How much is too much?  For the expert, the boundaries on this equation can be quite broad.  For them, we are only tapping into the very superficial elements of this worthy subject.  They have so many layers at their disposal and they can go to exquisite depths of complexity and nuance, within a heartbeat.  When they are addressing the great unwashed, the best laid plans can go astray. I was one of the great unwashed, turning up to a complex subject in search of some better understanding and education on the topic.  The expert’s temptation is to try to cram as much material as possible into the talk and show both their tremendous expertise but also the depths of the beauty of the topic.  They are at the “art” end of the scale, while the punters in the room are more at the utilitarian end.  The bombardment of the depth of materials can cause brain whiteout, as our cerebral capacities are severely challenged by the concepts, the data and the complexity of the delivery.  Concentration spans take a hiding and we start to fade. That was happening to me.  We all turned up at night-time after completing hard toil down at the salt mines, so as a group, we were already mentally taxed.  Naturally, a complex topic attracts experts in the field, who want to attend the talk to steal from the presenter’s materials or concepts and to gauge how big a threat they are as a competitor.  This emboldens the presenter to turn on the expertise faucet and to go deep on the subject to justify why they are the one standing up in front of everyone and presenting, and not one of these other experts in the crowd. Tonight’s expert also made the typical mistake of pounding us with slides, which were packed to the gunwales with information.  We are talking beautiful slides, but so dense.  If you were in the front row, you had a shot at being to read the detail, but anyone else would have been struggling, because of the density and small font sizes being employed.  He also needed, like a lot of experts, to break his own slide into three or four slides.  Slides are free, by the way, so we don’t have to be parsimonious about their usage.  It is better to have one idea per slide than lots of slides with too many ideas on each individual slide. Having complex configurations rarely works because the scale of the font and the micro-detail has to become too small, to fit it all in. Yes, he kindly supplied the slides after the event, but as a presenter, this is too late.  We have to deliver our message in that moment, with that crowd and get to them then and there. He made the mistake of suggesting we could stop him whenever we wanted to during his talk.  I don’t recommend this, because you can so easily lose control of the time, because there are now no limits.  When you have presentation followed by the Q&amp;A there is a time allocated for the later for a reason.  When we mix it up we are in danger of being distracted from our message or having to spend too much time on a relatively minor point to satisfy that questioner.  It is also a free for all, with who can ask questions and suddenly you can get into a group debate about a point.  This is very exciting, but it destroys your time allocation for the presentation and like him, race through the last 10% - 15% of the slides to finish on time. One thing he did very well was to come across as an expert without being a pain and a know-it-all.  He could phrase certain things which said, I believe this to be true based on my current knowledge and experience, but I could be mistaken.  This is quite artful because he is making himself a small target.  When you come across as “I am the expert here” then you invite people to want to prove otherwise and bring your ego down a peg or two.  He did a good job being the legitimate expert and creating no enemies in the room. As I have stated many times, it is always a good practice to get the list of who is coming to gauge how expert the crowd will be and also to get there early to suss out the interests of various people in the room.  Actually, he didn’t do either of those judging by his late arrival and his high-level approach in presenting his information.  I believe in these cases you can demonstrate sufficient expertise to convince the room you know your stuff without having to beat everyone into submission with a relenting “death by powerpoint” performance.  He could have shown less and had just as successful a presentation.  Less is more, as we say and a handy thing to remember if you are ever asked to give a presentation as an “expert”.

How much is too much?  For the expert, the boundaries on this equation can be quite broad.  For them, we are only tapping into the very superficial elements of this worthy subject.  They have so many layers at their disposal and they can go to exquisite depths of complexity and nuance, within a heartbeat.  When they are addressing the great unwashed, the best laid plans can go astray. I was one of the great unwashed, turning up to a complex subject in search of some better understanding and education on the topic.  The expert’s temptation is to try to cram as much material as possible into the talk and show both their tremendous expertise but also the depths of the beauty of the topic.  They are at the “art” end of the scale, while the punters in the room are more at the utilitarian end.  The bombardment of the depth of materials can cause brain whiteout, as our cerebral capacities are severely challenged by the concepts, the data and the complexity of the delivery.  Concentration spans take a hiding and we start to fade. That was happening to me.  We all turned up at night-time after completing hard toil down at the salt mines, so as a group, we were already mentally taxed.  Naturally, a complex topic attracts experts in the field, who want to attend the talk to steal from the presenter’s materials or concepts and to gauge how big a threat they are as a competitor.  This emboldens the presenter to turn on the expertise faucet and to go deep on the subject to justify why they are the one standing up in front of everyone and presenting, and not one of these other experts in the crowd. Tonight’s expert also made the typical mistake of pounding us with slides, which were packed to the gunwales with information.  We are talking beautiful slides, but so dense.  If you were in the front row, you had a shot at being to read the detail, but anyone else would have been struggling, because of the density and small font sizes being employed.  He also needed, like a lot of experts, to break his own slide into three or four slides.  Slides are free, by the way, so we don’t have to be parsimonious about their usage.  It is better to have one idea per slide than lots of slides with too many ideas on each individual slide. Having complex configurations rarely works because the scale of the font and the micro-detail has to become too small, to fit it all in. Yes, he kindly supplied the slides after the event, but as a presenter, this is too late.  We have to deliver our message in that moment, with that crowd and get to them then and there. He made the mistake of suggesting we could stop him whenever we wanted to during his talk.  I don’t recommend this, because you can so easily lose control of the time, because there are now no limits.  When you have presentation followed by the Q&amp;A there is a time allocated for the later for a reason.  When we mix it up we are in danger of being distracted from our message or having to spend too much time on a relatively minor point to satisfy that questioner.  It is also a free for all, with who can ask questions and suddenly you can get into a group debate about a point.  This is very exciting, but it destroys your time allocation for the presentation and like him, race through the last 10% - 15% of the slides to finish on time. One thing he did very well was to come across as an expert without being a pain and a know-it-all.  He could phrase certain things which said, I believe this to be true based on my current knowledge and experience, but I could be mistaken.  This is quite artful because he is making himself a small target.  When you come across as “I am the expert here” then you invite people to want to prove otherwise and bring your ego down a peg or two.  He did a good job being the legitimate expert and creating no enemies in the room. As I have stated many times, it is always a good practice to get the list of who is coming to gauge how expert the crowd will be and also to get there early to suss out the interests of various people in the room.  Actually, he didn’t do either of those judging by his late arrival and his high-level approach in presenting his information.  I believe in these cases you can demonstrate sufficient expertise to convince the room you know your stuff without having to beat everyone into submission with a relenting “death by powerpoint” performance.  He could have shown less and had just as successful a presentation.  Less is more, as we say and a handy thing to remember if you are ever asked to give a presentation as an “expert”.

353 Being Too Expert Can Be A Problem When Presenting

When we are giving a public presentation, it is rare that we will be given carte blanche by the organisers to promote our product or service.  That type of blatant self-promotion is frowned upon and your reputation in the market will be negatively impacted.  Great, but I want to sell more stuff.  How can we promote ourselves without seeming to be breaking the boundaries of common sense?  The hero’s journey is a popular Hollywood trope and it works equally well for us when presenting. Let’s begin with laying out the situation in the market and at this point we are describing what has gone before and what has been accepted as normal.  Now we need to raise the stakes and jack up the tension for the audience, so that they feel what they are hearing is worthwhile.  We all love a warning about some impending disaster, because we feel more protected and bettered secured to weather the changes.  Most of us respond more easily to addressing our fears than maximising our opportunities.  As they say in the newspaper world, “if it bleeds, it leads”.  Changes in the market can be good of course, but we need to zero in on the negative consequences of the coming changes.  We need to lay out what could go wrong and try to tie this back to the interests of the audience.  If they feel this isn’t going to affect them, then they have a minimal commitment to doing anything about it.  This obviously requires some pre-research about who will be in the audience and what they are interested in.  That should be standard procedure for any speaker.  Storytelling at this point is a powerful tool.  We can use the example of another organisation and what happened to them, because they weren’t able to respond fast or thoroughly enough to the changes.  We need to set the scene and put the story in a timeframe based around a season and a place. If we can introduce characters into the story who they will know, even better.  Our object is to transport them to the scene which they see in their mind’s eye.  If we can come up with a villain, all the better.  It might be an actual person or it could be a circumstance or a piece of technology.  ChatGPT is performing wonders for a lot of writers at the moment, as they blast our screeds of text full of doom and gloom and impending disaster.  It makes for graphic reading and we are all aware that this is a pivotal change but we don’t quite know the ramifications as yet.  That is enough to grab the interest of the audience.  This is a gift which will keep giving for a long time and so look for a constant flow of commentary on this subject.  After we have engineered a good dollop of fear to spread into the hearts of our audience, we need to relieve that tension with a way out.  Now, we cannot just pound away with the negatives, because that causes the audience to lose hope. We have to balance it out with a way forward. At this point, we may refer directly to a solution which already exists and which is available.  That pivot though, is in danger of crossing the line of self-serving promotion.  It is better to talk about current research and progress in addressing the issue.  The fact that you have identified the problem and that you are actively addressing it, tells everyone you are the one to go to for help, when they need to work on fixing this issue.  Referring to your research finding is much better than referencing the product or service.  It elevates the discussion to a point where your credibility is sky high and yet there is no feeling of a bait and switch going on here.  You lured the audience into this venue with a sexy presentation title and then when you had them assembled, you switched in a massive commercial for your product or service. We don’t do that. This is where the latest findings, complete with convincing statistics etc ., come to the fore. You are not seen as someone organising this presentation as a group prospecting exercise. Instead, you are seen as delivering a neutral exploration of things everyone should realise.  People like to know about a problem and even better, they like to know there is a solution at hand or under close development. When we outline the manner in which the problem will be dealt with, it gives off a tone of scientific breakthrough and we like science more than we like being sold to.  Being able to describe the likely events we will face and also the likely solutions is comforting for people and they are keen to hear the detail.  That engagement is what we want as the presenter and we love it when everyone is hanging on our every word.  That is a rare event, of course, but if we craft the story well, then that is a distinct possibility.  We can paint a word picture of a future state with which everyone can identify.  The outline of a better future leaves everyone feeling relieved.  The journey from fear to freedom is important and we finish on this note, so that the whole presentation apparatus is felt to be positive and worthwhile.  We have sold them on our solution, without anyone feeling they were being sold.

When we are giving a public presentation, it is rare that we will be given carte blanche by the organisers to promote our product or service.  That type of blatant self-promotion is frowned upon and your reputation in the market will be negatively impacted.  Great, but I want to sell more stuff.  How can we promote ourselves without seeming to be breaking the boundaries of common sense?  The hero’s journey is a popular Hollywood trope and it works equally well for us when presenting. Let’s begin with laying out the situation in the market and at this point we are describing what has gone before and what has been accepted as normal.  Now we need to raise the stakes and jack up the tension for the audience, so that they feel what they are hearing is worthwhile.  We all love a warning about some impending disaster, because we feel more protected and bettered secured to weather the changes.  Most of us respond more easily to addressing our fears than maximising our opportunities.  As they say in the newspaper world, “if it bleeds, it leads”.  Changes in the market can be good of course, but we need to zero in on the negative consequences of the coming changes.  We need to lay out what could go wrong and try to tie this back to the interests of the audience.  If they feel this isn’t going to affect them, then they have a minimal commitment to doing anything about it.  This obviously requires some pre-research about who will be in the audience and what they are interested in.  That should be standard procedure for any speaker.  Storytelling at this point is a powerful tool.  We can use the example of another organisation and what happened to them, because they weren’t able to respond fast or thoroughly enough to the changes.  We need to set the scene and put the story in a timeframe based around a season and a place. If we can introduce characters into the story who they will know, even better.  Our object is to transport them to the scene which they see in their mind’s eye.  If we can come up with a villain, all the better.  It might be an actual person or it could be a circumstance or a piece of technology.  ChatGPT is performing wonders for a lot of writers at the moment, as they blast our screeds of text full of doom and gloom and impending disaster.  It makes for graphic reading and we are all aware that this is a pivotal change but we don’t quite know the ramifications as yet.  That is enough to grab the interest of the audience.  This is a gift which will keep giving for a long time and so look for a constant flow of commentary on this subject.  After we have engineered a good dollop of fear to spread into the hearts of our audience, we need to relieve that tension with a way out.  Now, we cannot just pound away with the negatives, because that causes the audience to lose hope. We have to balance it out with a way forward. At this point, we may refer directly to a solution which already exists and which is available.  That pivot though, is in danger of crossing the line of self-serving promotion.  It is better to talk about current research and progress in addressing the issue.  The fact that you have identified the problem and that you are actively addressing it, tells everyone you are the one to go to for help, when they need to work on fixing this issue.  Referring to your research finding is much better than referencing the product or service.  It elevates the discussion to a point where your credibility is sky high and yet there is no feeling of a bait and switch going on here.  You lured the audience into this venue with a sexy presentation title and then when you had them assembled, you switched in a massive commercial for your product or service. We don’t do that. This is where the latest findings, complete with convincing statistics etc ., come to the fore. You are not seen as someone organising this presentation as a group prospecting exercise. Instead, you are seen as delivering a neutral exploration of things everyone should realise.  People like to know about a problem and even better, they like to know there is a solution at hand or under close development. When we outline the manner in which the problem will be dealt with, it gives off a tone of scientific breakthrough and we like science more than we like being sold to.  Being able to describe the likely events we will face and also the likely solutions is comforting for people and they are keen to hear the detail.  That engagement is what we want as the presenter and we love it when everyone is hanging on our every word.  That is a rare event, of course, but if we craft the story well, then that is a distinct possibility.  We can paint a word picture of a future state with which everyone can identify.  The outline of a better future leaves everyone feeling relieved.  The journey from fear to freedom is important and we finish on this note, so that the whole presentation apparatus is felt to be positive and worthwhile.  We have sold them on our solution, without anyone feeling they were being sold.

352 Have Your Presentation Follow The Proven Hollywood Guidelines For Success

This last week I saw two speakers who were presenting, but both managed to do so with absolutely no presence.  They could not command the room and they were both hard to hear.  One was hosting an event with experts assembled, there to gain more knowledge.  The other was leading the opening of a prestigious event to a very large audience in a big ballroom. I don’t think there was any great self-awareness going on with either speaker.  They had divorced what they were doing, from how they were being perceived doing it. When we stand up to present, we are putting our personal and professional brands on the line in public and we have to be aware of that.   The speaker hosting the expert event spoke very softly and was hard to hear, even in that relatively small room.  There was no energy behind the words, no pacing, no highlights, all lulls and no crescendos.  Some female speakers don’t change gears enough when they have to speak in public and don’t project with enough vocal strength.  They often have soft voices to begin with, but they need to switch gears and ramp up the volume and power.  Speaking with staff or with friends allows for a soft voice, because of the situation and the proximity involved.  Speaking to a group is an entirely different animal and has to be approached with a professional attitude and to realise this is a speaking spot which requires a different mindset.  Our speaker didn’t employ eye contact with her audience and this was a big missed opportunity.  In such a smallish room, our eye contact can be very powerful and can personalise the talk so much more.  It has the effect of drawing the audience in toward the speaker and creating the feeling that the presenter is talking directly to each of them.  This engagement level is very high and makes the message accessible to the audience and that is what we want isn’t it – to get our message through.  Gestures were also missing.  She was using a microphone and that tied up one of her hands.  Also the audio set up hadn’t been checked prior to the event.  I know that, because the speaker box wasn’t amplifying her voice very much at all.  A non-working microphone with a softly spoken person is a problematic combination.  If she had used gestures, even with only employing one hand, it would have driven home her points much more powerfully.  Her body language was also non-existent, so there was no feeling of attraction, charisma, or presence when she was presenting. Sadly, we were just left with a soft voice, which was hard to hear.  The gentleman tasked with leading the toast at the large event was struggling with the roar of the confab down the back, as he tried to get everyone’s attention and get proceedings underway.  Clearly, he had no idea of how to tame an unruly gathering and just stood on stage looking lost.  This is extremely damaging to your personal brand, because it reveals you are clueless as a leader.  Standing up on stage looking lost isn’t a great brand builder either. I had met him previously and he is a well-educated, capable, intelligent guy, but he revealed he was totally clueless on what to do with his responsibility for that evening.  He is rather short as well, so he cannot use his frame to impose order on the crowd and get them to shut up and listen to him. There is a reason a lot of leaders are often very tall. Unfortunately, I am not in that group either.  Regardless of our size though, we all have the opportunity to use our voice to still the madness. His choice of voice volume was for a close proximity, one-on-one conversation situation, as opposed to addressing the masses.  What he should have done was to speak very, very loudly to command to audience to pay attention.  Usually one outburst is never enough, because the alcohol is flowing and so is the conversation. People just pay no attention whatsoever to the proceedings and that in turn, means they pay no attention to the speaker.  Maybe others can suffer that indignity, but we cannot have that occur when it is our turn. He needed to keep repeating “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention” in a loud voice, until even the most wayward conformed to shut up and listen to what was going on.  In my experience, it usually takes three or four renditions of this very loud opening to get people to quieten down. His remarks when he finally got the room down to a low white noise background hum, were not well prepared and were not interesting.  He should have considered that his audience had many representatives assembled and used that to get people excited about the evening.  He invited the different groups representatives to come up on stage, but then he did nothing with them, so their presence was irrelevant.  He could have introduced each representative and then easily encouraged all the members of that organisation to give them a big cheer.  This sets up a competitive spirit which makes the occasion more fun and interesting.  He could have made some comments about the significance of the gathering and pump up the activity’s importance.  None of that happened and quite frankly, I cannot remember anything about what he said, because it was not gripping.  Remember, we are competing with the food and drinks and so we have to make it worthwhile for the audience to give us their time.  His talk had no presence and he and his talk have already disappeared into the mists of time and both are already totally forgotten by everyone who was there.  He could have used this occasion as a platform for his personal and professional brands, if he knew what he was doing.  Clearly, he didn’t know what he was doing and the opportunity was completely missed.  When it is our turn, we need to seize the moment and plan the talk so that it is a triumph and not a fizzer.

This last week I saw two speakers who were presenting, but both managed to do so with absolutely no presence.  They could not command the room and they were both hard to hear.  One was hosting an event with experts assembled, there to gain more knowledge.  The other was leading the opening of a prestigious event to a very large audience in a big ballroom. I don’t think there was any great self-awareness going on with either speaker.  They had divorced what they were doing, from how they were being perceived doing it. When we stand up to present, we are putting our personal and professional brands on the line in public and we have to be aware of that.   The speaker hosting the expert event spoke very softly and was hard to hear, even in that relatively small room.  There was no energy behind the words, no pacing, no highlights, all lulls and no crescendos.  Some female speakers don’t change gears enough when they have to speak in public and don’t project with enough vocal strength.  They often have soft voices to begin with, but they need to switch gears and ramp up the volume and power.  Speaking with staff or with friends allows for a soft voice, because of the situation and the proximity involved.  Speaking to a group is an entirely different animal and has to be approached with a professional attitude and to realise this is a speaking spot which requires a different mindset.  Our speaker didn’t employ eye contact with her audience and this was a big missed opportunity.  In such a smallish room, our eye contact can be very powerful and can personalise the talk so much more.  It has the effect of drawing the audience in toward the speaker and creating the feeling that the presenter is talking directly to each of them.  This engagement level is very high and makes the message accessible to the audience and that is what we want isn’t it – to get our message through.  Gestures were also missing.  She was using a microphone and that tied up one of her hands.  Also the audio set up hadn’t been checked prior to the event.  I know that, because the speaker box wasn’t amplifying her voice very much at all.  A non-working microphone with a softly spoken person is a problematic combination.  If she had used gestures, even with only employing one hand, it would have driven home her points much more powerfully.  Her body language was also non-existent, so there was no feeling of attraction, charisma, or presence when she was presenting. Sadly, we were just left with a soft voice, which was hard to hear.  The gentleman tasked with leading the toast at the large event was struggling with the roar of the confab down the back, as he tried to get everyone’s attention and get proceedings underway.  Clearly, he had no idea of how to tame an unruly gathering and just stood on stage looking lost.  This is extremely damaging to your personal brand, because it reveals you are clueless as a leader.  Standing up on stage looking lost isn’t a great brand builder either. I had met him previously and he is a well-educated, capable, intelligent guy, but he revealed he was totally clueless on what to do with his responsibility for that evening.  He is rather short as well, so he cannot use his frame to impose order on the crowd and get them to shut up and listen to him. There is a reason a lot of leaders are often very tall. Unfortunately, I am not in that group either.  Regardless of our size though, we all have the opportunity to use our voice to still the madness. His choice of voice volume was for a close proximity, one-on-one conversation situation, as opposed to addressing the masses.  What he should have done was to speak very, very loudly to command to audience to pay attention.  Usually one outburst is never enough, because the alcohol is flowing and so is the conversation. People just pay no attention whatsoever to the proceedings and that in turn, means they pay no attention to the speaker.  Maybe others can suffer that indignity, but we cannot have that occur when it is our turn. He needed to keep repeating “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention” in a loud voice, until even the most wayward conformed to shut up and listen to what was going on.  In my experience, it usually takes three or four renditions of this very loud opening to get people to quieten down. His remarks when he finally got the room down to a low white noise background hum, were not well prepared and were not interesting.  He should have considered that his audience had many representatives assembled and used that to get people excited about the evening.  He invited the different groups representatives to come up on stage, but then he did nothing with them, so their presence was irrelevant.  He could have introduced each representative and then easily encouraged all the members of that organisation to give them a big cheer.  This sets up a competitive spirit which makes the occasion more fun and interesting.  He could have made some comments about the significance of the gathering and pump up the activity’s importance.  None of that happened and quite frankly, I cannot remember anything about what he said, because it was not gripping.  Remember, we are competing with the food and drinks and so we have to make it worthwhile for the audience to give us their time.  His talk had no presence and he and his talk have already disappeared into the mists of time and both are already totally forgotten by everyone who was there.  He could have used this occasion as a platform for his personal and professional brands, if he knew what he was doing.  Clearly, he didn’t know what he was doing and the opportunity was completely missed.  When it is our turn, we need to seize the moment and plan the talk so that it is a triumph and not a fizzer.

351 Having No Presence When Presenting Is Bad

The best personal branding is to say something useful and interesting in a compelling, professional way.  That is a snap right?  Maybe not.  What constitutes useful and interesting will vary, depending in who is in the audience.  If we pitch the content complexity too high, we may be over the heads of our audience. They will take nothing away, because they are lost and they will hate us for making them feel dumb.  If we pitch the complexity too low, they may become insulted. They feel we are purposely speaking down to them, to emphasise our own genius ability. I have seen this occasionally where a speaker has taken no notice of who is in the audience and gives the talk the speaker wants to give.  Ironically, one of those speakers was talking about “personal branding”. Unfortunately, the context for the speaker was her own massive global organisation. She was intent on branding herself to stand out internally in that grandiose world of big egos.  If she had looked at the guest list for that speech, she would have realised straight away these were small to medium-sized companies and mainly people not yet very advanced in their company’s echelon.  I surmised that her speech was more for bolstering her resume with the title of "public speaker" than providing useful advice on how to create an individual brand for the audience.  Her own personal brand was utterly extinguished after forty minutes of her nonsense.  The lucky thing for her was that only those gathered in the room put a line straight through her name, to eliminate her as a professional “public speaker” and self-promoting “personal branding expert”.  Regularly check the guest list to see who has signed up and then adjust your talk accordingly.  Usually the organisers will share that list with you, but even if they are rather bolshie about it and won’t for so called “privacy reasons”, then get there early and meet people.  In Japan, because we all use business cards, it is very easy to find out the rank of the person and the industry they are representing.  On the fly, we can alter the complexity of the pitch for our topic and tailor it to the level of the audience. Useful, valuable, fresh, differentiated, rare information is a big attraction for the speaker.  We think that because what we have to say is so valuable, that the information itself will do all the heavy lifting for us and we can get a free pass on the professional delivery bit.  Not true.  I saw this trotted out recently with some visiting high-powered speakers.  I realised later that the talk we received in Tokyo was actually a dry run for them, for a speech they were going to give later in the Kansai region.  The ultimate intended audience were experts in the field and so the talk was pitched deep in terms of detail density.  The audience assembled in Tokyo, including me, were the great unwashed and not very expert regarding this area of speciality.  We needed a different version for us, but the speakers didn’t care about that.  They were selfishly giving the talk they wanted to give. We were not their target audience and were just the patsies for their practice run.  What also surprised me was the unprofessional way they presented their information.  Obviously, their company’s global headquarter team had prepared the slide deck for them, so it was beautiful, properly fitted out and branded etc.  It was also obvious that the slide designers were not public speakers, because the beauty part was there, but the messaging part wasn’t.  When you litter a slide with too much unessential text and then add insult to injury by making the text font too small to read easily on the screen, you are killing the messaging.   Their industry is awash with data and so naturally we had to have a lot of graphs to illustrate the numbers.  That would be okay if they had observed one simple rule – one graph per slide instead of two or three.  The graphs were also drowning in a sea of micro accompanying text vying for our attention. The numbers on the graphs were simply too small to read, so the points were lost on the audience.  This is not how a professional presents their information.  The speakers were oblivious to all of this, because they thought they were cleverer and much better paid than those in the audience and that we should lift our game to keep up with them.  I am positive they were being better paid than those of us in the room listening, but so what?  They were there to impart a brand image for themselves and their company and they failed on both counts.  I doubt the Kansai version for the expert audience went any better. All the same flaws we were presented with here in Tokyo, would have been transported by Bullet Train down there and given the same treatment. Their personal brands were diminished and also that of their firm.  Remember, we judge the entire company on the quality of the people we meet from the firm.  If we meet really capable, smart people we generously apply that idea to everyone down there. If we meet a dud, then we assume they are all duds down there.  Certainly have great information.  The key is to make sure the way it is presented is suitable for the audience in attendance.  Also, it must be presented in a way which invigorates the message, not emasculates it.

