Archive for October, 2005

Your audience – one or one thousand – has an expectation of how long you will speak. Too short, and they’ll think they didn’t get their money’s worth. Too long, and you’ll lose them.

Here are some tips to stay on target:

1. Time each section of your presentation – introduction, body and close. If the talk is to exceed 20 minutes, break the body of the speech into your key points and allocate time for each.
2. Identify and highlight, in advance, those points you can delete if you find yourself in a time crunch.
3. Rehearse your presentation three to six times for flow of content and timing. Practice the opening and the close more frequently than the body. As noted in Morrissey’s Retention Curve (see post from 9/27), these are the parts your audience is most likely to remember.
4. Watch the time. Check yourself at designated benchmarks, either by a causal glance at a wall clock, or a watch on the lectern beside your notes. Don’t glance at your wristwatch – everybody else will follow suit and may become painfully aware of time!

Effective leaders are great communicators – here’s an application of a powerful leadership principle on being a better communicator…

In a recent edition of the Harvard Business Review , University of Michigan professor Robert E. Quinn introduced the concept of the Fundamental State of Leadership – a heightened perspective, and one that’s inherent in all of us.

“In the normal state people tend to stay within their comfort zones and allow external forces to direct their behaviors and decisions. They lose moral influence and often rely on rational argument and the exercise of authority to bring about change…the result is usually unimaginative and incremental – and largely produces what already exists. To elevate the performance of others, we must elevate ourselves into the fundamental state of leadership.”

We’ve all been there in our personal and professional lives – a time of crisis where we rise to the occasion and overcome the challenge. If we force ourselves into the fundamental state, rather than waiting for crisis to knock at our door, we’ll get better and better. And so too is the case with communications. Quinn says that getting there requires a shift along four dimensions.

So, what does this mean for communicators ?

1. Don’t stick with what’s comfortable. Instead of standing in one place during a presentation, move and create energy. Actively pursue speaking engagements that push your comfort zone, where you can practice the behavioral skills of communication.
2. Master the Natural Self – that special combination of your unique personality, mind, opinions and behaviors. Don’t become someone you’re not. Harnessing the Natural Self while communicating will increase your ability to connect with others, because you’re just being you – confident and relaxed.
3. Create listener-focused messages. State early and openly the audience’s WIIFM – What’s In It For Me?, action steps and benefits.
4. Read and adjust. Practicing is good, but not if you can’t adapt to external cues. Create an experience that’s specific to your audience – whether it’s one person, or one hundred.

Many have great insights, and I’ll pass on a few in these periodic "Guest Spots." This one is from Dave Yewman.

Dead fish, or how to fail at communicating without opening your mouth!

It amazes me how many people – some of them senior executives earning fat salaries at big companies and responsible for 1,000s of employees – send a bad signal when they first meet people because of bad handshake mechanics. Yes, the dreaded "dead fish" shake. We’ve all been there. Instead of a firm, confident grip you get a limp, lame handshake that’s like grabbing onto a dead fish. Compounding the error a lot of dead fish shakers also neglect eye contact. The overall impression: negative. The impact on potential business: huge.

The fix: easy.

Just remember FES:

Firm – don’t crush anyone’s hand. But a firm grip from a dry hand works wonders.

Eye contact – look at the other person for 3-6 seconds, this is long enough to communicate that you’re friendly and confident, but not long enough to be mistaken for a "death stare."

Smile – smiling also shows confidence and encourages eye contact (ever smiled at someone’s chin? Probably not).

I read somewhere that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used to deliberately hold his shaking hand low, at mid thigh, so visiting dignitaries had to look down to find his hand. At that moment his photographer would take a picture so the resulting image looked like the visitor was bowing. A sneaky trick, if true. In business – unlike politics – a handshake can be a powerful moment, but at least it’s not some national symbolism exercise. So remember: lose the dead fish and focus on FES – that way you don’t lose the power to communicate before you even open your mouth.

Dave Yewman

www.dashconsultinginc.com

www.elevatorspeech.com

In the continuous improvement process, how do we walk the tightrope of self-criticism without losing our balance and falling into negativism and self doubt? Here are three keys to being an effective self-critic:

1. Wait! Don’t Self Critique While Communicating!

It’s not over until it’s over. This was clear in Saturday’s near-upset of Notre Dame over USC. With less than two minutes in the fourth quarter, it looked as though the Fightin’ Irish would triumph over the reigning national champs. In a thrilling turn of events, quarterback Matt Leinart vaulted over the defensive line to score a touchdown and win the game, in the last three seconds.

Use video (at the very least, audio) feedback to review your presentation only AFTER you have completed it.

2. Set Realistic Expectations

Our audience only gets what we give them. They can’t measure our remarks against our intentions – they don’t know what they are! What we rearrange or omit may loom large in our minds, but it is inconsequential to our listeners.

Audiences don’t expect perfection. In fact, during her daytime television show Ellen Degeneres often evokes a greater audience response when she recovers from a bad joke than when she tells a good one. Audiences are often more concerned how we handle imperfection than with how closely we approach perfection.

3. Balance The Strengths With The Weaknesses

Criticism is not a process of fault-finding. We’re too quick to spot the weaknesses in our performance. When our Decker trainers work with clients in private coaching, they make each client focus on what they LIKE about their presentation first, and then move on to the areas for improvement. You’ll grow by reinforcing your strengths and minimizing the weaknesses.

Here’s a lesson from a golf pro on confidence.

Colin Montgomerie has been leading the PGA American Express Championship held at my local Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco. What a thrill it has been to see Tiger Woods, John Daly, Colin and others on this public course – which has been getting raves. But I digress.

Today Colin talked of how his confidence has been building with a victory in Europe last week – and then he picked up where he left off by leading the first two rounds here. "If you’re confident of anything in life, you’re halfway there to achieving it."

So true, and just as true in communicating effectively, and overcoming the fear of speaking to go to the next level and be confidently good at it. Cicero said, "The skill to do comes from the doing." And another wise sage, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain."

In the hundreds of thousands of people we have trained over the years to ‘create their communication experience’ I would say close to 100% have gained tremendously in confidence – because they did it. Not only in our training program, but they were motivated to have a forward lean, and to seek opportunities to put themselves out there – not only in speaking and communicating – but in life.

As Colin said in his interview, "Confidence comes from playing." Whether in golf, or in communicating, or in life. Look at Tiger and you can see it all.