Create Your Communications Experience

The One Minute Entrepreneur

"The One Minute Entrepreneur" is out, and it's great. Already it's been #1 on Amazon's best seller list (currently #3.) I'd recommend you get online and buy it now, because... well first of all it's about communicating. And also:

• It's excellent, and will inspire you in several ways.
• It has true stories of important principles and communicating successes.
• It's a quick read.

It's part of the Ken Blanchard "One Minute" series, so you know it will be worthwhile. Even more so, Ken gives us four of the key principles right away in a unique promotion for the book (you might even be able to still get it for free here):

The Four Pillars of Successful Entrepreneurs

1. Pillar 1: Sales Must Exceed Expenses
2. Pillar 2: Collect Your Bills
3. Pillar 3: Take Care of Your Customers
4. Pillar 4: Take Care of Your People

"The One Minute Entrepreneur" is a story and a fable that is absorbing. It also has immediate take aways for you. And throughout it is infused with the success of a "forward lean," of speaking out while caring for those you are speaking to. (I love the chapter "Helping People Soar Like Eagles.")





And also It was written by a very good friend Don Hutson, co-written by a good friend Ken Blanchard, and it is inspired by a very, very good friend Charlie "Tremendous" Jones. All are worth getting to know...

Creating a Home Run Speech

SpeakerNet News is a great resource for beginning and advanced speakers - it's free too.

This week they did a webinar with me entitled "Creating A Home Run Speech Every Time."

It covers:

• What outstanding speakers do that others don't.
• High level feedback.
• Using oratorical devices.
• Defining authentic energy.
• Creating your own speaking experience.
• and more...

Although this is geared to professional and advanced speakers, there's good info for everybody. If you'd like to get a CD or MP3 of the hour broadcast, you can go directly to order.

The Non-Communicators

Petraeus obfuscates, but Crocker is just woeful.

We all have seen boring (Gonzalez) and poor (McGwire) communicating in Congressional hearings, but whenever General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testify on the Hill, the result is communicating at it's worst.

In this clip on Crocker, his non-words - 'ums' and 'ahs' - are about as bad an example as you'll find of someone creating an un-believable communication experience. (See about 30 seconds in, and then on, and on, and on....)

Dick Cavett has written a great piece in the New York Times on the two of them. (Thanks Hesh Renfield for the connect.) Here are a couple of Cavett's most pithy comments - it's worth reading the whole article. He writes like he speaks - funny.)

"Never in this breathing world have I seen a person clog up and erode his speaking — as distinct from his reading — with more “uhs,” “ers” and “ums” than poor Crocker. Surely he has never seen himself talking: “Uh, that is uh, a, uh, matter that we, er, um, uh are carefully, uh, considering.” (Not a parody, an actual Crocker sentence. And not even the worst.)"

"Petraeus’s verbal road is full of all kinds of bumps and lurches and awkward oddities. How about “ongoing processes of substantial increases in personnel”? Try talking English, General. You mean more soldiers."

What is actually shocking is to see communications deteriorate to this level when it is so important to say what you mean - and on such a wide platform to such a large audience. When is a better time to show the confidence to lead, and communicate leadership.

It doesn't have to be this way. Why don't these two (and many other politicians, executives and sports celebrities for that matter) get coaching. And just look at themselves on television. Seeing is believing. Observed behavior changes. It would be a good thing for both of them, and for the country, if their communication experience changed for the better.

An Athlete Speaks

Candice Wiggins is unique. She is not only a star on the basketball court, she exudes energy and aliveness in person. She is unusually articulate and positive. She truly creates a communication experience.

I'm writing about her now because you might have a chance to see or hear her in the next couple of days. Her team, Stanford, is in the finals tomorrow of the women's NCAA tournament, and she is causing a sensation. For those of us on the West Coast, she has been pretty sensational the last 4 years and is peaking in her senior year. But she has always communicated.

The New York Times said, "Her answers were offered with a comfort level rarely seen in any athlete, much less one so young." There are very few good athlete communicators, and she is one you will not only be seeing a lot of on the court, but I hunch you will be hearing a lot from her as well. See her here, but you will be delighted if you can catch her live in the next couple of days.

Dick Cavett on Communicating

Dick Cavett calls out the Presidential candidates, and has most of it right!

Read his article in the New York Times here - it has great insights on speaking and communicating. Written in his own humorous style, as a comedian he rightly emphasizes humor. And he tells stories -  well. If only politicians could do that.