The best personal branding is to say something useful and interesting in a compelling, professional way.  That is a snap right?  Maybe not.  What constitutes useful and interesting will vary, depending in who is in the audience.  If we pitch the content complexity too high, we may be over the heads of our audience. They will take nothing away, because they are lost and they will hate us for making them feel dumb.  If we pitch the complexity too low, they may become insulted. They feel we are purposely speaking down to them, to emphasise our own genius ability. I have seen this occasionally where a speaker has taken no notice of who is in the audience and gives the talk the speaker wants to give.  Ironically, one of those speakers was talking about “personal branding”. Unfortunately, the context for the speaker was her own massive global organisation. She was intent on branding herself to stand out internally in that grandiose world of big egos.  If she had looked at the guest list for that speech, she would have realised straight away these were small to medium-sized companies and mainly people not yet very advanced in their company’s echelon.  I surmised that her speech was more for bolstering her resume with the title of "public speaker" than providing useful advice on how to create an individual brand for the audience.  Her own personal brand was utterly extinguished after forty minutes of her nonsense.  The lucky thing for her was that only those gathered in the room put a line straight through her name, to eliminate her as a professional “public speaker” and self-promoting “personal branding expert”.  Regularly check the guest list to see who has signed up and then adjust your talk accordingly.  Usually the organisers will share that list with you, but even if they are rather bolshie about it and won’t for so called “privacy reasons”, then get there early and meet people.  In Japan, because we all use business cards, it is very easy to find out the rank of the person and the industry they are representing.  On the fly, we can alter the complexity of the pitch for our topic and tailor it to the level of the audience. Useful, valuable, fresh, differentiated, rare information is a big attraction for the speaker.  We think that because what we have to say is so valuable, that the information itself will do all the heavy lifting for us and we can get a free pass on the professional delivery bit.  Not true.  I saw this trotted out recently with some visiting high-powered speakers.  I realised later that the talk we received in Tokyo was actually a dry run for them, for a speech they were going to give later in the Kansai region.  The ultimate intended audience were experts in the field and so the talk was pitched deep in terms of detail density.  The audience assembled in Tokyo, including me, were the great unwashed and not very expert regarding this area of speciality.  We needed a different version for us, but the speakers didn’t care about that.  They were selfishly giving the talk they wanted to give. We were not their target audience and were just the patsies for their practice run.  What also surprised me was the unprofessional way they presented their information.  Obviously, their company’s global headquarter team had prepared the slide deck for them, so it was beautiful, properly fitted out and branded etc.  It was also obvious that the slide designers were not public speakers, because the beauty part was there, but the messaging part wasn’t.  When you litter a slide with too much unessential text and then add insult to injury by making the text font too small to read easily on the screen, you are killing the messaging.   Their industry is awash with data and so naturally we had to have a lot of graphs to illustrate the numbers.  That would be okay if they had observed one simple rule – one graph per slide instead of two or three.  The graphs were also drowning in a sea of micro accompanying text vying for our attention. The numbers on the graphs were simply too small to read, so the points were lost on the audience.  This is not how a professional presents their information.  The speakers were oblivious to all of this, because they thought they were cleverer and much better paid than those in the audience and that we should lift our game to keep up with them.  I am positive they were being better paid than those of us in the room listening, but so what?  They were there to impart a brand image for themselves and their company and they failed on both counts.  I doubt the Kansai version for the expert audience went any better. All the same flaws we were presented with here in Tokyo, would have been transported by Bullet Train down there and given the same treatment. Their personal brands were diminished and also that of their firm.  Remember, we judge the entire company on the quality of the people we meet from the firm.  If we meet really capable, smart people we generously apply that idea to everyone down there. If we meet a dud, then we assume they are all duds down there.  Certainly have great information.  The key is to make sure the way it is presented is suitable for the audience in attendance.  Also, it must be presented in a way which invigorates the message, not emasculates it.

350 Personal Branding As A Presenter

349 Eyeball Your Audience When Presenting

348 Why Are The Elite Still Trotting Out Presentation Rubbish

“Greg is all style and no substance”, my erstwhile colleague happily told everyone who would listen, while I was on stage.  It was an occasion where each Division Head presented to the entire company on what they were doing and where they were taking their part of the firm.  He had preceded me and immediately felt his own inadequacy as a presenter, seeing me work the room.  His preferred option was to attack, to stitch his pathetic, wounded ego back together again.  When his remark was relayed to me later, I just outright laughed.  Not a shy, timid, embarrassed laugh, but a real “that is so pathetic, it is funny” laugh.  He obviously had no clue then and I would guess he still has no clue today wherever he is. Unfortunately, I have run into several versions of him since that time. In these cases, the speaker is grappling with what they see as a two-dimensional choice between being “content heavy” and using “spurious techniques” to deliver the talk.  I was watching a group of engineers giving their talks to inspire the audience to vote them on to the committee of a prestigious volunteer business organisation.  If I listed up their firms for you, everyone would know them, because these were the representatives in Japan of serious brand name companies.  Initially, I was sold on the brand power. Sitting there, I was expecting some excellent five-minute talks on why they should join the committee.  They were mostly shockers, barely able to string two sentences together and seemed to me incredibly dull candidates for consideration.  Their technical education had not prepared them for this eventuality and it showed. We also get this phenomenon in our High Impact Presentation Course classes, where the speaker is wedded to their content and just dismisses the importance of the delivery component.  Somehow, in their mind, the incredible quality of their information is all they need to be a successful communicator.  The latest statistics, in-depth findings from recent research, industry white papers, buyer surveys, referencing scientific papers etc., are seen as the Holy Grail for being an effective speaker. It was hard enough for this concept to survive before, once the internet made the access to information and free information at that, so widely available.  When I was at University, the library stacks housed the limits of possible knowledge and the choices were made simple.  For my son, his educational experience has been different. He has spent his time trying to sort out which bits of the information from the internet firehose are the most relevant, as he drowns in readily available data. Now ChatGPT and all the other AI driven information sources have made instant information and data more of a commodity than ever before in human history. Yes, some of it is fake news, like that dodgy American lawyer who recently used AI to do his research and it created legal cases and precedents which were completely fictitious. Reflect, though, that we are at the starting point of the AI charge and these systems will only get better.  Why do we need to be impressed by the fact you have data, when we can easily access it ourselves?  Insight based on the data is the value pivot we speakers need to make to elevate our content to make it powerful, relevant and attractive. We still need to deliver it in a way however which completely resonates, engages and persuades our audience. There is an opposite problem, though. This is the fluffy talk delivered with tremendous verve and vigour.  I saw such a speaker, who was very good with the delivery. At first blush, it seemed impressive as a talk.  When I sat back though and reflected on what he was telling us, it was only then that I realised that his actual content was totally unremarkable. My metaphor is that the value of his content was more like drinking the warm froth on a beer, rather than enjoying the cold body of the refreshing craft ale, on a humid Tokyo summer day.  So we have to be more than just one dimension.  We need to be both good at talking and good at content.  That changes our perspective about what is our role as the speaker.  When I tested ChatGPT on putting together the outline of a talk on leadership in Japan, it did a workman like job.  It wasn’t remarkable stuff, but if you were someone who wasn’t skilled in this creative activity, it would provide you with a base from which to further refine the content.  Even if it produced something truly brilliant, you still have to get up on your hind quarters and deliver it to the audience. You can read it to me, of course, but in that event, just send it and I will read it for myself, so I don’t need you hanging around.  Much better would be studying how to be a competent speaker who can bring the content to life.  This is all knowable by the way and there are few mysteries involved.  Hard work in rehearsal with proper coaching will lift 99% of the speaker dross we are assaulted with in business to a much more digestible and impressive level.  Eye contact, voice modulation, gestures, body language, pacing, pauses, emphasising keywords and phrases are some of the key basics which we can and should master. Getting the content to sing is our goal and we do this with the idea of building our personal and professional brands.  Regardless of what you do, you are affecting your personal and professional brands anyway, when you present, for good or bad and we must never forget that.  Given the choice, we should aim to bolster the quality of the content with an excellent delivery, based on coachable skills.  Make that the goal and you will never go wrong.

“Greg is all style and no substance”, my erstwhile colleague happily told everyone who would listen, while I was on stage.  It was an occasion where each Division Head presented to the entire company on what they were doing and where they were taking their part of the firm.  He had preceded me and immediately felt his own inadequacy as a presenter, seeing me work the room.  His preferred option was to attack, to stitch his pathetic, wounded ego back together again.  When his remark was relayed to me later, I just outright laughed.  Not a shy, timid, embarrassed laugh, but a real “that is so pathetic, it is funny” laugh.  He obviously had no clue then and I would guess he still has no clue today wherever he is. Unfortunately, I have run into several versions of him since that time. In these cases, the speaker is grappling with what they see as a two-dimensional choice between being “content heavy” and using “spurious techniques” to deliver the talk.  I was watching a group of engineers giving their talks to inspire the audience to vote them on to the committee of a prestigious volunteer business organisation.  If I listed up their firms for you, everyone would know them, because these were the representatives in Japan of serious brand name companies.  Initially, I was sold on the brand power. Sitting there, I was expecting some excellent five-minute talks on why they should join the committee.  They were mostly shockers, barely able to string two sentences together and seemed to me incredibly dull candidates for consideration.  Their technical education had not prepared them for this eventuality and it showed. We also get this phenomenon in our High Impact Presentation Course classes, where the speaker is wedded to their content and just dismisses the importance of the delivery component.  Somehow, in their mind, the incredible quality of their information is all they need to be a successful communicator.  The latest statistics, in-depth findings from recent research, industry white papers, buyer surveys, referencing scientific papers etc., are seen as the Holy Grail for being an effective speaker. It was hard enough for this concept to survive before, once the internet made the access to information and free information at that, so widely available.  When I was at University, the library stacks housed the limits of possible knowledge and the choices were made simple.  For my son, his educational experience has been different. He has spent his time trying to sort out which bits of the information from the internet firehose are the most relevant, as he drowns in readily available data. Now ChatGPT and all the other AI driven information sources have made instant information and data more of a commodity than ever before in human history. Yes, some of it is fake news, like that dodgy American lawyer who recently used AI to do his research and it created legal cases and precedents which were completely fictitious. Reflect, though, that we are at the starting point of the AI charge and these systems will only get better.  Why do we need to be impressed by the fact you have data, when we can easily access it ourselves?  Insight based on the data is the value pivot we speakers need to make to elevate our content to make it powerful, relevant and attractive. We still need to deliver it in a way however which completely resonates, engages and persuades our audience. There is an opposite problem, though. This is the fluffy talk delivered with tremendous verve and vigour.  I saw such a speaker, who was very good with the delivery. At first blush, it seemed impressive as a talk.  When I sat back though and reflected on what he was telling us, it was only then that I realised that his actual content was totally unremarkable. My metaphor is that the value of his content was more like drinking the warm froth on a beer, rather than enjoying the cold body of the refreshing craft ale, on a humid Tokyo summer day.  So we have to be more than just one dimension.  We need to be both good at talking and good at content.  That changes our perspective about what is our role as the speaker.  When I tested ChatGPT on putting together the outline of a talk on leadership in Japan, it did a workman like job.  It wasn’t remarkable stuff, but if you were someone who wasn’t skilled in this creative activity, it would provide you with a base from which to further refine the content.  Even if it produced something truly brilliant, you still have to get up on your hind quarters and deliver it to the audience. You can read it to me, of course, but in that event, just send it and I will read it for myself, so I don’t need you hanging around.  Much better would be studying how to be a competent speaker who can bring the content to life.  This is all knowable by the way and there are few mysteries involved.  Hard work in rehearsal with proper coaching will lift 99% of the speaker dross we are assaulted with in business to a much more digestible and impressive level.  Eye contact, voice modulation, gestures, body language, pacing, pauses, emphasising keywords and phrases are some of the key basics which we can and should master. Getting the content to sing is our goal and we do this with the idea of building our personal and professional brands.  Regardless of what you do, you are affecting your personal and professional brands anyway, when you present, for good or bad and we must never forget that.  Given the choice, we should aim to bolster the quality of the content with an excellent delivery, based on coachable skills.  Make that the goal and you will never go wrong.

347 How To Balance The Content Quality With The Delivery Piece When Presenting

I gave a speech recently to a room full of managers, some foreigners and some Japanese.  It was an internal talk and the purpose was to get the leaders motivated and get their mojo going, after having been hammered by three years of Covid.  They recently passed across the feedback and it was quite confusing.  Some said, “love the passion, dynamism” etc., and some said, “too loud, too strong”, etc.  What do you make of this?  What I made of it was, judging by the faces when I was presenting, the vast majority of people were accepting of the energised style. For a small minority, it was too powerful. Okay, so what are we supposed to do with this feedback? There are four purposes for our presentations.  In business, the Inform style is the most common one, where we provide extensive information about project updates, results, introducing new policies, and explaining overall strategic direction.  There are the Impress presentations. where we are selling our organisations’ capabilities and credibility.  We are trying to boost the brand of the firm and to encourage buyers to select us a trusted partner.  Entertain speeches are often given before the festivities or as a classic after-dinner speech to put everyone in a positive and happy mood. Then there are the Motivate talks, where we want the audience to take some action.  We have a powerful belief in what we are suggesting. Say we had the cure for cancer, through a particular regime, we would broadcast this far and wide and with a missionary zeal to convert people to the path we say is the right one. The speech I was giving was in the Motivate category.  They had suffered a downturn in motivation and zeal and my job was to restore that commitment to the cause.  Naturally, this type of talk is going to feature a lot of energy, passion, commitment, belief.  My audience was a mixed group from all different divisions within the organisation, so there was a big spread of personality types.  The Amiable personality type is rather muted, reserved, self-contained.  I would guess the “too strong” comments came from people in this group.    Should I have toned it down to suit this group?  I don’t think so. My mission was to motivate and to inspire, so energy and passion were needed for that purpose.  Clearly, some people didn’t respond to that. As speakers we have to try and seek the acceptance of the majority, rather than the minority.  You quickly realize that it's impossible to please everyone and be everything to everyone.  Do I want to spend my valuable time giving talks to Milquetoast audiences or do I want to talk to people who want to fired up? Clearly, with my personality, the latter is the correct answer. So how dramatic can we be as a speaker?  I certainly added dramatic flourishes to my talk with varied voice modulation and big and powerful gestures. I used my facial expression to drive home points, used movement, where needed, to underline a key point.  Was it too much?  Clearly for some it was, but did I get my message across? Did I break through the clutter occupying the minds of my audience? Did I stir passion in those who wanted to be fired up again?  Yes, I did and if I was to give that talk again, I wouldn’t change anything about how I delivered it.  When we speak, why would we give equal emphasis to every word in a sentence?  Each word has a different value and the way we deliver the talk should correspond to that unique value.  If there are keywords in that last sentence of mine, I should hit them harder or much softer than the other words, to highlight them, making them standout, elevating them above the others.  For example, I could highlight key words and phrases like this: Each word has a different value and the - way - we - deliver the talk should correspond to that different value.  When I use these phrases “Each word”, “the way we deliver” and “different value”, I need to highlight them by using speed and strength - either slowing down or speeding up, going hard or going soft. When delivering the sentence, I can add more dynamism to the phrases with gestures and body language.  The combination of the word delivery, the appropriate gesture and the overall body language come together for a very dramatic combination of emphasis supporting the message, which will break through and grab the attention of the listeners. What we want to avoid is sameness – all strong or all soft.  Either is guaranteed to have audiences leaping to grab their phones to elude us and succumb to the magnetic force field of the internet. We want them to get our message, so we need to mix it up and keep them with us.  I often use the example of classical music – it has tremendous variance and that is why we keep listening.  Our talks should have ebbs and flows, crescendos and lulls. There are plenty of people delivering “Johnny One Note” boring, grey, uninspiring talks, so we don’t need more of those.  Try to seek micro areas where you can bring a bit of pizzazz and flair to the talk.  Not constant across the whole talk so it becomes tiring, but add flashes of drama and sprinkle these into the speech, to keep your audience with you.  Trust me - it is a lot more fun when you do it this way.

I gave a speech recently to a room full of managers, some foreigners and some Japanese.  It was an internal talk and the purpose was to get the leaders motivated and get their mojo going, after having been hammered by three years of Covid.  They recently passed across the feedback and it was quite confusing.  Some said, “love the passion, dynamism” etc., and some said, “too loud, too strong”, etc.  What do you make of this?  What I made of it was, judging by the faces when I was presenting, the vast majority of people were accepting of the energised style. For a small minority, it was too powerful. Okay, so what are we supposed to do with this feedback? There are four purposes for our presentations.  In business, the Inform style is the most common one, where we provide extensive information about project updates, results, introducing new policies, and explaining overall strategic direction.  There are the Impress presentations. where we are selling our organisations’ capabilities and credibility.  We are trying to boost the brand of the firm and to encourage buyers to select us a trusted partner.  Entertain speeches are often given before the festivities or as a classic after-dinner speech to put everyone in a positive and happy mood. Then there are the Motivate talks, where we want the audience to take some action.  We have a powerful belief in what we are suggesting. Say we had the cure for cancer, through a particular regime, we would broadcast this far and wide and with a missionary zeal to convert people to the path we say is the right one. The speech I was giving was in the Motivate category.  They had suffered a downturn in motivation and zeal and my job was to restore that commitment to the cause.  Naturally, this type of talk is going to feature a lot of energy, passion, commitment, belief.  My audience was a mixed group from all different divisions within the organisation, so there was a big spread of personality types.  The Amiable personality type is rather muted, reserved, self-contained.  I would guess the “too strong” comments came from people in this group.    Should I have toned it down to suit this group?  I don’t think so. My mission was to motivate and to inspire, so energy and passion were needed for that purpose.  Clearly, some people didn’t respond to that. As speakers we have to try and seek the acceptance of the majority, rather than the minority.  You quickly realize that it's impossible to please everyone and be everything to everyone.  Do I want to spend my valuable time giving talks to Milquetoast audiences or do I want to talk to people who want to fired up? Clearly, with my personality, the latter is the correct answer. So how dramatic can we be as a speaker?  I certainly added dramatic flourishes to my talk with varied voice modulation and big and powerful gestures. I used my facial expression to drive home points, used movement, where needed, to underline a key point.  Was it too much?  Clearly for some it was, but did I get my message across? Did I break through the clutter occupying the minds of my audience? Did I stir passion in those who wanted to be fired up again?  Yes, I did and if I was to give that talk again, I wouldn’t change anything about how I delivered it.  When we speak, why would we give equal emphasis to every word in a sentence?  Each word has a different value and the way we deliver the talk should correspond to that unique value.  If there are keywords in that last sentence of mine, I should hit them harder or much softer than the other words, to highlight them, making them standout, elevating them above the others.  For example, I could highlight key words and phrases like this: Each word has a different value and the - way - we - deliver the talk should correspond to that different value.  When I use these phrases “Each word”, “the way we deliver” and “different value”, I need to highlight them by using speed and strength - either slowing down or speeding up, going hard or going soft. When delivering the sentence, I can add more dynamism to the phrases with gestures and body language.  The combination of the word delivery, the appropriate gesture and the overall body language come together for a very dramatic combination of emphasis supporting the message, which will break through and grab the attention of the listeners. What we want to avoid is sameness – all strong or all soft.  Either is guaranteed to have audiences leaping to grab their phones to elude us and succumb to the magnetic force field of the internet. We want them to get our message, so we need to mix it up and keep them with us.  I often use the example of classical music – it has tremendous variance and that is why we keep listening.  Our talks should have ebbs and flows, crescendos and lulls. There are plenty of people delivering “Johnny One Note” boring, grey, uninspiring talks, so we don’t need more of those.  Try to seek micro areas where you can bring a bit of pizzazz and flair to the talk.  Not constant across the whole talk so it becomes tiring, but add flashes of drama and sprinkle these into the speech, to keep your audience with you.  Trust me - it is a lot more fun when you do it this way.

346 Should I Be A Bit Dramatic In My Presentation Or Play It Safe?

TikTok, Reels and all of the other super short form visual media are creating a nightmare for presenters.  Twitter started things off with the very limited number of words allowed per tweet, forcing people into tiny corners of the mind.  The trend toward short form rather than long form has meant that audiences are getting trained to absorb information in tiny little blocks.    What happens though when we have a forty-minute presentation?  The audience become restless and their minds start to wander, because they are not getting mini-hits every minute.  The ubiquitous mobile phone with that drug like mainliner effect straight to the internet enables them to escape from us immediately.  They leave us for the lure and charm of something more interesting to pay attention to. Is this going to get better?  “No” is the answer, so what can we do about it?  One thing I notice when teaching our High Impact Presentations Course is that presenters make things more difficult for themselves by offering up additional distractions to the audience.  There are a range of these, so let’s go through some of them.  1.     A soft voice Speaking to a colleague or a friend up close and personal doesn’t require a lot of voice projection, so we tend not to raise our voice when speaking in these situations.  Presenting though is a different occasion. It requires us to engage our audience to keep their attention.  Adding volume to our voice sends out a strong vibration which commands attention to what we are saying.  We sound more confident and credible to the listener.  Coaching class participants to up the ante on voice projection often bothers them, because they feel they are screaming at their audience.  When we play back their video of their presentation they realise it isn’t too loud and in fact they see they are coming across as capable and competent.  2.     Pointless gestures Any gesture maintained for longer than 15 seconds immediately becomes irrelevant and annoying to the audience.  This is a simple enough guideline, but we sometimes find the class participants may be using one hand to gesture, but they have completely forgotten about the other hand. They have parked it somewhere across their body, adding zero value to the proceedings.  We want our gestures to help us highlight words and ideas, such that they rise above the noise and register with the listener in support of our message.  If the hand is floating around somewhere and not being used, just “turn it off” and let it hang by your side, out of trouble.   3.      Wooden faces Professor Albert Mehrabian’s research has helped us to understand the importance of congruency when we speak.  His central thesis is that what we are saying has to match up with the way we are saying it.  For example, how many times have you seen the speaker maintain the one facial expression throughout their talk?  In that talk though there were probably areas of good and bad news.  Good results, disappointing results, opportunities, challenges are all being reported, yet their face doesn’t reflect any of that. Congruency would mean a smile or a happy face for good results and opportunities and a serious face for bad results and challenges.  Mehrabian found that when we are not congruent, the audience gets distracted by how we look and sound and they are only hearing the message 7% of the time.  That means 93% of the time what we are saying is not connecting.  That type of poor result should definitely warrant a “serious” face.  4.     Twitching and swaying around When the body starts swaying around, we are setting up visual competition for our message.  The knees and hips are circling around as if to some soul music groove. Our eyes are drawn to the movement and we tune out the message from the presenter. In addition, many participants will wander around on stage moving forward and then moving back to the same spot.  What was the point of the movement?  Actually it had no point and all they are doing is distracting us from their message.  Sometimes the speaker will adjust their feet to face one side of the room and then do a little soft shoe shuffle, to move around and face the other direction.  All of this is competing with the words coming out of their mouth.  We have this wonderful thing called the neck and it can rotate enough degrees to allow us to plant our feet in one spot and yet be able to look at the audience members to our extreme left and right sides with no difficulty whatsoever.  5.     Rambling and using filler words Puzzling audiences with the point of what you are saying is guaranteed to lose them in a split second.  I was listening to a podcast the other day and the guest was rambling away and for the life of me I couldn’t get the point of the message and I lost interest immediately.  Ums and Ahs and other filler words are another turn off as the speaker struggles to string two words together.  We abandon ship and desert the messenger. The presenter’s job is only going to become more fraught and we need to lift our game as communicators, if we are going to have any hope of getting our message through. Let’s purge ourselves of these distracting habits we have accumulated and clean up our act.  The good news is all of the other presenters out there will change nothing and we will look like rock stars by comparison.

TikTok, Reels and all of the other super short form visual media are creating a nightmare for presenters.  Twitter started things off with the very limited number of words allowed per tweet, forcing people into tiny corners of the mind.  The trend toward short form rather than long form has meant that audiences are getting trained to absorb information in tiny little blocks.    What happens though when we have a forty-minute presentation?  The audience become restless and their minds start to wander, because they are not getting mini-hits every minute.  The ubiquitous mobile phone with that drug like mainliner effect straight to the internet enables them to escape from us immediately.  They leave us for the lure and charm of something more interesting to pay attention to. Is this going to get better?  “No” is the answer, so what can we do about it?  One thing I notice when teaching our High Impact Presentations Course is that presenters make things more difficult for themselves by offering up additional distractions to the audience.  There are a range of these, so let’s go through some of them. 1.     A soft voice Speaking to a colleague or a friend up close and personal doesn’t require a lot of voice projection, so we tend not to raise our voice when speaking in these situations.  Presenting though is a different occasion. It requires us to engage our audience to keep their attention.  Adding volume to our voice sends out a strong vibration which commands attention to what we are saying.  We sound more confident and credible to the listener.  Coaching class participants to up the ante on voice projection often bothers them, because they feel they are screaming at their audience.  When we play back their video of their presentation they realise it isn’t too loud and in fact they see they are coming across as capable and competent. 2.     Pointless gestures Any gesture maintained for longer than 15 seconds immediately becomes irrelevant and annoying to the audience.  This is a simple enough guideline, but we sometimes find the class participants may be using one hand to gesture, but they have completely forgotten about the other hand. They have parked it somewhere across their body, adding zero value to the proceedings.  We want our gestures to help us highlight words and ideas, such that they rise above the noise and register with the listener in support of our message.  If the hand is floating around somewhere and not being used, just “turn it off” and let it hang by your side, out of trouble.  3.      Wooden faces Professor Albert Mehrabian’s research has helped us to understand the importance of congruency when we speak.  His central thesis is that what we are saying has to match up with the way we are saying it.  For example, how many times have you seen the speaker maintain the one facial expression throughout their talk?  In that talk though there were probably areas of good and bad news.  Good results, disappointing results, opportunities, challenges are all being reported, yet their face doesn’t reflect any of that. Congruency would mean a smile or a happy face for good results and opportunities and a serious face for bad results and challenges.  Mehrabian found that when we are not congruent, the audience gets distracted by how we look and sound and they are only hearing the message 7% of the time.  That means 93% of the time what we are saying is not connecting.  That type of poor result should definitely warrant a “serious” face. 4.     Twitching and swaying around When the body starts swaying around, we are setting up visual competition for our message.  The knees and hips are circling around as if to some soul music groove. Our eyes are drawn to the movement and we tune out the message from the presenter. In addition, many participants will wander around on stage moving forward and then moving back to the same spot.  What was the point of the movement?  Actually it had no point and all they are doing is distracting us from their message.  Sometimes the speaker will adjust their feet to face one side of the room and then do a little soft shoe shuffle, to move around and face the other direction.  All of this is competing with the words coming out of their mouth.  We have this wonderful thing called the neck and it can rotate enough degrees to allow us to plant our feet in one spot and yet be able to look at the audience members to our extreme left and right sides with no difficulty whatsoever. 5.     Rambling and using filler words Puzzling audiences with the point of what you are saying is guaranteed to lose them in a split second.  I was listening to a podcast the other day and the guest was rambling away and for the life of me I couldn’t get the point of the message and I lost interest immediately.  Ums and Ahs and other filler words are another turn off as the speaker struggles to string two words together.  We abandon ship and desert the messenger. The presenter’s job is only going to become more fraught and we need to lift our game as communicators, if we are going to have any hope of getting our message through. Let’s purge ourselves of these distracting habits we have accumulated and clean up our act.  The good news is all of the other presenters out there will change nothing and we will look like rock stars by comparison.

