Mastering the art of presenting—and it is an art—takes training, practice and experience. It’s also a vital component of any business career, and you owe it to yourself to improve your speaking skills whenever and however you can. However, your immediate concern isn’t what you’re going to say next week, or next month, or next year. It’s what you’re going to say tomorrow.

Maybe I can wing it, you think to yourself. Then reality hits and you realize winging it isn’t going to work, and you’re totally out of options. But don’t panic. Help is at hand.

Here are some tips that will make you a better speaker overnight. 

Get Your Thoughts On Track.

If your inner voice is telling you you’re going to fail, don’t listen. Instead of picturing yourself as stumbling and unprepared, change that picture and change your thoughts. What would it be like to be a great speaker? How would it feel? What would you say and do? Then picture yourself in that role—calm and self-contained, comfortable in your own skin, able to think on your feet and handle anything unexpected that comes your way. Concentrate fully and expect to succeed. Disciplined mental focus is the ideal performance state. It is the starting point for the mastery of any skill, and presentation skills are no exception.

Serve Your Audience.

Now it’s time to turn your thoughts to your audience. Your presentation must be designed to meet the needs of the people listening to you. Who are they? How can you help them?  Don’t try to be profound or impress them with your knowledge and expertise. Speak in language they will understand, and keep it conversational, with short sentences and small words. Honor them by looking at them, speaking directly to them, and watching them for feedback. In turn they will give you courtesy and respect.

Organize Your Material.

Decide on the three most important points you want to make. Surround those points with evidence: facts, data, statistics. Introduce some good examples and stories that add a personal touch. If you must incorporate slides, decide where to put them and get them in order. Create a brief introduction that tells the audience why you’re giving them this information and what’s in it for them. Add a short summary at the end, give them an action step or two . . . and you’re home free.

Put Life In Your Delivery.

In describing a speaker, someone once said, “His voice was so monotonous that if it were measured on an EKG, he would be pronounced dead.”  Put life into your voice. Vary the pitch and volume for a livelier sound. Emphasize key words and speak at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow. Keep your body loose and your gestures free and easy. If you can include these qualities in your presentation, it will make it easier for your audience to connect with you and hear what you have to say.

Speaking is a lot like golf: You can spend hours improving your game, but sometimes a minor adjustment to your swing can make everything fall into place. By focusing on any one of the above suggestions, your overall technique will improve. If you incorporate them all, tomorrow’s presentation will be a winner.

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I was getting ready to leave when a woman came up to me. “Oh, that was so wonderful,” she gushed. “I just don’t know how you do it. I could never give a speech, I’m just too afraid, I know I would die right on the spot.”

Okay, so maybe they hadn’t paid such close attention. I had just delivered a talk on how to become a confident, dynamic speaker. Yet here she was, incapable of entertaining the thought of doing it herself.

The fear of public speaking is still high on the list of universal fears. Once people have experienced a bad case of stage fright, they are terrified of ever being in that position again. So the fear of being afraid takes hold, and paralysis sets in. This does not have to be. At VoicePro® we have been remarkably successful in helping workshop participants get over their fears—from nervous jitters to outright panic. Here’s how you can do it too.

Pay attention to your audience.

The biggest mistake speakers make is that they are more concerned about their own fate than that of the people in the audience. Here are some of the thoughts that go through the minds of uptight speakers: How am I doing? What if I screw up in front of my peers? Am I succeeding? Am I failing?

Notice how all these thoughts focus back in on self. When your major concern is for your own well-being, the pressure builds, and you feel more and more out of control.

Instead, turn your attention to your audience. Ask yourself what information you have that will be of benefit to them. How can you help them be better at their jobs? Look at them. See them as individuals. The more you think about the other guy, the less time and energy you will have worrying about yourself.

Be ready.

Preparation is another important component in the fight against stage fright. Organize your thoughts into a key word outline (see VoicePro’s Persuasive Model). Keep it conversational. Use short sentences and small words. I once coached an executive whose opening sentence, which he read from a manuscript, contained 67 words. It was no wonder he started off on the wrong foot and went downhill from there.

I can’t stress enough the value of practice. Often business speakers creat their PowerPoint slides, close their laptop, and think they’re ready. Not so. A couple of out-loud run-throughs before an imaginary audience will allow you to get your stumbles out of the way in rehearsal, paving the way for a smooth effort when performance time comes.

Breathe.

At VoicePro®, we place great emphasis on breathing. It helps quell the jitters when the stakes are high and you need superior communication and speaking skills.

Breath is the magic ingredient in every performance discipline, from speaking to dance to professional sports to the martial arts. Deep breathing keeps the blood flowing. It calms the nerves and improves your ability to think on your feet. It grounds and anchors you, so your hands don’t shake and your voice doesn’t wobble.

