Learning Public Speaking from the water aerobics instructor

Here I am - new to water aerobics and exercise averse.  But who would have thought that water aerobics was a gold mine of ideas for my own speaking and for fellow Rostrum members.

The instructor has to get everyone to understand what is required in the exercise.  Let's call my instructor Simon. Hi Simon.



Simon's water aerobics are held in a noisy venue. The background noise includes energetic music. Simon appears to have impaired hearing so his accompanying music is loud too.

The audience is a mix of experienced members and newbies.  The success of the session depends on Simon's ability to communicate to all of the group.

Here's what Simon taught me (apart from some rather strange contortions and stretches):

GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS

Simon has a low voice.  Most of his music has heavy bass accompaniment.  (Some of the lyrics are extremely suggestive or provocative - but apparently we don't need to focus on that)  Simon does not shout.  He enunciates slowly and repeats the important points of his message.  Simon shows us to be clear and concise with our message and to repeat things that are important.

GESTURE

Simon has simplified the gestures for each of his exercises.  His gestures indicate both what you need to do and what you do not need to do.  Even if you cannot hear Simon you can see what he is talking about from his simple gestures.  Whole body gestures.  Simon told me after the session that it sometimes takes him a few weeks to get the gestures to a level where the group follows him correctly.  Simon's ability to use gesture is a significant part of the success of his technique.  Your speeches often have important facts or feelings that need to be emphasised.  Like Simon you need to look at your whole body to make sure that the audience is getting the message in multiple ways. Simon shows us to be adventurous in using gesture.

INTERACTION

Simon's session have a warmup, the main exercise session and the cooling down. He clearly differentiates between each of these sections of the session.  During the warm up and the cooling down section Simon likes to tell a few jokes to keep our attention focussed on him.  We could happily chat amongst ourselves.  He laughs when we groan at his jokes and promises he will do better next time.  He tells us personal stories about his injuries (Why are exercise instructors always injured?).  Simon is clearly connected to the audience.  Even the experienced members of the group focus on his instructions.  He is clear, concise and interesting.  He has worked on the material that he is going to present and reworks the material for each session.   Simon shows us an example of how to clearly structure an interaction and to make use of personal experience to support what you have to say.

I have read about these ideas in the tips that we get for Rostrum speeches.  Simon's class showed how these skills transfer to other every day activities.

Thanks Simon for an interesting session and some good ideas to think about when I prepare my next speech. Thanks also to Canadian Veggie for the use of the photo above.