public speaking | SmartMouth Communications

Your First Presentation of the Year

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?!

63236422 - art 2017 happy new years eve background

Most of us hit a personal reset button or two on the 1^st 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.

Digging Deep

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!

Nerves Again

by Beth Levine | Oct 31, 2016 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking

shutterstock_310520624 Nerves versus focus. Dread versus opportunity.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article on calming nerves before a presentation by Amy Jen Su of Paravis Partners, Amy cites a few tidbits of insight and advice I offered when she interviewed me for the article several weeks ago. One of my quotes surprised even me as I was saying it, as it actually highlighted a new twist on how to view and manage nerves.

Here’s the excerpt: Levine advises, “Think of a quarterback playing in his first Super Bowl game. Yes, he may be nervous, but he’s not dreading it or seeing it as an obligation. He’s seeing it as a great opportunity that he’s ready to sink his teeth into. The nerves are a signal that this is something that matters to him.”

What is not new about what I said is that a mindset shift – more to the positive side of things – can be incredibly helpful. Usually that mindset shift involves thinking positively about performing well or about the audience assuming you’ll be successful.

What is new about what I said is that the mindset shift should be more specific – from dreading a presentation or looking at it as an obligation and something you need to simply survive to looking forward to it as a challenge to be conquered and an opportunity to shine.

In other words, your nervousness is not a block or an annoyance, it’s a signal that you have a great opportunity ahead of you to show your stuff. For more insights, read the article here.

Give Voice

by Beth Levine | Oct 19, 2016 | public speaking

At SmartMouth we talk a lot about content, in particular how to structure and present it, but once you have that down, you need start thinking about your physical presence. One of the most important aspects of your physical presence is your voice. Your voice literally sets the tone of your presentation and, if done properly, connects your audience to you. Your voice also establishes your credibility and trustworthiness.

Now, the problem with the physical aspects of communicating is that everyone has different mannerisms and physical characteristics, and we don’t believe in forcing everyone to fit a certain mold. What works for one person, doesn’t always work for another. However, how you use your voice is something that can be relatively easily modified and have a big impact.

There are three key tips that we give our clients to help engage the audiences with their voice:

Modulate your voice. Avoid speaking in a monotone. Regularly adjust the tone, volume, and pitch of your voice. The audience needs change to draw their attention back to you. That can be something as simple as walking around the room or changing a slide, but your voice is one of the most effective ways to draw the audience’s attention back to you. Also, monotone suggests to the audience that you’re bored and don’t care. And why should they care if you don’t sound like you do?
Match your voice to your words and the moment. When you are talking about something sad or happy, make sure your tone matches the emotion. You would be surprised how often people use a tone that is inappropriate for the moment. For example, people often think that delivering bad news, like job cuts, in an upbeat tone will make the news sound better. But the reality is that it makes it worse and alienates the audience. It will seem inappropriate and insincere to the audience. Your goal as a speaker should be to empathize with your audience, be as real as possible, and not confuse or potentially anger them.
Don’t fall into a rhythm. A constant rhythm or tempo runs the risk of putting people into a trance. You will want to adjust your speed. Sometimes you will want to speak slowly and other times you will want to speak a little faster (never too fast, of course!). You will also want to use pauses so your audience can digest or mull over important points. It can be a dramatic pause too, allowing you to create suspense or emphasis. Tempo is a powerful tool to make sure the audience does not drift away from you.

A good voice is like a good story. It has highs and lows, suspense and excitement, and slow parts and fast parts. Your voice, like your body language, is a critical delivery tool, so use it to your advantage!

The Foolproof Five

by Beth Levine | Sep 21, 2016 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking

More often than not, what makes people freeze before a big presentation is the nagging question, “Am I even doing this right?” and its companion, the fear of embarrassment.

I’m always taken aback when smart, successful, otherwise confident people reveal that they’re afraid to make a fool of themselves. I would never have guessed in most cases.

