Author: Gail Zack Anderson

We continue describing effective presentation skills by the alphabet.

C is for

Courage. It takes a certain amount of courage just to get up and speak. It takes even more to be authentic, or to take a risk in front of your peers. Tap in to your courage like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz. if you have something to say, you have the power, and the courage to speak up.

Charisma. Charisma is “unearned charm that makes you attractive to others.” If you–like most of us–don’t have it naturally, compensate with real enthusiasm, passion for your subject matter, and interest in people. Go out of your way to listen well and make genuine connections with people. Don’t forget focused eye contact to charm and attract your audience. Think Bill Clinton.

Confidence. How you walk into a room or take the stage already says volumes about you. Stand tall but with ease. Breathe. Smile. Gesture when you speak. Learn how to project your voice and speak with rhythm and varied vocal inflections. Eliminate hesitancy and questions in your vocal sounds. Act as if you were supremely confident and tell yourself you are.

Curious. Nothing is worse than having a presenter ask a question they clearly don’t care about the answer to. Plan to learn something new in each presentation you give. Engage with your audience with a sense of curiosity. Share the knowledge you have and build an even deeper knowledge by adding what the audience knows.

How have you embodied these attributes to become a more effective presenter? What other words that describe effective presenters start with the letter C? Would love to hear from you!

We have begun to explore the qualities of great presenters, starting with A and going all the way to Z. In each post I will list one or several attributes of great presenters and communicators, and suggest some ways you can build that characteristic in your own speaking.

If you want to play along, suggest your own great words starting with the letter for that week. Better yet, help me out by suggesting a word for the next letter of the alphabet! And let me know how you are using these ideas to build your own habits and characteristics for great speaking.

B is for

Brilliant. Brilliance is original thought, fresh ideas, spoken clearly and uniquely. It is not canned, not wooden, not predictable. It does not rely on canned phrases or routines. Maybe you start with a compelling question, instead of starting with “I am happy to be here.” Maybe you draw on a flip chart instead of showing a slide. Maybe you get the whole room laughing instead of being bored to tears. That’s brilliant!

Beautiful. Beautiful slides and graphics, that is. We all know the dreaded bullet-pointed, over stuffed, predictable slides are just plain ugly. Clean them up. Simplify them. Add a few beautiful photos. If you don’t know how to do this, read Garr Reynold’s terrific book Presentation Zen. Or ask someone with a good eye to help you reinvent yours. There is just no excuse for ugly, boring slides and this is one area where you can succeed where so many speakers fail.

Be there now. This is a key concept often spoken by one of my favorite clients. To them it means to pay attention to customers, and in interactions with colleagues. It also has meaning for us as communicators. It means eliminating the little voice in your head that distracts you. Refusing to think about whether you will make a mistake or not. Not worrying about the outcome. Just being in the presentation, at the present moment.

Brief. At a recent conference, nearly every speaker said they wanted to have an interactive discussion with the audience. But they lectured nearly to the end of their presentation, then lamented not having enough time for questions or discussion. Today, presentations are shorter than ever. I recently heard of a company where most presentations are five minutes long! How brief can you be? Tighten it up, then tighten it up some more. Especially if you tend to “run on.”

What other “B” words come to mind when you think about great presenting? What other words would you like to hear more about starting with any letter?

Starting this week, let’s explore the qualities of great presenters, starting with A and going all the way to Z. In each post I will list one or several attributes of great presenters and communicators, and suggest some ways you can build that characteristic in your own speaking.

If you want to play along, suggest your own great words starting with the letter for that week. Better yet, help me out by suggesting a word for the next letter of the alphabet! And let me know how you are using these ideas to build your own habits and characteristics for great speaking.

A is for:

Authentic. Great presenters are real, genuine. They don’t put on an act when they speak. They are with the audience, not performing or speaking at the audience. They are transparent, honest. They are direct, truthful, and kind. They make mistakes and are human. What you see is what you get.

Agile. Great presenters are nimble, quick on their feet. The only way to get that is to know your content backward and forward. To be in the present moment. To prepare for contingencies. And to trust yourself and the audience. To recognize that being with your audience imperfectly is always better than a word-perfect, canned speech.