Relax your muscles.

Tight muscles are a result of the flight-or-fight response, which is the body’s involuntary response to perceived life-threatening danger. But even though we may feel like it, giving a business presentation isn’t actually life threatening, so we need to work against the tendency to tighten up.

Stretching exercises work well, as well as loosening movements such as arm swings, shoulder shrugs, and overall body shakes. Actors loosen up before a performance and athletes loosen up before competition. Business speakers could do worse than emulate their professional counterparts.

In part one

One of the points I mentioned before was that people want to know why a change is taking place. It’s easy to think about the more literal response to that question. “It will save money.” “It will help us respond faster.”  “It will open up a new market.” Or, in these tough times, the answer is often, “It’ll help us hang on until the economy turns around.” Those answers aren’t enough. They aren’t enough to qualm fears. They aren’t enough to build buy-in. They aren’t enough to inspire belief and action.

Getting to positive change requires communication skills, powered by leadership skills. Let me explain. All of us are rational and emotional beings – and we bring both those outlooks to the workplace. Transformational leadership requires us to connect with both. The rational mind responds to goals. The emotional mind responds to vision. The two must be interconnected and both must be communicated for successful change. Why?  

• Goals appeal to our intellect. Vision engages us. Goals tell us what we need to do, what the changes will require of us. But that’s just the beginning. Vision brings meaning to the change, captures our imagination for the good that could come from it. 
• Goals give us timeframes and results. Vision shows us our future. Always, the logical mind wants and needs the specifics of goals. Vision helps us soar above the everyday to see the big-picture possibilities.
• Goals drive performance. Vision inspires. We want to understand the standards by which we’ll be measured and rewarded. But vision asks us to think for ourselves and empowers us to find ways to expand upon it.
• Goals solve problems. Vision opens possibilities. For example, goals say, “Reduce customer wait time by 20%”.  Vision says, “Delight customers by easing the stress of their time-crunched days.” 
• Goals are concrete, written. Vision is a living story to be internalized. One you pull up and access on your computer. The other you carry in your mind.

Chances are, you already have skills and training in goal-setting. So, I want to focus on visioning here. Where do you start? You’ll need to do the same thing you’re going to be asking your team to do. Think beyond the current actions to the future.  What does “good” look like? What will a day be like when the change is in full force? What will be the response from customers? How will they write the article on your success in the Harvard Business Review? Gather those mental images for your vision story. Then think about how you want to characterize the vision. Are you on a mission? Is it a battle? A quest? Is it a marathon or a sprint? Is it art or science? Are you creating or conquering? Now build your thoughts into your story, filling it out with details that tie it to the everyday experience. 

Here’s a crucial reminder. Your goals – and especially your vision – may be most important when the changes you’re facing are triggered by “bad” news. Downsizing, financial reorganization or the departure of a key leader can scar a company’s performance for a very long time if not approached correctly. Without being a Pollyanna, you need to focus on the positive future. Not the pain, but the gain. Try to set goals within a positive framework. Define your vision, not in terms of loss, but of the open door. Once you have your messages in place, communicate them often, in as many ways as you can. Update the vision with success stories. Share goals reached. And, when necessary, recalibrate. 

Change is a reality in today’s world. To be a true leader you need to go beyond managing change to empowering it.

Image by David Reece

So off I went to see the canoe—–admire it—sit in it—rub my hand gently over the red paint. Unfortunately, my arrival at the store went unheralded. The store wasn’t crowded; a woman wandered through the aisles with a basket of running clothes over her arm. A white haired man examined fishing rods. But no employees were in evidence. In the outdoor department, suspended 15 feet above my head, the canoes hung from wires like giant cucumbers (not a red one in the bunch). All I could see was the bottom of each boat with the price of each in big letters pasted on the bow.

Finally, a young man wearing store colors walked by. I smiled. He didn’t. He walked on. I looked around but couldn’t see anyone else who could help me, so I kept my gaze focused on the bottoms of the canoes. Eventually, finding this futile, I walked to the front of the store where another employee was studying a computer screen.

“Can you help me, over in canoes?” I asked.

“In a minute,” he said, without looking up.

So back I went to the outdoor department. By the time I had looked at the tents, checked out all the camping gear, and examined the kayaks one by one, I realized no one was coming to assist me. I was on my own. So after one last, longing glance at the canoes floating overhead, I left the store.

Back home, I checked the store’s website one more time. Yes, there it was, just as I had read it. “…the finest quality products at competitive prices, backed by the best service anywhere.”

