Archive for July, 2008

« Older Entries

Arrgh! Isn’t There A Law Against Giving Bad Presentations?

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Bad presentations need to be stopped

I probably need to apologize in advance for this rant — I’ve finally reached my breaking point.

I somehow got myself trapped in a presentation on changes to my 401k retirement program. I guess that I should start by admitting that I really can’t think of a much more boring topic to talk about in the first place even though I know that I should be really interested because, after all, it is my retirement. However, the person giving the presentation was beyond bad — they were just awful. To make matters worse, the presentation went on for over 1-1/2 hours. Well before the end I was wondering if I could sneak out the back door, but alas, it was not to be.

When I finally stumbled out of this colossal waste of time, I found myself wondering how I could avoid getting trapped in any such presentations in the future. Yes, I did for just a minute dream of a world in which presentation police would show up and arrest anyone who did a poor or careless job of presenting information. I was thinking that the charge would have to be something along the lines of “… intent to do bodily harm.”

Since we don’t live in that world, what do ALL presenters of complex information need to know (we’ll leave motivational speakers out of it for now)? At the end of the day I believe that there are two critical skills that all speakers must have: (1) the ability to understand and use how adults learn when constructing a speech, and (2) the ability to appeal to all types of learning methods during the same presentation.

The days of sitting in school and having a teacher talk at us are over. We get bombarded with way too much information every day. Ultimately, I believe that it’s the presenters responsibility to deliver information in a way that we can understand and remember it. So there you go, there are no presentation police, but if there were would you have an arrest record?

Tags: , , , ,

Posted in adult learning, memory, public speaking, retention, training | No Comments »

“Once Upon A Time…” – The Role Of Storytelling In Business Communication

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Business Storytelling Can Be Effective If Done Correctly

By Dr. Jim Anderson

In the eternal quest to communicate better and have our message “stick” with our audience, a powerful tool is often overlooked by us technical types. A good story, told at the right time, in the right way, to the right audience can have a lasting effect that can transform an organization. Proof of this can be found on the business best seller list over the past few years: “Who Moved My Cheese“, “Zapp: The Lightning of Empowerment“, “A Message From Garcia“, etc. have all proved that everyone loves a good story. Ah, but as always, the devil is in the details. Done wrong, a story can backfire and send your career down in flames. Let’s see if we can discover how to tame this wild stallion so that we can ride it to career success.

We’ve got lots of ways to communicate information, why bother with stories? We all know how to create and use analytical charts and their associated graphs (3-D pie chart anyone?), written reports, etc. A story is the right tool to use when your standard tools just aren’t working. Joseph Badaracco, a Harvard Business School professor, says that “People don’t simply hear stories. It triggers things – pictures, thoughts, and associations – in their minds“. The end result of all of this triggering is that a story can communicate your point in a very powerful way that fully engages your audience.

As always there is a catch. The catch to storytelling is that you need to know where to draw the line between making a dry business story more compelling by embellishing it and changing the story into an outright lie. I can’t even begin to stress just how important this rule is. An embellishment is when you transform “I took the test on a hot day” into “As I walked to the most important certification test in my life, the hot Texas sun felt like it was hovering just 10 feet above my head and the melted asphalt splashed as I walked though it.” See? You’ve made a dry story just a bit more interesting. A LIE would be when you say “I worked at ACME products for over 10 years in the Coyote specialty division where I invented the first rocket powered shoes.” If you weren’t there for 10 years or if you didn’t invent that, then that’s a lie.

In order for your story to have the impact that you want it to have, it has got to ring true with your audience. If your audience doubts even one part of your story, then they will spend the rest of the time looking for other holes in your tale. However, if your story is true and contains a powerful message that your audience can both picture and feel, then you will have accomplished what very few other communicators can do — you will have gotten your message across.

Tags: , , , , ,

Posted in business, communication, impact, lie, story, storytelling | No Comments »

Communication Skills From The Master: Edward Tufte

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Edward Tufte has suggestions on how to give good technical presentations

If you don’t know who Edward Tufte is, then you really should. He is a Professor Emeritus at Yale University and his specialty is teaching people how to present data using information graphics. He is truly an expert on the best way to present complex information. A long time I was scanning the web when I ran across some notes that Craig Kaplan up at the University of Waterloo had jotted down on how to deliver great presentations after attending one of Tufte’s seminars. We’ve already talked about how to write a great presentation. I now share these suggestions on how to give a good presentation with the reverence that one must show to the words of someone who is really, really good at what they do:

  • Show Up Early!: Good things happen to those who show up early. Specifically, you can solve problems before they become unsolvable and you can take the time to introduce yourself to the audience as they arrive. This way when you start to speak neither one of you will be a stranger.

