Let’s assume that you have decided you want to learn to speak in public. What is the very first thing that you will do? Many people will tell you to read a book, sign-up for a course or join Toastmasters. That’s great advice and you should do those things, later.
The first thing that you should do is this: Consider yourself a speaker. You must believe that you,
I tend to write a lot on the two large white boards in my office. The other day I happened upon someone looking at one of them. My manager even uses my white boards as a status report. That makes me a white board nerd.
On one of my boards there is a list of questions. These questions are designed to clarify our approach to a technical workshop (software training) we are developing. Perhaps you will find them useful as well. Here they are:
The goal can’t be a check mark on a project plan. If it doesn’t teach it has no real value.
Who has problems that this application can solve?
What questions do the learners have? Have them wite them down and share them.
How do I get the software?
Can I install it? Is it difficult?
What problems does this application solve?
What problems does this application cause?
Where is the real world data that I can use?
When I have questions who can help me? Will they help me?
When I have questions where can I go for help?
Where can I learn about the problem domain?
Who has real world experience in this problem domain? Will they help me?
Who has real world experience using this tool? Will they help me?
Is there a way to get on a real project where I can use the tool? Who can make that happen? Will they help me?
Which capabilities of the tool are open to interpretation? How do we learn the techniques required to correctly interpret?
BJ Lawson actually listens to a voter!
BJ Lawson is not like most other politicians. He doesn’t side-step a tough question or a tough crowd. Take a look at this video and see for yourself. Keep in mind he attended this event without a body guard. In fact, he may have gone alone.
The next time you have to speak on a controversial subject to a potentially hostile crowd, remember BJ Lawson.
Take a moment to read BJ’s blog post “ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND AMNESTY: IT’S NOT ABOUT CITIZENSHIP.” It provides some context for the video.
If you haven’t read my rant, you should. Here’s the link.
Social Media Rockstar! Presentation Disaster?
Now, back to this post.
If you are a Social Media guru, then you should adopt Chris Brogan’s presentation philosophy. He gets it. Chris’ attitude regarding presentations is awesome. If everyone adopted it the world would be a better place.
Tighten Up by Chris Brogan.
I’ve seen them. You’ve seen them. We have all seen them. You know, those people who are comfortable in front of a crowd. Comfortable may not be the right word for what I am talking about. OK, if I am going to say this I might as well cause a ruckus.
These people aren’t merely comfortable, they seek out a microphone at any opportunity. I imagine that under the right circumstances they will fight for the mic.
In the universe that I usually orbit, technical presentations, I don’t usually see these folks often. They just don’t inhabit my world. If you take a second and think about where you are most likely to encounter them “Sales” would leap into your mind. Sales is the most obvious home for these folks but that is not what I am talking about here. And that is where the risk comes in.
Social media seems, to me, to be the new home of the narcissistic presenter. These folks have huge Twitter followings. They have fans. Fans who got to know them 140 characters at a time. That is where the problem comes in. Fans will ignore flaws that drive us non-fans up the wall. The crappy presenters in this world are given the exact same feedback as the great presenters. Unfortunately, they believe it. No questions asked.
The members of their cliques gush all over them and tell them how wonderful their presentations are. Meanwhile, I dream of taking hostages just so the ordeal will end. Really, do you need to spend 10 minutes talking about yourself while introducing another speaker? It may be me but I just don’t understand how someone can fool themselves so completely. They must know, deep down in that place where reality lives, that they are a train wreck in the presentation game. I guess I can’t understand how they can fool themselves so completely because I know Coach Jackson.
Most of these folks grew up in a time where everyone on a team got a trophy for showing up. A time where any criticism was withheld in fear of harming little Johnny’s self esteem. Coach Jackson would explain in vivid detail the myriad ways that we sucked. Did he do it in private? Heck no! His philosophy was it might not help the one getting fussed at but it may help someone else. Don’t get me wrong, he also told us when we did things right. With Coach Jackson you always knew where you stood and how to get better. He was right and we all knew it. It was up to us to do the work to make it happen.
The problem is that while your fan base may love you, there are people in your audience who don’t know you from Adam. They will judge you by your presentation. With some work you can impress them with your mad skills. You know for sure that Chris Brogan is going to deliver a strong presentation.
If you eat, sleep and breathe social media and you deliver presentations find someone, a speech coach perhaps, that will tell you like it is. Believe them. Take their suggestions to heart and work hard to become a competent presenter. Fortunately, the bar is low. It isn’t as hard as you think.
There are some presentation coaches who say that you shouldn’t reduce presentations to a set of rules. Since I am not a presentation coach that doesn’t apply to me. Oh, this advice isn’t just for speaking pros, it is for you, the person delivering your first or second presentation.
Here is one of Jeff’s rules.
Take risks during your presentation!
I am not talking about ridiculous risks. Here is an example of a ridiculous risk that many people don’t mind taking, “I know this pretty well, I am just going to wing-it!” Winging-it, or just going up there and speaking without any preparation, is not the kind of risk I am talking about. When you think about it, it’s more stupid than risky. Actually, it is usually a sign of fear but that is a subject for another day.
Here are some ways to be risky during your next presentation:
1) Make meaningful eye contact. This one is soooooo important. When you are delivering a presentation a second can feel like an eternity. I consider this risky because you, like most people, feel so uncomfortable doing it. Make eye contact often and hold it longer than you think you should. You should practice this, often, during normal conversation with friends and family. Strangers too!
Eating in Asia is risky! But worth it!
2) Tell personal stories. Many people are unwilling to do this. I guess they see it as a sign of weakness. It isn’t. Your audience will find your story (if it is told well) interesting. The trick is to ensure that the story highlights the point you are trying to make. Stories are a great way to connect with your audience. Plus, people will remember you.
