. People love to laugh and if you
are the reason for that laughter, you immediately become more liked.

As British comedian, John Cleese said, “If I can get you to laugh with
me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas.”

24
 Laughter increases the energy in the room

Laughing has a biological effect on the body and mind. Laughter

triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good
chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being.

Humour provides an emotional relief

Sometimes, speeches can become draining. They may get too serious
or too emotional or may even just be an information overload. Humour
provides a break from the seriousness, a relief from intense feelings
or thoughts.

In his 2009 TED Talk, Bill Gates spoke about some of our biggest
global challenges, one of which is malaria.

The speech started on an extremely serious note, with lots of statistics

about child mortality and such. He provided some background
information on malaria, including how it has been eradicated in
developed countries but not in poorer countries. At this point, Gates
uses humour to smoothly transition into discussing ways in which
malaria can be stopped in poorer countries. He says, “Because the
disease is only in the poorer countries, it doesn’t get much investment.
For example, there’s more money put into baldness drugs than into
malaria. Now, baldness, it’s a terrible thing. And rich men are afflicted.
And so that’s why that priority has been set.”

Gates’ joke about baldness evokes laughter, but he doesn’t stop

25
there. He goes on to talk about how 200 million people around the
world are suffering from malaria at any point in time and the
devastating health and economic consequences of this.

Gates states that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, a fact that is of

course not really news to anyone. However, on a small table on the
stage sits a jar containing dozens of mosquitoes. Gates walks over to
the jar, opens it and says,

“Now, malaria is of course transmitted by mosquitoes. I brought some

here, just so you could experience this. We’ll let those roam around
the auditorium a little bit. There’s no reason only poor people should
have the experience.”

With that humour, he broke the morose atmosphere while still getting
the audience thinking about the issue.

Humour helps retention

Laughter has been shown to improve memory and cognitive function,

thereby helping the audience register what you are saying in a better
way. With reference to the Bill Gates mosquito example mentioned
above, I am sure we can agree to this point about malaria being
eradicated in developed countries but not in poorer countries.

Humour makes you more memorable

Laughter makes one feel good and like American poet, Maya Angelou,
said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,

26
 people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you
made them feel.”

HOW TO ADD HUMOUR

If you are humourous, adding humour to your speeches is a piece of

cake, but what do you do if you haven’t a funny bone in your body?
Here are some simple ways to infuse humour into your speech.

Surprise the audience

Think about what they won’t expect and use that as a starting point
like Jacob did with his ‘standing ovation’ during his founder’s award
speech.

Use self-deprecation

With self-deprecation, you are the butt of the joke which means that
you can push the joke further than you otherwise would. You can be
more aggressive without hurting anyone and since the joke is on you
and you are laughing, the audience is bound to go along. In her
speech about garbage segregation, Padma said, “I realize that
segregating garbage can be challenging. When I first started, I
remember finding myself sitting on my driveway, surrounded by a
week’s worth of garbage, googling to figure out which garbage goes
in which bin.”

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Impersonate dialogues

Most people try writing a joke, reporting it much the same way that
they would write it in any other context, for e.g. “Akash wanted to buy
a new video game, but his mother disagreed.”

While we would be inclined towards this, we need to get the audience

to imagine it the way it played out and ‘feel’ the scene. So, the best
way is to impersonate the characters, for e.g.
Akash said: “Mum, it seems there’s a new FIFA video game available
at Triya Mall.”
Mum replied: “Oh that’s great! We can buy that when your 59% in
maths becomes a 95%!”

Use a canned joke

These are old jokes that have stood the test of time, but you can
successfully recycle them by mastering the timings and the delivery.
For e.g. for a speech about road safety, John asked “Why did the girl
cross the road?” He paused for audience response. Then said ’Well,
why else, to get to the other side!” He then asked, “Why did the boy
cross the road?” He again paused for audience response. The
audience shouted out “He wanted to get to the other side.” to which
John’s response was “Well, he was following the girl.”

Find a tried and tested joke which you can change and modify to suit
the situation. Practise the timing and delivery.

Use funny analogies

Comparing something in your speech to something

28
 rather different but connected in some way can be really funny.
For e.g. when describing the appearance of a girl as part of his
speech, Mahesh said, “Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair
after a sneeze.”

Use personal stories

Personal stories are a great source of material for funny stories. You
can describe them in detail and recreate the scene which makes them
much more effective. For e.g. Preethi, when giving a speech about
terrace gardening recounted how she planted her first terrace garden,
nurtured it every day, watering, weeding and fertilising. She recounted
how she even spoke to the plants, only to end up with the harvest of a
single brinjal after three months.

USE IT WISELY

While it’s clear that humour can transform your speech, it must be
used wisely. Here are some tips to keep in mind when using humour.

Don’t force humour

Don’t force humour in places where it does not fit, just for the sake of
including a joke. Humour should blend in and add to your speech.
It should not stand out like a sore thumb.

It should be appropriate for the audience

The humour you use depends on the audience. For e.g. you might
make a joke about your canteen food in a speech to your

29
classroom but not on the school stage in front of the entire
school, faculty and principal.

Be careful not to offend the audience

Your humour should not tread on anyone’s toes. Be conscious not to

make any sexist or racist jokes. Be careful with jokes that are political
in nature or are regionally sensitive.

Practice

If humour is not something that comes naturally to you, then you do

need to practise. Test the humour out on your friends and family to get
an idea about how good it is.

Be careful during the delivery

Allow people the time to understand and respond to your joke. Never
continue talking over the laughter. And for some reason if your joke
fails, you could either move on or make a cover-up joke of it. For e.g.
“Ok maybe you guys will get my joke after my speech is over” or
“Hmm…that was a joke. Did you not notice it?” or “Oh well, that joke
was a bigger flop than the movie ‘Black Hat’…never heard of it? Well,
not surprising, that’s how big a flop it was!”

Remember, laugher is the best medicine, but don’t forget that it is a

medicine after all, so use it carefully!

MAKING THE AUDIENCE FEEL AT EASE

“If the audience doesn’t like it, they are usually silent.”
- Mark Russel, political satirist

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 Read this conversation between Mira and Tania.

Mira: Well, that was disappointing. I don’t nderstand how Hari got
such positive feedback. I felt my presentation and speech were
much more organized. Do you think I missed any slides?

Tania: No… no. You read through all 84 of them.

Mira: I had to. All those points were important. They explained in
detail what I hoped to accomplish after becoming president of the
student union. I’m so disappointed. I even saw a few of our
classmates sneak out of the auditorium during my speech. I don’t
understand why. Hari’s speech was so well-received. He got so
many questions and feedback at the end.

Tania: I’m sorry, Mira, but I feel they were paying attention to
Hari’s speech as he is a dynamic speaker. He interacted with the
audience, said so many jokes.

Mira: What is that supposed to mean?

What Tania wants to say is that Mira was unable to capture the
audience’s attention or connect with them as Hari did. In order to put
an audience at ease, it is essential to connect and engage with them.

Let’s look at a few ways which will help you put your audience at ease.

HOW TO PUT YOUR AUDIENCE AT EASE

When an audience is comfortable with a speaker, they find him or

31
approachable enough to raise questions and they will find the
topic more interesting and relatable. Isn’t it obvious that all the factors
are dependent on the speaker itself?

Start strong

Read this conversation between Susan and Neetu.

Susan: How was your day? What happened at the office?

Neetu: Nothing much except Manju from marketing did a

presentation about the new marketing campaign.

Susan: Oh, how was it?

Neetu: No clue…I switched off after the first 5 minutes.

Susan (with a raised eyebrow): That boring?

Neetu: When the presentation starts with a slide that has 6 bullet
points about what is covered in the presentation, what do you
expect?

Manju’s key mistake was to start her presentation with a slide with
bullet points. It has to be admitted that is a rather unexciting way to
start a presentation. If you don’t get your audience’s attention in the
first few minutes of your presentation, you will mostly end up talking to
yourself for the rest of it!

Think of different and exciting ways to begin your speech or

presentation. Here are a few examples.

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 The treasure hunt

Write bits of information that you are going to share in the course of the
presentation, on coloured pieces of paper. Hide these under some of
the chairs where the audience are going to sit. Begin your presentation
by asking your audience to check under their chairs. Once these paper
bits are found, ask the members of the audience who found them to
read out the bits of information and ask the audience to guess what the
topic of discussion is going to be.

Role play

Call for volunteers from the audience. Invite them on to the stage and
give them specific instructions or even a script of a role play. Instruct
them to play out the skit in front of the audience. Once they have
finished, you can have a guided discussion on the role play which will
eventually lead you to the topic of your speech.

Provide a visual cue

Videos are also a great way to start. You can find lots of videos on
YouTube. Be careful not to choose ones which are too common.
Just make sure they are short and don’t give away too much. After all,
it’s just an introduction to the topic. You can also display a single picture
or a collage and then lead your audience to the topic.

Ask questions
Begin by asking a series of questions. Through these questions, you
can lead your audience towards the topic about which you wish to
speak. They can be rhetorical questions as well. For example,

33
to begin a speech on the importance of time, you could ask the
following questions:

- What would you do if you knew the world would end in 3 days?

- Where would you go to spend your last day?

- Who would you spend it with?

- What would you wish to eat for the last time?

These are great techniques and can be used even during the speech.

Elicit information

The easiest and surest way to put an audience at ease is to involve

them. When the audience participate or interact with the speaker, they
feel as accountable as the speaker to make the discussion a success.
You can involve the audience by eliciting information that you know is
common knowledge. To give an example, in a speech on sustainable
substitutes for plastic, you could use a question like:

What are the most common side-effects of excessive

use of plastic?

Ask for names

You can pose questions to individual members of the audience if

you are able to gauge that the person is comfortable with answering.
This alerts the other members to the fact that they may be next.
Most importantly, while asking or inviting questions, make sure you
ask them to introduce themselves briefly. This shows genuine

34
 interest from your part. The act demonstrates that you have
considered each individual member of the audience while speaking.

Share personal anecdotes

While giving examples or introducing a nice idea, share a story or an

experience from your own life. You can also begin your presentation in
this manner. By sharing a personal experience, you are giving your
listeners a glance into your private life.

In the commencement speech she gave at Harvard in 2008, where

she also received an honorary degree, JK Rowling shared several of
her personal experiences that led her towards being the imaginative,
successful writer she is now. Here is an excerpt.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write
novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished
backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view
that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that
would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension…So they hoped
that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English
Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied
nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my
parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched
German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor…I cannot
remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might
well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the
subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name
one less useful than Greek mythology…

35
She peppers her speech with anecdotes such as these. If you have
listened to the entire speech, you will invariably feel a connection with
her. Such anecdotes foster trust and camaraderie. However, do not
share information that you may regret sharing or is inappropriate to be
shared with a large formal audience.

Compliment the audience

Begin your speech by thanking the audience for their presence.

You can say, “Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules.”

Even during the speech, compliment the audience by appreciating

their answers or simply for being good attentive listeners.

When you end the speech, make sure that you applaud for the
audience as well as for their participation and support.

Use relatable examples

Make sure that you provide enough examples to help your audience
comprehend an idea. A difficult concept can be made easy by giving
the correct example. These examples may include situations,
problems or stories that can help illustrate the idea you are trying
to put forward. Examples will be effective only if they are relatable.
Use examples that are based on common knowledge or are not
specific to certain sections.

Take this case for an example, while conducting a career guidance

session in a girls’ school in a remote part of the country, it would be
ineffective to mention the name of a supermodel as an example.
Using the name of an Indian actress or persona would be much
more relatable for them.

36
 Alternately, you can also invite volunteers to give their own
examples.

Modulate your voice

Voice modulation is nothing but using varying pitches of your voice

to get different effects on the audience. Always speak slowly to
ensure that your audience understand and hear every word you
utter. It would be advisable to underline or highlight keywords in
your speech before hand, so that you can stress on these words by
uttering them at a slightly higher volume or by pausing slightly
before and after uttering the word. Listen to famous speeches and
understand how influential speakers use varying pitches to inspire
the desired effect on people.

The amount of interaction or participation you can expect from your

audience is directly proportionate to how comfortable they feel
during the delivery of your speech. This in turn affects the success
and effectiveness of your performance.

TIMING
Timing may refer to the pauses and breaks as well as the duration
of your speech. If you feel that these factors do not affect the
effectiveness of your speech, then try talking to the audience
pouring out of an auditorium after a three-hour-long talk on the
history of Harappan civilization given by a speaker who speaks
more than 200 words per minute without pausing even for breath.
They might have a rather upsetting tale to tell, as you can imagine.

37
Let’s look at these two aspects of speech delivery- pauses and
duration, separately.

PAUSE…
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as
a rightly timed pause.
- Mark Twain, writer

As important as the words you speak are, the pauses that you take in
between are, perhaps, more important. Your ideas are not conveyed
only through your words, but by the pauses and breaks you take
during the speech as well. When used correctly, a pause becomes an
instrument using which you can create intrigue and connect with your
audience.

An apt example would be an award night for a film industry. Just

before the award winner is announced, the announcers take a long
pause. The camera turns towards the audience, and we can see the
nominees and the rest of the audience at the edge of their seats
waiting for the awardees names to be announced.

This is power of the pause.

When should you pause?

Pause where you would put a comma

What does a comma do? It divides a sentence into comprehensible

segments. Similarly, pausing at relevant intervals during a
speech divides your sentences into comprehensible segments.
Remember, comprehending the spoken words is

38
 more difficult than comprehending the written word, as listeners
cannot turn a page and read a part again. Here is an example:

Before graduating college [pause] I promised myself that [pause]

I would give myself every opportunity [pause] to see the world.

Pause when moving to a new topic

A good essay would be divided into three parts- introduction, body

and conclusion. Likewise, a good speech should also be divided into
ideas. After each idea, pause to let the audience know that a new
topic or idea is to follow. For example, while speaking about harmful
effects of plastic and how the world is combating the problem, the
speaker says:

We see evidences from all over the world of how plastic is

encroaching our oceans and forests. However, there are many
who have come up now with creative solutions to soften this
blow. I’m going to share with you the work of three organisations
who have taken up the issue of plastic vs nature. [pause]

The pause indicated after the last sentence shows a demarcation

between two separate parts of the speech and permits the audience
to realign. This pause can also be utilised to take a sip of water or to
go to a different location on the stage.

Pause to indicate that something crucial is about to be said

Let’s suppose that a speaker is giving a speech on his journey to

success. The person has introduced himself and has spoken

39
about his childhood. Now he wishes to speak about the most
influential person in his life. He says:

Through thick and thin, only one person stood behind me,
supporting me like a pillar supports the roof of a house.
That person was [pause] my mother.

The pause before ‘my mother’ indicates to the audience that he is

about to say something very important i.e. talk about a very
important person in his life.

Pause to let the audience absorb the message

Just as a pause before an important point is essential, a pause after

is also crucial. For example, imagine a speaker speaking on the
effects of natural calamities.