What’s the point of my story? It’s not the importance of good customer service; that goes without saying. No matter what our situation, sooner or later we are all consumers. Even the heads of national sporting goods chains will, at some time in their lives, find themselves buying tires, or lawn mowers, or washing machines. And they will be judging the service they get, weighing the quality from one enterprise against that of another. The rudiments of point-of-service behavior hardly need to be taught: smile, ask if you can help, know the product so you can answer questions, don’t chew gum. No, the importance of good customer service isn’t the issue here. What continues to bother me about my experience is the discrepancy between what goes into print and what actually occurs on the sales floor.

The heart of our business at VoicePro® is the relationships we form with our clients, and we know first hand how difficult it is to serve them consistently and unconditionally. One key to client satisfaction, we’ve learned is this: Set clear expectations and do your best to exceed them. We’re also careful to not promise more than we can deliver.

When outstanding service is touted as a competitive advantage, customers will anticipate white glove treatment, so the business must absolutely live up to its claims. Unmet expectations are worse than no expectations at all. This means the idea of good customer service must be more than words on a page or a bullet point in a mission statement. It means training, training, training. And a customer-oriented culture that is communicated to and embraced by everyone, from the leadership of the organization to the guys on the floor in the canoe department.

Perhaps I hit the store on a bad day. Perhaps they were short-handed because of illness. Perhaps a tie-up on the freeway caused half the staff to be late, while I just happed to be there early. Perhaps on another day I would have had an entirely different experience. Perhaps I will go back and find out. And perhaps not.

Eventually I’ll get my canoe. And when I paddle it across the lake, it will sometimes remind me of VoicePro®’s mission, our commitment to client service and the challenges it presents. It’s worth pondering on a quiet summer morning.

Image by Bill Gracey

VoicePro has been called in by numerous clients to help manage change initiatives.  A mistake I see over and over again is that communication is an afterthought. 

Sometimes the call to VoicePro comes when there’s been a breakdown in the system – reduced productivity, high turnover or other problems.  In response to my question about a communications plan, I often hear, “We had a meeting and sent out a memo.”  That’s simply not enough.

People need more than that for change to be truly understood and accepted, and for the change to have the full positive force you intend.  It’s so important that I’m going to devote a couple of these posts to the issues you’ll face and how to prepare for them.

Let’s start with an example to illustrate my point. I participated in a training exercise a few years ago in which the participants were broken into one of two groups – the “employers” and the “employees.” I was an employee.  Unbeknownst to us employees, part of the exercise for the employers was to NOT communicate with us, but only to let us have access to their public news releases.  Even in a small group of pretend employees, complete strangers together for a 3-hour “game” on a Tuesday morning, we became suspicious and confrontational, doubting our employers wisdom and motives.  Amazing – and eye opening.  

Think of change management as facilitative leadership. How can you help assure the change you’re undertaking is going to achieve the hoped-for results?  Here are some things to keep in mind in your communications plan.

• Over-communicate.  Create a message calendar to cover 3-6 months of the change process.  Start early to let people know what’s coming.  Include a kick-off communication at the start of the change.  Then follow through with regular updates. 
• Explain why.  People respond more positively when they know why a change is happening.  Even if it’s bad news generated by difficulty, trust your team to take on a challenge when they know what the stakes are and how they can make a difference.  And don’t assume that the need for a “simple” or “good” change is obvious. Change always brings some discomfort or inconvenience. Help people understand how learning a new sales and marketing system will help them better serve customers and grow the business.
• Listen.  You can’t possibly predict all the questions and concerns your team will have – that’s the nature of the human spirit.  You need to offer frequent opportunities for people to ask questions.  Take those questions seriously and provide serious answers.  Be sure to plan for Q&A throughout the process; issues are certain to arise as you go along.
• Use different communication methods.  Kick-off meetings, newsletters, video, focus groups, training sessions.  Each one reaches people in different ways and invites different (and important) feedback opportunities.
• Reach out to key groups.  You know which groups are most affected and where the fulcrum points are.  Losing these key people can hobble your organization for months. Use change as a team building exercise.
• Involve the whole organization.  Even when a change targets a small group, you may want to widen the communications audience.  Why?  First, there’s a ripple effect to change.  Something new in the accounting department can cause headaches or concerns to anyone who interacts with them.  Plus, organization-wide communication can help control gossip and the fear that goes with it.

Change isn’t just about systems or organization charts, payroll numbers or business plans.  It’s about the people who will implement it, live with it, work with it.  If your want your change to be a positive one, remember make people a part of it.  And communication is the key.

Image by Veri’s kleiner Winkel

I often find myself in this trap…wondering, What if I do it wrong? or How am I supposed to do this?

Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, you’re doing it exactly the way you should be? Because, if you did everything right the first time, you’d never learn anything new. And who is defining the right way? What if your way is the right way?

