Virtual Speaking: How To Listen

Listening

It sounds simple and easy but one of the most underrated skills for the virtual speaker is listening. Not to yourself but to the outside world. Spending a few minutes each day "practicing" listening will not help your audience but your own public speaking.

Here are a few listening exercises:

• Try to sit quietly for one minute with no noise and notice the world around you in its silence or noise.

• Listen to your own breathing for one minute.

• Then listen to the outside world for one minute in connection to your own breath.

• Begin listening to the noises in your immediate environment and then transfer your attention to noises outside your walls.

• Practice listening until a speaker is done with their thoughts versus interrupting. Notice their response if you do interrupt and how it affects them.

• When you are listening to alternate views practice noticing and paying attention to what the speaker's voice sounds like, details on colors, shapes, and textures versus your own internal dialogue around what they are saying.

Some of these are difficult to practice but you will notice improvements in your awareness and listening.