Almost 7000 families lost their homes and livelihood after

cyclone Fani hit the coastal areas of Odisha. [Pause]

This pause is a rather dramatic pause, to let the enormity of the

situation sink into the listeners.

Pause to emphasise

Read the following excerpt from a speech on food wastage.

According to the study conducted by Community Food

Committee, almost one third of all the food produced in city
schools goes to waste every year. [pause]

One third! [pause]

40
 In our city alone, food worth 60 lakhs goes to waste every year.
[pause]

60 lakhs! [pause]

The pauses given here aim to highlight the shocking statistics found.
The dramatic pauses paired with the repetitions help in driving home
the key statistics.

Pause to let your audience reflect

This pause is used when you want your listeners to contemplate on

a situation or a question. This lets the listener personalise the topic
as he or she will think about how they would respond to the
situation. For example, consider this speaker’s question:

What would you do if you were miles away from home, you have
just lost your job and have no means to go back to your family?
[pause]

It would be advisable to pause for 5 to 8 seconds after a question like

this. It is guaranteed that this will not be an awkward pause, but one
during which the listeners would be trying to understand the problem
in question and come up with a solution.

Apart from these, you can use pauses to avoid filler words like
‘ummm’, ‘err’ and so on; or when you feel you are going off track and
wish to come back to your line of thought; or if you are lucky enough,
to let the applause die down.

41
DURATION OF A SPEECH

Mahima’s World Animal Day speech experience:

Our local animal centre hosts an adoption drive for stray animals
every year on the event of World Animal Day. This year, I was given
the opportunity to speak for an hour at the event, to spread awareness
about the importance of adopting stray dogs and cats over buying
more expensive breeds. I had planned a grand closing for my speech
which included a hands-on experience involving dogs from the animal
centre. The idea was to invite volunteers from the audience to pet,
interact and get to know the dogs who had been brought to the animal
centre and were now up for adoption. We hoped that once we showed
interested families, how disciplined and loving these dogs were, they
would come forward to adopt. My speech began. I told stories of dogs
and cats that had been adopted by families and were now living
happily in their forever homes. I also showed my audience many
videos of the said animals. I moved on to giving some data on stray
animals and adoption. As I was rearing towards my grand closing, the
organiser of the event signalled to me from the back of the auditorium.
It was time to wrap up. My one hour was over! My grand closing was
to remain a fabulous, but unrealized idea and nothing more.

PLANNING AND MANAGING YOUR TIME

Wasn’t it a shame that Mahima could not use her fabulous closing?
It would have definitely helped some of the dogs get adopted.
What could she have done to avoid this situation? Skipped some of
the pictures and videos? Nobody cares about numbers and data,
she should have skipped that part, right? No. She needn’t skip any

42
 part of her speech. Since she cannot tame the ticking clock, she
needs to manage her time so that all these parts fit into one hour.
Let’s look at how this can be achieved.

Practise with a timer

If Mahima had practised her entire speech with the help of a timer,
she would have known that she will have to trim her speech a little.
If you have been given 30 minutes to speak, it’s best to prepare for a
20-25-minute speech with an additional preparation of 10 mins, which
even if skipped will have no significant impact.

Create a schedule

Account for every minute of your speech. For this you will have to
know your speech inside out. If you know that your speech is
scheduled from 4.00 PM to 4.40 PM, then plan it to the minute using
actual timings rather than duration of each part. This is because while
you are on stage, it is challenging to keep track of the duration of each
part. Therefore, instead of planning that the introduction should take 5
minutes etc do it as follows:

4 PM – Introduction
4.02 PM – part 1
4.08 PM – part 2
4.20 PM – part 3
4.25 PM – closing

Once you have scheduled the different parts of your speech in this
manner and then rehearsed it with a timer, you can keep an eye

43
on the clock while on stage and you will know when to end an
idea and introduce another.

Highlight the points that can be omitted

Logistics may not be kind to you always. You may be asked to step
down from the dais or asked to speak for an extra 5 minutes quite
unexpectedly. Imagine, the organiser of an event that you are
speaking at, comes to you and asks you to deliver your one-hour-long
presentation in 45 minutes. Will you remain calm? You would be able
to if you follow this tip. While planning/writing your speech, highlight
the points that are not absolutely necessary. Cut this material, and
you can customise your one-hour speech into 45 or even 30 minutes!
If only Mahima had known this trick!

BODY LANGUAGE
Alisha: Seema! What are you doing here? I thought you were
supposed to be at the Festival of Ideas! Wasn’t your favourite
author supposed to be a guest of honour or something?

Seema: Oh, please don’t get me started. I was looking forward to

Rose Taneja’s speech so very much. A person who produces such
brilliant worlds and characters! I thought such a person would
naturally be a remarkably interesting person to listen to!

Alisha: …She wasn’t?

Seema: Ugh. She was a horrible speaker. She spoke in a

monotone, her face barely showed any expression, and she hardly
moved! She was saying important things about the possibilities of
science-fiction and how the genre wasn’t just robots, crazy
computers, AI and space travel… but it was

44
 so hard to focus on the message. It almost felt like she herself
was a robot, reading out text that was programmed into her.
It was all very… stiff and awkward.

Alisha: I’m sorry. That must have been a terrible letdown.

Seema: Such a letdown that I didn’t even stay till the end of the
speech. Shall we go catch a movie at the mall? Or have some
ice-cream? I need something to make up for the day’s
disappointments.

Seema’s favourite author, Rose Taneja, is a brilliant, imaginative

person who has created entire fictional universes with fantastic
plotlines and complex, three-dimensional characters, yet she failed
to hold the attention of one of her biggest fans. Why was that?
In Seema’s own words “she barely showed any expression and she
hardly moved!”

The importance of good body language while public speaking cannot

be underestimated. It’s not just a question of audience engagement,
of keeping your listeners in good spirits – it’s also a question of how
your overall message is received. Remember how Seema thought that
the author was making important points, but she just couldn’t bring
herself to listen? No matter how good your speech, if you are
motionless, expressionless, and dull, your audience will lose interest
within minutes.

There are several components of good body language, and all of them
can be mastered. The key ones include gestures, facial expressions,
and stance.

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GESTURES

Paro has been asked by her teachers to deliver a speech at her

school assembly. She prepares one on the importance of eating
healthy. While she’s rehearsing her speech, her mother points
out that she’s doing nothing with her hands.

A common confusion that new or less-successful public speakers

have is not knowing what to do with their hands while talking. They
either let them flop awkwardly or they move them wildly. Both these
actions detract from what could have been a more striking speech.

However, when used well, hand gestures can do a great deal to

emphasise your words.

Paro’s mother says, “Paro, look…

here’s a part where you’re saying,
‘The time for you to act is NOW.’
While raising your voice slightly at
the word ‘now,’ you could make a
sharp, downward jabbing motion
with your index finger. This indicates
the urgency of the ‘now,’ and tells
the audience they should act fast.”

Vary your gestures

To continue holding your listeners’ attention, have a little bit of variety

in your gestures. It’s not just your fingers that can add emphasis

46
 during your speeches; you can incorporate the whole of your hands,
and your head as well.

For example, a thumbs up represents

something positive.
You can nod or shake your head as
and when necessary.

You can shrug your shoulders to

indicate that you either don’t know or
that you don’t care about something.

47
You can use this to denote something good.

This hand gesture shows that the

person is expressing willingness to
accept other’s opinions.

PRO-TIP: Use rhetorical questions to give yourself an opening to

move your head. A rhetorical question is asked to create an effect,
without any expectation of an answer. The answer is either obvious
or immediately provided by the asker. See the example below.

Paro’s mom: Sweetie, you’re using hand gestures now.

That’s good. But try and move your head around as well.

Paro: But when? What do I have to do with my head?

Paro’s mom: Hmm… here, at the part where you say,

“Don’t gobble five bars of chocolate just because you feel like it.”
How about changing that sentence into a question…?

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 Paro: Like… “Sure, you can gobble five bars of chocolate just
because you feel like, but do you think that’s a good idea?”

Paro’s mom: Exactly. It’s obvious the answer is no. Now you have
an opportunity to do something with your head. So, ask the
question, and then say “No!” while shaking your head

Start with an open body language

You should begin your speech in a rather neutral position, such as

keeping your arms at your sides. As you gain momentum, bring your
arms and hands up to gesture at appropriate moments.

But don’t cross your hands in front of your face or

chest or make any other gesture that results in a
physical barrier between you and your listeners.
It will cut you off from the audience.

Restrain your gestures

Don’t get too excited and gesticulate wildly during

your speech. Your composure is reflected in the kind
of gestures you make, so an over-excited person will
move their arms around too frequently and too
quickly. This can be very distracting to the audience.

Not only that, it will sap you of your energy as well, which means
that you won’t have the same energy level throughout your speech.
This could lead to the audience drifting off when your energy levels
are down.

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Guide your audience

A lot of public speeches these days use visual aids in the form of
PowerPoint slides, charts/graphs, and video clips.

If you’re using visual aids, point and look at the relevant data.
The audience will automatically follow your hands and eyes.

Here’s a quick list of dos and don’ts about gestures. Keep it in mind
while speaking in public.

GESTURES Dos Don’ts

Start with an open
body language –
hands at sides Don’t cross arms
Keep your gestures across chest
HAND controlled Don’t get
Point to relevant over-excited and
data when using gesticulate wildly
charts/graphs etc.

Nod/shake
Use rhetorical Don’t move too
HEAD questions for rapidly
opportunities to
nod/shake

Along with gestures, it’s important to watch your whole body’s

movement as well. To make your speech more dynamic, move

50
 around whatever space that’s available to you. Play around with
movement on the stage to discover many more possibilities of
audience engagement via your body language. For example, you can
step towards the audience in order to create a positive feeling of
attachment. This technique is quite useful when you want to
encourage or persuade your audience.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Remember Seema talking about her favourite author’s speech being a
huge disappointment? How did she describe the performance of the
speaker?

“It almost felt like she herself was a robot, reading out text that was
programmed into her. It was all very… stiff and awkward.”
One of the reasons why Rose Taneja’s speech fell flat and came off
as unfeeling and robotic was that “her face barely showed any
expression.”

The human face is vital to communication. When you speak, your face
– more clearly than any other part of your body – communicates to
your audience your attitudes, feelings, and emotions. Members of the
audience often depend upon your facial expressions to understand
and gain additional context for meaning that’s conveyed verbally.
For example, when tragic news is being conveyed, it’s not just the
content of the news but also the expression on the speaker’s face
which conveys that something truly terrible has happened.

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So how do you ensure how your facial expressions work with
the contents of your speech and not against them?

Deliver a speech that reflects what you actually believe in

Those who mean what they say can naturally display the emotions
that are appropriate in that situation. Where facial expressions are
concerned, authenticity is the key to a successful communication.

Smile at the beginning of your speech

Even the liveliest people can freeze in front of a large audience!

A smile at the beginning acts as a type of warm-up exercise for your
facial muscles and loosens them up, preparing them for other
expressions. A smile also indicates confidence in the material that
you’re about to deliver. A good moment to smile would be when you
welcome the audience at the start of a speech – “Ladies and
gentlemen, thank you all for being here today.”

If you’re nervous, think of something that makes you happy before

you stand up and hold on to that thought before you begin your
speech. That will surely bring a smile to your face.

Don’t smile for too long or too widely

Smiling for too long feels artificial. Smiling too widely, revealing all
your teeth, could be construed as suspicious or predatory, and will
undermine your point. For example, if you smile widely at a point in
your speech when you want your audience to reflect upon what was
just said, you just won’t be taken seriously.

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 Don’t look at the text of your speech frequently

Quite often, speakers have the text of

their speech at hand, either as a sheaf of
papers or in the form of cue cards. If you
have any such aids for your speech,
remember to not look at them too much.
Continuously keeping your face down will
result in the loss of your connection with
the audience.

Practise with a mirror and record your speech

If you feel like you don't have an

expressive face, work with a mirror. It
will help you create a link between what
you're trying to express, and whether you
look like you mean it. It may seem a little
silly to you at first, but you will get over
your discomfort quite soon. Try out the
seven main emotions that are expressed
through facial expressions, and then see
how they feel in comparison to the real
emotions, in order to grasp better control
of how you’re communicating.

The seven main emotions are:

Joy

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 Anger
Sadness
Contempt
Surprise
Fear
Disgust

Practise giving your entire talk without a sound coming out of your
mouth, even though you're forming the words. Try letting your face
do all the communicating. Then practice speaking normally – you'll
almost certainly look the part better. As with any other presentation
or public speaking skill, practice is the key to regulating your facial
expressions as well.

Once you are confident, record your speech. When you watch the
speech, you will realise what worked and what didn’t work with
respect to your body language and facial expressions.

With these tips you can use your body language and facial
expressions to make your audience feel what you want them to feel!

STANCE
Try this exercise. Stand in front of a mirror. Speak to yourself while
shifting from one foot to the other. Are you able to concentrate on

54
 what you are saying or are you getting distracted by your pendulum
movement? The latter, correct? Now, would you believe that most
speakers tend to shift from one foot to the other while speaking in
front of an audience? You may be doing it too. The result is a
distracted audience and an unsuccessful speech.

Stance is the manner in which you stand in front of the audience as

you give your speech. Your audience can identify if you're confident,
or uncomfortable by reading your stance on the stage. Your audience
see you before they hear you and invariably if they are distracted at
the first step, you may find it difficult to capture their attention.
Stance speaks.

Keep in mind the following factors to improve your stance.

Maintain a balanced stance on stage

What is a balanced stance, you ask? Try this. Stand up. Plant your
feet firmly on the ground. Now, bend forwards slightly. This posture
shows that you are engaged with the audience and your mind and
body are involved in the process. Leaning against a podium or
slumping to one side shows that the speaker is too casual or not
confident enough.

Continuous movement, such as swaying, is a distraction and may

even lull your listeners to sleep.

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Placement of feet

Take another look at the picture. Which picture shows a preferred

positioning of feet?

Pointing your feet towards the audience with shoulders squared is

the ideal position as is shown in the second picture. Standing
sideways, showing the side profile of your face, again, showcases a
rather casual attitude.

Activity

Stand up and look down at your feet. Are you standing with your feet
together or apart? If you are standing with your feet together, move
them shoulder width apart. Next, put one foot slightly ahead of the
other. Now try swaying or shifting from one foot to the other. It has
become slightly more difficult, hasn’t it? Use this position of stance
while on stage as well.

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 Pacing the stage

Humans are naturally restless. It would look artificial to simply stand

behind the podium as you speak. Pace around the presentation stage,
but with purpose.

You can take a step sideways or walk to the other side of the screen
to show that you are moving on to the next idea or topic.

Take a step towards the audience to seem more suggestive and

persuasive. Think about rock stars moving towards the audience while
performing. This movement shows that you are approachable and
invested in the audience.

