The Strategic Communicator Blog is now featured on Alltop, a wonderful website that compiles top blogs by categories. Naturally, this blog is featured in the “Speaking” catagory. Thanks Alltop!
A Little Publicity…
June 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Thank you to Mary Cantando for featuring me in the Woman’s Advantage Business Calendar. It’s nice to be featured next to these wonderful women. Click here if you’d like to purchase a copy.
Shari Alexander featured in Woman't Advantage Business Calendar
Getting Presentation Feedback from Your Audiences?… Don’t Trust the Usual Sources (Part Two)
June 17, 2009 By 1 Comment
In Part One of this series, I discussed how to gauge if your audience thought you did a good job when you spoke, or if they are simply being polite.
Another source people use to determine if the audience enjoyed the speech or not is evaluation sheets (or as Alan Weiss calls them “smile sheets”).
While I understand the urge for businesses to use a quantifiable measurement to judge the success or failure of a speech, the evaluation sheet process has become arbitrary. They ask the audience to rate the skills of the presenter on a scale of 1-5, one being the lowest and five being the highest. What does a 1 rating mean? It was the worst presentation you’ve ever seen in your life? What does a 5 rating mean? The speaker should be earning 6-figures just to come in today because they are so fabulous? And – my biggest problem with evaluation sheets – what’s the difference between a 4 and a 5? [Read more...]
Getting Presentation Feedback from Your Audiences?… Don’t Trust the Usual Sources (Part One)
June 16, 2009 By 3 Comments
Too often presenters are trying to get feedback on their presentations from either unreliable or pointless sources. Here are a few pros and cons to the usual feedback sources.
People talking to you at the end of a presentation. Usually, right after a presentation, you will have a few people come up to you, shake your hand, and say ‘good job’. What many speakers seemingly forget is…sometimes people are just polite. Who wants to be the guy that walks up to a speaker and say ‘wow, that was a waste of my time.”? Nobody! So, if you won’t do it, why do you think your audience will say it to you when you bomb? [Read more...]
Presenting What You Want to Say Vs. What They Want To Hear
June 15, 2009 By 1 Comment
In my workshops and seminars, I teach my audience to determine what the audience needs to hear and what the audience wants to hear. More often than not, the two can be as different as night and day. And yet, having a balance of both in your presentation will aid in the success of your speech.
Unfortunately, many of us have a difficult time figuring out which is which – a “need to know” vs. what is a “want to know”. Presenters usually confuse a “need to know” as a “want to know”, which is a big mistake. If your entire presentation is delivering “need to know information”, you run the risk of your audience getting bored and suffering from left-brain fatigue.
Look at it this way, as an audience member, would you prefer going into a presentation telling you everything you “need to know” (step-by-step process of a new business policy), or what you “want to know” (how new policy will give you more free time)?
The problem is that as presenters, our “need to know/want to know” filter is faulty. What sounds like a “want to know” to a presenter is actually a “need to know” to the audience”. So how can we fix our faulty filter?
You have 2 options.
Interview a potential audience member. Get it straight from the source. Say, “I’ll be speaking on X. What would you like to learn from a program that covers this?” Or, “I was thinking about covering X and Y. Which of those would be more of interest to you? Do either pique your interest?” And then, shut up. Don’t go into your speech. Don’t disagree with what they say. Just listen. You’d be surprised at how much valuable information you can learn from your audience members.
If, for some reason, you can’t get a hold of a potential audience member, you can have a friend interview you about your topic. This is another great way to find the need/want to knows. You will easily be able to tell what is interesting to your friend by the questions they ask you. Pay attention to what topics they ask more questions about. You should easily be able to discern what you should keep in your speech and what you should cut.
Can you think of any other ways to help you differentiate “want to knows” and “need to knows”?
Congratulations to the Villalobos Family!
June 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
It’s a boy! Meet baby Harrison Villalobos!
Healthy and still growing...
Definitely a boy!
How to Measure the Success of a Speech
June 9, 2009 By 2 Comments
In “Reasons Why Audiences Applaud at the End of Your Speech”, I pointed out many reasons why audiences applaud and give standing ovations other than you delivering a fantastic speech. Therefore, it is foolish to use applause as your only measurement for determining the success of a speech. When working with my clients, we begin by defining the specific outcomes/measurements we will use to determine the success and improvement of a presentation. So, what measurements can you use? Here are a few options:
- Percent of the audience that purchases your products/services after the speech
- Number of referrals after the speech
- Increase in positive written testimonials. People will usually say nice things to your face, so it’s not the best idea to rely only on what people tell you right after your presentation.
- Percent of the audience that signs up for your newsletter
- Increase of blog subscribers
- Positive recommendation letters from clients
- Increase of hits to your website after a speech
- Number of business cards exchanged
- Number of prospecting/follow up meetings scheduled
What other measurements do you use to determine the success of your presentation?
Reasons Why Audiences Applaud at the End Of a Speech
June 8, 2009 By 3 Comments
Often speakers think that their audiences applaud and give standing ovations because they are a good speaker. Sadly, this is not always (actually, it’s rarely) the case. Here is a list of reasons why your audience might applaud at the end of you speech.
