by Beth Levine | Apr 17, 2017 | preparing for a presentation, procrastination, public speaking
The other day, as I was wrapping up part two of a three-part presentation skills training program, I gave the group their assignment for the mock presentations they are scheduled to deliver during the third and final phase. I think it’s fair to say that the 18 or so faces in front of me did not look excited, so I found myself saying: “Please don’t dread these presentations. They’re going to be much more fun and beneficial than you think. Look at them as an opportunity, a gift … yada yada yada.”
Ugh, since when did I become just like the dentist? That’s what the faces seemed to convey to me – the upcoming mock presentations evoked the same dread as impending dental work.
The reality for this group, however, is that being given the chance to work on their presentation skills in a safe, friendly, supportive environment is an opportunity and a gift. They are part of a leadership development program in their company and therefore have been identified as super high-potential professionals deemed worthy of the investment of time and money. Their skills are being cultivated in many areas critical to their future success, presentation skills being just one.
If I had been thinking on my feet a little better that day, I would not have said, “Please don’t dread these presentations.” Here’s what I would have said instead and here’s what everyone in a high-potential career situation needs to think about:
“Welcome to the big leagues! In the big leagues, you guys will go up against some of the best in the business, and there is no doubt your communication and presentation skills will be one of your key differentiators. So, let’s talk about you getting in the right head space for this next and final phase of our training.
No one in the big leagues wastes time dreading an at bat. Rather, they spend their time imagining a home run, being fully prepared to deliver a stellar performance, and embracing the moment when it comes. That’s what I want all of you to do as you get ready for your presentations – imagine success, prepare for it, and come into the room like it’s Opening Day and you are being given an opportunity to shine!”
That would have been a heck of a lot better than imploring the group not to dread it. Lesson learned … by me, this time!
by Beth Levine | Mar 15, 2017 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
Know your audience. You’ve heard this bit of presentation advice before, right?
At SmartMouth, we talk a lot about #audience-centricity. It’s a pretty simple concept: focus on your audience and consider things from their perspective. It’s our more specific version of know your audience.
But we probably don’t talk enough about how to know your audience and what to do if they’re a diverse group and want/need different things.
Let’s explore how to know your audience – especially when you don’t actually know them – from these 4 different angles:
1. First, ask, look and listen (our version of stop, drop and roll, if you will). Ask whoever is coordinating the meeting or event about the audience; find out what they know about the audience’s expectations, wants and needs. Do some research on your audience’s industry or organization so you know their issues and priorities (this is where Google really earns its stripes!). Then use what you learned – in other words, be sure to assimilate the intelligence you gather into your presentation.
2. Second, there are some audiences who come into the room with glaringly different interests, some audiences with a single common interest, and some that fall in between. You’re all set with the ones who have a common interest, no worries there. But when you know ahead of time that members of your audience are coming into the room with varying levels of receptiveness or knowledge about your topic – e.g. some hostile/some friendly or some well-versed/some newbies – then you’ve got a challenge on your hands. This is where #transparency will give you a boost!
By telling you to be transparent, I’m recommending that you call it out. Let the audience know you know (that there’s a challenging dynamic in the room) so they don’t have to worry whether you know or, worse, think you’re disconnected. For example, you might open with: “I’m looking forward to talking today about XYZ Initiative. I know this is a project that brings strong supporters and equally strong detractors into the room. My hope is that after my update, we can have a productive, constructive dialogue, honor each other’s opinions, and leave the room feeling like things are on track and everyone’s concerns will be taken into consideration.”
Or: “I’m looking forward to talking today about XYZ Initiative. I know this is a project that some of you are up to speed on and some of you are hearing about for the first time. I will do my best to strike a balance while I present this update. As I go through the material, I’m going to ask for patience from those of you already high on the learning curve, and I’m going to invite questions from those of you who are new to this. By the end, I’m hoping we can have a robust, productive dialogue about the project.”
3. Third, engage them, ask them questions. Dip into the audience for input. If your audience is of a manageable size and you haven’t had an opportunity, for whatever reason, to “ask, look and listen” before entering the room, ask, look and listen when you’re in the room. For example, even when I know my audience, I will often introduce my topic and then solicit the audience’s “goals” around the topic – i.e. questions, concerns, issues on their minds related to the topic. This gives me more specific insight into what’s in it for them and where I might want to adapt or adjust my presentation. The added benefit is that they feel heard, recognized and hopefully, by the end, satisfied.
