Check out the latest video blog with tips and takeaways from my experience with Gary.

It’s Wednesday. What can you do before the end of the week to engage with others? Do a video conference instead of a call (iChat or Skype will do it)? Send a 2 minute video instead of a memo?

But today, I’m talking about taking risks in your own communication. Take a look!

Here’s a video blog about the critical nature of connecting in business, exemplified by this morning’s Toyota conference:

The truth is, status quo is a facade. You’re either improving or decaying. Some have put it that you are either growing or you’re dying. True. There is no in between.

What’s your goal as a communicator? To improve specific behavioral skills? To develop your communication skills to the next level? To be a highly-sought after speaker? Or are you at the top of your game – the pinnacle of your capabilities? You think?

We’re all moving along the continuum of effective communicators. Even when you reach your goal as a communicator, the journey continues.

Perfection is a dangling carrot, serving as a motivator to lean forward and do it. Whatever you have achieved, there is always more work to be done. This is especially true when it comes to your image as a communicator. At a Speaker’s Roundtable meeting last year, Don Hutson – a great speaker, good friend and author of The One Minute Entrepreneur said: “The image of a person, company or product is never a constant but an ever-changing variable.”

Your image – and the substance behind it – is indeed an ever-changing variable. And you don’t define it – others do. What you do and how you do it are constantly under scrutiny. There’s no end to the evolution of your reputation. It’s dynamic – interpreted by people in real time, all the time, every second you’re exposed to and interacting with others.

To rest in the confidence that you have secured for yourself a favorable image or reputation is to rest, period. There’s no room for inertia in a highly competitive world of constant motion – not when your objective is excellence. There is no capturing a dangling carrot. To be an excellent communicator, you must continuously solicit feedback. Ask, listen and learn. What they see is what they get. Learn what they see; then make sure what they’re seeing is what you want them to get.

Get on video. Often. Observed behavior changes.

Keep your eyes on the carrot and your ears peeled for feedback, and the communicator you seek to be will align with the communicator others see in you. Over time…

Remember, I also want to give you feedback! Video tape yourself at a meeting or giving a presentation and send it to me. Getting feedback is the most essential way to take your communication to the next level.

In the meantime, here’s some more off-the-cuff 1×1 feedback, this time for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in a touchy interview on CBS5 last week.

Enjoy – and send your videos to me at blog@decker.com!

PS – Tune in early next week for more 1×1 feedback! According to the marketing department, I’ll be talking about Tiger Woods’ upcoming press conference (if it ever happens!). Can’t wait to see how he presents his point of view.

I also want to give you feedback! Send me a video of you giving a presentation, doing Q&A, or rehearsing a speech (less than 10 mins please) and I’ll choose one to post about each week or so. Don’t worry – I’ll be very nice, but also honest so that my feedback can help.

In the video below, I’m giving some off-the-cuff 1×1 feedback for Carrie Prejean’s recent (and somewhat hostile) interview on the Today Show (1×1 feedback is a modified version of Decker’s 3×3 keepers and improvements because the video clip is so short.)

Enjoy – and send your videos to blog@decker.com!

Last week I coached two executives, neither of whom had used video feedback before.  In both of these sessions, we addressed the need to “get out of the weeds.”  Most often, when we’re in the weeds, we don’t realize it.  Having an outside perspective (such as coaching and video feedback) is important for this very reason.  When we are passionate and invested in a message, it’s our natural tendency to share as much as we can in as much detail as we can.  The material is so important, so brilliant and so valuable that we inadvertently create information overload in our fervor.

When you present your communications experience, are you in the weeds?  Consider these indicators:

• The verbal content of your message is cluttered with verbosity, technical jargon, industry lingo, and too much detail.
• The visuals presented are overkill (too many slides, too much text, little or no graphics).
• Your presentation lacks stories, anecdotes, and humor.
• Your intensity for the material blinds you from the need to connect with and engage your audience.

The answer?  Focus on two things and two things only.

1. Your point of view:  What is the core message you want to convey?
2. Your audience:  What’s in it for them?  What are they looking for in your message?  How can you focus on the aspects of your message that they’ll care about?
   

Simplify your material.  Divorce the details that excite you but alienate your listeners.  Become a master of exclusion and a facilitator of a memorable message.  Take “you” out of the message.  Focus on your listeners, learn them and create an experience that leaves an impact on them.

Want to connect your message with your audience?  Get out your weed whacker!

Photo credit: gracieshoots