Twice last week I encountered speakers with a high number of UPMs: Uhms Per Minute.

I was willing to forgive one of them.  His UPMs were around 16. I wasn’t so easy on the other guy.  His UPMs were around 12, but they were more disruptive.

I’m not sure why.  Let me blog out loud.

The guy with the higher UPM rate was older, and the Chairman of a company.  He spoke with quiet confidence at a thoughtful pace, taking his time to choose his words carefully.  It was during his thoughtful moments that his UPMs came out.  They were quick and discreet UPMs, like tiny bubbles of sound.

The guy whose UPM rate was about 12 was much younger, in his late 20s, and he spoke quickly.  It could be that his youthful appearance and the rapidity of his speech combined to create an impression of insecurity, which was made worse by the presence of his uhms.

His UPMs seemed to be signals of anxiety, whereas the Chairman’s UPMs seemed to be quirks or eccentricities.  No one could argue that the Chairman had not had a successful career.  He is at the top of his industry, and at the top of his game.

I could say no such thing about the younger guy.  He looked nervous, sounded nervous, and made me nervous about his ability to do the job being asked of him.

Could it be that the Chairman’s credibility could withstand the presence of 16 UPMs, while the younger guy’s relative youth and inexperience made his credibility vulnerable  to the presence of a mere 12?

I think so.  The Chairman would be a better speaker, and a shorter one, if he cleaned up his act.  But the younger guy is going to have to find a sense of ease in front of a crowd, and that will take a whole different set of muscles.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

1.  Get the proper information from the person you will introduce

2.  Extract the information from the resume and write a short speech of introduction. Do not READ the resume.

3.  Show the speech to the speaker for editing and approval

4.  Structure the speech of introduction in this way.

- Why this topic?

- Why this topic before this audience?

- Why this topic before this audience at this time?

- Why this topic before this audience at this time by this speaker?

5.  That’s when you supply a few TELLING details about the speaker that give him or her the credibility to speak on the topic.

6.  You can be forgiven if you bring notes and read the information about the speaker, although it would be good if you could do the first three bullets points (above) without reading.

7.  Pronounce the speaker’s name properly. If you’re not sure, ask.

8.  Do not end by saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Sam White to the podium,” (at which point Sam rises to his feet), “a man who not only is an expert on horticulture, but also knows a thing or two about marketing in the garment business,” (Sam hesitates at the edge of the stage), “and also has an eight handicap. Why, I remember the time Sam hit a hole in one over at Silver Lake,” (Sam sits down), “He was hitting a 5-iron off the 10^th tee…” (Sam waits patiently for you to stop, while the audience suspects that you would rather be the speaker and are jealous of the attention that Sam will be getting.)

9.  In other words, begin, be brief, be seated, and end your speech of introduction by saying the speaker’s name loud and clear.

Wait for him to arrive at the lectern. Shake his hand. Smile. Then go and sit down.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Whether you agree with his policies or not, you have to admit that our current President won the office in large part because of his ability to speak well.

A lot goes into speaking well. It’s a big topic. But one of the key ingredients is an appealing speaking voice.

Now, I’m NOT saying that President Obama has a PERFECT speaking voice. I’m sure most of us have a quibble here and there.

But compared to John McCain and Sarah Palin, Obama was a Caruso to their PeeWee Herman.

His sound is open and resonant, whereas both McCain and Palin have high-pitched nasal sounds.

Candidate Obama’s enunciation, for the most part, was crisp and professional. I say for the most part because he occasionally lapses into slangy sounds that, I suppose, are meant to make him sound folksy.

McCain and Palin, both impressive people, projected vocal images that were less Presidential. McCain sounded young, his squeaky tenor voice seeming less authoritative than Obama’s.

And Palin’s voice was a serious liability. Her resonance was squarely in the bones of her face and in her nose, and those sounds, coming from a strong-willed woman, are not likely to win the hearts and minds of men.

Vocal Presence is an interesting concept. It suggests that sound itself, independent from substance, can have a decisive effect on a voter’s decision to say, “Yes,” to a candidacy.

I would be interested to learn if in our history the candidate with the deeper, more masculine speaking voice was more likely to be elected.

I know it’s true about the taller candidate. If it were also true about the voice, than we would have known early in the primaries that Barack Obama was the favored candidate.

His voice speaks so loudly that it almost doesn’t matter what he says.