Executive Speech Coach NJ - Sims Wyeth » presentation skills

From persuasion to enchantment

admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:07:10 +0000

I grabbed my Blackberry when I woke up this morning and saw that Bnet was promoting a webinar called How to Change Hearts, Minds, and Actions: Guy Kawasaki Speaks on Enchantment.

Guy Kawasaki, for those of you who don’t know, is a venture capitalist and an original thinker. For instance, when people came to him with an idea for a business, he enforced the 10, 20, 30 rule: No more than ten slides; no longer than twenty minutes; and no font smaller than 30.

Now he’s into enchantment, which is a game-changer. Most of us are talking about persuasion, story, brain science, stickiness, and presence. Suddenly we’re into the realm of the magical, the mystical, the enchanting!

It is a great word, one that has freshness and bite, so let’s run with it. But it speaks of the oldest art of the public speaker, the rhetorician, the spellbinder, and rainmaker. The ability to get an audience to believe, to see a new reality in the theater of their own minds, and to carry it with them into action.

You may be familiar with Bruno Bettelheim’s seminal work, The Uses of Enchantment, in which he writes about the power of folk and fairy tales.

Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Bettelheim thought that by engaging with these socially-evolved stories, children would ge through emotional growth that would better prepare them for their own futures.

- Wikipedia, The Uses of Enchantment

We are enchanted by stories and by performances; by the artificial world of opera, sports, and theater. Any story that doesn’t suspend our disbelief is a failure. Good novels and movies are more vivid than real life. They lodge in our minds forever. And because they last, they have a chance to teach us how to behave, how to act. The drama is so captivating, so enchanting, that we are penetrated by it – and instructed by it.

Combined with the wisdom of rhetoric, cognitive and social science, and the art of the theater, the spoken word can also be enchanting. When we learn how to shape our arguments, structure language patterns to captivate the mind, be both conceptual and concrete, and perform like an actor, we can alter reality for our listeners.

Percy Bysshe Shelley said that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. I think what he meant to say is that great speakers and storytellers are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.

They are, in fact, the acknowledged leaders of countries, companies, and institutions, because they are the people who are able to tell the stories that shape their followers vision of the future, and their interpretation of the past.

And maybe even more importantly, the personal story of the leader – his or her biography – very often embodies the values held up by the institution he or she leads. Think, “Obama,” a new kind of President. Think: “Lincoln,” “Mandela,” “Thatcher,” “Reagan.” Their personal stories represented the aspirations of their cultures. They enchanted the electorate, not only by what they said, but also by what their lives said.

The bar has been raised. Kawasaki has done it again – jumped out ahead of the conversation and elevated the discourse to urge us to a higher level.

It’s no longer persuasion and influence. It is no longer presence or power. And it certainly is no longer “presentation skills,” that mechanical, pedestrian phrase that fails to lend any magic to the art of speech – that is so 1980s. No, the new word is enchantment. Can we enchant our audiences?

Can you see it now? A whole generation of MBA’s studying the art of suspending disbelief.

Sims Wyeth & Co. provides public speaking courses, executive speech coaching, presentation skills training, voice and speech training, speech writing, and courses that address stage fright, body language, presentation strategy, and effective use of PowerPoint, all of which contribute to greater executive presence and personal impact.

Presence is knowing what to say

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:38:39 +0000

Robert Selander, the former CEO of MasterCard, had a thing for “presence.”

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 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 firing 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.

Stage Fright Vanquished

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:45:02 +0000

This from Body Odd:

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?

The Youie Youness of You

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:40:56 +0000

Gary Forman is a speech writer I work with. He was developing a stump speech for himself, and he came over to read it to me and get my feedback.

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.

Scientific Presentations and the Gettysburg Address

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:46:50 +0000

When working on scientific and technical presentations, I am often amazed by the wonders of the science being presented and, at the same time, shocked by the speaker’s lack of awe or appreciation for the mystery and power of his own work.

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.

In search of creative public speaking

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:47:47 +0000

You may be familiar with Matt Latimer’s book Speech*Less about his career as a speechwriter in Washington during the Bush administration.

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.

Your biggest presentation skill: Boosting your signal to noise ratio

simswnj — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:15:57 +0000

If you read this blog about presentation skills and your signal to noise ratio, you can make more money, save money and time, reduce your uncertainty and anxiety, and look good in the eyes of others.

When I was in college, I drove a truck full of modern art from a New York gallery to a museum in Tennessee. It was October. The World Series was on the radio. My team, the Mets, were playing, and the signal was irregular and full of static.

