When asked what he looked for in those he hired, he said, “Leadership, results, and presence.”

About presence he said, “At varying levels of the company you deal with different stakeholders.  Having somebody spend time with a member of Congress is very different than having somebody go downstairs and see that they were appropriately replacing a torn carpet. 

As I’ve gone through my career, I’ve been challenged to deal with different stakeholders.  Internally when I was younger and more junior, I probably did pretty well with peers.  But how do you credibly communicate with more senior people, who are not as concerned about details, but want a bigger picture?

So it’s a combination of how you convey things and what you convey to various stakeholders.  Presence is learning to deal with different audiences in a way that allows them to get what they need out of interactions and ensures that the well-being of the company is looked after.

I think you can be a good communicator and you still may not have presence.  There may be someone who is very articulate on a subject and they know levels of detail.  When you get with a particular audience it may not be appropriate to go into those of levels of detail, or you may create doubt by even going into the subject matter.

Some people are not very good communicators, but boy, when you get them into their subject matter, they know exactly where and how far to go.

Others are brilliant communicators, but because of the connection between their thoughts and the synapses firming and the words coming out, there isn’t enough time and introspection.  Therefore, they brilliantly communicate something that they shouldn’t be talking about. 

Presence is knowing what to communicate, and how.”

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Before now, those with performance jitters have had to contend with the nausea and the nerves on their own, or take beta blockers to battle the symptoms.  New research has come up with another way to fight stage fright:  biofeedback.

“Our research looks at both the psychological and physiological effect of stage fright,”  says Dr. Myron Thurber, a counselor, physical therapist and biofeedback expert from Spokane, Wash.  “It raises our conscious awareness of our heart rhythms by allowing us to see them on a screen.”

In the study, anxiety-ridden musicians were trained in the use of a small biofeedback machine to “train” their body’s emotional response to stress.  After being hooked to the device with an ear clip or finger monitor, the musicians could see their heart’s responses to both anxiety or stress (typified by a jerky, edgy pattern) as well as feelings of joy or appreciation (a smooth, coherent pattern).  After four sessions, the subjects were able to shift their emotional response – holding onto the feelings of joy even while performing – successfully keeping the stage fright out of the limelight.

“After we trained them, people reported on average about a 70 percent improvement in playing ability as well as the same decrease in their sense of stress or performance anxiety,” says Thurber.

In other words, no more flubbed notes, flushed faces or tossed cookies in the recital hall restroom.

Even better, Thurber says the biofeedback machine is both versatile – it can be used for other types of anxiety such as test taking or public speaking – and unobtrusive (about the size of an iPod).

“Some people would practice using it in the recital hall before a performance,” he says.  “People are used to seeing little handheld devices so we hardly notice them any more.”

Have you ever gotten nervous before performing or speaking in public?  What happened?

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

It was fabulous, and so was he, although I did have a few nits to pick here and there.  (It was a little long and I wanted a bit more problem definition.)

But what I really liked was a magical and playful phrase evoking the importance of bringing yourself into any talk you make: the youie youness of you.

Gary was adamant on the subject of authenticity, self-expression, and presence.  He made the case that if you hold yourself back, or try to be something you’re not, you are absent, not present.

We debated about the universality of that claim.  What if, I asked, the youie youness of you is monotonous, tentative, and disorganized?  Does that still work?

Gary is smart, opinionated, and experienced as a writer and performer, so the Gary-like Garyness of Gary is ready for prime time. 

But if my name is Casper Milquetoast, the Caspar-like Casperness of Casper may not serve me well if I’m presenting myself in public.  Caspar must learn how to project his ideas effectively.  He can be Casper, but he needs to learn a few techniques, like how to write a speech, how to craft a presentation, use PowerPoint effectively, and project a stage presence.

It is liberating to hear Gary speak about the Youie Youness of You.  He gives us permission to let our talents take over, to trust ourselves, and to say, “I AM GOOD ENOUGH.”  He holds out the possibility that there is joy in public speaking and presenting, because it is a deep experience of self-expression for the speaker. 

I suppose I’m a bit of a technician.  I don’t think the average guy should walk on a wire between two buildings without some serious training.  Nor do I think he should walk out on stage to deliver a speech or presentation without an adequate amount of knowledge and skill.

Nevertheless, Gary is right.  No matter what you talk about when presenting, your audience is thirsty for the youie youness of you.

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Habits such as talking too quietly, or too quickly, or going up at the ends of sentences, or sounding too breathy, or too stereotypically “blue collar”—all these, and other vocal habits, can cause listeners to dismiss our ideas.