4. Fourth, there are certain general things that almost every audience wants whether you know them or not. They want you to keep to the allotted time or (let’s face it, even better) to finish early. They want a presenter who is prepared versus one who is noticeably disjointed and delivering on the fly (your audience doesn’t want to be your sounding board, they want to be the real deal). They want to be noticed and included; they want you to acknowledge them, engage with them, be present with them.
In the end, it really comes down to moving yourself toward being audience-centric versus egocentric. Yes, you have an agenda and cool stuff to share. But your audience also has an agenda. And since success is in the eyes of the beholder – your audience – you’ll want to be sure to skew your presentation toward satisfying their agenda. If you’re able to do that, I’m going to bet you end up satisfying your own too.
Feel free to comment on this or reach out with a question, I’m always happy to discuss further or to help!
by Beth Levine | Feb 28, 2017 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
Communication tip #1,374 is this: Stop talking and start listening.
Communicating is a two-way street, a two-party system, so to speak. Yet in most discussions about communication skills, a disproportionate amount of time and focus (granted, I am guilty of this as well!) is spent on the output side. The input, or intake, side gets less attention.
What we’re talking about here is listening. Yup, we’re talking about communicating’s better half – the listening side of the equation. If you’re the speaker at a meeting or presentation, there’s a danger of preparing to “broadcast” but that’s only one half of your work at the front of the room.
Here are 3 tips on listening:
1. Employ what I like to call dynamic listening – listening with all of your senses, and listening before, during and after your meeting or presentation. In a nutshell: Listen, or pay attention, to your audience with not only your ears, but your eyes, your gut and intuition. And listen not only during your meeting or presentation, but before and after – by anticipating before and reflecting after. The goal here is to meet your audience’s needs, satisfy their interests, and create the best possible experience for them.
2. Especially during Q&A, listen for themes that reveal concerns and interests, rather than listening to specific words. Other people’s words can derail you, get you off message, and – the worst – potentially draw you into negative language. If you listen for the theme of someone’s question (or soapbox speech, which is okay too!), you will be more apt and able to take command of the reply and answer using your own positive, affirmative words as opposed to rehashing someone else’s potentially negative words.
3. For your own benefit and the benefit of the other person/people you are communicating with, use the therapists’ tried-and-true technique of active listening. Active listening involves fully listening for comprehension and restating back to a person what you understood their statement or question to be. This helps both parties in the communication. The speaker consciously listens in order to be able to repeat for confirmation – which aids their retention and comprehension. And the person who made the comment or asked the question feels heard and cared about – plus they have the opportunity to correct or adjust their point if it was misstated.
At the end of the day, it’s all about them – your audience – and not all about you. Therefore, the two sides of the communication coin are equally important in delivering a positive experience and good impression to your audiences.
Listen up and good luck out there!
by Beth Levine | Jan 18, 2017 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
Be yourself. For real. I mean it.
For some reason, public speaking conjures up thoughts and expectations – in speakers’ minds – of needing to adopt a certain persona other than their own. Not so. In fact, not preferable at all.
Let me explain why and hopefully relieve you from any conscious or subconscious thoughts about needing to be more or better than what you already are:
Authenticity. This is more than a buzzword. Your authenticity is what draws people to you, makes you likeable and credible. This is what you abandon, betray even, when you try to adopt a podium persona. On the one hand, authenticity reveals you; in the best sense, it shows your great traits, but then, yes, it possibly shows some of your not so great traits as well. On the other hand, authenticity shares you, it makes you real and relatable. Allowing oneself to be real and relatable is ultimately what makes a speaker compelling and appealing and effective.
Transparency. We live in a world where there are very few secrets. People can see and find out more about each other now than even five or 10 years ago. People share and post more about themselves now than they ever did. The net result from both sides of this equation is that audiences have a keen sense of what’s real and what’s not and so they can be quite skeptical and discerning. Audiences can sniff out BS these days faster than you can advance a slide. Just like authenticity, transparency can enhance your likeability and credibility. Being open, especially when it’s difficult or unexpected, will earn you points with audiences.
Good enough. The real you is good enough. Could you be better, more organized, more polished as a speaker? Sure, everyone can be. Should that stop you from getting up and speaking with confidence? No. You’re an adult, a professional, and you’re respected enough to be asked or invited to go the podium and speak. Embrace who you know you are – the good parts and the parts that are works in progress – and acknowledge to yourself that, though you may not be as great as you’d ideally like to be, you are pretty darn good, certainly good enough. And let that be the last thought you have before you approach the microphone!
by Beth Levine | Jan 4, 2017 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
You want to start the New Year off right … right?! 2016 was okay, but there’s always room for improvement … right?!