It was raining. It was dark. I was on a two-lane mountain road. I had to deliver the paintings by morning. The windshield washers could not keep up with the downpour. The road was twisting and I was fiddling with the radio dial desperately trying to tune in through the static to hear how my Mets were doing.

I was an audience of one in the cab of that rented Hertz truck, fighting to hear the signal through the noise. And I don’t think I’m reaching too far for a simile to say that our audiences are in a similar position when they listen to our presentations.

Our audiences are on a mission to achieve their business objectives. The market is dark and unpredictable. The staff cannot keep up with the constant demands. Our listeners worry about hitting their numbers, managing the budget, and positioning themselves for a promotion. Plus, their tummies might be rumbling with hunger, or their kids are home alone and they’re worried.

They try to tune in to what we’re saying, but it’s hard. We may take too long getting to the point. They get bored or frustrated.

We may start talking about ourselves, or our product, or our company, and fail to relate the information to what they care about.

They will have to fight through the noise of our talk to hear the information that they care about. And they only care about information because they have an emotional interest in what it could mean to them.

Does the information you offer make them more successful at their job? Is it simple and clear? Does it solve a problem? Does it save them time, or help them make more money? Does it make them feel more secure, or less uncertain? And could it make them look good in the eyes of others?

These are the signals that most of us want to hear. Your job as a presenter is to boost your signal to noise ratio.

Do so, and you will make more money, be more successful, reduce your anxiety, and look good in the eyes of the world.

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.

Presentation Training: The Font I Want to Be

simswnj — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:28:32 +0000

I am a font. I’m Copperplate31ab.

You’re a font—Southbee Two.

I am elegant and stately—I live on wedding invitations.

You are playful and informal. You live beside railroad tracks, and on those rock walls along two-lane roads. High-school Romeos proclaim their love with you.

I win points for being subtle and intellectual.

You get points for being real and authentic.

I get points for balance and restraint.

You get points for telling it like it is.

I get penalized for being professorial and aloof.

You get penalized for being overly simplistic and intemperate.

I can succeed in places that you can’t, and you can win the war of words where I can’t even gain entrance.

I am a font—Copperplate31ab. I grew up in Hawaii and California. My father was from Africa, my mother from Kansas.

You are a font—Southbee Two. You grew up at Andover and Yale, and maybe a little in the White House.

How come I’m Copperplate? I should be Southbee.

And how did you get to be Southbee? You should be Copperplate.

We should stop trying to be the fonts we want to be, and start being the fonts we are.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching 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.

Presentation Preparation: Where to Start

simswnj — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:03:29 +0000

How should you start preparing a presentation to senior executives?

Don’t start by digging through your slide library and pulling the old standbys out.

Rather, answer these questions.

What is the topic or subject you are reporting on? Be clear with yourself so you can be clear with your audience.
Why is your topic important enough to be on the busy agenda of senior level managers?
What questions will your audience be asking? Can you answer them early in your presentation?

Presence in Public Speaking and Private Speaking

simswnj — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:03:09 +0000

Presence is intangible, yet we feel it.

People who are confident tend to have more presence. People who are happy have more, as do people who have a deep sense of purpose.

People with good posture have more presence. People who move with abundant energy have it, especially if it’s calm, assertive energy, (I’m quoting Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer.)

People have more presence when they expand rather than contract. I think many presenters contract when in front of an audience, out of fear. People who are able to expand, through experience, preparation, or their own innate qualities, are more engaging and persuasive.

Expansion and contraction are not necessarily physical acts. They are psycho-physical. They come from the inside and move outward. If your inner state is buoyant, you’re likely to be more physically expansive, and project more presence.

Stillness can also create a sense of presence. It can signal control and power. However, if you are still and contracted, then you signal anxiety and uncertainty.

Finally, people who are endlessly curious also have presence, especially when they’re endlessly curious about a topic that other people are also interested in.

Ultimately, you have presence by being interested in others. People like people who like them. If you become a “presence” in their lives, then you have “presence.”

That’s the best kind.

Hamlet as Presentation Coach

simswnj — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:31:24 +0000

Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark in Shakespeare’s play called Hamlet, written around 1603. He hires a bunch of actors to put on a play that he’s written, and he gives them coaching on how to speak their lines.

Four-hundred and six years later, what he says remains good advice for a presenter too. Look how he’s telling them to speak clearly—“don’t talk as if you had marbles in your mouth,” he’s saying.