- The speech is over… finally
- The speech is short
- You have a powerful story (overcoming paralysis, climbing Mount Everest, surviving Cancer, etc.)
- The information you gave was helpful (even though your delivery was terrible)
- You are the boss, and they don’t want to hurt your feelings
- You tried and they applaud the effort
- They are happy the next speaker/headliner is coming next
- You are someone important
- They feel bad for you and don’t want you to feel embarrassed
- You announced some happy news at the end (“A new car for everyone in the audience!”)
- You have a powerful message and are an excellent speaker
We are a very polite society. We applaud for many reasons other than “you have a powerful message and are an excellent speaker.” Don’t make the mistake of judging the success of you speech solely on the applause you receive at the end.
Presentation Mishaps: The Mental Game of Bouncing Back
June 6, 2009 By 1 Comment
We have all been there… You work hard to prepare for the big day. The success of the moment rests on your shoulders. You are focused and determined to make this presentation powerful and persuasive. And then… something goes terribly wrong. It doesn’t work out the way you anticipated. You leave bewildered and in shock at the disappointment. What now?
This weekend there was an upset in the world of tennis. Rafael Nadal, the four-time defending champion and favorite to win the French Open, was defeated by Robin Soderling. And that’s not all. Nadal has declined attending the AEGON Championships this week at Queen’s Club due to knee problems. Now the world is waiting to hear weather or not Nadal will be attending Wimbledon.
While Nadal is working on his physical recovery, there is no doubt that he and his team are working diligently on his mental recovery. It is hard to bounce back from a difficult and depressing defeat. However, if Nadal is unable to get back into peak mental fitness, then there is little hope for a victory at Wimbledon.
The mental game after disappointment is important in both sports and public speaking. You cannot let one moment ruin your future efforts. While Nadal took a crushing blow at the French Open, I can guarantee you that he will be playing again soon. Unfortunately I cannot say this about most speakers who experience a similar disappointment and embarrassment after a speech-gone-wrong. All to often people avoid future speaking opportunities because they let one moment define them.
So what is Nadal telling himself to get back in the right frame of mind? What can you tell yourself to move beyond a bad speech? Here are a few options to choose from:
- I define this moment, it does not define me.
- I am grateful for the lessons that I learned from this experience. This will help me grow and become better in the future.
- While there were disappointing aspects to this situation, I can still find things I did well and be proud of them.
- I am stronger and more powerful now that I am fueled by this experience.
- The only meaning that comes from this experience is the meaning I give it.
- I will not cower away from this experience. Instead, I am determined to face it, learn from it, and grow as an individual because of it.
- I am driven to focus and prepare for the next opportunity and not allow this situation to cloud my thoughts.
What else can you tell yourself to improve your mental fitness recovery after a bad speech?
Successful Speeches and Speakers
June 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment
As I work with professional speakers and other business professionals wanting to become successful at giving presentations, the question of what makes a good presenter comes up quite a bit. They want to be good and polished, but not “canned” and fake. Therefore, here are 5 characteristics of a successful presenter:
1) They know their strengths and weaknesses. Many people believe “humor” is a good characteristic. Humor is a good quality to have and a good quality to use in your presentation….if you’re funny. Let’s face it. Some people just aren’t funny. However, there are different types of “funny”. Some presenters are great at telling a joke, others have a dry sense of humor and are good at playing the “straight man”, others like using a sense of irony, while others use humor in their storytelling, and so on. Therefore, in any aspect of presenting, the best presenters know their strengths and use them, meanwhile working on developing or masking their weaknesses.
2) They are centered and grounded on the platform. As many people know, our body language communicates a great amount of information to our audiences. Even if a presenter has great content, the speech can still be a flop if their body language is distracting. If they do not have the ability to stay centered and grounded (have a commanding presence) on the platform and, instead, move aimlessly, have their hands in their pockets, rock back and forth on their feet, sway side to side, or even lean on the lectern, then the speech loses its power and a big part of the message is lost.
3) They’ve done their homework. Good presenters are diligent about getting the necessary information about their audience so that they can adjust the speech any way necessary. They will find examples and stories that best connect with each audience demographic. A presentation to the staff on the “front lines” should be slightly different than a speech to the executives and board members.
They know their speech. There’s no disputing that a speaker who uses notes isn’t as effective or impressive as a speaker who delivers a speech flawlessly without the aid of notes. Therefore, another characteristic of successful presenters is having the diligence of putting in the work to memorize and rehearse the speech so that it is top notch.
They are emotionally connected to the content. The best presenters are able to take the content of their speech and find stories and examples that they can connect with emotionally and that illustrate and support the points within the presentation. Many professionals have to give presentations on “boring” topics. Everything from new tax laws, new employee policies, reviewing last year’s revenues, machine maintenance procedures, and so on. Great presenters are able to find the core message of the speech and use personal stories and examples within the presentation. No matter how “boring” the topic is, the best presenters can bring it to life.
