Posts Tagged With: "SHARPs"

Hook your audience

	Posted by Ben Decker \| November 4th, 2011 \| 6 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Ben Decker | November 4th, 2011 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

“I’m here today to talk to you about standardization.”

That’s the way a Silicon Valley engineer in our training program COULD have started his presentation about the need to standardize. Instead, he took a different route.

“As I was doing some research for this presentation, I read that the city of Baltimore burnt to the ground in 1904. The tragedy is, it didn’t have to.

Firefighters from nearby DC, New York, and Virginia all responded, but weren’t able to help because their hose couplings wouldn’t fit on the Baltimore hydrants – no standard had yet been set. The firefighters helplessly watched as the city burned.

Like Baltimore, our organization will suffer if we don’t standardize our processes.”

A year later, I remember this story and it’s tie to standardization. Considering I see hundreds of presentations, that’s saying something!

It’s so easy to fall in to the rut of starting with, “I’m here to talk to you about [insert topic here]…” or “Thanks so much for being here, I know you’re all busy, so I really appreciate your time.” By the time you’re done with a Lovely-Bunch-of-Words opening like those, guess what? You’ve likely lost your audience. They’re thinking about their next meeting, to-do list, evening’s plans.

Hook them in with a SHARP to grab attention from the very start, and tie it to the point of your presentation. Meaning utilize any one or more of these:

Stories
Humor
Analogies
References & Quotes
Pictures & Visuals

Dive right in with something memorable instead of diluting your opener. What’s your story or client example? Can you think of an analogy that will help bring your idea or product to light? Audience members are often very visual, so are there any images you could use to make a strong opening point?

Again, a year later, I remember the engineer’s point about needing to standardize because of the story he told at the beginning. Can your audience remember something as vividly from the presentation you gave.. say, last week?

Please share some of your SHARPs and how you prepare your openers!

Categories: Communication Skills, SHARPs and Stories
Tags: Analogies, Great Baltimore Fire, humor, Lovely-Bunch-of-Words, Pictures, presentation opener, Quotes, References, SHARPs, stories, Visuals

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5 Tips for a Successful Sales Kickoff

	Posted by Ben Decker \| September 2nd, 2011 \| 2 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Ben Decker | September 2nd, 2011 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

Enormous hotel. Matching notepads and pens galore. Hundreds of people riding the fence between vacation and business attire. Yup, I’m talking about a global sales kickoff meeting.

Every VP Sales knows the importance of a successful kickoff, but how do you ensure engagement, education, and excitement about new products and the goals? Here are a few tips I’ve compiled from speaking at and attending some truly great and truly forgettable sales kickoffs.

1. Have Direction

The structured agenda should have a clear Point of View and direction for the meeting.
What is the ONE key takeaway or big idea you want participants to remember? How should they change they way they think or act about the product or company? You may have 10, 20, things to say, but there should be one main idea or vision that guides the rest.

2. Inspire & Motivate

Motivation often stems from inspiration. How are you planning to inspire and excite your global sales team?
Sales is stressful, so incorporate entertainment throughout the meeting with SHARPs – stories, humor, analogies, references & quotes, and pictures & visuals
A keynote speaker is often crucial; their message needs to resonate, but also, as Chris Brogan just reinforced, the message needs to be simple. So often, companies spend $M+ on venue, stage, etc., but if the speakers aren’t great.. what a waste! Invest time in finding someone of quality.

3. Be Interactive

Involve the stars of the show, the top sales people – they have a lot to share and will appreciate the recognition. Give them notice to prepare something succinct and sweet.
While it’s important to involve a variety of players in the event, sometimes we miss the mark by letting every VP and director say their piece. Potential nap time alert!

4. Encourage Relationships

We know the value of breaks and time to marinate on new information. Give people structured downtime for networking, sharing best practices, and the opportunity to build some rapport with one another.
Remember that you’re creating an experience with this kickoff. How does the meeting feel to participants? Is it high energy with momentum, or staggered and slow? Attendees are less likely to run off to their rooms at breaks if the experience is high-energy and exciting.

