Professionally Speaking...

Remembering the Presentation Brilliance of Steve Jobs

The world lost a visionary, Apple lost a leader and the public speaking world lost a role model with the death yesterday of Steve Jobs.

Jobs' ability to captivate an audience, the elegance of his "one big idea", his passion, his focus on the visual and his rehearsal ethic are all worthy of imitation.

Over the next days, weeks and perhaps months, the media will offer an abundance of clips and excerpts from Jobs' many presentations.

Listen. Watch. Learn.

Steve Jobs R.I.P.

"Good-night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." ^*

 

* Hamlet, Act V, Scene II

Photo Credit:
flickr/COG LOG LAB  C.C. 2.0

A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I know you are terribly busy at this time of year building and packing all the toys, motivating the elves, polishing the sleigh and grooming the reindeer. But I could really use your help.
 
Business presenters all over the globe need to make better presentations so that the power of their messages will be truly heard and their audiences will be engaged and take action. Here are the gifts I send to presenters everywhere this holiday season. And Santa, any assistance you could provide in getting these presents distributed would be greatly appreciated.
 
Gift #1: Commitment to The Audience: an unshakable belief that an audience deserves your absolute best and an unwavering focus on making each presentation a valuable experience for those listening to you.
 
Gift #2: Minimal Use of PowerPoint Bullets: the time and energy to develop more visually meaningful and helpful slides to support audience comprehension and retention plus the courage to NOT use PowerPoint when you, the presenter, can communicate the message more powerfully.
 
Gift #3: Management of Presentation Nerves and Anxiety: a willingness to invest the time in learning how to manage the fear of speaking in front of a group so your audiences can benefit from the full impact of your message.
 
Gift #4: Acceptance of the Value of Rehearsing: the resolve to commit the necessary time to practicing every presentation so that your audience gets your most competent performance.
 
Thanks, Santa, for helping presenters everywhere to be their best! And do be careful on those slippery roof tops.
 
 
Professionally Speaking... will be on hiatus for the next three weeks, resuming publication the week of January 10, 2011. 
 
May you all have a very happy holiday season, filled with peace and joy, compassion and generosity.

Photo Credit:
Flickr/docjohnboy's photostream  C.C. 2.0

Presentation Thanks

Throughout the year in this blog I focus on techniques and strategies we can implement to improve our presentations. As we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving this week in the U.S., I wanted to pause a moment to look beyond the "how" and reflect on the "what" -- specifically, on the many things in the world of presenting that I am thankful for:

• I'm thankful for having the freedom to speak and share my ideas.

• I'm thankful for the opportunity to make a difference in people's lives by helping them find the confidence and skills to speak more effectively in public.

• I'm thankful for all the really bad PowerPoint presentations made every day in business meetings around the globe because it means I'll never run out of work.

• I'm thankful for the insightful thought leaders in our industry who continually push the envelope and guide us to better ways of communicating and displaying our messages.

• I'm thankful for my audiences and workshop participants who give me their time because they care about communicating powerfully and engagingly and being the best presenters they can be.

• I'm thankful for my many colleagues in the presentation training industry who offer me new perspectives, insightful comments and their friendship, even from thousands of miles away.

And most especially, I'm thankful for you, dear readers, who subscribe to and read this blog. Happy Thanksgiving!

What are some of the things you are thankful for in the world of presentations?

Photo Credit:
Flickr/riptheskull's photostream  C.C. 2.0

When Ego Gets in the Way of a Good Presentation

I attended an event recently where the presenter was the co-author of a well-known book on a hot business topic. He is also a senior executive in a prestigious firm whose name you would recognize. My expectations were high -- given his obvious expertise, I was counting on some valuable insights as well as an engaging presentation style.

But then his ego got in the way.

At first I thought his name dropping and rambling stories, where he was generally the hero, were perhaps just lack of preparation [although I'd bet he's given this presentation or some version of it hundreds of times]. But then he committed ego's cardinal sin.

He 'shushed' an audience member who tried to ask a question. In spite of his proclaimed willingness to take questions, he looked at this woman with her hand raised and said, "No...I'm sure I'll cover whatever it is you want to ask."