Adaptable. Great presenters know when to stick to their guns and when to adapt. When you face an audience, you have already prepared your content based on what you want to say and what you think they want to hear. But things change. Your audience may have a different agenda than you. If you stick to your script, you may have a very unhappy experience. Perhaps you can adjust to meet their needs while still getting your point across. A win-win!

Attractive. That is, you attract and hold the attention of the audience by speaking their language, by connecting with them at a personal level. That you are willing to use charm and humor as well as fact and detail to win them over. It also means you believe in what you are saying, and that belief and passion can be very attractive to your listeners.

Your turn: How have you been able to live out these qualities? What other words starting with the letter “a” come to mind when you think of great presenters? What are some words starting with “b” that I can write about in the next installment?

Whenever I ask people what, in their opinion, makes for an appealing speaker or presenter, the first word out of their mouth is usually “confident.” We all want to look and sound confident, and we all fear looking, well, nervous and scared. One of the easiest ways to express confidence in your voice is to avoid the dreaded upward inflection, you know, the one that makes it sound like you are asking a question with each statement you make.

Consider the following:

“Hello? I am Jane Jones? And I work for Brown Packaging? I was just calling today to introduce myself? And see if I can help you with your packaging needs?”

Whoa! I hope you could hear the questions in your mind as you read this dialog. Now imagine it again with more powerful inflections.

“Hello! I am Jane Jones from Brown Packaging! I am calling today to introduce myself, and to see if I can help you with your packaging needs!”

All right, everything you say doesn’t need to have an exclamation point after it, but my hope is that you “heard” a much different sound this time. One that is confident and enthusiastic. By the way, when you are holding a virtual conversation, presentation or meeting, your vocal inflections and habits are more important than ever.

Having just facilitated a workshop with a group of people who nearly all had this questioning inflection in their speech, I have to wonder if we use this inflection when we hear it around us. I think we do. So a good start would be to listen for it in others, and then if you hear it around you, listen for it in your own speech.

Generally, awareness is the most important step. If you suspect you may have this habit, check your voice messages, informal conversations, and meetings to see if you do, and how frequently you hear it. Or ask a trusted colleague to listen to you and see how often they can hear it.

To improve your sound patterns: When you are recording a voice message, listen to it before you send it, to be sure you sound confident. When you are rehearsing for a major presentation, record your practice and listen for upward inflections. Stamp them out in your next rehearsal. Then start with everyday communication. When you catch the upward inflection sound, correct it and move on. Try to insert those more positive sounds. “Absolutely! Of course! Yes!”

With practice and a little patience, you can fight the dreaded upward inflection, put more positive power in your voice, and maybe even spread this good habit to those around you.

There is something about our crazy busy work life that works to our disadvantage; we sometimes feel so rushed and hurried to accomplish more and more, that we start moving at the speed of sound. And it’s not always a good sound. When you have no time to think, to breathe, or to express positivity, communication can get ugly. And, what’s worse, we can negatively impact others without meaning to.

In this series, we are going to slow down just long enough to observe our own communication behaviors and see if we can keep a positive approach going. My hunch is it won’t take you any more time than a rushed or negative approach, and that the results will be incredible. More clarity, more harmony, and who knows, maybe getting more done with less effort.

Next time your communication begins to feel stressed and negative, try these:

1. Say what you will do not what you won’t do. Many times we get hung up on what we can’t do, or what we aren’t providing, and put the focus on the negative. “I can’t get you that information this afternoon because…” could just as well be “I can get it to you tomorrow morning. Will that work?” Notice that the because phrase in the first version causes you to justify or explain. Now you have to have a good enough excuse. Avoid that by substituting the positive approach.

2. Avoid apologies. Too many of these and you are seen as a sorry person. (“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”) Try something really different; instead of an apology, try thanks. Instead of saying, “I am sorry I’m late; traffic was terrible” you would say “Thank you for your patience; I see we are ready to begin now.” A positive approach instead of a negative one, plus a smooth segue to the business at hand.

3. Say please and thank you. Take a look at your sent emails from the past three days. Do you take time for pleasantries, or just bark out orders like a drill sergeant? Is that really you? Take a second to add a greeting, or a word of thanks. Ask with a please. Be nice. And check your behavior on the phone and in person. How many times a day do you smile or say please or thank you or well done? Great leaders and positive communicators do these things intentionally and with heartfelt authenticity.

