Presentation skills for your big-screen blockbuster

Posted by Leslie Dickson on June 17th, 2010 | 0 Comments

“Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away”. “I believe in the church of Baseball”. “I owe everything to George Bailey”. “Rosebud”. Recognize these? They’re the opening lines of some really great movies. Star Wars, Bull Durham, It’s a Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane.

Imagine if these movies had started differently. “In a past scenario, the troop strength of corrupt military-industrial complex had a 500-to-1 equipment advantage over a small but vocal group of dissidents…as you can see in this bar chart on my PowerPoint slide.” Movies show us the power of storytelling to engage and persuade people, don’t they? I got a reminder of this from a great interview with screenwriter and creative writing teacher Robert McKee on Screenwriting for Executives. Whether your interest is in sales presentation, public speaking or simply team communications, this Hollywood advice applies to you.

Of course, storytelling doesn’t replace facts and logic. Its role is to help bring your information to life and make it more persuasive. It helps people understand complex ideas. It inspires, motivates – and gets remembered.

So how do you start developing the plot line of your next presentation? Storytelling is built on examples, metaphors and analogies. Is your story about the battle for market share? Then the hero may be you and your department. Maybe there’s a metaphorical “damsel in distress” who was rescued by the new training in customer service. Or, perhaps you’re explaining major management changes. Is the analogy the exploration of an undiscovered planet? Or getting a hard-case kid onto the championship football team? Or like the two little nuns who made all the difference when they yanked the carburetor out of the Nazis’ chase car in The Sound of Music? Now that’s a story about innovation and initiative!

Once you’ve decided the plot of your story, how do you put it all together? Here are a few speaking tips:

Use powerful, concrete words and phrases. For example, in a sales presentation, it’s easy to talk about a new product “providing increased effectiveness.” But it’s more compelling to talk about “no more Saturday catch-up work” or “make a difference to three more people every day.”
Laughter is good medicine. It helps people remember. It lightens the weight of a tough message. Of course, make sure it’s relevant and appropriate.
Think visually. This isn’t radio – you’re on the big screen. What would be a great prop to convey your message? A black hat and a white hat? A letter from a customer? A tiny pebble, a melted DVD, your grandfather’s pocket watch, the contents of your organization’s lost and found box? Extra credit: make this the only visual in your PowerPoint – or replace it all together.

Presenting your ideas in the form of a story is an emotionally powerful way of sharing the picture you have in your mind’s eye with your listener. If you and your listener are seeing the same picture then you have truly succeeded in conveying your message.

Image by David Sandell

How Do You Respond to Conflict?

Posted by Carolyn Dickson on June 16th, 2010 | 0 Comments

How do you respond to conflict? When you and another person are locked in battle, what do you usually say? What do you usually do?

Before you answer those questions, let’s take a look at what conflict actually is. A simple definition is found in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary: “the struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing interests, wants, needs, or desires.” A teenager’s craving to be independent clashes with a parent’s need to keep the kid from getting into trouble. A manager’s goal of achieving higher results with fewer resources (which might mean overtime) collides with the employee’s goal of balancing work and personal life. A company must cut costs in order to stay profitable, yet the employees aren’t about to give up their health benefits.

In each of these cases, the interests or needs of one party are opposed by the interests or needs of the other. As the parties struggle to achieve their own goals, conflict ensues and often escalates as they dig their heels in and defend their own positions.

Social scientists have identified five fairly common responses to conflict: denial, avoidance, accommodation, force, and negotiation (or collaboration).

Denial

To deny a problem is to pretend it doesn’t exist. Denial can be comforting. It seems to ease the pressure; if you refuse to recognize the problem, there’s nothing to worry about and you won’t have to take any action. But this is false complacency, because, whatever your reasons, your denial of the problem won’t make it go away. In fact, it will make everyone around you crazy, which is a surefire way to escalate the conflict.

Avoidance

Have you ever noticed that when you get the job, you get a phone call, but when you don’t get the job, a letter comes in the mail? Some people will go to almost any length to avoid confrontation; they want to protect themselves from unpleasantness and strife. As a short-term tactic, avoidance can provide a cooling off period. But in the long run, avoidance, like denial, does nothing to ease the conflict and will only prolong a difficult situation.

Accommodation

Accommodators believe peace and harmony are worth whatever price is demanded. They just can’t say no. If you are a people pleaser, you want everyone to be happy, even at your own expense. Doing nice things for people isn’t a bad thing; kindness and accommodation are an integral part of any healthy relationship. But don’t be misled. Habitual acquiescence establishes patterns that can be difficult to break. If you keep giving in, folks will continue to take advantage of you.

Force

On the other hand, forcers use the power of their position or their personality to control. They make unilateral decisions and let you know in no uncertain terms that they are never wrong. Sometimes forcers are shouters and sometimes they are the strong, silent types. Either way, they rule by intimidation, and people back down because they don’t feel strong enough, or don’t know how to fight back. There are times (in the midst of a crisis, for example) when it’s appropriate to make use of power to get things done. The chronic use of force, however, destroys teamwork and inhibits group participation. Over time it will exacerbate the very conflict it’s meant to control.

Negotiation

To negotiate is to reach a settlement by conference, discussion, or compromise. At its best, negotiation doesn’t end until both parties feel they’re winners, and when the person you’re negotiating with is also a colleague in life or in business, a mutually beneficial, negotiated settlement is a worthy goal. Negotiation is neither quick nor easy. It demands patience, diplomacy, expert communication skills, and a strong desire to give satisfaction to the other side. In the long run, a successful negotiation is the way to a lasting peace.

Take a look at your own conflict response style. When you’re in the midst of a difficult situation, ask yourself, What am I saying? What am I doing? And more importantly, Am I responding in an appropriate manner—for myself and for those around me?

Excerpted from the book, Creating Balance: Moving Out of Conflict into Compatibility, by Carolyn Dickson. Oakhill Press, 1997.

Image by Diamond Hoo Ha Man

Afraid of Public Speaking? Get Over It

Posted by Carolyn Dickson on June 14th, 2010 | 0 Comments

Cocktail hour had come and gone, dinner was over, and I had just finished my talk. I was pretty pleased with myself. People had laughed at my humorous stories. They had paid close attention to the points I was making. And I had had a good time. Not too shabby, I told myself, for a presentation on how to give a business presentation.

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.