Practice makes perfect. Hmmm, I guess maybe that someone DID tell me. I can distinctly remember my mom telling me (relative to music) that practice makes perfect.
Unfortunately, just because Mom said so, didn’t necessarily mean that I easily translated that to my professional life. Duh.
In the past, I’ve talked about the communication skills that I defined in my model for executive skills and traits (1-4-10 Let’s Talk). And I’ve also talked about preparation, knowing/reading your audience, and how to seal the deal (3-12-10 Yea, There’s a Presentation for That). But today, I’m even more focused.
I still remember giving my very first presentation. No, I don’t remember the topic, but I do remember my physical reaction to the actual “giving of the presentation”. Frankly, it was horrible. Before I started and during the entire pitch, I had an awful case of the butterflies. I’m pretty sure that when I got up in the front of the room and looked out at the audience, all they saw was a terrified young woman with a bona fide deer-in-the-headlights look going on. My mouth was so dry you could’ve spun cotton in there. And my hands shook as I put up the first view foil. (For those of you under 40, we didn’t have Powerpoint back then. We had someone type up our presentation and then copy it to transparencies which were then shown on the screen. Heck, I’m guessing they don’t even make the transparencies or the display machines anymore!). And answering questions was excruciating as my brain seemed to have taken a vacation to less stressful climes.
That had to be the longest half hour of my life. But somehow I muddled through.
And I swore that it would never happen again.
So I did my research. I identified a couple of people that I thought were very good at giving presentations. And then I took the time to meet with them and ask a lot of questions.
The very best advice I got? Practice. If you want something bad enough, its worth some practice. And I decided that I wanted to be GOOD at giving presentations or talking in front of groups of people.
I finally realized that it really wasn’t so dumb to stand in front of the mirror and give my presentation to myself. Or it wasn’t so dumb to give the presentation in my car on the way to work. Or it wasn’t so dumb to ask a trusted colleague to listen to a dry run. All of these….. Over and over.
Did it help? Well, yes. I like to think that I ended up being pretty good at delivering pitches. At least others told me so. I will tell you that I never eliminated the butterflies (and that’s okay, because I felt that kept me on my toes). But I was able to minimize the nervous reactions during the pitch and I was able to rein my brain in so that it stayed in place during those q & a sessions.
So, I sure wish someone had told me sooner that practice makes perfect at work too!
Cheers!
Showing posts with label Presentation Skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Presentation Skills. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
6-7-10 Pomp and Circumstance
In the past, I’ve talked quite a bit about the need for the new executive to have outstanding communication skills. In fact, the Executive Skills and Traits Model has an entire section devoted to communication (12-30-09 Morphing to a Model and 1-4-10 Let's Talk ). If you are like me, you intuitively know how important those skills related to communication are. However, for me, reading some model or some dry explanation of a concept doesn’t really bring home the importance of it within the day-to-day business life of the executive.
One of my survey participants gave some feedback that gives an interesting view on the importance of the communication skill set -- a view that I hadn‘t considered in the past. This executive said, “I wish that I had known more about the amount of time required to be spent in ritual and ceremonial activities -- all employee meetings, service milestones, customer program visits, production milestone rollouts, community events, etc. The skill desired is to be able to speak extemporaneously in a variety of settings on a variety of topics in front of large crowds of stakeholders.”
Hmmmmm. Packed into those two simple sentences is an amazing amount of info for the new executive to consider.
First, of course, is the surprise that many executives experience when they realize how much time they will spend in activities that they perceive as having nothing to do with their job. Wrong! You are now a figurehead for your organization and for your company. That means you have to lead those ritual and ceremonial activities. That takes time -- a lot of time. You need to plan for it and you absolutely must make sure that you don’t short-change these activities.
Second, you may not like leading these type of activities, but you better learn to be good at it. For example, it is up to you to make the new product rollout celebration a happy and rewarding time for the employees that have worked so hard to make the new product happen. This is your chance to publicly say thank you to all those that have given so much of themselves.
Third, there are the large crowds that are usually associated with ceremonial activities. Ack! I know that there are some folks that truly enjoy speaking to large crowds of people. Not me, personally, of course. I was like most executives -- butterflies, dry mouth, etc. But I learned to do it. I had to. And as a new executive, so do you.
And finally, there is the whole idea of balancing planned comments vs. extemporaneous comments. When you lead one of the ceremonial events, you don’t want to stand up there and woodenly read a prepared speech. And on the other hand, you also don’t want to get up there and speak off-the-cuff. Why? Because, unless you are very good or very experienced at off-the-cuff speaking, you WILL screw it up. Trust me on this -- I’ve seen it happen many times.