What do you do to maintain positive energy and positive energy, even when you are working under stress and deadlines? How do you instill positive habits and make them a part of who you are? I would love to hear your examples and stories of positive communication.

Many times when we are called on to introduce ourselves, we feel self-conscious or tongue-tied, and wish we could have a “do over.” It doesn’t have to be that way. Whenever you meet people for the first time, whether they are audience members, prospective customers or colleagues from other organizations, you’ll want to introduce yourself in a way that creates a positive first impression. Here are some tips on acing this part of your communication.

When introducing yourself:

• Develop an elevator speech. Create two or three different self-intros you could use in different situations. Rehearse these out loud, preferably on video or with someone who can give you feedback. First impressions are so important you may not want to leave this to chance. Don’t try to memorize a script word for word, just work to increase your comfort and fluency.
• Plan ahead. If you know you will be doing intros, think about the environment and the audience and decide which parts of your background will be most interesting and pertinent. Speak to those points, and don’t try to give your entire life history.
• Listen while others speak. If everyone is introducing themselves, listen to them rather than thinking about what you are going to say. Give them the courtesy they deserve, and the gift of your focus. You won’t forget who you are.
• Speak your name clearly and firmly. If it is unusual, spell it out or tell what it rhymes with. You will make yourself more memorable that way. You might even refer to your name one other time to cement it in their memories.
• The law of three. Provide 2-3 brief facts about yourself, and include one personal fact, such as your passion for technology, or your love of travel. This can create a bridge to your audience, as long as you select a personal tidbit which might appeal to them, or at least one that won’t be offensive or off-putting.
• Say it like you mean it. Use downward inflections, which sound certain, rather than upward inflections, which sound like questions. (“Hello? I am Susan Jones? and I work for Brown Packaging?”) Instead, state each sentence as an important, sure thing.
• Be cool. Remember to relax, breathe, and smile, even if you are feeling uncomfortable. You are making new friends, not taking a test.

Remember that introducing yourself can be fun and easy if you stay calm and help put others at ease.

So it is your turn to introduce the speaker before your next meeting. Here are some pointers to make sure you create a warm welcome:

Prepare:

• Ask the speaker for information well ahead of time. They may provide you with a bio or even a prepared introduction. Read it ahead of time and edit it for those points that will be of interest to your audience.
• Write a short script. This is one of the very few presentations that you should script, and then stick to the script, rather than just “winging it.”
• Plan to provide two or three short facts about the speaker and why they have been asked to speak.
• Share your own experience with the speaker – perhaps you have heard them speak before, or you know firsthand of their expertise.
• Build them up, but don’t oversell them. This makes it difficult for the speaker to live up to the introduction.
• Rehearse – out loud. Be sure you rehearse your introduction out loud a few times, so that ultimately you will be able to say the introduction with ease.
• Check to be sure you are saying the person’s name correctly, and that you have your facts right.

Deliver the introduction:

• Smile. You may feel nervous, but put on a welcoming smile anyway.
• Speak up. Slow down slightly, and speak slowly and clearly so everyone can catch your announcement.
• Say the person’s name clearly. If you are not sure how to say it, be sure to ask and practice if you need to.
• Be brief. If you spend too much time on the intro, you are eating up the speaker’s time, and possibly stealing their thunder.
• Connect with eye contact. Connect first with one person, and then move your eye contact slowly from one person to the next.
• Save the speaker’s name until last. The speaker’s name is usually recognized as the signal for him or her to rise and come forward. Don’t embarrass him or her by giving it before you are ready for him or her.
• Remain facing the audience until you have finished saying the name, then quickly turn to the speaker in welcome and start the applause. Your enthusiasm will spread to others.

After the presentation:

• Be prepared to thank the speaker after he or she has finished, and if appropriate, offer a few positive comments on the presentation.

Learn to make a gracious introduction—so your speakers feel welcome and can do their very best.

How many meetings do you attend, or facilitate, in which you are speaking over the telephone or over the internet? I imagine quite a few. It can be a little unnerving, or it can be a highly engaging experience. Here are some tips to making the most of these virtual presentations:

Remember your voice trumps all else. Since the listeners can’t see you, all they have to go on are your voice and your slides (if you are using them.) If you don’t know how your voice sounds, now is the time to get a voice recorder and record and listen to yourself. I know it isn’t fun, but it is an eye opener.