345 Remove Your Distracting Presentation Habits

The vast majority of the time in our company we are teaching presentation training to groups of fourteen.  We have two instructors and we video everything.  We provide an enormous amount of one-on-one coaching during the training and the results are spectacular.  All good.  From time to time, we provide one-on-one coaching to company Presidents.  Usually, they have a special talk coming up and they need to really nail it.  Being able to customise the training exclusively for them is a joy for the instructors, because we can go so much deeper.  Having more time with them makes an enormous difference.  The power of repetition comes into play and that completely changes their results.  Doing their talk once is the usual experience for most businesspeople.  Most don’t rehearse.  Well that isn’t quite true – sadly, they rehearse on their live audience.  Not the greatest idea in the world and to top it off, they only ever deliver that talk once.  This ensures there is no real growth associated with the activity.  When we do one-on-one coaching, we help with the design of the talk and the crafting of the delivery.  This is where the expertise of the trainer really comes into play.  If the trainer is also an experienced public speaker, that is even more ideal.  Getting the design right for the occasion is critical.  As trainers and public speakers, we have a broad range of ideas to draw upon to help with the design phase. Most businesspeople don’t get that much practice to design their talks in a year, so they are always struggling to create the excellence the talk deserves.  As trainers, we have heard thousands of talks and have found areas where we can coach and transform them into something special.  Being able to see possibilities the client cannot see ensures we can add real value.  Also, because we are outside of the system, we can challenge what is being offered.  A subordinate will probably conclude they should not make any waves around the boss, but we are presentation professionals and we can offer our insights and perspectives freely. The individual time with the speaker is simply gold.  We can have extended hours running continuously and really work on every aspect of the talk, from the design right through to the delivery.  Getting the visuals right is always a big point of improvement in the added sophistication of the presentation.  Most senior executives in my experience still get this wrong.  The most common issue is too much confusion on the screen. There are too many competing pieces of visual stimulation distracting the audience.  Being able to clean up the visuals on the spot is so valuable because the speaker can see the difference immediately and it makes their job of presenting the information much easier. Sometimes the logic of the flow can be improved to make the points clearer and more compelling.  The author of the design can sometimes be too close to their material and everything makes sense to them, but to the uninitiated, it can lead to gaps in understanding which make the content hard to absorb.  Having that unbiased coach there to challenge the presenter’s assumptions is an excellent opportunity to catch any problems before the audience hears the talk.  There is often the problem of too much information for the time to present it and it is very hard to eliminate slides you have fallen in love with.  The coach has no such restrictions and can help to slim it down to fit the time slot. Often the President’s’ speech is created for them by their staff.  This can often lead to some pretty ordinary content being created, because the staff are not presentation experts.  The coach can weigh in at this point and work on improving the content coverage to further increase the professionalism of the presentation. The delivery piece is where the real magic occurs. There is so much power in doing the same presentation over and over and over again, polishing every small aspect of the talk to make it perfect or as close to perfect as possible.  This is where you need time, because if it is forty-minute speech for example, doing a few repetitions really burns through the clock very quickly.  The ability to recast a part of the speech and then elevate the next rendition makes the progress tangible and permanent. Usually the engagement of the audience part is neglected because the speaker is concentrating on the content rather than the delivery.  This is a big mistake which the coach can work on getting the balance right.  The audience won’t remember the details on the slides, but they will remember the presenter and how they felt during their presentation. It is what we say and how we say it that is key.  Small changes in cadence, word emphasis, pauses, gestures, posture and facial expression can have a dynamic impact on the way the audience receives the talk.  Voice modulation is how we keep the audience with us and how we don’t allow them to escape through distraction.  The repetition component is what we need to make this complex construct really work for the speaker. If you ever have an important talk to give, don’t try to work it out by yourself – get a professional to work with you.  Never forget, every time we speak in public, we are putting our personal and professional brands out on display.  This is not something we can afford to get wrong, nor an opportunity to squander the chance to build both of those brands.

The vast majority of the time in our company we are teaching presentation training to groups of fourteen.  We have two instructors and we video everything.  We provide an enormous amount of one-on-one coaching during the training and the results are spectacular.  All good.  From time to time, we provide one-on-one coaching to company Presidents.  Usually, they have a special talk coming up and they need to really nail it.  Being able to customise the training exclusively for them is a joy for the instructors, because we can go so much deeper.  Having more time with them makes an enormous difference.  The power of repetition comes into play and that completely changes their results.  Doing their talk once is the usual experience for most businesspeople.  Most don’t rehearse.  Well that isn’t quite true – sadly, they rehearse on their live audience.  Not the greatest idea in the world and to top it off, they only ever deliver that talk once.  This ensures there is no real growth associated with the activity.  When we do one-on-one coaching, we help with the design of the talk and the crafting of the delivery.  This is where the expertise of the trainer really comes into play.  If the trainer is also an experienced public speaker, that is even more ideal.  Getting the design right for the occasion is critical.  As trainers and public speakers, we have a broad range of ideas to draw upon to help with the design phase. Most businesspeople don’t get that much practice to design their talks in a year, so they are always struggling to create the excellence the talk deserves.  As trainers, we have heard thousands of talks and have found areas where we can coach and transform them into something special.  Being able to see possibilities the client cannot see ensures we can add real value.  Also, because we are outside of the system, we can challenge what is being offered.  A subordinate will probably conclude they should not make any waves around the boss, but we are presentation professionals and we can offer our insights and perspectives freely. The individual time with the speaker is simply gold.  We can have extended hours running continuously and really work on every aspect of the talk, from the design right through to the delivery.  Getting the visuals right is always a big point of improvement in the added sophistication of the presentation.  Most senior executives in my experience still get this wrong.  The most common issue is too much confusion on the screen. There are too many competing pieces of visual stimulation distracting the audience.  Being able to clean up the visuals on the spot is so valuable because the speaker can see the difference immediately and it makes their job of presenting the information much easier. Sometimes the logic of the flow can be improved to make the points clearer and more compelling.  The author of the design can sometimes be too close to their material and everything makes sense to them, but to the uninitiated, it can lead to gaps in understanding which make the content hard to absorb.  Having that unbiased coach there to challenge the presenter’s assumptions is an excellent opportunity to catch any problems before the audience hears the talk.  There is often the problem of too much information for the time to present it and it is very hard to eliminate slides you have fallen in love with.  The coach has no such restrictions and can help to slim it down to fit the time slot. Often the President’s’ speech is created for them by their staff.  This can often lead to some pretty ordinary content being created, because the staff are not presentation experts.  The coach can weigh in at this point and work on improving the content coverage to further increase the professionalism of the presentation. The delivery piece is where the real magic occurs. There is so much power in doing the same presentation over and over and over again, polishing every small aspect of the talk to make it perfect or as close to perfect as possible.  This is where you need time, because if it is forty-minute speech for example, doing a few repetitions really burns through the clock very quickly.  The ability to recast a part of the speech and then elevate the next rendition makes the progress tangible and permanent. Usually the engagement of the audience part is neglected because the speaker is concentrating on the content rather than the delivery.  This is a big mistake which the coach can work on getting the balance right.  The audience won’t remember the details on the slides, but they will remember the presenter and how they felt during their presentation. It is what we say and how we say it that is key.  Small changes in cadence, word emphasis, pauses, gestures, posture and facial expression can have a dynamic impact on the way the audience receives the talk.  Voice modulation is how we keep the audience with us and how we don’t allow them to escape through distraction.  The repetition component is what we need to make this complex construct really work for the speaker. If you ever have an important talk to give, don’t try to work it out by yourself – get a professional to work with you.  Never forget, every time we speak in public, we are putting our personal and professional brands out on display.  This is not something we can afford to get wrong, nor an opportunity to squander the chance to build both of those brands.

344 The Excellence Of One-On-One Presentation Coaching

Persuasion power is one of the kingpins of business success.  We recognise immediately those who have the facility and those who don't.  We certainly trust, gravitate toward and follow those with persuasion power.  Those who don't have it lack presence and fundamentally disappear from view and become invisible.  We have to face the reality, persuasion power is critical for building our careers and businesses.  The good thing is we can all master this ability. We can learn how to become persuasive and all we need is the right information, insight and access to the rich experiences of others.  If you want to lead or sell then you must have this capability.  This is a fact from which there is no escape and there are no excuses.

The Presentations Japan Series

How Much Selling Should You Do During Your Presentation?   The organisers of public presentations are usually not very happy for the presenter to start flogging their company’s products to the audience.  They are looking for good information for the assembled masses and no propaganda.  This makes sense because if you are sitting in the audience and you start to hear what sounds like a commercial for the speaker’s products or services you feel offended and belittled by the presenter.    I was in such a gathering when the host of the Chamber of Commerce event introduced himself as an “expert”, in his particular line of work, when kicking off proceedings.  It had a bad smell about it.  If you have to go around telling everyone you are an expert, then we will question just how much of an expert you really are.  Participants will also complain to the organisers about you and your blatant self promotion and you may not be invited back to speak.   Obviously we give these public presentations to promote our personal brands and our companies.  Where is the tipping point when you have pushed it too far?  Subtletly is always the best policy.  I still remember visiting the German Pavilion in the Tsukuba Expo in 1985.  There was a long, winding staircase to the second floor and all along the wall were framed photographs of all the German Nobel Prize winners.  There was no banner announcing “we Germans are smart”, but the huge number of faces peering down, as we wound our way up the stairs was a subtle tour de force of German intellectual power.   We should rely on some key elements when selling ourselves when presenting.  Bald faced telling people you are an “expert” is completely up for debate, but showing through the quality of what you present that you really know your stuff, is very convincing and makes you highly credible.  There needs to be some fresh data or perspective to cut through all the competing messages floating around the internet and media.   I like Jesper Kohl’s presentations.  He is a perennial favourite of different Chamber events here in Tokyo.  He is a leading economist in Japan and I have probably seen Jesper present twenty times or more over the years.  Every time he is super engaging as a presenter and always has new and high quality information on the Japanese economy.  He is the master of the pregnant pause when asking his audience members questions.  Just as the victim is ready to bumble out their answer, Jesper slips in the answer, revealing that was a rhetorical question after all and not requiring an answer.  As an audience member it certainly keeps you on the your toes!  He doesn’t have run around telling us he is an “expert”.  His content and delivery tell us that.    Delivery is the other indicator of expertise and professionalism.  You can be beautifully attired, shoes with a mirror shine, hair perfect like looking like a Hollywood idol and still be a dud if the presentation isn’t done correctly.  I was watching a VIP visitor to Tokyo, representing a huge multinational energy company, who gave a very dull presentation. The information was fine, because some minions in the marketing department had cobbled it together in a workman like fashion.  The perfectly coiffed, suited and booted presenter delivered the whole thing slowly, clearly and completely devoid of passion.  It was painful and decimated his personal brand.   To be credible and prove you are the goods, have first class content and deliver it in a completely professional manner.  Blatant self promotion is self defeating and your speaking career will be short lived, as the invitations dry up.  Please never allow the claim that you are an “expert” leave your lips.  We are not that dumb.

How Much Selling Should You Do During Your Presentation? The organisers of public presentations are usually not very happy for the presenter to start flogging their company’s products to the audience.  They are looking for good information for the assembled masses and no propaganda.  This makes sense because if you are sitting in the audience and you start to hear what sounds like a commercial for the speaker’s products or services you feel offended and belittled by the presenter.  I was in such a gathering when the host of the Chamber of Commerce event introduced himself as an “expert”, in his particular line of work, when kicking off proceedings.  It had a bad smell about it.  If you have to go around telling everyone you are an expert, then we will question just how much of an expert you really are.  Participants will also complain to the organisers about you and your blatant self promotion and you may not be invited back to speak. Obviously we give these public presentations to promote our personal brands and our companies.  Where is the tipping point when you have pushed it too far?  Subtletly is always the best policy.  I still remember visiting the German Pavilion in the Tsukuba Expo in 1985.  There was a long, winding staircase to the second floor and all along the wall were framed photographs of all the German Nobel Prize winners.  There was no banner announcing “we Germans are smart”, but the huge number of faces peering down, as we wound our way up the stairs was a subtle tour de force of German intellectual power. We should rely on some key elements when selling ourselves when presenting.  Bald faced telling people you are an “expert” is completely up for debate, but showing through the quality of what you present that you really know your stuff, is very convincing and makes you highly credible.  There needs to be some fresh data or perspective to cut through all the competing messages floating around the internet and media. I like Jesper Kohl’s presentations.  He is a perennial favourite of different Chamber events here in Tokyo.  He is a leading economist in Japan and I have probably seen Jesper present twenty times or more over the years.  Every time he is super engaging as a presenter and always has new and high quality information on the Japanese economy.  He is the master of the pregnant pause when asking his audience members questions.  Just as the victim is ready to bumble out their answer, Jesper slips in the answer, revealing that was a rhetorical question after all and not requiring an answer.  As an audience member it certainly keeps you on the your toes!  He doesn’t have run around telling us he is an “expert”.  His content and delivery tell us that.  Delivery is the other indicator of expertise and professionalism.  You can be beautifully attired, shoes with a mirror shine, hair perfect like looking like a Hollywood idol and still be a dud if the presentation isn’t done correctly.  I was watching a VIP visitor to Tokyo, representing a huge multinational energy company, who gave a very dull presentation. The information was fine, because some minions in the marketing department had cobbled it together in a workman like fashion.  The perfectly coiffed, suited and booted presenter delivered the whole thing slowly, clearly and completely devoid of passion.  It was painful and decimated his personal brand. To be credible and prove you are the goods, have first class content and deliver it in a completely professional manner.  Blatant self promotion is self defeating and your speaking career will be short lived, as the invitations dry up.  Please never allow the claim that you are an “expert” leave your lips.  We are not that dumb.

173: How Much Selling Should You Do During Your Presentation?

How To Use Video In Your Presentation   Video is the refuge of rascals when presenting.  The unskilled Japanese President tries to shift the attention off his miserable presentation skills, by diverting the focus of the audience to the video.  Actually, it is a mighty relief in many ways from his dirge like, monotone, monochrome delivery. He was killing us slowly with his lifeless words.  The idea is that the video will compensate for the presenter.  It also takes up time, so the presenter can whip through the morass of their presentation and get out of there quicker.  The scoundrel’s respite.   I personally try to avoid using video because it competes with my face.  I want the full power of my expressions to be brought to bear, to convey the key messages I have for my audience.  I want to monopolise the flow of the proceedings, so that it moves along with me in charge.  There is a place for video though, when it makes sense and when it is reined in and kept under control.   Video is very versatile, as it can combine movement, music, images and still photographs very effectively.  It can tell a short story very powerfully.  It can bend time to its will. Emotions can be appealed to, physical dimensions made more impressive, speed made real and other people’s expressions and faces conscripted to serve the presenter’s messaging.  It can bring both fantasy and reality to us in a powerful way.  We are all used to watching video and movies on our phones, DVDs, etc., so we are open to the medium.   In certain industries and businesses, the visual aspect of their branding, packaging, design etc., really lends itself to employing a full video arsenal.  Fast motion, slow motion, music combinations entertain the mind and stretch the imagination.  Brands do this well, but corporate PR videos usually do it less well.  In Japan, the latter is more often than not what we are subjected to, by the boring wannabe corporate Titan trying to command  the stage.   Like anything, if it is done well it works.  This is the issue though, do you have a great video to show or are you just showing a video for the sake of it?  It is rare that a video would be specifically produced for a particular presentation.  This normally means we are drawing on the video library of the firm and it would be a rare piece of luck to get the video content available, to chime with the speech you are giving.  The planets rarely align so helpfully in real life and what we wind up doing is trying to slam the square peg into the round hole with what we have.   The reprobate presenter just picks up the whole video, as is, and plunks it down in the beginning of their talk.  This means that we haven’t really connected with the audience as yet and we are distracting them from focusing on us, by breaking their concentration to look at a video.  They usually have trouble actually showing the video because the loading process doesn’t work well on the laptop.  They were in a slide deck, had to go out of that and then bring up the video.  There may even be a link in the slide deck to the video, but it is hit and miss as to how often that works on the day. You become frustrated because the damm thing worked fine in the rehearsal and now for some mysterious reason, it refuses to work when the punters are assembled.   All of this fiddling about means you have now lost your connection with your audience, who are whipping out their phones to escape to the internet, because you are boring them with the tech.  Once the video is over, we have to reconnect with the audience.  If the video had a lot of excitement and energy and you present like a beached mullet, the contrast is mega.  Everyone hopes you will disappear and more video will be rolled out instead, because it was a lot more interesting than you.    So we need to design the bridge into the video and the one out at the end.  I have no memory of anyone doing this well by the way.  Probably because the thought it was actually necessary, never occurred to them.  We have to make sure the video is kept short and adds value to our message.  We must dominate it, not the other way around.

How To Use Video In Your Presentation Video is the refuge of rascals when presenting.  The unskilled Japanese President tries to shift the attention off his miserable presentation skills, by diverting the focus of the audience to the video.  Actually, it is a mighty relief in many ways from his dirge like, monotone, monochrome delivery. He was killing us slowly with his lifeless words.  The idea is that the video will compensate for the presenter.  It also takes up time, so the presenter can whip through the morass of their presentation and get out of there quicker.  The scoundrel’s respite. I personally try to avoid using video because it competes with my face.  I want the full power of my expressions to be brought to bear, to convey the key messages I have for my audience.  I want to monopolise the flow of the proceedings, so that it moves along with me in charge.  There is a place for video though, when it makes sense and when it is reined in and kept under control. Video is very versatile, as it can combine movement, music, images and still photographs very effectively.  It can tell a short story very powerfully.  It can bend time to its will. Emotions can be appealed to, physical dimensions made more impressive, speed made real and other people’s expressions and faces conscripted to serve the presenter’s messaging.  It can bring both fantasy and reality to us in a powerful way.  We are all used to watching video and movies on our phones, DVDs, etc., so we are open to the medium. In certain industries and businesses, the visual aspect of their branding, packaging, design etc., really lends itself to employing a full video arsenal.  Fast motion, slow motion, music combinations entertain the mind and stretch the imagination.  Brands do this well, but corporate PR videos usually do it less well.  In Japan, the latter is more often than not what we are subjected to, by the boring wannabe corporate Titan trying to command  the stage. Like anything, if it is done well it works.  This is the issue though, do you have a great video to show or are you just showing a video for the sake of it?  It is rare that a video would be specifically produced for a particular presentation.  This normally means we are drawing on the video library of the firm and it would be a rare piece of luck to get the video content available, to chime with the speech you are giving.  The planets rarely align so helpfully in real life and what we wind up doing is trying to slam the square peg into the round hole with what we have. The reprobate presenter just picks up the whole video, as is, and plunks it down in the beginning of their talk.  This means that we haven’t really connected with the audience as yet and we are distracting them from focusing on us, by breaking their concentration to look at a video.  They usually have trouble actually showing the video because the loading process doesn’t work well on the laptop.  They were in a slide deck, had to go out of that and then bring up the video.  There may even be a link in the slide deck to the video, but it is hit and miss as to how often that works on the day. You become frustrated because the damm thing worked fine in the rehearsal and now for some mysterious reason, it refuses to work when the punters are assembled. All of this fiddling about means you have now lost your connection with your audience, who are whipping out their phones to escape to the internet, because you are boring them with the tech.  Once the video is over, we have to reconnect with the audience.  If the video had a lot of excitement and energy and you present like a beached mullet, the contrast is mega.  Everyone hopes you will disappear and more video will be rolled out instead, because it was a lot more interesting than you.  So we need to design the bridge into the video and the one out at the end.  I have no memory of anyone doing this well by the way.  Probably because the thought it was actually necessary, never occurred to them.  We have to make sure the video is kept short and adds value to our message.  We must dominate it, not the other way around.

163: How To Use Video In Your Presentation

Bland Is Bad When Presenting   Smart, capable people amaze me when I see them presenting.  This recent speaker was someone I had met in business a few times previously and this was my first time to see him present.  In our earlier conversations, he was knowledgeable, intelligent and professional.  He was an experienced person in his industry and had substantial international work exposure.  He was tall, broad shouldered, square jawed, handsome and personally well presented. His presentation itself was a dud. He had great information, probably some of the best available.  He had good perspective to put that data in context.  The delivery though was lifeless and it was killing the quality of the content.   This is a big mistake we can easily make.  We add too many slides because we think the audience will really benefit from this additional information.  Now we are rushing to get through it all in the allotted time and this detracts from our professionalism as presenters.  Or we want to put too much comparative information on the one slide.  The two or three graphs we are showing are complex and because at a reduced scale to fit on the slide, they are hard to read, so we lose our audience.  We might really go crazy and start putting up whole spreadsheets of figures on the slide and just wipe our audience out completely.   Another problem with delivery can be too much jargon, which forces large swaths of the audience to drop out and go searching for their internet connection on their phone.  They want to spend their time doing something more useful, like checking Facebook or Instagram, rather than listening to us. We may be speaking at a rapid rate of knots, because our nerves and corresponding adrenalin release are driving up the speaking speed. We are like the surf, with each successive wave wiping out the one before it.  In this metaphor, the content of the previous wave is usurped by the next wave, such that the audience cannot retain the previous point we made.  They soon lose touch with the direction of the talk.   In our speaker’s case, his voice loudness was such that with the microphone, we could clearly hear him in the room.  His speaking speed was actually, if anything, a little on the slow side.  The real killer though was his speaking intensity. What do I mean by intensity?  It was very, very low key.  This can often be the deep pit that technical speakers fall into.  They are numbers, rather than words, people and so they deliver their talk with a detached, “I am not really here” presence.  If this was a paper they had written  and they weren’t there then this is fine.  The problem is as if it were an academic or technical paper and the difference between us reading it for ourselves and them giving the presentation is abysmally tiny.   Intensity comes from within and from our mental attitude to the talk.  Are we there to be supremely grey and just inform the audience of the content?  If this is the idea then this presenter was totally successful.  Is this enough though.  In this modern, fast paced, highly competitive world how can we choose to come in last?  If we get a chance to showcase our organisation and ourselves we have to make every post a winner.  We need to better understand the full potential of the situation.  If we can present information in a way that really makes the audience sit up and take notice, then they will think highly of our firm and of us.  He was grey, bland, forgettable, uninteresting, uninspiring, nice but boring – a speaker wall flower type, disappearing into the background, while standing in the foreground of the venue stage.   There was no tonal variation in his delivery.  He didn’t punch out key words to drive home their importance.  His face was wooden and rather neutral, deadpan looking throughout, rather than excited and passionate about his subject.  He had no crescendos and just settled for lulls all the way throughout the 40 minutes of audience torture.  His body language and gestures had been put away for storage, waiting for a rainy day perhaps, because he didn’t bring them to the hall. Now when you are a big guy like him, being dynamic is relatively easy, because you have mass and when put in motion, it can have a strong impact on your audience.    He also chose to follow the arrangements by the event staff, none of whom have ever given a public presentation in their entire life and who are completely ignorant of professional presentation requirements.  Following their direction, he stood behind the podium obscuring his body language potential, had the lights dimmed to accommodate the screen and what was being displayed.  He was already grey in delivery terms but his stage positioning and lighting had him almost disappear from plain sight.   He is a great teacher of presentations.  In the Japanese language there is an expression called “hanmen kyoshi” or teacher by negative example.  This is the role he played superbly on this occasion.  We can learn a lot by doing the opposite of what he was doing.  It also makes us realize that being tall, broad and handsome doesn’t mean much, if you don’t know what you are doing as a presenter.  Having great data and information will not retain the attention of our increasingly attention deficit modern audiences, because we cannot keep them riveted to us and off their mobile phones.  The minimum requirement is a clear understanding of the importance of solid delivery skills, on top of which we pour on our unsurpassed content. Not only do we have to understand these points, we have to deliver the delivery!