Absent a crystal ball, how would he know what the woman was going to ask? And even if he was correct in his assumption about her question, what an arrogant way of shutting down her [and perhaps others'] engagement with him and the material.

WHAT CAUSES EGO TO GET IN THE WAY?

Some degree of ego is healthy in a presenter. It helps you believe in yourself, manage anxiety and strive to make a valuable contribution to the audience. But when a presenter's ego runs amok, he's forgotten the golden rule: It's All About The Audience.

Fame and fortune can certainly lead to an over-developed ego where it's easy to believe that, since you know so much more about your topic than the audience, they should just hang on your words, not interrupting, not challenging, not probing. Yet, I'm sure we can all come up with examples of famous speakers who don't let ego rule their presentations -- people like Jimmy Carter and Steve Jobs come to mind.

The subject of ego has even made it into the TED commandments: "#6 Thou shalt not flaunt thine ego. Be thou vulnerable."

So the moral to my rant is...no matter how famous, how expert, how intelligent you are, it's not about you, it's about engaging with your audience to provide something useful, thought-provoking and relevant. In the end, they, not you, will be the ultimate judge of whether or not you've been successful.

What examples have you seen of ego getting in the way of a good presentation?

Causes and Cures for Lack of Audience Focus

Consult any expert resource on public speaking or presentations and the prescription for success will be focus on the audience.

It's one of the fundamental principles of effective presentations.

Yet think about presentations you've attended recently. Did the speaker know and understand your issues? Did she make her material relevant and applicable to your circumstances? Did he welcome the interruptions of your questions? When a meaningful dialogue developed among audience members, did she allow it to continue or did she press on with her prepared remarks?

Were these speakers sincerely concerned about the value you received or did they just give lip service to audience focus...or worse yet, act as if the audience wasn't even there?

If the prescription for presentation success is so universally held, what would cause a speaker to not focus on the audience? [pardon my split infinitive]

PERCEIVED LACK OF TIME

Most people agree intellectually with the value of audience focus. However, when it comes to actually preparing and delivering the presentation, lack of time often becomes the excuse to relegate audience focus to a "nice-to-have." There suddenly isn't enough time to do audience research and get the PowerPoint slides done. There suddenly isn't enough time to get through the prepared words and slides and engage the audience in dialogue. There suddenly isn't enough time to get to the end of the PowerPoint deck and take questions. The perceived pressure of time limitations overrides the belief that audience focus should trump everything else.

EGO

A speaker who believes that his message is so brilliant, so meaningful, so true is likely to minimize the role of the audience in the dance that is a presentation. He assumes that, because of his vast subject matter knowledge, he understands what the audience needs to hear. Arrogance and poor listening skills worsen the situation and shield the presenter from even recognizing any feedback to the contrary.

INSECURITY

On the opposite side of the ego coin, insecurity makes a presenter turn inward and focus only on herself. She is so worried about how she looks and how she'll be perceived and whether she'll survive, she has no bandwidth left for focusing on the audience. Insecurity also makes a speaker wary of giving the audience too much freedom or control, thus minimizing the chances of robust interaction.

So what are the cures for these lack of audience focus ills? Is there a magic presentation pill that can produce more time, whisk away arrogance and bestow confidence and calm?

Alas, no.

Although there are certainly numerous techniques and best practices to heighten audience focus and engagement, fundamentally the cure to the three causes cited above is a shift of mindset. If you come from a place that truly believes understanding and satisfying the needs of the audience is the most important element in any presentation, this belief will direct your behavior and the rest is relatively easy.

Photo Credit:
www.flickr.com C.C. 2.0
photobunny's Photostream

5 Ways to Get the Most Out of a Presentation Skills Course

Dear Presentation Skills Course Participant:

Now that you are scheduled to attend a training course to improve your public speaking skills, I know that you are looking forward to being transformed into a brilliant presenter upon completion. And while I, too, would like to see that happen, alas, my magic transforming wand can only accomplish so much.

