Presentation Pointers by Public Speaking Coach Sims Wyeth

Presentation Tips: Add drama to your presentations

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:51 +0000

Sleeping Beauty had a wicked stepmother who wanted to kill her. That’s a dramatic problem for a growing girl, so we pay attention to the story, wanting to know the outcome.

Funny how few of us borrow from the structure of story to shape our presentations around a problem that bedevils our listeners.

Public speaking is a kissing cousin to drama, and requires a similar arousal of suspense to hold the attention of an audience.

Sims Wyeth & Co. provides public speaking courses, executive speech coaching, presentation skills training, voice and speech training, speech writing, and courses that address stage fright, body language, presentation strategy, and effective use of PowerPoint, all of which contribute to greater executive presence and personal impact. Sign up for our presentation tips and learn more about us at http://www.simswyeth.com/.

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Presentation Tips: Speeders, slow down!

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:05:36 +0000

Day after day I meet people who speak as if they were in a joyful panic. They talk like bullet trains, speeding past their consonants.

They are well-paid professionals, usually young and ambitious, caught up in the thrill and speed of an urgent career in business.

Speeders! Slow down. Your energy is immense, your speech not entirely unintelligible. But your hurry raises doubts about what you’ve said, and who you are.

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Presentation Tips: Use obscenity with caution

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 01:39:42 +0000

Recently, at a formal event, I saw a distinguished older man stand on a chair and shout an old-fashioned four-letter Anglo-Saxon obscenity.

I respected him for his daring and caught a whiff of his willfulness. He was memorable, that’s for sure, and cast himself as a guy who would break glass to get things done.

Use obscenity with caution. Half your listeners will cringe. In most business cultures, four letter words are bricks through glass.

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Presentation Tips: Find your intention

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:53:50 +0000

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

So says Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and he’s not the only one whose formal recitation of written or memorized words has failed to ignite an audience.

The electricity of thought brings forth lively speech. Reading or reciting a text can put thought and passion at a distance, and vocal pyrotechnics can only add to the problem.

The answer? Rehearse aloud, over and over, until you know the ideas, and how they flow. The words will then leap from mind to tongue, and carry more intention.

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Presentation Tips: Develop your presence

SimsBeth — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:25:03 +0000

To be present in business presentations, you first need to be intellectually present. You have to be thinking the thoughts in order to say the words convincingly.

You then have to be vocally and physically present. Your voice and body must make real to the ear and eye of the audience your passion and confidence.

Finally, your empathy must be present, reading and reacting to the signals from your audience. They will absent themselves if you don’t.

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Presentation Tips: Snap their heads back

SimsBeth — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:44:11 +0000

In 1963, Tom McCahill wrote in Mechanix Illustrated of the Shelby Cobra that the car, “. . . will snap Gramp’s head off his shoulders if you hit the go pedal when he isn’t ready.”

Given that your listeners have limited attention spans, that the unpredictable gets more attention than the predictable, and that first impressions tend to last, I urge you, the next time you present, to get off the line fast.

Get off the line fast, and use concrete language that sums up the big idea. That’s a triple whammy of a start that’ll put you ahead of the competition.

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Presentation Tips: Try the three whys

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:11:29 +0000

A few years ago, I had a client in private equity who liked to begin his fund raising pitch to investors new to the asset class with, “I think there are three questions on the table: Why private equity? Why private equity in emerging markets? And why us?”

It’s a practical approach, simple and business-like. It puts the listener at ease, and offers him the prospect of an education without making him feel pressured or uninformed.

Use the three whys to provide the skeletal structure for a simple argument. And remember, telling stories and including a why not or two will add to your persuasive impact. No investment is perfect.

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Presentation Tips: Feed them a balanced meal

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:41:40 +0000

In the late 90’s I had a client—a well-known AIDS physician—who gave talks on his research. “Nobody comes to my presentations to hear the data,” he liked to say, “They come to hear what I think about the data.”

I agree. Data is raw material to which analysis adds value. But beyond his intellectual interpretation of the numbers, which had value in itself, was the power of his stories about individual patients.

Without stories, data lack emotional appeal and are hard to retain, no matter how conclusive. Stories without data are merely anecdotal. But data with stories pack a double whammy, appealing to the head and heart, and that can be decisive.

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Presentation Tips: Introduce your witch

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:03:20 +0000

The Wizard of Oz wouldn’t be much of a story—wouldn’t capture and hold our attention—if it weren’t for the wicked witch. She plays an important part.