Relax

Often, you may have to consciously instruct your body to relax as it is

natural to feel tensed while standing in front of an audience. Any
tension in your mind will evidently show on your body as well, making
you seem stiff and insecure. While this is perfectly normal, saying
‘relax’ aloud to yourself while on stage, will instantly improve your
posture and stance.

Find your power pose

A power pose is typically standing with your feet apart with your hands
on your hips. Very like superheroes like Captain America or Wonder
Woman, it exudes confidence and authority. However, such a power
pose would be highly inappropriate if not comical while giving a
speech. So, find your own power pose.

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You can stand bent slightly forward or extend your hands slightly
towards the audience while gesturing, anything that demonstrates
your conviction and involvement with the audience.

TONE OF VOICE

Maya Angelou, feminist writer and critic said that, “Words mean more
than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse
them with deeper meaning”. As a speaker, your voice is one of your
most valuable tools. While communicating to an audience, your body,
mind and voice come together as partners to help you.

Activity

Listen to Shashi Tharoor’s speech for the debating society, Oxford

Union, given on 28 May 2015. He was speaking to support the
statement – Britain does owe reparations to India. Listen to how his
voice rises and falls. Does he stress on certain words or numbers?
Does he use the same volume throughout his speech?

The way he has used his voice has helped Mr. Tharoor make a
compelling argument against his opposition. This vocal variation is
called voice modulation. The way you modulate your voice decides
your audience’s reaction – incessant yawning or like Mr. Tharoor,
applause.

When we speak, we control our voice by modulating it to suit the

message we wish to convey. One sentence can be comprehended
differently if you vary your volume, tone, stress, pitch and rate
of speech.

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 VOLUME

The key factor to remember here is that the last person sitting in the
last row should be able to hear your words distinctly. However, varying
volume has other uses as well to help your speech be received and
not just heard well. Let’s look at some tips on how to use volume to
your advantage while speaking.

It can help you create interest and intrigue in your audience. Decrease
or increase your volume to emphasise key words. For example,

Of course, what I’m trying to imply here is that ... ‘patience is key.’

Read this sentence aloud and when you reach the pause, decrease
your volume to say the phrase ‘patience is key’. Read the same
sentence aloud a second time, but this time, increase your volume
while saying ‘patience is key.’ You will see that both bring about
different effects.

Always remember to not let sentences trail. All the words in the
sentence should be uttered clearly and distinctly even if you are using
a low volume

TONE
Tone is the quality of your voice when you say a sentence aloud.
It depends heavily upon your mood, emotions, and your own

59
understanding of the said sentence. Tone is the emotional quality
of your voice that helps you connect to your audience and induce
the same emotions in them. For example, try to remember the last
time a situation in a movie that moved you to tears. What was it that
induced the emotion in you? Was an actor involved, whose dialogue
affected you?

While tone helps you emote, it also gives away your emotions.
To elaborate, if you fear public speaking, it would certainly be
reflected in your tone.

How to modulate tone?

Activity

Read the given sentence using different tones as suggested below.

My sister has gone back to college.
With excitement
With anger
With sadness

You see how the tone changes the listener’s understanding of your
emotions while saying the sentence aloud?

Practice modulating your voice by varying tone by reading out

dialogues from plays or books. When you play different characters
with the same voice, you will see how you have to vary the tone to
reflect the emotions of each character.

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 STRESS
The words you stress on manipulate your listener’s understanding of
your speech. To demonstrate, here is another activity.

Activity

Read these sentences aloud by stressing on the underlined words.

She didn’t tell me she was coming.

She didn’t tell me she was coming.

She didn’t tell me she was coming.

She didn’t tell me she was coming.

You have read the same sentence by stressing on different words.

Essentially, you have the same words, but 4 different meanings.

Stress on words that you wish to emphasise or bring to your

audience’s attention.

PITCH
Pitch, like volume, can be high or low. Low pitch is preferable for
public speakers as high pitch can make you sound uncertain and
tensed. It can also be perceived as unsurety of content. When you are
tensed or worried, naturally your voice takes a higher pitch.

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Also, higher pitches are regarded unsavoury and uncomfortable
for the ears.

RATE OF SPEECH
The rhythm with which you speak is the rate of speech produced
by you. You can use rhythm and pace to create curiosity in your
audience as to what is coming next. Decrease the rate of your
speech as you near the surprise ending of a rather thrilling
personal anecdote.

Read this sentence aloud. The underlined segments should be read

at a low speed.

And as I opened the letter, I realised that even though I had been
tardy, gone against my parents’ wishes, fought with my friends and
upset my teachers… I had won the scholarship!

By lowering your pace while reading the underlined segments,

you increase the curiosity of your audience to know the result.

Increase your rate of speech to show excitement or a series of actions

leading to the grand closing.

Read the given sentence aloud. The underlined segment should be

read at a high speed.

I quickly closed the door, jumped over the sleeping dog on the rug,
picked up my fallen wallet from the ground and ran to the front

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 door… only to realise that the door was locked from the inside.

By increasing your pace while reading the underlined segments,

you are helping the audience understand the urgency of your actions.

Voice modulation can turn a boring, monotonous speech into one that
engages the audience and makes the experience an enjoyable one for
them and you.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

Well-designed visuals do more than provide information; they bring

order to the conversation.
- Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger, The Orderly Conversation

Hari and Jai have joined the same college but are in different
departments. Read about their experience of their very first class.

Hari: Hi Jai! How was your class? Mine was rather boring.

Jai: Our class was a lot of fun! Professor Kumar is really good.
I’m sorry to hear yours was boring.

Hari: Oh yes. Professor Menon had prepared a long monotonous

presentation, filled with countless bullets and went on and
on about matter and physics, simply reading from the slides.
After some time, I was so sleepy that I couldn’t stay awake to
take notes!

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 Jai: Professor Kumar also used a presentation, but it was a
really interactive session. On the other hand, you, my friend,
have just suffered from death by PowerPoint! Haha. Come,
let me buy you a cup of coffee.

Poor Hari! We have all sat through boring presentations, at least once
in our life. We may also have unknowingly given one. But what does
Jai mean by ‘Death by PowerPoint’?

In 2001, Angela Garber in her article in Small Business Computing,

coined the term ‘Death by PowerPoint’. Her aim was to point out how
PowerPoint presentations have become technological ‘crutches’ a
speaker leans on. The term suggests that in your presentation, if
you rattle off information using countless graphs and bullet points
accompanied by poor design, you may well be ‘killing’ your listeners
by boring them.

Having said this, an individual who knows how to employ and utilise
the many tools of a PowerPoint presentation is certainly an asset to
any workplace or academic space. Humans are and always have
been visual beings. It cannot be disputed that we process visual
data faster and better than any other form of data. A PowerPoint
presentation is the perfect amalgamation of visuals and
communication skills. Choosing the right pictures, font and design
is as important as choosing the right words to accompany these
visual elements.

The purpose of your presentation may be to demonstrate, inform or

64
 persuade the audience. Regardless of the type and nature of your
presentation, you will have to first plan the content, then design your
slides accordingly and then finally deliver it effectively.

PLANNING THE CONTENT

Ellen Finkelstein, author of OpenOffice.org for Dummies, says that
most people begin the process of preparing for their PowerPoint
presentation by choosing a design template and typing in key points.
However, she remarks that “the content should drive the design.”

To ease you into planning the content of your presentation,

try answering these questions.

What is the purpose of the presentation?

What should be the desired outcome of the presentation?

Who is the audience?

What are the three key takeaways you would want your
audience to have from your presentation?

How should the information that you wish to convey be ordered?

As you answer these questions, you will get a clearer picture of

the research that you need to do in order to put together the

65
information you wish to convey. It will also bring forth a structural
clarity to your presentation.

DESIGNING THE SLIDES

The PowerPoint software or any other presentation software for that

matter, was developed as a handy, versatile tool to aid the speaker
convey his or her message most effectively. If your slides bombarded
with information and the design is unnecessarily complicated, the
purpose of the presentation is defeated. Let’s explore a few tips aFnd
tricks for you to keep in mind while designing your slides.

The ideal number of slides

No magic number has been prescribed as the ideal number of slides

to be used in a presentation. Having said this, one popular formula is
the 10-20 rule. According to this, you can use up to ten slides for a
twenty-minute presentation, twenty slides for a forty-minute
presentation and so on. However, this count can vary depending upon
the topic and the audience. It would also be dependent upon the font
size and style that you pick. More on these aspects is given below.

Choosing a template
Font and font size

Look at the slides given below

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 Both slides contain the same information. The difference is that
slide 2 is legible while slide 1 is clearly not. While choosing your font,
readability is much more important than style as is shown above.
Remember, a person sitting in the last row of the room should be able
to comfortably read and comprehend the slide. Font size should also
be consistent across all slides. All headings should have the same
font size. The same rule applies to subheadings and bullet points.

Using colours

All the slides in the presentation should ideally be linked by a visual

theme. For example, similar kind of pictures. If you have used a
doodle or a clip art image in your first slide, it would look connected if
rest of the slides also use doodles or clip art images.

Place yourself in your audience’s shoes. What would look good, be

easy to read and pleasant to the eye as well. Then choose your
colours for the background and the text.

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To show the effect of colours on readability, look at the slide
given below.

Can you see this text?

You can imagine how your audience may struggle to read what is
written on the screen with colours like these. However, change the
colour of the text and it becomes instantly more appealing as well as
legible.

Can you see this text?

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 It’s quite simple. If you are presenting in a large dark room, then a
dark background using colours like dark blue, black or dark green with
white or light-coloured text will work well. For example:

Can you see this text?

If most of the lights are left on (which may be wise in case anyone
wants to take notes) then a white background with black or dark text
works much better (like the example slide with a light blue background
and dark blue text).

Animations and transitions

PowerPoint has recently developed a variety of exciting transitions

and animations. While you may be tempted to showcase all this
variety in one presentation, it’s better to not do so. Worlds flying off
the screen or bullet points spiraling in may look fancy, but they are
merely distracting. Your audience may end up looking forward to your
next slide transition rather than the content of slide itself! Use one or
two transitions throughout the entire presentation.

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Visuals

Take a look at these slides.

Again, both slides provide the same information. Both slides have a
visual element. The difference is that in slide 1, the image and the text
will receive equal attention from the audience. The picture is a
separate element on the screen. It may even be more prominent than
the text. Whereas in slide 2, the background picture of the library
creates visual interest, however, it is not the main focus of the slide.
It supplements the information given.

Before creating the slide, ask yourself which should receive the
audience’s attention- the picture or the text.

Bullet points- how many is too many?

Ashna is running for student president elections at her school.

Given below is the slide she has prepared to explain her goals if
elected as the president. Take a look.

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 Do you think this is the best way she could have showcased
her goals?

There are two problems with this slide. If Ashna explains each
bullet point in detail, this slide would remain unchanged for at least
fifteen minutes. This may bore the audience. Secondly, there are too
many bullet points on the screen. The audience can easily miss
reading one.

Now, take a look at this slide.

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In this slide, only one goal has been given. Accompanying this
goal is a picture of a ballot box that says ‘Vote for Ashna’. This way,
each of her goals would receive equal attention and each slide would
also reinforce the mantra, ‘Vote for Ashna.’

While bullet points help organize data and lists, it should be used
where it is most effective. You can use bullet points to summarise or
list things. However, if you wish to introduce important ideas, it is
better to use individual slides over bullet points. According to experts,
the ideal number of bullet points on one slide is 6 or below.

DELIVERING THE PRESENTATION

Now that you have created your presentation, it is time to, well,
present it in front of your audience. Here are a few things to
remember that will help you make an efficient, successful
presentation.

Rehearse your presentation- time yourself, rehearse with coach

Practise giving the presentation in front of the mirror or your family
and friends. Most importantly, time yourself while rehearsing. Fix how
much time you will spend on each slide. The PowerPoint online
application has an interesting tool called ‘Rehearse with Coach’ which
will let you practise the presentation and the tool will give you pointers
during and after your rehearsal using which you can better your
performance.

Speak, don’t read

Yes, you have spent a lot of time preparing your slides. However,

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 they are not the star of the presentation. You are not the star either.
Your audience are the most important people in this performance.
Therefore, pay attention to the audience instead of the slides.
Speak to the audience instead of reading from the slide.

Earlier in this chapter, we discussed various aspects of body language

such as eye contact, gestures, making sure your audience is at ease
and so on. All those suggestions can be applied here.

HOW TO DEVELOP PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS?

So far in the previous chapters, we have discussed various aspects of

public speaking such as audience engagement, body language, voice
and presentation skills. We have also explored ways in which you can
develop these skills. Here are a few more general tips and activities
that will help you get better at public speaking.

Watch and listen to great orators

Look up speeches of orators who have motivated and kindled the

human spirit. There is so much to be learnt by watching these
speakers- how they stand, the way they use their hands, the manner
in which they emote using expressions and so on. Listen to the way
words are weaved together to create the effect that they do. Analysing
such speeches will help you develop your own style of oration.

Record yourself

Give yourself a topic to speak on and then record yourself. You are

73
your own greatest critic. Listening to yourself will show you the
areas that you need to work on, be it pronunciation or intonation.

Activity
Record yourself speaking without filler words like ‘err’, ‘uhm’ and
‘you know’ for at least five minutes. Listen to yourself and check how
many times you stumbled. Keep doing this until you rid yourself of
the habit of using such filler words.

Speaking prompts

Ask your friends and family to give you prompts on which you can
give impromptu speeches. It can be about anything from your
favourite TV show to your opinion on climate change.

Explore presentation software like PowerPoint

Open the application and simply try out the different kinds of slides,
transitions and animations. It might even be fun to create
presentations on random topics just to see what the software is
capable of.

Keep a constant check on your body language

Are you leaning on the wall? Tell yourself to stand straight. Are you
looking into your friend’s eyes while talking to them? Make sure you
do. Keep a check on these smaller aspects of body language and
soon you will find that they have become a part of your nature.

Develop your own formula

Look for interesting ways in which you can open and close your

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 presentation or speech. Some time on the internet will give you plenty
of ideas that you can then tweak to give it a personal touch.

Look for opportunities to speak

Public speaking opportunities come in all shapes and sizes. It may be

a volunteer to introduce a speaker for a school function or it may be a
thanksgiving speech at an intimate family gathering. It may be being
the master of ceremonies (MC) for your building society event or it
might be conducting the games for your mother’s kitty. Look for
opportunities where you can speak in front of groups of people. It
doesn't matter whether the group is as small as 4 people or as big as
400 people; what matters is that you get the confidence to put yourself
out there and the opportunity to develop your skills!

Let’s move on to other aspects of communication skills essential for

the 21st century.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Read this excerpt from the speech given by John F Kennedy

in 1961, on the event of the USA’s decision to send a citizen to
the moon.

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in

this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy,
but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to
organize and measure the best of our energies and skills,
because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one
we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win,
and the others, too.