 Sue Thomas is the owner of MAP.  She uses horses to teach people about leadership skills, collaboration, effective communication and team building. One morning, I was in her pasture with three horses and three other people to learn some new approaches to managing. My task, with rope harness in hand, was to go get Boss, a large, black gelding, and lead him back to Sue.

Now, I love animals and I am not particularly afraid of horses. So this was no big deal, right? I just needed to go and get him. But as I found myself walking towards Boss, I began to get nervous because the trap had taken hold. Was I going to do it right. What if I did it wrong? What if I looked foolish in front of the others?

When I got to Boss, I looped the rope around his neck and said, “C’mon big guy,” and walked back over to Sue. My legs were shaking so badly I could hardly walk. And I was so worried about doing it right that I couldn’t enjoy my connection with this big, wonderful horse. Yet I had successfully accomplished my task. So, what is my point in all this? My fear of being inadequate very nearly got in the way of my success. I was getting in my own way.

What thoughts do you have that get in your way? Try this:

• Set a clear goal. If you don’t know what you need to accomplish, it’s hard to clarify your approach. I needed to get Boss and bring him back. This was very clear for me.
• Tell yourself, until you actually believe it, that your way is the right way. You can approach a task quite differently from others and still be successful. You may even experience something new and different that surprises you. If I had taken this approach with Boss, I would have found joy in my accomplishment rather than feeling frustration and pain.
• Take comfort in the fact that, most of the time, other people aren’t aware of your mental chatter and how it can undo you. The feedback I received from the others in the pasture was that I looked confident, comfortable and that I made the process look easy. They had no idea my knees were buckling under me.

When you are faced with something new and challenging, give yourself permission to do it wrong. Then enjoy the process of learning instead of beating yourself up over it. My lesson learned – I don’t need to be like everyone else. I can be different, which makes me unique. My knees can definitely support that.

You have just witnessed big-time small talk.  And that same scenario is true for all of us. A presentation starts long before people sit down at the conference room table.  The small talk at the beginning of a meeting – and for the weeks and months before that –establishes your personal and professional presence.  Your self-confidence shows and conveys that you’re comfortable, approachable and self-aware.  So in a way, small talk is one of the most important communications skills and sales presentation skills.   Certainly, it’s one of the defining characteristics of executive presence.

Even if you’re not making a major presentation, the ability to comfortably handle coffee-room small talk with your managers, peers and reports builds your credibility. It’s one of the leadership skills that builds trust in you and your abilities to connect, adapt and meet the world with confidence.

While some people seem to be natural at small talk, most of us need a little coaching and practice.  Even the people on TV have handlers who prep them and help them develop talking points.  Here’s a little small talk primer for all of us.

Prepare before you go. 

Brush up on local happenings or light news.  I know one woman who always skims the sports pages so she’s able to make small talk with her male clients. Read through a popular culture magazine for some timely topics. What are the reviews of a recent movie?  Check the New York Times best-seller list.  Restaurant reviews.  Even a recent news story – just avoid controversial topics or politics. 

Make business meetings work. 

 The small-talk time should be brief. Your goal is to establish rapport before getting started, priming everyone for a positive meeting. You might want to comment on the building or ask about the facility.  Notice an award or trophy.  You may also want to mention a colleague you have in common through work or your extracurricular life, if appropriate.

Networking events: relationships that get down to business.

All the topics for a business meeting are appropriate for networking events.  In addition, you may be able to chat about the purpose of the event.  Is it a fundraiser?  Talk about your and your conversation mate’s connection to the event.  You can share professional information (“What do you do when you’re not raising funds for the Cancer Society?”).   And, believe it or not, the weather is almost always a good place to start.

By the way, the goal of a networking event isn’t to build the fattest stack of business cards.  It’s about starting a relationship, so less may be more.  Make a genuine connection with someone, then exchange business cards as appropriate.

Ask a question.  Then really listen.

It’s what the teen magazines said about meeting people at your first high school dance.  And it’s still true today. Ask a question and you make a connection. Plus, you’re likely to uncover topics to keep the conversation going. 

Be sure you’re really listening, too.  Others sense whether you’re being genuine or just going through the motions.  You know the people who ask a question, then look past your left ear for their next target? Don’t be one of them.  Really listening means responding and having a dialog. It conveys authenticity and gives you a basis for future conversations. 

Feeling shy?  Breathe.  And smile.

Stand with an open posture and breathe deeply. A deep breath helps you relax, focus and smile.  If meeting people makes you nervous maybe the meeting organizer or the event host can introduce you to a few people to help break the ice. If you’re the person in charge, make that effort for others.  Some people get over their butterflies by setting a goal for the number of new contacts to make, and then make a game out of achieving it. Sounds less intimidating, doesn’t it?