Given that slight limitation, I offer you these suggestions for participating fully in the transformation process:

1. Come to the course with a specific objective. You have undoubtedly already had a small amount -- possibly a great deal -- of experience speaking in public. Reflect on what has gone well and what you wish could go more smoothly. From that analysis, pick 1 or 2 specific things you want to focus on in the course. Examples might be: manage presentation nerves; determine a process for organizing my content; create an interesting opening for my presentation; handle questions more effectively.

Although you will be tempted to focus on everything, picking just a couple things at a time will allow you to more effectively internalize the new skills.

2. During the course, question anything that doesn't make sense to you or that you couldn't see yourself doing. Ask for alternative methods. The instructor should certainly be able to help you modify various techniques to be more aligned with your personal style or circumstances.

For example, if the instructor recommends that you use small note cards to help you remember the main points of your presentation but you feel uncomfortable with that because everyone else in your organization uses PowerPoint notes, the instructor can show you how to either use the note cards unobtrusively or help you use the notes section of PowerPoint without compromising your eye contact with the audience.

3. Participate robustly in the videotaped practice. The feedback you receive from seeing yourself on video and the critique from the instructor and other participants will be the most valuable aspect of the course. You may feel shy, nervous, terrified or all of the above about being videotaped but find a way through those feelings so you can be present for this powerful piece of the learning. If necessary, speak to the instructor about your concerns and she can likely give you some perspectives that will help you manage your fears.

4. Take copious notes. Don't trust your memory to retain all the great ideas and techniques you're being exposed to. When you get ready to deliver a presentation, the elapsed time since the training and nervous anxiety will block out things that were crystal clear during the course. Take notes not only of the concepts being presented but also of thoughts that occur to you about specific applications or a particular [upcoming] presentation that would benefit from one of these new approaches.

5. Be generous in your feedback to others. By generous, I don't necessarily mean nice, although you certainly do want to look for the positives in others' presentations and comment on them. But equally important is the constructive feedback -- pointing out to others where they could have done something more effectively and what impact that would have had on you, their audience.

In many instances, if course participants are all from the same organization, you will have a better idea of company culture and context than the instructor and so your feedback will add valuable nuances. And best of all, if you're generous with your feedback, others will return the favor.

So, dear participant, embrace these five suggestions and you will speed up your transformation to brilliant presenter...and save me some wear and tear on my magic wand.

Photo Credit:
www.flickr.com C.C. 2.0
sheeshoo

Are Presentation Skills Like Riding a Bicycle?

From time to time, I get the following question from prospective clients and participants in workshops:

"What should I do, if I have been away from presenting for a while, to refresh my skills?"

Perhaps you've had some presentations skills training in the past. Perhaps you even previously presented with some frequency. But you haven't presented in some time -- because of a job change or having been out of the workforce. Now you want to get back to feeling comfortable speaking in public.

Should you start all over with basic presentation skills courses? Should you just jump back into presenting, assuming it's like riding a bicycle and all your former skills will come back to you?

I think the best advice is a combination of both.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO REFRESH SKILLS

1. First, assess your current presentation skills. This may require the help of a professional coach or trainer who, by videotaping you delivering a presentation, can help determine the key areas you need to address.

2. Depending on what your assessment uncovers, there are a variety of presentation skills workshops and books you can use to refresh your skills. Do some homework so you choose ones that focus mostly on your deficit areas rather than on a broad spectrum of beginner skills, many of which you may still be reasonably competent in.

3. If presentation nerves are bothering you, here are a couple of good books to give you some perspective on that anxiety and tools to deal with it: It's Your Time to Shine: How to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking, Develop Authentic Presence and Speak from Your Heart by Sandra Zimmer and The Confident Speaker: Beat Your Nerves and Communicate at Your Best in Any Situation by Harrison Monarth and Larina Kase.

4. Update your knowledge of how to use slideware (PowerPoint or Keynote) to support your presentation. This is one area where there has been significant change in best practices. Search out blogs like PowerPoint Blog, PowerPointology and PowerPoint Ninja and books like Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds and slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte.