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What aspect of this speech has the speaker employed to engage
the people?

a. Using simple words and sentences

b. Speaking in the third person using the pronoun, ‘we’
c. Using long sentences to build suspense
d. Using active verbs like ‘choose’ and ‘win’

2. Read this excerpt from the speech given by William Lyon Phelps in
1933, on the importance of books.

A borrowed book is like a guest in the house; it must be treated

with punctiliousness, with a certain considerate formality. You
must see that it sustains no damage; it must not suffer while
under your roof. You cannot leave it carelessly, you cannot
mark it, you cannot turn down the pages, you cannot use it
familiarly. And then, some day, although this is seldom done,
you really ought to return it.

How has the speaker tried to create interest in the topic?

a. Using verbs like ‘must’, ‘ought’ and ‘cannot’

b. Telling the listeners what proper and improper action is
c. Addressing the listeners directly with the pronoun ‘you’
d. Comparing books to a person

3. Which among the following series of slides should be replaced?

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 a.

b.

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 c.

d.

Answer: b

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 4. Which of these is not a reason to pause during a speech?
a. After filler words.
b. Before you make a key point.
c. To let your listeners think.
d. To catch your breath.

5. Given below is an extract taken from a speech given by Ken

Robinson on education and creativity. Read the short passage and
answer the question that follows.

I heard a great story recently — I love telling it — of a little girl

who was in a drawing lesson. She was six and she was at the
back, drawing, and the teacher said this little girl hardly ever paid
attention, and in this drawing lesson she did. The teacher was
fascinated and she went over to her and she said, “What are you
drawing?” And the girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” And
the teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” And
the girl said, “They will in a minute.”

How has the speaker tried to engage the audience in this example?
a. Sharing a personal experience
b. Praising the listeners
c. Using humour to explain an idea
d. By opening the speech in an interesting way

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 CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER
ACTIVE LISTENING
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen
with the intent to reply.

- Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

You might laugh upon hearing that listening is one of the most
difficult skills to cultivate in communication. But it is the truth: one of
the biggest and most common failures in communication is that we
do not listen well enough. We might be able to get our point across
as we wish to, but we seem to struggle immensely with listening to
what someone else is talking about.

“But how difficult is it to listen?” you might ask. All of us often think
that listening is easy – you listen to another person talking and just
absorb what they say. But that is a rather passive process, don’t you
think? As a listener, you merely sit in a chair and receive information
from a speaker.

LEARNING TO LISTEN

We have two ears and one mouth, and we should use them
proportionally.

- Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a

World that Can’t Stop Talking

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 Listening, in fact, is a two-way process. Not only should you fully listen
to another person, you should also make the person feel like they’re
being listened to. That means you must be a more active part of the
conversation – you have to be more engaged in it. This is the purpose
behind the concept of ‘active listening.’ It is a great technique and not
only ensures that you remember the information given to you, but also
helps you establish a good relationship with people.

Acknowledging that listening is a two-way process is the first step to

improving your communication skills. It is important to recognise that
we often treat conversation like a game of one-upmanship; we listen in
order to mentally start framing the perfect reply to the point the other
speaker is making. This is a behaviour that we have to change, and it
isn’t easy. It’s what we’ve been doing for most of our lives. We have to
unlearn that and accept that not every conversation has to be a
debate or a contest. Sometimes, all we need to do is to listen.

So how do we go about nurturing the skill of active listening? What

qualities do we need to cultivate, what are the steps we can take to
make others feel listened? Let’s begin exploring!

QUALITIES OF AN ACTIVE LISTENER

Learning to actively listen is not something one can pick up overnight.

It is a skill that we have to mindfully attend to every day of our lives.
The qualities that every active listener should possess cannot be
memorised with a formula, but they are ones that can be

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practised everywhere in our life, with the power to make each one of
us a better, caring and more responsible friend, student, sibling,
daughter/son. So, what are these qualities?

Willingness to have your views changed

Sameer: Hey, I think Vishnu had a solid case for making Rohan the
captain for the next match. Why did you dismiss him?

Akhil: You’re doing fine as the captain. I don’t see why we have to
mess with a combination that works.

Sameer: I’m doing okay, but Rohan has the potential to do better! We
shouldn’t get too comfortable with our current victories and settle into
thinking we’ll do fine always. That’s not a growth mindset. Come on,
just hear Vishnu out, please?

Akhil: It’ll be a complete waste of time.

Sameer: You won’t even know that if you don’t give him a chance to
talk, Akhil.

Akhil: Fiiiiiiine. I’ll listen to what he has to stay, but I know what I’m
saying is right. We’ll see.

The most integral aspect of active listening is that you must go into
the conversation with a willingness to have your views changed. It
doesn’t matter if you’re sure you’re in the right; the important thing is
to be ready to listen to everything that the speaker is saying. If you
don’t leave your prejudices and pre-conceived notions at the
doorstep, you will only hear what you want to hear, not what the
other person is saying; so we can be pretty sure that Akhil will
not be ‘actively listening’ when he talks to Vishnu!

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 This will lead to a situation where you search for, interpret, and recall
only that information which supports your already existing beliefs and
values – a tendency that is commonly known as confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias just keeps confirming whatever we think we know,
trapping us in a bubble of confidence, when we should be stepping
outside it. There is no place for growth in that bubble – our information
and opinions need to evolve constantly if we are to grow as people
who are capable of critical thinking. In the words of Albert Einstein,
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

And for meaningful change to take place, we need to stop listening

partially and be practitioners of active listening.

The willingness to have your views changed comes out of mainly two
factors:

Sincerity

After Sameer and Akhil’s conversation, do you think Akhil is going to

be an active listener when he has a discussion with Vishnu about
who should hold the captaincy? Unlikely, right? That’s because we
know that Akhil isn’t sincerely interested in having the conversation.

It is important to approach a conversation (or any form of speech)

with sincerity. You should have a genuine readiness to allow
someone to influence your views. Honestly listen to what the
speaker is saying. Try not to pretend. If you still don’t agree

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 with them, don’t make fun of them in your head, but engage in an
open conversation.

Open-mindedness

From the way Akhil talked to Sameer, it seems obvious that Akhil
has made up his mind about not changing captains. Akhil is going
into the conversation with Vishnu with a closed mind, so the
chances of him being an active listener is low. Unfortunately, this
means that the conversation will most likely be unproductive.

Being open-minded is a sign that you recognise and accept that

one person cannot have all the right answers. None of us will ever
have the full measure of any given subject. We don’t possess all
the facts or the full truth at any given point in time. Other people
can teach us things, lead us down strange and interesting paths of
knowledge and discovery. It is through this accumulation of
knowledge of different kinds that we become wiser, more
well-rounded people. Hence, it’s crucial to keep an open mind
whenever you come across people with viewpoints that are
different from yours.

Respect for people and their ideas

Closely related to the willingness to have your views challenged is

the idea that people are, by default, worthy of dignity and respect.
You won’t be willing to change your mind if you don’t think the
speaker deserves to be listened to, and if you don’t listen to them,
you might never be exposed to different ideas. To treat someone with
respect is to be receptive to their stories, their experiences, their
beliefs – all of which could be potentially new for us.

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 So how exactly do we cultivate a healthy sense of respect for people
and their ideas? We nurture the qualities of empathy and patience.

Empathy

Nimisha: Ma’am, I’m really sorry, but my group can’t submit the
project today. I was in charge of putting together all of our research
in a document, but there was some glitch in my system and I lost
the file. Could we have a minor deadline extension, please? It’s
totally my fault. The others did their share of the work, but I let them
down. Please don’t punish them.

Teacher: Nimisha, you know how important this project is for your
final assessment.

Nimisha: Yes, ma’am. Like I said, we were ready with the work.
We were plain unlucky.

Teacher. Look, I understand. We’ve all had unfortunate technical

glitches that’s led to at least some part of our work – if not whole –
going to waste or caused significant delays. It’s an immensely
frustrating position to be in. I appreciate your honesty and your
willingness to take responsibility, Nimisha, but I did remind you all to
take back-ups, did I not?

Nimisha: You did, ma’am. It was an error on my part.

Teacher: I can see that. So, let this be a reminder that you need to
always have back-ups for stuff that you produce using

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 gadgets. You get one extra day to submit your project, but I will
dock points for the delayed submission. I want the email in my
inbox by 5 pm.

Nimisha: Thanks a lot, ma’am.

Look at the above conversation. The teacher could have yelled at the
group or made snide, sarcastic comments about their mistake.
Instead, she chooses to have a gentle conversation about being
prepared for the worst, while agreeing with the kids that they’re in a
difficult position. What she’s demonstrating is the quality of empathy.

Empathy is the ability to understand or feel what another person is

experiencing from their point of view. In other words, it is the capacity
to place yourself in another's position. The more sensitive you are to
another person’s thoughts and emotions, the likelier it is that you will
gain a better understanding of why they are saying the things they
are. Understanding, in turn, makes it harder for you to dismiss
people’s views outright, because now you see them as a complex
individual with a life of their own, not as a mere debate opponent.
That will make you a better listener, paving the way for more
thoughtful, productive conversations.

Perhaps this is the reason why Barack Obama, the former President
of the United States, thinks that “Learning to stand in someone else’s
shoes, to see through their eyes – that’s how peace begins. And it’s
up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that
can change the world.”

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 Patience

Recall the conversation between Nimisha and her teacher.

Did you notice how the teacher did not cut into what Nimisha was
saying? Every teacher has been in a situation where one of their
students is giving them excuses. Nimisha’s teacher must have
known very well that she was going to be listening to yet another
excuse for something not being done on time. Yet, she exercises
patience and listens to everything her student has to say.

Not every person will be able to articulate their thoughts with

clarity and precision. They might take time to come to their point.
That doesn’t mean that their point is invalid. It’s rude and
disrespectful to be dismissive of a person because they’re taking
their time to make a statement, or because they’ve made
grammatical errors. Similarly, it is not appropriate to interrupt or
cut a speaker off when they’re talking; you need to have the
patience to listen completely and let them finish. Raise your
questions and counterpoints only after that. When someone’s
talking, it is the listener’s duty to give them the space to develop
their thoughts and find the words that best capture what they
want to say.

Patience, then, becomes an opportunity to concede space to

others, to respect their communication, to actively listen. In the
words of Bruce Lee, “Patience is not passive. On the contrary,
it is concentrated strength.”

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HOW TO DEVELOP ACTIVE LISTENING?

The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.

- William Hazlitt, British philosopher and literary critic

Having respect for other people and showing the willingness to

change your views are at the heart of active learning. While working
on those qualities, let’s also look at a few handy tips that will make us
better active listeners.

Pay attention to your body language

An important skill that an active listener must learn is to maintain

proper body language. Sending out non-verbal cues or hints is one of
the best ways by which you can show the speaker that you have
been paying attention.

Eye-contact

Priya: Hey Safa, did you talk to Shireesh about making invitations
for the farewell party for our seniors?

Safa: I did. But don’t get your hopes up. I don’t think he’s going to
do it.

Priya: What makes you think so?

Safa: Well, he wasn’t even looking at me at any point throughout

the conversation! He was engrossed in his phone, no responses
at all, not even a nod! I just know he didn’t absorb anything I
was saying.

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 Priya: That boy is such a hard person to talk to! It’s okay. We can
ask someone else.

From the conversation, we can understand that Shireesh does not

engage in active listening. He wasn’t meeting Safa’s eyes while
talking and she was left with the impression that he did not pay
attention to her at all.

Proper eye-contact is key to active listening. It signals that you

respect the other person’s time and effort. You won’t be meeting
their eyes all the time – that will make them uncomfortable. A good
rule of thumb is that you should have eye-contact for around 50%
of the time you’re speaking and 70% of the time while listening.
Maintain eye-contact for 3-4 seconds before breaking away and
looking elsewhere briefly, before making eye-contact again.

Nodding

Maintaining eye-contact is not the only body-language cue that is a

part of active listening. When Shireesh and Safa were talking, he
didn’t give her any indication that he was listening to her properly,
not even the barest of nods. Nodding at the right times will help the
average speaker realize that you have been paying attention
closely.

Open, pleasant face

Your face will show if you really are willing to change your mind,
if you’re sincere and empathetic. It is also important to keep an

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open, pleasant face so that the person who’s speaking doesn’t
feel that you’re judging them.

Pic credits: http://advertisementfeature.cnn.com/think-brilliant/revitalise-your-listening.html

Positioning of arms

Pic credits: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-fe28f457e3dc180240d0d36de6b95081.webp

Which pair do you feel is not practising active listening – the one
on the left or the one on the right? Even though there are

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 no speech bubbles and you have no idea what they’re listening to,
you can intuitively feel that the pair on the right is not really open
and interested to ‘actively listen’ to each other. Their body language,
especially the way they’ve crossed their arms and legs, clues you
into that, right?

Active listening is not just about listening – it is also about making

the other person feel that they’re being listened to. So, remember to
keep your arms in a relaxed, comfortable position – don’t fold them
across your body, because this conveys to the other person that
you’re not interested in what they’re saying.

Paraphrase what you hear

Another handy technique that you can use in an active listening

process is to repeat what the other person has just said, but in your
own words – that is, you paraphrase the speaker’s main points.

Sheela launches into a rant against the school authorities. “Are they
out of their mind? It is inconceivable that they’re being callous enough
to pretend ‘business as usual’, conducting exams at such an uncertain
time. It doesn’t end there – they refused to promote everyone as well.”

Brunda responds, “I agree… Unbelievable. Not only are they heartless

enough to hold exams now, they’re also planning to fail students as
usual.”

Here, Brunda simplifies and restates Sheela’s thoughts. You don’t

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have to agree with the speaker in order to paraphrase! You
could also frame it as a question on the lines of “So, what you’re
saying is…”

Summarise what was said

Another useful thing you can do to retain information and make a

speaker feel like you’ve paid attention is to summarise the
conversation in a few sentences. That is, you quickly cover the key
points that the person made over the course of the interaction.
You can do the summarising either at the very end of the
conversation, or when a lot has been said in one go and you want to
do a quick recap before moving on to the next set of concerns.
Consider this example:

Brunda: There are several problems with that movie. The plot is
ridiculous and stretches on forever; they could have reduced the
running time by one hour and they still wouldn’t have lost anything of
substance. The characters feel like cardboard cutouts, there’s no
apparent reason why they’re doing what they’re doing. Worst of all,
the female characters do not contribute anything at all to the story –
they’re just there to sit and weep their hearts out and look pretty,
always waiting to be rescued.

Sheela: Okay, let me get this straight – the movie does not have a
believable plot, it could have done with tighter storytelling and
characters that have been fleshed out more. Not to mention, the
female characters do not add any value to the story; they’re mere
damsels in distress.

