Here’s a great tip from communications guru Dianna Booher about
answering questions after a speech or presentation.

Never Announce a Certain Amount of Time or a Specific Number of Questions
To do so limits your flexibility and creates dangers along the way. If you announce that you will take questions for half an hour and you get only two questions, the audience walks away with the impression that you gave a disappointing presentation that did not generate the expected interest. If you say that you will take another three questions and the third question is a hostile one, you may be forced to end on a negative note from which it will be difficult to recover. Stay flexible simply by making a general statement that you will take a few questions before you wrap up. Then, if there are none or only a few, you are safe to go directly into your prepared close. And if you get a challenging question or if a negative issue surfaces, you can prolong the discussion until you can find an opportunity to bridge to a more positive closing note.

This great information comes from Stacey Hanke, owner of 1st Impressions.  …. Thanks, Stacey, from the folks who want to speak better and connect their visual information to their audiences.  Jean

 
Several weeks ago I observed a presentation delivered by an individual whom I perceived as confident and credible. This perception quickly reverted backwards when he began to interact with PowerPoint and notes. As he turned to have a conversation/relationship with his slides and notes, his energy deflated, he disconnected with his listeners, his vocal projection was inaudible, and his rate of speech took off with record speed.

You’ve been there before, watching a speaker talk to their visual aids as if you weren’t there. Your mind wanders and you begin to think, “Gee, should I leave the two of them alone?” It’s what we call Visual Aid Madness. Have we forgotten who is more important, the visual aid or ourselves? Are we using the visual aid to hide from our listeners?

When used appropriately, a visual aid provides Impact, Control, and Emphasis for you, the listener, and your Message. 

Are you thinking to yourself, “I do not present. I do not use PowerPoint, nor do I have future plans for doing so.” When I speak of visual aids, I am referring too much more than PowerPoint. 

• Notes
• Computer, blackberry, etc.; when you speak to this items as a peer is communicating to you.
• A face-to-face conversation when you repeatedly look away from your listener in mid-sentence. They begin to get a complex wondering, “What are you looking at?” (I will talk about this in my next blog.)

Whether we’re using PowerPoint, flipchart, notes, marketing or sales aids, we’ve allowed these elements to become our message rather than support our message.

Have you ever considered not only are marketing aids, props, or PowerPoint visual aids; YOU’RE a visual? Your non-verbal behavior will positively or negatively impact the amount of information your listener remembers. When you lose eye contact with your listener or fidget with your paper, pen, etc. you’re creating distractions that will minimize the amount of information they’ll receive.

According to a study by the University of Minnesota, visual aids increase your chance of persuading your listener to accept your position by 43 percent. In addition, studies by Harvard and Columbia show that visuals improve retention by up to 38 percent. It’s critical your visuals don’t become a victim of a common mistake – losing sight of the message and becoming enamored with the visual. 

When we communicate, we need to remember who is more important, YOU are the visual aid. Avoid the Visual Aid Madness; talking frequently to the visual, using a visual too often as your “security blanket,” or using the visual as part of your gestures. (A pen in your hand will become a distraction, while you’re unaware you’re holding a pen.) The trick is remembering the visual supports your message and not to distract your message.

Interact, not to distract:

Whether you’re presenting, participating in a face-to-face conversation, sales call, or meeting start TODAY allowing your visual aid to support your message. (PowerPoint, marketing brochures, handouts, notes, props or flipcharts.)

• Only speak when you connect with a pair of eyes! The floor, ceiling, computer, or any other object you’re looking at while you’re talking will not talk back to you. Trust and credibility will be created when you connect with your listener not the visual.Subscribe to StaceyHanke Youtube - @staceyhanke

When you’re a leader, you must think about what you say.  Not only is your reputation at stake, but your words can take on an impact bigger than you thought.  

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should know that by now.  But she has egg on her face. And her communications have turned into a crisis communications case study.   Media relations experts are thrilled that she has given a fine example of what NOT to say or do.  

Want to learn from her communication no-no’s?  Here’s an article written by a media relations guru whose work I admire.

Nancy Pelosi’s Three Classic Mistakes

By Jerry Brown, APR

www.pr-impact.com

Nancy Pelosi has made three classic mistakes in telling what she knew about waterboarding and when she knew it as a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

·         She didn’t tell the whole story.  Crisis Communications 101:  When you’re in a crisis communication situation, tell the whole story at the beginning.  If you don’t, all those ugly facts you want to hide are fodder for keeping a bad story alive.  And each new forced disclosure will hurt your credibility.  Pelosi has been telling her story in stages.  And the news conference she called last week in an apparent effort to put the story to rest didn’t work because her words were so carefully parsed that she still doesn’t appear to have told all she knows.  This is a politically charged story.  So, Pelosi’s political opponents will do all they can to keep the story alive.  She’s helping them do that.

·         She’s relying on the “rules” to excuse her own behavior.  In a crisis situation, saying you met regulatory or legal requirements is a useless defense (except in court).  If your actions contributed to the problem, the rest of us don’t care whether you met whatever legal or regulatory rules applied.  We don’t trust the rules to protect us.  In Pelosi’s case, she uses this defense to explain why she didn’t complain about waterboarding of prisoners even after a member of her staff told her the CIA had told him they were doing it.