Your presentation is always more effective when there’s an obstacle to overcome, a problem to fix, a myth to be busted, or a puzzle to solve.

Witches are problems for little girls in Kansas, and problems bewitch companies and projects all over the world. To capture and hold attention, get your witch in the story early.

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Presentation Tips: Make carrots out of words

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:44:57 +0000

One of the greatest mistakes we make as presenters is forgetting what we are trying to do. So let me remind you. When presenting, you are trying to get people to do something.

It would be easier if you had positional authority over them, but most of the time you don’t. Nor do you have a carrot with which to reward them, or a whip to make them jump.

So make your carrots and whips out of words, and your authority out of confidence, and you will get the job done well enough.

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Presentation Tips: Eliminate your “Uhms” and “Ahs”

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:46:29 +0000

We all commit the crime in conversation, where it doesn’t seem to matter that much. But on the public stage, it’s deadly.

Like static on the radio, or an urgent phone call cutting in and out; like stems in a mouthful of blueberries, or weeds in the cracks between well-laid stones; like a stack of hay when all you want is that shiny needle—“Uhms” and “Ahs” are unwanted intrusions.

Focus your eyes on one person at a time to rid your speech of “Uhms” and “Ahs.” It seems to work like weed killer—they dry up and fade away.

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Presentation Tips: Unknit your unkind brow

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:27:32 +0000

When senior decision makers ask you questions about your presentation, and you knit your brow and pull your head back as though you smelled something unpleasant, you are performing a career-limiting move.

Our most toxic attitudes come in subtle packages. Disdain. Contempt. Condescension. In a micro-movement, we can say with our faces what we dare not utter with our mouths.

Visual speech is not less persuasive than speech that is meant for the ear. Beware the power of your arched eyebrow.

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Presentation Tips: Quants need to sell

SimsBeth — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:14:27 +0000

In financial services, portfolio managers are often asked by business development personnel to step into a meeting with a potential investor and explain what they do. And the PMs often think their job is to inform. They need to think again.

As a portfolio manager, your job is to build trust and lower the sense of risk for the investor. You need to present your process as reliable, cost-effective, and efficient, one that offers benefits to the investor. In short, you need to sell your process.

You don’t need to be salesy. You need to be you—wonky and quanty—but you need to communicate that you believe in the value of your process.

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Presentation Tips: Save your good manners for later

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:20:34 +0000

Good manners are inherently persuasive, but not at the start of your presentation.

Why? Because displaying your manners at the start is predictable, and people don’t pay much attention to the predictable, the pro forma, and the perfunctory. What draws their attention is the unexpected.

So begin your presentation with a bang. Say or do something surprising. Then, once you’ve captured your listeners’ attention, display your good manners when they are least expected.

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Presentation Tips: Seek quality in quantity

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:59:52 +0000

The President of Avon told me a story. One of her VPs boasted that he was very selective when admitting new Avon Ladies to his division. She said she disagreed with him.

“Quality comes from quantity,” she told me. “No one can predict who will be the next big winner. We should admit them all, see how they do, and in a while, we’ll find the gems.”

Accept every invitation to present. Seek out opportunities to speak. The more you speak to groups, the stronger you become, and the closer you get to that golden moment of mastery.

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Presentation Pointers: Good news and bad news

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:59:30 +0000

There is good news and bad news: There is no other kind. News that fish have gills is not news, except maybe to fish.

Presentations and speeches, like sporting events, hold attention when they have both good and bad news, ups and downs, progress and setbacks.

Bad news should come near the start, to create tension and drama. Good news follows as we present solutions. Then bad news again, as we reveal deeper problems requiring more complex solutions, until at the end, we lead our listeners to a sense of resolution.

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Presentation Tips: Increase your radiance

SimsBeth — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:58:24 +0000

Eve Arnold was the only woman to have photographed Marilyn Monroe extensively. They became friends. One day in the 1960s she and Marilyn took a taxi in New York. The cab driver looked in the rearview mirror and said to Marilyn, “Hey lady, if ya lost a few pounds and put on some lipstick, you could pass for Marilyn Monroe.”

Marilyn looked at Eve. “Should I?” she asked. “Why not?” said Eve. So Marilyn flipped a switch, and at once she was the Hollywood Marilyn, the one who could light up a room.

How about you? Can you flip a switch and increase your radiance? Do you have another gear?