This is most obviously a problem for professional people whose job demands that they communicate their expertise, compete for promotion, and sell themselves and their ideas both inside their organizations, and out in the marketplace.

What can be done to help them?

1. Make them aware of the problem.  We are reluctant to do this because the voice is such a deeply personal part of us.  To criticize the voice of another, we think to ourselves, would be hurtful to them.  Quite the contrary, if done in a supportive manner.  Broadcasters and actors were not born with the voices we hear on  radio and TV.  They work with voice and speech teachers to improve the appeal of their on-air presence.  Since we in the business world are always “on” at work, why should we not do what we can to improve our chances to climb to the top?
2. The voice is a wind instrument.  In order to play it well, we must know how to breathe to support the sound, and how to use our tongues and lips to make crisp, intelligible sounds, just as the fingers of a flautist move to stop the air to make specific notes..  These behaviors are easily learned with practice.  A good voice and speech teacher can be found at any university with a drama department.  He or she can help improve the credibility of a voice, and reduce the effect of any accent that might be getting in the way.
3. Finally, someone who seeks to improve his or her vocal presence should expect that it will take some time.  One does not learn how to play a wind instrument in a day. But with effort, one can improve the expressive range, the strength, and the resonance of a voice, and discover an ancient truth: that we are judged by how we speak.

I say the truth is ancient because I recently discovered this quote from The Book of Sirach, written in Hebrew in the 2^nd Century BCE.

When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear;

So do a man’s faults when he speaks.

As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace,

So in his conversation is the test of a man.

The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had;

So too does a man’s speech disclose the bent of his mind.

Praise no man before he speaks,

For it is then that men are tested.

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Both speak without notes, use pictures and graphics as visuals (without a bulletpoint in sight), demonstrate that they have internalized their content, and in fact have memorized some verbal “riffs” that delight their listeners.

But what if they had used notes?  Would that have damaged the appeal of their presentations? 

I think it depends on how they used them.

If they had stood, hands in-front, head down, clutching a deck of 3×5 cards, yes—they would have damaged their appeal.

But if they had had, at their disposal, a lectern or a table, where they could have gone to glance down at an outline, would that have hurt their appeal?  I doubt it, as long as each of them maintained their liveliness and engagement with their listeners.

Audiences crave intimacy with a speaker.  In addition to getting the pleasure of a new thought from a speaker, (or having an old idea buffed and polished) they want the speaker to be good company—entertaining, bright, and well-informed. 

When we use notes in such a way that we devote the bulk of our attention to the audience, and not to the documents in front of us, we are in the zone of peak performance. 

After all, the presence of notes indicates that we have prepared, that we strive to be organized, and that we are respectful of the gift that our listeners give us—the gift of their attention.

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

It seems to me that many scientific and technical speakers take their own work for granted, as if expressing appreciation for the mysteries they’re exploring would be unprofessional. 

I find this tendency to be damaging to the scientific and technical presenter’s ability to create excitement and comprehension in their audiences, especially when they’re speaking to lay audiences, where it is crucial to set up the context and dramatize the strangeness and wonder of the work.

Furthermore, when the scientific or technical speaker is trying to raise money or sell an asset or idea, his ability to generate enthusiasm and curiosity helps predispose an audience to take a second look.

What can be done for scientific and technical presenters who are tasked with getting lay audiences to understand and appreciate the dramatic power of their work?

Strangely enough, the Gettysburg Address has something to teach them.

The Back Story

President Lincoln began his famous speech with the back story—the big picture.  “Four score and seven…”  He reached back 87 years (a score is a quantity of 20) and summarized American history in one sentence. 

Scientific and technical presenters can do this too.  They can summarize the work done in their particular field up until the present, implying that the project under discussion builds on a body of research that is important to humanity.

The Current Problem

President Lincoln then defined the intractable problem the country faced in the present moment.  “Now we are engaged in a great civil war…” he said.

Scientific and technical speakers should do the same.  Having summarized the work of previous experts, they should describe the problem that remains to be solved.  This is important because it helps people take an interest in the topic.

The Question that Needs to be Answered

Then President Lincoln asked a question—not directly, but he implied one—which is, “What can I possibly say here to honor the men who died?” 

He answers the question by saying that no words he can speak will do the job.  Instead, he asks his audience to rededicate their lives to the “proposition that all men are created equal.”

Scientific and technical presenters can also use this technique:  ask the question that needs to be answered, and then offer an answer.