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 Ask questions
Active listening is not just limited to paraphrasing and summarising a
speaker’s words. A very good way to demonstrate to them that you’ve
been listening is to ask questions. This is something you can do
throughout the conversation. Clarify your doubts, try to find out more
details – but do not interrupt a person to ask questions. First, let them
finish their sentence. Then take the chance to put forward your
question.

Activity: Listen to a parent talk about a new development at their

workplace, or a grandparent discussing an important moment in
history that they witnessed. Think of possible questions to ask.
Find suitable moments in the conversation to ask these questions.
Here are some to start with:

What excites you about this change?

How did the event make you feel?
I didn’t really understand; can you explain that for me?

Take notes

This is something that can’t be done in everyday conversations –

note-taking would look odd in the middle of a casual chat – but it’s
very useful in more formal settings like meetings and interviews.
Taking brief notes is an excellent way to make sure that you
remember what was discussed in a meeting. Just as importantly,
note-taking will also help you write follow-up emails after the meeting,
in which you will have to recap the major points of discussion and
reconfirm what you agreed upon.

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 Activity: A commencement speech is a speech given by an invited
guest – usually a celebrated artist, entrepreneur, or politician – to the
graduating class at a university. Look up famous commencement
speeches, pick one you like and watch it in full. While listening to the
speech, take notes to capture key points and any memorable
anecdote that catches your fancy. Here are a few suggested
commencement speeches:

J.K. Rowling at Harvard, 2008 – The Fringe Benefits of Failure

Steve Jobs at Stanford, 2005 – Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
David Foster Wallace at Kenyo n College, 2005 – This is Water

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Polash has some brand-new ideas for fielding strategies that the
school cricket team could implement in their next match. The team
captain, Aswin, doesn’t think they’ll work.

Which of the following responses indicates a sincere active listening

approach towards Polash’s ideas?

a. “I don’t think it’s a great idea to mess with our current field plan.”
b. “These ideas are not as new as you think they are.”
c. “Could you tell us how you see your ideas working out in
the field?”
d. “I think our fielding’s perfect … but fine, let’s hear your ideas.”

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2. Poornima and Faiza are planning a birthday party for their friend,
Ehsaan. Faiza thinks that the party should be themed around
Ehsaan’s favourite video game. After listening to Faiza’s long,
rambling explanation, Poornima points out making props based on
the video game would be too expensive and time-consuming.

What quality did Poornima exhibit as Faiza shared her plan?

a. Empathy
b. Patience
c. Sincerity
d. Open-mindedness

3. Meenu had lent her favourite novel to her friend, Asha. However,
despite Meenu’s reminders to be careful with the book, Asha spilled
a soft drink on it and ruined a few pages. When the time came to
return the book, Asha apologised and began giving a tearful
account of what happened.

What would be an empathetic reaction on Meenu’s part?

a. Cut Asha off in the middle of her explanation as she knows that it
was not a genuine accident.
b. Give Asha the chance to explain herself and but not respond.
c. Accept the spoiled book, but not Asha’s apology.
d. Listen to Asha and then suggest that she should work on her
carelessness.

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4. For a class project, you are collecting information about the history
behind the names of important areas in your city.
The scholar that you’ve met for this purpose is sharing a lot of
interesting details.

(i) Which of the following is not an active listening technique which

you can use to show that you are really paying attention to her?
a. Maintaining proper eye contact as she talks
b. Nodding at the right places
c. Asking questions
d. Crossing your arms across your chest

(ii) Which active listening technique will you use to retain all the
information that you’re receiving from her?
a. Maintaining proper eye contact as she talks
b. Nodding at the right places
c. Taking notes while she talks
d. Not crossing your arms across your chest

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 CHAPTER 3
1
TECHNOLOGY
Technology today is integral to almost all aspects of our lives and
most of the time it’s a force for good. And yet the potential adverse
consequences are spreading faster and cutting deeper. The threats
to security, threats to privacy, fake news, and social media that
becomes antisocial. Sometimes the very technology that is meant to
connect us divides us. Technology is capable of doing great things.
But it doesn’t want to do great things. It doesn’t want anything.
That part takes all of us. It takes our values and our commitment to
our families and our neighbors and our communities, our love of
beauty and belief that all of our faiths are interconnected, our
decency, our kindness.

- Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, in his commencement speech delivered

to Class of 2017, MIT

As Tim Cook points out, the 21st century has brought about, and
continues to usher in, a technological revolution that is
unprecedented in the history of mankind, changing life as we know
it. Smartphones, the internet, and social media have all become
central to our everyday functioning, both in our personal and
professional lives. New avenues of progress, as well as new
challenges, have been opened up by the fantastic possibilities
created due to the influx of newer forms of technology.

There is a compelling case to make for communication being the

most significant aspect of human life that has been transformed

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beyond recognition through technology. Our grandparents and
parents often share nostalgic stories and anecdotes of eagerly
waiting for the ringing sound of the postman’s bicycle bell – a sound
which, for them, signified the arrival of a long-awaited letter. People
used to keep an eye out for a response for weeks and months
altogether, hoping against hope that their letter would arrive. Often,
messages would get lost in the process entirely, leading to much
heartbreak and miscommunication.
d. Not crossing your arms across your chest

TECHNOLOGY NOW

Can we even imagine such a situation these days, of having to wait

endlessly for the post? We are so used to getting prompt responses
from friends, family, and colleagues via e-mails and private
messaging/chats that the idea of waiting seems quite ancient. We
are glued to our phones and other gadgets; the devices have almost
become an extension of our bodies. We are all familiar with this state
of affairs, but let’s try and pin down the exact ways in which
communication has been revolutionised by technology.

Easier Sharing of Info

Sameera: Hey, I’ll be travelling tomorrow, but keep me updated on

the match, all right?

Nyma: I know, Sam. We’ll text you updates every half an hour.
Robbie will share all the photos he takes. I’ll send you my final draft
of the match report over WhatsApp. You can edit it and send it back
to me.

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 Sameera: Thank you. I’m so sorry I can’t be there in person! As the
editor of the school newspaper, it was my responsibility to be there
for the finals of the Annual Cricket Tournament.

Nyma: Relax, Sam. We know that it’s a family emergency. You’re still
going to be constantly in touch with us anyway. Thank god for
smartphones, right?

Sameera is the editor of her school’s newspaper who can’t be

physically present at an important school event, but she’s still in
charge, giving her reporters instructions and pitching in to do her
share of work remotely. The most obvious change brought about by
technology is that we can communicate from wherever we like,
whenever we want to. With our devices, we can call someone on the
other side of the world even for a quick chat or use video calls to our
advantage. As long as both sender and recipient have network
connectivity, we can keep people posted, send updates about work,
share useful links and documents while being on call. Different kinds
of information – text, picture, audio, video – can be shared over our
communication channels now. Convenience is the buzzword of
21st century communication.

Speed and Reliability

Robbie 11:40 pm
Sam, here’s the link to the folder with the photos from the
match. I’ve numbered them, so let me know which ones
should go into the article?

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Sameera 11:41 pm
Thanks, Rob. Give me a few minutes to go through them?

Robbie 11:41 pm
Sure.

Sameera 11:50 pm
Rob, these photos are AMAZING. This is some of your
best work.
There’s no way I could choose just three from these.
Tell you what... I have an idea. Apart from the regular match
report, let’s do a photo essay?

Robbie 11:52 pm
Oh wow! I’d love to. You know how much I love photo essays.

Sameera 11:52 pm
Okay, I know it’s late, but try and reach Nyma? I want to
discuss this with her as well.Set up a video call within half an
hour, if she’s up. If she isn’t, drop her a text saying there’s a
call scheduled for 10 am tomorrow.

Robbie 11:54 pm
I just texted her... she isn’t up. Single ticks. 10 am it is.

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 In this conversation, look how quickly the messages and replies were
exchanged between Sameera and Robbie. All our communication
technologies are built to encourage instantaneous responses, from
the humble telephone to the ubiquitous social media. We don’t have
to rely on snail-mail and fret about delays in responses or the
chances of our messages getting lost. We have apps and software
products for every communication need imaginable – audio calls,
video calls, text messengers, e-mail. Real-time communication has
been enabled by solo- and conference-calling platforms. And even if
immediate communication isn’t possible, as with Nyma in the
example, we can leave messages at any point in the day and expect
replies within a reasonable amount of time. Even better, electronic
messages usually don't get lost, and we can quickly resend them if
they do get lost due to technical glitches.

Reaching a Wider Audience

Mom: Sweetheart, did you try the mango pudding I made today?

Navya: Yes, ma, it was amazing! I wish more people could have had
it. Your genius should be appreciated by more than just family and
friends.

Mom: Hahaha. Not happening. What do I do, open a café? I don’t

have the time or the energy to run a business.

Navya: How about starting a YouTube channel? That way you’ll be

able to reach a lot of people who want to try out new recipes. I can
help you with making the videos...

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Navya’s suggestion to her mother points us to yet another benefit of
technology: it helps us reach wider audiences than we were able to
before, without travelling to meet them physically. The internet allows
us access to the world – we can blog, start informative websites,
share our thoughts on various social media platforms like Twitter and
Facebook, provide tutorials and product demos on YouTube, display
our art on Instagram profiles… the list goes on.

Higher Productivity, Lower Costs

Mohana: If I have to become a more successful artist, I have to learn

how to sketch and paint in a lot of diverse styles. And learn how to do
that faster, because right now I take at least three weeks to deliver
commissions.

Rohini: I really think you’d benefit from learning how to use this
sketching app, Mohana.

Mohana: Yes, I know it has plenty of cool brushes that will broaden my
artistic style, as well as tricks and shortcuts that speed up the process.
But the app is also super complicated. How will I ever master it?

Rohini: That’s easy. There’s a tutorial on TalentShare and it’s by a

lead animator Disney, so he’s an expert user. You’ll learn a lot from
him. The best part? The tutorial is free!

Technology exists to simplify the processes we already have in place.

This simplification can happen by cutting down on steps within the
process, such as travel and interim waiting periods. Due to the
simplification, more work gets done at a faster pace and at a lower
cost. Because of technology, a lot more people can afford to
set out on new entrepreneurial ventures or simply acquire a

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 new skill or hobby. Existing businesses and services can be more
productive and efficient.

FANTASTIC TECHNOLOGIES AND WHERE TO USE THEM

As is evident, today’s young adults are the products of the

technological revolution, having an easy familiarity with mobile
phones, their accessories, and all other kinds of gadgets. Such is
the comfort level with technology that we forget that it’s meant to be a
tool. It is not meant to be something that we allow to shape our lives
uncritically. There are appropriate contexts – time-wise, place-wise –
for each of these technologies to be deployed. How well do you know
these contexts? Let’s take a look, shall we?

Telephone

Mira: Hello and good morning, Safia. I’m Mira from the City Quizzing
Council. I’d like to discuss your performance in the previous quizzing
marathon that we conducted and explore the possibility of you joining
the core team as a junior member. Would now be a good time to talk?

Safia: Sure. This sounds interesting! Yes, I’m free right now.

Telephones are best used for real-time communication – that is,

you’re looking for immediate responses, comments or clarifications.
While it is ideal if you know the person you’re calling, it is also widely
used to make contact with or reach out to strangers who can help you
or to whom you can be of some help. However, remember that not
everyone has the leisure to attend calls by complete strangers, so it
might be polite to drop a text message or an e-mail asking for a
convenient time to start your call.

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Calls are also appropriate when you have a fairly large chunk of
information that you want to discuss with a person/small group of
people privately. This can help you deal with any confusions on the
spot as well as avoid a lengthy back-and-forth on an email thread.
It’s also easier to convey emotions and gauge other people’s reactions
over a call than emails or text messages.

However, calls can tend to be impersonal; there are plenty of people

who consider human interaction an essential ingredient of successful
communication. Sometimes the person you’re dealing with might be
more comfortable with personal interaction. A personal touch could
convey to a potential client that you value them immensely. In such
scenarios, if external circumstances like transportation, finances and
time allow for face-to-face or one-on-one interactions, in-person
meetings might yield better fruits.

Here are a few tips on etiquette to be followed while calling via

phones:

Start with a pleasant greeting

Mira started her conversation with “Hello and good morning,

Safia.” Use warm, pleasant greetings to make your listener
comfortable and ease them into conversation.

Introduce yourself

In the conversation, Mira said, “I’m Mira, from the City Quizzing
Council…” It is a good practice to tell your listener

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 who you are and what you do, so that they have an idea about
the call and know that they’re not wasting their time.

Don’t interrupt

Self-explanatory, as it is extremely rude to cut in when

someone else is talking. This thumb rule of personal interaction
stands true for calls as much as it does for face-to-face
conversations.

Give your full attention to the listener

When you’re talking to someone via phone, give them your full,
undivided attention. Even though they can’t see you,
distractions can become quickly apparent during voice call.
You might end up missing out on valuable information while
being caught up in the distraction.

Be courteous

Be as kind and respectful as you would be in a face-to-face

interaction. Disgruntled, impatient or mocking expressions may
not be seen by the person on the other end, but these feelings
have a way of seeping into the tone of our voice even without
us noticing. This could put people off in what is already a
removed interaction.

End the call on a forward-looking note

Just as calls must begin on a good note, let them end positively
as well. Use pleasantries such as “I look forward to

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 talking to you again,” “This was a productive conversation,” and
“This was immensely helpful, thank you.” You could also sign off
with reminders like “I shall see you in class at 2 pm.” Customise
the ending according to the nature of your call but keep it open
and future-oriented.

Email

From: annmarie@abc.com, hoshangpmerch@abc.com

To: abccast2020@abcmail.co.in
CC: abcstaff2020@abcmail.co.in, abcgala@abcmail.co.in
Subject: Annual Office Gala – Committee Formation
Dear colleagues,
It’s that time of the year again! The annual office gala has been
scheduled for July 5th, Sunday, and we couldn’t be more
excited. Of course, we need an able team to coordinate and plan
the event, right down to the minutest details. We have attached a
list of tentative sub-committees, listing out responsibilities and
how many people we’ll need for each of them. Keep in mind that
these are broad lists and we can change it according to the
shape the gala takes this year.
The last date to apply for an organising role is May 31st, so
please do reply to us at the earliest.

Warmly,
Ann-Marie and Hoshang
Team Leads, ABC Ventures

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 Emails are an excellent tool to resort to for both short, quick
exchanges and longer discussions, especially when multiple people
have to be looped into the conversation. Consider the example
above: this is an email addressed to all the employees of a company.
Since the information has been conveyed in an email, there is no
hassle of figuring out a free slot in everyone’s schedules and
arranging for an in-person meeting or a conference call. People can
respond at their own pace and they don’t have to fight to make
themselves heard over the confusion of multiple people trying to
express their opinions on the same topic. Emails also allow for users
to share attachments (up to a reasonable limit in size) which greatly
increases their utility.

Since emails leave a trail, it’s useful to share important notifications

or reminders via email so people don’t forget they have been tasked
with something. This allows for vital information to stay on record and
not slip through the cracks, preventing misinterpretation or outright
misuse.