Bland Is Bad When Presenting Smart, capable people amaze me when I see them presenting.  This recent speaker was someone I had met in business a few times previously and this was my first time to see him present.  In our earlier conversations, he was knowledgeable, intelligent and professional.  He was an experienced person in his industry and had substantial international work exposure.  He was tall, broad shouldered, square jawed, handsome and personally well presented. His presentation itself was a dud. He had great information, probably some of the best available.  He had good perspective to put that data in context.  The delivery though was lifeless and it was killing the quality of the content. This is a big mistake we can easily make.  We add too many slides because we think the audience will really benefit from this additional information.  Now we are rushing to get through it all in the allotted time and this detracts from our professionalism as presenters.  Or we want to put too much comparative information on the one slide.  The two or three graphs we are showing are complex and because at a reduced scale to fit on the slide, they are hard to read, so we lose our audience.  We might really go crazy and start putting up whole spreadsheets of figures on the slide and just wipe our audience out completely. Another problem with delivery can be too much jargon, which forces large swaths of the audience to drop out and go searching for their internet connection on their phone.  They want to spend their time doing something more useful, like checking Facebook or Instagram, rather than listening to us. We may be speaking at a rapid rate of knots, because our nerves and corresponding adrenalin release are driving up the speaking speed. We are like the surf, with each successive wave wiping out the one before it.  In this metaphor, the content of the previous wave is usurped by the next wave, such that the audience cannot retain the previous point we made.  They soon lose touch with the direction of the talk. In our speaker’s case, his voice loudness was such that with the microphone, we could clearly hear him in the room.  His speaking speed was actually, if anything, a little on the slow side.  The real killer though was his speaking intensity. What do I mean by intensity?  It was very, very low key.  This can often be the deep pit that technical speakers fall into.  They are numbers, rather than words, people and so they deliver their talk with a detached, “I am not really here” presence.  If this was a paper they had written  and they weren’t there then this is fine.  The problem is as if it were an academic or technical paper and the difference between us reading it for ourselves and them giving the presentation is abysmally tiny. Intensity comes from within and from our mental attitude to the talk.  Are we there to be supremely grey and just inform the audience of the content?  If this is the idea then this presenter was totally successful.  Is this enough though.  In this modern, fast paced, highly competitive world how can we choose to come in last?  If we get a chance to showcase our organisation and ourselves we have to make every post a winner.  We need to better understand the full potential of the situation.  If we can present information in a way that really makes the audience sit up and take notice, then they will think highly of our firm and of us.  He was grey, bland, forgettable, uninteresting, uninspiring, nice but boring – a speaker wall flower type, disappearing into the background, while standing in the foreground of the venue stage. There was no tonal variation in his delivery.  He didn’t punch out key words to drive home their importance.  His face was wooden and rather neutral, deadpan looking throughout, rather than excited and passionate about his subject.  He had no crescendos and just settled for lulls all the way throughout the 40 minutes of audience torture.  His body language and gestures had been put away for storage, waiting for a rainy day perhaps, because he didn’t bring them to the hall. Now when you are a big guy like him, being dynamic is relatively easy, because you have mass and when put in motion, it can have a strong impact on your audience.  He also chose to follow the arrangements by the event staff, none of whom have ever given a public presentation in their entire life and who are completely ignorant of professional presentation requirements.  Following their direction, he stood behind the podium obscuring his body language potential, had the lights dimmed to accommodate the screen and what was being displayed.  He was already grey in delivery terms but his stage positioning and lighting had him almost disappear from plain sight. He is a great teacher of presentations.  In the Japanese language there is an expression called “hanmen kyoshi” or teacher by negative example.  This is the role he played superbly on this occasion.  We can learn a lot by doing the opposite of what he was doing.  It also makes us realize that being tall, broad and handsome doesn’t mean much, if you don’t know what you are doing as a presenter.  Having great data and information will not retain the attention of our increasingly attention deficit modern audiences, because we cannot keep them riveted to us and off their mobile phones.  The minimum requirement is a clear understanding of the importance of solid delivery skills, on top of which we pour on our unsurpassed content. Not only do we have to understand these points, we have to deliver the delivery!

99: Bland Is Bad

Be Fearless.  Become A Considered Self Promoter To Grow Your Business   I am infamous in Tokyo. I always ask the first question of the speaker at an event.  “Oh Greg, you always ask the first question”, people say, as if it was a bad thing. They don’t get it.  In my case, I have found that having an interesting question is one thing, but having the chance to get it answered is another.  In the past I would be there with my hand dangling in the air to ask a question and the organizer would suddenly say, “We have no more time for further questions, please join me in thanking our speaker”. That was most annoying.  I decided going first was a known thing, whereas who will be last was not, so to improve my odds, I decided I would try to go first.   Later I found there was another good reason for doing it.  I attend a lot of presentations as part of my networking activities here in Japan and you see what works and what doesn’t over time.  Before you start your question, the organisers always request you state your name and affiliation.  Now I say my name and my company name slowly, precisely and clearly.  So what?    Well reflect on your own experience. I think you will find that 99.9% of questioners you hear at events just rapidly mumble their own name and their company’s name. No one can understand the content of what they have just said, let alone remember who they were. Now, how about when it is your turn? Can people easily catch your name in that same situation or are you sxhyf  xqtelpbqfrom vzqithmsfplcompany?  I am guessing the latter!   As one way to promote myself and my business, I decided that there was an opening in the market here for considered self promotion (for a good cause though!). I decided I want to have the names “  Greg   Story  ” and “ Dale   Carnegie   Training  ”  penetrating the minds of all those in the audience at the event, as a form of subtle advertising.  I can’t always be the speaker and lift my profile that way, but I can be a questioner at other people’s events and there are a lot more of those available to me.    Everyone understands the importance of the mantra: “know, like, trust” in order to grow your business. The “know” part can cost a lot of money to cement in the minds of potential clients.  Being “top of mind” is what we all want in business so that they call us first, if they need something.  We all spend huge amounts of effort and money trying to achieve that. We are hosting responsive websites, buying ad words, doing retargeting, posting content on social media, advertising and trying to bolster our SEO. Why?    We want to be top of mind for when the buyer is looking for our solution. At events, we have a golden opportunity to position ourselves as top of mind for no additional cost to the price of the ticket.  All we have to do is raise our hand.  Human psychology being what it is, most people are hesitant to go first in front of others, so we can usually get to ask the first question.   The other thing people say to me is , “Greg, that was a really good question”, as if that were a random accident.  Folks, this is my personal brand out there, so the question has to be a really, really good one.  While the event is underway, I am thinking about the question I want to ask and how I will ask it.  It is being silently distilled in my mind during the proceedings, so that when I get up to speak, it sounds as fluent and smart as I can possibly make it.   I want to impress.   We all know in advance who the speaker is going to be, so it doesn’t take a lot to research them a little, to be able to ask a more pointed question than what usually emerges from the hoi polloi.  For example, the new President of All Nippon Airlines (ANA) was a speaker at the American Chamber in Tokyo.  As usual, I had the first question.    I made the comment about how poorly people’s mistakes are handled by management in Japan and how this is an inhibitor to the messy process of innovation.  I asked about the culture of dealing with mistakes at ANA? I then specifically noted that when he was the Head of Sales at ANA, his idea of providing first class passengers with individually ordered meals had become a big problem. The service had to be stopped, yet he made it to become President. So ANA must have a good way of encouraging innovation, without punishing people for mistakes in the process. Could he tell us about that?  You could have heard a pin drop in the room after I laid that little baby out.  By the way, he was delighted with the question, because he could brag about how great the culture at ANA was etc., etc.   People came up to me later, saying they were amazed by my question. Now all of this was readily available public information.  They could all have asked the same question, if they had spent a few minutes searching out the background of the speaker.  I relate this little episode just to demonstrate how you can enhance your personal brand by approaching mundane things like the Q&amp;A, from a fresh angle.   It does take guts though to be the first questioner and to put yourself out there in front of everyone. If your question is not so good or not so well articulated, then that doesn’t add to your personal brand status and possibly drops it down quite a few notches.  You also have to have a thick hide, because some people will take umbrage with you for having the gall to always ask the first question.  Jealousy is a curse.   I usually find a strong correlation here with one aspect of these types of jealous people. They usually have zero personal brand power.  I always think to myself, “It's a free country, if you want to ask the first question, knock yourself out”.  The point is, there is always a vacuum when the Master of Ceremony calls for questions.  The majority of people are shy to put themselves forward in front of a big crowd of their peers.  If you have the guts, seize the day, seize the moment!   And you don’t have to always ask the first question.  I do it because I want to promote my company, I want to have “Dale Carnegie Training Japan” top of mind, relative to my competitors.  Ironically, if for some reason I don’t ask any questions, people will complain to me after the event. “What happened, you didn’t any questions today.  I always like your questions”. So you can’t win either way. You may as well go for it!   Action steps  Ask your question, be it first or otherwise, but first state your name and company name slowly and clearly Make it an intelligent question that will reflect well on your brand Do some simple research on the speaker before the event Ignore critics because they are stupid and the smart people will get it Never apologise for doing your best for promoting your business By the way, don’t expect a good answer to you excellent question! That rarely ever happens. 

Be Fearless.  Become A Considered Self Promoter To Grow Your Business I am infamous in Tokyo. I always ask the first question of the speaker at an event.  “Oh Greg, you always ask the first question”, people say, as if it was a bad thing. They don’t get it.  In my case, I have found that having an interesting question is one thing, but having the chance to get it answered is another.  In the past I would be there with my hand dangling in the air to ask a question and the organizer would suddenly say, “We have no more time for further questions, please join me in thanking our speaker”. That was most annoying.  I decided going first was a known thing, whereas who will be last was not, so to improve my odds, I decided I would try to go first. Later I found there was another good reason for doing it.  I attend a lot of presentations as part of my networking activities here in Japan and you see what works and what doesn’t over time.  Before you start your question, the organisers always request you state your name and affiliation.  Now I say my name and my company name slowly, precisely and clearly.  So what?  Well reflect on your own experience. I think you will find that 99.9% of questioners you hear at events just rapidly mumble their own name and their company’s name. No one can understand the content of what they have just said, let alone remember who they were. Now, how about when it is your turn? Can people easily catch your name in that same situation or are you sxhyf  xqtelpbqfrom vzqithmsfplcompany?  I am guessing the latter! As one way to promote myself and my business, I decided that there was an opening in the market here for considered self promotion (for a good cause though!). I decided I want to have the names “  Greg   Story  ” and “ Dale   Carnegie   Training  ”  penetrating the minds of all those in the audience at the event, as a form of subtle advertising.  I can’t always be the speaker and lift my profile that way, but I can be a questioner at other people’s events and there are a lot more of those available to me.  Everyone understands the importance of the mantra: “know, like, trust” in order to grow your business. The “know” part can cost a lot of money to cement in the minds of potential clients.  Being “top of mind” is what we all want in business so that they call us first, if they need something.  We all spend huge amounts of effort and money trying to achieve that. We are hosting responsive websites, buying ad words, doing retargeting, posting content on social media, advertising and trying to bolster our SEO. Why?  We want to be top of mind for when the buyer is looking for our solution. At events, we have a golden opportunity to position ourselves as top of mind for no additional cost to the price of the ticket.  All we have to do is raise our hand.  Human psychology being what it is, most people are hesitant to go first in front of others, so we can usually get to ask the first question. The other thing people say to me is , “Greg, that was a really good question”, as if that were a random accident.  Folks, this is my personal brand out there, so the question has to be a really, really good one.  While the event is underway, I am thinking about the question I want to ask and how I will ask it.  It is being silently distilled in my mind during the proceedings, so that when I get up to speak, it sounds as fluent and smart as I can possibly make it.   I want to impress. We all know in advance who the speaker is going to be, so it doesn’t take a lot to research them a little, to be able to ask a more pointed question than what usually emerges from the hoi polloi.  For example, the new President of All Nippon Airlines (ANA) was a speaker at the American Chamber in Tokyo.  As usual, I had the first question.  I made the comment about how poorly people’s mistakes are handled by management in Japan and how this is an inhibitor to the messy process of innovation.  I asked about the culture of dealing with mistakes at ANA? I then specifically noted that when he was the Head of Sales at ANA, his idea of providing first class passengers with individually ordered meals had become a big problem. The service had to be stopped, yet he made it to become President. So ANA must have a good way of encouraging innovation, without punishing people for mistakes in the process. Could he tell us about that?  You could have heard a pin drop in the room after I laid that little baby out.  By the way, he was delighted with the question, because he could brag about how great the culture at ANA was etc., etc. People came up to me later, saying they were amazed by my question. Now all of this was readily available public information.  They could all have asked the same question, if they had spent a few minutes searching out the background of the speaker.  I relate this little episode just to demonstrate how you can enhance your personal brand by approaching mundane things like the Q&amp;A, from a fresh angle. It does take guts though to be the first questioner and to put yourself out there in front of everyone. If your question is not so good or not so well articulated, then that doesn’t add to your personal brand status and possibly drops it down quite a few notches.  You also have to have a thick hide, because some people will take umbrage with you for having the gall to always ask the first question.  Jealousy is a curse. I usually find a strong correlation here with one aspect of these types of jealous people. They usually have zero personal brand power.  I always think to myself, “It's a free country, if you want to ask the first question, knock yourself out”.  The point is, there is always a vacuum when the Master of Ceremony calls for questions.  The majority of people are shy to put themselves forward in front of a big crowd of their peers.  If you have the guts, seize the day, seize the moment! And you don’t have to always ask the first question.  I do it because I want to promote my company, I want to have “Dale Carnegie Training Japan” top of mind, relative to my competitors.  Ironically, if for some reason I don’t ask any questions, people will complain to me after the event. “What happened, you didn’t any questions today.  I always like your questions”. So you can’t win either way. You may as well go for it! Action steps <ol> <li>Ask your question, be it first or otherwise, but first state your name and company name slowly and clearly</li> <li>Make it an intelligent question that will reflect well on your brand</li> <li>Do some simple research on the speaker before the event</li> <li>Ignore critics because they are stupid and the smart people will get it</li> <li>Never apologise for doing your best for promoting your business</li> <li>By the way, don’t expect a good answer to you excellent question! That rarely ever happens.</li> </ol>

116: Be Fearless.  Become A Considered Self Promoter To Grow Your Business

Presenting By Video Conferencing   Technology is getting pretty good these days so joining meetings remotely is becoming more and more common.  Years ago the platforms were not that stable and the actions and voice synchronization had a problem with delays.  I had a job interview with a panel by video conference which was horrible.  The panel looked very small on the screen because the system could only handle a wide angle shot for that many people. I on the other hand, was a close up for them.  They would move their mouths and about three seconds later out would come the words and the same for my end.  It was all very disconcerting I must say but I got the job anyway.    Today the tech is much, much better but the presenting part is no easier.  Here are a few ideas for when you are doing a presentation remotely. Make sure you get there early and check the sound and video connections are working perfectly.  In some cases, you may need to be wearing headphones and speaking into a separate microphone connected to the computer.  I am doing a guest spot on Jeffrey Gitomer and Jennifer Gluckow’s “Sell Or Die” podcast shortly and these are the requirements for me to participate.  Fortunately, because I do three weekly podcasts, I have the necessary high quality microphone and headset.  Make sure to check what you will need equipment-wise your end, well before the set date.  If you can organize it, definitely have an iPad, extra screen or a phone hooked into the same system, so that you can see what the audience can see.    This is useful during the set up, to see how you look to the viewers and also for during the actual broadcast, to see how you are coming across.  You only need to glance at yourself during the real meeting, because otherwise it looks weird if you are talking to someone off camera.    Most of these systems allow for recording, so when you rehearse, use the exact same system and record yourself speaking and then take a look at the results.  Most people don’t think to do this, but we have to see the presentation through the eyes of our viewers.  You may notice that you have little habits that become magnified, when it is just your face on screen.  You may find there are slides in the deck that on the small screen are hard to read and need simplifying.   When you use slides, this is very similar to a webinar format.  If you have done webinars before, you know how disconcerting it is to be talking to others and not being able to easily gauge their reactions.  Even with the better tech today, the team members will either be in a wide shot of the whole room, in which case you can’t really see their faces or the tech will only feature the face of whoever is talking, so again you can’t see the other participants.  You just have to accept that your read of how what you are saying is going down, will be limited and carry on anyway.    The camera in your computer is always set above the main screen, so you are always looking at a point below the looking line of the audience.  If you can manage it buy a separate camera, that you can arrange to be more face level, so you can talk to the camera, rather than talk to a point 20 centimeters below the screen camera.  This also allows you to have better posture and sit up straighter in the chair.  Try it and you will see it makes a big difference to how you relate to the viewing audience.   When you see a screen, it is an illusion really, because the visual aspect is really superseded by the voice.  Also slides will reduce your “face time” on screen as well.  The voice is a powerful tool for communication and in these instances it becomes even more important than usual.  Don’t speak too quickly.  The tech is good but we still need to slow the pace down a bit for the audience to hear what we are saying.  You don’t know the quality of the speakers at their end.  They could be those small, cheap, portable speakers and so the acoustics may not be great.   Many of the things I am going to mention also apply when we are speaking to a live audience.  Voice modulation is key to avoiding a slumber inducing monotone.  Hitting key words brings greater emphasis to important parts of the message.  I recently did over seven hours of narration for my bestseller Japan Sales Mastery for the audio version.    Sadly, I don’t have the classic, deep bass DJ voice.  What I could do though, which a sexier voiced narrator would find impossible to do, is to know which words to emphasise in every sentence.  By isolating out key words with either additional volume or by dropping the volume to a covert whisper, we can really grab the listener’s attention.   Pauses become very important when speaking in these situations, because we need people to constantly adjust their hearing and digest the content of what we have just said. Rushing ideas, one after another, over the top of each other is ineffective.  Plan to have slightly longer breaks than you would do with a face to face presentation.  Also don’t be thrown if there are long periods of silence on their end.  If you ask a question and no one answers, it can often be that they are not able to organize who will answer amongst themselves, if they are all tuning in remotely.  In that case, just repeat the question and be patient. Wait for the answer.  The ball is their court now, so there is no pressure on you.   Eye contact should be made with the camera at all times, where possible.  This is similar to if you were doing a video shoot.  You need to be making love to the camera lens.  My weekly YouTube TV show “The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show” is me talking straight to the camera.  It was difficult at first, to keep staring into the camera lens, but with practice I found you can get used to it.  Don’t look away or to the side if possible.  It looks like you lack conviction or self confidence in what you are saying.    You are probably going to be seated, so your gestures will be smaller than normal, but still use them. At this close up range, your arms won’t be making the gestures, as much as your hands.  The sweep of the gestures will be more compact and you will probably want to hold them for slightly longer than usual.  As I said before sit up straight, don’t slouch and adjust the chair height to allow you to do that.  If you can arrange the tech so that you can do the presentation standing that would be ideal.  It gives you more access to your body language and gestures.  It also feels more comfortable than being constrained while sitting.   If it is phone only and no video connection, then the earlier ideas about voice come directly into play.  This is harder in one way, but there is also less pressure, because no one is looking at you.  Also, you are not trying to discern the expressions on their faces through the medium of a small screen.  Rehearsal is still very important and you should record how you sound across the phone lines.  Pay special attention to pauses, because the only mental stimulation they are receiving is auditory.  They need time to filter what they are hearing, so don’t be in a rush. You may have had to send the deck ahead of time, which means they will be on page eight, while you are still on page two. There is nothing you can do about that, so keep going regardless.   The basics of presenting apply whether you are in the hall, on the phone or on live video.  The rehearsal element is even more important.  Getting online early, to check the tech becomes critical.  Remember the tech, the screens, etc., are all there to play second fiddle to you, the presenter.  You must dominate the medium, no matter what it is.  Plan to be successful and you will be successful.

Presenting By Video Conferencing Technology is getting pretty good these days so joining meetings remotely is becoming more and more common.  Years ago the platforms were not that stable and the actions and voice synchronization had a problem with delays.  I had a job interview with a panel by video conference which was horrible.  The panel looked very small on the screen because the system could only handle a wide angle shot for that many people. I on the other hand, was a close up for them.  They would move their mouths and about three seconds later out would come the words and the same for my end.  It was all very disconcerting I must say but I got the job anyway.  Today the tech is much, much better but the presenting part is no easier.  Here are a few ideas for when you are doing a presentation remotely. Make sure you get there early and check the sound and video connections are working perfectly.  In some cases, you may need to be wearing headphones and speaking into a separate microphone connected to the computer.  I am doing a guest spot on Jeffrey Gitomer and Jennifer Gluckow’s “Sell Or Die” podcast shortly and these are the requirements for me to participate.  Fortunately, because I do three weekly podcasts, I have the necessary high quality microphone and headset.  Make sure to check what you will need equipment-wise your end, well before the set date.  If you can organize it, definitely have an iPad, extra screen or a phone hooked into the same system, so that you can see what the audience can see.  This is useful during the set up, to see how you look to the viewers and also for during the actual broadcast, to see how you are coming across.  You only need to glance at yourself during the real meeting, because otherwise it looks weird if you are talking to someone off camera.  Most of these systems allow for recording, so when you rehearse, use the exact same system and record yourself speaking and then take a look at the results.  Most people don’t think to do this, but we have to see the presentation through the eyes of our viewers.  You may notice that you have little habits that become magnified, when it is just your face on screen.  You may find there are slides in the deck that on the small screen are hard to read and need simplifying. When you use slides, this is very similar to a webinar format.  If you have done webinars before, you know how disconcerting it is to be talking to others and not being able to easily gauge their reactions.  Even with the better tech today, the team members will either be in a wide shot of the whole room, in which case you can’t really see their faces or the tech will only feature the face of whoever is talking, so again you can’t see the other participants.  You just have to accept that your read of how what you are saying is going down, will be limited and carry on anyway.  The camera in your computer is always set above the main screen, so you are always looking at a point below the looking line of the audience.  If you can manage it buy a separate camera, that you can arrange to be more face level, so you can talk to the camera, rather than talk to a point 20 centimeters below the screen camera.  This also allows you to have better posture and sit up straighter in the chair.  Try it and you will see it makes a big difference to how you relate to the viewing audience. When you see a screen, it is an illusion really, because the visual aspect is really superseded by the voice.  Also slides will reduce your “face time” on screen as well.  The voice is a powerful tool for communication and in these instances it becomes even more important than usual.  Don’t speak too quickly.  The tech is good but we still need to slow the pace down a bit for the audience to hear what we are saying.  You don’t know the quality of the speakers at their end.  They could be those small, cheap, portable speakers and so the acoustics may not be great. Many of the things I am going to mention also apply when we are speaking to a live audience.  Voice modulation is key to avoiding a slumber inducing monotone.  Hitting key words brings greater emphasis to important parts of the message.  I recently did over seven hours of narration for my bestseller Japan Sales Mastery for the audio version.  Sadly, I don’t have the classic, deep bass DJ voice.  What I could do though, which a sexier voiced narrator would find impossible to do, is to know which words to emphasise in every sentence.  By isolating out key words with either additional volume or by dropping the volume to a covert whisper, we can really grab the listener’s attention. Pauses become very important when speaking in these situations, because we need people to constantly adjust their hearing and digest the content of what we have just said. Rushing ideas, one after another, over the top of each other is ineffective.  Plan to have slightly longer breaks than you would do with a face to face presentation.  Also don’t be thrown if there are long periods of silence on their end.  If you ask a question and no one answers, it can often be that they are not able to organize who will answer amongst themselves, if they are all tuning in remotely.  In that case, just repeat the question and be patient. Wait for the answer.  The ball is their court now, so there is no pressure on you. Eye contact should be made with the camera at all times, where possible.  This is similar to if you were doing a video shoot.  You need to be making love to the camera lens.  My weekly YouTube TV show “The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show” is me talking straight to the camera.  It was difficult at first, to keep staring into the camera lens, but with practice I found you can get used to it.  Don’t look away or to the side if possible.  It looks like you lack conviction or self confidence in what you are saying.  You are probably going to be seated, so your gestures will be smaller than normal, but still use them. At this close up range, your arms won’t be making the gestures, as much as your hands.  The sweep of the gestures will be more compact and you will probably want to hold them for slightly longer than usual.  As I said before sit up straight, don’t slouch and adjust the chair height to allow you to do that.  If you can arrange the tech so that you can do the presentation standing that would be ideal.  It gives you more access to your body language and gestures.  It also feels more comfortable than being constrained while sitting. If it is phone only and no video connection, then the earlier ideas about voice come directly into play.  This is harder in one way, but there is also less pressure, because no one is looking at you.  Also, you are not trying to discern the expressions on their faces through the medium of a small screen.  Rehearsal is still very important and you should record how you sound across the phone lines.  Pay special attention to pauses, because the only mental stimulation they are receiving is auditory.  They need time to filter what they are hearing, so don’t be in a rush. You may have had to send the deck ahead of time, which means they will be on page eight, while you are still on page two. There is nothing you can do about that, so keep going regardless. The basics of presenting apply whether you are in the hall, on the phone or on live video.  The rehearsal element is even more important.  Getting online early, to check the tech becomes critical.  Remember the tech, the screens, etc., are all there to play second fiddle to you, the presenter.  You must dominate the medium, no matter what it is.  Plan to be successful and you will be successful.

104: Presenting By Video Conferencing

One Of Your Most Vital Presentations   Usually when we hear the term “presentation”, we think of a public arena, a big crowd and a lot of formality.  These public occasions are important because this is your personal and professional brand on show to the world.  There are other presentations though, which are in the family bosom of the company, away from the bright lights and the fanfare.  This is when you are addressing the troops, people who see you day in and day out.  They know who you really are.   In these cases we may need to recognise people, perhaps hand out awards, celebrate a birthday or work anniversary. This is our crew but don’t take them for granted.  We can’t be laid back about it and think it is not as important as a public soiree.  We still have to prepare properly.  This is inside the family, so the temptation is to see the stakes as being lower. Actually, these types of speeches are the hardest ones to give and we need to be at our best.  Engagement and motivation are closely driven by how we make our people feel.  How much attention we give them and how we treat them, are critical elements of our authentic leadership.   Typically though, we don’t prepare, we just wing it and so end up with a pretty ordinary facsimile of a proper presentation.  Wrong thinking!  Well what we should we do?  Here is a simple four part formula for these occasions.  Firstly, explain why the award is being made.  It may be for dedicated service, high quality job performance, a major sales achievement, etc.  Probably everyone knows already, but we need to remind them and set the scene for the presentation.  For example, “Mary has won the sales over $500,000 medal” which is pretty boring. Compare it to, “Mary beat out hundreds of other salespeople to make it into the very exclusive half a million dollars club of outstanding salespeople”.  We need to set the context for the award at the start.   Secondly, talk about the team member’s role as part of the team.  We need to connect them with the group and how they contribute.  We might say, “Mary is a high performer and she is a fantastic team player.  Her willingness to help the team win, shows the mark of a true professional.  I know many of the people in this room today can attest to her openness and availability to assist wherever needed and share knowledge with others.   Thirdly, we talk about the award itself, why it is deserved and how we are all proud of the recognition this has given to our whole team effort in the organisation.  We say, “Mary has been a model of persistence. She has done all the steps of the sales process, consistently and professionally.  Her achievement today is also driven off the back of the number of referrals she got from clients which led to new business with other companies. We preach this referral idea and Mary is a model to remind us to make this succeed for all of us as well”.   Fourthly, we congratulate the recipient on behalf of everyone.  “Mary, I am very proud to make this sales award to you today. Congratulations from all of us, we want you to receive this recognition with our best wishes and hopes for even further success in the future”.   The danger of these presentations is to go too frugal or too exaggerated.  We do want to create some buzz around the award but at the same time, it has to be real.  Exaggerating the importance of the award or the winner’s achievements makes the whole thing sound like a parody, a fakery.  Telling the audience “Mary is genius personified, a true legend in the business.  She will stand in the hall of fame of salespeople in this organisation for time immemorial”, is obvious overkill and creates serious doubts about the integrity of everyone involved in this award ceremony.    Japan is a country of institutionalised flattery so we have to tread carefully here.  If you have ever been on the receiving end, then you know how embarrassing these types of effervescent comments can be.  The remarks have to be sincere, true and tempered with reality.    If we over praise one person in the group, the danger is the others will become jealous and shun them.  In some cases, it may be better to present this speech to Mary alone, without an audience.  A nice lunch with the boss and the award presentation one-on-one may be better than gathering everyone together.  Japanese people get nervous when they are singled out for too much recognition. They know the knives will be coming out straight afterwards.  In this sense, Japan is a bit tricky and you really have to know the person involved and the group itself, to decide which is the best plan.   The point is to treat this as a major speech, that directly hits the team’s motivation and commitment. When you think of it that way, then you give the talk the proper attention it warrants and you can make these occasions a great opportunity to engage the team even more successfully.

