When you stand up to speak in public, the first impression the audience have of you is visual, and it will take them those first few seconds to make up their minds about you.

Because any audience needs to trust you, to like you and to understand you, if that first impression is not a positive one, you’ll find it difficult to win them over.

And it doesn’t stop there – throughout your presentation, your audience is taking in far more about you than the words you use to deliver your message.

You can learn to be aware and in control of your own personal impact:

Cultivating an air of poise and confidence – even if you don’t feel it – will lend your message authority and gravitas. This will help to relax the audience, building their confidence in you, and you’ll find you start to feel the same way too.

Taking care over grooming and dress gives an instantly positive impression, suggesting self-discipline and attention to detail – and it’s only polite to be well turned-out.

Being aware of your expressions and body language, with a pleasant, welcoming smile and friendly eye contact will all help you to engage with them and set up a rapport. We like people who like us and those barriers will start to come down.

Paying attention to them, observing their body language and listening to their contributions helps to make them feel that they matter and that you respect them.

Developing a controlled, attractive voice, well paced, pitched and modulated with humour and warmth encourages people to listen because they want to, not because they must.

So if you want to present your grown-up, intelligent, committed and credible professional self to the world, it’s important to understand that it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it – and what you do and how you look while you’re saying it.

Speaking Well In Public’s training highlights and raises awareness of your own personal impact through practical experience followed by honest, respectful and constructive feedback during the course, plus post-course self-development exercises.

Training, facilitation, meetings, planning, designing, writing, games, memos, messages, even paper sculpture … from postage stamp to flip chart size, like so many of the best ideas, the Post-It note is staggeringly simple – and yet its uses seem to be limitless.

Colour tabs are handy to mark speaking notes, maps, books.

Tiny ones are great for time management in your paper diary and wall planner – move events round until they’re definite.

Small ones are great for designing websites on paper and on cafe tables, writing articles and books, planning and preparing training and presentations, organising performances and other events with complicated logistics and running orders – one for each page, post or task and move them about until it flows.

For training and facilitation, if you’re gathering comments and ideas to group on a flipchart-size note, ask for one idea per Post-It and give out medium size notes and fat marker pens so everyone can see the writing. Otherwise you’ll get a pile of spidery little essays no-one can read at a distance.

Use one colour note for the pros, another for the cons, for graphic impact.

Or one colour and size for the first big ideas on a mind map poster, others for drilling down into detail.

Then you can rearrange and group them into clusters of ideas and see what’s emerging.

Peel them downwards off the pad, not upwards – then they won’t curl up on the flip chart.

Photograph the finished poster as a colourful record of the ideas you captured that day, then email them round or use to illustrate reports.

Photograph one word on a Post-It from artistic angles and collect striking illustrations for your articles and blog posts.

Whatever you’re doing, the Post-It note can pin down, set out and re-order your ideas until you’re ready to write.

Actor, plumber, manager, scientist, athlete, nurse – whether you know it or like it or not, you and what you offer are a brand.You may be looking for your next employer, your next role or a higher grade, your next customer, interview or review … success or failure are affected by how you develop and market your brand.

Ten top tips for personal branding

1 – Know what you are. Are you a rarity, offering something in short supply? Or if there are a lot of you, do you know your Unique Selling Point? Keep it clear in your mind and be prepared to put some people off.

2 – Know your values. What do you believe in, stand for? This is part of your image and will influence others’ opinion. And if you don’t live your values, you’ll be found out as a fraud.

3 – Know your stuff. Are you any good? Are your knowledge and skills polished and do you know what you’re talking about? Can you do it with grace and style? Whatever ‘it’ is, work at being a go-to person, keep up to date, refresh and recharge, advise and consult.

4 – Refine your look. Do you look the business? There are a lot of services promising to upgrade your dress, hair, colours and styles – we do respond to what we see and if you look up to date, stylish and well groomed, you’ll inspire confidence. It’s not rocket science , but it evades so many. It may only take the tiniest of tweaks; some high fashion glasses, good shoes or finally admitting that pink does not suit you, or a signature piece that will forever be associated with you. Little Black Dress, anyone?

5 – Speak well. Do people enjoy listening to you – or do they visibly wince when you open your mouth? I’m not talking accent [that can be a key part of a successful brand], but do you have any habits that put people off? Invest in some public speaking skills training.

6 – Be a radiator, not a drain. Do you gossip, bitch, criticise, backstab and whinge? Or do you champion a bit of old fashioned courtesy, offering supportive coaching and honest, respectful feedback? And do you love what you do and get on with it with passion, positivity and a sense of fun?

7 – Be seen and heard. Have some good headshots taken and make sure your photo’s all over your online presence. And your business card, too – putting a face to the name helps them find you. Practice reading aloud and talking off the cuff, then make audio and video recordings for your website, blog and social media. Talk about your field in an engaging and entertaining way – being invited to be a keynote speaker or interviewed on the radio feels great.