Trust me when I say that no one is “a natural” at speaking and presenting; even the best of the best think about it, worry, and work at it. Regardless of your style or your comfort level with public speaking, it’s wise to consider some core guiding principles for yourself as a speaker.

Below are five foolproof principles of being an effective speaker or presenter that will give you the confidence to know you’re “doing it right,” and will leave your audience quite impressed.

The five principles are:

Audience-centricity
Transparency
Graciousness
Brevity
Preparedness

Taken together, they send two really important messages about you to your audience:

That you care about and respect them.
That you’re real and therefore credible and trustworthy.

Audience-centricity
It may be a new term to you, yet it’s probably the most fundamental of the five principles. Simply put, audience-centricity is making the audience’s interests and experience a top priority in the planning and execution of a talk.

Too many speakers prepare and deliver what is important and interesting to themselves without enough careful considerations of their listeners. Being audience-centric is a mindset shift that encourages the speaker to prepare and deliver content in a way that will matter to and resonate with the audience.

Transparency
It is exactly what you think it is; it’s about being open and direct — yes, and honest, too. Transparency is critical. It contributes to the levels of sincerity and trust that are accorded to you by your audience.

Graciousness
It is the art, skill, and willingness to be kind-hearted, fair and polite. As motivators and influencers, love and peace work far better than anger and war. Speaking in positives rather than negatives leaves lasting, favorable impressions.

Brevity
Brevity is a crowd-pleaser and needs no further introduction.

Preparedness
Preparedness speaks for itself as well. The unprepared speaker is the one who is most likely to be long-winded, not to mention unfocused. While the mere thought of preparation might bring feelings of dread, the feeling of approaching the front of the room ill-prepared is far worse – and it shows.

Success is in the eye of the beholder – your audience. Show care and respect, be real, and your audience is much more likely to listen, like you, and be impressed.

[Excerpted in part from Jock Talk: 5 Communication Principles for Leaders as Exemplified by Legends of the Sports World, www.jocktalkbook.com]

WIIFM

by Beth Levine | Sep 6, 2016 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking, smartmouth talks!

WIIFM. What’s in it for me? This is the universal question every audience member is asking themselves when they’re attending a meeting, sitting through a presentation, or listening to a speech.

WIIFM has become a popular acronym in business. It’s a reminder to business people that whatever it is they’re talking about – or let’s face it, sometimes huckstering! – they need to consider the unique needs and interests of their audience and direct their remarks so they convey the potential benefits to their audience, especially if those benefits may not be obvious.

You know from your own firsthand experience as an audience member that WIIFM runs through your own head plenty of times, that you want something in return for your time and attention, and that you feel more satisfied, more impressed (with the speaker), more “heard” and valued when you get something out of a talk.

Conscious or subconscious, people are waiting to have their self-interests met. Sometimes the “me” is more like an “us” – a collective me, as in “okay, what’ve you got to give us?” – because the group has a common self-interest. Regardless of whether it’s individual or collective, the bottom line is this: You, the speaker have a topic and an objective. The audience has a self-interest. Your work is to bring those two factors into alignment. If you can do this, it will always, always, always serve you well.

So, if you’re the speaker, here are 3 simple ways to think about addressing your audience’s WIIFM:

New. Given your topic, is there a new angle or twist? An update or a surprising bit of news? Do you have something that other people don’t know yet? Something this audience hasn’t heard or considered yet?

Useful. Given your topic, is there an application this audience could use? Can you help them sort through or think through a common problem in some way? Do you have a solution to something they face?

Beneficial. Given your topic – and, more importantly, given what keeps your audience up at night – what is it that you have that will help them? What is it about your topic that will benefit your audience? Is there a silver lining for them? A net gain?

The companion acronym to WIIFM, in SmartMouth vernacular, is IAAT – It’s all about them! No matter what, your audience’s needs and interests and experience reign supreme. Think through what you have that’s new or useful or beneficial to them, and plan accordingly for your next turn at the front of the room!