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Presentation Tips: Tie yourself to the mast

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:09:46 +0000

Ulysses knew he could not resist the Sirens, so he developed a strategy to prevent himself from succumbing to temptation. Before he passed their island, he tied himself to the mast of his ship, and instructed his crew not to let him loose, no matter how desperate his pleading.

If you know your weakness as a speaker, develop a strategy to prevent it from damaging your success. Declare a specific goal. Tell people what you’re working on. Ask them to hold you accountable. Invite them to your presentations. Have them sign a contract to support you, and, for you and them, let there be consequences for failure and rewards for success.

Tie yourself to a promise and then get a little help from your friends.

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Presentation Tips: Talk like a bride walks

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:02:59 +0000

For some reason, it is my increasingly common experience to encounter people who talk too fast. Am I listening slower, or is there something happening to average words per minute?

It could be that the pause is going out of style because attention spans are shrinking, triggering the need for speakers to spit it out pronto.

To train yourself to slow down, talk like a bride walks down the aisle, pausing between steps, as we should pause between phrases and thoughts. Surely the occasional pause will lend power to what you say.

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Presentation Tips: Look to outcomes

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:15:34 +0000

A presentation is judged to be good to the extent that it is good for something.

Most business presentations are delivered for two reasons: to help an audience make a decision or a prediction. “We should hire this law firm,” is a decision. “We expect to face competition within six months,” is a prediction. Therefore, a good presentation is one that facilitates a wise decision, or an accurate prediction.

Presentation skills can only be considered good if they contribute to better outcomes for the audience. Their value lies in what they create, not in their creation.

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Presentation Tips: Three reasons to look at your listeners

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:49:46 +0000

First, when you look at your listeners (one at a time) you are paying attention to them. People love to have attention paid to them, and are more likely to pay you back with their attention.

Second, when you watch their faces, especially at the ends of your statements, you can see their expressions, and react accordingly. Your monologue thereby becomes a dialogue, which gives you greater influence.

Third, when you look at your listeners, you display belief in yourself and your point of view. Belief is infectious. It makes you more persuasive.

Look at your listeners. See your listeners. And notice what you see.

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Presentation Tips: Use generative analogies

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:12:35 +0000

Disney calls its employees cast members. That’s a generative analogy. It makes everyone realize when they’re at work, they’re on stage; It literally generates altered behavior.

The New York Jets football team changed the name of the Red Zone to the Money Zone, which awakened their capacities to score.

Some in Washington use the term food scarcity in place of starvation. The former generates the image of a glitch in the mechanics of the free market; the latter is a different picture.

And most of us don’t like to change but we are willing to grow or develop.

Speak to generate images that generate desired behavior.

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Presentation Tips: Confer an identity

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:44:30 +0000

A presentation is like a Swiss Army Knife: it’s got a lot of purposes.

The most common purposes for a presentation? 1. Give people information, 2. Get them to comply with a request, or 3. Change their thinking or behavior.

But the highest calling for a speech is to confer an identity on an audience. Like Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which called us to emulate our founding fathers and rededicate ourselves to a rebirth of freedom, a great speech calls us to realize our highest aspirations, live up to our own cherished values, and be the people we are meant to be.

Sims Wyeth & Co. provides public speaking courses, executive speech coaching, presentation skills training, voice and speech training, speech writing, and courses that address stage fright, body language, presentation strategy, and effective use of PowerPoint, all of which contribute to greater executive presence and personal impact. Sign up for our presentation tips and learn more about us at http://www.simswyeth.com/.

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Presentation Tips: Grow with the language

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:25:52 +0000

I got a note from a client correcting me for writing alot instead of a lot. I thanked him for caring about usage.

But language is always evolving. “Google it and xerox the blog,” was nonsense ten years ago! Awful used to mean full of awe, something wonderful. Now it means the opposite.

Past usage is not indicative of anything except how they did it in the past. An Apple used to be a fruit. Now it’s a machine that harvests knowledge from the clouds.

Language is growing, and we should grow with it.

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Presentation Tips: Avoid soft tire speaking

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:30:27 +0000

I rode my bike to the gas station on soft tires. It was easier riding home on firm ones.

When presentations have soft tires, they are slow to start, the logic doesn’t flow because one slide does not relate to the next, and there’s too much information pressed upon the audience: they get exhausted.

But when presentations have firm tires, the speaker accelerates into the topic, flies over the key ideas, and leaves in our minds a trace of well-selected specifics, awakening us to the thrill of learning new STUFF!