For instance, a biotech firm developing on a new HIV compound might phrase such a question like this:  “Given the long march HART (highly-active anti-retroviral therapy) has taken, and since, in that time, few agents in this class have made it to market, and those that did suffered from food issues and lipid abnormalities, what attributes has this compound demonstrated to justify our confidence in its ability to clear all regulatory hurdles and play a significant role in the treatment of HIV?”

The Answer to the Question

At this point in the talk, the scientific or technical presenter should proceed to make his or her argument for the value and importance of the product, just as President Lincoln made the case for honoring the dead by continuing to prosecute the war.

Delivery

Finally, the scientific and/or technical speaker must make the case with some enthusiasm.  Getting others to appreciate the incredible journey science continues to take requires more than words.  It requires the emotional expression of awe and wonder—an overt appreciation for the mystery of things.

After all, emotions are contagious.  Without emotion, a speaker’s ideas are rarely catching.

Angela Lansbury

They were not alone.  Most Broadway actors have strong speaking voices.  The question is:  did they become successful because they were gifted with such speaking voices, or did they work to develop their instruments?

The answer?  Who knows?  Some of us are born with a distinctive speaking voice, some of us are not, and others work their butts off to develop their speaking voice so they can have the career they want.

You are not an actor, and yet like an actor, your success depends on the impression you create and on how you perform on the job.  In fact, the sound of your speaking voice is arguably the most memorable thing about you: it echoes in the minds of those who have met you and worked with you.  Yet most of us get no training on how to use our speaking voices.

That’s too bad, because the speaking voice is perfectly trainable.  It can be tuned, like a guitar or a piano.  And training your speaking voice can be incredibly fun.

Here in New Jersey, training the speaking voice is a personal and professional goal for many.  Whether they are young women seeking to increase their image of authority and gravitas when they speak, or men with successful careers who want to minimize the stigma of an accent, they seek out private or group instruction in training the speaking voice as a passport to success.

Training the speaking voice covers:

• how to breath in order to support your sound
• how to release habitual tension in the speaking process
• how to expand the range, resonance and deep dark color of the voice
• and how to enunciate vowels and consonants with clarity and precision

Because New York and New Jersey are melting pots of ambitious and successful people—people who see opportunity and want to take advantage of it—many of them want to develop their speaking voices as their number one calling card.

Also a large number of major corporations in New York and New Jersey want to retain highly skilled knowledge workers who must interact with teams and present their specialized knowledge to others.  Helping these people to contribute to the organization is one of the many reasons why companies seek out training for voice and speech.

The speaking voice is the world’s greatest instrument—of leadership, change, and communication.  Tune your instrument.  Practice your instrument.  Become a master of your instrument. 

The rewards, for you and your company, will be positively resounding.

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Apparently, President Bush had learned at Yale that all speeches should have an introduction, three points, a peroration, and a conclusion.

(What’s a peroration?  It’s the wrap-up, in which you remind the audience, in new words, what has been proven and what you urge them to do.)

Matt the speechwriter found this template lacking in creativity.  “To hell with Yale,” says Matt on page 188 of his book.  “I’d gone to the University of Michigan, where we learned that speeches should be fun.”

I agree.  A speech without the spirit of humor, or joy, or playfulness is about as exciting as a mashed-potato sandwich.

To stimulate your creativity as a speechwriter or presentation developer, I give you Mr. Tom Waits.

Tom Waits is a good model for creativity, because on National Public Radio, Tom  interviewed himself (itself a creative act,) asks himself some creative questions, and comes up with creative answers.

For instance, he asks himself what’s the most curious record in his collection.

His answer?  “In the seventies a record company in LA issued a record called ‘The best of Marcel Marceau.’ It had forty minutes of silence followed by applause and it sold really well. I like to put it on for company. It really bothers me, though, when people talk through it.”

Then he asks himself what’s wrong with the world. 

“We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge.

Quantity is being confused with abundance, and wealth with happiness.

Leona Helmsley’s dog made $12 million last year… and Dean McLaine, a farmer in Ohio, made $30,000.

It’s just a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.”

Click on the link and read the rest of it.  It’s playful and will invite your creativity to e-merge with your business savvy.

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

In his entertaining memoir Speech*Less, speech writer Matt Latimer reveals something about the speeches developed for President G.W. Bush.  By the way, he was one of the speech writers.