Social media

Sahil: Hey Rithika, weren’t you looking for internships with animation
studios?

Rithika: Yes! I want to pursue a career in animation after school, but

before I talk to my parents about this, I want to get an idea of what
the industry is like in India. I know some basic animation, but I want
to improve my work, learn about design schools, future opportunities
and so on, you know?

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Sahil: I figured. Anyway, there’s this digital artist I follow on Instagram
and she shared a funny meme by a friend of hers, so I simply checked
out that person’s profile. Turns out she’s an animator at this very cool
studio called Ghost Animation. They’re small but they’ve done a few
amazing short films which have been featured at very high-profile film
festivals.

Rithika: I’ve heard of them... based out of Kolkata, right?

Sahil: Yes. Apparently, they’re looking for interns. You should apply!

Rithika: Brilliant. Thank you for letting me know about this opportunity,
Sahil.

Social media has utterly transformed the landscape of communication

in ways too numerous to cover, but the most significant change it has
caused is this: we can follow, connect with and befriend even people
we don’t know or remember that well. This development means that it
is now exponentially easier to network to find newer opportunities or
simply to stay abreast of developments in your areas of interest.
Sahil found an internship opportunity for his friend, Rithika, via the
social media profiles of people whom he didn’t know personally!

Depending on the platform, social media allows for dialogue between

multiple perspectives (Facebook, Twitter discussion threads), makes
space for people to share their creativity (art and food profiles on
Instagram) and facilitates discovery of better professional
opportunities (sharing news of vacancies across multiple platforms
as well as LinkedIn). If designed and executed

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 well, a social media campaign can draw eyeballs to a good cause,
such as petitioning to stop construction in ecologically sensitive
areas. These are only few of the many positive influences of social
media; quite obviously, it can aid both professional and personal
growth.

Rakhi: Hey Sanju, mom was saying that you also quit the family
WhatsApp group. What happened?

Sanjana: Well, I pointed out that most of Uncle Manik’s forwarded

messages weren’t ‘news’ as he claimed they were, just random fake
things which just happened to have a small truth mixed with a whole
lot of huge lies. Let’s just say he didn’t take it very well.

Rakhi: Don’t tell me. He’s making memes targeting you now.
Especially your appearance. And none of the elders will lift a finger,
because they enjoy this outrageous nonsense too.

Social media also has its negative effects. There are trolls, bots and
fake accounts that harass people for having different opinions than
what is deemed ‘acceptable’ to hold. Look at how Sanjana’s relative
treated her badly just for disagreeing with him! The same relative
also shares unverified information from unknown sources, a practice
which has made it tougher to sort out fake news from facts and
legitimate news.

Above all, we are scrolling through social media mindlessly to the

point that our attention spans have dropped. Subconsciously, we
keep comparing our seemingly normal lives to other people who
seem to be living much cooler, interesting, happening lives on

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their social media accounts. This creates a vicious cycle where we
are competing with other people’s lives and forgetting to live our own.
To put it simply, social media is a double-edged sword that we need
to use with extreme caution.

DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGY SKILLS IN STUDENTS

Activity 1

Your friend has broken her leg and is confined to her hospital room.
She has access to her phone and laptop. Which technology would you
use to give her detailed instructions about the group assignment you
two were supposed to work on? Why? Remember that the assignment
involves a lot of visual material like charts and graphs

Activity 2

Make a list of the top three social media platforms that you use.
Monitor your usage time and activity on these platforms over a week.
What do you use these platforms most for? For each platform, list
three positive impacts they’ve had on you. What do you not like about
these platforms or how you behave on them? List three negative
effects and think about possible solutions to counter these.

Activity 3

Have a pretend phone call with a friend or a sibling about a topic that
they’re deeply interested in but you’re not too enthusiastic about.

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 Avoid distractions; pay attention to whatever they say. After the phone
call is over, try and answer these questions:

Why does your friend/sibling like that particular topic?

List two new pieces of information from that topic that you
learned from your friend/sibling during this conversation.
Write an email to a relative you haven’t talked to in a while,
sharing this new information that you’ve picked up.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Megha is unable to attend an in-person interview by a foundation that

gives out scholarships for higher studies, because the city where the
interview is to happen is under lockdown.

Which of the following should probably be used to assess whether

Megha is qualified for a scholarship?
a. Her social media profiles
b. An email interview
c. Questions sent on WhatsApp
d. An interview over video call

2. Amina volunteers at a shelter for differently abled kids every weekend.

She loves teaching the kids art and math. However, she recently
learned that the shelter is low on resources and is running out of
supplies. She has tried to reach out to local politicians and
businessmen for help, but no one has responded.

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 How will she draw large-scale attention to the shelter and ensure it
gets dequate money to stay functional?
a. Send an email to the politicians.
b. Start a social media campaign.
c. Complain to her friends on private chat.
d. Talk to her parents in person.

3. You are doing research on the history of graffiti in your city. You come
to know that an old, well-respected journalist has a personal archive of
photographs that could help you in your research.

How will you contact her and request access to the archive?
a.Send the journalist an SMS.
b. Write her a polite email.
c. Start a video call.
d. Tag her on a Facebook post.

4. Fida wants to quit the school athletics team because of personal

commitments.

How should she convey her decision to her coach?

a. Announce it on social media
b. Talk to the coach in person
c. Write an email to the coach
d. Conference call the whole team

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5. You frequently travel around your city to discover lesser-known cafes
and restaurants that serve great food. So far, only your family and
close friends know about the many great discoveries you have made
thus far.

If you want to talk in detail about the best of your finds to a wider
audience, what should you do?
a. Start a food blog about your experiences.
b. Write emails to foodies you know.
c. Add reviews on sites that rate restaurants.
d. Share your discoveries on Twitter.

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 CHAPTER 4
WRITING
“Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind through the
eye, is the great invention of the world...enabling us to converse with
the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and
space.”

- Abraham Lincoln, Speeches And Letters Of Abraham Lincoln,

1832-1865

Writing is the primary skill upon which one’s performance,

knowledge, and intellect is evaluated— be it in an academic space
or in a professional arena.

Developing an essential skill such as writing will equip students to

compose their thoughts, organise their ideas and arguments, and
share knowledge. Emphasis on the word ‘developing’ here, as it is a
skill that requires constant honing and perfecting. Beginning with the
simple alphabet, the grammar of writing gains complexity as a
student advances through grades. Being an important critical
thinking skill, learning how to write and learning how to write well
primes a young mind to step into a successful professional life.

Is there a profession that does not require writing, at least as a basic

skill? In the field of medicine, doctors and nurses are required to
record notes on ailing patients. Software developers, especially
start-ups of which we are seeing a boom in the present times, need
to write precise proposals and manuals. In addition, everyone with

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 a job is required to exchange emails and other written communication
with colleagues, superiors and clients. In a world run by appraisals,
a professional should be able to demonstrate accountability and
credibility through writing. In fact, one would not be wrong to deem
that writing decides how one is perceived by others.

Why is writing an important communication skill in the 21st century?

With digital technology surging ahead, there are writers everywhere-

in blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, emails, and numerous other
platforms. Even a video, which is clearly a visual media, begins with a
well-written script. Writing is no longer restricted to person to person
but has expanded widely to person to masses. Every post, tweet or
caption can be used to communicate a message to the world.
The ability to communicate well through writing can open many
doors for you.

INDICATORS OF GOOD WRITING

When can you call a piece of writing good? Let's look at a few aspects
that indicate that a piece of writing is successful and effective.

The language used is clear and concise

Manasa and Priya are participants in an essay writing competition.

The topic for the essay is ‘Plastic Ban’. Let’s take a look at the
introductory paragraph of their essays.

Manasa’s essay

Did you know that plastic was invented with the intention of

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 conserving nature? Before plastics, everything was made of
wood, ceramics, ivory or metal. There is a limited supply of these
materials on our planet. Therefore, the invention of plastic was
considered a blessing. It is ironic that the same blessing soon
turned into a bane to the natural world. Now, plastic has become
a virus that plagues the natural world, invading and encroaching
oceans, deserts and forests.

Priya’s Essay

The earth with its verdant valleys, gushing waterfalls and

impenetrable rainforests is now under the threat of the raging
monster- plastic. Imagine a green world, one where you can
count a hundred shades of green in a single patch of forest, a
hundred thousand species of marine life in a single ocean and a
gazillion varieties of animals and birds flourishing on earth,
unafraid of impending extinction.

After reading the excerpts, who do you think won the competition?
Manasa or Priya?

Manasa! The reason Manasa won the competition is that her writing is
clear and concise. The introduction of her essay was interesting as it
provided thought-provoking pieces of information. The reader can
easily understand that the essay is related to the harmful effects that
plastic has had on nature. The language she has used ensures that
the message she wants to convey is clear. Most of her sentences are
short and have less than 15 words. According to Martin Cutts, author
of Oxford Guide to Plain English, an ideal sentence should have only
15-20 words.

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 On the other hand, Priya’s writing has a lot of unnecessary adjectives
that distract the reader from the main topic of the essay. She has
spent more time describing the beauty of the planet earth than
introducing the topic of the competition- Plastic Ban. It is easy for a
reader to become distracted from key points if the writing is so
complex and dramatic. You may also notice that her sentences
are quite long, especially the second sentence in her essay.
Unnecessarily long sentences can confuse the reader and result
in the reader losing interest in the piece of writing.

How to make your writing clear and concise

Use short sentences

The easiest way to ensure that your writing conveys the

message clearly is to use short sentences. If you think about it,
longer sentences also mean greater grammatical complexity.
A sentence that begins with present tense can easily change to
past if it goes on for more than 25 words!

Do not repeat similar ideas

Another way to ensure clarity is to not repeat similar ideas.

Take another look at Priya’s essay. She begins by describing the
forests, waterfalls, and valleys. In the next sentence also, she
speaks about similar ideas. This does not add any value to her
writing. Instead, this makes her writing redundant and unclear.

Do not use overly dramatic language

Using similes and metaphors does add value to the language;

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 however, excessive use of such dramatic tools can distract your
reader. Priya’s essay uses too many adjectives which has made
her essay wordy. However, Manasa has used the concept of
metaphors quite effectively by comparing plastic to a virus.

It is audience specific

The act of writing a good piece begins before you pick up a pen or
type into your computer. It begins by identifying your audience. In a
school auditorium, your audience may be students who are easily
distracted. In a persuasive essay, your target is an opinionated reader
who should be swayed by your argument. If you are a news reporter,
your audience is the common masses who are looking for information
of national or international importance. If you are a student, your
reader is a teacher who is reading to evaluate your understanding of
the subject.

Given below are WhatsApp text messages that Paul wishes to send to
invite people to his birthday party.

Text A:

Hi! I am having a party at my place at 8.00 PM as it’s my

birthday and you are invited! No excuses, you’ve to come!
I promise lots of cake and games. See you then!

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 Text B:

Hello. Today is my birthday and I am having a small party at my

house at 8.00 PM for friends and family. Please join us for an
evening of fun and food. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Who do you think these texts were sent to?

Judging by the language he has used to write his texts, Text A has
been written for friends and people who he is really close to. As for
Text B, the language used suggests that it was written for people who
are perhaps superior to him or someone who he knows in a formal
capacity, perhaps a tutor, teacher etc.

This example aims to show how language changes when the receiver
of a message, that is the reader or audience changes.

How to make sure that your writing is audience specific

Formal or informal language?

Keep your audience in mind while writing. Are your readers

going to be young or aged? Is your target audience going to be
friends and family or is it going to be a more official setting? Are
you going to be evaluated based on the piece of writing?

These are a few questions you can ask yourself before choosing
formal or informal language. Both styles are useful provided that
it is used with the appropriate audience.

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Use of technical terms

Do your readers comprise laypersons or experts? Using too

many technical terms in your writing can hinder the
understanding of a layperson. However, you can use technical
and subject-specific terms if you are writing for experts in the
field. To explain this further, try going through a college level
physics textbook and your own physics textbook. You are sure
to see the difference in the way things are explained.

Choosing relatable examples

Look at this excerpt taken from a story.

As Donna entered the forest, she could sense the magic it held
in every leaf and branch. She walked forward, surely but
cautiously, only to fall headfirst into a deep pit much like the
one that Mario falls into in his pursuit to save the princess in
Super Mario.

Here the writer has used a metaphor to describe the pit that
Donna falls into. However, many may not understand the
metaphor used here as they are not familiar with the game of
Super Mario. Super Mario is a video game in which the main
character, Mario goes on adventures tackling obstacles in
his path.

Let’s look at the same excerpt with a different ending.

As Donna entered the forest, she could sense the magic it held
in every leaf and branch. She walked forward, surely but

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 cautiously, only to fall headfirst into a pit so deep that she felt
she was being sucked into the centre of the earth.

This description of the deep pit is relatable to any reader and

they will find it easy to picture the pit as they read the story.

Using examples and anecdotes that are relevant to the audience

is essential as it will affect the way they understand and visualize
what you have written.

It will have a clear purpose

Given below are three emails written by Priya. Let’s read and
analyse them.

Dear Rekha,

I will be on leave next week. I am going on holiday with

my family. We are planning to drive to my parents’ home
in Kolkata, then spend a few days in Darjeeling before
coming back to Bangalore by Sunday.

I will see you soon.

Bye

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 Dear Arun,

We are starting from Bangalore at 6.30 AM sharp on

Saturday. Please reconsider and join us on our trip. I’m
sure that Gita and the kids would love to join us. We have
not gone anywhere together in a long time and we would
love for you to come with us. Our house in Kolkata can
accommodate all of us comfortably. And I know you and
Gita have never been to Darjeeling. Please do come.

We’ll call you tonight to discuss the travel details.

Dear Payal,

Please make sure that the files required for my meeting

tomorrow are ready by this evening. Ensure that the clients
are aware of the change in timings. I will also need you to
call a full office meeting this evening. Attendance is
compulsory.

Thank you.

Can you identify the purpose of each email? Which one was written to
persuade? Which one was written to inform? Which one was written to
command?

Let’s look at the answers.

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 The first email was written by Priya to inform Rekha of her upcoming
trip. Specific details such as where she is going and when she will be
back has been included in the email.

The second email was written by Priya to persuade Arun and his
family to join them on their trip. She clearly gives reasons like
comfortable accommodation to influence his decision.

The third email was written by Priya to instruct or command Payal to

complete certain tasks. She lists the tasks and the timing by when
they should be complete.

Just as each of Priya’s emails has a clear purpose, any piece of

writing should have clear sense of purpose. This purpose would also
play a part, along with the type of audience, in deciding the formality
of language to be used. As you can see the emails to Rekha and Arun
are more informal than the one written to Payal. Similarly, you will also
have to consider the purpose and audience before writing in formal or
informal language.

It is coherent and organized

Try and understand what has been given below.

