Recently, I attended one of the famous Highland March Professional Development Series featuring master networker Jason Kallio, President of ExpoVantage.  Did he have great content?  Yes. Was he prepared and organized? Yes. But that’s only part of the reason he won the crowd.  He was funny, entertaining, and engaging.  He made us laugh and he talked with us, not at us.  He was in the moment and built on the comments that people shared.

As a public speaking expert, anytime I’m in the audience, I spend up to half the time looking at the audience to see how effective the presenter is.  The answer lies in their focus.  If their eyes are glued to the presenter, that’s great; otherwise there is a problem.  All eyes were glued to Jason throughout the entire presentation.  I have seen other prepared, organized, and structured presenters in that same room lose the audience.  Why the difference?  Content is a commodity; delivery is everything.

Jason is also a professional magician; so he adheres to the philosophy that every presentation is a performance. He realizes that excellent content that is well prepared is NOT enough to earn the audience’s attention.  Great content must be delivered in a performance.  Here are some of the reasons people loved him:

1) He opened with a magic trick that conveyed a major point about networking.

2) He invited participation and wove that participation into his presentation.

3) He was very much in the “here and now”.  He used appropriate humor to respond to audience remarks, and got to know the members of his audience as he went along.

4) He spoke to each member individually, focusing his eye contact on one person at a time instead of doing the common superficial scanning.

5) He was excited because he knew he had prepared for a performance, rather than a presentation.

After watching and analyzing thousands of presentations, here is something I’ve learned: presenters who think their only responsibility is to disseminate information are usually painfully boring – irrespective of their content. Presenters who understand that their presentation is a performance usually win the crowd.

Make your presentation a performance by avoiding these 19 deadly delivery mistakes.

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My college roommate, Sean Cusick, was an English major, and he enlightened me about the rule of three. Your writing will have more impact when you use three nouns, adjectives or adverbs together. For example, it is more compelling to say, “this course will give you the skills, confidence and motivation to catapult your speaking career,” rather than saying “this course will give you the skills and confidence to catapult your speaking career.”

Little did I know, however, that I was only scratching the surface with respect to this amazing rule of three in public speaking. Here is a fascinating, in-depth look at the RULE OF THREE by Andrew Dlugan and how to apply it. Enjoy!

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This is the second time I’ve witnessed a speaker ditch the notes and speak from the heart. Once again, it was a huge success.

In a previous public speaking blog entry, I recounted how a presenter’s computer quit, and she was forced to complete the rest of her presentation without her Powerpoint notes.  It proved to be the best thing that happened to her, as she recaptured and maintained the audience’s attention.

Recently, I witnessed a best-man toast.  As is typical, he unfolded a piece of paper and began reading – boring. After a few sentences, he paused, looked up at the guests and said, “I’m going to just speak from the heart, how about that?” The audience applauded, he folded the paper, and placed it in his pocket. There was a small pause, and you could feel how every person was eagerly anticipating his next words.

He went on to speak in a conversational tone about the groom. He earned a ton of laughs and many “aawwws” from the guests. His speech moved everyone in attendance. It was one of the best I’ve seen, and I know he wouldn’t have had nearly that reaction had he simply read his notes.

Once again, case-in-point, when you choose to “talk with” instead of “read to” an audience, you will make a connection, and they will remember you and your message. You might think that it’s a daunting task not to read from your slides and notes, but the beauty is that your audience gives you tons of leeway when you are speaking from the heart. They will simply like you more, and likeability is one of the six pillars of persuasion.

Clearly, when you are giving a training or a much longer presentation, you may need to refer to your notes or slides to make sure you are on track. That’s okay, as long as you are using them as a guide, and not for the verbiage of the presentation itself.

Nothing will endear your audience more than speaking from the heart.

For training on public speaking see our programs here.

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Last week, I presented magic at the historic Vienna. I started entertaining a few people, but in ten minutes I was completely surrounded, and the room was packed. Then, I looked for my Sharpie marker, which I needed for my next effect. I realized it was in my bag sitting about ten feet away; so I wended my way through the crowd, fished for my marker, and finally handed it to the spectator. This took about twenty seconds. But, when I launched back into my presentation, the crowd had dissipated, and small conversations were flourishing. Now I needed to WORK HARD at rebuilding my crowd and recapturing attention. In short, I had to revive my presentation from the dead.

