Professionally Speaking...

C-Level Presentation Tip #5: Analyze Your Audience

Executive level presentations can entail all the challenges of scaling Mount Everest: the footing is slippery, balance is critical and the drop is a long way down.

This series of tips will help you make a few tweaks to your presentation practices so you can perform successfully at the altitude of the C-Suite.

TIP #5: ANALYZE YOUR AUDIENCE

This is a fundamental best practice for all presentations, but nowhere is it more critical than with a C-Level audience.

Do your homework before the presentation to discover how the executives in your audience like to receive information. Does the CFO, for example, need time to analyze the financial implications of what you’ve presented before being asked to make a decision? Does the CEO prefer to see an agenda before the presentation? Does the CIO want charts and graphs rather than bullet points?

Uncover this information by analyzing previous presentations you’ve made to this audience or asking colleagues who have presented to them. Understanding C-Level needs helps you structure your presentation to address them. It also minimizes the likelihood of losing your footing and other unpleasant surprises.

 

C-Level Presentation Tip #4: Beware of Too Much Detail
C-Level Presentation Tip #3: Expect and Be Happy About Interruptions
C-Level Presentation Tip #2: Link to Business Issues
C-Level Presentation Tip #1: Start with Conclusions

 

Photo Credit:
flickr/Deetrak  C.C. 2.0

 

C-Level Presentation Tip #4: Beware of Too Much Detail

Executive level presentations can seem like swimming in shark-infested seas, even for the intrepid business presenter. The risk of drowning is high.

This series of tips will help you make a few tweaks to your presentation practices so you can successfully navigate through any C-Suite waters.

TIP #4: BEWARE OF TOO MUCH DETAIL

Drowning in detail is a surefire way of getting into trouble in an executive presentation.

Senior level executives think more strategically than operationally. When considering a topic, they want to understand quickly what the impact is on the big picture or the bottom line without wading through the weeds of specific details.

Structure your presentation around high level concepts. Not only does this address the needs of your audience, but it also shows that you are capable of thinking strategically. Be sure, however, to have lots of facts and supporting data ready so you can supplement with examples, figures and analysis when your audience wants them.

Pay close attention to your audience's body language and questions that may suggest they want more or less detail. Being flexible and responding quickly to their needs is the best way to keep your head above water.

 

C-Level Presentation Tip #3: Expect and Be Happy About Interruptions
C-Level Presentation Tip #2: Link to Business Issues
C-Level Presentation Tip #1: Start with Conclusions

 

Photo Credit:
flickr/sponng  C.C. 2.0

 

C-Level Presentation Tip #3: Expect and Be Happy About Interruptions

Question: What's the relationship between sky diving and making executive presentations?

Answer: Apart from the metaphorical comparisons of being at high altitudes, both activities routinely strike fear into the hearts of the people daring to attempt them.

Soaring through your presentations in the C-Suite is certainly possible, but not without focus on some key strategies. This series of tips will help you avoid any nose dives.

TIP #3: EXPECT AND BE HAPPY ABOUT INTERRUPTIONS

When you get interrupted during your presetation it means either you’ve sparked an idea that the audience wants to talk about OR you’ve confused them and they are seeking clarification. Strive for the former.

Be attentive to your audience so you can determine what is important to them to pursue. It is far better to allow the audience to interrupt you and dialogue around something in your presentation that interests them than to stick rigidly to your script. If you have sparked a lively discussion it means that your audience is engaged.

The key to comfortably managing interruptions is to know your material backward and forward so you can determine when a spontaneous discussion is productive, when it isn’t and how to get back on track.

You can corral a chatty audience by saying things like, “This has been a great discussion. I want to now cover the final two benefits of this proposal so that you will have all the information you need to make a decision.” Or, “We’ve generated some great ideas here. I’d like to use that last point as a springboard to tell you about the next phase of the implementation.”

Use transitional statements such as these to bridge between what’s been discussed and the next point in your presentation.

C-Level Presentation Tip #2: Link to Business Issues
C Level Presentation Tip #1: Start with Conclusions

 

Photo Credit:
Flickr/Sky Diving with Clara  C.C. 2.0

 

 

C-Level Presentation Tip #2: Link to Business Issues

Executive level presentations can seem like swimming in shark-infested seas, even for the intrepid business presenter. Stakes and visibility are both high.

This series of tips will help you make a few tweaks to your presentation practices so you can successfully navigate any C-Suite waters.

