Presenting to the Big Dog

As a speaker in an upcoming meeting, it is your job to figure out the goals, themes, and outcomes you want for your speech. Presenters in a corporate setting are also faced with a specific task: figure out who they are truly presenting to. You may have to present the work of your team to the rest of the staff, your boss, and your boss's boss. One of your first goals is to know your audience. When you speak to a room of mixed hierarchy, you need to figure out, for yourself, who you truly want to present to. I would bet that you might get more recognition (and possible promotions)  if you craft the message to spark the interest of your boss's boss than if you craft the message to spark the interest of your colleagues. 

Either way, choose who you really want to grab the attention of. Find the message and main points that will capture their interest. 

What an Awesome Idea!

Last week I attended my Toastmasters meeting. People often ask me why I'm in Toastmasters if I'm not only a professional speaker, but also a speech and presentation coach! Well, I attend Toastmasters for many reasons, and one of them is what inspired this blog. 

I watch one of our new members give a presentation and afterwards, I pointed out his posture. He spoke well, but he put the majority of his weight on one foot, his shoulders with tilted, and his neck was pushed forward, which was straining his voice. I gave him a few pointers and told him to imagine that a string was attached to the top of his head and it was gently pulling him upwards and getting his body in alignment.

Today I got a great e-mail from him. He said, "I just wanted to let you know I put your advice to work this morning. I had a short presentation this morning and I taped a small piece of string to my notes to remind me to stand up straighter. If I glanced down, it would remind me to take a posture check. Thanks!" What an awesome idea!

Speaking Over the Table

So many of my speeches, coaching sessions, articles, and posts are about speaking in front of groups on a platform of some sort. Today I'd like to take a different look at a type of presentation that we give almost on a daily basis: speaking over the table. We are in different meetings and situations constantly that require us to be our best when speaking over the table. We could be having a chat in the boss's office. We could be meeting with a team we're a part of. We often have casual meetings over coffee in relaxing cafés. And most importantly, we could be sitting across a conference table with a prospect or current client. So many situations in which we need to utilize presentation skills over the table.

Now, if you've read many of my articles and blogs, you've probably noticed that I am not a fan of putting barriers between you and your audience. I have said many times to do away with the lectern. Obviously in normal business settings there are barriers that you will have to work with - the ubiquitous table being one of them. Desks, conference tables, dinner tables, they're everywhere! So what is a business professional to do?

Here are a few tips that you can use at your next "over the table" presentation.

1) Be aware of your body language. You want to sit up straight and relax your shoulders. Also don't shake your leg or tap your feet. Some people have a tendency to shake their leg or wiggle their foot when sitting down. Nerves are the most prominent reason for this, but your colleague may think that you're agitated or bored. And the shaking movement can make the table that you're sharing shake as well, which can be extremely annoying to your colleague. 

2) Don't be afraid to compose your thoughts. If you are asked a question that you're not fully prepared to answer, you can always respond by saying, "Good question. Boy, let me think about that." There's nothing wrong with taking a moment to think through your response. It's much better than babbling through until you come up with something worth saying. (Your listener might think you're trying to hide something or dance around the issue.)

3) Jot down notes.  Sometimes the conversation may take a turn, but you have a question that you want to ask. Instead of breaking the flow of the conversation, simply jot 2 or 3 words down to remind you to ask it when it's the appropriate time. 

Those are just a few tips you can use. Keep reading future blogs to pick up more tips on how you can improve your business presentations!

What Steve Jobs Knows: The Importance of Removing Barriers

I recently watch Steve Jobs' keynote announcing the new technology that Apple is coming out with. Jobs is a fine speaker. Nothing flashy. Fairly comfortable. And he handled an unexpected technical glitch well. And after I watched the keynote, I realized that Jobs was coached very well in one important aspect. There were no barriers.

Jobs came out in a relaxed outfit, just jeans, tennis shoes, and a long-sleeved shirt. He walked out onto the stage, cool and confident, and stood in front of a large screen with the projections behind him. Jobs was facing an audience of thousands all alone - no crutch, nothing to lean on or hold onto, just him and the audience. Very impressive. Jobs continued with his speech, laying out all the main points - following a very simple "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them" format.