‘I quickly discovered the answer to a question I’d been asked by people since I’d arrived at the White House:  why did the President’s speeches always seem to be so bad?  It turned out it was intentional.  On my very first day, Bill McGurn and Marc Thiessen both told me that the president was “okay” with a flat speech.  All he cared about was logic and organization, not eloquence.  As a student at Yale, the President had learned that all speeches should have an introduction, three points, a peroration, and a conclusion.  I didn’t even know what a peroration was.  The president wasn’t as insanely rigid about this approach, though, as Bill and the other writers thought he was. I’d read many of his finer speeches in his first term, and they rarely followed this pattern.  But pushing the President to like a speech that was written differently was too risky.  The writers all lived in fear that he’d blow up at them, which on occasion he’d been known to do.  So in the quest for rigid logic—point A to point B to point C to conclusion—language that satisfied the President in one speech would be cut and pasted into the next speech and then the next.’

Matt decides that, since he didn’t go to Yale but rather attended the University of Michigan, he was not obliged to follow the routine.

The Bush Doctrine of speech writing sounds suspiciously like the models I’ve seen being peddled to the business community.

Having a model is good, because it saves time and helps you think about structure.  But slavish devotion to models creates M&M: monotony and mediocrity.

Look for a way to use your model as a spring board to create an EXPERIENCE for your listeners.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

The Wick Smith Approach is based on the four elements in an ad:

The Headline, The Image, The Body Copy, The Logo

Each one has a role to play, and each viewer will have his or her own preference as to which is most important.

The Headline is the big idea or the claim being made by the ad. People who like the big picture and avoid the details prefer to read the headline.  Since people make decisions out of fear or desire, a headline should target one of those emotions.

The Image appeals to the visual thinker. The Image could evoke a problem that needs to be solved, or an aspiration that the viewer has. Either one stimulates the emotions and moves the viewer to action.

The Body Copy is meant to give the reader reasons to buy—some would even say “permission” to buy. For instance, expensive chocolate companies often compose body copy trying to convince prospects that they are “worth it,” and deserve a little luxury in their lives.

Finally, the Logo is meant to build the relationship. It is the identity of the company, and therefore the sign of trust and reliability, or perhaps of excitement (Ferrari) or innovation (Apple), or perhaps luxury (Tiffany).

Speeches and presentations need all four of these elements.

First, the Headline. The speaker should be able to articulate the Headline, or premise of the talk, in one simple sentence. For instance, “Everyone can become a better speaker,” is the premise of this blog (and this article.)

PowerPoint should be used to supply visuals to support the spoken word, or if the speaker chooses to NOT USE POWERPOINT, he can tell stories or use metaphors and analogies to paint pictures in the mind of the listeners.

In a presentation, Body Copy is the proof you marshall under your claims. Each slide should have a Headline that makes a claim, and the imagery or data on the slide should supply the evidence that the headline is a valid conclusion.

It is ill-advised to put body copy on a slide because it is hard for the audience to read slides and listen at the same time.

Much better to put dramatic imagery on your slides and put the detailed narrative in the notes section of the PowerPoint page.

Finally,  in a presentation, the Logo is YOU. You are not a corporation. You are a person, and your behaviors and look should be consistent with the message you strive to impart.

Furthermore, the presentation should be all about the audience, not all about how cool you, your company, product, or ideas are. So, in a sales presentation, I suggest that you remove your company Logo from all your slides except the title slide.  Instead, put your prospect’s Logo on the slides.

Conclusion: Good ads persuade us to buy through four channels of communication:

1.  The claim,  generalization, or summary headline

2.  The details and evidence to prove that the headline is true and valid

3.  An image that enables us to feel the benefit of the offering

4.  A logo, or a branded source of information, that strives to earn our trust in the argument being made.

Speeches and presentations have similar elements: Key take-aways! Data, facts and other forms of proof (such as stories) that justify the key-takeaways! And Imagery on the slides or created in the mind of the audience by the speaker telling vivid stories!

And then there is you, the speaker, the source of the information. Your comfort, confidence and ease on stage help you generate the willing suspension of disbelief amongst your listeners, which allows them to take a chance on you and your idea.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills andpublic speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Speech professionals like me, along with many other communication experts, have had a love-hate relationship with PowerPoint for years.

Now we see that the leaders of our military are having the same debate: At what point does PowerPoint become a hindrance rather than an aid?

I remember the story about Lou Gerstner when he took over IBM. He went to his first meeting as CEO and sat down to watch a PowerPoint presentation on what was wrong with the company.

Within minutes, he asked that the projector be turned off and simply said, “Let’s talk.”

There is something wrong when we ask people to listen to us and give them something to read at the same time.  I’m not a cognitive scientist, but I don’t think the human brain was designed to listen to a speech and read at the same time.

There are many people who have done research into these issues and we should heed their call.

Cliff Atkinson at www.sociablemedia.com has published a book entitled Beyond Bullet Points.  He makes an elegant case for the use of imagery, the structure of story, and the effective use of clear outlines and headlines.