3) Don’t be a statue. You are a human, not a statue. Move! Sure, that junction box on the floor may knock you to the ground. No problem. Handle it well and people will talk about how awesome you are under pressure. Move, connect, influence!
4) Show some emotion. President Obama was recently interviewed about the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He stated that he had to find someones “ass” to kick. The President of the United States shouldn’t use language like that on TV. That being said, he looked strange because he was using a very emotional word but was acting like Spock on Star Trek. No emotion at all.
I know what you are thinking. I give technical presentations. There’s no need for emotion. Nonsense! Technical presentations are all I deliver and I use emotion every single time. Emotion shows you care and you must care to connect and get your message across.
The speaking pros know these things and work on them. Fortunately, you can too. A willingness to take some risks will set you apart from your peers and possibly take your life, and career, in directions you never thought possible.
We humans are complacent. We think that because we do “something” often that we are good at it. Oh, I don’t need to take that SQL course, I know everything that there is to know about that. Oh, I speak in public all the time. Taking a public speaking class would be a waste of my time. Did I mention that I am awesome and no one can teach me anything?
Well, thank goodness I am not like that. I love learning and I love trying to do the same ole things in different ways. I am always looking for different approaches to the same old things.
When I saw that Decker Communications had developed a course based on Chip and Dan Heath’s great book, Made to Stick, I knew I had to take it. The proof is that I paid for this training on my own!
Register for Decker Made to Stick Messaging — check!
Buy plane ticket to San Francisco — check!
Make a reservation at the Hilton — check!
From the moment that you enter the Decker offices you feel at home. There is food and coffee for the participants (coffee is very important!). Kelly and Karen, the instructors, are there greeting you as you enter the classroom. They direct you to your assigned seat. Assigned seating works for this type of training is good because it enables groups from the same company to spread out and meet new people. I especially like the arrangement of the room. There are 4 pods of tables and you sit facing the other folks at your table. It makes getting to know your group very easy.
Prior to attending the class we were given an assignment: come up with a pitch to use as a project for the course. I chose something work related — a conference paper proposal. On the walk to the class I passed a Borders book store and changed my topic to “we should all read more.”
During the course of the day we used video cameras and peer review to refine and enhance our pitches. Getting to know the other people at the table was a lot of fun. We used 3×5 cards to discuss what worked and what could be improved for each of the pitches.
The Decker Made to Stick Grid and methodology made it easy to refine and improve our projects. The instructors were always available to help. They seemed to know when someone was having a problem and they miraculously appeared. That is one sign of a great teacher.
At the end of the day we videotaped our pitches again. The improvements were very noticeable.
Here is what I find odd. I am still working on the project that I did in class. I am planning some experiments around it. Stay tuned for more details.
Oh, I don’t regret spending the money to attend the course. It is a great value and I cherish the opportunity and experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Thanks to Bert Decker, Kelly Decker and Karen Habegger for such a wonderful time and a great learning experience.
For more information check-out Decker Made to Stick Messaging.
Glimmer by Warren Berger
Glimmer: How design can transform your life, and maybe even the world by Warren Berger.
The presentation world has been focused on slide design for years. While slides may have gotten better (the jury is still out) delivery has not. A couple of weeks ago I began searching for non-presentation books for inspiration and ideas. During this search I discovered Glimmer.
Glimmer is about Design: making things effective and useful and orchestrating great experiences. From OXO kitchen tools to the Segway you will learn from the actually creation of well designed products. Reading this book will make you look at everything from a different perspective. It is worth reading the book to live these stories but that wasn’t what effected me the most. That happened in the last part of the book…
“The older you get, the more you begin to think like a designer.” — Warren Berger
As I get older I find that it is easy to take dissimilar ideas and combine them. In the book this is called smart recombinations. It turns out that getting older actually makes you better at this. Getting older also makes you question things like, “If I were to have the perfect life what would that look like?” The last part of the book is all about applying design principles to your own life. It was a nice surprise to find this topic in the book. I plan to reread this part of the book in the very near future.
Back to presentations. There are many things in the book that apply to field of presentations. The most important one — to me — is that design isn’t just about making something look good. It has to function well and be useful. I wish that the people who equate a great presentation with slides would take this to heart.
You should put Glimmer on your reading list! Highly Recommended!
Get Seen by Steve Garfield
Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Vision by Steve Garfield.
It is hard to quantify how much you can learn from this book. Trust me – it’s a lot! If you are interested in video this is a great place to start. Steve takes us from acquiring a camera (he recommends starting with what you have) to placing your videos on the Web.
One of the themes of this book is this: Don’t let money stop you from making videos. He points out that you likely have a video camera masquerading as another device. If you have a point and shoot digital camera it probably includes a video camera. Steve is very fond of the Panasonic DMC-FX37 point and shoot camera (This model is old and newer cameras are available). He also uses his cell phone for videos. If you don’t have a video camera in your current arsenal then take a look at the Flip Video and Kodak Zi8. They are cheap, small, and totally usable.
The takeaway: You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment; just start using what you have.
Light and sound are also covered. The book is worth it just for this information.
The book would not be complete without discussing places on the Web where you can upload your videos. It isn’t only YouTube.com. There are lots of other video services where you can share your videos with the world.
I started with the Kindle version of this book. It is OK but for this type of information — Step 1, Step 2, … Step n — it was difficult to follow. This is especially true if you want to follow the instructions in the book. I liked what I was reading in the Kindle so much I bought a hardcopy of the book. My enjoyment level sky rocketed.
Just reading this book made me pick up my video cameras and play around with them. I have been experimenting with them for the past month or so (much to the detriment of my blog writing). Hum, a book that makes you take action! That’s rare.
Highly Recommended!