TIP #2: LINK TO BUSINESS ISSUES

Do some homework before the presentation and explore the over-arching business issues and challenges facing the executives you'll be speaking to. Every audience, no matter how senior, asks themselves the WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”) questions.

• Why should I listen?
• What benefit will I get from this presentation versus all the other things I need to do?
• How will this information help me achieve my business goals?

Clearly show how your message is relevant to key issues the audience is focused on -- for example, corporate strategy, profitability, employee engagement, revenue or ROI. Don’t leave it up to them to figure out. Demonstrate the links through specific statements, examples and metaphors.

C-Level Presentation Tip #1: Start with Conclusions

 

Photo Credit:
Flickr/Blacktip Shark, Moorea, French Polynesia  C.C. 2.0

 

C-Level Presentation Tip #1: Start with Conclusions

Executive level presentations can strike fear into the hearts of even the most courageous business presenters. Both stakes and visibility are high.

This series of tips will help you make a few tweaks to your presentation practices so you can navigate successfully in the C-Suite.

TIP #1: START WITH CONCLUSIONS

C-Level audiences are results focused. So play to this by starting your presentation with the conclusion. Don't keep them in suspense or you'll lose them. Tell them up front what the problem is, what you recommend or what you're asking for. And then support that conclusion with the necessary details and facts.

For example, "Approximately 50 percent of our prospective customers abandon their order on our website because the process is too cumbersome. The system enhancements I am recommending can cut that abandon rate in half which will increase our revenues by $500,000 annually. The additional benefits will be happier customers and more accurate metrics. Let me show you how we can achieve this."

You've told your audience the bottom line, clarified their expectations, and outlined briefly the benefits they can expect. Now you can proceed to back up your recommendations with more detail, linking back to the conclusion as you go through the presentation.

Photo Credit:
Flickr/Shark Fin  C.C. 2.0

How to Introduce a Speaker

If you're fortunate enough to be asked to introduce a speaker, relish the power this gives you to set the stage for the entire presentation.

The normal routine is for the introducer to read fact after boring fact from a speaker's bio, with little eye contact or inflection, perhaps even stumble over the speaker's name, and then withdraw with relief.

Not only does this type of introduction not benefit the speaker, it doesn't create any enthusiasm or anticipation in the audience.

Here, then, are five steps to turn your introduction from boring to breathtaking:

• Prepare What You're Going To Say :: Don't wait until minutes before the introduction to scribble a few notes or read for the first time something the presenter has prepared. If the speaker has written an introduction for herself, get it in advance so you can read through it several times to familiarize yourself. If it's too long or too boring, let the speaker know that you will be modifying it slightly.

• Be Brief :: Your job is to build interest and anticipation and leave the audience eager for the presentation to begin so keep your introduction to under a minute. We generally have an inaccurate sense of how long something takes, so time your remarks to be sure you're in that 30 second to one minute range.

• Make It Relevant :: Whether you're editing what the speaker gave you or creating your own introduction, include information that is relevant to the audience. Answer the questions "Why this speaker?" "Why this topic?" instead of reeling off degrees, job titles and awards. Unless the presentation is about marriage and families, the audience probably doesn't care that the speaker is married to the former Sally Jones and has two delightful children. Highlight aspects of the speaker's background and accomplishments that will pique the interest of the audience. The very act of saying out-of-the-ordinary things in the introduction will cause the audience to listen attentively.

• Pronounce the Speaker's Name Correctly :: Determine the correct pronunciation of the speaker's name and then practice it several times so it feels comfortable. Write it out phonetically [RYE FEN STINE] at the top of your notes so it will be visible as you're speaking.

• Be Confident :: Your introduction will most certainly affect the mood in the room so walk confidently to the front and speak loudly enough that everyone can hear. Ensure you have everyone's attention before you begin speaking. Make plenty of eye contact with the audience while you are reading the introduction, which won't be a problem if you've familiarized yourself enough with it. And don't forget to smile, showing the audience that you're happy to be there and looking forward to the presentation.

What other techniques have you used or seen used when introducing a speaker?

Photo Credit:
flickr/EIFF's photostream  C.C. 2.0

 

 

 

 

In Presentations, Less is More

In this age of information overload, any time you can streamline the message you present, your audience will be thrilled.

Now I'm not suggesting that you strip it down to the point that you leave out meaningful or relevant information. But most presentations include way too much detail. Most presenters, in preparing their presentation, neglect to ask the question, "What does my audience need to know?"

Although it sounds counter-intuitive, it's less work for a presenter to just include everything he knows about a topic rather than assessing what the audience may already know and then what would be most valuable for them.  It's also frequently difficult for us to edit our own material.