Cliff based some of his methodology on the work of Professor Richard E. Mayer at the University of California.

Professor Mayer and others have done ground-breaking research into the Principles of Cognitive Guidance:  basically, how do you get people to follow what you’re saying.

These Principles apply to teaching, lecturing, and presenting, and are extremely useful to all of us who must make sense out of complexity.

Many of us are also familiar with Edward Tufte, Professor Emeritus at Yale, who has done extraordinary work on the visual display of quantitative information.

His paper, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint, was published in May 2003, and while it has been found to be strongly biased against PowerPoint, it has helped to point the way to a more effective use of visual displays in business settings.

In my work within big Pharma, financial services, and strategic consulting shops, I am amazed at how much time managers spend designing slides.

When you add up the cost of pulling everyone into a meeting, and the cost of an executive salary paid to a manager to create slides for a week, the amount spent is considerable.

And if you add in the fact that the audience may frequently get bored, or confused, or simply exhausted from the onslaught of daily PowerPoint presentations they have to sit through, you have an additional cost in lower morale and disengagement.

As the article in the Times says, PowerPoint probably isn’t going away anytime soon.  But it is time to make it clear that PowerPoint is a tool that we can use more effectively by using it according to proven principles of science, and not according to our legacy corporate habits.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills andpublic speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Here’s Mistake #99:  Not rehearsing together.

I just came back from a meeting in which the Founder spoke first, followed by the President of the firm.  They had not rehearsed together.

The Founder had been planning to discuss the macro-economics of the horrible year past.  Unfortunately, he also elaborated on various aspects of the investments in the portfolio.

When the President (the next speaker) reached the lectern, he had to do some quick thinking to rearrange his comments, since his fearless leader had stolen much of his thunder. 

This was partly the Founder’s fault for changing his talk at the last minute; partly the President’s for not insisting on a joint rehearsal; and partly mine for rehearsing with them both privately and not anticipating the need to collaborate and coordinate.

The price they paid for this error was a low buzz of complaining about the length of the meeting and the repetition of information.

It could have been worse.  Limited Partner Meetings are a key branding opportunity.  If the teamwork between Founder and President isn’t seamless, what does it say about the decision-making process in the firm? 

Could faulty teamwork lead to a much bigger mistake?

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

What are those rules?  One of them is that the human mind is drawn to problems, puzzles, and mysteries.

Rather than seeking to capture the attention of the audience by making a case for the puzzling mystery of the topic at hand, most scientific and technical speakers simply begin with their objectives, methods and data.

This may be admirable science in some circles, but it is not effective communication because it fails to provide the context for the content.

Effective communication seeks to gather the attention of an audience by igniting curiosity and emotion, and only when it has done so can it pull the many human minds present in the same direction.

For instance, let’s say a locomotive is backing up to hook onto a long train of railroad cars.  If it fails to connect, it cannot pull the train forward.

A speaker who does not connect with an audience has the same problem:  He cannot pull his listeners forward unless he has somehow gotten his hook into them.

To sink the hook, a scientific or technical speaker must leave the narrow realm of his expertise and put it into broader context.  He must make a case for the importance of the problem he is working on, or for the maddening slipperiness of the always- receding solution he seeks.

This is the skill of the storyteller, the weaver of tales, the painter of pictures that draws us in—deeper and deeper.  This is the skill of the dramatist, whose opening scene makes us want to stay tuned, and whose subsequent scenes keep us asking the question, “Where’s this going?  What’s going to happen? “

A doctor, researcher, or engineer can improve her outcomes by applying the scientifically established principles of communication.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

“May it please the court,” says the lawyer.

“Madam Speaker,  Vice President So-and-So, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans,” says the President at the State of the Union.

“It is indeed an honor and a privilege to be with you today,” say most commencement speakers.

“May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable to You,” says the preacher, beginning her sermon.

Speeches begin with an elaborate display of good manners because good manners flatter the audience and predispose them to find the speaker and his argument appealing.

So public speech begins—literally—with ritualistic words of respect designed to, at the least, get the audience to lend its collective ear to the speaker.

Later on in the body of the talk, if the speaker is advocating against an opposing point of view, she would be wise  to state that view in a fair and balanced way, and acknowledge the legitimacy of it.

Then, without demonizing the values and beliefs that support the opposing view, the speaker can demonstrate why that view is flawed, and hers is better.

In addition to treating the opposing view as reasonable, the speaker should be mindful of her own tone and word choice. 