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As a child, I loved the Pollyanna books because I liked happy endings (and still do). So when I grew up, I was dismayed to learn that the term pollyannaish had become a pejorative one, used to describe someone who is happy to the point of naiveté, someone who is unwilling to face the realities of an adverse situation. Somehow, in our cynical culture, looking at things in a positive light has become very uncool.

Our society reeks of negativism. If it bleeds, it leads, is the mantra of the news media. Politicians use fear tactics to get elected; smear campaigns have become the norm—and they work. Ideas get trashed before they’re even understood. Everywhere we look, we see fear and doubt. And because pessimism is contagious, it’s quite easy to succumb to the negative pressures and complain about everything—or just give up.

Apparently, the tendency to pessimism is a inbred trait. According to Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., author of Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, “The benefits of pessimism may have arisen during our recent evolutionary history. We are animals of the Pleistocene, the epoch of the ice ages. Our emotional makeup has most recently been shaped by one hundred thousand years of climactic catastrophe: waves of cold and heat; drought and flood; plenty and sudden famine. Those of our ancestors who survived the Pleistocene may have done so because they had the capacity to worry incessantly about the future, to see sunny days as mere prelude to a harsh winter, to brood. We have inherited these ancestors’ brains and therefore their capacity to see the cloud rather than the silver lining.”

Dr. Seligman goes on to say that some people are born optimists, some are pessimists through and through, and the rest of us lie on a continuum between the two. But research shows, he states unequivocally, optimism can be learned.

I believe it’s time for a healthy dose of more positive thinking. Not the Pollyanna cliché, where everything is wonderful, no matter how awful it really is, but the kind that can see the possibilities present in almost every situation.

Granted, there’s a time for playing the devil’s advocate and a place to examine potential risk, but that’s not what this article is all about. So, if you’re tired of looking at life—and your job—from under a dark cloud, here’s how to start turning things around:

1. Begin by identifying a minor adversity, some small event in your life that triggered an adverse reaction. For example: My boss completely ignored me in the meeting, even when I made a good suggestion.
2. Now, analyze your reaction, including how you felt. I got really irritated. In fact, I stopped listening halfway through the meeting. I know my boss doesn’t like me. Nothing I do satisfies him. I’m just incompetent, so why bother.
3. The next step is to play the role of opposing counsel and argue against your response. Examine the facts; don’t let any part of your response go by without checking for its accuracy. Was it unreasonable for you to stop listening? Did that help or hurt your cause? What actual evidence do you have that your boss doesn’t like you? Has he said so? Does he criticize your work all the time? If he does, is it in the nature of a personal attack, or is in honest, constructive feedback that helps you do your job better? Are you really incompetent? You might want to list your successes, just to prove to yourself that you’re doing a good job.

Learn to catch yourself in the act of responding negatively to events. You may be surprised to find how often it occurs. Examine your initial reactions, and then refute them. You may discover that much of your negative thinking is nothing more than a bad habit.

We don’t need to live with habitual negativity that weighs us down. We can change the way we think and change the way we communicate our thoughts to others, which would make Pollyanna very, very happy.

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The fact is, people long for goals that reach farther and demand more. Imagine that. People want to take on big goals, difficult goals. Is that you? Your team? I’ll bet it is. We seem to be longing to accomplish something important and valuable.

The research then goes on to discuss eight make-or-break factors that are predictors of whether goals are going to help people actually achieve great things. Here are three of them. You probably don’t have to be a professional in leadership development and teambuilding to know they would be on the list:

• I will need to learn new skills

There’s no question that new goals require new skills.  But here’s the one that I bet takes you by surprise:

• I will be pushed outside my comfort zone

Did you do a double-take? Many people do. Why? It’s easy to associate getting outside our comfort zones with mistakes, failure, feeling foolish, getting laughed at. 

But, I’m not the least bit surprised. You know why? I’ve spent my whole career at VoicePro helping people get outside their comfort zones. They aren’t crushed by the effort – they’re transformed by it. The word “empowered” is barely descriptive. I see magic happen every day. People “step out” and discover new strengths and abilities that can transfer far outside the specific knowledge they’re pursuing.

Of course, helping people out of their comfort zone is a skill – and an art. That’s why years of experience lead me to agree with the third success predictor:

• I will have access to formal training needed for new skills

As much as we all can learn on our own – from a book, from a mentor, from e-learning – we sometimes need formal training in a safe environment, where leaders won’t let us back down, but help us find new abilities.

It starts with a safe place away from the people and situations that can make us timid. But there’s much more. My job is to find a way to help you find yourself. Sometimes I coax.  Maybe I nudge. The trigger could be a question – or a story. Sometimes I’m a flashlight that shows the way. And sometimes I help swing that axe that chops a hole in the comfort zone wall. 