5. Other resources that can educate and inspire you are the TED presentations, where speakers are challenged to give the presentation of their life in 18 minutes and PechaKucha presentations where speakers streamline their talk to 20 slides, each forwarded automatically after 20 seconds. Listen to brilliant orators like Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Don't ever underestimate the value of watching and listening to skilled speakers as a way of incorporating techniques into your own style.

6. Speak frequently. Look for opportunities to present to groups whether it's staff meetings, customer briefings or sitting on a panel. The more you get back up on that presentation bicycle, the smoother and more comfortable you become.

7. At the end of the day, whether you embrace all or some of the above recommendations, it comes down to practice...and more practice. If you're just rusty...practice. If you are acquiring new skills...practice. If you're refining and updating previously used techniques...practice.

Practice is truly the one thing that will make a significant impact on your confidence and ability to deliver presentations and speak in public.

So presentation skills are indeed a lot like riding a bicycle...you'll always have them. You may just need to take a few spins around the block to once again feel comfortable.

This post is part of a blog carnival at The Eloquent Woman blog -- surf on over and check out some other perspectives on how to revitalize rusty speaking skills.

Photo Credit:
www.flicker.com CC 2.0 
Kyle Gradinger/BCGP

Presentation Lessons from the Tonys

Award shows are filled with presentation lessons thanks to the quantity of presenters and variety of styles. The 2010 Tony Awards were no exception. They provided equal measure of emotional exuberance, stilted thank-yous and 'what was he thinking' ramblings.

THE PRESENTERS

The award presenters had limited ability to be creative or engaging as their job was to read the words on the teleprompter accurately and in as little time as possible. However, even within those parameters, certain presenters excelled.

Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane clearly had chemistry [granted, they're working together in The Addams Family] and humorously sparred back and forth to the delight of the audience, while still accomplishing the task at hand [reading the award nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical]. Contrast that interaction with Daniel Radcliffe and Katie Holmes who were robotic, appeared nervous and looked like they were both in need of a magic wand to whisk them somewhere far away.

Lessons for the Business Presenter

When introducing someone or presenting an award:

• let your personality shine through
• make eye contact with the audience
• even if you're reading from a script or teleprompter, put expression in your voice -- sound like they're your words, not someone else's
• smile
• if there are two of you doing the introduction or presentation, acknowledge and interact with the other person

THE RECIPIENTS

The award recipients had much more ability to be creative and engaging in their acceptance remarks. Fortunately, they were not scripted; unfortunately, some of them were not prepared. The acceptance speeches that stood out were the ones that told a story and showed some emotion...not the ones that were a boring recitation of a long list of names being thanked.

Winning the Tony for his role in Fences, Denzel Washington, a brilliant actor, was the poster child for how to come across as unprepared, inarticulate and just plain unimpressive. Maybe not so surprisingly, I couldn't find a YouTube video of his acceptance non-speech to show you. He claimed he hadn't expected to win [hello, everyone who is nominated has the possibility of winning] and stumbled through some disjointed remarks and poor attempts at humor.

As a dramatic contrast, Katie Finneran, winning for her role in Promises, Promises, was poised yet filled with emotion, personal, poignant and funny. She was even inspirational as she encouraged young people to follow their passion, assuring them that if they did, the right people and opportunities would appear. [Her remarks start at about 1:00 of the video] 

Closing off the evening, Catherine Zeta-Jones, winner of the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical [A Little Night Music], gave a brilliant acceptance speech -- funny, quirky, gracious and infused with an authentic exuberance. She was equal parts humble, outrageous and charming. Certainly bending the rules of "traditional", Zeta-Jones' remarks were refreshingly entertaining and engaging for the audience, both in Radio City Music Hall and at home.

Lessons for the Business Presenter

When accepting an award or some sort of recognition:

• let your personality shine through
• smile
• make eye contact
• dare to do something different
• as you prepare your remarks, think about the audience and what they would enjoy hearing -- more likely a story or anecdote about your path to your achievement than a list of thank yous
• don't come unprepared, assuming you'll think of something brilliant to say in the moment

Most of us probably won't be asked to give or accept a Tony award anytime soon...but no matter what award stage we stand on, these lessons from the Tonys will prepare us well.