We recognize that being uncivil earns the speaker notoriety, adulation from the partisan crowd, and maybe some emotional catharsis. 

But it tends to delay a considered decision made for the public good because it shuts down the other side’s ability and willingness to listen. 

In the end, civility gets things done better, cheaper, and faster.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

“Tyranny” and “socialism” are the buzz words of the day.   States are filing lawsuits because they believe the requirement that individuals carry health insurance infringes on constitutionally guaranteed liberties.

These are emotional arguments.  They inflame the already throbbing belief systems of some of our fellow citizens. 

If our friends and neighbors had the patience to reflect on these claims—that our children will be squashed by debt, and that our political freedoms have been curtailed—they might think twice before putting on their hats and coats and going out for tea.

Yes, we are in debt.  What portion of it comes from health care?   And what portion of it comes from razing and rebuilding a nation in Mesopotamia? Does health care reform add to our debt or reduce it in the long term? 

Can we do the research and get the answers to these questions before we start shooting life-threatening emails and bullets into the offices of elected representatives?

Is the requirement to carry health insurance worthy of the label, “tyranny?”   What about the requirement to carry automobile insurance? Is that tyranny? Or the requirements that we drive on the right side of the road, or obey the speed limits?  

No, these don’t amount to tyranny.  While these laws do limit our freedom of choice, we give up these lesser freedoms to preserve our own safety, and the safety of others.

And living without health insurance?  Is that such a great freedom?  If it is, it’s a freedom we should agree to give up for the same reason—the safety, security and well being of our American society.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Therefore, be specific when speaking to physicians.

Not because you’re lying, but because you want to tell the truth in a memorable and convincing manner.

For instance, when I got home after shooting spitballs at cars through a straw when I was 10, I told my mother I had been building a tepee out of sticks and leaves that Mr. Johnson had raked up after the recent windstorm and piled behind his barn under a tarpaulin.  Worked like a charm.

Data might seem persuasive, but actually it’s not.  That’s because we know in our hearts that 63.92% of all statistics are made up.  (Cough, cough.)

Really though, data is about large numbers of anonymous people.  And doctors know that no two patients are alike.  At least the good ones do.

Be specific about your target patient population, and make sure your doc hears you probing for specifics about his patients, and talking about specific patient types that could benefit from your drug.

Go figure!  Limiting your market can make you a more successful rep!

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

What does she mean by this?  Here’s my take on it.

She means that speakers can’t hold the attention of a room full of people when they get stuck on the same channel for too long.

What is a channel?  Well, it’s something physical, mental, vocal, or verbal that you are doing too much of.

For instance, if your voice springs forth at the same volume all the time, your audience will tire.

If you plod or speed at the same pace for the duration, they will grow weary.

If you lack variety of pitch, and fail to make important words stand out from the less important, they will struggle to follow your reasoning.

If you stand in the same place for too long, your listeners will get fidgety.

If you move constantly back and forth across the floor like a shark, they will get distracted.  Such movement is noise, not signal.  It distracts from what you’re saying.

If you gesture too much, they will be drawn away from your content.

If you don’t gesture at all, they will struggle to understand your point of view, or how you feel about the issues, and will be less focused.

If you talk about yourself ad infinitum, their eyes will glaze over.

If slide after slide shows data, they will fatigue.

If you use fat words too often (big fancy ones) some listeners will withdraw in shame, and others will attack in a rage.

If you use skinny words (simple everyday ones) you may lose the more sophisticated members of your audience.

If you spend too much time in the world of the general and abstract, they will lust for particulars and stories.

On the other hand, if you deal exclusively in facts, they will wonder what your point is.

And if you make a theoretical case for action, they will drop out of listening because they hunger for a real world example to help them SEE what you SAY.

To paraphrase Adlai Stevenson, the way of the speaker is hard, requiring constant channel surfing in order to retain the attention of the viewer. 

Sameness is your enemy.  Variety, diversity, and surprise are your greatest allies.

Bring them with you to your next presentation.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Robert Zajonc

He was interested in determining which influenced the other more strongly.  On balance, he came down on the side of emotion.

He was best known for establishing what he called “the mere exposure” effect.  In this experiment, he showed subjects a series of random shapes in rapid succession—so rapid that they could not possibly tell if any were repeated.

When subjects were later asked which shapes they found most pleasing, they reliably chose the ones to which they had been exposed the most often, though they had no conscious awareness of the fact.

Familiarity, in other words, breeds a kind of affection, an established truth that has, ever since, encouraged advertisers to repeat themselves.

Speakers can do the same.  Find a phrase, an image, or a single word to weave throughout your talk. 