Also, he warns them not to wave their hands around too much because while passion is a great thing in a speaker, too much passion damages their credibility and distracts the audience from what they’re saying.

Here it is:

“Speak the speech I pray you as I pronounced it to you,

trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it as many of your players

do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the

air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently; for in the

very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion,

you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it

smoothness.”

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Act 3, Scene 1

Go to executivespeechcoachny.com to see more ancient wisdom from a speaker coach who was actually a Prince.

Presentation Skills: I Hate the Elevator Speech

simswnj — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:40:38 +0000

Browsing the web recently, I ran into a video teaching the purpose and structure of 3-minute elevator speeches.

The advice was sound for structuring a formal talk, but I couldn’t conceive of an elevator speech lasting three minutes.

I could see an elevator dialogue being three minutes long, but not an elevator speech!

Three minutes in an elevator listening to someone trying to sell me on her business sounds like an eternity. Three minutes at the water cooler would be half an eternity. And three minutes at a networking event would be long enough to make me look for the guy passing the little crab cakes.

We all recognize the increasing value of brevity and concision, but three minutes does not feel brief and concise in an elevator, or any other social or public setting.

I recommend an elevator dialogue that starts with an elevator question.

How about this for a starter after you’ve rubbed elbows with (and introduced yourself to) a VP of Marketing. You ask each other questions, he finds out you’re an expert in the principles and practices of persuasion, and then you ask him if you can give him your value proposition.

“How long is it?” he’s bound to ask. If you say three minutes, you’re dead in the water.

You say, “Short,” and begin.

“What is the value of your Brand Directors being able to make their plans clear and exciting to the organization?”

The answer should be, ” Uh…that’s important.”

You say, “Why is it important?”

And he says, “Because it saves time and money, reduces indecision, and gets the whole machine humming — it improves the vitality and energy of corporate life.”

Then you ask, “How are your Brand Director’s doing?”

He says, “Okay.”

“What if they were doing great? What if you could take time and cost out of the marketing process, and at the same time electrify the brand teams?”

He might look at you a little skeptically at that point, but admire you for your enthusiasm.

“I’m not sure that’s possible,” he might say.

And you, taking the bull by the horns, say, “Listen. Every day, information is sneaking off to make babies with other information. The world is overrun with information, and it’s only getting worse. The most valuable thing on this planet is a person who can create a sense of clarity and alignment out of the tsunami of information that demands our attention. The ability to communicate well is a hard corporate asset masquerading as a soft skill. It’s the ultimate competitive weapon. And that weapon can only be developed through training.”

He looks at you, and says, “You really believe this, don’t you?”

You say, “Yes, I do. I’d like to schedule an appointment with you to show you how my company can save you time, money, and frustration, and give you the one competitive advantage that is hard to replicate overnight.”

And more than likely, he’ll say, “Okay, give my assistant a call and get it on the books.”

How long was that? A minute and 10 seconds. And it wasn’t a monologue. Yes, it had a speechy part, but it was based on asking questions, listening, and asking follow up questions. And only once, when he tried to dismiss the argument, did you get on your high horse and get salesy.

The world has hype-fatigue. Engage in dialogue. Don’t make speeches in elevators.

Presentation Skills: Your Passport to Promotion: “1, 2, 3…Poof!”

simswnj — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:46:33 +0000

I had an interesting session with a new client. Let’s call her Fiona. She came in from the field to take a position in marketing with a major pharma, and has discovered that, at her company, your career depends largely on how you present.

Amazingly, they don’t offer any developmental support for people coming into the job. But she pushed her boss for help, and he relented.

Here’s a rough summary of what I learned about her experience in pharma marketing. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have not heard this before, and I have been deep into pharma marketing for 20 years.

1. Everyone wants to get promoted. The easiest way to get promoted is to get visibility in front of senior people. And the easiest way to get visibility is to present to them.

2. If you’re not a good presenter, your boss will know it and will be reluctant to stand you up in front of the senior execs. She could be afraid it will hurt your career chances and her image as an up-and-coming executive who is the fire under a red-hot group of high achievers.

3. Presenting marketing information internally is essentially selling ideas, and if you can’t get listeners to understand and believe in your idea, they are unlikely to see you as a good marketer, even though your ideas may be strong.

4. Finally, everyone listening to your presentation is so busy that they don’t want presentations to go on for too long, and therefore they don’t ask questions. They’re afraid of being seen as the “problem” person, or the “know-it-all” who makes everyone else look bad. She said the preferred method of presenting is, “1, 2, 3…Poof!”