One Of Your Most Vital Presentations Usually when we hear the term “presentation”, we think of a public arena, a big crowd and a lot of formality.  These public occasions are important because this is your personal and professional brand on show to the world.  There are other presentations though, which are in the family bosom of the company, away from the bright lights and the fanfare.  This is when you are addressing the troops, people who see you day in and day out.  They know who you really are. In these cases we may need to recognise people, perhaps hand out awards, celebrate a birthday or work anniversary. This is our crew but don’t take them for granted.  We can’t be laid back about it and think it is not as important as a public soiree.  We still have to prepare properly.  This is inside the family, so the temptation is to see the stakes as being lower. Actually, these types of speeches are the hardest ones to give and we need to be at our best.  Engagement and motivation are closely driven by how we make our people feel.  How much attention we give them and how we treat them, are critical elements of our authentic leadership. Typically though, we don’t prepare, we just wing it and so end up with a pretty ordinary facsimile of a proper presentation.  Wrong thinking!  Well what we should we do?  Here is a simple four part formula for these occasions.  Firstly, explain why the award is being made.  It may be for dedicated service, high quality job performance, a major sales achievement, etc.  Probably everyone knows already, but we need to remind them and set the scene for the presentation.  For example, “Mary has won the sales over $500,000 medal” which is pretty boring. Compare it to, “Mary beat out hundreds of other salespeople to make it into the very exclusive half a million dollars club of outstanding salespeople”.  We need to set the context for the award at the start. Secondly, talk about the team member’s role as part of the team.  We need to connect them with the group and how they contribute.  We might say, “Mary is a high performer and she is a fantastic team player.  Her willingness to help the team win, shows the mark of a true professional.  I know many of the people in this room today can attest to her openness and availability to assist wherever needed and share knowledge with others. Thirdly, we talk about the award itself, why it is deserved and how we are all proud of the recognition this has given to our whole team effort in the organisation.  We say, “Mary has been a model of persistence. She has done all the steps of the sales process, consistently and professionally.  Her achievement today is also driven off the back of the number of referrals she got from clients which led to new business with other companies. We preach this referral idea and Mary is a model to remind us to make this succeed for all of us as well”. Fourthly, we congratulate the recipient on behalf of everyone.  “Mary, I am very proud to make this sales award to you today. Congratulations from all of us, we want you to receive this recognition with our best wishes and hopes for even further success in the future”. The danger of these presentations is to go too frugal or too exaggerated.  We do want to create some buzz around the award but at the same time, it has to be real.  Exaggerating the importance of the award or the winner’s achievements makes the whole thing sound like a parody, a fakery.  Telling the audience “Mary is genius personified, a true legend in the business.  She will stand in the hall of fame of salespeople in this organisation for time immemorial”, is obvious overkill and creates serious doubts about the integrity of everyone involved in this award ceremony.  Japan is a country of institutionalised flattery so we have to tread carefully here.  If you have ever been on the receiving end, then you know how embarrassing these types of effervescent comments can be.  The remarks have to be sincere, true and tempered with reality.  If we over praise one person in the group, the danger is the others will become jealous and shun them.  In some cases, it may be better to present this speech to Mary alone, without an audience.  A nice lunch with the boss and the award presentation one-on-one may be better than gathering everyone together.  Japanese people get nervous when they are singled out for too much recognition. They know the knives will be coming out straight afterwards.  In this sense, Japan is a bit tricky and you really have to know the person involved and the group itself, to decide which is the best plan. The point is to treat this as a major speech, that directly hits the team’s motivation and commitment. When you think of it that way, then you give the talk the proper attention it warrants and you can make these occasions a great opportunity to engage the team even more successfully.

114: One Of Your Most Vital Presentations

Rhetorical Questions When Presenting   Are we talking at people, to people or with people when we are presenting?  The “talking at” part is easy to pick.  There is no attempt at rapport building with the audience.  No stories and lot and lots of data dump going on. Technical experts love this type of presentation, because they can spend all the time sharing the data.  Because they are an “expert” then they feel self justified to tell people stuff.  They don’t put much value on this presenting lark, because it is hardly a serious activity and people are here for the information – right?  “All style, no substance” being the ultimate putdown of skilled presenters by this techie crowd.  Detail is layered upon detail and density is never thought to be an issue. Especially when it comes to their slides, which are so dense, as to be impenetrable. Jargon is preferred too because that cuts down the need for explaining what you are talking about and overall, less words are needed.  The point is not to persuade anyone but to hammer them with detail.   The “speak to people” presenters are more capable of building rapport.  They are keen to get their message across and are careful about how they do that.  They do try to engage with their audience.  They think about the slide design to make sure it is it sharp looking yet easy to understand. They avoid jargon because they know it breaks the audience into an “us” and “them” divide.  They are also aware that it also can come across as pretentious and somewhat condescending.   They are conscious they are up on stage and they want to impart valuable knowledge to the audience.   The “speak with” presenters take things further.  They get there early and try to meet the participants as they come in.  They engage with them and find out their interests and motivations for joining this talk.  They take some of these conversations into their talks and reference the people they have been chatting with earlier.  “Suzuki san made an excellent point to me earlier about ….” They know by doing this they can dispense with that mental barrier between those doing the speaking and those doing the listening. The audience and speaker have become one.  They try to get the audience physically involved by asking them to raise their hands in response to their questions.    The “speak with” presenter does all of these things of the “speak to” presenter and more.  They know that if they speak in a conversational tone this makes it easier to draw the audience in.  They use their eye contact to connect with members of their audience, so that they feel they are almost having a private conversation.  They wrap their key points up in stories to make them easier to remember and to understand on the first telling.  Where possible, they try to make those stories their own personal experience.  They are adding a degree of authenticity and vulnerability, without it becoming too much. They know where to draw the line to make the point, without the delivery becoming too clingy.   They use a mix of rhetorical questions and real questions.  A rhetorical question is posed not for the purpose of extracting an answer, but to grab the attention of the audience.  We know that audience concentration spans are becoming shorter and shorter.  Sometimes we are being ignored and we need to corral everyone mentally back into the room. The beauty of a rhetorical question is that the audience are not quite sure if they are required to come up with a response, so it creates a bit of tension in the room.  This tension is enough to grab their attention.  Real questions can’t be used too often, as the act becomes tedious and creates a feeling of “ I am being manipulated” in the audience. Rhetorical questions however can be used quite a bit more, because there is no response required.  It helps us to guide the audience’s thinking along a glide path of our choosing, because we control both the context and the direction of the discussion.  Framing the questions frames the debate.   So if you see your audience flagging, getting distracted or surreptitiously whipping out their phones under the desks, then hit them right between the eyes with a rhetorical question to get their full attention again.  In the battle for audience attention, it is a zero sum game.  Either they are listening to what we have to say or they are escaping from us.  We need powerful weapons to keep them focused on us and not the myriad distractions on offer. Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com   If you enjoy these articles, then head over to dalecarnegie.comand check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.   About The Author Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years. In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.   A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.   Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen &amp; sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Rhetorical Questions When Presenting Are we talking at people, to people or with people when we are presenting?  The “talking at” part is easy to pick.  There is no attempt at rapport building with the audience.  No stories and lot and lots of data dump going on. Technical experts love this type of presentation, because they can spend all the time sharing the data.  Because they are an “expert” then they feel self justified to tell people stuff.  They don’t put much value on this presenting lark, because it is hardly a serious activity and people are here for the information – right?  “All style, no substance” being the ultimate putdown of skilled presenters by this techie crowd.  Detail is layered upon detail and density is never thought to be an issue. Especially when it comes to their slides, which are so dense, as to be impenetrable. Jargon is preferred too because that cuts down the need for explaining what you are talking about and overall, less words are needed.  The point is not to persuade anyone but to hammer them with detail. The “speak to people” presenters are more capable of building rapport.  They are keen to get their message across and are careful about how they do that.  They do try to engage with their audience.  They think about the slide design to make sure it is it sharp looking yet easy to understand. They avoid jargon because they know it breaks the audience into an “us” and “them” divide.  They are also aware that it also can come across as pretentious and somewhat condescending.   They are conscious they are up on stage and they want to impart valuable knowledge to the audience. The “speak with” presenters take things further.  They get there early and try to meet the participants as they come in.  They engage with them and find out their interests and motivations for joining this talk.  They take some of these conversations into their talks and reference the people they have been chatting with earlier.  “Suzuki san made an excellent point to me earlier about ….” They know by doing this they can dispense with that mental barrier between those doing the speaking and those doing the listening. The audience and speaker have become one.  They try to get the audience physically involved by asking them to raise their hands in response to their questions.  The “speak with” presenter does all of these things of the “speak to” presenter and more.  They know that if they speak in a conversational tone this makes it easier to draw the audience in.  They use their eye contact to connect with members of their audience, so that they feel they are almost having a private conversation.  They wrap their key points up in stories to make them easier to remember and to understand on the first telling.  Where possible, they try to make those stories their own personal experience.  They are adding a degree of authenticity and vulnerability, without it becoming too much. They know where to draw the line to make the point, without the delivery becoming too clingy. They use a mix of rhetorical questions and real questions.  A rhetorical question is posed not for the purpose of extracting an answer, but to grab the attention of the audience.  We know that audience concentration spans are becoming shorter and shorter.  Sometimes we are being ignored and we need to corral everyone mentally back into the room. The beauty of a rhetorical question is that the audience are not quite sure if they are required to come up with a response, so it creates a bit of tension in the room.  This tension is enough to grab their attention.  Real questions can’t be used too often, as the act becomes tedious and creates a feeling of “ I am being manipulated” in the audience. Rhetorical questions however can be used quite a bit more, because there is no response required.  It helps us to guide the audience’s thinking along a glide path of our choosing, because we control both the context and the direction of the discussion.  Framing the questions frames the debate. So if you see your audience flagging, getting distracted or surreptitiously whipping out their phones under the desks, then hit them right between the eyes with a rhetorical question to get their full attention again.  In the battle for audience attention, it is a zero sum game.  Either they are listening to what we have to say or they are escaping from us.  We need powerful weapons to keep them focused on us and not the myriad distractions on offer. Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com If you enjoy these articles, then head over to <a href="http://dalecarnegie.com/en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dalecarnegie.com</a>and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules. About The Author Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years. In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan. A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer. Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen &amp; sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

88: Rhetorical Questions When Presenting

How To Personalise Your Presentation   Are we talking at our audiences or with our audiences?  There is a vast difference between the two.  Most of the time, the talks we attend are in the talking at category.  The speaker has some information to impart and proceeds to go into the detail with us.  There is a very one way approach, broken only by the Q&amp;A section.  The degree of detail and advice can be very convincing and valuable and we are happy to hear it.  The speaker though remains remote and removed from us.  We have nothing to grab on to, in order to bring the speaker closer to us, to feel some greater simpatico with them.  They speak, we listen, they finish, they leave, we all move on.   Our personal brand is driven hard by the “personal” part, yet many speakers are very impersonal in the way they approach the task.  This comes back to their starting point, to what they are trying to achieve.  In this sense their horizon can be very limited.  If you have only ever seen speakers being distant, when it is your chance, you think that is how you are supposed to do it.  Most speakers are pouring forth data in its raw form.  They are not wrapping it up inside insightful stories, that that grab our imagination and become transfixed in our memories.  It is all a very dry affair really.   To make the whole process more personalised we need to switch our thinking.  If we look at business, what do we see everyone trying to do?  They are trying to personalise their products and services for the buyers.  In speaking terms, we need to be doing the very same thing.  The irony is that we can have speakers talking about marketing in the most detached manner from their audience. Let s do not be like that.   What is the key message for your audience and why is it important?  What will this do for them should they choose to follow your advice?  Who is it most suitable for and when is the best timing to get started?  These questions should arise at the very start of the planning process. Trying to write your key message on a single grain of rice is a great metaphor for gaining the clarity needed to refine your key message down to its most important parts.  This is where we begin.   Who is the message aimed at is a theoretical construct.  What we need is to see who is turning up to the talk. Today, some host organisations won’t release the names of who is coming, but you should insist on getting the names of the companies, so that you can get a sense of which industries are in the room. This means that you can now juxtapose a general point you are making on to the business reality of the company representatives in your audience.  By specifically personalising the message to their reality, you have just made a massive connection with your audience.  If you can keep repeating this throughout the talk, the power of this engagement is immense.  Probably you won’t be able to personalise the messaging for every company in the room, depending on the size of the attendance and the time allowed to speak, but you can certainly gain a big share of audience attention when you do this.   When using examples from the industries in attendance, the credibility of those examples skyrocket compared to using a general comparison.  It does take some research and more work in the preparation stage, but the rewards are greater.  When people in the audience feel you are speaking to them directly, they feel greater connectivity with the speaker.    Even those who didn’t enjoy a direct example from their industry, will appreciate that the speaker knows their stuff, because they bring their points to bear on specific company’s actual situations.  We have moved from the general and theoretical to the real and practical. Businesspeople much prefer a good dose of reality in their speakers.  So find out who will be in the room, start your talk composition from that point and then build in examples that will resonate with those in the room.

How To Personalise Your Presentation Are we talking at our audiences or with our audiences?  There is a vast difference between the two.  Most of the time, the talks we attend are in the talking at category.  The speaker has some information to impart and proceeds to go into the detail with us.  There is a very one way approach, broken only by the Q&amp;A section.  The degree of detail and advice can be very convincing and valuable and we are happy to hear it.  The speaker though remains remote and removed from us.  We have nothing to grab on to, in order to bring the speaker closer to us, to feel some greater simpatico with them.  They speak, we listen, they finish, they leave, we all move on. Our personal brand is driven hard by the “personal” part, yet many speakers are very impersonal in the way they approach the task.  This comes back to their starting point, to what they are trying to achieve.  In this sense their horizon can be very limited.  If you have only ever seen speakers being distant, when it is your chance, you think that is how you are supposed to do it.  Most speakers are pouring forth data in its raw form.  They are not wrapping it up inside insightful stories, that that grab our imagination and become transfixed in our memories.  It is all a very dry affair really. To make the whole process more personalised we need to switch our thinking.  If we look at business, what do we see everyone trying to do?  They are trying to personalise their products and services for the buyers.  In speaking terms, we need to be doing the very same thing.  The irony is that we can have speakers talking about marketing in the most detached manner from their audience. Let s do not be like that. What is the key message for your audience and why is it important?  What will this do for them should they choose to follow your advice?  Who is it most suitable for and when is the best timing to get started?  These questions should arise at the very start of the planning process. Trying to write your key message on a single grain of rice is a great metaphor for gaining the clarity needed to refine your key message down to its most important parts.  This is where we begin. Who is the message aimed at is a theoretical construct.  What we need is to see who is turning up to the talk. Today, some host organisations won’t release the names of who is coming, but you should insist on getting the names of the companies, so that you can get a sense of which industries are in the room. This means that you can now juxtapose a general point you are making on to the business reality of the company representatives in your audience.  By specifically personalising the message to their reality, you have just made a massive connection with your audience.  If you can keep repeating this throughout the talk, the power of this engagement is immense.  Probably you won’t be able to personalise the messaging for every company in the room, depending on the size of the attendance and the time allowed to speak, but you can certainly gain a big share of audience attention when you do this. When using examples from the industries in attendance, the credibility of those examples skyrocket compared to using a general comparison.  It does take some research and more work in the preparation stage, but the rewards are greater.  When people in the audience feel you are speaking to them directly, they feel greater connectivity with the speaker.  Even those who didn’t enjoy a direct example from their industry, will appreciate that the speaker knows their stuff, because they bring their points to bear on specific company’s actual situations.  We have moved from the general and theoretical to the real and practical. Businesspeople much prefer a good dose of reality in their speakers.  So find out who will be in the room, start your talk composition from that point and then build in examples that will resonate with those in the room.

159 How To Personalise Your Presentation

Is How I am Dressed Important When Presenting?   There is an old saying about lies, damn lies and statistics.  An often misquoted statistic in the presenting world is that 55% of your impression on an audience is based on how you are dressed.  Some coaches are advising on this basis and it is only partially true.  Professor Mehrabian’s research at UCLA did nominate that particular percentage, but he did so with an important caveat.  When what we are saying is not congruent or matching with the way we are saying it, then the audience gets distracted and starts focusing on how you are dressed 55% of the time.  When he published that research there were no uber powerful  thermonuclear distractors like we have today, in the form of smart phones.  These instruments of presenter attention destruction are rapidly connecting us with the internet and whisking us away from the speaker.   If we are doing our job properly as speakers we will not be losing our audience. One of my team attended a presentation I gave recently and she reported to me that the audience members were listening to me all the way through.  That is what I thought too, because the entire speech had me focused like a hawk on my audience, to make sure I was holding their attention.  I don’t mention this to say what a smarty pants I am, but just to highlight how difficult it has become for all of us to hold an audience today.   My style of presenting is extremely high energy.  My karate training background has taught me how to harness my “ki” or “chi” and channel it to the audience.  I still have pretty good tonal variety so I can really work on keeping the audience with me.  The downside of all of this is that I generate a lot of heat.  Often when we are presenting on stage there will be spotlights trained on us and these can make us feel very hot as well.  When I am getting dressed that day, I always make sure of a couple of things for my presentation.  A white shirt is an absolute must.  I love my blue business shirts, but what I found was the heat generates sweat around the neck area, especially when wearing a tie.  That lovely light blue shirt can become two tone. The collar becomes wet and changes to a darker blue.  This is distracting for the audience who are sitting there saying to themselves, “Oh look at that, he has a two tone shirt now!”.   The other thing I pay careful attention to is never doing any presenting unless I am wearing a jacket.  There are probably few things as unattractive as a speaker wearing only a shirt, lifting up their arm to reveal a very sweaty armpit area, that runs right down the side of their body.  Most unappealing and again very distracting to an audience.  I keep my jacket on, buttoned up, the whole time like a suit of armour.  I know that my shirt is soaked during the speech, because of all the heat I am generating. It goes without saying, that an ill fitting suit creates a poor impression.  The way the collar of the jacket sits on the neck tells you everything. If there is a wide gap between the two, this creates a sense of pattern interrupt and your audience gets distracted by it.  Also save your bright coloured jackets for a party. A bright red jacket works well for a magician, but not so great for a speaker.  Always look for ways to make your words conspicuous, rather than what you are wearing.   Sometimes we are asked to be a speaker on a panel.  This can be tricky.  We are usually seated up on stage in front of the audience, so there is nothing separating us from the viewers.  When men cross their legs, if they don’t know what they are doing, we get a very unfortunate close up of their hairy ankles, shins and calf muscles.   Short socks work when you are standing, but are a danger when you sit.  I always wear long socks right up to the knee, to spare my audience the brutality of my hairy legs.   I am quite daring when it comes to wearing bright ties.  I leave them at home though when I am presenting and select something a bit more muted.  Such a bright colour sitting right next to your face is bound to be an unwanted competitor for the attention of your audience.  I do like pocket squares, but I make sure they are also very discreet. A puffed up large pocket square may be a dandy’s delight, but like a bright tie, it sets up competition for the attention of the audience.  Be careful with cufflinks too.  I have some very bright colours in my line up, but I go for the less flagrant when I am presenting.   One of my pet peeves in Japan are the number of guys here who wear their tie, such that there is a gap between the top of the knot and the top button of the shirt collar.  They allow it to loosen off and the gap appears without their knowledge and again this is distracting for the viewers.  You also come across looking like a kid, who can’t dress himself properly.   I also purposely shorten the length of my ties when I am presenting.  Men’s dress rules say the tie should only extend to a point midway down your pant’s belt.  What I find though is that the closed button of a single breasted suit always has an opening between that button and the bottom of the front of the jacket.  The consequence is a tie worn at the correct length, will actually be peaking out from under the jacket, again distracting my audience.  By making it a bit too short the protrusion problem is lessened. Again, I never take off my jacket, so my major tie length faux pas is hidden away.   The shine on my shoes should be mirror like.  Standing up on stage everyone can see your scuffed, down at heel, miserable excuse for shoes.  This says “slob”, “poor quality control” or “poor self awareness” pretty clearly.  It is not helpful for supporting a professional image.  The belt should match the shoes so brown for brown and black for black.  Pretty simple right, so how could you mess that up? Yet, I see guys with a brown belt and black shoes.  This says you are “clueless” to your audience, so if you even can’t get this right, why should we believe anything else you have to say.   I always place the nametag holder I am given by the organisers on the table where I am sitting or on the lectern.  I don’t wear them because they are usually plastic and as I move, they catch the lights focused on stage.  Without knowing it, you are sending out Morse Code signals every time you move, as the plastic flashes the audience.   I have only referred to men in this piece on dressing for presenting, but many of the same things, for the most apart, apply for ladies too. I don’t have the guts to do a specific commentary on how ladies should dress when presenting.  My only hint would be don’t confuse fashion outcomes with presenting outcomes.  Make the focus your face, rather than the clothes.  Don’t dress in any way which draws the audience away from looking at your face.  Our face is the most powerful tool we have.  It is much stronger than whatever is on the screen and our voice.  Don’t allow anything to compete with it.

Is How I am Dressed Important When Presenting? There is an old saying about lies, damn lies and statistics.  An often misquoted statistic in the presenting world is that 55% of your impression on an audience is based on how you are dressed.  Some coaches are advising on this basis and it is only partially true.  Professor Mehrabian’s research at UCLA did nominate that particular percentage, but he did so with an important caveat.  When what we are saying is not congruent or matching with the way we are saying it, then the audience gets distracted and starts focusing on how you are dressed 55% of the time.  When he published that research there were no uber powerful  thermonuclear distractors like we have today, in the form of smart phones.  These instruments of presenter attention destruction are rapidly connecting us with the internet and whisking us away from the speaker. If we are doing our job properly as speakers we will not be losing our audience. One of my team attended a presentation I gave recently and she reported to me that the audience members were listening to me all the way through.  That is what I thought too, because the entire speech had me focused like a hawk on my audience, to make sure I was holding their attention.  I don’t mention this to say what a smarty pants I am, but just to highlight how difficult it has become for all of us to hold an audience today. My style of presenting is extremely high energy.  My karate training background has taught me how to harness my “ki” or “chi” and channel it to the audience.  I still have pretty good tonal variety so I can really work on keeping the audience with me.  The downside of all of this is that I generate a lot of heat.  Often when we are presenting on stage there will be spotlights trained on us and these can make us feel very hot as well.  When I am getting dressed that day, I always make sure of a couple of things for my presentation.  A white shirt is an absolute must.  I love my blue business shirts, but what I found was the heat generates sweat around the neck area, especially when wearing a tie.  That lovely light blue shirt can become two tone. The collar becomes wet and changes to a darker blue.  This is distracting for the audience who are sitting there saying to themselves, “Oh look at that, he has a two tone shirt now!”. The other thing I pay careful attention to is never doing any presenting unless I am wearing a jacket.  There are probably few things as unattractive as a speaker wearing only a shirt, lifting up their arm to reveal a very sweaty armpit area, that runs right down the side of their body.  Most unappealing and again very distracting to an audience.  I keep my jacket on, buttoned up, the whole time like a suit of armour.  I know that my shirt is soaked during the speech, because of all the heat I am generating. It goes without saying, that an ill fitting suit creates a poor impression.  The way the collar of the jacket sits on the neck tells you everything. If there is a wide gap between the two, this creates a sense of pattern interrupt and your audience gets distracted by it.  Also save your bright coloured jackets for a party. A bright red jacket works well for a magician, but not so great for a speaker.  Always look for ways to make your words conspicuous, rather than what you are wearing. Sometimes we are asked to be a speaker on a panel.  This can be tricky.  We are usually seated up on stage in front of the audience, so there is nothing separating us from the viewers.  When men cross their legs, if they don’t know what they are doing, we get a very unfortunate close up of their hairy ankles, shins and calf muscles.   Short socks work when you are standing, but are a danger when you sit.  I always wear long socks right up to the knee, to spare my audience the brutality of my hairy legs. I am quite daring when it comes to wearing bright ties.  I leave them at home though when I am presenting and select something a bit more muted.  Such a bright colour sitting right next to your face is bound to be an unwanted competitor for the attention of your audience.  I do like pocket squares, but I make sure they are also very discreet. A puffed up large pocket square may be a dandy’s delight, but like a bright tie, it sets up competition for the attention of the audience.  Be careful with cufflinks too.  I have some very bright colours in my line up, but I go for the less flagrant when I am presenting. One of my pet peeves in Japan are the number of guys here who wear their tie, such that there is a gap between the top of the knot and the top button of the shirt collar.  They allow it to loosen off and the gap appears without their knowledge and again this is distracting for the viewers.  You also come across looking like a kid, who can’t dress himself properly. I also purposely shorten the length of my ties when I am presenting.  Men’s dress rules say the tie should only extend to a point midway down your pant’s belt.  What I find though is that the closed button of a single breasted suit always has an opening between that button and the bottom of the front of the jacket.  The consequence is a tie worn at the correct length, will actually be peaking out from under the jacket, again distracting my audience.  By making it a bit too short the protrusion problem is lessened. Again, I never take off my jacket, so my major tie length faux pas is hidden away. The shine on my shoes should be mirror like.  Standing up on stage everyone can see your scuffed, down at heel, miserable excuse for shoes.  This says “slob”, “poor quality control” or “poor self awareness” pretty clearly.  It is not helpful for supporting a professional image.  The belt should match the shoes so brown for brown and black for black.  Pretty simple right, so how could you mess that up? Yet, I see guys with a brown belt and black shoes.  This says you are “clueless” to your audience, so if you even can’t get this right, why should we believe anything else you have to say. I always place the nametag holder I am given by the organisers on the table where I am sitting or on the lectern.  I don’t wear them because they are usually plastic and as I move, they catch the lights focused on stage.  Without knowing it, you are sending out Morse Code signals every time you move, as the plastic flashes the audience. I have only referred to men in this piece on dressing for presenting, but many of the same things, for the most apart, apply for ladies too. I don’t have the guts to do a specific commentary on how ladies should dress when presenting.  My only hint would be don’t confuse fashion outcomes with presenting outcomes.  Make the focus your face, rather than the clothes.  Don’t dress in any way which draws the audience away from looking at your face.  Our face is the most powerful tool we have.  It is much stronger than whatever is on the screen and our voice.  Don’t allow anything to compete with it.

