The Strategic Communicator » Public Speaking

Presentation Mistakes: The Show Must Go On!

Sharí Alexander — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:49:28 +0000

Ooops!

I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all seen it done. You’re giving a presentation and something goes wrong. The papers are out of order. The slide has the wrong font. The projector shuts off. You trip on an electrical chord. The list can go on and on. But the show must go on!

No matter how many times you may run into it, it is always a mortifying experience when something goes wrong in your presentation. You’ve worked hard on preparing and you want the presentation to be perfect. But when it comes to presentations, there is no such thing as perfection! If you are like me and you strive for the perfect presentation, release yourself from that burden right now. Something won’t go right. It’s the nature of the beast.

In theatre, actors spend weeks and countless hours to get a show production top notch. Then they preform the same show 8 times a week. Even with all of that meticulous effort, something always goes wrong. An actor misses his cue. The curtain closes too soon. There’s a wardrobe malfunction. No matter how big the mistake, actors know one thing: the show must go on. They refuse to break the illusion of the show. They pretend as if the mistake was supposed to happen or they ignore it completely and continue on. Actors know that if they draw attention to the mistake, then the audience won’t be able to focus on anything else but the mistake. The show must go on.

You need to use this same philosophy in your presentations. Perfection doesn’t exist, but don’t draw attention to the mistake! If the wrong slide pops up, don’t say, “Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. I don’t know how that happened. Stupid PowerPoint. I don’t know how it skipped that slide.” Don’t draw attention! Instead, if the wrong slide appears, all you have to say is, “One moment please” and find the right slide. Or better yet, don’t say anything at all and just go find the right slide!

Just like actors in a show, you don’t want to break the illusion. You want to appear confident, credible, and in control. When you point out mistakes and dwell on them, the illusion is broken.

When I see a presenter continually getting flustered at a mistake, the rest of the presentation is like a “Where’s Waldo” game for the audience. When will the next mistake appear? Where will it be? Will I catch it before he does? Don’t let this happen to you. Your show must go on!

Now, if you are the type of person who can’t help themselves and must comment on a mistake, the best thing you can do is have a pre-planned one-liner. Some of the best speakers have one-line humorous responses for common presentation mistakes. In my next article, I will share such one-line responses. If already have one, leave a comment with your one-liner and I’ll put it in the article!

Speaking with an Edge

Sharí Alexander — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:51:00 +0000

Every speaker seeks to make a difference in the lives of their listeners. Even if only one person gets an a-ha moment, it is well worth it. As a speech coach, my clients often ask me if there is some key or technique that can help increase the a-ha moments in their speech. They mistakenly think that if they add one more step in their 5-step process the audience will get it. Or if they create a crafty acronym, that will make a difference. Or if they sing a song or add a poem, the audience will feel a stronger connection to their message. While each of these can be helpful in a speech for other reasons, they are not the key to creating a meaningful connection between an audience member and the message. In order to accomplish that, the speaker needs to dig a bit deeper.

A strong bond is formed along ragged edges

Recently I attended a seminar at the National Speakers Association. Our speaker was Francis Bologna. While his program focused on finances for small businesses, he had amazing insights on life, relationships, and people. One pearl of wisdom that stuck with me when he said, “As people, we don’t really bond together along the smooth edges. Where we truly bong is at the ragged edges.” In other words, what we typically present to the world are our smooth edges. We smile regularly. When asked how we are, we instinctively say “fine”. We keep a pleasant demeanor about us at all times. This is how we make acquaintances and fair-weather relationships. But when we show our ragged edges, that’s when we find true and meaningful relationships with others. The ragged edges are the struggles of looking for a job. The pain of being overweight. The worry for a delinquent child. The fear of not reaching our dreams.

When we share our ragged edges, we connect with others and their ragged edges. We all have pain, worry, frustration, disappointment, and fear. When we hide that part of our being, we cannot make meaningful connections with others. When we hide our own personal truth, all we are doing is polishing up our edges, smoothing them out so that we can slip by others and go unnoticed.

As speakers, our success relies on the ragged edges. We hold the privilege of the platform in order to connect with people. If you only present your smooth edges, you will slip by and forever be forgotten. However, if your goal is to make a lasting change in the lives of your audience members, you must be comfortable with shedding your pride, your ego, and your embarrassment. It is only when you reveal your humanness – your ragged edges – that your audience can then look inside themselves, acknowledge their own ragged edges and feel as though they are not alone. That is when a bond is truly formed.