“I have a dream,” is such a phrase.  “Of the people, by the people, for the people,” is another.  And the current American President, Mr. Obama, has been repeating the word, “Responsibility,” perhaps to defuse the charge that he’s bailing out reckless banks and irresponsible people.

“Every word uttered strikes a note on the key board of the imagination,” said Ludwig Wittgenstein. 

Choose the words or phrases to repeat so that your audience will remember your message with affection.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Empathy

Many leaders get into trouble by getting too far ahead of their constituencies without taking the time to connect with those they lead.

Two examples come to mind.  The first is Paul Wolfowitz, who moved from the Bush II Administration to be head of the World Bank.  It was widely reported that he failed in that position because he was unable to “win the building” before he tried to conquer the global challenges he was hired to address.

The other is Laurence Summers, the former President of Harvard University and now special advisor to President Obama.  In his dealings with the faculty, he lost their support and was forced to resign.

Just as leaders need to “win the building” in order to move the organization in a chosen direction, a presenter needs to connect with the audience before he takes them on a deep dive into his content.

A presentation is a micro-moment of leadership, a potentially defining one.  How can we connect before we drill down into the details of our message?

Display your civility
Civility is a formal expression of empathy.  It is good manners.  It predisposes your audience to like you.  Civility shows respect for the occasion and for the audience, and in return, encourages them to be civil to you.

Display self-effacing humor
All humor is inherently persuasive, but self-effacing humor is particularly winning.  It shows the audience that you don’t take yourself too seriously, that you have a degree of humility and self-awareness, and that you are likely to be good company as you lead them through your content.

It’s all about them
As I have mentioned in other blog postings, make your content “all about them.” So many sales presentations could be titled, “My product is cool,” or “My Company is the best.”  It’s more effective to demonstrate an understanding of their situation and then introduce your product/service/company/idea as a solution to their problems.

Display similarity with your audience
People are likely to listen to those they perceive to be similar to them.  At the start of a talk, it’s a good idea to try to link yourself to what they are familiar with.   However, if it’s too much a stretch, it’s pandering.

I once spoke to a group of anesthesiologists, and pointed out that we were in opposite professions.  They knew they were in trouble if their clients were awake, and I knew I was in trouble if my clients were asleep.

It seemed to work.  Being honest about differences must help with credibility.

Act as if you heard they love you
Many great plays dramatize the fact that if we think somebody likes us, we like them back, and are much more likely to display gestures and expressions that communicate a sense of closeness.  (I am thinking particularly of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.)  Radiate your delight at being in the presence of your “loving” audience, and they will reciprocate.

Display your curiosity
One of the easiest presentations to give is to report research about the audience to the audience.  All audiences are fascinated with themselves.  If you can tell them things you’ve learned about them, or about individual members of the audience, and express real interest in what they do and how they do it, you stand a better chance of building rapport.

Remember this:  if you’re a speaker and you lack empathy, you’re like a sled dog who has slipped out of his harness.  You’re not connected, and you’re moving nobody forward.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Set the tone

We the people perform best in a “high energy, low tension” environment.  Your advisors are people, so create energy and relaxation at the start.

This means that before you get to the serious issues surrounding your compound in development, rearrange their internal molecules by getting them to smile, laugh, interact, or do something unexpected.

For instance, I recently attended a symposium on American poetry where, at the start, the host sang a ridiculous song about Cape May, NJ, the site of our meeting, and encouraged us to sing along with him.

When we finished, our fearless leader said, “If I can sing in front of 200 people, you can certainly express your opinions with vigor at this meeting.  I urge you to take chances.”

You may think such an approach is not appropriate for you or your situation.  However, consider this:  we laughed, we breathed deeply, we relaxed, we connected with our facilitator and each other, and I recall the meeting with fondness.

Ask yourself:  Do your advisors feel the same way about your meetings?

Lay the ground work

Now comes the housekeeping—the objectives, agenda, and ground rules.  If a list of all attendees is in front of each person, complete with bio and CV, skip the usual personal introductions and ask them to tell the group something about themselves that the group can’t read on the paper.

I’ve had success asking people in our workshops to speak about pet peeves, pet passions, or to tell a story about a time in their lives when they “should’a been dead.”  Everyone’s got one of those stories.

PS.  You might even do the “should’a been dead,” exercise instead of asking them to sing.

PSS. Yes, your audience is time-pressed, content-driven, and results-oriented.  But so are you, and the results you want include a relaxed, honest, and spirited group.

Poke them in the brain

Now we’re getting serious.  What makes people think is a really interesting question, or a puzzle—a problem that needs to be solved.