I felt really tired, so, I decided to go to bed early that night. My

brother and I had just gone out to fetch a Christmas tree. We
found Christmas decorations in an old cardboard box in the attic.

Was that easy to understand? No, it wasn’t, right? Was it because

there were any grammatical or spelling errors? No! Then why was it

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difficult to understand? It was not coherent! The quality of being
logical and consistent, the quality of forming a unified whole.is called
coherence. If your writing is not coherent, your readers will be as
appalled as you were when you read the paragraph given above!

THE ART OF WRITING

Writing is an art, but it is also a skill. So, like any other skill, there
are processes and techniques you can follow to ensure that it is
constantly improving. Let’s look at some of the techniques to ensure
good writing.

Planning your writing

The first step is to make a mind map of the essay just before you start
writing it. A mind map is basically how you imagine the structure of
your essay to be: how many paragraphs, the points you want to cover
in these paragraphs and so on. This mind map can, of course, be
done according to what kind of essay you’re writing. But why do you
need a mind-map in the first place? With the help of the map, you can
decide which points should be added and which ones can be omitted.
You can decide what order the points should appear in. If you’ve
made a map, you won’t forget to include these points in your final,
written essay. You can also keep referring to the mind map in the
process of writing the essay in order to track your progress.

The mind map of a typical five-paragraph essay would look something

like this:

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 Intorduction Introduce the topic
[ 1 Paragraph ] Set the context

Body Idea1 + Evidence

Idea2 + Evidence
[ 3 Paragraphs ]
Idea2 + Evidence

Conclusion
Sum up points
[ 1 Paragraph ]

Creating a clear flow with your choice of words

The relationships between ideas you’re expressing in a piece of

writing might vary greatly. Sometimes, you’ll have to give examples for
an idea. At other times, you might have to introduce a new idea, which
might be opposite to what you have said so far. Therefore, to show
these different types of relationships between ideas, you will have to
use different types of transition words. Let’s look at these one by one,
shall we?

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Agreement/Addition/Similarity

Transition words like also, and, and in addition to can help add
information and show agreement with ideas that you have already
mentioned in your writing. Here are more words and phrases that you
can use to introduce similar ideas and show agreement:

Not only … but also

Example:

The charges of corruption are not only complicated but also

shameful for a party that has claimed to be honest.

Likewise

Example:

Just feed these fishes twice a week, and likewise, the ones in
the other aquarium.

Furthermore

Example:

The metro has increased tourism. Furthermore, it’s a huge asset

to the working population.

Coupled with

Example:

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 Coupled with landslides, the rains this year have taken a greater
toll than the last two combined.

Moreover

Example:

Water supply should be restored as soon as possible. Moreover,

water quality needs to be improved.

Equally important

Example:

She is the first gymnast over 40 to win this. Equally important is

the fact that the gymnast succeeded with next to nil support from
this country’s sporting institutions.

Other words and phrases you can use to show agreement or similarity
and introduce extra details are:

Similarly, as well as, additionally and in addition to.

Opposition/Contrast

You will frequently use transition words and phrases like but, rather
and or to point out ideas that are opposing the ideas that you have
written about so far. You could also be suggesting alternative ideas.
For this, you can use words or phrases that show opposition or
contrast. Here are some examples:

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On the contrary

Example:

It was expected that the government would come to the farmers’

rescue. On the contrary, it chose to defend the encroachers.

On the other hand

Example:

On one hand, the policy is a step in the right direction to save

water. On the other hand, the new policy might lead to increased
fuel consumption.

Nevertheless

Example:

Rates are at their highest ever. Nevertheless, it is important that

we try to resolve the trade issue through bilateral talks.

In contrast

Example:

This lawyer had a slow and steady career. In contrast, the former
lawyer’s rise in politics was a rapid, astonishing one.

Conversely

Example:

The staff of any organisation are its best ambassadors

or, conversely, may be its worst.
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 Although this may be true

Example:

Although the legends may be true, there remains no verifiable

record of the existence of such a figure.

But, however, whereas, despite and although are some more words
you can use to indicate contrast.

Cause/Condition

Sometimes, you might have to show that a certain event or action

causes another. Or, one event or action could be setting a condition
for another event or action to happen. Here are some phrases that
set conditions or indicate the cause of a certain event or situation:

In the hope that

Example:

The document was created in the hope that women could get
medical treatment without too much judgement.

In order to

Example:

In order to survive the harsh conditions of deep-sea diving,

practitioners undergo rigorous training.

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 Provided that/Given that

Example:

Given that the community has the privilege of availing such

quality education, it is shameful that they have chosen to destroy
schools.

In the event that

Example:

In the event that ISRO does succeed in re-establishing contact

with the lander, it would be a jubilant moment for the Indian
space project.

As long as

Example:

As long as the judiciary remains independent, we have cause to

be hopeful.

With this in mind

Example:

With this in mind, we should proceed with the drafting of the law.
For the purpose of, because of, due to, unless, since and so on are
some other words and phrases to establish conditions or causality.
You may also use if … then statements for the same purpose.

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 The staff of any organisation are its best ambassadors or,
conversely, may be its worst.

Although this may be true

Example:

Although the legends may be true, there remains no verifiable

record of the existence of such a figure.

But, however, whereas, despite and although are some more words
you can use to indicate contrast.

Cause/Condition

Sometimes, you might have to show that a certain event or action

causes another. Or, one event or action could be setting a condition for
another event or action to happen. Here are some phrases that set
conditions or indicate the cause of a certain event or situation:

In the hope that

Example:

The document was created in the hope that women could get
medical treatment without too much judgement.

In order to

Example:

In order to survive the harsh conditions of deep-sea diving,

practitioners undergo rigorous training.

131
 Provided that/Given that

Example:

Given that the community has the privilege of availing such

quality education, it is shameful that they have chosen to destroy
schools.

In the event that

Example:

In the event that ISRO does succeed in re-establishing contact

with the lander, it would be a jubilant moment for the Indian
space project.

As long as

Example:

As long as the judiciary remains independent, we have cause to

be hopeful.

With this in mind

Example:

With this in mind, we should proceed with the drafting of the law.

For the purpose of, because of, due to, unless, since and so on are
some other words and phrases to establish conditions or causality.
You may also use if … then statements for the same purpose.

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 Effect/Consequence

Transition words like thus, then and so on are words that show that a
certain action, event or situation had certain effects or
consequences. Here are some more such words:

Therefore

Example:

Therefore, the success of the project must be attributed to the

tireless efforts of this team of researchers.

As a result

Example:

As a result of the continued burning of crops, the pollution

levels rose by 38%.

Consequently

Example:

Consequently, the government lost its majority, and snap

elections were announced.

Accordingly

Example:

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The department knew its limitations and charted out a plan
accordingly.

Thus, then and hence are some other words you can use to point out
the consequences or effects of an event or action.

Examples

A lot of times, you will need to provide examples to clearly convey

your ideas. ‘For example’ and ‘for instance’ are some commonly used
phrases to introduce examples. Here are a few more:

To illustrate this

Example:

The popularity of the new chain of cafes is more than enough to

illustrate Chef Anusha’s point that this market has a lot of
potential.

To name a few

Example:

Nut butters have become popular as vegan substitutes for

regular butter. Almond butter, cashew butter and peanut butter,
to name a few, are widely available in the market.

This is exemplified by

Example:
This trend in moving towards eco-friendly everyday products is
exemplified by the increase in sales of metal straws,
wooden combs and bamboo toothbrushes.

134
 By way of example

Example:

There are a number of improvements in this version of the

game. By way of example, the levels can be replayed infinitely.

Emphasis/Stress

Sometimes, you might want to draw your reader’s attention to an

important point. In such cases, you will have to emphasise or stress
on that point. Here are some words and phrases that you can use to
stress a certain idea:

In other words

Example:

In other words, the supposed success of Theranos was a huge

scam.

To put it differently

Example:

To put it differently, sustainable alternatives like menstrual cups

could be a huge game-changer for millions who do not have
access to quality menstrual hygiene products.

Another key point

Example:

135
 Another key point that bolsters the CEO’s argument is the sales
projection for the next quarter.

In particular

Example:

The child was drawn to the doll’s house, in particular.

It must be remembered

Example:

It must be remembered that these accomplishments were not a

lucky coincidence but the result of decades’ worth of sustained
efforts.

Especially, specifically, significantly, particularly, certainly, surely and

notably are other words that you can use to emphasise or stress on
certain points.

Time/Sequence

Often, in your writing, you will have to show that a set of events
happened in a certain order. Or, you might have to indicate that time
has passed between one situation and another. Let’s look at some
words and phrases that will help you indicate time or sequence.

136
 Some words indicate that a certain event is happening during
or along with some other event. For example:

At the same time

Example:

At the same time, on the other side of the world, efforts to find a
cure were progressing slowly.

In the meantime

Example:

In the meantime, the state machinery had been rendered

completely inefficient.

Meanwhile and simultaneously are two other words that you can use
to say that two or more events were happening at the same time.

If you want to show the specific order in which a certain series of

events happened, you can use a numbered sequence such as

First, second, third

Example:

A number of things went wrong in the process. First, the pistons

were jammed from years of inactivity. Second, the machines
weren’t even calibrated to handle the new input.

137
 Some words can be used to tell that a certain event happened
after another. For example:

Eventually

Example:

Eventually, it dawned on the teachers that it wasn’t the concepts

themselves that the students were struggling with, but the
medium of instruction.

Subsequently

Example:

She was hospitalised on account of a severe drug overdose.

Subsequently, she vanished from public life without a trace.

Later, next and following are some other words that you can use to
show that something happened after an event.

When you need to specify that a certain event or occurrence

happened in the past, you can use words such as

Formerly

Example:

Formerly a neglected department of the Wayne Enterprises, the

R&D wing is now its most prized asset.

Prior to

138
 Example:

Prior to a brief stint as a volunteer at the pet shelter, she had

served as the vet’s assistant.

Other words and phrases that you can use to establish the progress
of time or a sequence of events are immediately, by the time, until
now, now that, occasionally and suddenly.

Conclusion

Finally, we come to writing the concluding portion of your essay or

article. Here are some words and phrases that will help your reader
understand that you are ending your piece:

To sum up

Example:

To sum up, the new higher education policy is a document with

an interesting vision, but it remains to be seen how well it can
be translated into reality.

In conclusion

Example:

In conclusion, it is high time that the scope of the sedition law

be revisited.

As can be seen

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 Example:

As can be seen, we need to pay greater attention to the

ecological effects of the issue.

In the long run

Example:

In the long run, this decision will lead to peace and harmony.

On the whole

Example:

On the whole, it is up to the people of the colony to decide how

they want to renovate their common spaces.

Other words and phrases that can be used to conclude your writing
are overall, to summarise, in essence, ulti

HOW TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS

Read, read, and read

The more you read -- especially novels and literary works, but
also magazines and newspapers – the more writing you will be
exposed to. Read different kinds of writing to understand each
style and try to mimic these styles.

Improve your vocabulary

You can do this in fun ways. Attempting crossword puzzles

and other word puzzles, playing Scrabble with your
friends and family and so on.
140
 Keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy

While a dictionary will give you the meaning of words, a

thesaurus will give you antonyms and synonyms of the word.
You end up learning not just one word, but many!

Keep a journal

Writing a journal or a diary entry every day will keep you in the
habit of writing. Soon, you will discover that you don’t have
trouble starting an essay or any piece of writing for that matter.

Use writing prompts

You can ask your teacher or parent to give you a topic or a

sentence as a writing prompt. You will also find several
websites online that provide you with daily writing prompts.
Here are some examples.

Write about a fight between you and your best friend.

What is your biggest fear?
Describe your favourite holiday spot.

Be your own editor

Often, we forget to read our own writing after we finish.

The result is countless spelling and tense errors, incoherent
paragraphs and unnecessary words and phrases. Always
remember to take time to read your own writing. When you do

141
 this, you can eliminate most of these errors on your own as well
as understand the most common errors you make.

Practise writing every day

Imagine that you are preparing for a swimming competition. You

read about the correct hand movement to follow when swimming
and watch videos about the best breathing techniques. You sit in
your room for days doing research, reading and practising the
breathing techniques. Now that you have all the knowledge
about swimming, do you think you can win the contest?

Instead, what if you find a swimming pool? The first day, you try
to walk in the water and move your hands. The second day you
hold on to the edge of the pool and practise kicking your legs.
After a few days, you decide to finally take the plunge, jump into
the deep end of the pool and swim to the edge of the pool.
The first time may be difficult, but as days pass you find that it is
becoming easier. You keep practising and finally you are able to
swim the length of the pool.

Don’t you think if you follow the second scenario, you have
better chances at winning the contest?

While speaking and conversing comes naturally to most of us, writing

requires a lot of effort and more importantly, practise. Most famous
writers would tell you that, the magic they weave on pages is the
result of many years of practise. If you look at the history of civilisation
itself, man learned to speak first and then write. However, one thing is
clear. Whatever is written becomes permanent. Spoken words fade
and are forgotten. Therefore, it is fair to say that written
communication is an essential skill.
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 SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following is not a piece of informational writing?

a. Literary fiction
b. Biography
c. Blog
d. Personal essay

2. Which among the given options is not an essential step in all writing
processes?
a. Editing
b. Outlining
c. Research for evidence
d. Drafting

3. Which of the following is the best concluding sentence for an essay

on the topic ‘School uniforms – yes or no’?
a. School uniforms should be made mandatory for the five
reasons stated above that show clearly how the contrasting
situation may play out.

b. Public schools should mandate the wearing of school

uniforms within the premises as it aims to benefit the
students and the society in the long run.

c. Society must come to a conclusion whether expression of

individuality should weigh above equality or consistent academic
performance.

143
 d. Finally, school uniforms would ensure that all students,
regardless of their background, would feel equal.

4. Which of the following words would you use to introduce the

consequence of a previous action?
a. Likewise
b. In addition
c. Eventually
d. In effect

5. Read this excerpt from an essay written by Ali on the topic

‘Mother-tongues in danger’

The basic purpose of any language is to communicate! It is the

responsibility of the people concerned to preserve/enrich their
respective native languages and pass on to the generations next
to keep their culture and civilisation alive. Therefore, using a
language regularly, and spreading the same is the key to its
sustainability and eternity. However, of late, I have seen, in fact
closely observed, a tendency on the part of the people to use the
English language extensively; disregarding their mother-tongue.

What makes this paragraph unnecessarily complicated?

a. Long complicated sentences

b. Overuse of punctuation
c. Challenging vocabulary
d. Incorrect use of commas

144
 CHAPTER 5
CHARISMA
Name a few charming, magnetic personalities – historical,
contemporary or an acquaintance even.

What makes them irreplaceable? What is it that makes these names

irreplaceable in history? What about them appeals to you? Describe
in a word or adjective, why these people are liked by all. The answer
is – charisma!