That’s what formal training should be about – not just knowledge, but power. By the way, this isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a mission statement and a commitment my staff and I live by.

What are your goals for yourself this year? For your team? Are you’re ready for a trip outside your comfort zone? Are you ready to reach for your goals?

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Wow! I am completely elated.  I need to pinch myself. My dream has become a reality. Me–enrolled in a premiere coaching school, internationally acclaimed and accredited by the International Coach Federation. Yes!!!!!

What was I thinking an hour later (better yet 24 hours later, when the thoughts had become pervasive)?

How in h*** am I going to accomplish this? What was I thinking? And even more importantly, how am I going to do it to perfection?

What was I thinking after I had a chance to decompress, get a little bit (ok, a lot) of sleep, and sort through my assignments and commitments?

Knock it off, Luanne. This is your biggest enemy to learning – the need to get it right. If you don’t begin to look at learning as an opportunity to make mistakes–get it all wrong–you won’t learn what you need to. Always cautious and careful – never daring to take a risk.

What am I thinking now?

With this new awareness, I can make some better choices. First, I can reframe what it means to learn something. Maybe I need to frame learning as knowing something in my heart and soul. Knowing something isn’t getting others to say, “Wow! Look at how well you did.” Or getting universal approval. Knowing something is about experiencing it, feeling it in my body and emotionally connecting with it. It’s also about being able to apply what I have learned to make a difference in the world. I may be able to make a bigger difference by having experienced it “wrong” once or twice.

And finally, learning is really about the joy of getting curious – discovering something new – rather than the emotional pain that comes with having to be perfect. It’s about exploring the unknown and the undiscovered – in others and in myself.

What are your enemies of learning? What is keeping you from knowing? Consider the following possibilities as presented by Chalmers Brothers, author of Language and the Pursuit of Happiness. Is it:

• Your inability to admit, “I don’t know”?
• Your belief that you should already know?
• Your distrust of the person teaching you?
• Your making everything overly significant?
• Your forgetting that your body is a domain of learning? Practice is putting your body into it. When you don’t practice, you don’t get results. The capacity for new action is about doing. It’s not head learning or memorization.

Choose to “befriend” the following, as suggested by Chalmers:

• Willingness to declare “I don’t know”
• Listening
• Openness
• Respect and admiration for your “teacher”
• Willingness to question your own questions
• A mood of perplexity and curiosity

Who knows what you might learn and what you might accomplish as a result? Vanquish your own enemies to learning and a universe of knowledge can be yours.

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Not so fast.  No presentation is complete until you’ve considered your audience.  Why?  The person who’s hearing your message brings his or her own way of interpreting the world to the conference room table.  To communicate successfully, you need to take that into account.  Every conversation is a collaboration.  You need to send messages in a way that the listener is truly able to receive them.  Think of it this way: if you’re throwing a football and your listener is holding a tennis racket, there’s no way to score.  Better communication skills can help you convey information in a way that makes you more persuasive, a better negotiator, a stronger leader.

Psychological research suggests a person tends to respond to communication in one of four styles:  dominance, influence, steadiness or compliance. The styles aren’t good or bad – just different.  When you learn to “speak the language” of others, you’re likely to make the most progress.  And remember, it’s not just what you say that counts — how you say something is just as important.  Human beings are wired to respond to the expressive quality of our communication.  So our speaking style and body language are all part of the message.

Let’s look at the four communication styles and ways to address them.

1.  Dominance.  Think of the dominant person as a “bottom-line” type – direct, active, competitive, results-oriented. She is focused on speed,  flexibility, and achieving results.

Approach: “Cut to the chase.”  Be crisp and to the point.  How are you solving a problem? Moving the organization ahead? If you’re naturally gregarious, you’ll want to tone it down for the bottom-line personality.  Quiet hands, serious demeanor, limited small talk are all effective.

2.  Influence. This person is characterized as expressive, fun, creative, friendly, adventuresome, spontaneous. He is people-oriented, values recognition for himself and others, and focuses on  challenges and action.

Approach: Address people issues with an influencer.  Keep in mind that your spontaneity and passion – in word and body language – will help him respond to your proposal.  A stolid, grim delivery will interfere with message transmission.

3.  Steadiness.  This is someone who values concern, dependability, consideration and cooperation. Appreciation is good, conflict brings discomfort. Feelings and relationships are important.

Approach: How ideas are implemented is important to him.  Will it disrupt good systems? Have you thought through how to eliminate snafus to help keep people in their comfort zones?  Be sure not to rush through or brush off his concerns, either in words or manner. 

4.  Compliance.  Solutions that are safe and proven rank high with this analytical type.  She looks for logic, accuracy, precision, efficiency.  The wise course means proceeding with caution to ensure quality and no mistakes.

