Brevity. Period.

by Beth Levine | Mar 18, 2015 | smartmouth talks!

Brevity.

One really easy and effective technique for keeping yourself on a diet of short and sweet is to think about talking less and engaging more – making your presentations more of a give and take. For example, make a point and then open up the floor for questions or discussion. Besides creating a change in stimulus, this gives you two other advantages: It provides you with feedback on your audience’s level of understanding and buy-in; and it gives you insight into their biases and self-interests, both of which you need to know to achieve your desired outcome. I often encourage clients to use this technique when they’ve been asked to speak for an hour. Knowing full well that an audience can hang in there for maybe 20 minutes at a time, I encourage people to switch it up and take a Q & A break after each topic section of their presentation, rather than saving audience comments and questions for the end.

Another way to enforce brevity on yourself is to be a minimalist in your preparation. By that, I mean limit your written preparation to some simple bullet points. Once you get involved in writing a script for yourself, you become more and more wedded to the actual words you’ve written and the detail you’ve fleshed out in your script. I have found that some people need to start with a full-text script for their preparation and then work their way down to bullet points, once they’re comfortable enough and familiar enough with the direction and content of their talk. That’s great, too.

Ultimately, if you walk into a room with just the bullet points, you’ll be less attached to the beautiful words and sentences you wrote and you’ll be able to be more present with your audience. This is not to say that there aren’t times that call for a full-text script; there may well be. But be aware that a script can shift you and your attention more to delivering what’s on the paper than to connecting with the audience.

[Excerpted from Jock Talk: 5 Communication Principles for Leaders as Exemplified by Legends of the Sports World, http://amzn.to/1vkcxjz]

Short & Sweet

by Beth Levine | Feb 18, 2015 | smartmouth talks!

Let’s face it, when you hear those three words – in relation to a meeting, speech or presentation – it’s like music to your ears, right?

Now ask yourself this: When was the last time you complained because a speaker or a meeting finished early? Probably never? Let’s go with never.

Regardless of how brilliant or compelling a speaker’s material is, audiences get downright annoyed when speakers are long-winded or go over their allotted time. In these cases, even if the content is stellar, the takeaway is a less-than-stellar impression. When people use the words “brief and to the point” to describe a speaker or presenter’s performance, it is usually high praise.

In fact, in my coaching practice, executives often come to me for help in “becoming more concise” or “making a point succinctly.” Those are common goals for coaching engagements, and it’s because the inability to be more concise or to make a point succinctly can be a career blocker. The opposite is also true; brevity can enhance a career.

Think about being that person, the one who finishes early. You know you appreciate it, so your audience surely will as well!

[Excerpted from Jock Talk: 5 Communication Principles for Leaders as Exemplified by Legends of the Sports World, http://amzn.to/1vkcxjz]

Positives First

by Beth Levine | Feb 5, 2015 | smartmouth talks!

Just like an alley-oop pass to a teammate, “lobbing one to the other guy” can also score points. Being gracious in your communications is often unexpected in certain circumstances and can therefore be unnerving to the competition or opposition.

In my work with political candidates, I’ve seen that “making love and peace, not hate and war” works best when it comes to rhetoric. Audiences—in this case, voters—can be put off by the negativity and confrontations that candidates often engage in during debates or media interviews. It can be a turnoff. On the other hand, they seem willing to listen and offer support if the candidate sounds more positive.

Let me share a bit of advice I always give candidates. There are some basic questions they need to be prepared to answer, including, “How are you different from your opponent?” My advice is to first address the similarities—that is, to list a few admirable traits they both have in common – and then get to the parts where they differ. So, the answer might go something like this: “Candidate X and I are both extremely family-oriented and dedicated public servants who want the best for all residents in terms of jobs and education for our children, but we see some of the issues a little differently . . .” A little alley-oop – and then the slam dunk!

Here you can see the rule of first impressions at play. If you come out swinging and then soften up, people are likely to remember the swinging. If you come out gently and graciously and then take subtle swings, the graciousness is likely to stick. Positives first.

[Excerpted from Jock Talk: 5 Communication Principles for Leaders as Exemplified by Legends of the Sports World, http://amzn.to/1vkcx]

The Positive Power of Graciousness

by Beth Levine | Jan 21, 2015 | smartmouth talks!

When communicationg around challenges, loss, difficulties, or outright defeat, hitting notes of graciousness is hard. There may be hurt, anger, or deep disappointment involved, all of which can cloud a person’s ability to be his or her best self. Or there may be intense competition in the air, which also makes clearheaded, articulate graciousness more difficult to draw on. Finding it somehow, even under these circumstances, is what distinguishes you as a leader. 

Yes, it may be difficult to get to higher ground, but speakers sound more appealing when they’re communicating positive and hopeful messages rather than negative and angry ones. They’re more likely to get things done, too, in that carrot-versus-stick way. In a study of the qualities and impact of positive and negative words publishes by EPJ Data Science in 2012, it was noted “that the process of communication between humans, which is know to optimizw information transfer also creates a bias towards positive emotional content… The expression of positive emotions increases the level of communication and strengthens social links.” The study found that the frequency of usage for positive words is higher than for negative words, but that negative words carry more information, becuase they serve a different purpose, namely, “that of transmitting highly informati ve and relevant events,” such as a threat or danger. Positive words, on the other hand, lead to more cooperation. 

If we step back, then, and look at the types of communications leaders are most often engaged in –motivating, inspiring, selling, persuading, influencing — we find an imperative for more positive words and phrasing. Leaders are responsible for cultivating teams and for maintaining and building their franchise, the brand, and the business. As former Chrysler CEO Lee Lacocca once said, “Management is nothing more than motivating people.”

[Excerpted from Jock Talk: 5 Communication Principles for Leaders as Exemplified by Legends of the Sports World, http://amzn.to/1vkcxjz]

Holiday Greetings!

by Beth Levine | Dec 16, 2014 | smartmouth talks!