8 – Get online. Social networking is no longer about what you had for breakfast; it’s vital for business today. Linked In has real power now, Twitter allows you to speak to the world, and your personal and business Facebook pages can have a long reach.

Blogging – a person of note has something to say, and the internet gives us all somewhere to say it. If you don’t already, start writing articles, opinion pieces and useful tutorials and ensure you have a website that reflects and supports your brand. If a customer has the choice between two very similar suppliers, they may well go for the one with the prettiest website.

Just remember that every single comment, photo, status update and share you put out there feeds into your brand. Does it say what you want it to say?

9 – Network, network, network. It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know. Contacts, word of mouth, reputation and recommendations keep business moving, so google local business netorking events – and go. Facilitate others, learn the art of making introductions and the pleasure of good conversation.

10 – Speak up for yourself. Have your elevator pitch your brief confident answer to ‘and what do you do?’ polished and ready. Umming and erring, self-deprecating and looking embarrassed will not advertise your brand in a good way. Be interesting, proud and excited about what you’re doing now, and be interested in others and their activities, too. A lot of business works at a social level. Do they understand, trust and like you?

So what is it? It has many names, but ‘vocal fry’ or ‘vocal creak’ are common names … and listening to one of my radio interviews, I can hear myself doing it without realising it.

It’s produced when the vocal cords are made to flutter together, usually at the end of a sentence, producing a creaky, croaky, guttural, rasping Dalek-like sound.

It’s common in the US, and is becoming increasingly common in the UK, and as with so many speaking fashions, it seems to have developed and is most used among women.

It’s been noted that the sound is prevalent among high level female executives and well-known stars, perhaps in an attempt to make a naturally light voice sound lower and more authoritative, and young girls are mimicking it to sound more like their idols.

If you’re not familiar with the sound yet, listen to the girls on ‘Made in Chelsea’, most of the actresses in ‘Suburgatory,’ Zooey Deschanel from ‘New Girl’ and Jolene Blalock from ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ [all film and TV actresses who don’t need to project their voices] for exaggerated examples of the sound.

Speaking fashions come and go, and like fashions in dress are mainly an attempt to fit in and get on, so there will be another one along soon.

But for any public speaker, vocal fry can only be a problem – deliberately limiting and suppressing the power of the voice will inhibit your ability to project across a distance, affect personal impact and impair the message.

And beware the effect on your audience – it can sound grating, sarcastic and extremely off-putting.

We’re all a work in progress, and I’ll be listening out for vocal fry in my own speaking from now on!

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right.” Henry Ford

The way you think about a situation, as in the words you use to talk about it either out loud or in your head, will directly affect how you feel about it. This will then govern how you behave, and will affect how the world sees you and responds to you.

If you go into a presentation thinking ‘I’m useless at public speaking’, or into a job interview thinking ‘I’m about to be rejected yet again’, you’ll drag yourself down into a depressed mood, and your voice, expression and body language will sink with it, so the audience or the recruiter will think … no.

Then you’ll have the self-satisfaction of thinking ‘see? I was right.’ It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sometimes we’d rather be right than pleasantly surprised, because to change the way we think can be tough. Old habits, and the attitudes of those we mix with, can be a powerful barrier to getting what we want.

You can’t control everything, but you can control how you think, feel and behave in any given situation. And that’s a great step towards controlling what then happens to you as a result.

Think …

Before a presentation or an interview do you habitually think “I’d be perfect, I’m worth it, I can and I will, I have the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need”? Or do you go down the same old route of “I always fail, I’m a disappointment, I regret, I make mistakes, what’s the point, I’m always being rejected”?

Feel …

Then do you feel optimistic, focussed and energetic? Or depressed, sad, frightened, sluggish, panicky and sick?

Your physical and emotional response can be directly triggered by the conscious thoughts and language you use around a situation, which are entirely within your control.

Behave …

Then once you’ve created your mood, your physical and emotional state governs your behaviour. So, when speaking in public, or going in to a job interview – which one is you?

Not making the effort, a gloomy expression, looking a bit down at heel, slumping in your seat, defensive body language, speaking too softly, not engaging, giving brief, dull answers …

Or looking well groomed, listening, smiling, making eye contact, using positive language and an attractive tone of voice?

Result …

Your audience or your interviewer can only react and respond to the information you give them. Your impact is within your control.

So next time you catch yourself reciting the same old list of negatively-charged criticism, remember that if you carry on down that route you’ll feel bad and your behaviour won’t do you justice or trigger the response you want.

Instead, get into the habit of listing your good things; your skills, successes and achievements, your compliments, thank yous and testimonials, and consciously go over them to get you into the positive frame of mind you need to do your best to achieve the result you want.