Think of a puzzle. If the pieces are smooth with no bumps or gaps, when you lay the pieces next to each other, the slightest shift will adjust the pieces and they are no longer aligned. They are easily pulled apart. But if the pieces have spaces and ridges, then they snap in place and they hold on tight to one another, A much greater force is needed to break the bond between them. The same goes for you and your message.

When your speech reveals the spaces, the ridges, the gaps, and the bumps, then that piece of your message finds its way into the heart of someone who has the same ragged piece. They will forever remember that message, remember that lesson, and remember that moment. Nothing can take away that bond between your message and their heart.

The next time you give your speech, don’t be afraid to reveal the ragged edges. Know that what you are afraid of will be the very thing that makes a lasting difference in the life of someone else. If you truly desire to connect, bond, and make a positive change for someone else, share your ragged edges.

How to Pump Yourself Up Before a Presentation During a Slump

Sharí Alexander — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:17:58 +0000

The day will come when you have to give a great presentation and you’re not feelin’ your mojo. In this podcast I cover 5 tricks I use to bring up my energy and feel my best before getting on the platform.

Improving Presentation Skills Without Judgment

Sharí Alexander — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:18:26 +0000

Ever wondered how weight loss is just like presentation skills? No? Me neither – until today.

This month I re-started a very rigorous work out routine (P90X). This is my second time with the 90 day program. I only made it through 60 days at the beginning of this year. Since then, I’ve worked out occasionally, but within the last few weeks I’ve hardly worked out at all and have enjoyed many tasty foods. I’m sure you can imagine the result.

I have been thinking about beginning the workout program for quite a while now, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Why? Because I was judging myself. I was disappointed with myself and my inactivity. I felt ashamed. And, honestly, I was afraid. I was afraid of feeling like a failure if I tried and realized how far I had fallen from where I was.

I finally was able to start the difficult workout all over again a few days ago because I gave myself one rule: NO JUDGMENT. All of my fears, insecurities, and worries stemmed from the judgments I was placing on myself. I deemed myself to be out of shape, weak, and a gooey mushy blob (at least in my head). But once I released myself from the grips of my own judgment, I allowed myself to just do the process.

It was still tempting to let my judgments creep in my mind. In my “workout room” (aka the living room), there is a mirror in which that I would occasionally catch my reflection. Every time I caught a glimpse of the imperfections I told myself, “No judgment. Keep going.”

This is the exact same process you need to take if any fears, worries, or concerns are holding you back from improving your public speaking skills. If you allow your preemptive judgments of yourself to stand in your way of taking chances, presenting at your next business meeting or taking the platform at your trade association, you will never give yourself the freedom to grow and improve.

Make a rule for yourself: NO JUDGMENT.

If you stutter, forget your place, wander too much on the platform, get your papers shuffled up, or even accidentally trip – no judgment. There will be time later to debrief yourself on what went well and what could have been improved, but don’t stop yourself before you start.

Stay in the moment. Focus on the process, not on the potential future outcomes. Once you give a speech or step out of your comfort zone in any way, give yourself a big pat on the back! (I used to reward myself with ice-cream, but I guess I need to find a new reward as I continue the workout…dang!) Each time you give a speech, run a meeting, host a webinar, or lead a training session, put a gold star in your calendar because that’s an accomplishment. Just doing it is an accomplishment in and of itself. I don’t care if you have the worst presentation of your life! You did it! And you learned from it. Next time you’ll do better.

While I work on developing my fitness by working the process and doing the workouts, I want you to develop your public speaking skills by focusing on doing more presentations and stepping out of your comfort zone. Focus and just do the process.

In fact, if you give a presentation, speak in front of any group, or reach outside your comfort zone, I want you to leave a comment here. Share your accomplishments with our community! I look forward to hearing about your process with no judgments!

Sharing Your Lessons from Tough Times

Sharí Alexander — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:21:02 +0000

Latest Podcast from Shari’ Alexander:

Your greatness is born from tough times. In this episode, Shari’ Alexander shares how to turn your current struggles into a great story someday.

