claudyne

State a Call to Action

Sep1718

TorchMetrics’ surveys have shown that more than 50% of presenters do not absolutely suggest next steps or provide a call to action. The ramifications of this are profound. Audiences feel lost and may think, “So what am I sitting here for?” They are frustrated having wasted their time and do not have a positive impression of the presenter. The Executives do not like their time wasted. They want to move forward with suggestions and solutions. They now do not imagine this person as “executive” material. Presenters have wasted time creating a presentation that ends in a whisper. And now they have to spend time after the meeting getting agreement on the next steps. Plus their career advancement becomes limited as they are not “seen” as getting things done. Next Steps and/or a Call to Action are critical to a presentation. Always have a slide prepared that outlines the next steps to be taken. You may choose to show it either at the beginning or at the end of a presentation. In most communications you want a call to action be it a webex, email or presentation. EXAMPLES: WHICH WOULD ENGAGE YOU?

	NOT CLEAR	CLEAR & ENGAGING
Alignment	Can I get alignment on this?	Tomorrow I will start contacting each function to gather the information needed for this project. Please say now if this is not acceptable to you.
Marketing Piece	What do you think of this marketing flyer?	We have two colors of the flyer. I suggest we go with the purple as it fits our theme and is more eye-catching. Any comments or questions before we can agree on the purple?
Focus	I suggest we focus on our top 10 accounts.	I suggest on Friday we send a memo to the sales force telling them that for the next four weeks to only focus on their top 10 accounts. Is there any reason why you believe we should not do this?

Smile Appropriately

Aug0218

How much should you smile when presenting? This depends on the context of your talk. Don’t smile: If you are presenting some medical research on cancer treatments to a group of patients with cancer, it is not appropriate to smile many times except when you have good news to tell them about a particular treatment. Smile: If you are presenting the latest fantastic results about a new project and its benefits, then smile to show your excitement about the exceptional results. Smile sometimes: If you are presenting some positive results and some negative financial results, then smile when discussing the positive results. Don’t smile when explaining the reasons for the negative results. Women: Don’t smile too much. Audiences perceive a woman smiling all the time as less confident, more unsure or herself, and not as competent as someone who does not smile all the time.

So what is an authentic smile?

Start in positive manner: Find a way to say something when you start that lets you smile.“I know this is a difficult subject, but there are some positive options available. I’m going to be sharing those options and hopefully get us smiling about them.”“I’m happy to report that sales are up 10% due to our new product. This is some of the positive news I can report to you.” “You look like an audience ready to go. Ready to go to work! And ready to listen to a quick, I promise, analysis of the next steps for this project. This will only take 30 minutes, not 60.”
Include emotional words in your talk. “I’m excited to be with you today.” “This next number will get you smiling.” “I’m happy to be standing in front of you with mostly good news.”
Show images that make people smile. This is a technique that works with some audiences. I remember a client who had the most gorgeous picture of him ziplining down a mountain. He showed that at some meetings and then said, “Today we are going to go down a zipline as we discuss the new product. I know we’re nervous about what to do next, so let’s jump off the mountain and get going.” Everyone smiled.

Smile when making positive comments. Plan those comments into your presentation. Use images if they are appropriate.

MY ONE SECRET

Before I present I go into the restroom, look at myself in the mirror, pat my face, and tell myself, “You are going to be great. You have practiced. Go have fun. Smile.” (When no one is around).

A Purposeful Walk Changes the Presentation’s Pace

Jul0218

Changing the energy in the room is an excellent way to keep your audience engaged. Walking and moving around the room is one easy way to move that energy around. Not only does it keep things lively, but it energizes your body and makes you feel confident and in charge.

What are the keys to looking confident when walking?

First, you must take several steps and stop. You cannot pace back and forth. Second, you have to plan where you will walk so that you do not stand in front of the screen and block the view of your audience. Third, you have to know your audience and their views on walking when presenting. Walking to the back of the room really changes the energy in the room and keeps everyone awake—but this depends on the room situation and the audience’s expectations. What walking is not: Walking is not changing your weight from foot to foot in a swaying motion. Walking is not moving forward and backward one or more steps every time you start a new sentence. Walking is not constantly pacing from one side of the room to another.

When to Walk

Change is occurring: You want to discuss a change. You discuss the problems in the past on the left side of the screen. When you start talking about the changes and benefits, you move to the right side of the screen. Practice this technique to increase the impact of your presentation. To influence audience: Moving closer has the effect of increasing intimacy. It gives the impression that you want to get closer to your audience. Be conscious of what you are doing.