5. Capture the Moment

Capture information for follow-up and give the group access to key points and presentations to re-read on their own time. Help them stay in the process after the meeting has ended and continue their education.
Don’t lose momentum after the meeting ends, use continuous feedback and energy to keep going and moving toward those sales quotas.

Your sales team is your most valuable resource. Are you engaging and motivating your sales team, or wasting their time with this meeting? Please share your favorite part of the last all-hands you attended!

Categories: Meetings
Tags: all-hands meeting, Chris Brogan, inspire, keynote speaker, meeting tips, motivate, point of view, sales kickoff, sales kickoff tips, SHARPs, VP Sales

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Matt Damon does it again

	Posted by Ben Decker \| August 12th, 2011 \| 3 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Ben Decker | August 12th, 2011 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

He can get away with jumping on a soap box, and that’s for one main reason: he’s a great communicator. Yup, we’re talking about Matt Damon. Sure he’s popular, a talented writer and performer, etc., but so are many actors. This guy knows how to use specific communication tools to rally an audience and most importantly, come across sincere.

So here he went again, hitting a homerun while speaking at the Save Our Schools March a few days ago, not only to support his mother (a teacher and fellow activist), but all teachers who are fighting standardized test score-based funding. Regardless of how you feel about the subject, anyone can appreciate Matt’s ability to pump up the crowd.

Check out this clip so you can see what I’m talking about (or see the whole thing here).

Matt artfully matches his behavior to his content to come across genuine. Here are my keepers and improvements (have to keep it balanced feedback!).

Keepers:

Story (one of our SHARP principles) – he weaves the point of his speech around his experiences in public schools. This personalizes the message, gives him credibility, and is memorable. When listing out all the growth he experienced in school, he brought it back to the point by saying, “None of these qualities that have made me who I am can be tested.”
Concise – he’s up there for about five minutes, but but still gives a memorable and meaningful talk. No need to go on and on if you can do it succinctly.
Vocal variety – he speaks clearly, with plenty of variation to avoid the monotone. He also takes time to pause and pace himself, which is especially important when speaking over a mic to a large audience. He gives them time to hear the ends of his sentences, and ups the ante.

Improvements:

A lot of I, I, I – common mistake in messaging is to talk a lot about yourself when you’re proving the value of your idea, product, or service. To be the most influential and affect change, take every opportunity to make the message about your listeners.
Reading – at the end of the day, when you look down to read, you’re breaking connection with your audience. It’s best to organize yourself and speak off the cuff while using eye communication with your listeners (we need to get him a Decker Grid!).
Nonwords – um’s and uh’s creep in there. They chip away at the experience you create when speaking. Better to pause instead of inserting a filler word.

High hopes for Matt as a communicator going forward, even a Top 10 spot! (Maybe not as high as Michael Moore suggesting he run for President in 2012, though.) Anything stick out to you, in terms of what went well, and what could be improved?

Categories: Newsworthy, Political Communications
Tags: Decker Grid, Matt Damon, Michael Moore, President 2012, public speaking skills, Save Our Schools, SHARPs, storytelling

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Meg Whitman as Communicator

	Posted by Bert Decker \| May 2nd, 2010 \| 3 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Bert Decker | May 2nd, 2010 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Meg Whitman just debated Steve Poizner for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination. It was interesting, but not as interesting as looking at where Meg Whitman might go – if she can communicate.

First the debate:

Meg did well, but Steve probably did better if this was an equal contest. But it is not – Whitman has a 30-40 point lead on Poizner, and the debate did nothing to change that. On June 8 Meg will win in a landslide.

Bring on Jerry Brown:

Jerry Brown

Where this gets interesting is in the general election this summer/fall, between past Governor, Presidential contender, now Lt Gov. of California Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman. It’s one stiff-communicator against another in a race for a prize that’s dubious at best. The state of California is in the worst shape of it’s long history. Can Meg Whitman convince voters she can change that? (We’ll leave Jerry Brown’s communication content and style for a later post.)