139: Is How I am Dressed Important When Presenting

How To Persuade When You Are the One Presenting   Being persuasive is not down to luck or accident, it is the result of good planning and execution. This is the problem.  The vast majority of speakers do not prepare properly. The slide deck gets all the attention, the data gets lots of love, the logistics are thoroughly checked.  The planning component?  Not enough going into that effort unfortunately.  How can we become more persuasive?  There is a formula for this, in fact a magic formula   This formula is simple but pure genius.  It has four steps : Step 1. We open with the incident: who, what, where, when.  We believe something to be true.  Why is that? We have come to that conclusion through something that has become known to us. There is a back story there somewhere driving our conclusion.  We tell part of that backstory.  In Step 2, we get into the evidenceto provide context to support our recommendation.  This is woven into the incident we are relating.   In Step 3, we suggest the action needed and  make our recommendation In the final step, Step 4, we focus on the benefits, telling our audience why our recommendation will help them   Before we present anything,we need to analyse our audience so that we hit the right note with them – not too complex and not too simple. We need to consider a few angles for the talk. This is a vital precaution very few speakers ever take and then get themselves into trouble and wonder why.  How much does my audience know about my topic. What will be the benefit to this audience. What would be some skeptical or negative attitudes toward what I am going to say?  How much resistance can I anticipate. How can I overcome that resistance?   Where possible we should be trying to tailor the talk to the needs of the audience. We need to look atthe audience point of view regarding how their current situation is relevant to the topic. What are the challenges they are facing. What do they consider to beimportant or unimportant concerning my topic?  How could they benefit by taking the action I’m recommending?   After understanding where your audience is, you can use the magic formula to capture attention, build credibility, eliminate nervousness, call others to action and get results. We must apply good discipline such that we don’t start rambling on about some long winded story of how we came to our epiphany.  We need to be sharp about getting to the point or we risk losing our audience. Ninety percent of the time should be devoted to telling the incident but we do it concisely.   We relive a vivid, personal experience relevant to the topic.  When did it happen, who was there, where was it, what happened (establish who, what, when, where, why)? Include animation and vocal variety.  We next draw out the evidence.  As part of the storytelling, we include the context behind the incident, as a way of backing up what we are saying.  Audiences can disagree with our analysis of the ramifications of the incident but they cannot disagree with the incident itself.   At this point we make our recommendation. We specify what action we want our listeners to take. This component of the process represents only five percent of the time allocation. The next five percent is when we provide the benefit of taking our recommended action. The whole piece is tight and compelling.  Hearing the background forces the audience to come to their own conclusions about what they think should be done.  Probably they will have come to the same conclusion we came to.  This is an ideal outcome.   Here are some key pointsto remember in the magic formula  The story telling doesn’t allow the listener to resist us, because they don’t know what we are recommending as yet The story weaves in context and evidence as to why what we are suggesting is the best idea.The client often projects ahead, after hearing the context and arrives at the same decision we did, about what is the best action to take We make a clear call to action We immediately follow up with the benefit, so that the last thing the listener hears is the positive thing for them, if they take our recommendation    So think about an opportunity coming up where you can apply the magic formula to persuade others?  Think about why you are making this recommendation to the audience.  There is bound to be some context or a background reason why.  Can you create a story which captures that context, so that the client can easily agree?   The ability to persuade people is one of the most critical business abilities but it is possessed by very few. Use these ideas and become one of the top 0.1% in business in Nippon.

How To Persuade When You Are the One Presenting Being persuasive is not down to luck or accident, it is the result of good planning and execution. This is the problem.  The vast majority of speakers do not prepare properly. The slide deck gets all the attention, the data gets lots of love, the logistics are thoroughly checked.  The planning component?  Not enough going into that effort unfortunately.  How can we become more persuasive?  There is a formula for this, in fact a magic formula This formula is simple but pure genius.  It has four steps : Step 1. We open with the incident: who, what, where, when.  We believe something to be true.  Why is that? We have come to that conclusion through something that has become known to us. There is a back story there somewhere driving our conclusion.  We tell part of that backstory.  In Step 2, we get into the evidenceto provide context to support our recommendation.  This is woven into the incident we are relating.   In Step 3, we suggest the action needed and  make our recommendation In the final step, Step 4, we focus on the benefits, telling our audience why our recommendation will help them Before we present anything,we need to analyse our audience so that we hit the right note with them – not too complex and not too simple. We need to consider a few angles for the talk. This is a vital precaution very few speakers ever take and then get themselves into trouble and wonder why.  How much does my audience know about my topic. What will be the benefit to this audience. What would be some skeptical or negative attitudes toward what I am going to say?  How much resistance can I anticipate. How can I overcome that resistance? Where possible we should be trying to tailor the talk to the needs of the audience. We need to look atthe audience point of view regarding how their current situation is relevant to the topic. What are the challenges they are facing. What do they consider to beimportant or unimportant concerning my topic?  How could they benefit by taking the action I’m recommending? After understanding where your audience is, you can use the magic formula to capture attention, build credibility, eliminate nervousness, call others to action and get results. We must apply good discipline such that we don’t start rambling on about some long winded story of how we came to our epiphany.  We need to be sharp about getting to the point or we risk losing our audience. Ninety percent of the time should be devoted to telling the incident but we do it concisely. We relive a vivid, personal experience relevant to the topic.  When did it happen, who was there, where was it, what happened (establish who, what, when, where, why)? Include animation and vocal variety.  We next draw out the evidence.  As part of the storytelling, we include the context behind the incident, as a way of backing up what we are saying.  Audiences can disagree with our analysis of the ramifications of the incident but they cannot disagree with the incident itself. At this point we make our recommendation. We specify what action we want our listeners to take. This component of the process represents only five percent of the time allocation. The next five percent is when we provide the benefit of taking our recommended action. The whole piece is tight and compelling.  Hearing the background forces the audience to come to their own conclusions about what they think should be done.  Probably they will have come to the same conclusion we came to.  This is an ideal outcome. Here are some key pointsto remember in the magic formula <ol> <li>The story telling doesn’t allow the listener to resist us, because they don’t know what we are recommending as yet</li> <li>The story weaves in context and evidence as to why what we are suggesting is the best idea.The client often projects ahead, after hearing the context and arrives at the same decision we did, about what is the best action to take</li> <li>We make a clear call to action</li> <li>We immediately follow up with the benefit, so that the last thing the listener hears is the positive thing for them, if they take our recommendation</li> </ol> So think about an opportunity coming up where you can apply the magic formula to persuade others?  Think about why you are making this recommendation to the audience.  There is bound to be some context or a background reason why.  Can you create a story which captures that context, so that the client can easily agree? The ability to persuade people is one of the most critical business abilities but it is possessed by very few. Use these ideas and become one of the top 0.1% in business in Nippon.

151: How To Persuade When You Are The One Presenting

Using Micro Stories When Presenting   Storytelling is one of those things that we all know about, but where we could do a much better job of utilising this facility in business.  It allows us to engage the audience in a way that makes our message more accessible.  In any presentation there may be some key information or messages we wish to relay and yet we rarely wrap this information up in a story.  As an audience we are more open to stories than bold statements or dry facts.  The presenter’s opinion is always going to trigger some debate or doubt in the minds of the audience.  The same detail enmeshed in a story though and the point goes straight into the minds of the crowd and is more likely to be bought as is.   When we are planning our talk, we think about what is the key message.  We should get this into one sentence, able to written on a grain of rice.  Okay, you are not likely to be able to achieve that any time soon, but the keys are brevity, clarity, focus, conciseness, and paring the message down to its most powerful essence.  We build the argument to support our key message, broken up into chapters throughout the talk.  We design our two closes, one for before Q&amp;A and one to wrap up the whole talk at the very end.  We design our blockbuster opening to pry the phones out of the hands of the audience, to get them to listen to what we are saying and going to say.   We can inject micro stories, by which I simply mean short stories, into every part  of this design.  The opening could be a short story which grabs the attention of the listeners and primes the room for our dissertation.  It might be focused on an incident which relates to the key message of the talk or about an episode from a famous historical figure or about someone in the firm or a client that drives home the message.   Each of the chapters of the talk can rely on micro stories to back up the evidence being presented to justify the conclusion we have come to and the point we are making.  These stories bring flesh and blood to the dry facts and details.  They can enliven the point we are driving hard on, by making it something the audience can relate to. These facts don’t just appear.  They are there because of a reason and there are bound to be stories aplenty attached to them.   Both of the closes can be separate stories that enhance the final messages we are delivering to the room.  We keep them short, bountiful, memorable and attractive, such that they linger long in the minds of the audience members.  We want our story attached to the inside of the brains of the listeners, so that they remember it long after the event has passed by.   A thirty minute talk would probably have five chapters, an opening and two closes, so at least room there for eight stories.  These stories can be our own, garnered from our experiences or they could be folkloric stories from the firm’s rich history or we could be borrowing other people’s stories to make our point.   We all have products and solutions.  Where did these come from?  How were they created and who created them?  What about the firm’s founders’ stories?  Why does this company exist and how has it manage to stay in business for so long?  Taking the key chapter content, we can inject some life into the data points by looking for creation stories or application tales of high deeds and gloried achievements.  Other client’s stories can be some our stories too, as we relate how our solution changed their world.  These stories lend themselves for inclusion in the “about us” component of the firm’s website and for placement in the corporate brochure.    The point is we have so many stories to choose from, we have a surfeit of content lapping all around us.  All we have to do is collect it.  So from now on build a library of stories about the firm, the personalities, the products, the client successes etc.  When you are reading about other companies look for their stories that you can borrow to make a point about your own business.  Add them to the library so that you don’t have to go scrambling about trying to think of stories.  You have them there, ready to go whenever you need them.

Using Micro Stories When Presenting Storytelling is one of those things that we all know about, but where we could do a much better job of utilising this facility in business.  It allows us to engage the audience in a way that makes our message more accessible.  In any presentation there may be some key information or messages we wish to relay and yet we rarely wrap this information up in a story.  As an audience we are more open to stories than bold statements or dry facts.  The presenter’s opinion is always going to trigger some debate or doubt in the minds of the audience.  The same detail enmeshed in a story though and the point goes straight into the minds of the crowd and is more likely to be bought as is. When we are planning our talk, we think about what is the key message.  We should get this into one sentence, able to written on a grain of rice.  Okay, you are not likely to be able to achieve that any time soon, but the keys are brevity, clarity, focus, conciseness, and paring the message down to its most powerful essence.  We build the argument to support our key message, broken up into chapters throughout the talk.  We design our two closes, one for before Q&amp;A and one to wrap up the whole talk at the very end.  We design our blockbuster opening to pry the phones out of the hands of the audience, to get them to listen to what we are saying and going to say. We can inject micro stories, by which I simply mean short stories, into every part  of this design.  The opening could be a short story which grabs the attention of the listeners and primes the room for our dissertation.  It might be focused on an incident which relates to the key message of the talk or about an episode from a famous historical figure or about someone in the firm or a client that drives home the message. Each of the chapters of the talk can rely on micro stories to back up the evidence being presented to justify the conclusion we have come to and the point we are making.  These stories bring flesh and blood to the dry facts and details.  They can enliven the point we are driving hard on, by making it something the audience can relate to. These facts don’t just appear.  They are there because of a reason and there are bound to be stories aplenty attached to them. Both of the closes can be separate stories that enhance the final messages we are delivering to the room.  We keep them short, bountiful, memorable and attractive, such that they linger long in the minds of the audience members.  We want our story attached to the inside of the brains of the listeners, so that they remember it long after the event has passed by. A thirty minute talk would probably have five chapters, an opening and two closes, so at least room there for eight stories.  These stories can be our own, garnered from our experiences or they could be folkloric stories from the firm’s rich history or we could be borrowing other people’s stories to make our point. We all have products and solutions.  Where did these come from?  How were they created and who created them?  What about the firm’s founders’ stories?  Why does this company exist and how has it manage to stay in business for so long?  Taking the key chapter content, we can inject some life into the data points by looking for creation stories or application tales of high deeds and gloried achievements.  Other client’s stories can be some our stories too, as we relate how our solution changed their world.  These stories lend themselves for inclusion in the “about us” component of the firm’s website and for placement in the corporate brochure.  The point is we have so many stories to choose from, we have a surfeit of content lapping all around us.  All we have to do is collect it.  So from now on build a library of stories about the firm, the personalities, the products, the client successes etc.  When you are reading about other companies look for their stories that you can borrow to make a point about your own business.  Add them to the library so that you don’t have to go scrambling about trying to think of stories.  You have them there, ready to go whenever you need them.

167: Using Micro Stories When Presenting

How To Get Speaking Gigs To Promote Your Personal Brand   A businessman reached out to me after attending my recent speech on “The Seven Deadly Fails Of Selling In Japan”, which I gave to the American Chamber of Commerce here in Tokyo. He wasn’t interested in hearing about how to sell in Japan, but he was frustrated that he was too low profile in his industry.  The consequence of being invisible in your industry sector is that people don’t look for you or find you very easily.  Having people call you up to help them in their business is the preferred way to get new business. It is vastly superior to spending time and money running around trying to find buyers yourself.  Great! How do you do that?   This gentleman’s business was in a very defined niche and there were rivals who were dominating that niche. They were getting the lion’s share of the business as a result.  He was sick of getting the crumbs and wanted to raise his profile so that his phone would start to ring.  His enquiry to me was about doing our High Impact Presentations Course, so that he would be a more skilled presenter.  However, he mentioned he also needed to engineer the speaking spots as an expert authority, to use these speaking skills we are going to impart to him.   This “get found by buyers” aspiration is all part of our personal branding efforts.  One mental shift we have to make though, in this world of content marketing, is to understand that we are all publishing companies now, as well as being in our mainstream businesses.  By this I mean, we have the ability today, to project our ideas around the world and very inexpensively, to an extent never imagined before.  We can start by writing or talking if we can’t write.  Writing blogs or recording blogs and then transcribing them into text is a good starting point.  Great Greg, but what do I write or talk about?   In your area of speciality, there will be problems facing your buyers.  You already know what they are, because when you meet your clients, this is what they talk about.  Just give yourself fifteen uninterrupted minutes sitting there with a pen and some paper. You will soon be able to come up with the most important issues in your industry.  These points can be fleshed out further into blogs.  As I mentioned, you may prefer to talk about the issues and then transcribe them.  It doesn’t matter.  Get the IP (Intellectual Property) out of your head and on to paper.  You could weld all of these issues together into a longer article. This would be suitable for publication in an industry magazine. The various Chambers of Commerce also usually have their own magazines and are always looking for good content.    Submit your article for publication and expect that they will edit it for you.  This activity gets you in front of the readers, both those who actually read what you have written and those who only noted the headline and your name.  The latter outcome is also fine because you are building an association of a topic and your personal brand.  Often these organizations have an on-line version of their magazine and you will appear in that too.  This is handy for getting picked up by search engines.   Take that same article now and go back and break it up into single issue blocks.  Each of these is a blog post in itself and so add an intro and a conclusion. Load them up to your website, blast them out in your email newsletter, post them on all of your social media.    Contact event organisers who run conferences in your industry and suggest yourself as a speaker. Send them a copy of your long article, preferably once it has been published in a magazine, for extra credibility. They will be very happy to hear from you, because they are always looking for presenters.  In some cases, they might want you to pay to appear. This might be doable or prohibitive, depending on the event.    When potential clients or event organisers want to check you out, they will do a search on your name. These blogs and articles you have written, which are pieces of evidence of expertise on this subject, will pop up. It looks better to have a number of relevant posts, than just one long article, so try and populate your feed with multiple examples of good content.  You don’t have to go crazy and post hundreds but more is better than less.   If you find there are podcasts on your subject, contact the podcast hosts and suggest you do a guest spot. If you have a lot of material or can consistently source great guests, then start your own podcast.  You may not broadcast it every day or every week, but you will need some degree of frequency and regularity to get any traction. You can use social media to publicise your podcast episodes.  Again, this activity can be referred to buyers or conference organisers, as proof of your expertise.  The search engines start to attach all of this activity to your name and when people search for you, up comes all of this expert authority.   These days shooting video is super easy.  Facebook live videos take away all editing and you can send them out later through social media.  Or you can shoot video on your iPhone or Ipad.  The camera quality today is excellent.  Just buy a frame to hold your device, screw the holder into a tripod, attach a separate microphone, stand about a meter away and you are off to the races. In iMovie you can edit the content and then upload it to your YouTube channel.  You can take the transcript of the video and use it for articles and blogs.  You can imbed the video itself into social media posts and add the text back in as well. The audio can be stripped out and used in your podcasts or posted in social media with a link.   All of this is multi-purposing. It creates more chances for you to be found.  When you are found, people can gauge the level of expertise you have on a subject and then make a judgment about whether they want you to speak at their event or not.  Even if you don’t make it to the stage at the event, your chances of getting found by potential clients goes right up.  What does it require?  Not much money but it does take time and effort.  The best time to start all of this was yesterday and the second best time is now! Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com   If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.enjapan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.   About The Author Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years. In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.   A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.   Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen &amp; sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

How To Get Speaking Gigs To Promote Your Personal Brand A businessman reached out to me after attending my recent speech on “The Seven Deadly Fails Of Selling In Japan”, which I gave to the American Chamber of Commerce here in Tokyo. He wasn’t interested in hearing about how to sell in Japan, but he was frustrated that he was too low profile in his industry.  The consequence of being invisible in your industry sector is that people don’t look for you or find you very easily.  Having people call you up to help them in their business is the preferred way to get new business. It is vastly superior to spending time and money running around trying to find buyers yourself.  Great! How do you do that? This gentleman’s business was in a very defined niche and there were rivals who were dominating that niche. They were getting the lion’s share of the business as a result.  He was sick of getting the crumbs and wanted to raise his profile so that his phone would start to ring.  His enquiry to me was about doing our High Impact Presentations Course, so that he would be a more skilled presenter.  However, he mentioned he also needed to engineer the speaking spots as an expert authority, to use these speaking skills we are going to impart to him. This “get found by buyers” aspiration is all part of our personal branding efforts.  One mental shift we have to make though, in this world of content marketing, is to understand that we are all publishing companies now, as well as being in our mainstream businesses.  By this I mean, we have the ability today, to project our ideas around the world and very inexpensively, to an extent never imagined before.  We can start by writing or talking if we can’t write.  Writing blogs or recording blogs and then transcribing them into text is a good starting point.  Great Greg, but what do I write or talk about? In your area of speciality, there will be problems facing your buyers.  You already know what they are, because when you meet your clients, this is what they talk about.  Just give yourself fifteen uninterrupted minutes sitting there with a pen and some paper. You will soon be able to come up with the most important issues in your industry.  These points can be fleshed out further into blogs.  As I mentioned, you may prefer to talk about the issues and then transcribe them.  It doesn’t matter.  Get the IP (Intellectual Property) out of your head and on to paper.  You could weld all of these issues together into a longer article. This would be suitable for publication in an industry magazine. The various Chambers of Commerce also usually have their own magazines and are always looking for good content.  Submit your article for publication and expect that they will edit it for you.  This activity gets you in front of the readers, both those who actually read what you have written and those who only noted the headline and your name.  The latter outcome is also fine because you are building an association of a topic and your personal brand.  Often these organizations have an on-line version of their magazine and you will appear in that too.  This is handy for getting picked up by search engines. Take that same article now and go back and break it up into single issue blocks.  Each of these is a blog post in itself and so add an intro and a conclusion. Load them up to your website, blast them out in your email newsletter, post them on all of your social media.  Contact event organisers who run conferences in your industry and suggest yourself as a speaker. Send them a copy of your long article, preferably once it has been published in a magazine, for extra credibility. They will be very happy to hear from you, because they are always looking for presenters.  In some cases, they might want you to pay to appear. This might be doable or prohibitive, depending on the event.  When potential clients or event organisers want to check you out, they will do a search on your name. These blogs and articles you have written, which are pieces of evidence of expertise on this subject, will pop up. It looks better to have a number of relevant posts, than just one long article, so try and populate your feed with multiple examples of good content.  You don’t have to go crazy and post hundreds but more is better than less. If you find there are podcasts on your subject, contact the podcast hosts and suggest you do a guest spot. If you have a lot of material or can consistently source great guests, then start your own podcast.  You may not broadcast it every day or every week, but you will need some degree of frequency and regularity to get any traction. You can use social media to publicise your podcast episodes.  Again, this activity can be referred to buyers or conference organisers, as proof of your expertise.  The search engines start to attach all of this activity to your name and when people search for you, up comes all of this expert authority. These days shooting video is super easy.  Facebook live videos take away all editing and you can send them out later through social media.  Or you can shoot video on your iPhone or Ipad.  The camera quality today is excellent.  Just buy a frame to hold your device, screw the holder into a tripod, attach a separate microphone, stand about a meter away and you are off to the races. In iMovie you can edit the content and then upload it to your YouTube channel.  You can take the transcript of the video and use it for articles and blogs.  You can imbed the video itself into social media posts and add the text back in as well. The audio can be stripped out and used in your podcasts or posted in social media with a link. All of this is multi-purposing. It creates more chances for you to be found.  When you are found, people can gauge the level of expertise you have on a subject and then make a judgment about whether they want you to speak at their event or not.  Even if you don’t make it to the stage at the event, your chances of getting found by potential clients goes right up.  What does it require?  Not much money but it does take time and effort.  The best time to start all of this was yesterday and the second best time is now! Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com If you enjoy these articles, then head over to <a href="http://www.enjapan.dalecarnegie.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.enjapan.dalecarnegie.com</a> and check out our - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules. About The Author Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan Author of Japan Sales Mastery, the Amazon #1 Bestseller on selling in Japan and the first book on the subject in the last thirty years. In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan. A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer. Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen &amp; sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

106: How To Get Speaking Gigs To Promote Your Personal Brand

When Should You Take Questions During Your Talk?   Having an audience interested enough in your topic to ask questions is a heartening occurrence.  Japan can be a bit tricky though because people are shy to ask questions.  Culturally the thinking is different to the West.  In most western countries we ask questions because we want to know more.  We don’t think that we are being disrespectful by implying that the speaker wasn’t clear enough, so that is why we need to ask our question.  We also never imagine we must be dumb and have to ask a question because we weren’t smart enough to get the speaker’s meaning the first time around.  We also rarely worry about being judged on the quality of our question.  We don’t fret that if we ask a stupid question, we have now publically announced to everyone we are an idiot.   Some speakers encourage questions on the way through their talks.  They are comfortable to be taken down deeper on an aspect of their topic.  They don’t mind being moved along to an off topic point by the questioner.  The advantage of this method is that the audience don’t have to wait until the end of the talk to ask their question.  They can get clarification immediately on what is being explained.  There might be some further information which they want to know about so they can go a bit broader on the topic.   This also presents an image of the speaker as very confident in their topic and flexible to deal with whatever comes up.  They also must be good time managers when speaking, to get through their information, take the questions on the way through and still finish on time.  In today’s Age Of Distraction, being open to questions at any time serves those in the audience with short concentration spans or little patience.  Not everyone in the audience can keep a thought aflame right through to the end, so having forgotten what it was they were going to ask, they just sit there in silence when it gets to Q&amp;A.  Their lost question may have provoked an interesting discussion by the speaker on an important point.  Having one person brave enough to ask a question certainly encourages everyone else to ask their question.  The social pressure of being first has been lifted and group permission now allows for asking the speaker about some points in their talk.   The advantage of waiting until the end is that you remain in control of the order of the talk.  You may deal with all of the potential questions by the end of the talk and the Q&amp;A allows for additional things that have come up in the minds of the audience.  It also makes it easier to work through the slide deck in order.  The slide deck is alike an autopilot for guiding us through the talk, as we don’t have to remember the order, we just follow the slides.  Of course if we allow questions throughout, we can always ask our questioner to wait, because we will be covering that point a little later in the talk.  Nevertheless the questions at the end formula gives the speaker more control over the flow of their talk with no distractions or departures from the theme.   Time control becomes much easier.  We can rehearse our talk and get it down to the exact time, before we open up for questions during the time allotted for Q&amp;A.  If we have to face hostile questions, this is when they will emerge.  Prior to that, we have at least gotten through what we wanted to say.  We had full control of the proceedings. If we get into a torrid time with a questioner, early in the piece, it may throw our equilibrium off balance or cause some consternation or embarrassment to the audience, detracting from what we want to say.  The atmosphere can turn unpleasant very quickly which pollutes everyone’s recollection of you as the speaker.  Also, if we don’t know how to handle hostile questions, our credibility can crumble.  A crumbling credibility in a public forum is not a good look.   So my recommendation is for the seasoned pro speakers to take questions whenever you feel like it.  For those who don’t present so frequently, err on the side of caution and take the questions at the end.