Although I think he misses the mark with Barack Obama (Obama is a great orator but he does NOT use the teleprompter well) Cavett gives a lot of tips and techniques from a pro that are very useful to any communicator.

But the most interesting new tidbit is how Dwight D. Eisenhower became likable. Robert Montgomery was his speaking coach, and here's what Cavett says:

Don't go to the PowerPoints!

Last year I was a judge in SlideShare's The World's Best Presentation Contest. Their blog is running full speed ahead with a great new series called "Design in Presentation." Garr Reynolds kicked off the series last week, and I'm featured this week. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no design guru, so I'll leave that aspect of presentation to the experts like Garr and Nancy Duarte. Instead I begin with the essential precursor to design...purpose.

To put it all in context, here’s how to prepare for a powerful presentation:

1. Create the message: one that is listener-based, focused and with action.
2. Develop the slides that best support the message – but don’t become the message.
3. Deliver it powerfully, remembering that YOU are the presentation. (Hint: Use black slides!)

Check out the full article...

Handy Guide to Speaking Like a Pro

Marketing Sherpa just put up a very nice post with
15 Tips on Behavior, Visuals & Rehearsing.

Actually this "Handy Guide To Speaking Like A Pro" was from an interview with Garr Reynolds and me, with some pointers on creating a great communication experience with your personality and when you are using PowerPoints and giving a Web 2.0 presentation.

The top three tips:

1. Make Eye Contact (rather than looking at your slides, etc.)
2. Use Black Blank Slides (rather than giving an illustrated text lecture.)
3. Record Your Presentation (to get very valuable feedback.)

Worth looking at for many more pointers .....

The Power of the Pause

Pausing is a communication skill!

Last week when I was working with an executive, I was reminded of the importance of using the 'pause.' This executive was not alone, for in my experience I find that about 1 person in 100 is conscious of how to effectively use the pause as a skill, and most don't have a clue as to whether they use a pause or not. Too bad, as the Power of the Pause is one of the biggest take aways in our Decker Method™ program.

Here's what you can do:

First, find out if you pause. Get a digital audio recorder, and record yourself daily when you are in control of the communication - leaving a phone message, running a meeting, or making a presentation or speech. You'll learn a lot:

1. You probably have 'non-words.' Non-words are just pause fillers, and extend beyond the typical “um” and “uh” to “you knows,” “ands,” “okays,” “right” and the like. All anyone has to do is practice leaving pauses of two or three seconds after each sentence. In doing this you will at first feel the pauses are excruciatingly long. We find people saying that a three second pause feels like thirty seconds. But it feels like a normal pause when you play it back on audio.
2. The pauses you leave are probably less than half a second. Practice extending them, and then see how they sound on playback.

We have found that there are five great benefits of learning to use the pause as a conscious skill:

1. Getting rid of the distracting non-words.
2. Allows you time to think of what to say next. (I personally find this the most valuable 'power of the pause.'
3. Relieves tension, by allowing you to breathe.
4. Reference your notes.
5. Dramatize.

All of the above is when you are in control of the communications. There are other insights for pausing, or NOT pausing, when there is a dialogue, when people can interrupt, when you are in a conference call, and particularly when you are in a selling situation and want to use the pause to listen and draw out. But that's for another time.

Practice pausing. It has great power in both informal and formal speaking.

The Speaking Style of Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King's Speaking Style, and Obama and McCain and Jobs

As we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday, we are reminded what a great man he was, and what a great communicator. I have posted before on his speaking style and the use of the great rhetorical and oratorical devices like alliteration, repetition, the 'rule of three' and 'set 'em up and knock 'em down.' His birthday is a great day to take the time and see his entire 17 minute speech here, or at least the short clip of his famous "I have a dream" ending here.

One of the best articles written on Dr. King and his speaking impact and style was by Mark Oppenheimer in the Wall Street Journal. But what I want to post on today is the 'communication experience' that Dr. King created whenever he spoke, and was epitomized with his "I have a dream..." speech at the Lincoln Mall in 1963. We can learn a lot from it, and from some comparisons.

Many people think Dr. King read his speech, but he did not. He DID have a written text, and he referred to it a few times during the first 11 minutes, but he NEVER read his speech. And as Mark Oppenheimer says, "...he speaks brilliantly without notes for the remainder of the speech. It's like a streetball alley-oop, showing what he can do without even trying." Although that perhaps diminishes the import of Dr. King's historic moment, Mark also mentions how "...he had used elements of the speech in hundreds of sermons (and speeches) over nearly 20 years."