Professional Presentation Tips

Sharí Alexander — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:48 +0000

What makes a great speech great? Creating a new presentation or speech can feel like a daunting task, but we can never get frustrated and give up. Slapping together a few points and sticking them on a PowerPoint won’t be beneficial to you or your audience. So much can be gained from a great speech, and yet so many people don’t even come close to receiving the amazing results a speech can provide. Recognition, promotion, a raise, more sales, warm leads, increased inquiries, referrals, more spin-off business, and so much more.

Weak presentations are the result of poor (or misguided) preparation.

Weak presentations lead to weak results.

Here are 5 Lessons to always keep in mind when developing a speech. Great speakers never forget these:
1. Make Your Topic Specific Make the topic of your speech as specific as possible. Leadership is not a specific topic. It is too broad and expansive to be effectively covered in one speech. However, leadership techniques to use in a crisis situation is a very specific topic. The more narrow your speech topic, the easier it will be to develop the main talking points for that speech. A clear topic will help you entice and engage your audience.

Side note: It’s always best if you’re passionate about the topic. Even if you are assigned a presentation that doesn’t get you riled up, perhaps you can find an angle in the presentation that gets you pumped about delivering the message. Is there a personal perspective you can add? I bet there is!

2. Break Away Set your speech apart by making it different. Not all speeches have to be the same. Add more activity, choose unique stories, add off-the wall humor, incorporate different forms of media, wear a costume, play games, do impersonations,…something different. There’s no need to be different just for the sake of being different, but too often people miss some great creative opportunities for their presentation because they are too wrapped up and worried about how to conform to the status quo. Some people think that since presentations within their company/organization have always followed a particular pattern, that pattern is the way all presentations must be conducted. Not always the case! Speaking is fun when you can add your personality into the speech and style. When looking for ways to be different, you might stumble upon some wonderful ways to illustrate your points – you’ll never know unless you look for them.

3. You are the Message Audiences value their time, and (I’m sorry to say it) they are judgmental. We live in a world where we do “kill” the messenger. If your message falls flat, you’re right behind it. Never forget, a part of your reputation is on the line. They probably won’t say anything to your face. Instead, what is more likely to happen, the next time there is an opportunity to speak in front of clients, prospect, or colleagues, your name will be passed by. Your loss. This doesn’t mean that you should shy away from speaking opportunities, instead this should help motivate you to work more diligently on creating a great presentation and not take the opportunity for granted.

4. Connect No presentation is successful without a sincere connection with the audience. While you have the honor to speak in front of a group of people, no matter how big or how small, the moment isn’t about you. It’s about them. How are you helping them? How will you make them feel better? What will you help them understand? Connection is the backbone of any great presentation. You’ll be amazed at the numerous meaningful and reciprocal connections that are can be made after ever speech.

5. Become a Student of Speaking The beauty if public speaking, or any form of communication, is that you can never stop learning. We all can always be a little bit better. Search the web for professional speakers. Look at the videos of speakers at the National Speakers Association (nsaspeaker.org). See what the best are doing. Every time you watch someone speak, ask yourself, “What one thing can I learn about their presentation that I can incorporate in my next speech?” Just look for one thing. The more you know about what works and why, they more you can adjust and improve your speaking skills.

Why Meetings (and Meeting Presentations) Matter

Sharí Alexander — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:01:28 +0000

Meeting Presentations Matter to the Bottom Line

Meetings and effective meeting presentations matter more than ever.

I recently stumbled upon some interesting statistics about the ROI organizations receive from coordinating their large company-wide meetings at the Meetings Mean Business site – http://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com/.

With the unfortunate economic downturn, companies and other organizations drastically cut back on their meetings. And as the statistics below demonstrate, these organizations could be doing themselves more harm than good by canceling such gatherings.

Meetings Mean Business:
1. For every dollar invested in business travel, companies realize $12.50 in incremental revenue.
2. More than half of business travelers stated that 5-20% of their company’s new customers were the result of trade show participation.
3. According to business travelers across all industries, 25% of existing customers and 28% of revenue could be lost to competitors if customers were not met in-person.

Face-to-face conversations, networking, and presentations obviously lead to wonderful business opportunities. So if your company is thinking about canceling any important event in the near future, provide them with this information and other enlightening facts found at www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com.