Most of us hit a personal reset button or two on the 1st of January. But even if you aren’t someone who makes specific resolutions, you probably still view the new year as a blank slate, a chance to start fresh.
Let me help you get off to a fresh start for your first presentation of the year by offering a SmartMouth Top 10 list on this first Wednesday of 2017:
10. You know this: Do your homework. Nothing drastic, just prepare ahead. If you think through your material rather than wing it, it will show and reflect well on you.
9. There’s no right or wrong, but there is better and worse. When in doubt, make decisions about your content, your visuals and the amount of time you’ll take based on your own experiences as an audience member. In other words, do unto others …
8. No one likes a windbag. Share the floor. Figure out ways to engage your audience and create opportunities for dialogue. Present, don’t broadcast.
7. Whatever you think is noticeable and distracting about you – your voice, hair, nose – it’s not. Unless you’re a paid spokesmodel, the audience isn’t paying attention to your specific physical features or your voice quality. They want to feel your confidence and hear your content.
6. Your content may be amazing, but your audience can only digest and retain some of it. Please prioritize all that great knowledge and information of yours so that you deliver something useful and memorable to your audience.
5. Present, the verb: to give something. Present, the noun: a gift. Figure out what you can give to your audience that would be a good gift – i.e. something new, useful, beneficial, valuable. Give them something good in exchange for their time and attention.
4. Your nerves are just adrenaline. They are your body’s way of surging positive energy for you to do a good job. Not to worry, studies show that nerves begin to dissipate after two minutes – that’s only 120 seconds.
3. Don’t dread your presentation, as if it’s some unpleasant obligation. Find your ambitious self and embrace your presentation as a great opportunity to advance – yourself, your organization or a goal. Go for it, don’t shrink from it.
2. Be organized: know your audience, know the lay of the land (number of people, room set-up, mic or no mic) as best you can, and know your desired outcome for the presentation. The first two help you envision what to expect. The third helps you know – if you prepare nothing else – how to set the audience’s expectations and where you need to get them by the end.
– and –
1. It’s all about them, it’s not about you. Your audience’s needs and experience supersede your own. Plan your presentation around them, not around yourself or your deep knowledge and expertise. Success is in the eye of the beholder, and that’s your audience. Make them #1.
by Beth Levine | Dec 6, 2016 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
It’s so funny that when someone achieves an admirable position or level of success, we use the phrase, “they’ve arrived.” The word “arrived” usually implies the end of a journey, but it’s often just the beginning of a new one.
People who rise to the top and assume leadership positions also assume an increasing – sometimes consuming – level of communication responsibilities. They find themselves needing to transition from their comfort zone of
doing and
overseeing, which they’ve done really well, to
talking … talking A LOT. They talk to educate, sell, inform, motivate, persuade, reassure, and influence.
To be effective – and, even more pressing these days, to be authentic – leaders who want to succeed as much at talking as they did at doing and overseeing would be well-advised to take a good, hard look down deep inside themselves and inventory what they’ve got – personal stories (or not), compelling messages (or not), front-of-the-room charisma (or not).
And then begins the real work, the real journey.
This is not just for leaders, everyone can benefit from digging deep, so here’s what you want to look for deep inside yourself:
What are your prime motivators? Really. Truly. What drives you? Even if it feels unrelated to the work you do, describe it, share it. Was there someone who inspired or mentored you? Was there an influencing event or situation from your childhood? If it’s real and it’s you, it’s relevant.
What are your biggest holdbacks? Flaws, even? Self-awareness is a winning connector with any audience, just as self-deprecation is the safest form of humor with any audience. But seriously, think about the blocks and hurdles you place in your own way, or think about the traits you sometimes exhibit that aren’t so flattering. Are you willing to call yourself out and share them? Can you tie them to a lesson learned? If it’s real and it’s you, it’s relevant.
What excites you about your work? What scares you? What keeps you up at night? How do you view and feel about your team? If it’s real and it’s you, it’s relevant.
What’s your
why? With so many people wanting meaningful, fulfilling, purposeful work, it’s important to be able to articulate
why. The why we do what we do has become the new mission, vision and values of the old days.
And finally, what’s your personal communication style? Are you comfortable at the front of the room or uncomfortable? What self-perceptions are you holding onto that no longer serve you or that are no longer accurate? Can you let go of them and can you use positive imagery to re-imagine yourself as a more engaging speaker? What aspects of your presence are you comfortable with or confident in – voice, posture, hands, body language? Can you emphasize what works for you, what you like, and then work on the rest?
No matter what level of success you achieve, the journey of being an effective, engaging, connecting, communicator will be ongoing, so to access what you need to use to be at your best, dig deep!