This means that you show your slide, say up to three things about it in a confident voice, and then move to the next slide (as in “Poof. It’s gone!”) Everyone will be pleased that you got through your material quickly, and displayed confidence and conviction as you spoke.

5. Finally, while every product and market is different, the process of marketing is the same across brands. This causes many presentations to look and sound the same, i.e., they’re boring. So listeners like it when you’re articulate, energetic, and concise because you save them from the embarrassment of falling asleep.

She says you’re especially valued if you have a highly expressive voice.

Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun in this big pharma. But if you want the rewards–the promotion and the fatter check– you gotta sing for your supper.

And the name of the song you have to sing? “1, 2, 3…Poof!”

Presentation Skills: Selling Your Process

simswnj — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:22:12 +0000

In financial services, every firm has a process for making decisions about investments. The process is usually designed to ensure that there is due deliberation about decisions, and that no money manager is allowed to invest without periodic oversight from a board or committee.

This is sensible, since one person, left to his own devices, might occasionally make an error that could be caught if only a group of experienced people looked over his shoulder.

The Investment Committee, as they might be called, serve as editors to prune and shape the creative ideas of the money managers, whether they might have a tendency to swing for the fences, be too cautious, or drift too far from the declared strategy.

The problem arises when a board, a family, or an individual goes shopping for a money manager, and has to listen to the five potential firms describe their investment process. They all sound the same.

Those making the pitch try hard to differentiate their process, but as the old saying goes, most of us are interested in sausage, but few want to know how it’s made. Let’s face it, process can be boring.

Nevertheless, the financial professional has to have a process, and she has to demonstrate to a prospect how it works and why it’s good. After all, if she doesn’t mention it, the prospect might assume that she doesn’t have one, and exclude her as a preferred candidate.

So how can a financial services presenter make the investment process interesting and a source of differentiation?

The first step is to answer the question, “Why should they care about the process?” This is often the most forgotten component of informal, sit down meetings conducted using a pitch book.

One way to bring an investment process to life is to lead the prospect through a series of questions to determine what he knows about the process, and why he thinks it’s important. If he knows little, and if he’s unclear about its value, you have opened what psychologists call a “knowledge gap” which creates curiosity.

Another approach is to confess aloud that everyone has a process, for good reason, and then paint the picture of what can happen without it. Given the recent collapse of several well-known firms due to lack of oversight, it should not be hard to tell a story that will capture the prospect’s attention.

You may fear bringing fear into the conversation, but fear not. Your brief depiction of what happens when money is invested without due diligence can make your process all the more attractive and interesting.

Another way to draw attention to your process is to FLAG it. FLAGGING is a verbal technique that professors use when they say, “What I’m about to present to you will be on the test.” Students wake up and take notes at that moment.

You can use the same technique to encourage prospects to focus on what otherwise might be a dry recitation of a complex diagram or set of bullet points.

For example, you could say, “What I’m about to tell you may seem boring and routine–you may think you’ve heard it all before–but it is the most important and powerful thing we do to protect your assets and ultimately your purchasing power.”

And then off you go, with the prospect leaning forward intent on understanding how you protect and preserve his hard-earned wealth.

Sales Presentations: Pivotal Moments

simswnj — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:54:26 +0000

Yesterday, I sat through 7 identical new-business presentations at a client site. Each was 15 minutes long. Each was delivered by a team of three. In addition to the 21 presenters, 20 people from the company were observing.

When the last team ended their pitch, I asked everyone to pick out a strong moment–a moment that caught their attention in a positive way.

Here is what they said, in no particular order of importance.

1. When someone said, “I love my work.”
2. Whenever an example was used to illustrate a point.
3. When one person spoke in a very organized, logical way so it was easy to follow what they said.
4. When presenters translated facts about the company and its services into benefits for the prospect.

There were others, too numerous to mention here. But these few responses alone speak to the reliability of ancient wisdom.

Audiences like emotion and personalization.
Audiences like concrete examples to illustrate broad, general statements.
People want the big idea up front, and the supporting ideas in marching order behind.
They want to hear what they get from the service and how it will make them feel.

It’s easy to ramble through your material, difficult to speak so people will listen, and harder still to speak to the audience, in the language of the audience, about what’s most important to the audience.

The latter is the skill we are all in pursuit of.

Business Presentations: Stay Positive

simswnj — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:16:15 +0000

What do you do when your product is losing share to a new competitor and it’s time to present the annual marketing plan?