  • Have A Strong Opening: There are three questions that every opening must quickly answer: (1) What’s the problem?, (2) Who cares?, and (3) What’s your solution? Answer these questions and the audience will listen to your every word.
  • PGP: As you introduce a new sub-topic, make sure that you move from the particular, to the general, and then back to the particular. Although what you want the audience to take away from your presentation is the general info, the particulars will help make the info “stick”.
  • Know Your Audience — By What They Read!: This is Tufte’s twist on an old maxim of public speaking. He believes that knowing what your audience reads will help you understand what styles of information presentation works best for them.
  • Take Care When Answering Questions: There is a good possibility that your audience’s take-away impression of your presentation won’t be based on your presentation, but rather on how you answer questions AFTER the presentation. Allow for long pauses after the question has been asked and before you answer — this will give more weight to your reply.
  • Let Everyone Know That You Belive In Your Material: Speak with lots of convection! Clearly letting everyone know that you believe in everything that you are telling them is the key to getting them to believe it just as much as you do.

There you have it. Now please remember that Tufte also has the ability to use amazing graphics with his presentations that clearly communicate what lots of data has to say. However, even the best graphics won’t do you any good if you don’t remember these presenting rules from the master.

Tags: ,
,

Posted in Edward Tufte, information overload, presentation tips | 5 Comments »

Persuasive Speech Time: How To Deal With Unspeakable Subjects

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Communicating difficult information is very hard to do well
In the world of information technology, we actually have it pretty good. We don’t work around spinning industrial machinery nor do we operate fork-lifts or work out in the hot sun. More or less everyone remains fairly healthy and we generally don’t get injured on the job.

That being said, we do live in the real world and bad things happen to people. When something bad happens to a member of your team or your department, communicating with the rest of the team about what is going on is a critical part of your job. As always, the lawyers often jump in with valid concerns about the revealing of other people’s personal information, etc. Let’s put that aside for right now and make an abstract concept more concrete: lets talk about how you would handle it if a member of your department died.

If it falls on your shoulders to let everyone know what’s going on, then this topic will require more tact, knowledge, and preparation than just about any other discussion you will have. Do it correctly and you’ll be viewed as a sensitive leader. Do it poorly, and you’ll instantly lose the respect of your team.

News of this kind of shocking nature will generate the full range of emotions in your audience. This, somewhat amazingly, includes hostility. The loss of a teammate could cause someone to get angry about having to pick up their work when they feel that they are already overloaded. This may not be a real issue, but instead it is how they start to deal with the loss. This will be the wrong time for you to get into a fight with someone as they are trying to come to terms with what you are saying. Instead, stay professional no matter what and make sure that you stay tuned in to your audience. One way to stay tuned in with your audience is to be sure to maintain eye contact with them. This shows them that you are talking “to them”, not “at them”.

Its the small details that will get remembered. Hopefully it goes without saying that your body language will always be talking louder than your mouth in this case. When you are talking about grief, you need to be sure to choose your words very carefully. In the case of a teammate’s death, saying over and over again that he’s “dead” or “been killed” can be very harsh and jarring. Saying it differently and talking about the “loss” can communicate the same meaning in a more gentle way. Finally, in our multicultural workplace, make sure that you have names correct. Nothing could be more disrespectful than a verbal fumble at this point in time.

We’re lucky because we seem to be able to avoid having to deal with “heavy” topics most of the time. However, when these situations come up, and they always do, being ready to say the right things in the right way can make all the difference in the world.

Posted in communication, grief, loss, sensitive, team | No Comments »

Quick Hit: Top 10 Tips To Remember When Writing A Speech

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

10 Things To Remember When Writing A Speech

You might think that you have the most amazing information to share with your audience; however, if you don’t structure your speech correctly, your message will never “stick” with them. As we’ve already talked about, you need to have a strong opening and closing in order to get your message across. Here’s 10 tips to keep in mind when you finally get around to sitting down and writing that killer speech to end all speeches:

  1. Be sure to plan and practice the opening and closing parts of your speech just as much as you do the middle of the speech.

  2. Provide closure for your audience by re-using the same words that you used in your opening in your closing. This will show everyone how you’ve brought things together.
  3. Never, ever, ever apologize or complain. The audience should be thankful that you took the time to talk to them.
  4. Don’t use definitions for terms that have clearly been lifted out of a dictionary. This will seem forced and will break any connection that you’ve established with your audience.
  5. Don’t assume that your audience knows anything about what you are talking about. Skip the subject specific acronyms and jargon. I always like to assume that my Mom’s sitting in the audience and I write my speech for her to understand what I’m talking about.
  6. Don’t be a dork and say things like “This is the end of my speech”. Note that saying “In conclusion…” is just as bad.
  7. Don’t introduce new material as a part of your closing. The closing is there to allow you to wrap things up — not to launch a new speech.
  8. In your conclusion, don’t suddenly change topics. If you were speaking about the need to get a college education, don’t wrap up by saying that high school is where we learn life’s most important lessons.
  9. Never abandon the podium. Wait for the meeting leader or the MC to come out and take control. If you just walk away, everyone will be confused as to what comes next.
  10. Always make yourself available after the speech to answer questions and greet people. This is not for you to feel good, but rather it is for some of your audience to get closure on what you said.

This list is by no means complete, but it sure can provide a great start that will allow you to write a speech that is better than any other speech out there!

Tags: , , , ,

Posted in closing, opening, speech writing, strong, top 10 tips | No Comments »

« Older Entries