Speakers! Inflate your tires!

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Presentation Tips: Dress for success

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:59:30 +0000

Corey Taylor, front man for heavy-metal band Slipknot, spoke to hyper-educated Oxford University students in the august chambers of the Oxford Union. He wore jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers, accessorized with earrings and tattoos.

Clothes are a kind of language, aren’t they? They say a lot. Every rocker I know would not be caught dead in a pair of khakis. And every khaki-wearing MBA hesitates to deviate from the biz-cazh norm. It’s all very tribal.

Your dress can make it more, or less likely, that you will be heard. But what your listeners really want to know is who you are. Who you are speaks louder than your clothes.

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Presentation Tips: Be a raptor

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:27:57 +0000

Raptors have front-facing eyes, like you and me. This makes possible binocular vision: the left and right fields of view overlap, giving us depth perception.

Animals with eyes on the sides of their head (e.g., rabbits, fish, and rodents) have low binocularity (what each eye sees overlaps very little) but high periscopy (each eye has a wide field of view).

Raptors have focused eyes and eat rabbits, fish and rodents. Rabbits, fish and rodents have worried little eyes, looking out for raptors.

When presenting, be a raptor.

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Presentation Tips: Consider your voice the thunder

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:42:55 +0000

Thunder comes after lightning because light travels faster than sound. (You know, you count the seconds between lightning bolt and thunderclap to calculate the danger.)

As a public speaker, just as lightning comes before thunder, your image arrives a millisecond before your sound. So, before you start speaking you have already said who you are because they’ve already seen you and formed a snap judgment.

That said, you haven’t really spoken yet. When you actually begin to address them, you have the chance to say something that will give them a more clear and complete picture of your power.

Consider your voice the thunder.

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Presentation Tips: Pay more attention to your body language

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:18:44 +0000

A guy in a seminar claimed indifference to the body language of speakers, and asked why he should care about non-verbal signals. He said he only paid attention to the content.

I was stumped and turned the question over to his colleagues. They said body language is important when speaking to strangers, less so when speaking to those who know you.

In other words, our body language earns us a chance to be heard. Some use this knowledge to deceive, but those of us with good intentions should not ignore the power of posture and gesture.

Listeners pay attention to our body language. So should we.

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Use your outdoor voice indoors

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:13:39 +0000

Recently, I’ve had several clients with soft voices. As a rule, they are sensitive and caring people, but they can also come across as tentative and apologetic.

When asked to speak louder, they do (for short periods of time) but then they drop back to their default operating system.

I am tempted to say to these sensitive and caring people that if they really cared about their listeners they would speak louder, so that their listeners wouldn’t have to work so hard.

But I keep a civil tongue in my head, and simply tell them to use their outdoor voices indoors.

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Presentation Tips: Build Trust

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:27:22 +0000

I can hide the “From” field in Outlook, and tell by the “Subject” line whether a message is spam or typed by someone who knows me.

Likewise, I can close my eyes, listen to a speaker introduce her topic, and tell whether she has done her homework or not—and whether I’ll get value from listening.

We open emails from people we trust, and we lend our ears to speakers who quickly demonstrate knowledge of us, interest in us, and concern for what we are concerned about.

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Presentation Tips: Paint your picture

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:59:37 +0000

You would think selling a super computer to universities would be a highly technical sale. It is and it isn’t.

My friend John Goodhue tells me that the distinguishing feature of the product is that it runs at a lower temperature, so it costs less to own. No expensive cooling rooms.

And the reason it runs cool? The answer is highly technical (many small processors instead of one big one) but the answer that works is this: It’s pulled by a thousand huskies instead of one water buffalo.

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Presentation Tips: Don’t inflict faux facts

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:12:25 +0000

A democracy needs leaders who can win the assent of the people, and people who can detect a bogus argument.

In our time, candidates and companies play loose with the facts and seem to get away with it… because the news cycle moves on, because “everyone does it,” or because the facts are often statistics, which are faux facts—manufactured by deliberately slanted research.

Be scrupulous with your own facts and a stickler for truthfulness with others. Faux facts, coming from you or anyone else, damage the possibility of trust, and inflict waste and cost on business and nations.

Sims Wyeth & Co. provides public speaking courses, executive speech coaching, presentation skills training, voice and speech training, speech writing, and courses that address stage fright, body language, presentation strategy, and effective use of PowerPoint, all of which contribute to greater executive presence and personal impact.

