These are the little things which individually won’t make a huge difference to how you come across either professionally or socially; but when you add them together, they become significant. Hardly anyone thinks about these things (and that includes some coaches).
For instance, if you’re doing some sort of public speaking, do you talk like a normal person, saying things like ‘shan’t’ or ‘I’ll’ – or would you say ‘shall not’ or ‘I will’? If you do the latter, that’s what 99.99 percent of people do when writing for public speaking. They habitually write in a formal way, without thinking that their words are meant to be spoken, rather than silently read. This can alienate listeners.
Do you speak to a gathering of people as if they’re a collection of individuals, rather than an amorphous whole? If you do, congratulations – if not, it’s a good idea to change that. Everyone, either consciously or unconsciously, wants to feel special… as if you’re talking directly to them! Whenever possible, and with some forethought, there are very few situations where this can’t be done. Speak in the singular. Instead of saying “Good morning, everybody”, you could say “Good morning” as you look around at the whole gathering. Rather than “Most of you will have travelled a long way to be here today”, “You might have travelled a long way to be here today” could work well, and so on. Try and help each person to feel as if you’re especially talking to them.
And there are more increments in the section about being online.