Stay positive! Acknowledge the challenges and the implication, but do so in a matter of fact manner, and move quickly to your proposed solution.

Even if you have a snowball’s chance in hell of recovering your market share, put together a plan that could work if everything were to break in your favor.

And demonstrate commitment in your choice of words, your posture, and your tone of voice. Everyone knows it’s a bad situation before you begin, so you must demonstrate belief in the possibility–however small–of success.

We are not rewarded in business for dragging problems into the board room and dumping them on the table in front of senior people. We are rewarded for being crystal clear about the situation, and giving them the best option you and your team can devise.

You are the captain of your brand. There is no honor in leaving the ship while it sinks. Your job is to fight to the end. The brand may go down, but you will be remembered for your determination and optimism in the face of dire odds.

NJ Executive Speech Coach Talks Obama Style

simswnj — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:47:42 +0000

Executive speech coach, Sims Wyeth, helps dissect the nature of Barack Obama’s public speaking skills to show others how they can enhance their own on-stage performance. Sims Wyeth is a noted resource in the world of high stakes presenting, providing training and coaching to some of businesses top executives for almost 20 years.

According to Wyeth, “Obama is a master at grabbing and keeping his audience’s attention, which is the number one goal of any public speaker. “ In a recent article published by Sims Wyeth, Wyeth offers public speakers five key lessons from Obama’s rhetorical playbook, and tips to master his style.

Click here to read the full story.

Sims Wyeth helps individuals and companies succeed by providing tools and training on the principles and practices of effective, persuasive communication – those approaches that have been proven to work across history and cultures. His work is not only a collection of do’s and don’ts; his knowledge and teaching is based on the science and psychology of how audiences absorb information.

Sims Wyeth & Co. offers customized presentation skills and public speaking seminars, as well as executive speech coaching. Sims assists high stakes presenters with speech writing, effective use of PowerPoint, presenting data, increasing sales, relating to diverse or difficult audiences, improving personal style, confidence, and image.

”The greats all learn from other greats,” says Wyeth, “so don’t hesitate to study Obama’s repertoire, and use what you can to improve your own public speaking.”

Effective Speaking: Yeah, But…

simswnj — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:55:35 +0000

“Every word uttered evokes the idea of its opposite,” said Goethe. This is true because no single statement can summarize the totality of a person, object, idea or event.

For instance, if I say, “President Obama is a great public speaker,” my listener might be thinking, “Yeah, but…” and then come out with, “He says ‘er’ and ‘uhm’ too much in interviews.”

At that point, I am stuck with rephrasing my original assertion, because I was talking about my impression of the President speaking at formal occasions.

I would have done better to say, “The President is a great public speaker on formal occasions, although he ‘ers’ and ‘uhms’ too much in interviews.”

If I’d said that, then I would have been able to talk about the President’s accomplishments as a platform speaker without having to defend my incomplete assertion.

Furthermore, I would have demonstrated that I had thought about the pros and cons of the President’s speaking style, and would therefore have earned more credibility with my listeners.

It pays to say what you have to say, and also say what you’re not saying.

Sales Presentations: Susan Boyle

simswnj — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:42:26 +0000

If a Susan Boyle look-alike stood in front of the Board Rooms that I’m familiar with, she would have been exposed to the same ridicule and condescension she experienced at her televised audition which I just saw on You Tube.

It would have been politely concealed, but the corporate elite occupying the seats around the table would have fidgeted on their leather cushions.

The video made me cry, especially when the judges finally gave voice to what I was feeling, although I thought the complete version on You Tube was incredibly cynical and manipulative. (I’ve linked to it, above.)

It made me cry because Ms. Boyle seemed to take it in stride that everyone spoke to her as though she were the village idiot.

Why is it that a middle-aged woman without a figure or a chic wardrobe is an object of ridicule?

In this youth-obsessed, status craving, competitive world, she took the stage with no apparent ammunition, until she opened her mouth. And suddenly we learned she had nerves of steel, talent, and a depth of humanity that made her seem more powerful than all the glitzy show-offs, and we all felt like idiots.

Which means we’re not really idiots, because when we see or hear something profoundly beautiful, we acknowledge it, and shake our heads at our own folly.

“Deep down, we’re all shallow,” said Oscar Wilde. I have to disagree.

I’d say we’re shallow until we witness something deep, like Susan Boyle’s talent, and then we are moved out of our shallowness, and into appreciation.