Don’t do all your movements at the same time.
When walking, restrain your gestures.
When standing still, use larger gestures.

Use walking as another way to change the pace of your talk.

Eye Contact Enables Audience Engagement

Jun0218

Eye contact is essential when you want to look confident and credible. A business presentation should be more like a conversation than a performance. In a conversation you make eye contact. When you seek eye contact with your audience, you become more believable and credible in Western cultures. Here are some tips to become an effective “eye contact” presenter. If you’re too nervous to look in the eyes: Look at the person between the eyebrows. This will give you a start in making eye contact. When you look at someone between the eyebrows, the person experiences you looking in the eyes. Draw an imaginary triangle: Draw an imaginary inverted triangle on the other person’s face around their eyes and mouth. During the conversation, change your gaze every five to ten seconds from one point on the triangle to another. End a sentence looking at someone: Train yourself to at least end your sentences looking at someone. Then count to three before you look away. Do not look at the screen, laptop, or your notes when you complete your sentences. Make some words a cue to look: As you say the word “you” be sure to be looking at someone. This is a must! Focus your conversation: As you look at one person, imagine there is no one else in the room. The person you are looking at is the most important person right now, and you are giving him or her all of your attention. Then go on to someone else in the room. Each person will feel special.

How to Practice

With people: Practice in meetings. Alone: Make the objects in the room different people so you get used to ending a sentence looking at the chair, the clock, the screen, etc. Then make sure you complete your sentences looking at objects on both sides of the room. Many presenters tend to look at one side of the room three-fourths of the time. Train yourself not to do this. Be random as you look at people. All the time: In daily life start looking and talking to one person at a time. Become comfortable doing this. Then when you get up to talk, you will already have the habit.

Pauses Increase Your Executive Presence

May0218

Presenters who lose the audience frequently have these two issues. No pauses: Presenters never pause and stop for silence at the end of a point or at the end of a sentence. This one behavior makes it very hard for an audience to digest what you are saying. You’ll give the appearance that you are hurried, lack confidence, and do not want any questions. Filler words: Filler words are the byproduct of a speaker never pausing. The speaker keeps going and uses “um” to breathe. Many speakers are shocked when they see the number of “um’s” they say. They were completely unaware of them while presenting.

My Dare to You

I dare you to tape yourself when presenting, giving a webinar, speaking at a meeting, or talking on the phone. Notice when you pause. If you don’t, are these your justified reasons? “I came from a big family and if I did not keep talking someone else took over.” (You are not talking to your family. You’re in business.) “I have so much to tell people that I need every second.” (But because you’re going so fast, most people stop listening to you. Maybe, if you told them less and paused to give them a moment to digest what you are saying, they would keep listening.) Here’s the quick way to fix an “um” problem. This solution enables you to start hearing your “um’s” so you can stop them. Get help: This is a particular kind of help. Practice your presentation or just start talking and ask someone to make a noise every time you say “um.” You won’t like it, but this is the fastest way I’ve seen people get over this habit. Do this with someone 30 minutes a week and you’ll kick this habit. Or ten minutes a day for two weeks. Why? You will start to hear your “um’s” and, once you hear them, you can stop them. What you will love once you stop your “um’s” is that you will have more time to relax between thoughts. You will be better at categorizing and talking about what’s important. Your brain will slow down and you can be more present to your audience. If you just have an issue with pausing, you can have your partner raise a hand every time you could pause at the end of the sentence. Count to three in your head and then start again.

Getting More Sleep

Apr0218

At least half the participants in my Get to the Message workshop raise their hands when I ask, “How many of you slept less than six hours last night?” What’s wrong with this? Here are some characteristics of people who do not sleep enough. Many sleep-deprived people have racing thoughts, talk rapidly, are easily distracted, in a state of mania, and have trouble focusing on the details and big picture at the same time. What do sleep-deprived presenters do? They create too many detailed slides that do not present a cohesive message. They work really hard but the end result is an unpersuasive, rambling set of slides. They cannot answer these important questions: What story are you telling? What are your three key messages? How does each slide advance your story and messages? Don’t waste your time going around in circles with your presentation—instead, sleep so you can be focused. And if you haven’t had enough sleep but are putting together a presentation? Stop! Don’t dive right into the slides. First organize your key messages and storyline, and then create the slides.