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Presentation Pointer: What’s your point?

SimsBeth — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:46:37 +0000

President Eisenhower once scolded his speech writer, asking, “What’s your quod erat demonstranda?” It’s Latin for “what was demonstrated.” In other words, what have you proven—what’s your point?

It’s a good idea to know what points you want to make before you compose your talk, and why you want to make them.

Points should be in support of purpose, while facts, data, metaphor, and stories should be in service to points.

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Presentation Tips: Expect no credit

admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:12:37 +0000

I learned recently that when you invest money for family and friends, a good return earns you little credit, while losses earn you plenty of blame.

When urging an audience to take a risk, recognize they will attribute success to chance or circumstance, while blame for failure will be laid at your feet.

This is the nature of leaders and followers and all enterprises of uncertain outcome. Calm reason will parse the many variables contributing to success, but the emotion of loss will seek a scapegoat, and it will be you.

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Presentation Tips: Mind your Ps & Qs

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:18:29 +0000

The theater at Epidaurus is considered to have the finest acoustics of any ancient theater in Greece. For centuries, no one knew why. Now scientists think they have the answer.

Grooves in the backrests of the stone seats dampen the low frequencies and amplify the high. In speech, vowels are the low frequencies. The high frequencies are consonants, which are harder to project.

Few of the rooms in which you speak have the acoustics of Epidaurus. If you want to be heard, mind your Ps and Qs—and all their fellow consonants.

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Presentation Tips: Give the talk you’d like to hear

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:48:45 +0000

Think you know your audience? Think again. You can’t see what’s happening on the neuro-chemical level.

Market researchers, with portable skull caps equipped with 26 sensors, are now doing brain scans of consumers to detect dopamine squirts upon exposure to logos, brands, and phrases. The data reveal what people say in focus groups can mask what’s really going on.

Until we as speakers and presenters can rehearse in front of an audience wearing electro-encepholograms (EEGs), we will have to craft our speeches and presentations the old-fashioned way – by developing and delivering content that we ourselves would like to see and hear.

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Presentation Tips: Watch the you/me ratio

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Stories are good for our talks. We all know that. But they can get out of hand.

I heard a best man giving a toast the other day. He begin with the first time he met the groom, a tale that soon became more about him than his friend. Within a matter of seconds, my mind was saying, “Dude, enough already about you. Say something nice about him.”

A personal story is a good thing. But it needs to serve your purpose, and if it includes details of your own flattering actions and traits, rewrite – so it’s less about you and more about the man of the hour.

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Presentation Tips: Skin the cat

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:52:49 +0000

I heard two talks this weekend. Each distinguished for different reasons, each spoken in memoriam.

In the first, the speaker stepped to the lectern and said, “On a summer afternoon in 1986, an old gray Peugeot pulled into the driveway belching white smoke. The door opened and out stepped Tommy.” It was formal and vivid.

In the second, the speaker smiled, looked at the audience, and said quietly, “Wow, this is a huge crowd.” His tone and demeanor were disarmingly authentic and relaxed. He was informal and his character spoke volumes.

Two ways to skin the cat. Both good.

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Presentation Tips: Performance is play

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:47:52 +0000

Rehearsal is the work that makes performance, play.

The part of your brain that is most involved in learning a new task is the cerebral cortex, which controls higher-order conscious thought. But as you practice a speech over and over, you gradually transfer control to the cerebellum, which orchestrates timed, complex actions.

However, the cerebellum is not consciously accessible. So the trick is to practice enough so that the better-equipped part of the brain will kick in: it accesses information more than twice as fast as your cerebral cortex.

Do the work to move your presentation content to your cerebellum and you will make your rehearsal pay, and your performance, play.

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Presentation Tips: Hone your backstage process

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:51:22 +0000

For a moment, I would like to reduce leadership and communication to two interconnected halves: backstage thinking, and frontstage speaking.

Backstage, you gather the facts, form your opinion, define your purpose, shape your message, and rehearse. Frontstage, you show up, on time, dressed to play – and connect, simply connect.

Your performance frontstage depends on your performance backstage. When you have a backstage process, you have frontstage presence. And that will serve you well.

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Presentation Tips: Take Control

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:24:19 +0000

You may remember the myth of Oedipus. He intended to save his city, but instead killed his father, married his mother, and then blinded himself in shame.

As speakers, we have the same basic problem: we often fail to express what we intend, and express what we don’t intend. We all have our blind spots.