When Should You Take Questions During Your Talk? Having an audience interested enough in your topic to ask questions is a heartening occurrence.  Japan can be a bit tricky though because people are shy to ask questions.  Culturally the thinking is different to the West.  In most western countries we ask questions because we want to know more.  We don’t think that we are being disrespectful by implying that the speaker wasn’t clear enough, so that is why we need to ask our question.  We also never imagine we must be dumb and have to ask a question because we weren’t smart enough to get the speaker’s meaning the first time around.  We also rarely worry about being judged on the quality of our question.  We don’t fret that if we ask a stupid question, we have now publically announced to everyone we are an idiot. Some speakers encourage questions on the way through their talks.  They are comfortable to be taken down deeper on an aspect of their topic.  They don’t mind being moved along to an off topic point by the questioner.  The advantage of this method is that the audience don’t have to wait until the end of the talk to ask their question.  They can get clarification immediately on what is being explained.  There might be some further information which they want to know about so they can go a bit broader on the topic. This also presents an image of the speaker as very confident in their topic and flexible to deal with whatever comes up.  They also must be good time managers when speaking, to get through their information, take the questions on the way through and still finish on time.  In today’s Age Of Distraction, being open to questions at any time serves those in the audience with short concentration spans or little patience.  Not everyone in the audience can keep a thought aflame right through to the end, so having forgotten what it was they were going to ask, they just sit there in silence when it gets to Q&amp;A.  Their lost question may have provoked an interesting discussion by the speaker on an important point.  Having one person brave enough to ask a question certainly encourages everyone else to ask their question.  The social pressure of being first has been lifted and group permission now allows for asking the speaker about some points in their talk. The advantage of waiting until the end is that you remain in control of the order of the talk.  You may deal with all of the potential questions by the end of the talk and the Q&amp;A allows for additional things that have come up in the minds of the audience.  It also makes it easier to work through the slide deck in order.  The slide deck is alike an autopilot for guiding us through the talk, as we don’t have to remember the order, we just follow the slides.  Of course if we allow questions throughout, we can always ask our questioner to wait, because we will be covering that point a little later in the talk.  Nevertheless the questions at the end formula gives the speaker more control over the flow of their talk with no distractions or departures from the theme. Time control becomes much easier.  We can rehearse our talk and get it down to the exact time, before we open up for questions during the time allotted for Q&amp;A.  If we have to face hostile questions, this is when they will emerge.  Prior to that, we have at least gotten through what we wanted to say.  We had full control of the proceedings. If we get into a torrid time with a questioner, early in the piece, it may throw our equilibrium off balance or cause some consternation or embarrassment to the audience, detracting from what we want to say.  The atmosphere can turn unpleasant very quickly which pollutes everyone’s recollection of you as the speaker.  Also, if we don’t know how to handle hostile questions, our credibility can crumble.  A crumbling credibility in a public forum is not a good look. So my recommendation is for the seasoned pro speakers to take questions whenever you feel like it.  For those who don’t present so frequently, err on the side of caution and take the questions at the end.

153: When Should You Take Questions During Your Talk

2020 Here We Go – Let’s Build Our Personal Brand As A Presente The New Year’s resolutions concept is ridiculous, but only because we are weak, lazy, inconsistent and lacking in discipline.  Apart from those small barriers to execution of desires, the concept works a treat.  The idea of a new start is not bad in itself and we can use the Gregorian calendar fantasy, to mark a change in the year where new things are possible.  So as a presenter what would be possible? There are around 800,000 podcasts in the US and many millions in China.  Blogs are in the billions now, video content is going crazy, live streaming is rampant.  Every single which way, we are under assault from competitor content marketing on steroids.  In addition, there is all of the advertising content coming at us through every medium.  Will it diminish?  No.  What does it mean for us in business? Personal reputation will be built through our efforts to cut through all of the clatter competing with us.  People are consuming information on small screens and are deluged with competing content.  The experience is transitory, because the next deluge is coming down the pike.  How do we linger long in people’s memories?  Well we don’t.  Even the few who see our content soon move on.  In offices, people sitting next to each other send emails rather than talk.  Phone calls put a dread fear into those younger colleagues entering the workplace.  The anonymity of the texting facility is preferred to human contact.  We are becoming increasingly impersonal, as we are fixated with our internet connected devices. In business though we need the human touch.  We want to do business with people we can judge are a safe option as a business partner.  We can check out their social media to get a sense of what they are about.  We can watch their videos to get a better idea of who they are and what they know.  This is all still rather remote and at arms length.  We don’t do business that way.  We want to look them in the eye, to read their body language, to gauge their voice tone, to judge their intelligence through their mastery of the spoken word.  Other can write your posts for you, but when presenting on stage it is just you baby and you had better have the goods.  We want to see what we are getting. To get cut through, we need to be standing in front of as many audiences as possible.  Yes, we can attend networking events as a participant and we should, but we should be striving to do better than that.  We should be hogging the limelight, a titan astride the stage, commanding attention and delivering powerful messages.  That means seeking every opportunity to speak we can possibly manufacture, being proactive in promoting ourselves, unabashed about pushing our personal brand. Yes, there will be haters.  Two of my staff attended an American Chamber function recently and some helpful fellow attendee started laying into me.  They being very loyal staff were really upset about this, told me about it and were obviously frustrated regarding what to do about it.   I asked them a couple of clarifying questions.  Was the individual or their company a client? No.  Were they ever likely to become a client? No.  Did they have a personal brand of their own? No.  I didn’t bother asking who it was, because they are obviously a know nothing, do nothing, become nothing nobody.  If you want to promote yourself you have to pop your head above the parapet.  Expect there will be someone who will want to kick it.  That doesn't mean we should self-censor ourselves, because some nobody is jealous about what we are doing.  Grasp on to the bigger picture here, have courage and go for it.  Those who get it will respect you, haters will hate you, no matter what you do. Public speaking is the last bastion for those who want to take their personal presence to the top.  We are being flooded by information around us, so we need to look for chances to break free from the crowd and establish ourselves as the expert in our field.  It means putting ourselves out there to be judged, but we are going to be judged anyway, so let’s control our own destiny.  In 2020, resolve to do as much speaking as you possibly can and create as many opportunities as possible to promote your personal brand.

2020 Here We Go – Let’s Build Our Personal Brand As A Presente The New Year’s resolutions concept is ridiculous, but only because we are weak, lazy, inconsistent and lacking in discipline.  Apart from those small barriers to execution of desires, the concept works a treat.  The idea of a new start is not bad in itself and we can use the Gregorian calendar fantasy, to mark a change in the year where new things are possible.  So as a presenter what would be possible? There are around 800,000 podcasts in the US and many millions in China.  Blogs are in the billions now, video content is going crazy, live streaming is rampant.  Every single which way, we are under assault from competitor content marketing on steroids.  In addition, there is all of the advertising content coming at us through every medium.  Will it diminish?  No.  What does it mean for us in business? Personal reputation will be built through our efforts to cut through all of the clatter competing with us.  People are consuming information on small screens and are deluged with competing content.  The experience is transitory, because the next deluge is coming down the pike.  How do we linger long in people’s memories?  Well we don’t.  Even the few who see our content soon move on.  In offices, people sitting next to each other send emails rather than talk.  Phone calls put a dread fear into those younger colleagues entering the workplace.  The anonymity of the texting facility is preferred to human contact.  We are becoming increasingly impersonal, as we are fixated with our internet connected devices. In business though we need the human touch.  We want to do business with people we can judge are a safe option as a business partner.  We can check out their social media to get a sense of what they are about.  We can watch their videos to get a better idea of who they are and what they know.  This is all still rather remote and at arms length.  We don’t do business that way.  We want to look them in the eye, to read their body language, to gauge their voice tone, to judge their intelligence through their mastery of the spoken word.  Other can write your posts for you, but when presenting on stage it is just you baby and you had better have the goods.  We want to see what we are getting. To get cut through, we need to be standing in front of as many audiences as possible.  Yes, we can attend networking events as a participant and we should, but we should be striving to do better than that.  We should be hogging the limelight, a titan astride the stage, commanding attention and delivering powerful messages.  That means seeking every opportunity to speak we can possibly manufacture, being proactive in promoting ourselves, unabashed about pushing our personal brand. Yes, there will be haters.  Two of my staff attended an American Chamber function recently and some helpful fellow attendee started laying into me.  They being very loyal staff were really upset about this, told me about it and were obviously frustrated regarding what to do about it.   I asked them a couple of clarifying questions.  Was the individual or their company a client? No.  Were they ever likely to become a client? No.  Did they have a personal brand of their own? No.  I didn’t bother asking who it was, because they are obviously a know nothing, do nothing, become nothing nobody.  If you want to promote yourself you have to pop your head above the parapet.  Expect there will be someone who will want to kick it.  That doesn't mean we should self-censor ourselves, because some nobody is jealous about what we are doing.  Grasp on to the bigger picture here, have courage and go for it.  Those who get it will respect you, haters will hate you, no matter what you do. Public speaking is the last bastion for those who want to take their personal presence to the top.  We are being flooded by information around us, so we need to look for chances to break free from the crowd and establish ourselves as the expert in our field.  It means putting ourselves out there to be judged, but we are going to be judged anyway, so let’s control our own destiny.  In 2020, resolve to do as much speaking as you possibly can and create as many opportunities as possible to promote your personal brand.

166: 2020 Here We Go - Let's Build Our Personal Brand As A Presenter

Shooshing Your Noisy Audience Is Ridiculous When Presenting   When a presentation event unintentionally turns into comedic relief, you know you have a major credibility problem.  Imagine it is after work, a cavernous hall filled with hundreds of people, the booze and small talk all free flowing.  The MC attempts to introduce the main host of the event, to make some worthy remarks. The hum continues as people are more riveted by their own conversation than anything the crew on stage has to say. In a stroke of pathos, the MC starts shooshing the audience to attempt to quieten them down.    The audience aren’t buying any of this Mother stuff from the MC and keep chatting regardless.  This leads to even more ridiculous shooshing, only louder and more strident this time.  The MC doesn’t appear to have had any presentation training.  So they have reverted to parental authority over the naughty boys and girls in the audience, to restore some semblance of order.  We have now descended into comedy, but more a comedy of errors.   Almost giving up, the main speaker is now trotted out by the MC for more of the same.  This speaker thankfully didn’t try any shooshing of their own, but the MC was on a roll and unhelpfully weighed in from the sidelines, with more shooshing, during the speech.  The main speaker was not skilled, interesting or commanding, so their words were subsumed into the general low drone echoing across the hall from all the crowd hubbub.  There were other subsequent speakers and they also were buffeted by the strong winds of disinterest.   Should we blame the speakers for being unskilled and boring or the audience for being ignorant and rude or both?  Well I don’t think we can blame the audience and even if we did, what difference would it make?  Should we have burly security guards on hand, to frog march noisy offenders out of the hall. We could try this to spread the general idea that we the organisers can’t be brooked and require better manners from the assembled rabble.   In reality, I think we have to accept that if you release free flowing booze into the audience then their conversations are going to be more attractive to them, than anything else happening on stage.  In many cases in Japan, they hold the booze back for that very reason.  If you are well behaved and don’t talk over the speeches, we will reward you with a drink when we get to the toast.    This Pavlovian style training tends to inject more discipline into the proceedings.  It is not completely foolproof and some hardened conversationalists, maybe the non-drinkers in the audience, will still continue their tete-a-tete during the main speeches.  It is a much smaller group though and generally everyone is listening to the speeches.  The negative thing about the Japanese methodology though is the speeches are usually too many in number and too long in length.  If you are all that remains between you and drinkees, then remember to make it short and memorable, then get off.   Well what can we do when it is us up there on stage, at the podium, surveying the great unwashed, unreformed and unruly rabble.  They are shamelessly standing there staring back up at us, while willfully chit chatting, with no sign of embarrassment or remorse.    The first thing is to design your talk to be powerful, impactful and short.  Waffling on about nothing of great import or of any consequence to the audience is a guaranteed formula for being ignored.  Our main speaker did a great job of doing just that.  Naturally people were not moved and the MC, in vain, had to bring out the shooshing nuclear harpoon to corral the audience.    If you are in this position, think very carefully about what you can say at the start to get the audience engaged.  Talking at them won’t cut it.  We need to be speaking with them and this is where getting crowd involvement works like a charm.  Ask them a rousing question.  Get them physically and mentally involved.   This occasion actually really lent itself perfectly to this task.  It had a sporting theme and the audience was chock full of opposing supporters covering a large number of competing teams.    If our MC or the speaker had asked the audience to nominate which team was going to win the competition, then audience involvement would have been tremendous.  Additionally the pro technique is to say, “I didn’t catch that, who is going to win?”  By doing this you get the audience to really ramp up their energy and volume.  They want to talk, so give them their chance to really rock it, but only for a moment.  There is a particular mass rally, large crowd effect we want to tap into, as there is tremendous energy therein, which we want to direct.   Following that raucous reaction, thank them, then pause.  You will now have a still quiet in the room. This is when you had better say something really gripping.  You have the complete attention of the masses and they are now open to you.  They are having a good time at last.    As you proceed into the talk, the low hum at the back will return.  Expect that, so again ask them another leading question in a few minutes time. This will allow them to burn off all that excess chat energy they have, so that they will be calm and listen to you again.  You can’t keep doing this ad nauseam, otherwise it feels manipulative. People won’t respond anymore, they won’t like you and will leave with a bad taste in their mouth.   The answer to keeping audience interest, is to be interesting.  Use word pictures, tell relevant stories, lift your speaker energy right up to the top of the scale to command the room.  Rock stars can do this, because they have massive amplifiers, electric guitars and a full drum kit to work with.  You don't have any of that, but you have to become as powerful as a rock star on stage, to grab easily distracted people’s attention.  Your projection of your “ki” or body energy, big gestures and powerful voice strength are the equivalent of the amplifiers, electric guitars and full drum kit.   In our presentation training, the participants are at about 15% energy levels when they first enter the training room.  We the instructors have to project our own energy levels up to 130% or 150%, to lift the audience up to 100% of their potential energy.  Speaking in front of a noisy crowd requires the same strategy. In this case, you have to go above their energy levels and seize control of the room. They are already at close to 80% to 90%, so we have to go to 150% to stay in command of the proceedings.   Our speaker did none of that and was totally forgettable. The MC was just annoying and the whole episode was a shambles.  Those on stage were all speaker road kill.    If you are ever in the nominated speaker position to address a noisy assembly, take the ideas outlined here and you will be heard and well regarded.  You will emerge with your reputation really enhanced, because skilled crowd lion tamers are few and far between. 

Shooshing Your Noisy Audience Is Ridiculous When Presenting When a presentation event unintentionally turns into comedic relief, you know you have a major credibility problem.  Imagine it is after work, a cavernous hall filled with hundreds of people, the booze and small talk all free flowing.  The MC attempts to introduce the main host of the event, to make some worthy remarks. The hum continues as people are more riveted by their own conversation than anything the crew on stage has to say. In a stroke of pathos, the MC starts shooshing the audience to attempt to quieten them down.  The audience aren’t buying any of this Mother stuff from the MC and keep chatting regardless.  This leads to even more ridiculous shooshing, only louder and more strident this time.  The MC doesn’t appear to have had any presentation training.  So they have reverted to parental authority over the naughty boys and girls in the audience, to restore some semblance of order.  We have now descended into comedy, but more a comedy of errors. Almost giving up, the main speaker is now trotted out by the MC for more of the same.  This speaker thankfully didn’t try any shooshing of their own, but the MC was on a roll and unhelpfully weighed in from the sidelines, with more shooshing, during the speech.  The main speaker was not skilled, interesting or commanding, so their words were subsumed into the general low drone echoing across the hall from all the crowd hubbub.  There were other subsequent speakers and they also were buffeted by the strong winds of disinterest. Should we blame the speakers for being unskilled and boring or the audience for being ignorant and rude or both?  Well I don’t think we can blame the audience and even if we did, what difference would it make?  Should we have burly security guards on hand, to frog march noisy offenders out of the hall. We could try this to spread the general idea that we the organisers can’t be brooked and require better manners from the assembled rabble. In reality, I think we have to accept that if you release free flowing booze into the audience then their conversations are going to be more attractive to them, than anything else happening on stage.  In many cases in Japan, they hold the booze back for that very reason.  If you are well behaved and don’t talk over the speeches, we will reward you with a drink when we get to the toast.  This Pavlovian style training tends to inject more discipline into the proceedings.  It is not completely foolproof and some hardened conversationalists, maybe the non-drinkers in the audience, will still continue their tete-a-tete during the main speeches.  It is a much smaller group though and generally everyone is listening to the speeches.  The negative thing about the Japanese methodology though is the speeches are usually too many in number and too long in length.  If you are all that remains between you and drinkees, then remember to make it short and memorable, then get off. Well what can we do when it is us up there on stage, at the podium, surveying the great unwashed, unreformed and unruly rabble.  They are shamelessly standing there staring back up at us, while willfully chit chatting, with no sign of embarrassment or remorse.  The first thing is to design your talk to be powerful, impactful and short.  Waffling on about nothing of great import or of any consequence to the audience is a guaranteed formula for being ignored.  Our main speaker did a great job of doing just that.  Naturally people were not moved and the MC, in vain, had to bring out the shooshing nuclear harpoon to corral the audience.  If you are in this position, think very carefully about what you can say at the start to get the audience engaged.  Talking at them won’t cut it.  We need to be speaking with them and this is where getting crowd involvement works like a charm.  Ask them a rousing question.  Get them physically and mentally involved. This occasion actually really lent itself perfectly to this task.  It had a sporting theme and the audience was chock full of opposing supporters covering a large number of competing teams.  If our MC or the speaker had asked the audience to nominate which team was going to win the competition, then audience involvement would have been tremendous.  Additionally the pro technique is to say, “I didn’t catch that, who is going to win?”  By doing this you get the audience to really ramp up their energy and volume.  They want to talk, so give them their chance to really rock it, but only for a moment.  There is a particular mass rally, large crowd effect we want to tap into, as there is tremendous energy therein, which we want to direct. Following that raucous reaction, thank them, then pause.  You will now have a still quiet in the room. This is when you had better say something really gripping.  You have the complete attention of the masses and they are now open to you.  They are having a good time at last.  As you proceed into the talk, the low hum at the back will return.  Expect that, so again ask them another leading question in a few minutes time. This will allow them to burn off all that excess chat energy they have, so that they will be calm and listen to you again.  You can’t keep doing this ad nauseam, otherwise it feels manipulative. People won’t respond anymore, they won’t like you and will leave with a bad taste in their mouth. The answer to keeping audience interest, is to be interesting.  Use word pictures, tell relevant stories, lift your speaker energy right up to the top of the scale to command the room.  Rock stars can do this, because they have massive amplifiers, electric guitars and a full drum kit to work with.  You don't have any of that, but you have to become as powerful as a rock star on stage, to grab easily distracted people’s attention.  Your projection of your “ki” or body energy, big gestures and powerful voice strength are the equivalent of the amplifiers, electric guitars and full drum kit. In our presentation training, the participants are at about 15% energy levels when they first enter the training room.  We the instructors have to project our own energy levels up to 130% or 150%, to lift the audience up to 100% of their potential energy.  Speaking in front of a noisy crowd requires the same strategy. In this case, you have to go above their energy levels and seize control of the room. They are already at close to 80% to 90%, so we have to go to 150% to stay in command of the proceedings. Our speaker did none of that and was totally forgettable. The MC was just annoying and the whole episode was a shambles.  Those on stage were all speaker road kill.  If you are ever in the nominated speaker position to address a noisy assembly, take the ideas outlined here and you will be heard and well regarded.  You will emerge with your reputation really enhanced, because skilled crowd lion tamers are few and far between.

100: Shooshing Your Noisy Audience Is Ridiculous When Presenting

Successful Presentations Need Good Structure   It is a bad sign when a presentation makes me sleepy, especially if it is at lunch time.  It is very common to have speakers address a topic over a lunch to a group of attendees.  After lunch, you might explain away a bit of the drowsiness, but during the lunch is a warning sign.  The speaker had good voice strength, so nobody was struggling to hear him.  He was knowledgeable on his subject having worked in this area for a number of years.  He was speaking about what his firm does everyday, so he is living the topic. So what went wrong?   Thinking back to the talk, I wondered whether his structure was the issue?  When a speech doesn’t flow well, the audience has to work hard.  Actually, they choose not to work hard and instead just drop out and escape from you.  This was one of those cases.   If we think about giving a speech, we have to plan it well.  In his case, he had prepared slides, but the style of the lunch and the venue meant it was a no slide deck presentation.  He had some side notes written down on his laptop screen to follow.  That is fine for the speaker, because it aids navigation through the topics.  The problem was that the points were not ordered or structured well.  This made it hard to follow, as it tended to jump around, rather than flow.   We design our talks from the idea spark.  In one sentence, we need to isolate out what is the key point we want to make to our audience.  This is not easy, but the act of refining the topic gives us clarity. We create the opening last, because its role is to break into the brains of the audience and capture their full attention for what is coming.   The middle bits between opening and closing is where the design part comes in.  Think of the sections like chapters in a book.  The chapters need to be in a logical order that is easy to follow. They need to link to each other so that the whole thing flows.  To create the chapters we take our central conclusion and ask why is that true?  The answers will come from the points of evidence or our experiences.  We need to get these down and then get them in order.    It might be a simple structure like “ this is what happened in the past, this is where we are today and this is where we are going in the future”.  We could use a macro-micro split.  This is the big picture and here are the details of the components.  It could be advantage-disadvantage.  We investigate the plusses and minuses of what we are proposing.  It could be taking the key points of evidence and breaking them down to make each a chapter in its own right.   The key is in the sequencing.  What is the logical flow here to move from one chapter to the next?  We need a bridge between chapters to set up what is coming next and to tell our audience we are changing the focus. We need to constantly loop each chapter back to what is the central point.  We can’t just put out evidence and leave it there, expecting the listener to work it out themselves.  We have to tell them why this is important, what it means for them and how they can use it.   Visuals on screen do assist in this process.  It does make it easier to follow because we are hitting more points of stimulus with our audience.  When we don’t have slides, we need to use word pictures to draw the audience into our topic. I am struggling to recall any stories he told about the topic, which is the best place to create those word pictures.   So break the talk up before you go anywhere near the slide construction.  What is the point you want to make?  What are the reasons for that  and turn them into chapter headings.  Check that the flow of the chapters is logical and easy to follow.  Then create a blockbuster opening to grab attention.  If our speaker had spent more time on the design then the talk would have been more accessible to the audience.  Get that wrong in this Age Of Distraction and you have lost them immediately.

Successful Presentations Need Good Structure It is a bad sign when a presentation makes me sleepy, especially if it is at lunch time.  It is very common to have speakers address a topic over a lunch to a group of attendees.  After lunch, you might explain away a bit of the drowsiness, but during the lunch is a warning sign.  The speaker had good voice strength, so nobody was struggling to hear him.  He was knowledgeable on his subject having worked in this area for a number of years.  He was speaking about what his firm does everyday, so he is living the topic. So what went wrong? Thinking back to the talk, I wondered whether his structure was the issue?  When a speech doesn’t flow well, the audience has to work hard.  Actually, they choose not to work hard and instead just drop out and escape from you.  This was one of those cases. If we think about giving a speech, we have to plan it well.  In his case, he had prepared slides, but the style of the lunch and the venue meant it was a no slide deck presentation.  He had some side notes written down on his laptop screen to follow.  That is fine for the speaker, because it aids navigation through the topics.  The problem was that the points were not ordered or structured well.  This made it hard to follow, as it tended to jump around, rather than flow. We design our talks from the idea spark.  In one sentence, we need to isolate out what is the key point we want to make to our audience.  This is not easy, but the act of refining the topic gives us clarity. We create the opening last, because its role is to break into the brains of the audience and capture their full attention for what is coming. The middle bits between opening and closing is where the design part comes in.  Think of the sections like chapters in a book.  The chapters need to be in a logical order that is easy to follow. They need to link to each other so that the whole thing flows.  To create the chapters we take our central conclusion and ask why is that true?  The answers will come from the points of evidence or our experiences.  We need to get these down and then get them in order.  It might be a simple structure like “ this is what happened in the past, this is where we are today and this is where we are going in the future”.  We could use a macro-micro split.  This is the big picture and here are the details of the components.  It could be advantage-disadvantage.  We investigate the plusses and minuses of what we are proposing.  It could be taking the key points of evidence and breaking them down to make each a chapter in its own right. The key is in the sequencing.  What is the logical flow here to move from one chapter to the next?  We need a bridge between chapters to set up what is coming next and to tell our audience we are changing the focus. We need to constantly loop each chapter back to what is the central point.  We can’t just put out evidence and leave it there, expecting the listener to work it out themselves.  We have to tell them why this is important, what it means for them and how they can use it. Visuals on screen do assist in this process.  It does make it easier to follow because we are hitting more points of stimulus with our audience.  When we don’t have slides, we need to use word pictures to draw the audience into our topic. I am struggling to recall any stories he told about the topic, which is the best place to create those word pictures. So break the talk up before you go anywhere near the slide construction.  What is the point you want to make?  What are the reasons for that  and turn them into chapter headings.  Check that the flow of the chapters is logical and easy to follow.  Then create a blockbuster opening to grab attention.  If our speaker had spent more time on the design then the talk would have been more accessible to the audience.  Get that wrong in this Age Of Distraction and you have lost them immediately.