Sleep Checklist–Do One This Week

Turn off all electronic devices an hour before you go to sleep.
Do something calming before bed: deep breathing, stretches, a cup of herbal tea.
Take a walk outside.
Create a short bedtime ritual, for example, a cup of tea, four minutes stretching, five minutes meditating.

For more ideas: Huffington Post “37 Science-Backed Tips for Better Sleep Tonight”

Manage Your Presentation Stress, Don’t Just Worry

Mar0218

Here’s some advice from a psychologist, Sian Beilock, on how to perform better under pressure. Let’s apply it to your worries about an upcoming presentation. Take a walk: Have you ever been very anxious or upset and then taken a walk? It probably calmed you down. After your walk you’ll feel calmer and wonder why you were so upset in the first place. Change your self-talk: Instead of telling yourself; “I am so anxious. I hope I do OK,” say, “I am excited and I can feel it. This means I’m going to sound energetic.” Write down your worries before an event: This gets them out of your mind. I suggest you write them down when you first learn you will be giving the presentation that worries you. Sian’s book: How the Body Knows Its Mind

WORRIES

WHEN YOU LEARN YOU’RE GIVING A TALK

Time: “I don’t have time to put this together.” Make a plan to get it done. Help: “I don’t have all the information.” Write down who can actually give you information or guide you to it. Experience: “I’ve never talked in front of this many people.” Find a coach to give you some pointers, or go on line and look up advice for speaking to 300 people. PowerPoint: “I really don’t know how to make effective slides.” Find someone in your company to help or hire a PowerPoint expert. Compare costs. Travel: “I hope the plane arrives on time.” Never book the last plane out–you’ll be in for guaranteed stress.

THE WEEK BEFORE

Rehearsal: “I never really rehearse my talks. I wing it.” Rehearse many times alone, and with colleagues or a presentation coach. IT WILL CALM YOU DOWN. Logistics: “I don’t know what the room will be like.” Ask to see the room when you arrive or get there early enough to scope out the room. Sleep: “I don’t have time to sleep.” The studies are out there. To be effective you need at least 7 hours of sleep–and 8 is even better.

Make Your Whole Presentation a Story

Feb0218

We all know that after listening to a presentation we frequently don’t remember the key points and how they fit together. I was just in a workshop where we practiced repeating or rephrasing what someone said. It became obvious that the people who talked in a more story manner were easier to remember. People who talked without setting up a story or some type of structure were very difficult even to paraphrase. This experience further convinced me that “storytelling” is the way to go. Here’s a very simple storytelling model designed so people can better remember what you said during a presentation.

TWO EXAMPLES

THE MANUFACTURING PROJECT

Context: We are losing millions due to the inefficient manufacturing processes. Before: Our products now take twice as long to get to market as our competition. Plot Point: We propose to modernize our manufacturing processes. After: This modernization will let us cut in half our time to market with new products. Wrap Up: This is easily achievable and we believe we can increase sales by 20%.

THE PERSONAL STORY

Context: Never underestimate the power of transformation. Before: As a child I lived in poverty in Columbia. Plot Point: Through miraculous events I came to the US and attended university. After: Although living in the US, I have created and built a pre-school in my town in Columbia so the children can be educated and rise out of poverty. Wrap Up: Your $500 contribution fully supports one child for one year.

Look Poised and Confident

Jan0218

Do you want to have your audience on your side before you even speak? Then look the part of a confident, in-charge presenter: stand straight, shoulders are back and open, head is free, weight is balanced between both feet. How do you get that “executive presence” look? Your body needs to become it. Two yoga classes or two weight training classes a week will give you a more confident stance. People see you before you open your mouth. Start now to make sure your body looks the part. Learn more about this picture from Leland Vall who teaches the Alexander Technique. The head goes forward and up in relation to the torso which goes back and up.

ANALYZE YOUR SLIDES

Here’s the best way to really see if your slides’ content is organized, they look professional and help tell your story. Print all your slides, lay all of them out on a table and look at them. First, look at the content across the slides. Is the content organized or do you have the same ideas on many slides spread throughout the presentation? Second, look at the slide layouts. Are they varied or do you have 8 charts in a row, 6 different graphics in a row, only slides with text bullets and no graphics? Third, make sure you have engaging, informative titles that help you tell your story and emphasize your key messages. Professional-looking slides increase your delivery success in engaging your audience.

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