Life After PowerPoint!

Leaders speak to influence their audiences, to shape the way they think and feel.

George Amber says:

One key leadership practice is the continual focus on shaping people’s thinking. The shaping of thinking begins with the leader’s vision and ends with the leader’s behaviours which are the embodiment of the vision.

The best thing we could do for ourselves is reflect on the way we think… | The Practice of Leadership.

To paraphase George, I would say that a key practice of leadership speaking is the continual focus on shaping people’s thinking (and feeling).

Leaders have a vision of how things are or should be, and they constantly, tirelessly, some would say fanatically work at communicating that vision to others. And speaking is one of the best ways of doing so.

A leader’s vision can be about

1. The group he or she is addressing or talking about – its history, shared values, or mission
2. The current situation — how things got to be the way they are, the way things are now, the pluses and minuses of the current situation
3. The future — what’s possible, preferable, desireable

The challenge facing leaders in these economic hard times is to have a vision that is both realistic and hopeful. (I don’t know who said it, but it’s true: “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”) And the real challenge facing leaders is to keep sharing that vision with their audiences.

Of the leaders today, who do you think is doing the best job at shaping people’s thinking in a positive way?

The beginning of a speech is its second most important part. (Your conclusion is slightly more important, because it’s what people will remember most.)

You’ve got to do three things at the start: gain your audience’s attention, build rapport with them, and introduce your topic. I agree with what Susan Trivers says:

Begin your presentation with a message that conveys that you know them and care about them. Tell a well-crafted story that reflects their pain. Pose a question that includes their issue. Let them know immediately and with clarity that you’re in sync with them.

The single best way to connect with an audience that is troubled by their pressing issues is to speak directly to them. No slides or bullet points or formal scripts or introductions. Be real, be caring and be natural.

Great Speaking Coach: Public Speaking – Be Indispensable to Your Audience.

I tend to begin with a story. A story starts out slowly. (You don’t want to come on at full tilt from the moment you first open your mouth.) And it builds. A story asks for our attention, rather than demanding it. It appeals to the kid in each of us, to our imaginations and emotions, sidestepping our critical minds, without being mindless. And telling a story lets other people know a little bit about us, our experience, character, concerns.

Here’s the catch: make sure that by the end of the story, the spotlight is on your audience, not on you. At the end of your story, as you’re stating its moral or its take-away truth, be sure to use the word “you” or “we,” not “I.”

For more on stories, check out “The Art of Storytelling.”

Do you use stories when you speak? If so, what kind of story do you think works best?

In a speech or a presentation, the best way to make your message clear and memorable is to use the power of three.

Whether I’m writing someone else’s speech or creating a new presentation or workshop for myself, I always end up dividing it into three parts.

Three is a magical number. We remember things in threes. Think about it. We experience many threes in this culture: traffic lights (red, yellow, green), nursery rhymes (three little pigs, three little bears, religion (the trinity), movies (Three Coins in a Fountain), baseball (three strikes and you’re out), and even public speaking (opening, body, conclusion).

According to the American Psychological Association there is scientific evidence that customers are more easily persuaded by repetition in sets of three.

Business Presentations

You can put the power of three to work for yourself. Create your speech using a simple, strong underlying structure: 1) introduction, 2) main body, and 3) conclusion. Break the main body into three parts, and — if you have the time and the need — subdivide those three parts into three more sections.

And use the power of three to highlight your core ideas, the ideas you want your audience to remember.

That’s what great speakers do. Think:

• “…this government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish…” (Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address)
• “…because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment…” (Obama’s election night speech)
• “I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning, before a world in shock.” (Lord Spense at the funeral of his sister, Princiess Diana)

If you know of any other three-part phrases from a speech, let me know.

If you’d like to read an article I recently published, called “PowerPoint Is Corporate Karaoke,” you can find it here. It starts:

To be effective a speech or presentation has to be clear, relevant, and useful. To the audience, that is.

If you’re not clear — if your audience doesn’t understand what you’re talking about — you may as well sit down and stop wasting everyone’s time. Being clear won’t always gain you people’s cooperation. (They may actively oppose you once they understand what you’re proposing.) But confusing people will always shut them down. Each and every time.

If your idea isn’t relevant — if your audience can’t figure out how it applies to them — same thing. Just sit down and get it over with. It’s your responsibility to let your audience know right up front how your idea / product / service will benefit them. Don’t make them guess.

And your idea has to be something your listeners can use. Show your audience how they can use your idea / product / service to solve a problem, achieve, a goal, or fulfill a need.

All of this presumes you know your audience.

The strategies, techniques, principles, and rules of public speaking that we speech coaches talk about are only aids. They are how-tos, and their purpose is really only to help you create a presentation that is clear, relevant, and useful.

Here’s how Lisa Braithwaite says it:

We can talk all day about logistics, like notes or no notes, lectern or no lectern, PowerPoint or no PowerPoint, props or no props. We can talk all day about the fine points of delivery: authenticity, eye contact, crutch phrases, humor, stories and whatnot.

But if your content is not relevant to your audience, you are wasting their time.

If your content is not applicable to their lives, you are wasting their time.

If your content is not based on real, practical solutions and tools, you are wasting their time.

Speak Schmeak is the blog of public speaking coach Lisa Braithwaite

What do you think? Is there some other quality you look for in an effective presentation?