Shame on me! I teach executives and managers that they must have everything they need at their fingertips BEFORE beginning a presentation. Why?  Because DEAD TIME KILLS. It devours your effectiveness because without the audience’s rapt attention, you are wasting your time and theirs.

What I witnessed physically at a magic performance (people talking and walking) is a caricature of what happens in a business presentation. While it is unlikely that your audience will bolt for the door or launch into small private chats at your presentation, people will “check out” mentally, and they will launch into internal dialogue about something more important or more amusing than you.  It’s that simple.

The solution is simple as well:

1) While rehearsing make a checklist of everything you need, use, or refer to.

2) Setup: on the big day, go through your checklist and physically touch every item you need.

3) Handouts: have them at each seat before you begin. If this is not possible, have somebody else deliver the handouts for you while you continue to present.

4) Index cards: If you rely on index cards for notes, be sure to number them to avoid excessive fumbling should you drop them.  If you rely on powerpoint for notes see here.

5) Do you refer to a manual, text or report? Use Post-it notes as book marks. Flipping around for even five seconds creates enough dead-time to start the bleeding.

6) Avoid or limit conversation that is administrative and directed at only one person. For example, you are presenting on a new accounting policy, and your tech guru asks about systems integration. Even though this is not technically dead time, the conversation acts as white noise for everyone else in the room who is far removed from these details. Unless the issue is urgent, use this response: “excellent question, and you and I need to discuss it in detail after this presentation. Thanks for bringing it up Jim.”

7) Be very aware of any time that ticks where nothing is happening, and understand that it is causing a slow drain of your audience’s attention.

Please do not confuse dead time with the power of the pause. A purposeful pause drastically increases your effectiveness. I’m talking about me fumbling for my Sharpie or you flipping through your 10-Q report trying to find the change in retained earnings while your boss begins to daydream about whether it’s chicken fajita or tuna salad for lunch.  Personally, I’d take the chicken fajita with ranch dressing.

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There are some presentations you do where applause is desirable and appropriate. We’ve already discussed optimal audience seating that will facilitate audience reaction and applause. In this entry you will discover the nuances  and lines the presenter can employ to increase audience applause. Much of what I’ve learned about earning applause comes from my performance in entertaining rather than strictly business presentations. Nevertheless the lesson lends itself to many types of public speaking.

Keep in mind, audiences need a cue to applaud because they subconsciously fear applauding at the wrong time, or being the only person clapping.

Here are both subtle (for business) and bold (for entertainment) methods to encourage applause.

During your presentation at an “applause moment”:

1) Ask audience to give a round of applause to someone who helped you.

2) “Thank you for your enthusiasm”

3) If it’s silent: “Save your applause till the end – I have a weak finish.”

4) When only one person applauds: “I think you just woke up the others” OR  “Are the rest of you saving it for the big finish?” OR “I will wow you one person at a time” OR “Special thanks to my fan club” (pointing to the one person)

5) “Oh, I forgot to tell you, your applause will be recorded”

6) “There are two ways we can do this (show,demo) like we’re doing it now, or with applause.”

7) “Hey, I know you’re out there, I can hear you breathing”

 ”Instead of applauding, why don’t we all hold hands and try to join with the LIVING”

To get applause at the end of your presentation

“Thank you” Take a slight bow with a light clap of the hands and take a small step back.

While the best way to earn applause is to do an excellent job, these nuances and lines make all the difference with respect to creating the right atmosphere conducive to applause.  Remember to use your judgement when tossing a quip into the mix.

present awards and control applause

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What one mistake do even the best public speakers tend to make?

Clearly, they don’t pace, fidget or say “uhmm”, and they do project their voice, make meaningful eye contact and use purposeful movement.  They’ve mastered the basics; so how can they improve?

In my experience even the best public speakers make this minor mistake: connectors.  When they finish a statement, they start the next with one of the following words: so, now, or okay.  While there is nothing wrong with an occasional use of these connectors, most speakers use them almost every time after a pause.

It’s a nuance that I learned from a top Toastmaster who analyzed my speaking.  She pointed out that I had overused these connectors.  Before this enlightenment, I had no idea I was doing this.  Are you?  If you’re just becoming comfortable with public speaking, don’t worry too much about this.  If you are an advanced speaker, chances are this is one area in which you may be able to improve.  The only way to know whether you use connectors is to record your presentation, or ask someone in the audience to take note of them for you.