149: Successful Presentations Need Good Structure

Don’t Get A Grip When Presenting   Good posture never goes out of fashion.  Standing up straight shows confidence, allows good breath control and projects energy. Given this is pretty simple, then why is it we get this so wrong when presenting?  The problem is temptations aplenty in the presenting environment.  The various acting awards or music performance awards are broadcast all around the world, to celebrate people making their living as professional presenters.  Acting is presenting and so is singing, although we do not often think of the performances in that way, but fundamentally that is what these artists are doing.    Now this is one group you would expect to do this well.  Yet, we see award recipients murdering their acceptance speeches.  They stand there shoulders curved, hunched over the stand microphone, bending low from the waist to accommodate the tech, rather than the other way around.  These are people who spend an inordinate amount of their time around microphone technology as users.  Yet they seem incapable of mastering this sound dispersal device.  We get a terrific view of the top of their heads, which when we have a bald or balding pate on display, makes the whole experience even more memorable.   If you are ever in a position like that, where the height of the microphone stand makes the distance from the top of the mounted microphone to your mouth seem too far, then change the scenario.  Actually, hopefully you will have arrived early and will have checked the equipment beforehand so will know if the microphone thus mounted will do the trick or not.  You should have already alerted the organisers to your preferred tech arrangements and because it is going to be an extended presentation, you have requested a hand microphone or a lavalier microphone.   Let’s presume you have not had that chance, because it is an award ceremony and your remarks will be brief.  Don’t worry because the solution is devastatingly simple.  Remove the microphone from the stand holder completely and bring it closer to your mouth when you want to speak.  If the microphone is wedged in there and is not relenting or responding to your efforts to remove it, then go for more radical measures.  Pick the whole damn thing up holus-bolus and speak into the microphone, so that you can be heard by everyone.  Don’t be bossed around by the tech – show it who is boss around here.   The other great good posture denier is the podium.  I always recommend dispensing with the podium entirely, if you can do that.  These days we can have our slides there to help us navigate our way through the speech.  The ubiquitous slide advance clickers free us from being trapped behind the podium and having to hit the arrow keys to move through the slide deck. We can advance the slide show from anywhere on the stage and thus be able to access our full body language, to add to our communication piece.    What we often see though, is the speaker, usually male, applying a vice like grip on the outer edges of the podium, in an effort to stop it escaping from the stage at any moment. Male speakers also love it because they don’t know what to do with their hands, so choking the life out of the podium takes care of that problem completely. This double grip arrangement eliminates the possibility of using gestures, to back up the words, because the podium has now become a function of the speaker’s balance.  This is because the speaker is standing back from the podium and leaning forward, head down, shoulders hunched over the microphone attached to the low flying microphone stand.  When your weight is back like that, you tend to get stuck in that position and wind up delivering the whole speech with that poor posture.   If for some sad reason you are using a podium as a notes bench or are even worse, using your laptop screen as your notes bench, then stand up straight and slightly back and away from the podium.  From here, you can’ t easily grip the furniture and this frees you up to use your gestures.   Good posture shows the mark of the professional, who is in control of their environment, the furniture and the tech.  Now all they have to do is concentrate on their audience and that is why we are there in the first place, isn’t it.

Don’t Get A Grip When Presenting Good posture never goes out of fashion.  Standing up straight shows confidence, allows good breath control and projects energy. Given this is pretty simple, then why is it we get this so wrong when presenting?  The problem is temptations aplenty in the presenting environment.  The various acting awards or music performance awards are broadcast all around the world, to celebrate people making their living as professional presenters.  Acting is presenting and so is singing, although we do not often think of the performances in that way, but fundamentally that is what these artists are doing.  Now this is one group you would expect to do this well.  Yet, we see award recipients murdering their acceptance speeches.  They stand there shoulders curved, hunched over the stand microphone, bending low from the waist to accommodate the tech, rather than the other way around.  These are people who spend an inordinate amount of their time around microphone technology as users.  Yet they seem incapable of mastering this sound dispersal device.  We get a terrific view of the top of their heads, which when we have a bald or balding pate on display, makes the whole experience even more memorable. If you are ever in a position like that, where the height of the microphone stand makes the distance from the top of the mounted microphone to your mouth seem too far, then change the scenario.  Actually, hopefully you will have arrived early and will have checked the equipment beforehand so will know if the microphone thus mounted will do the trick or not.  You should have already alerted the organisers to your preferred tech arrangements and because it is going to be an extended presentation, you have requested a hand microphone or a lavalier microphone. Let’s presume you have not had that chance, because it is an award ceremony and your remarks will be brief.  Don’t worry because the solution is devastatingly simple.  Remove the microphone from the stand holder completely and bring it closer to your mouth when you want to speak.  If the microphone is wedged in there and is not relenting or responding to your efforts to remove it, then go for more radical measures.  Pick the whole damn thing up holus-bolus and speak into the microphone, so that you can be heard by everyone.  Don’t be bossed around by the tech – show it who is boss around here. The other great good posture denier is the podium.  I always recommend dispensing with the podium entirely, if you can do that.  These days we can have our slides there to help us navigate our way through the speech.  The ubiquitous slide advance clickers free us from being trapped behind the podium and having to hit the arrow keys to move through the slide deck. We can advance the slide show from anywhere on the stage and thus be able to access our full body language, to add to our communication piece.  What we often see though, is the speaker, usually male, applying a vice like grip on the outer edges of the podium, in an effort to stop it escaping from the stage at any moment. Male speakers also love it because they don’t know what to do with their hands, so choking the life out of the podium takes care of that problem completely. This double grip arrangement eliminates the possibility of using gestures, to back up the words, because the podium has now become a function of the speaker’s balance.  This is because the speaker is standing back from the podium and leaning forward, head down, shoulders hunched over the microphone attached to the low flying microphone stand.  When your weight is back like that, you tend to get stuck in that position and wind up delivering the whole speech with that poor posture. If for some sad reason you are using a podium as a notes bench or are even worse, using your laptop screen as your notes bench, then stand up straight and slightly back and away from the podium.  From here, you can’ t easily grip the furniture and this frees you up to use your gestures. Good posture shows the mark of the professional, who is in control of their environment, the furniture and the tech.  Now all they have to do is concentrate on their audience and that is why we are there in the first place, isn’t it.

98: Don't Get A Grip When Presenting

How To More Concise, Clear and Persuasive When Presenting   We run training on presentations and public speaking continuously. These three requests to be more concise, clear and persuasive, often come up from the participants, regarding the nominated areas where they want to improve.  In this Age of Distraction, if you miss the first two, you can kiss goodbye to number three.  As soon as an audience hears you rambling, they are scrambling for the mobile phones to exit your talk.  When you are mystifying your audience, they bolt for digital device safety.   I am the only English native speaker in my team here in Tokyo.  My staff all have very fluent English and are skilled communicators.  One of them however, as much as I love her to death, drives me nuts.  When her brain has fixed on a topic she launches straight into the main body of what she wants to tell me.  It has become a bit of a running joke in the office, because I will stop her and ask “what is the subject of this wonderful exposition?”.    We can do the same things when we are speaking.  We are so deep into our subject, we forget that the people listening are unable to follow our thread, because we haven’t set up the topic properly. We have phases of our talk.  The opening is the dynamite, the nitro.  We light the fuse and blow everyone out of their complacency, sloth and slumber in order to get them to pay attention to us.   In the main body of our talk we need to be thinking in terms of five minute blocks.  At around this frequency, we need to be switching it up, to keep our audience attached to what we are saying.  We might do this through a powerful story, an impactful slide, an insightful quotation, or a killer question.  When we make a statement in the main body, we need to make sure we are bolting on some evidence to prove what we are saying.  Data, statistics, survey results, testimonials are all excellent sources of credibility for our provocative claims. The arrangement of the blocks needs to have a logical flow.  It might be by theme, chronological, micro to  macro, problem-solution-result or any number of easy to follow formulas.  The point is to choose one and use it, rather than allowing the muse to take you on a journey without direction.   Bridges between the sections are useful guideposts too.  For example, “We have covered XYZ, now let me explore ABC”, or “In a moment let’s investigate the influence the economy may have on our projections”, or “There are three key things we must be vigilant for, the first is….”. These are threads to stitch the whole presentation together into a format the listener can follow without having to work hard at all.  If we make our audience work hard, we often find they are all lazy escape artists and we have lost them.    Time is the weapon of choice for the speaker when it comes to learning to shave words, hone sentences and trim excess.  Rehearsal is absolutely key to getting the timing correct.  On how many occasions have we all had to sit there and listen to an unprofessional speaker tell us they are “running out of time” and they will have to “whip” through the last slides?  How do we feel?  Cheated, big time!  We came to get some key information from the talk and skipping over key slides to satisfy some arbitrary time constraints has us worried we are not getting full value from the time we are allocating.    When the stop watch is running, you learn to sharpen up the prose, glean the essentials and focus on the most important things only.  Rambling away soon trips you up and you realise you need to cut the excess and stick to the most powerful points only.    When we get to the end, we wrap it up with two closes, one for the pre-Q&amp;A and one for the very end.  These are our opportunities to underscore our punch lines, hammer our main conclusion, reinforce the ideas we are promulgating and leave the audience with a thought pounding so loudly in their ears that it won’t get easily displaced by something else.  The close puts a nice bow on the whole enterprise, wrapping things up sweetly.   Action Steps  Plot the talk in five minute brackets Create bridges to lead the audience into the next section Get out the stopwatch to tighten up the delivery Spend time designing the opening and closes to properly marshal the talk 

How To More Concise, Clear and Persuasive When Presenting We run training on presentations and public speaking continuously. These three requests to be more concise, clear and persuasive, often come up from the participants, regarding the nominated areas where they want to improve.  In this Age of Distraction, if you miss the first two, you can kiss goodbye to number three.  As soon as an audience hears you rambling, they are scrambling for the mobile phones to exit your talk.  When you are mystifying your audience, they bolt for digital device safety. I am the only English native speaker in my team here in Tokyo.  My staff all have very fluent English and are skilled communicators.  One of them however, as much as I love her to death, drives me nuts.  When her brain has fixed on a topic she launches straight into the main body of what she wants to tell me.  It has become a bit of a running joke in the office, because I will stop her and ask “what is the subject of this wonderful exposition?”.  We can do the same things when we are speaking.  We are so deep into our subject, we forget that the people listening are unable to follow our thread, because we haven’t set up the topic properly. We have phases of our talk.  The opening is the dynamite, the nitro.  We light the fuse and blow everyone out of their complacency, sloth and slumber in order to get them to pay attention to us. In the main body of our talk we need to be thinking in terms of five minute blocks.  At around this frequency, we need to be switching it up, to keep our audience attached to what we are saying.  We might do this through a powerful story, an impactful slide, an insightful quotation, or a killer question.  When we make a statement in the main body, we need to make sure we are bolting on some evidence to prove what we are saying.  Data, statistics, survey results, testimonials are all excellent sources of credibility for our provocative claims. The arrangement of the blocks needs to have a logical flow.  It might be by theme, chronological, micro to  macro, problem-solution-result or any number of easy to follow formulas.  The point is to choose one and use it, rather than allowing the muse to take you on a journey without direction. Bridges between the sections are useful guideposts too.  For example, “We have covered XYZ, now let me explore ABC”, or “In a moment let’s investigate the influence the economy may have on our projections”, or “There are three key things we must be vigilant for, the first is….”. These are threads to stitch the whole presentation together into a format the listener can follow without having to work hard at all.  If we make our audience work hard, we often find they are all lazy escape artists and we have lost them.  Time is the weapon of choice for the speaker when it comes to learning to shave words, hone sentences and trim excess.  Rehearsal is absolutely key to getting the timing correct.  On how many occasions have we all had to sit there and listen to an unprofessional speaker tell us they are “running out of time” and they will have to “whip” through the last slides?  How do we feel?  Cheated, big time!  We came to get some key information from the talk and skipping over key slides to satisfy some arbitrary time constraints has us worried we are not getting full value from the time we are allocating.  When the stop watch is running, you learn to sharpen up the prose, glean the essentials and focus on the most important things only.  Rambling away soon trips you up and you realise you need to cut the excess and stick to the most powerful points only.  When we get to the end, we wrap it up with two closes, one for the pre-Q&amp;A and one for the very end.  These are our opportunities to underscore our punch lines, hammer our main conclusion, reinforce the ideas we are promulgating and leave the audience with a thought pounding so loudly in their ears that it won’t get easily displaced by something else.  The close puts a nice bow on the whole enterprise, wrapping things up sweetly. Action Steps <ol> <li>Plot the talk in five minute brackets</li> <li>Create bridges to lead the audience into the next section</li> <li>Get out the stopwatch to tighten up the delivery</li> <li>Spend time designing the opening and closes to properly marshal the talk</li> </ol>

144: How To Be More Concise, Clear And Persuasive When Presenting

Man, Your Monotone Is Killing Me   Normally we expect Japanese speakers to be boring, because their language is a monotone and so they apply the same formula when speaking in either Japanese or English. That is okay in a way, because it is a cultural thing.  However, for foreigners there is no excuse.  If you are giving your talk in a monotone, expect to lose your audience. Forty minutes of listening to some speaker’s monotone delivery is enough to make most people suicidal.  Regardless of how gripping the topic, the grip of slumber proves more powerful and relentless.   This was me recently.  I turned up at the appointed time for the talk, all full of vim and vigour, eagerly awaiting the unveiling of this troubling topic.  The speaker came with a grand resume, a prince among princes on this topic.  It wasn’t princely.  He wasn’t even the jester.  It was more like a lecture from the hooded hangman or the grim executioner.   My eye lids grew heavy as he droned on and on.  Seated unwisely toward the front, I struggled to observe the common courtesies, as my eyes willed to close.  It was excruciating.  I was sitting there thinking, why is such a vital topic being garrotted here in full view of everyone, by the way he delivering this talk?  What is it about this delivery that is driving me to sleep?   I think there were three factors at play in particular.  The monotone itself is a noise we often refer to as white noise. Your refrigerator often gives off this low hum. It is there all the time.  Well not your Japanese refrigerator, because the living spaces are are too small here to put up with that, so Japanese technology ensures they are a silent as the tomb.  I mean your big western model, in your big kitchen, in your big house.  The speaker’s monotone mimics this white noise that has no highs and lows to keep us interested.  I don’t recommend you telling any speakers soon that their talk was as exciting as the white noise of your refrigerator, but you are certainly allowed to think that.   The refrigerator monotone also has the feature of being continuous.  This was our speaker too.   He just warbled away for the entire time with almost no pauses. Pattern interrupters like pauses are good for the brain, to keep audience attention on what you are talking about.  They are like little warning buzzes that something has changed and we should pay attention to the speaker.  Pauses are translators for us.  We can take a moment to translate what was said into our own understanding. Continuous talking ensures each idea is drowned by the succeeding wave of the next idea.   There are no key words in a monotone.  Every sentence has equal value and every word in a sentence is tremendously democratic and the same as every other word.  I like democracy in political systems but not so keen on this in speeches.  I want key words highlighted by voice modulation.  I have just finished narrating the audio version of my next book Japan Business Mastery.  I don’t have a great DJ style baritone voice.  In fact, after 48 years of doing all that yelling, the kiai, in karate training, people tell me I have a rather husky voice.  Sadly no one says “sexy husky voice”, they just nominate it is husky.  Nevertheless, I don’t ask better qualified professionals to do it, because they won’t know which are the key words I want to hit harder than others.  This isolating out particular words for attention, is what makes the talk more interesting.  We are guiding the listener along a path we have predetermined about how they should think about what we are saying.    It was painful.  Talks shouldn’t be painful should they.  We go to be informed or persuaded or motivated or entertained and possibly all four if the speaker is really good.  Check yourself by taping your delivery.  Are you using voice modulation, pauses and punching out key words for emphasis?  If you are not, then bring some pillows for the audience members, because that will wind up being your most valuable contribution to the proceedings.   Action Steps  Add voice modulation to your delivery.If you are Japanese, then add in strength or take it out or add speed or slow it down, for variety in your delivery. Use pauses to help your audience process what you have said. Hit key words you want to emphasise for your listeners, to draw them into your way of thinking 

Man, Your Monotone Is Killing Me Normally we expect Japanese speakers to be boring, because their language is a monotone and so they apply the same formula when speaking in either Japanese or English. That is okay in a way, because it is a cultural thing.  However, for foreigners there is no excuse.  If you are giving your talk in a monotone, expect to lose your audience. Forty minutes of listening to some speaker’s monotone delivery is enough to make most people suicidal.  Regardless of how gripping the topic, the grip of slumber proves more powerful and relentless. This was me recently.  I turned up at the appointed time for the talk, all full of vim and vigour, eagerly awaiting the unveiling of this troubling topic.  The speaker came with a grand resume, a prince among princes on this topic.  It wasn’t princely.  He wasn’t even the jester.  It was more like a lecture from the hooded hangman or the grim executioner. My eye lids grew heavy as he droned on and on.  Seated unwisely toward the front, I struggled to observe the common courtesies, as my eyes willed to close.  It was excruciating.  I was sitting there thinking, why is such a vital topic being garrotted here in full view of everyone, by the way he delivering this talk?  What is it about this delivery that is driving me to sleep? I think there were three factors at play in particular.  The monotone itself is a noise we often refer to as white noise. Your refrigerator often gives off this low hum. It is there all the time.  Well not your Japanese refrigerator, because the living spaces are are too small here to put up with that, so Japanese technology ensures they are a silent as the tomb.  I mean your big western model, in your big kitchen, in your big house.  The speaker’s monotone mimics this white noise that has no highs and lows to keep us interested.  I don’t recommend you telling any speakers soon that their talk was as exciting as the white noise of your refrigerator, but you are certainly allowed to think that. The refrigerator monotone also has the feature of being continuous.  This was our speaker too.   He just warbled away for the entire time with almost no pauses. Pattern interrupters like pauses are good for the brain, to keep audience attention on what you are talking about.  They are like little warning buzzes that something has changed and we should pay attention to the speaker.  Pauses are translators for us.  We can take a moment to translate what was said into our own understanding. Continuous talking ensures each idea is drowned by the succeeding wave of the next idea. There are no key words in a monotone.  Every sentence has equal value and every word in a sentence is tremendously democratic and the same as every other word.  I like democracy in political systems but not so keen on this in speeches.  I want key words highlighted by voice modulation.  I have just finished narrating the audio version of my next book Japan Business Mastery.  I don’t have a great DJ style baritone voice.  In fact, after 48 years of doing all that yelling, the kiai, in karate training, people tell me I have a rather husky voice.  Sadly no one says “sexy husky voice”, they just nominate it is husky.  Nevertheless, I don’t ask better qualified professionals to do it, because they won’t know which are the key words I want to hit harder than others.  This isolating out particular words for attention, is what makes the talk more interesting.  We are guiding the listener along a path we have predetermined about how they should think about what we are saying.  It was painful.  Talks shouldn’t be painful should they.  We go to be informed or persuaded or motivated or entertained and possibly all four if the speaker is really good.  Check yourself by taping your delivery.  Are you using voice modulation, pauses and punching out key words for emphasis?  If you are not, then bring some pillows for the audience members, because that will wind up being your most valuable contribution to the proceedings. Action Steps <ol> <li>Add voice modulation to your delivery.If you are Japanese, then add in strength or take it out or add speed or slow it down, for variety in your delivery.</li> <li>Use pauses to help your audience process what you have said.</li> <li>Hit key words you want to emphasise for your listeners, to draw them into your way of thinking</li> </ol>

143: Man, Your Monotone Is Killing Me

If You Want Your Audience To Be Enthusiastic Act Enthusiastic Yourself   There is an old truism in sales, “sales is nothing more than the transfer of the enthusiasm of the seller for the product or service to the buyer”.  What are we doing when we are speaking?  We are selling!  “Hang on a minute there Greg.  I am a professional, I am not a car or vacuum cleaner salesman”, you might be saying to yourself.  That sort of self talk is dated and dangerous.  Make no mistake, we are all in sales, regardless of whether our business card has salesperson written on it or not.   When I speak with lawyers what are they complaining about?  How important and how hard it is for them to gain new clients.  They are out there selling themselves to clients to choose their firm rather than the rival company.  The same with accountants, doctors, dentists, architects, engineers, etc. All of the professions are facing the same hurdle.  How do they appeal to buyers and how do they differentiate themselves from everyone else, when they also have the same skill sets, experience and brainpower on offer.   So if we are up at the podium, out there on stage, standing up in the room to speak, we are selling. Firstly, we are selling our personal brand. Depending on how good a job we do, this will sell the company brand. We humans are a curious bunch really. If we hear a speaker and they are impressive, we carry that feeling across to the whole firm.  Likewise, if they are a dud, we conclude they are all duds down there.  So don’t miss it - personal and professional brands matter.   The next thing we are selling is our message, the conclusion we have reached, the insight we have gained. We have prepared our talk with some points we believe are true and important and we are there to share them with the audience.  One issue though is our level of commitment to the audience and the message.    I was at a talk once being given by a senior guy who was very well known around town, a long-timer in Tokyo, a published author and an accepted authority in his field.  The expectation of something really great was in the mind of everyone in the audience.  The speaker did give his talk, in the allotted time, on the designated subject.  However he left his enthusiasm in a parcel on the bus seat by mistake.  He spoke with no passion about his subject, no enthusiasm for his area of expertise and no interest in the punters who had made the effort to hear him.  It was really shocking and I have totally doubted his supposed expertise ever since.   Of course, we have to a strong base in the subject matter.  In fact we should be subject matter experts if we are going to get up in front of people and talk.  There is another person I know here who is trying to develop a business as a coach, has a stylish stylist and is trying to get speaking spots on an area of certain expertise.  The only problem is that he is not an expert at all on the subject he has chosen to speak about.  This can only end in tears, however beautifully outfitted and coiffured he may be, but still tears, because there just isn’t enough expert  content there to back up what he is saying.   Given we have the expertise to speak on the subject and given that we realise we are selling ourselves, our company and our message to the audience, then we need to add the magic ingredient of enthusiasm.  The way to be enthusiastic is to speak on a subject or an aspect of a subject, which lights your inner fire.  Inside your profession there are bound to aspects which you feel very strongly about, so talk about those and your enthusiasm will naturally emerge.   Relive things that happened in your experience that has become a foundation of your belief in what you are telling the audience.  Tell the story of what happened to you and how it impacted your views.  Talk about the lessons, the trials, tribulations, the highs and the lows.  Your feeling for these stages of the tale will shine through and the audience will be right there beside you. When you relive the whole journey, the good, the bad, the mediocre, the inner passion you have for what happened, will burn forth and captivate your audience.   In the retelling use all the resources at your disposal to bring that belief to the fore.  Use your eye contact to engage the audience, voice modulation to add crescendos and lulls where appropriate, gestures to cut through audience distraction and grab their attention.    By combining our belief in our message, with an enthusiastic delivery, we will carry the audience with us, along the journey of belief that we have trod already based on our real world, hard won experiences.  That combination is unbeatable.

If You Want Your Audience To Be Enthusiastic Act Enthusiastic Yourself There is an old truism in sales, “sales is nothing more than the transfer of the enthusiasm of the seller for the product or service to the buyer”.  What are we doing when we are speaking?  We are selling!  “Hang on a minute there Greg.  I am a professional, I am not a car or vacuum cleaner salesman”, you might be saying to yourself.  That sort of self talk is dated and dangerous.  Make no mistake, we are all in sales, regardless of whether our business card has salesperson written on it or not. When I speak with lawyers what are they complaining about?  How important and how hard it is for them to gain new clients.  They are out there selling themselves to clients to choose their firm rather than the rival company.  The same with accountants, doctors, dentists, architects, engineers, etc. All of the professions are facing the same hurdle.  How do they appeal to buyers and how do they differentiate themselves from everyone else, when they also have the same skill sets, experience and brainpower on offer. So if we are up at the podium, out there on stage, standing up in the room to speak, we are selling. Firstly, we are selling our personal brand. Depending on how good a job we do, this will sell the company brand. We humans are a curious bunch really. If we hear a speaker and they are impressive, we carry that feeling across to the whole firm.  Likewise, if they are a dud, we conclude they are all duds down there.  So don’t miss it - personal and professional brands matter. The next thing we are selling is our message, the conclusion we have reached, the insight we have gained. We have prepared our talk with some points we believe are true and important and we are there to share them with the audience.  One issue though is our level of commitment to the audience and the message.  I was at a talk once being given by a senior guy who was very well known around town, a long-timer in Tokyo, a published author and an accepted authority in his field.  The expectation of something really great was in the mind of everyone in the audience.  The speaker did give his talk, in the allotted time, on the designated subject.  However he left his enthusiasm in a parcel on the bus seat by mistake.  He spoke with no passion about his subject, no enthusiasm for his area of expertise and no interest in the punters who had made the effort to hear him.  It was really shocking and I have totally doubted his supposed expertise ever since. Of course, we have to a strong base in the subject matter.  In fact we should be subject matter experts if we are going to get up in front of people and talk.  There is another person I know here who is trying to develop a business as a coach, has a stylish stylist and is trying to get speaking spots on an area of certain expertise.  The only problem is that he is not an expert at all on the subject he has chosen to speak about.  This can only end in tears, however beautifully outfitted and coiffured he may be, but still tears, because there just isn’t enough expert  content there to back up what he is saying. Given we have the expertise to speak on the subject and given that we realise we are selling ourselves, our company and our message to the audience, then we need to add the magic ingredient of enthusiasm.  The way to be enthusiastic is to speak on a subject or an aspect of a subject, which lights your inner fire.  Inside your profession there are bound to aspects which you feel very strongly about, so talk about those and your enthusiasm will naturally emerge. Relive things that happened in your experience that has become a foundation of your belief in what you are telling the audience.  Tell the story of what happened to you and how it impacted your views.  Talk about the lessons, the trials, tribulations, the highs and the lows.  Your feeling for these stages of the tale will shine through and the audience will be right there beside you. When you relive the whole journey, the good, the bad, the mediocre, the inner passion you have for what happened, will burn forth and captivate your audience. In the retelling use all the resources at your disposal to bring that belief to the fore.  Use your eye contact to engage the audience, voice modulation to add crescendos and lulls where appropriate, gestures to cut through audience distraction and grab their attention.  By combining our belief in our message, with an enthusiastic delivery, we will carry the audience with us, along the journey of belief that we have trod already based on our real world, hard won experiences.  That combination is unbeatable.

111: If You Want Your Audience To Be Enthusiastic, Act Enthusiastic Yourself

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