The benefits of presenting less, rather than more, are several:

• a smaller quantity of data is easier to organize and easier to present in a clear, logical flow

• less information leaves more time for questions and dialogue, providing a richer experience for the audience

• if the audience isn't suffering from information overload, they'll be better able to focus on the salient points you're making, rather than becoming bored, confused or scrambling madly to take notes

• depending on the circumstances of the presentation, it may not be a bad idea to simply whet the audience's appetite for your topic and leave them wanting more information [e.g., when you're previewing the products and services you offer or introducing a new concept]

For another perspective, take a look at this video where Guy Kawasaki, in his charmingly blunt style, gives us the 10-20-30 rule for simplifying presentations:

Photo Credit:
Flickr/Andreas H. Lunde CC 2.0

Speaking with a Teleprompter

Teleprompters are a relatively recent addition to the field of oratory. The producer of the I Love Lucy TV show claimed credit in the 1950s for the idea and was awarded a U.S. patent for its invention [see below for update]. Since that time, scores of political figures and business people have used teleprompters to deliver speeches. The tool's convenience is unquestioned; its effectiveness, however, is very dependent on the user's skill.

In the best of all possible scenarios, the speaker reading from the teleprompter panels appears to be looking directly into the camera or directly at the audience and speaking spontaneously. In too many scenarios, though, the best doesn't happen and the speaker never connects with the audience.

Here are some tips which will make you less stilted when using a teleprompter.

1. Read the script through several times without the teleprompter. This enables you to get familiar with the phrasing and cadence, particularly if someone else has written the speech. It also makes it less likely that you'll be thrown off if the teleprompter has a word misspelled or if a line end on the screen creates an unnatural break in a sentence.

2. Speak naturally which is challenging because most people aren't used to reading text out loud. When we read silently to ourselves, our brain intuitively adds the inflections, the pauses and the conversational quality. But when we read out loud, those things don't happen automatically. Be especially conscious to avoid a sing-song quality which makes you sound disengaged. Strive to infuse emotion into your voice and connect with the audience.

3. Know your teleprompter operator and rehearse several times with him/her. Set your own pace; a skilled operator should be able to follow you and adjust the scrolling words to suit your pace, but don't leave this to chance by not rehearsing. 

4. Have a few people in the audience while you are rehearsing so they can assess the effectiveness of your eye contact. Your goal, of course, is to look like you're not reading. You also want to avoid the robotic movement of your head from side to side as you shift back and forth between two teleprompter screens, something President Obama has been accused of more than once.

5. Take a hard copy of your speech with you. Teleprompters have been known to malfunction and although Bill Clinton reportedly continued seamlessly for over 15 minutes when his teleprompter failed, you may not be so skilled.

Just like with other types of speech delivery, practice with the teleprompter will indeed make perfect.

Other interesting posts on using teleprompters:

• Max Atkinson's lessons on how Ronald Reagan coped with a malfunctioning teleprompter.

• Bert Decker on Obama, Teleprompters and Authenticity.

• And for a read that will have you giggling out loud, Barack Obama's Teleprompter's Blog [because there is no POTUS without TOTUS], claiming to offer "reflections from the hard drive of the machine that enables the voice of the Leader of the Free World."

Update:

A kind reader, Laurie Brown, wrote to say that she had the privilege of interviewing one of the men who invented the teleprompter, Hub Schlafly, and she did not believe he had any connection to Lucille Ball. It does appear that he, with 2 colleagues, founded the TelePrompTer Corporation but I have not been able to find confirmation that he actually invented the device. See here for another source that attributes the teleprompter invention to Jess Oppenheimer, producer of I Love Lucy, and here for a copy of his patent. Anybody have any insight on who really invented the teleprompter?

Never Read a Speech...Badly

I'm the first one to advise against reading a speech. It usually is tricky to maintain decent eye contact, a struggle to sound authentic, challenging to create any kind of connection with the audience...and just plain boring to listen to.

Yet you may be faced with some of these situations:

Perhaps your comments have been through legal or regulatory approval and need to be delivered precisely as written. Perhaps there are slander concerns. Perhaps you are delivering highly technical content that needs to be exact. Perhaps you give a great many speeches [think president or foreign diplomat] and you simply don't have the time to internalize your message enough to speak from notes.

So, even I am forced to admit that there are a few specific occasions where reading a speech may be necessary. However, reading a speech badly is never necessary.