How many “ums” and “ahs” do you hear? Is your voice monotone? Do you have good volume? How is the voice quality over your phone line or headset?

If you found any opportunities for improvement, work on then now. It will pay dividends for years. A great way to get better vocally is to periodically record yourself in a practice presentation, exaggerating each aspect of enunciation, inflection, rate of speech, etc. Think of putting color into your voice. This exercise can help you stretch your vocal range, especially if you listen back and hear the improvements for yourself.

Some other tips for humanizing the experience:

1. Don’t use a script unless absolutely necessary. Your audience will be able to hear that you are reading. Instead, use notes that are less a script.

2. Rehearse your content, as much or more than you would for a live presentation. Pay particular attention to the opening minutes, the transitions between topics, and the closing. Ask a small group or even one person to listen. Or record it and play it back.

3. Engage the audience in the first three minutes. If you wait until midway through your presentation, the audience is used to listening only, and won’t respond as well as they will in the first few minutes. Ask them to write on a white board, or introduce themselves if the class size is small enough. If you know them, do a quick “check-in” with each person.

4. Have a helper sit in. if you can have even one live body in the room, or even on the phone, you can talk to that person. Less of the blind feeling you can get when you don’t see an audience. And maybe that person could help you with audience questions, technology issues, etc.

5. Privatize the chat function so that only the presenter and helper can see the questions. Encourage people to ask anything they want, knowing that they will remain anonymous. This increases trust and reduces risk of saying something they might regret. You can respond to the comment or question without revealing who said it.

6. Put up pictures. You can post them on your wall, or on your desk or even on your computer. Make these the happiest-to-see-you faces you can. Or use pictures of your pets or loved ones so you can see them, if that helps you feel more connected.

7. Stand up. This allows you to breathe more deeply, puts more energy in your voice.

8. Open your mouth wider. Enunciate carefully. This can keep you from rushing, and make you more easily understood.

9. Smile. Yes, we can hear that in your voice.

10. Keep the group small. In this way you can personalize the call, so people don’t just drift in and out of attention. There is nothing like hearing your name called with a question attached. Your audience will stay more focused if you might call on them.

Speaking with a remote audience is more and more part of our presentation repertoire. You can hide in the dark, or you can choose to shine.

I would love to hear from you. How do you sparkle when you speak with remote audiences? And how do you engage your audience in remote presentations?

Recently I worked with a wonderful group of professionals, each wanting to be a better speaker. Some wanted to feel more comfortable, to turn nervous anxiety into power. Some wanted to be able to speak more fluently, releasing themselves from relying on notes and slides. And some wanted to break bad habits; notably, the habit of using filler words. Ah, that is a tough one.

Why do we use filler words? And what can we do to reduce them from our speaking?

Cause 1: We use these fillers to fill the tiny gaps when we are thinking of what we want to say next. Our minds race so fast when we are speaking (and we speak much slower than we think) that there is often a disconnect. We forget where we were, or what our point was, because we are thinking so fast we are off to the next thought.

Solution: Try to keep your focus with what you are saying. Try to not think ahead so much. When you notice your mind racing ahead to the next thought, or what is on the next slide, gently bring it back to the present and the words you are saying in the moment.

Cause 2: We distract ourselves with perfectionism and criticism. When we make a mistake, we dwell on it. We beat ourselves up. We hear each and every little filler. And we distract ourselves with these thoughts, so we end up with…wait for it…more fillers. Dang!

Solution: Forgive and forget—right away! You may notice the mistake, but let that thought pass by. Keep your focus right where it belongs, on your content.

Cause 3: We are often thinking of the words we want to say, or the words we had planned to say, rather than the thought itself. It is frustrating when you can’t think of that perfect word you wanted to say, but your audience doesn’t know what you planned, only what they hear. Most times, a close-enough word is just as good as the perfect word.

Solution: Think of your message, not your words. Tell stories, use dialog, think in images rather than words. Shut off the internal word-finder and let the words flow. Use close-enough words. Don’t memorize a script. If you do get stuck looking for a word, allow a pause instead of filling it up. The gap is most likely not all that noticeable to the audience.