How to stop?  The same way you stopped umming and ahhing.  Avoid using connectors in your everyday conversation and they will automatically disappear from your more formal presentations.

Advanced tips for public speakers are always welcome here.  Please share yours.

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Never say ummm, stand in a fixed position with arms at sides for first 15 seconds of presentation, use open gestures, don’t pace, don’t fidget, speak loudly . . . and the list of “rules” goes on and on.

In the Target Intellect Blog on Public Speaking, we share a great deal of helpful tips on presenting with impact.  In this blog entry, I’d like to clarify that these tips are merely guidelines; not rules.

A close friend of mine and I made the distinction of rules vs. guidelines when learning professional entertainment skills.  In some cases a magical effect that seemed to break many of the fundamental “rules” of good entertainment, still knocked the socks of the audience.  In those cases, we through the rules out the window and only worried about audience reaction.

A few weeks ago I witnessed a sales trainer who truly connected with her audience.  Her energy and enthusiasm were incredible.  I also noticed that she failed to use enough pauses, she spoke too fast, she said “um” a great deal, BUT despite all the pecadillos, the audience LOVED her.  Why?  She genuinely cared about the audience and established rapport with them through her passion and sincerity.

Granted, not many presenters can carry off the “what you see is what you get” approach and earn rave reviews as she did.  But there is a small lesson to keep in mind.  When reading the professional blogs about any discipline, there are very few golden rules, most are simply excellent guidelines.

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While basic public speaking skills are usually relevant, there are some special circumstances that apply when presenting to executives, especially if you are not a fellow executive.

The circumstances:  Executives typically have less time for “filler”.  They will appreciate a direct approach.  Executives are much more likely to interrupt you with questions, instead of listening until you’ve completed your presentation.  Stakes: If you are not typically before a group of executives, they will tend to make a quick judgement about your ability to do your job based on your ability to present before them.  Unfair, but true.  Pressure: Understandably, most people battle the nerves a bit more when presenting to executives.

Five Great Tips:

1) Work on your PACE:  NO DEAD TIME. This is a magicians trick.  As a sleight-of-hand expert, I can tell you that amateur magicians almost always get caught because of pacing.  Why? A pro presents at a natural pace where there is NO DEAD TIME.  Thus, it is rare to get an interruption such as “let me see the other hand” or “can I check what’s in the card box before we start?”.  An amateur’s pace has moments of dead time where the heckler will jump right in and through the presenter off kilter.  This is exactly the cause and effect when you present to executives.  If you are confident and brisk (not rushing, but owning every moment) you are likely to face much less interruptions that through you off track.  The only way to do this is to prepare and have everything you need at your fingertips.

2) Simplify: This may sound counterintuitive, but most executives don’t care about the details; they want the bottom line.  However, bring supporting data that you can refer to should they ask for the details.  This will make you shine when they question, “where did you get the $2.9mm figure?” and you have a handout showing its breakdown.  Even if you don’t use this extra information, you’ll feel confident that you have all bases covered.  Some use the strategy of a question hook, where you present a fact that will naturally lead to a question; and when questioned you have the supporting information at hand.

3) Time:  If they give you a time allocation, tell them after your power opener: “You’ve given me 15 minutes to cover . . . and I’ll keep it to that.  I’ve budgeted a little time at the end for discussion as well”.  In some cases I advocate telling the audience, “I’ll answer many of your questions in the presentation; so please note yours for the end.”  However when speaking to executives, a good tip is to avoid that strategy because of the power structure.  By saying you’ve budgeted a little time at the end for discussion, you provide a subtle suggestion that they wait until the end to ask questions.  Also, they will be grateful that you are aware of your time frame and intend to stay within it.  Few things annoy executives more than a protracted presentation that goes well beyond allocated time.

4) Eye contact: Okay, nothing new here, BUT . . . you will set yourself head and shoulders above your peers when you have a conversation directly with the executives.  This is to say, look directly at the CEO, make a point to her, then move on to the next person and act as if you were telling him something directly.  In this way, you are having a bunch of mini conversations.  It is likely that your peers will never do this.  They’ll make eye contact with everybody at the same time by scanning, yet they will connect with nobody.  This is your chance to distinguish yourself.

