by Abby Sheridan
We included Eleanor Allen on our "Best Public Speakers" list because of her powerful storytelling, her use of appropriate vocal tone to portray emotion with sensitive material, and her enthusiastic use of gestures and movement to engage her audience.
Eleanor Allen is the former CEO of Water For People. She is a professional engineer, and has lived and worked all over the world. As a business executive, she has led large global consulting operations. Eleanor is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion – from the Boardroom to the communities she helps.
We reviewed Eleanor Allen's TedX MileHigh talk in August 2016 titled "Water is a Women's Issue" where she uncovers the reasons why, globally, access to water is a women's issue, and how to change that.
What are the main communication takeaways?
1.Powerful storytelling: Eleanor is an excellent storyteller. She knows exactly the right time to use moving and engaging stories to draw in her audience. Her stories are simple, and by using names and photos, listeners can easily relate to the characters. By painting a picture of the people and their lives, she engages her audience immediately.
2. Appropriate vocal tone: She uses a variety of vocal tones, with an appropriate tone for more sensitive material. For example, when talking about Maria (3:00-3:30), she portrays a softer quality in her voice by raising her pitch and using a more gentle tone. In contrast, she also uses more enthusiastic, hopeful tones as seen at 10:00-11:00 minutes. When she says, “How you can help”, it is inspiring, persuasive, and effective. She increases the volume and pace in her voice to encourage her audience to get involved and act now.
3. Dynamic use of gestures and movement: Eleanor used her physicality to enhance her presentation. Her gestures at 4:00-5:00 minutes were expressive and moving, as she pretends to carry water on her head like the women in the village do. Then, she switches at 4:45-4:55 to be more dynamic. Eleanor points to her head referring to the women quoting "heads used for thinking" and mimed carrying water on her head while speaking “not for carrying water." She holds strong stances, keeps her voice grounded, and is clearly understood throughout her entire presentation.
How could she improve?
1. More natural inflection: At times, Eleanor sounds too rehearsed. She could benefit from using more natural inflections and greater pitch variation throughout the presentation to give off a more authentic sound.
2. Variation in pace: In general, Eleanor spoke the entire presentation at the same pace, with most phrases having the exact same rhythm and speech pattern. Varying your speed throughout each phrase and topic will keep your presentation fresh and less predictable.
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