I think Martin Luther King was in a zone. He knew the importance of the event, and while very conscious of what he was doing, he KNEW that he was truly creating an experience not only for the masses at the mall, of which they were an active part of that experience, but for the millions for the ages.

Now, could you imagine what would have happened if he actually DID read his speech. Or used teleprompters. What would the experience have been...

Barack Obama

When he won the Iowa primary, Barack Obama gave a great speech. Some said it was his greatest, that it was historic, and a classic speech. But he used teleprompters.

Now I listed Barack Obama as the #1 Best Communicator of 2006, because it was his communicating that got him into the Presidential race in the first place. And his later New Hampshire speech was a great speech, and I said so at the time, but only gave it a 9 out of 10 because he truly was reading a speech. Look at his eyes as he looks from left to right to left, at the two teleprompter paddles and not at the audience. (In teleprompter speaking you want several focal points which include the audience.) Although very few viewers perceive at the conscious level that he is actually using teleprompters, at the unconscious level it makes a big difference in how they feel. They do not get wrapped up in the experience of Obama like they do with Dr. King. Although Obama very successfully uses many of the oratorical devices of Dr. King, he is not LIVING his speech like King was - you can't live it when you read it. (And I'm also very surprised that he does not use the teleprompters very skillfully at that.)

John McCain

Now John McCain is not near the level of either King or Obama as a communicator. But watching him there is a parallel lesson about reading a scripted speech, and using teleprompters. In his New Hampshire victory, McCain gave a victory speech that looked more like a concession speech. Here's a short edited clip so you can see him actually reading his text - and he is not at all authentic, spontaneous or even enthusiastic. And look particularly at the ending, where he struggles to get the wording exactly right, stumbling, and thereby loses the triumphant experience that he wanted to create. Because he read a script.

(For contrast, look at this short clip from today when Barack Obama spoke in honor of Dr. King at Martin Luther King's former church Ebenezer Baptist. Obama also was reading a script, but the effect was far different.)

Then when McCain won last night in an upset in South Carolina, he used a teleprompter. Someone must have told him he was very stiff in his speech reading! But this teleprompter is a through-the-lens prompter where you look at the camera, (like the newscasters use,) and McCain doesn't use it well. Look at McCain as he is looking at the camera (teleprompter) 80% of the time rather than looking at his audience (or two audience focal points.) The camera should just be allowing us, the TV viewer, to observe the triumphant event. The experience should be of us as observers of an event with McCain talking to his supporters, not us being directly pitched to, as it appears. At least Senator McCain is definitely more energetic and confident in this victory, but it could have been so much better if he was trained in how to use the teleprompter well. Or didn't have to read speeches at all. Like Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs

There has been much written on Steve Jobs communicating ability on this blog and others. He is a fantastic communicator from the stage (and was my #1 Best Communicator of 2005), and he is very prepared and rehearsed. He has a script. But he does not read it, and he communicates as if he is talking directly to the individuals in the audience. It's almost as if it's a conversation, but it's not casual, and is very high energy. Even if he didn't happen to have great visuals, he connects with his audience. He creates a unique, successful communication experience.

After all, where else in corporate America would we see many thousands of people paying from $50 to hundreds of dollars to stand in line for hours in hopes of getting in to see a CEO announce his new product line. And a thousand or so don't even get in, but they stand in line in hopes... That's the Steve Jobs MacWorld experience. And Jobs uses oratorical devices, but he does not speak oratory, or use teleprompters.

The Age of Oratory

Although the age of oratory may seem irrelevant to today's business communicators, we can learn a lot from the best, Dr. Martin Luther King. We can learn how to have a script, and not abuse it. We can learn how to be prepared, yet have a message that comes from the heart. And we can learn by watching a master create a communication experience that changed the course of a nation.

Happy Birthday Dr. King!

Presentation Zen - An Instant Classic

Presentation Zen is a new book by Garr Reynolds that should be read by any business presenter, leader, politician, professional... well, by everybody. It's that good.

This book about presentation design is about much more than that, and I recommend you run right out and get it (or rather log on to Amazon and buy it where it is already, amazingly, in the top 100, and also in it's second printing).

This is an outstanding book for YOU for three primary reasons:

1. It is brilliantly written and designed
2. It is a concept book that is about life as well as presenting your ideas
3. It is also a how-to book, and one we will be giving out to our key clients

 

Read on for the details...