Charisma is that indefinable quality of a person who can walk into a

room and immediately become the centre of attention. He or she
need not speak or be uncharacteristically handsome or beautiful,
they merely need to exist.

IS CHARISMA AN INNATE QUALITY?

Sushmita Sen, beloved Bollywood actor, model, education activist

and philanthropist, in every interview that she gives, exudes
confidence and positivity. She is a spokesperson for girls’ education
and empowerment in India and is actively involved in many
philanthropic activities. She spreads positivity through her messages
on social media platforms. She seems to be the epitome of
confidence and poise. However, she recently shared a video from
her childhood on a popular photo sharing platform. The video
features her seventeen-year-old self in a school photograph,
standing quietly in a corner. She describes herself as ‘shy and
introverted’ in the caption below the video.

145
What might have changed an introverted, quiet teenager to an
outgoing star that thousands look up to with admiration? Before
answering this question, let us acknowledge that such a conversion
is indeed possible. The example of Sushmita Sen demonstrates that
charisma is a skill that can be developed over time.

In this chapter, we shall look at the qualities and behaviour that

distinguishes a charismatic personality from others. We shall also
look at how to develop these qualities to become a better
communicator.

WHAT CONSTITUTES CHARISMA?

Presence

Read about Harry’s experience at the silver jubilee celebrations of his

company.

I was seated at the table allotted to the junior employees. I had

joined the company only a week ago and was still in the
process of making friends with my peers. I was waiting for
someone to come sit by me so that I could begin a conversation
and hopefully, make a friend. Soon enough, another junior
employee came and sat beside me. She introduced herself as
Jhanvi. We spoke about our experience at the company so far.
She seemed like a very interesting person. As we spoke, I
noticed that she kept glancing at her phone, which kept beeping
with notification alerts. We continued our conversation;
however, I found her constant phone-checking rather
distracting. She seemed to be distressed or annoyed with the
person who was chatting with her on her phone. I had to
even ask the same question a couple of times

146
 to get an answer. Eventually, I decided to shift my focus to someone
who would actually listen to me. I guess Jhanvi and I are not going to
be friends just yet.

Is completely engaging in a conversation such a difficult task? For

most, yes. Especially now when our smart phones have become an
extension of our arms. But for someone equipped with charisma,
being fully present and invested in a conversation is very important.
Such a person would see the man or woman standing in front of
them and be able to give them complete, unequivocal attention as a
result of genuine interest in what they have to say.

Emotional intelligence

Let’s take an example from Indian history to elaborate on the

emotional intelligence of charismatic leaders.

This is a story from the year 1939, when India was struggling
for independence and great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi were
organising themselves against the British empire. It was during
this time that another rising leader stood up against Gandhiji’s
ideals of non-violence and peaceful methods. This leader also
went on to contest against Gandhiji and his nominee in an
important election and won as well. However, Gandhiji was
unshaken. He congratulated him and went on to call this said
leader “the prince among patriots.” Books have been written
about their friendship and camaraderie even though they did
not share perspectives.

Were you able to guess who this leader was?

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It was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Gandhiji was unhindered by the success of Netaji. He remained the

kind, calm person that all Indians know him to be. Such is the
charisma of a great leader. Charismatic leaders and personalities with
high emotional intelligence are always conscious of their state of
emotions. Clarity reigns in their minds and bodies at all times.
Interestingly, they are also capable of gauging the emotions and
sensibilities of those around them which enables them to provide the
required support and assistance to those that need it. They are able to
take appropriate action by carefully considering the body language
and verbal or non-verbal cues of those around them.

Assertiveness

Consider the other iconic character in the story just told. Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose, who stood steadfast in his beliefs, even if it
was against someone he himself respected. His actions, as quoted
above, did not hurt Gandhiji but gained him the support of many.

To be assertive is to be able to influence and to command without

being overbearing or disrespectful. An assertive person is able to
induce confidence in others, so much so that they are willing to do as
he or she instructs.

Authenticity

A genuine concern and consideration for others is key in a charismatic

personality. This genuineness also translates to the way they conduct
themselves. What they say, they do. Charismatic people display
unquestioned conviction towards their beliefs and principles.

148
 Again, take for example Mahatma Gandhi, who is supposed to have
been a meek and naïve man until his education as a lawyer. The
hardships and discrimination that he experienced in his life resulted
in the formation of a strong foundation of principles. The conviction in
his own principles changed the fate of not one but two countries.

Drive

Reflect on any of the personalities mentioned so far. Be it someone

contemporary such as Sushmita Sen, or someone from the glorious
past, such as the Mahatma or Netaji, they all display integrity and
passion towards the principles that they truly believe in. While
Sushmita Sen continues to inspire and motivate people on her ideals
of woman empowerment and girls’ education through social media
and activism, Gandhiji and Netaji continue to gain followers through
the legacy they have left behind.

A charismatic person is able to transfer their drive and passion to

others as well. You could refer to this as contagious enthusiasm and
energy.

Affability and humility

For all these qualities, they remain affable and humble in their
interactions with people. They are approachable and eager to help
those in need of assistance.

How many of these qualities do you have? Well, as fantastic as it

sounds, all these qualities can be developed as skills.

149
HOW TO DEVELOP CHARISMA?

Let’s look at a few ways in which you can adopt the persona of a
charismatic communicator.

Invest your attention in others

The body language that you employ around others can also show how
invested you are in their interests. Constant shuffling of feet or
twiddling of thumbs make it apparent that you are not paying attention.
Plant your feet firmly and always face people when they are speaking
to you. Lean slightly towards them. Uncross your arms to show you
are open to new ideas.

Practise eye contact. Maintaining eye contact fosters trust as has

been discussed in an earlier chapter devoted to eye contact.

The concept is simple: show the person that they are important by
listening and devoting that point of time to their words.

Build confidence in yourself

We are our own worst critics. Sometimes, it becomes very easy to

pick out flaws in ourselves and this undermines our confidence. Here
are a few simple activities that will, if practised regularly, help you gain
more confidence in yourself.

Make a list of the qualities you love about yourself – physical and
behavioural.

Record your good deeds and accomplishments on a daily basis.

150
 When faced with failure, tell yourself that it is merely an
opportunity to grow and better yourself.

If you have a speech or a similar activity coming up, practise as

much as you can.

Help someone who is not as accomplished or privileged as you

are.

Ask for feedback from your peers and your betters on your
performances.

Build rapport with others

It is only through building rapport that you can have strong,

meaningful relationships. The effort that you take to build rapport
shows your genuine interest in the other person. Let us look at a few
pointers to build rapport with peers.

There is nothing more distracting than a distracted listener. We

have already discussed the concept of active listening in an
earlier chapter. Listen actively when someone is speaking to
you – listen to empathise and to give valuable input, not just out
of politeness. More importantly, let them talk. We all love to talk
about ourselves, don’t we?

Pay genuine, detailed compliments. Rather than saying, “well

done”, you can say, “I really liked the way you had designed
your slides for today’s presentation.”

151
 Ask to know people’s names and remember them. This makes
people feel that they are memorable which in turn makes you
memorable in their eyes.

Find relatable topics to discuss. You can easily impress another

person by talking about something they may not be aware of.
But what builds rapport in relationships is meaningful
conversations that are relevant to both parties.

Communicate to connect

Rather than communicating to inform, communicate to connect with

other people. This lets the others know that you are approachable,
and they are then more likely to engage with you in a more genuine
manner.

Making small talk is awkward, often dreary as well. Prepare a

few general topics that peers of your age group may know of and
enjoy. Instant connection is guaranteed.

Use humour to make them feel comfortable around. The person

who made you laugh and the people you laugh with are never
forgotten. However, be sensitive in your joking as well.

Share personal anecdotes and stories. Ask for personal

experiences and stories. Sharing stories will strengthen
connections.

Emulate qualities that you like in people

Try to mimic the qualities that you admire in others. Watch how

152
 charismatic personalities speak, conduct and hold themselves and
then try to mirror these qualities. Adapt these mannerisms and give
them your own colour and tone.

Practise these methods and gradually they will become an integral

part of your behaviour. However, above all, remember to be yourself.
Charisma comes naturally when you truly feel secure in being who
you are.

NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF CHARISMA

Mahatma Gandhi was a charismatic person, but so was Adolf Hitler.

Batman had charisma, but so did the Joker. As is the case of any
coin, charisma also has two sides. A charismatic leader can easily
lose his or her way under the hypnosis of their own power to
influence others.

As a charismatic speaker, you owe the people who may be

influenced by you, accountability for your words. It seems
unreasonable to not quote Uncle Ben of Spider-Man fame at this
point – “With great power comes great responsibility.”

We have discussed 5 paramount factors of communication, their

importance in the 21st century and how to develop them to become
better communicators. From personality development to career
progression, you will find these pages exceedingly helpful.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Which of these is essential in a charismatic communicator?

153
 a. Written communication
b. Promoting self
c. Poise
d. Innate leadership skills

2. In her book, The Charisma Myth, Olivia Fox Cabane speaks about
tech-entrepreneur, Elon Musk, in the following way.

As he’ll tell you himself, Musk is very much an introvert. In

Tesla’s open office space, his nearly empty desk is in the
far-right corner, two huge monitors arranged to create a cocoon,
shielding him from the rest of the office. However, when he
emerges from behind the screens … You can feel the intensity of
his attention, how keenly he listens to and absorbs everything
you say. He doesn’t need to say a word to show you that he
understands you; his nonverbal body language makes you feel
completely listened to …

Based on the given text, which aspect of charisma has Elon Musk
mastered?
a. Posture
b. Emotional intelligence
c. Drive
d. Presence

3. Charisma is a combination of several behaviours that are considered

exemplary, one of which is giving those around you your undivided
attention.

154
 Which of these actions will you employ to make someone feel heard?
a. Use gestures to accompany your points.
b. Keep your phone on silent mode.
c. Refuse to talk to anyone else present.
d. Interrupt the speaker to ask questions.

4. Consider the following scenario.

My friend, Kiran, narrated an incident that happened in his class

a while ago. A new student had joined their class and was
being laughed at because of his poor language skills. Although
Kiran wished to speak up against the bullying, he couldn’t as he
felt it would be too embarrassing. However, as he was telling
me about this incident, I could see that he was feeling very
guilty for not speaking up.

Which of these qualities, essential in a charismatic personality, is

lacking in Kiran?
a. Communication
b. Presence
c. Affability
d. Assertiveness

5. Read this journalist’s experience while working with a charismatic

personality.

155
My cameraman and I had been assigned to work with an actor known
for her magnetic personality. Our job was to follow her about and take
candid pictures of her for a week. One day, when we were on our way
to the studio, she unexpectedly asked the car to drop us at the local
station. We watched her discreetly wind her way through the crowd
and get into the train. She quietly sat down in a corner and
surprisingly, no one recognised her. It was as if she had become a
completely different person. She kept her head down, shoulders
slouched throughout the journey. We got down at the station nearest
to the studio. When we reached the set, we watched in awe as she
transformed back into the captivating persona the world knew her
to be.

How did the actor switch between an ordinary personality and a

charismatic one?
a. By being authentic.
b. By using appropriate gestures.
c. By changing her body language.
d. By becoming more affable.

156
 CHAPTER 6
SUGGESTED READING
BOOKS

Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis

A leading authority on the English language, Norman Lewis might

seem like a bit of a challenge initially, but his books will turn out to
be lifelong companions. The first focuses on strengthening your
vocabulary, encouraging you to use words more precisely. Lewis
traces the etymology – or the origins – of the words and connects a
word to other words of similar origin, making it easier for readers to
remember the meanings of these words.

Better English by Norman Lewis

In Better English, Lewis turns his attention to the fundamentals of

English grammar and how you can get them right.

Wren and Martin’s High School English Grammar and

Composition

An old classic that your parents might be familiar with! It is exactly

what it says on the cover – a handy reference guide to grammar as
well as writing structured paragraphs to various ends. Look for the
latest, revised edition of the book, as it was first published in 1935.

How to Develop Self-Confidence and Improve Public Speaking

by Dale Carnegie

157
From the author of the ever-popular How to Win Friends and Influence
People, this book is designed to help you overcome your fear of public
speaking, gain self-confidence and learn to enjoy addressing groups
of people.

WEBSITES

E Reading Worksheets

https://www.ereadingworksheets.com/writing/

Find plenty of grade appropriate writing resources and prompts with

templates to ease your way towards writing better essays.

Write Out Loud

https://www.write-out-loud.com/

Resources and free online courses on how to master the art of public
speaking by letting go of your fears.

Improve your self-confidence with 5 techniques

https://www.udemy.com/course/improve-your-self-confidence-with-5-t
echniques-and-hypnosis/?LSNPUBID=ZyRbSLJoru8&ranEAID=ZyRb
SLJoru8&ranMID=39197&ranSiteID=ZyRbSLJoru8-8CPIyc84VJ4aUS
a1p9ka_A&utm_medium=udemyads&utm_source=aff-campaign

A course on personality development on Udemy

158
 ARTICLES

Speaking Face-to-Face: How to Work a Room in the Digital Age

by Susan Roane in The Toastmaster (Oct 2013), pg. 16

https://www.toastmasters.org/~/media/F560EE07D8CC4A59BF396F
772FC85E36.ashx

How Technology Has Changed Public Speaking by Denise

Graveline in The Toastmaster (Oct 2013), pg. 22

https://www.toastmasters.org/~/media/F560EE07D8CC4A59BF396F
772FC85E36.ashx

What Great Listeners Actually Do by Jack Zenger and Joseph

Folkman

https://hbr.org/2016/07/what-great-listeners-actually-do

AUDIO VISUAL INPUTS

Smash Boom Best!

https://open.spotify.com/show/3tOJdo0LrOrYPMPf7wIB9w?si=4c5e5
PrbRquHdpjOZn40MA#login

A fun way to activate your listening and debating skills. Smash Boom
Best is a debate podcast for kids and families from the makers of the
podcast, Brains On. The debaters speak in support of their chosen
topics and then a judge who is a child, decides who made the better
argument.

159
How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking by Danish Dhamani
at TEDx Kids at SMU

https://youtu.be/80UVjkcxGmA

In this TED Talk, Danish Dhamani discusses how he overcame his

fear of public speaking is key and unlocked his true potential.

Skills Every Child Will Need to Succeed in 21st century by

Dr. Laura A. Jana at TEDx Chandigarh

https://youtu.be/z_1Zv_ECy0g

Laura. A. Jana is an award-winning author and pediatrician speaks

about the current educational system and how to supplement it to
become better 21st century citizens.

160
TCS iON Life Long Learning is a series of digital learning
products to help learners Reboot, Reorient and Reinvent
themselves every day and shape their future.
TCS iON IntelliGem, an aptitude contest to create on
understanding and appreciation of the various
21st Century Competencies.

IntelliGem Offers
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

CREATIVITY & INNOVATION

FINANCIAL LITERACY

UNIVERSAL VALUES

Tata Consultancy Services Limited

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