5) Visualize and Rehearse: Rehearsing comes after practicing.  Rehearsing means you give your presentation with your eyes closed, visualizing the room and audience.  If you make a mistake, you keep going, there is no second chance, just do what you would do were you public speaking for real.  Once you’ve done this a number of times, when the big day comes, you will have the “been there done that” feeling.  The executives will certainly notice your preparedness.

There you have it – Top Five Tips for Public Speaking to Executives.  But we know there are many more.  If you are an executive, would you please share the qualities you look for?  If you are not an executive but present to them, please share your stories and tips.  Your participation will be greatly appreciated.

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I remember going to my first college internship wearing a wrinkled shirt.  It was embarrassing when one of my co-interns took me aside, pointed to the wrinkles and told me “Frank, you need to press your shirts so no one notices these”.  I always thought that was interesting . . . “so no one will notice?”  Hmm, do something right and no one notices.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the affirmation: “it’s not what you say but how you say it”.  Not true.  Both content and delivery count, albeit in different ways.  Content is like the ironed shirt.  It is simply expected and assumed that you know your stuff when you present.  If your audience detects you are unprepared or not knowledgeable on your topic, bitter resentment will result from you wasting everyone’s time.  In rare cases of genius, a presenter’s content can make her shine, but in most cases solid content is simply expected, and if it’s not delivered, the presenter is wearing a “wrinkled shirt”.

Strong delivery is neither assumed nor expected.  How do I know this? Most presenters have very little skill in delivery; so that low-level becomes the norm.  If you present with weak delivery skills you simply look like everyone else.  Unless you are blatantly bumbling, there is no “wrinkled shirt.”

What does this mean to you? It means it’s easy for you to shine when you present.  Even basic delivery skills will put you head and shoulders above the rest.

Look forward to our upcoming blog entry on making a great first impression.

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A long-time client just asked me to do a presentation for his annual sales kickoff meeting.  He also asked me to select another speaker in my circle who could deliver a compelling business message in achievement.

One of my suggestions was a woman that I had brought in to present to his team one year earlier.  He replied to my suggestion that “she was a little bit dry for our group”.  My client ended up choosing one of my other options.

The “dry” comment was enlightening because the presenter was an impressive expert in her field, very well prepared, and she imparted useful techniques to achievement.  In addition, she was an excellent speaker: knowing when to pause, avoiding all filler, making great eye contact, etc.  However, I witnessed that volume and inflection were lacking.

What a lesson!  You can have great content that is well prepared and useful to your audience.  You can be confident, and employ excellent public speaking skills.  All is for naught, however, if you don’t have volume and inflection.  The perception is that you are serving dry toast.  Brilliant content buried in dry toast has little to no value.

How can we avoid serving dry toast?

Saying vs. conveying: A robot can say something to an audience.  You convey by using more than words.

1) Speak Loudly.  If you speak too softly, you will annoy your audience.  Even if they love your topic, they will desperately wish for your presentation to end.  Note: To speak loudly; then make one point in a whisper can be powerful.  Avoid overusing this technique.

2) Monotone kills.  It’s as simple as that.  The inflection you use in a one-to-one conversation, where you are discussing something that interests you is the same inflection you should employ with your audience.

3) Enthusiasm.  Get excited about what you are presenting, then the first two points happen naturally.  I had a college statistics professor who was excited about what he taught.  The class LOVED him and learned a great deal. Conversely, I had a marketing professor who was “dry”; the class could barely stand his lectures.

4) Did you know that when most people present they gesture about 15% as much as they do when speaking one-on-one?  Here’s the interesting point: most gestures before a large audience feel too big to the presenter but look too small to the audience.  In my experience over-gesturing is truly rare.  Most speakers overwhelmingly under-gesture.

How do you know whether you are saying or conveying?

1) Video your presentation and review it.

2) Practice your presentation before your friends/family/peers.

3) After presenting ask audience members how enthusiastic you appeared.

4) Remember to avoid at all costs speaking too softly.  It will irk your audience, unless they happen to like dry toast.  Have somebody in the back row point upward if you need to raise the volume.

Here’s my question for you.  Would you tell that presenter who was perceived to be “dry” what she needs to work on?  Consider that this individual did not solicit my feedback.

Thanks

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