·         She picked a fight while trying to shut down the story.  Pelosi accused the CIA of routinely lying to members of Congress.  That kind of accusation wasn’t going to go unanswered.  Not a good strategy when you want a story to go away.

None of us like to own up to mistakes or misdeeds.  That’s why so many companies make the same classic mistakes Pelosi has made with her current predicament.

It’s not easy to come clean when you’ve screwed up and the world is watching.  But, if you want the story to go away quickly, it’s the only chance you have at making that happen.

That’s my two cents’ worth.  What’s yours?

What does speaking well in public have to do with leadership?  Everything!  This weekend I was interviewed by leadership coach Judy Nelson about good and bad speeches and things that leaders can learn to make their communications better.   Here’s the link.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/CoachJudyNelson/2009/05/16/Jean-Palmer-Heck-

What makes a good sound-bite? A short concise phrase or sentence that is repeatable. John Lechleiter, CEO of Eli Lilly and Company  (NYSE: LLY), used this very good sound-bite in a speech today to the U S Chamber of Commerce :

“Encouraging innovation needs to be the purpose of U.S. health care reform – not its victim.”

In one sentence, he summed up what his concern is about President Obama’s health care reform principles. The words “innovation,” “purpose,” and “victim” are particularly powerful. 

He explained the result of innovation in simple to understand statistics: that  innovation has helped boost the average American’s life expectancy from 47 to 78 years, a rise of 66 percent over the past century.  He called that “unprecedented in human history.”

HINT:  When you give a speech, make sure you create sound-bites that are repeatable.  Can your audiences retell your main point?  Give them a sound-bite and they’ll be able to propagate your message.

Need help crafting your sound-bites?  Drop me an email:  Jean@Real-Impact.com.

There’s been a lot of talk regarding Barack Obama’s use of TelePrompTers.  Many are surprised that he actually uses them in places where it seems like he should be speaking off the cuff.  I’m not here to debate that.

The purpose of this blog is to give you tips for how you can improve your presentations.  And there are times when you might use a TelePrompter. So how can you do it with style?  Here are some hints:

1.  Reading a teleprompter is like reading a book in many ways, but completely different in others. When you read a book, you occasionally laugh or smile at what you’re reading silently, but most often your face has no expression.  When you read a TelePrompTer, you must use expression.  It will help your voice and your comfort level.  You might pretend you are reading something of interest to a friend of yours.  That mental image will help.   

 2. You set the speed at which the TelePrompTer copy is moved.  You do, not the operator.  It’s a mistake of amateurs to speed up as the copy speeds up.  That results in the operator concurring that you want it to go faster, so they speed up even more.  It’s a never-ending process.  If the copy is moving too quickly for you, slow down.  The operator will adjust accordingly. 

3. How do you handle it when a podium has 2 or more TelePrompTers?  You should keep your eyes on the first one for an adequate amount of time before switching to the second.  How long is adequate?  I tell my clients to stay on one teleprompter for one complete sentence before switching.   

4. Don’t forget to use your body.   There’s nothing that says you have to stand still and stiff while reading.  Get comfortable. Tilt your head every now and then.  Lean closer to the camera.  It makes you look like an approachable person, not a mannequin.

If you’d like more information about other aspects of presenting on camera, email me for my special report, “5 Golden Rules if You’re on TV.”    jean@real-impact.com

Fear of speaking is monumental.  You’ve probably read the statistics about how public speaking is dreaded more than death and snakes.  A professional colleague of mine has written many blogs on the topic. Some of the experiences I’ve had as a speech coach with clients who were afraid of public speaking are discussed in this blog of SpeakAssured, called Fear of Public Speaking.

And if you have a problem with getting up before a group and delivering a presentation, maybe a professional speech coach would have some help for you.  I’d love to help.  Send me an email at jean@real-impact.com.

Are you better with a scripted speech in front of a large group or in a question and answer session with a small group?  Some people think that the communication skills required are the same.  They are not.  All you have to do is watch two political leaders today to see the difference.

As I write this, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has just finished a live video chat with the editorial board of the Indianapolis Star.  It was a question and answer session that also included questions sent in from participants via the Internet. 

Mayor Ballard’s communication strength is speaking one-on-one or in small group settings.  Unlike others in the political arena, he keeps his answers short and allots time for many different questions and questioners.  He does not drone on and on as we see with many public servants who hold office.  His short answers allow for give and take and follow up questions.

We will see another communication skill set demonstrated tonight when President Barack Obama addresses the nation. He is a brilliant public speaker and is particularly good in front of large crowds or when working from a script.  But his answers in press conferences are too long. They turn into mini speeches, which can turn off audiences as their minds begin to wander.

What is your speaking skill set? Have you perfected what it takes to address a large group? Can you read well from a script? Can you handle question and answer sessions with brevity and clarity?

If you’d like an assessment of your skills, drop me an email.  Jean@Real-Impact.com

If you’re so good at what you do that your peers, bosses, employees or benefactors honor you with a prestigious award, you may want to think about what you’ll say.  The Academy Award winners have been center stage with their Oscars for years…but most still don’t know how to handle the acceptance speech.   Here’s some advice that was in the Washington Post.  Speech 101: Make It a Class Act.  I agree. It applies to all business people as well, whether you’re in the entertainment field or not.