Effective Business Communications and Twitter

Sharí Alexander — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:00:18 +0000

When Twitter first came on the scene, I must admit I thought it was ridiculous. 140 characters to say something. What in the world could you have to say that’s worth saying in 140 characters? Well, I’ve been converted to the Twitter world.

After posting through the restrictive medium, I have found communication through Twitter to be fascinating. Especially when you compare how much CAN be said in 140 characters vs. how very little is said in meetings that last over 2 hours. I believe Twitter has taught us to be more specific, succinct, and powerful in our communications.

In my business presentation training, I teach there is power in brevity.

“I have a dream.” | “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” | and more recently “Yes we can.” … All in less than 140 characters! These guys were way ahead of their time, in more ways than one!

William Henry Harrison

And just to prove the point, on a rainy day in 1841 President William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural speech in American history (8,444 words) and 31 days later died of pneumonia – thus serving the shortest presidency in history.

So, not only is there power in brevity, but it can save your life!

Public Speaking Coach: Creating a Successful Relationship

Sharí Alexander — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:13 +0000

As a Public Speaking Coach who works with various public figures on their public speaking, I find the dynamic of the coaching relationship fascinating from client to client. Every client is unique in their wants, needs, challenges, and goals.

Earlier this year Harvard Business Review posted some interesting findings on why coaches are called. They found that ten years ago executive coaches were hired to fix “toxic behavior”; however, now coaches are being hired to develop skills and improve potential. This is probably why we have seen speech coaches hired more and more. Couple this finding with the fact that communication skills ranks high in necessary leadership skills and you have a growing need.

So when it comes to speech coaching, how can both the client and the coach create a successful relationship?

1) Motivation

As the survey shows, the client must be motivated to change and improve. The coaching relationship will come to a screeching halt if the client isn’t motivated and willing to make changes. In a speech coaching relationship, this means trying new approaches and tactics, doing the homework, practicing, and taking an honest look at their communication style and effectiveness. Continuous push-back does not facilitate growth and improvement.

2) Trust

There needs to be complete trust between the client and their speech coach. When you either reach a certain level of fame or rank within your organization, fewer and fewer people will give you their honest opinions, especially when it comes to speeches and how meetings were run. No one wants to feel the backlash of upsetting the “the big guy” (or gal). That’s why the client needs to trust the coach to give them honest and educated feedback.

3) Work

Hiring a good public speaking coach isn’t the same as hiring a speech writer. Speech writers will give you the words to say. A speech coach works with you on anything from developing the message of a speech, setting goals for the speech, the delivery of the speech, measuring the effectiveness of the speech, the persuasive power of the speech, and the follow up communications after the speech. Needless to say there is a bit more effort involved for the client than just reading words on a page. Plus, the return on investment is much higher because the client is developing a skill-set that will serve him/her for the rest of their career, improve their leadership abilities, create an improved corporate culture, increase positive publicity,…the list can go on and on.

That’s it. Only 3 main ingredients, but all three need to be present in order to create the best speech coaching relationship possible.

Presenting Your Best Self

Sharí Alexander — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:00:39 +0000

I’m sure I’m not the only person who does this:

The other day my friend called and asked if she could drop by for lunch. I said, “Sure!” She said, “Great, I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” So, for the next ten minutes, what did I do? I cleaned! I ran around like crazy picking things up, wiping things down, putting things in tidy piles, and throwing the rest in the bedroom.

Why did I do it? Because I wanted to project my best self to my friend. Even though the “natural state” of my home is a bit unorganized, I wanted her to feel as comfortable as possible in my house. Granted, she would have understood if the place wasn’t perfectly tidy, but I wanted it to look nice for her.

This is often the same situation we find ourselves in when we meet someone for the first time, give a seminar, or are trying to pitch an idea or product to someone. Even though our “natural” state is nervous and wracked with insecurities, we want to project our best self to the listening party. We communicate confidence by sitting up straight, talking in a confident tone of voice, and taking our time to gather our thoughts and communicate intelligently.

Just as my friend would understand if my home was a bit messy, our audiences might understand if we are a bit nervous in various situations. However, it is a sign of respect to present our best self to our business colleagues. We we are project our best selves, it makes our listeners much more comfortable than if we display our nervousness. Plus, we get better business results when we do!