Think about the most popular shows on TV:  House or Law and Order.  They start with a problem that needs to be solved.

Frame the discussion around a problem. Make it sound fascinating and complex.  They’ll start pondering right away.

If the group has met before, than recap briefly what transpired previously, and then proceed to re-frame the remaining questions or problems that need to be solved.

Ask precise questions

We all know that the way questions are phrased determines the answers we get.

For example, two priests who, being unsure if it was permissible to smoke and pray at the same time, wrote to the Pope for a definitive answer.  One priest phrased the question, ‘Is it permissible to smoke while praying?’ and was told it is not, since prayer should be the focus of one’s whole attention; the other priest asked if it is permissible to pray while smoking and was told that it is, since it is always permissible to pray.

Be careful how you phrase questions.

Now that you’ve brought them together, laid the ground rules, framed the topic in an interesting way, and introduced your well-phrased questions, let’s look at the importance of sequencing.

Sequence questions

Sequencing questions is like constructing a good survey instrument.  You have to anticipate what the possible answers might be, and then generate a unique follow-up question, or a whole branch of questioning, for each possible outcome.

It could be instructive to frame a single question as a Yes/No, then as a multiple choice, and finally as an open question.  This would be especially interesting if you had an electronic audience voting or tally system on hand.

For instance, “In the design of this protocol, do you think investigators will be able to determine which patients are on therapy (vs. placebo) because of side-effects?  Yes or No.”

Following the answers being tallied on the screen, you could ask individuals on each side to explain their choice.

Then, you could put up this question: “Investigators will be able to determine which patients are on active therapy and which are on placebo.  Very likely.   Not likely.  Highly unlikely.   Impossible.”

Again, you could ask them to explain their votes.

Or, you could ask them this open question:  “What are your thoughts around the issue of investigators being able to ID patients on active therapy vs. placebo by observing side-effects?”

Finally, you could ask them: “To what extent will this issue influence the credibility of the data with the regulatory authorities?”

If your advisors begin to change their opinions when they consider the due diligence of regulators, you may have your answer.  Actual bias, and the perception of bias in a protocol, can result in the same outcome.

Take breaks

Nice long ones, with food and coffee and access to sunlight. Maybe even some brief calisthenics and some lively music.  Mens sana in corpore sano.  (A healthy mind in a healthy body!)

Also, they hunger for their cell phones.

Display the questions

This may be obvious, but you should have your well-phrased and sequenced questions displayed on the screen, so that everyone can remember what the question is.

Listen to their answers

Listen.  Don’t pretend to listen.  Really listen to what they say.  Ask follow up questions for clarification.  Point out inconsistencies between contributors.  Or ask someone else what he or she thinks about what was just said.

I find it gratifying when, after I have spoken, the facilitator or another advisor summarizes what I said, as if to make sure he got it right.

If as the facilitator you space out, say so.  If you think they’re wandering off the subject but you’re not sure, say so.  And if you’re sure they’re off the subject, stop them firmly.

They want a strong leader who will ensure the meeting is orderly, energized, and successful.

Watch them like a hawk.  Pounce on them when they roll their eyes, or scrunch their mouths.  They’re trying to signal something.  Ask them what’s going on.

And don’t let a highly influential advisor dominate the meeting.  Be the boss.  Tell them that you want to hear from everyone.  Call on the less experienced, the junior members.  Compliment them on their contributions.  Sprinkle your approval around the table wisely, and your disapproval as well.  You are, more than likely, herding cats.

They will appreciate strong, diplomatic leadership.

Use names

Nothing is as sweet to us as the sound of our own names. And nothing makes a meeting better, in the eyes of an attendee, as having been acknowledged as a valuable contributor.

When referring to something said earlier, include the speaker’s name.  You might say, “But as Dorcas said earlier, time to progression is not an end-point.”  When you do, a little pilot light in Dorcas’ chest will ignite her self-esteem.

And she will be grateful.

Summarize

To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish.  Summarize the journey that the group has taken.

Do it alone with your prodigious recall of the entire conversation.  Or engage the group in reconstructing where the conversation started and where it ended.

Or take a mini-break before you wrap up, and have a colleague (who has been acting as the secretary and note-taker of the meeting) present the record, or review it and present it yourself.

Gain the approval of the advisors that what you have captured is accurate.  Promise them a copy of it in the mail.

Plan next steps.

Thank them and say good-bye.

Follow up with a personal letter, or a phone call.  Get more feedback.

Be endlessly curious.  Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it has preserved the life of many compounds in development.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.