The extremely impressive part was when Jobs demonstrated some of the new technology. He walked over to a small kiosk set up and used the necessary equipment. What was great was that the kiosk was not facing the audience and Jobs was not standing behind it. Instead the kiosk was angled ninety degrees away from the audience, so that when Jobs was using the station he was merely turned sideways to the audience and not hiding behind a barrier. Very impressive. Jobs had a great team of advisors to point out the fact that if he were to demonstrate the technology behind a lectern, then the rapport with the audience would be broken and the energy level would drop. 

Be aware of the barriers you are putting between yourself and your audience. Is there anyway that you can situate the room so that there are no barriers? Don't lose your connection with the audience by stepping behind a podium, lectern, or anything! 

What's better than the human connection?

I have to tell you a secret....I'm a bit of a political junkie, especially during the presidential elections. I'm sure you have all heard by now the Rudy Guliani dropped out of the race. He didn't have a very well thought-out campaign. But what was revealed soon after was very interesting. Apparently while he was spending so much of his campaign time in Florida, he allocated a ridiculous amount of his funds to direct mail. It far surpassed the amounts his contenders Romney and McCain. Instead of taking more time to personally meet people, attend events, give speeches, his money went to mailings (which probably went straight to the trash).  Isn't it amazing that the human connection can do so much?! 

Keep this in mind in your daily business life. Get out there! Meet people consistently and take the opportunities to speak on what you know. Or better yet, search for opportunities to give a presentation! Speak at your next annual/ semiannual conference. Take the lead in a meeting a present to the boss your progress. Think about how much you will stand out from your associates! I bet that you'll get more results than you thought possible. 

Where You Should Be In the Meeting Room

Have you ever thought about where you sit in the meeting room and what it communicates to others in the room? Well you should. Sometimes your position in the room can determine your status in the meeting, your interest, and your participation. 

Let's start with the obvious. If you are sitting at a long conference table and you take a seat at one of the ends, you are positioning yourself in a place of high status. You are either telling everyone, "I'm running this meeting" or "I know a lot about this subject and want to jump in with my own thoughts." But what if you are going to run a meeting and take a seat in the middle of the table? This puts you on a little bit more equal footing. This indicates that even though you are running the meeting, you want to hear everyone's ideas and input. This also indicates that you could be mediating the meeting. 

So when you sit down at your next conference table, think about the message that you want to send right off the bat. 

Enhancing Your Presentations by Relaxing!

Relaxation is a tool that you absolutely need to use as a presenter. Before you step to the lectern or on the platform, you need to find your own relaxation routine. Your routine should consist of mentally going through every part of your body and focusing on relaxing every muscle possible. Your relaxation routine should also enable you to take long full breaths of air. 

Why is a relaxation routine so important? Well, just like I've talked about before, our body language can reinforce a feeling that we have. Having butterflies in your stomach will reinforce your nervousness to yourself. The feeling of butterflies and nervousness can be caused by a number of factors. Tension is one of the top factors. When we get nervous, our “fight or flight” mechanism is triggered. Our system then begins to tense up certain muscles. Our shoulders raise up, our chest protrudes out, and our abdomen tenses up. All of this enhances the feeling of nervousness. Sometimes the actual physical sensation of butterflies comes from fatigue in the deep, smaller muscles from tensing up.  Another reason for the enhanced sensation of nervousness comes from lack of oxygen. When we get nervous, since so many of our muscles tense up, we take short, quick, restricted breaths of air. This is when people with intense stage fright begin to pass out or throw up. You actually begin to starve your body for oxygen and you feel light headed. 

Relaxation is also a very important part to vocal usage and vocal health. No one wants to have a monotone voice, or be too quiet, or mumble, or be too loud. Now that you understand that relaxation will help your breathing patters when you’re speaking, you should easily be able to see the connection between relaxation and the voice. After all, what is the fuel needed to create the voice...breath. So if breathing is restricted, the the voice is restricted. If you do not implement a relaxation routine, you could easily feel exhausted and hoarse after speaking for only 15 minutes! Now do you see how important relaxation is? The first lesson in almost all classical acting programs is on relaxation. It is the quickest way to learn how to have control over your own body. And since about 93% of the information we communicate comes from our physical appearance and mannerisms, it’s a good skill to have.