Approach: Understand that this person will want to know that you’ve thought through the details. You’ve planned for disruptions so nobody drops the ball.  Even if you’re in the early stages of a project, you may want to outline the steps to assure her of a careful process.  Close attention to details will win the day when your personal excitement or anticipation of potential of results will make no difference at all.

 But, what if you’re talking to someone you don’t know?  A sales prospect?  A new team member?  A consultant?  That’s when you use what may be the most powerful communication skill of all: listening.  Put your script aside.  Look the person in the eye.  Ask questions.  Watch for signs that reveal his or her communication style.  As you’re watching and listening, you’ll be able to adapt your message accordingly. 

Want to know more about motivating and persuading others? Click here.

Image By Meltin Mudd Studio

Please take a look at my article, You Can’t Fake Integrity, for a discussion of Integrity. In the meantime, let’s look at the other three components in more detail.

Expertise

My husband and I attend a Sunday evening discussion group, where we watch DVDs of interest to the entire group and discuss their content as they relate to our own lives. The DVDs are produced by The Teaching Company. Last week we were looking ahead to the next program. One particular topic had caught my eye and I suggested it to the group. Two questions were instantly fired at me, even before we examined the program’s content: “Who is the lecturer?” And, “What are his credentials?”

It goes almost without saying that, to be credible, you need to know what you’re talking about. This means becoming an expert in your field, doing your homework, and backing up your ideas and opinions with facts. We look instinctively at a person’s credentials—on a resume, in a curriculum vitae, in a biographical sketch. Who is this person? What has he done? What does she know? Are they credible?

Dynamism

As soon as our group had established the lecturer’s credentials, another question arose. One woman was passionate. “What kind of a speaker is he?” she asked. “I’ve seen too many of these programs where the subject was fascinating but the lecturer was so boring he killed the whole thing.”

One definition of dynamic is: marked by energy; forceful. At VoicePro^® we often refer to passion, which is the spirit with which you approach life. Your strong commitment to your job, your colleagues, your company—all mark you as a credible person one can believe in. If you’re content with going through the motions and just getting by, your credibility will suffer.

At the same time, this energy—this passion—must be apparent to your audiences, those with whom you communicate. “Let your light shine,” the Scriptures say. Believability comes when people feel the strength of your commitment.

Openness

One mark of a truly credible person is his or her willingness to listen to the other side (or sides) of the story. This doesn’t mean you are obligated to agree, only that you’re open to the hearts and minds of other people and willing to recognize their points of view, even if you hold a different position. If you can keep from becoming defensive when your ideas, or even your actions, are questioned, your status will rise. Keeping cool under pressure, remaining open physically and emotionally, is a sign of confidence and stature. Open mindedness shows respect for others. It also conveys a sense of your own confidence and personal power, i.e., your credibility.

These four components—Integrity, Expertise, Dynamism, Openness—are integral to building and maintaining your credibility. If any one is missing, your overall credibility will be diminished. Elements of all of them can be developed and practiced over time until they become your normal way of life. Until you don’t have to think about them ever again.

Image by ~Brenda-Starr~

The global economy is ever expanding, and those of us who do business abroad can’t afford to jeopardize our foreign relationships through inexperience or lack of knowledge. Here are some tips to help you avoid these pitfalls.

• Be mindful of how meeting and greeting differs from country to country. Knowing exactly what to expect in an initial introduction will eliminate the potential for embarrassment.
• Learn when and how to “get down to business.” It’s customary for North Americans to want to make the deal, shake hands, and move on. In many countries, acting this way is offensive; moderate your preoccupation with deadlines and take the lead from your hosts.
• Be mindful of nonverbal signals. Americans are often considered too open and expansive. To counteract this, maintain an initial reserve and observe the customs of the country before jumping in.

  In addition, before you leave home, find the answers to the following questions. 

• What is their concept of time? Do they like small talk or do they want to get down to business? How long does it take to make decisions? Are they punctual? Other countries move at a much different pace than the United States. It’s best to check this out before leaving home.
• What is the importance of hierarchy and authority? Some countries are team-oriented, others are individualistic, and others much more formal.
• What are their rules of interpersonal behavior? What do they consider a violation of personal space. Do they make eye contact? Is a firm handshake a sign of self-confidence or an overt use of power?
• What are their core values? How much importance do they place on family, social status, income? What is their code of honor? How does this code impact their way of doing business?

While this information can enhance any business relationship, it’s absolutely critical when doing business in other countries. Observe the business practices of your foreign business associates, respect their customs, and adhere to their practices with courtesy and understanding. Following this advice may well smooth the path to lasting and lucrative relationships abroad.