Cause 4: We very often use fillers before answering a question. While we are teeing up the answer we often use a prolonged “ummm” sound to indicate we are getting ready to answer. Other people will say “that’s a good question” to fill this gap.

Solution: Use a Neutral Bridge instead of the filler. Neutral Bridges include phrases like “the question in about” or “I understand your concern about X.” By using a Neutral Bridge you paraphrase the question, buy yourself time to think, and allow the audience to hear the question in your words.

Cause 5: We get distracted by technology. I remember the first webinar I ever gave. I was so distracted by the technology and by not seeing my audience that I almost froze. Well, I did freeze for a moment.

Solution: Have someone else with you to deal with technology issues as they arise. Practice a lot before this type of presentation, so that the technology becomes more familiar. Consider having a co-presenter until you get the hang of it. Also consider inviting people to sit in live on your session, so you have a real audience. (Or put some pictures of your audience near your computer, and talk to them.)

These are a few of the most common reasons you will hear fillers in your speaking. Will you ever get rid of every um and ah? Probably not. But if you can reduce the frequency and duration of the fillers, your message will be able to get through more successfully, and you will sound that much more polished. Good luck!

What have you done to reduce the fillers in your speaking?

Is there anything worse than a joke that bombs? Or a punch line that misses? Or humor that the speaker gets, but the audience doesn’t? Whew! The rewards are great, but the stakes are high when it comes to using humor successfully in presentations.

We have already looked at why to use humor, and when to use humor in your presentations, now let’s take a look at how you can use humor successfully.

What not to do:

• Don’t force it. If you try too hard, or work too hard at putting humor into your presentation, you may appear frivolous or desperate. Humor is always best when it seems spontaneous.
• Don’t tell jokes. In almost every joke, there is a butt of the joke. No one wants to be the butt of the joke, and many people find it uncomfortable to be in the situation of laughing when there is a chance that someone is going to look bad. Think of all the “dumb blond” jokes. Even if you happen to be blond, there is always a victim in those jokes. (How do the other blonds in the room feel about it?)
• Don’t laugh at anyone. Funny things happen all around us. But I always worry that if I tell a story about how dumb that other driver was, someone is going to be offended. My worst nightmare: you were the other driver and I just told a story at your expense. Not funny!
• Don’t use any humor you wouldn’t tell your grandmother. If it contains innuendo or language that wouldn’t be appropriate in church, think twice. Better yet, just don’t go there. This is a business presentation, not a comedy club.
• Don’t build it up too much. “Oh, I have the funniest joke – you are going to love this one…” is to me a set-up for disaster. Much better to slip it in unannounced and unanticipated. That is part of the fun of humor.
• Don’t laugh at your own joke. OK, maybe you can smile, but don’t crack yourself up. Especially if you audience isn’t finding it all that funny anyway. Keep the presentation moving, and if the audience gets a chuckle, pause and let the moment unfold naturally.

What to do:

• Find the natural humor. Funny things do happen. Words get twisted in funny ways. Unexpected outcomes make us laugh. As long as you aren’t laughing at anyone or any group, these natural expressions of surprise and humor are more likely to work.
• Soft pedal the humor. Don’t force it, but let it float to your audience. If they find it humorous, great. If they don’t, you have already moved on. You’re not waiting for the big laugh; you are happy with a chuckle or a smile.
• Find your own humor style. Your humor style might be that of a natural storyteller, or that of a physically humorous person (think Lucille Ball and her faces or Robin Williams with his whole-body humor) or a witty word-twister. You might find that unexpected gem of humor no one else can see. Or maybe you have just the right words to make people laugh and relax in a tense situation. You might even be the person who brings the best cartoons to share. Look for your own natural, comfortable style, and try it out in appropriate ways.
• Laugh together. The best laughter is when we all “get it” and we share a laugh together. No one gets hurt. No one works too hard at it. This kind of humor bonds us, and is priceless. Have a light attitude, be open to humor, and be sure no one gets hurt. Laughter happens.

How do you use humor in presentations? Does it have a place in your organization? In your presentations? How do you make sure it is appropriate and adds value in business presentations?