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com Eda Cherry CC 2.0

Public Speaking Irish Style

As public speakers, we all have our own "voice " -- a style, a persona that is uniquely our own. Conscious focus on developing that voice serves to enhance our credibility and help us establish rapport with our audiences.

One of the roles we frequently fulfill, as public speakers, is using our unique voice to become a voice for others. The "others" may be constituents, employees or those with less power and marginalized rights.

As a tip of the hat to St. Patrick's Day, my own Irish heritage and Women's History Month, I'd like to salute Mary Robinson, Ireland's first woman president, and a great example of using one's voice to speak for those who can't.

Throughout her career, Robinson has advocated for human rights and equality, early on campaigning for Irish women's right to sit on juries, to remain in civil service jobs after marriage and to have legal access to contraception. Following her presidency, she became a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and continued to be a powerful voice championing gender equality both in the home and in the workplace, the right of basic education and a stop to violence against women and practices such as FGM. She was the first head of state to visit Rwanda, bringing world attention to the suffering after the civil war, and in 2009, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Watching only a short portion of either of these videos gives you a good sense of Mary Robinson's voice -- gracious, articulate, authentic, conversational and passionate.

How compelling is your voice when you're called upon to speak for others?

Photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kf-in-georgia/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Presentation Resolutions: Embrace Technology

Although we only have three hundred and forty-four days left in 2010, I, for one, don't think it's too late to create some New Year's resolutions for the year. And for those of us who want to take our presentations to a new level, let's start out the new decade* by embracing some resolutions involving technology.

[* to be absolutely correct, 2010 is actually the final year of the last decade, but it sounds like a start rather than an end to me!]

[calendar from redstamp.com used under a Creative Commons License]

Here are a few ideas that can improve your presentations if they make their way onto your list of resolutions.

UPDATE YOUR POWERPOINT SLIDES

If you have some presentations that you deliver over and over, it's time to look at your slides with a fresh eye. Make a critical assessment of each slide and ask yourself..."Does this slide further my audience's understanding of my message?" Be honest. I'm betting you'll have to answer "no" for a number of slides, particularly if they're filled with bullet points.

So you now have the opportunity to either eliminate a slide or improve it. Think about what visual representation could enhance the audience's involvement with your content. Be creative. Think of images outside your subject matter field that could produce a good analogy or metaphor. Read Presentation Zen and Slide:ology for design principles and suggestions.

Check out SlideRocket which is presentation software that includes a full set of authoring tools, collaboration features that allow you to work on a presentation with colleagues, access to your presentations from anywhere and capability to measure presentation effectiveness. There are a variety of very reasonable price points, starting at free.

BUY OR BORROW A VIDEO CAMERA

There is no better way to evaluate how you come across to an audience than seeing yourself on video. Together with live audience feedback, this allows you to determine what aspects of your delivery work well and which ones may need to be updated or changed.

It's easy to tell yourself you don't have time for this or you feel awkward watching yourself on video. Get over it. If you're truly committed to improving your presentation effectiveness, the video camera will become one of your favorite tools.

LOOK FOR RESOURCES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

You don't have to know everything about presentations nor do you have to re-invent the wheel. There are a ton of resources available, just for the asking. Use Twitter and LinkedIn to request help, suggestions or resources. There are highly competent, even famous, presentation gurus in the social media world and they are extremely generous with their knowledge.

Pay it forward by sharing on social media what you're doing in your presentations -- techniques you've tried, good sources for stock images, how you've increased audience involvement.

EXPERIMENT USING TWITTER IN A PRESENTATION

A great deal has been written on the "backchannel", the practice of audience members maintaining an online, real-time conversation during a live presentation. There are some very vocal opponents but increasingly, presenters are realizing that a very engaged, involved audience is the potential reward. 

Tap into some resources to understand how the backchannel works and how to manage it. Cliff Atkinson's new book, The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever is a great place to start. And then give it a try if you have even a partially tech savvy audience.

What other geeky resolutions have you, or would you like to, put on your list to improve your presentations in 2010?

This post is part of the Blog Carnival: Public Speaking and the New Year. Check out other bloggers' perspectives on what will improve your presentations in 2010.