Get control of your words and actions so that you express what you intend, intend what you express, and when it’s over, you have nothing to be ashamed of.

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Presentation Tips: Bash the myth

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:35:31 +0000

Many presentations work because the speaker defines a widely accepted belief – say, “Trust takes time,” – and then proceeds to demolish it.

This approach works because it prompts us to:

leap to the barricades to defend our belief, or
rearrange our beliefs to make room for the insight.

The speaker as moved us either way.

PS. Trust (noun) occurs when someone trusts (verb) another person who turns out to be trustworthy. That only takes a second.

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Presentation Tips: Esse quam videri

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:10:36 +0000

This is one of those ancient Latin mottoes that deserves a little scrutiny. It means, “BE rather than SEEM to be!” “Keepin’ it real,” is it’s down home descendant.

I don’t know if I agree. Appearances are important, especially for high stakes presentations. Every communication has substance, structure, and surface, and surface is not less important than the other two elements. Is skin less important than bone?

When we are gone from this life, we are remembered for the qualities of our character. And when we leave the presentation stage, likewise. But in this media-driven world, we also need a look, an image, a brand—one that reflects what is real and true about us.

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Presentation Tips: Play the bass

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:21:57 +0000

In the world of rock, there are lead singers and bass players. Front stage, the lead singer gyrates and emotes, while behind him, the bass player stands like Gibraltar.

In speaking, I think it’s better to be the bass player. They have solidity and gravitas, and therefore earn more trust. On the surface, they’re a little dull, but that’s only because they’re responsible for holding everything together.

Rock star types are too flashy for business, and lack credibility. Who’s going to hand over the company to Mick or Elton?

Play the bass.

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Presentation Tips: Decompress your speech

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:49:06 +0000

Here’s how some people talk. They begin their statements in a normal way, and then, they suddenlyracetotheend.

It would be horrible to be a passenger in a car driven by people like this. Your neck would frequently snap back like a dummyinacarcrash.

In these bursts of speed, all consonants are elided, the mouth barely moves, and understandingtakesabeating.

Slow down. Don’t talk like a Zip File. Every letter is code for a movement of the tongue and mouth. Be present in that analog movement!

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Presentation Tips: Let there be drama

admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:57:24 +0000

Human beings are drawn together by drama. Birth, death, marriage, sports, disasters, accidents, and theater of all kinds tend to attract a crowd.

Since we also draw together for speeches and presentations, I think it’s safe to say that they are close cousins to all the centripetal forces mentioned above.

Drama is emotional. It’s made of people struggling to overcome problems and achieve happiness. What problem does your presentation struggle to solve, and what happiness does it seek to achieve?

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Presentation Tips: Stand up straight

admin — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:20:59 +0000

When you stand on the deck of the stage, you are the master and commander, so stand like one. It’s part of the job—to inspire confidence.

Washington was always conscious of his height, and stood tall—the tallest of all Virginians. Lincoln wore a stovepipe hat to brand himself as the tallest guy in town. And in 1991, five-foot two-inch Queen Elizabeth II stood still and silent on a stool behind the lectern in the Rose Garden, demanding and getting the attention of her audience.

Good posture has strange power. It’s not rigidity. It’s more like expanding into your potential. It speaks of confidence, authority, and a sense that you know your own worth.

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Presentation Tips: Manage technology’s side effects

admin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:51:10 +0000

A/V technologies are like drugs: they all have side effects. You have to learn to manage them.

Teleprompters make you sound like you’re reading. PowerPoint splits your attention between your slides and your audience. Microphones make you think you can lower your degree of intention, which drains the electricity out of your voice.

I’m not a Luddite. Technology is good. But it’s also toxic. There is no substitute for connecting with your listeners, knowing your lines, and speaking with emphatic conviction.

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Presentation Tips: Talk like a talker

admin — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:41:53 +0000

Seated in the board rooms where you and I peddle our wares are content driven, time-pressed, results-oriented people.

Anyone addressing them who sounds literary, academic, or poetic is going to make their toes curl.

They don’t have the time or the attention span. You wouldn’t either if you had to run a global enterprise.

Give it to them straight. Talk their language. Your eloquence lies in your logic, not your fancy phrases.

Sims Wyeth & Co. provides public speaking courses, executive speech coaching,presentation skills training, voice and speech training, speech writing, and courses that address stage fright, body language, presentation strategy, and effective use of PowerPoint, all of which contribute to greater executive presence and personal impact.

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