Image by NASA

When you leave a presentation like this, you may have been given the information. But did you feel your time was well spent? Did it hold your interest? Were you inspired? Motivated? Probably not. 

Of course, a structured framework is necessary for a successful presentation, and there are ways to put one together that lead to action. At the same time, facts and figures are not what truly inspire us. The power of persuasion lies in telling stories that illuminate the meaning behind your words. That’s why Aesop’s Fables help us remember life lessons and why humor often drives home a memorable point.

Facts and data provide information; stories supply meaning. A good presentation needs a balance of the two. Stories make sense of complex or abstract ideas, and they bring life to a presentation. The great persuaders in our history have been great story tellers. Abraham Lincoln is a perfect example. Journalist Henry Villard noted that Lincoln could find a story “to explain a meaning or enforce a point, the aptness of which was always perfect.” He always used his stories to illustrate a point or make something more clear. 

Make It Personal  

Throughout my VoicePro^® career, I’ve noticed that workshop participants listen politely when we discuss theory. They’re interested in why things are the way they are, and they’re always attentive. It’s when I launch into a story from my own experience or give an example that applies to their own lives that their eyes light up. Your audience wants to hear about real people in real situations doing real things, and they want to hear it from your perspective. Your unique position colors the information with a fresh point of view. 

Add A Light Touch  

Humor keeps the audience on its toes and is a welcome addition to almost any presentation. For business purposes, I recommend you stick with humorous stories rather than telling jokes. When we introduce the idea of humor in our classes, people groan. “I can’t tell jokes,” is a common refrain. A joke requires a punch line, a stong sense of timing, and if nobody laughs you have a big hole to dig yourself out of. On the other hand, a humorous story from your own experience doesn’t rely on audience guffaws. The story has made your point. A hearty laugh, nods of appreciation, or a murmur of enjoyment—all can spur you on without a moment’s hesitation. 

Storytelling, particularly if the stories are humorous, requires preparation. 

• Start your own humor file.
• Be alert for the funny things that happen to you and people you know, and write them down.
• Save articles from newspapers and magazines that make you laugh, and if one fits, adapt it for use in your presentations.
• Develop the ability to take a lesson learned in one venue and give it general relevance. This is easy to do with stories from sports and athletics, as they have almost universal emotional appeal.  

Don’t Just Talk 

The neat thing about telling a story is that you can live it as well as reciting it. The mantra for a writer is: Show, don’t tell. This is incredibly good advice for the storyteller. Use your hands, your face, your voice, your entire body to create visual pictures for the audience. Practice telling a story without speaking; act it out as if you were entertaining a young child. Then incorporate those gestures that feel genuine to you into your real time delivery. The more authentically expressive you are, the more powerful your story—and its relevance—will be. 

I can’t say enough about practice. Telling a story requires a sense of timing you can’t get without repetition and rehearsal. So work through the awkward stage, and keep at it until you’re comfortable. 

The result? You will come alive and your audience will too. Your story telling—and the lessons they teach—will be motivating people for days, weeks, and even years to come.

I want you all to vow to never give another business presentation – ever!

 Why?

 Because they didn’t take the needs of their audience (me) into consideration when they “presented”. As a result, I walked away thinking;

“So what? What do I do now? Why did I need to be here? What is your point?”

So, take this to heart!

If you have the luxury of a live audience, please, give them something (anything) they can walk away with and use. You may be yelling at me as you’re reading this that you are just giving an informational update. I know, you do them all the time….

Okay, and again, so what?

• Why is this information important?
• What is the benefit of it?
• Why does your audience need to hear it now?

If you can’t give them something useful – and usable – then do us all a favor and send an email update. Don’t waste any more time presenting about information that has no meaning to your audience.

To avoid this trap, remember that it’s all in the preparation:

1. Ask yourself, what is the point for the audience of what I am going to talk about? What do I want them to do with this information? If you do not know what the point is, they won’t either.
2. Gear everything you talk about towards that point.
3. Tell stories or give examples that support the point(s) you are making. This will help your audience relate personally to your message. It will also allow you to come alive in front of the group, rather than drouning on about all your data.
4. Be yourself. Most people are different when talking to friends and colleagues than they are when making a “presentation”. Why is that? Why can’t you be the same person in the informal settings as you are in the formal ones? I would much rather listen to the person who is easy, personable, funny, even enjoying themselves, than the one who has to get through their information as fast as they can so they can get back to their seats.

Bottom line – don’t do any more presentations. Reframe the situation in your mind to just having a conversation. Whether you are in a job interview, talking to a client, updating the board of directors, your boss or team, be yourself! Talk about what you know (which I’m sure you can do in your sleep), and help them with the problem or issue facing them in the current moment. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, being yourself is a lot easier than turning into someone you really aren’t.

Image by Joel Dill