So take the time, work with your support team, and script the event. Think about what makes the day special for everyone in attendance. Ponder who should be called out for special recognition. Determine the special effects needed to make the point. Write a speech. Read it aloud. Often. In other words, prepare! And then on the day of the event, you will be ready. Put the speech in your pocket and then tell people how special they are. If you have practiced, you have the words in your mind --- you don’t need to read them off of the sheet of paper. Yes, you will still have butterflies and yes, you will probably make a couple of mistakes. But that’s okay -- those butterflies and those unk-unks are what keep you sharp and on your toes.
Cheers!
One of my survey participants gave some feedback that gives an interesting view on the importance of the communication skill set -- a view that I hadn‘t considered in the past. This executive said, “I wish that I had known more about the amount of time required to be spent in ritual and ceremonial activities -- all employee meetings, service milestones, customer program visits, production milestone rollouts, community events, etc. The skill desired is to be able to speak extemporaneously in a variety of settings on a variety of topics in front of large crowds of stakeholders.”
Hmmmmm. Packed into those two simple sentences is an amazing amount of info for the new executive to consider.
First, of course, is the surprise that many executives experience when they realize how much time they will spend in activities that they perceive as having nothing to do with their job. Wrong! You are now a figurehead for your organization and for your company. That means you have to lead those ritual and ceremonial activities. That takes time -- a lot of time. You need to plan for it and you absolutely must make sure that you don’t short-change these activities.
Second, you may not like leading these type of activities, but you better learn to be good at it. For example, it is up to you to make the new product rollout celebration a happy and rewarding time for the employees that have worked so hard to make the new product happen. This is your chance to publicly say thank you to all those that have given so much of themselves.
Third, there are the large crowds that are usually associated with ceremonial activities. Ack! I know that there are some folks that truly enjoy speaking to large crowds of people. Not me, personally, of course. I was like most executives -- butterflies, dry mouth, etc. But I learned to do it. I had to. And as a new executive, so do you.
And finally, there is the whole idea of balancing planned comments vs. extemporaneous comments. When you lead one of the ceremonial events, you don’t want to stand up there and woodenly read a prepared speech. And on the other hand, you also don’t want to get up there and speak off-the-cuff. Why? Because, unless you are very good or very experienced at off-the-cuff speaking, you WILL screw it up. Trust me on this -- I’ve seen it happen many times.
So take the time, work with your support team, and script the event. Think about what makes the day special for everyone in attendance. Ponder who should be called out for special recognition. Determine the special effects needed to make the point. Write a speech. Read it aloud. Often. In other words, prepare! And then on the day of the event, you will be ready. Put the speech in your pocket and then tell people how special they are. If you have practiced, you have the words in your mind --- you don’t need to read them off of the sheet of paper. Yes, you will still have butterflies and yes, you will probably make a couple of mistakes. But that’s okay -- those butterflies and those unk-unks are what keep you sharp and on your toes.
Cheers!
Friday, March 12, 2010
3-12-10 Yea, there is a presentation for that.
Unless you are a hermit and work alone, you have probably made at least one presentation in your career. And if you work for a large corporation, it is likely that very little gets done without a presentation attached to it. If you are an executive or aspiring executive, you’ve made countless presentations. How’d that go? Are you any good at it? If you don’t think that you are very good at it, then it is highly likely that others hold this same opinion. Perhaps it is time to do something about that.
One of the skills in the model I created pertains directly to presentations (1-4-10 Let’s Talk). Public speaking is a critical skill for the executive. As I indicated in this earlier post, many times the new executive has been promoted because of (at least in part) his/her speaking skill.
Public speaking doesn’t just include your ability to get up in front of a group of people and give a pitch, although that IS a critical piece. It also includes your ability to craft the content of the pitch such that it fits with the topic and the audience. It includes your ability to monitor the room and alter your presentation on the fly so that you don’t lose your audience. And it is also your ability to “close the deal” when your pitch is over.
So what about that content? In my opinion, less is more. How many times have you endured a meeting that was nothing but “death by presentation”? Did you get anything out of it -- except a nap with your eyes open?? A very wise mentor once told me that my presentations should never take more than 5 slides, and never have more than 5 bullet points on each slide. In fact, one slide with 5 bullets for the entire pitch is ideal. If you can’t talk for 30 minutes off of 5 bullet points, then you don’t know your topic well enough. Try again. And remember, you don’t have to put every darned thing that you are going to say on the page. When you do, people read ahead and you lose your audience. Put the salient points on the slide and then TALK the details.
Yea, I know that there are exceptions to the “content rule” that I’ve lived by. Technical presentations, by nature, tend to be longer and have more information on the slides. But as an executive, your job is to pare this down to the pertinent information for the audience.
Don’t know your audience? Again, err on the side of “less is more”. If you aren’t giving them the information they need, you will see it during the presentation.