Walking up to a podium and starting to read prepared text, whether written by you or someone else, without sufficient preparation is a recipe for disaster. Then all the concerns I listed in the first paragraph will certainly become reality.

Take a look at the first few minutes of this video of J.K. Rowling [of Harry Potter fame] delivering the 2008 commencement address at Harvard for an excellent example of how to read a speech well. Notice, above all, how much eye contact she has with the audience.

Embrace the following tips to make your speech reading so skilled that it's almost transparent to your audience.

1. Your content should be structured so that it is super relevant to the audience since you won't likely be comfortable ad-libbing explanations or examples during the presentation. Make sure the points supporting your main message flow logically.

2. Use large type and lots of white space. Number your pages. Have your text on only the top half of the sheets of paper as this will avoid the necessity of bending your chin to your chest as you read the bottom of the page. If you can prop your pages of text up so that your face is more level with the audience, so much the better.

3. Do not speak when you are looking down at your speech on the podium. Speak to the audience only when your eyes are off the text.

4. Mark up/a sentence/to show phrasing/and underline/to show emphasis/or inflection.

5. Since you're pretty much glued to the podium because that's where your text is, you can't move around. So be very conscious of your animation. Use large gestures and infuse your voice with energy.

6. Work on having a very conversational tone. The written word is frequently not conversational, so massage those words, particularly if someone else wrote them, until they sound like something you would say if you were sitting across a table from your listeners.

7. I've saved the most important for last...read the speech out loud a number of times [at least 4-5] to get the phrasing and pacing right. This also helps you implant the phrases and cadence in your brain so that, during the presentation, you can grab a phrase from the prepared text, make eye contact with the audience, and then deliver the phrase.

For more excellent tips on how to sound natural when you read a speech, please check out Heather Stubbs' blog post at Tips on Talking.

What experiences have you had, as either presenter or audience member, with reading a speech?

Presentation Skills for Executives

Good presentation skills are good presentation skills, no matter what position or title you hold...right? Well, yes...and no.

While it's certainly true that there are many foundational best practices for effective presentations that are applicable for everyone, once you reach an executive level in your organization, there are a few necessary tweaks to adopt.

EXECUTIVE TWEAKS

1. As an executive, you need to be even more aware of how you come across and how people perceive you because you have more visibility and power both within and outside your organization. What you say and how you say it gets quoted, taken literally, interpreted and acted upon.

Assess how you show up by videotaping your presentations and analyzing tone of voice, demeanor, eye contact, body language and authenticity. Hire a communications consultant to help with this for a professional, objective viewpoint.

2. Although you may have detailed knowledge of how things work in your particular field, the executive presenter should focus more on the what versus the how. According to Scott Eblin, executive coach, speaker and author of The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success, "A common mistake new executives make is to focus too much on how they came to their conclusions. To do this is to risk getting labeled as someone who, when asked for the time, explains how to build a watch."

Your audience is looking to you to provide leadership, synthesize concepts and not get mired in the weeds of detail. Eblin says, "Focus much more on your recommendations and their implications than on the mechanics of how you arrived at them."

3. Making a vision and big picture goals meaningful to employees is a key objective of many executive presentations. Storytelling is an excellent tool for accomplishing this. Stories provide context, engage an audience, make the message memorable and give the executive a more conversational, down-to-earth tone. Here is a great example of executive effectiveness, using story, from communications consultant, Angela DeFinis.

Telling a story well is not an intuitive skill for most people. Craft your story(ies) well in advance of your presentation so you can practice your delivery, tone, pauses, inflection and facial expressions. Rehearse on videotape in front of colleagues/advisors who can give you critical, honest feedback.

4. Many executives give a substantial enough number of speeches and presentations that it may not be feasible to rehearse and internalize each of them to the point where they can be delivered with only minimum notes. Reading a speech, written by others, may be a necessity on some occasions. If so, learn how to do it properly.

Read through the script enough times to become familiar with the pacing and language. Practice grabbing a phrase or sentence in your head and then look up to deliver it to the audience. Keep eye contact front and center on your to-do list. Sound like you mean what you're saying. If some practice runs through the script don't result in a smooth delivery, find a coach to help you sound polished and authentic, even though you are reading your presentation.

And for pete's sake, if you are using a TelePrompter, PLEASE get some professional training/coaching on how to do it effectively.

While the above tweaks are certainly aspirational skills for every presenter, for an executive presenter, they are simply non-negotiable.

What other executive tweaks have you used/seen used to create a better experience for the audience?