Communicate To Influence, Not Just To Inform:

Look at these cogent words from yesterday’s incisive Business Week article on Meg Whitman:

“The most gifted politicians manage to turn scripted “messaging” into stirring stump material, but there is nothing Churchillian in Whitman’s delivery. Says former colleague Rajiv Dutta, former eBay CFO and PayPal president, now a managing director at Elevation Partners: “Clearly she doesn’t have the practiced ease of appearing to be intimate in front of millions, which career politicians have spent their lives perfecting.”

About 80% of the voters are biased and will vote accordingly. For Meg to get those 20-30% undecided to vote for her she must influence, be trusted (and likable) and inspire vision. She’s not there yet. She still speaks in PowerPoint Speak – bullet points and logic statements, and cluttered. Fine for her as a former CEO directing employees, not so great for inspiring voters of a new vision for a collapsed economy. Leaders must inspire, not just inform.

Behaviorally Meg Whitman must loosen up, engage the media, and at least look like she is having fun. She is smart and capable – these are just behavioral habits that she could change with some coaching.

More importantly perhaps, she needs to create sticky messages.

God knows there is enough material in the collapsed state of California to have vivid examples, metaphors, SHARPS and memorable language to help make HER colorful, and much more memorable. She needs messages that are ‘made to stick,’ for example:

The union pension fund obligations are like a tsunami that are about to engulf our great State of California
Government spending is as out of control as the BP gusher that is polluting the Gulf of Mexico. It must be brought under control.
40% of California’s public school budget is for admin and overhead. If I ran eBay like that I wouldn’t be here talking to you tonight – I would have been fired.

Stay tuned. This is going to be an interesting general election here in California, and could be a microcosm of what’s to come for the country.

Categories: Communication Skills, Leadership and Communications, Newsworthy, Political Communications, Uncategorized
Tags: California, Communication Skills, Governor's Race, Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman, Presentation skills, SHARPs, Steve Poizner

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Connection Trumps Everything

	Posted by Bert Decker \| November 20th, 2008 \| 8 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Bert Decker | November 20th, 2008 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

Dave Paradi had an interesting post this week titled, "Does Great Content Trump Poor Visuals." (Another in my weekly Best of Alltop on Speaking.)

As he told the story of an academic presentation with powerful content but terrible slides, he noted that flashy visuals can't make the case with little content, but wondered if the reverse was true. I'd say neither.

You need connection. With dull visuals, with reading a speech, with no substance – you will have no connection. And no impact. Boredom, disinterest and tuneout. Twitter time for the audience.

Only if the audience is interested solely in the content and not the person and the experience (like college kids listening to a lecture for a test) does content reign supreme. At conferences and in business settings I've seen that happen only once in over 20 years – at a Pharmacist Convention during a research presentation (that would have been best presented in writing anyway.)

To make an impact you need connection, and that's people connection, emotional connection and action connection. It comes from high energy, use of stories (SHARPS), knowing your audience and relating, looking, moving and having a beginning, middle and end, etc. You can have a connection with no visuals, (if you have to), but you can't have a connection with boring and flat content and slides and behavior. If you have brilliant content but don't feel it needs connection, submit a paper. The written medium is faster anyway (just not as powerful.)

Dave said it well when he said to NOT go to the PowerPoints first:

"Next time you start to develop a presentation, don't sit down at your
computer. Go to a quiet place with a pen and paper and allow yourself
the time to concentrate on your desired outcome and the best way to
achieve it. Only after you've got great content should you look to
create persuasive visuals."

And if you're smart, then you will add some great visual ideas from Presentation Zen or Slide:ology.

Categories: Communication Skills, PowerPoint Abuse - Avoid It, Public Speaking, Short Bits
Tags: Dave Paradi, Presentation Zen, SHARPs, Slide:ology

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