Which brings me to “reading the audience” during a presentation. You absolutely must pay attention to what your audience is telling you, either with their questions or with their body language. Notice that I did not say, “reading to the audience”. Do not, and I really mean this, DO NOT read every bullet point on every one of your slides. This is insulting. The people you are presenting to very likely know how to read. They don’t need you to do that for them.
Part of reading your audience includes checking to see if they are paying attention. Is everyone doing the “blackberry prayer”? You know, where they hold their blackberry below the table, looking down to read and type….. If so, you really need to get their attention back. Silent pauses are a very good tool. If there is silence, people reflexively look up to see what is going on.
What about your presentation habits? Have you checked lately to see if you have developed any bad habits --- like jingling your change in your pocket (a real pet peeve of mine), or saying “um” or “like” every other sentence? How about your tone of voice --- is it grating? Patronizing? Do you move around the front of the room or are you glued to a podium? You really need a trusted friend or advisor watch you give a presentation occasionally and then give you honest feedback. Not always easy to hear, but helpful nonetheless.
And finally, you need to be able to “close the deal”. There must be a purpose to your presentation, right? You need approval, you need action, you need something. One of the very first things that you should tell your audience is “I’m here because I need this approval” or “I’m just sharing information” or “I need your help with this”. Tell them up front why they are there.
And then at the end of your presentation, go back to this slide. Do you know who the decision maker(s) in the room are? Look directly at them as ask for the approval or action or whatever. People don’t often say yes unless someone takes the time to ask. Most times you will get what you need at this point. And even if you don’t, you have started the conversation that will get you one step closer to what you need.
Cheers!
One of the skills in the model I created pertains directly to presentations (1-4-10 Let’s Talk). Public speaking is a critical skill for the executive. As I indicated in this earlier post, many times the new executive has been promoted because of (at least in part) his/her speaking skill.
Public speaking doesn’t just include your ability to get up in front of a group of people and give a pitch, although that IS a critical piece. It also includes your ability to craft the content of the pitch such that it fits with the topic and the audience. It includes your ability to monitor the room and alter your presentation on the fly so that you don’t lose your audience. And it is also your ability to “close the deal” when your pitch is over.
So what about that content? In my opinion, less is more. How many times have you endured a meeting that was nothing but “death by presentation”? Did you get anything out of it -- except a nap with your eyes open?? A very wise mentor once told me that my presentations should never take more than 5 slides, and never have more than 5 bullet points on each slide. In fact, one slide with 5 bullets for the entire pitch is ideal. If you can’t talk for 30 minutes off of 5 bullet points, then you don’t know your topic well enough. Try again. And remember, you don’t have to put every darned thing that you are going to say on the page. When you do, people read ahead and you lose your audience. Put the salient points on the slide and then TALK the details.
Yea, I know that there are exceptions to the “content rule” that I’ve lived by. Technical presentations, by nature, tend to be longer and have more information on the slides. But as an executive, your job is to pare this down to the pertinent information for the audience.
Don’t know your audience? Again, err on the side of “less is more”. If you aren’t giving them the information they need, you will see it during the presentation.
Which brings me to “reading the audience” during a presentation. You absolutely must pay attention to what your audience is telling you, either with their questions or with their body language. Notice that I did not say, “reading to the audience”. Do not, and I really mean this, DO NOT read every bullet point on every one of your slides. This is insulting. The people you are presenting to very likely know how to read. They don’t need you to do that for them.
Part of reading your audience includes checking to see if they are paying attention. Is everyone doing the “blackberry prayer”? You know, where they hold their blackberry below the table, looking down to read and type….. If so, you really need to get their attention back. Silent pauses are a very good tool. If there is silence, people reflexively look up to see what is going on.
What about your presentation habits? Have you checked lately to see if you have developed any bad habits --- like jingling your change in your pocket (a real pet peeve of mine), or saying “um” or “like” every other sentence? How about your tone of voice --- is it grating? Patronizing? Do you move around the front of the room or are you glued to a podium? You really need a trusted friend or advisor watch you give a presentation occasionally and then give you honest feedback. Not always easy to hear, but helpful nonetheless.
And finally, you need to be able to “close the deal”. There must be a purpose to your presentation, right? You need approval, you need action, you need something. One of the very first things that you should tell your audience is “I’m here because I need this approval” or “I’m just sharing information” or “I need your help with this”. Tell them up front why they are there.
And then at the end of your presentation, go back to this slide. Do you know who the decision maker(s) in the room are? Look directly at them as ask for the approval or action or whatever. People don’t often say yes unless someone takes the time to ask. Most times you will get what you need at this point. And even if you don’t, you have started the conversation that will get you one step closer to what you need.
Cheers!
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