Create Your Communications Experience

Cisco's Telepresence: A huge hit, but there's a big miss

 

My favorite guest blogger is back, and I don't say that just because she's our Executive VP and my daughter-in-law, but because she is brilliant in developing programs for our clients. If you're not doing so already, follow her on Twitter @kellydecker.

I was first wowed by Cisco's Telepresence - a fantastic virtual meeting solution - when I spent some time in NY coaching a group of Cisco's leaders in 2007. But this week I got to experience it for myself, thanks to Ian Griffin, who set up a demo for local NSAers.

Cisco touts this experience as the next best thing to an in-person meeting. Clearly, Chambers and team understand that regardless of the technology that shrinks the globe around us, it's the face-to-face, in-person interactions that business continues to yearn for. And, it delivers. The experience is "you" in high-def, which, as our host Rick quipped, has it's downfalls especially for any unwanted complexion issues. There's nothing grainy or choppy about it. And though I hate to admit it (especially in front of my husband), once you go high-def, you just don't go back (so, yes, I really do believe in paying extra for HD at home - there, I said it).

Check out some pictures on Ian Griffin's blog.

To sum up the pros:

• The video and audio is seamless - it feels like you're in the same room.  
• It absolutely saves businesses travel time and money, and the ROI can be quick, depending on your need for travel. For companies who have put a halt on all travel even for salespeople - if you do not provide a way for them to connect in-person, you've just made it that much more difficult to sell in already tough times. There is nothing more effective to communicate to influence than in-person meetings - this provides a great way to do it.
• It's accessible to the public - you don't need your own private Telepresence equipment to do this. Public rooms are available from $299 per hour per location. You do the math.

Now for the cons:

• Cisco has done a great job with the technology (as we expect as they are one of the most innovative companies around - even into holography.) But they haven't focused on training the user to maximize the experience (hmmm...sounds just a little like PPT!):
  • I was in a larger Telepresence suite, communicating with another smaller room. I observed for a while to figure out what was happening with eye communication - because it sure didn't look like people were looking at the person who was talking (even though they were). Knowing how critical eye communication and behavioral skills are to the overall experience, I asked about how they prepare clients behaviorally to use the technology effectively. Imagine my disappointment when the answer was, "there's a brief description in the documentation" and "a printed set of Etiquette Guides in each room." Yikes!
  • Eye Communication is the #1 behavioral skill - if you don't have it, you lose that connection and involvement with your listener. These might sound like subtle things, but communications is largely unconscious - how will that new client react to you when you appear to be talking to someone else in the room?
  • There's also a lack of training in how to effectively present when you have an audience in the room with you, and an audience in cyberland virtually appearing at a table across from you. Even the Telepresence host overwhelmingly directed his presentation to the people in his room, only occasionally acknowledging the audience on the other side. 
• It is solely for seated meetings, so not a great solution for energetic collaboration, brainstorming, or facilitation. You need to stand and change the dynamics in the room to do this really well.

Ultimately, these are good reminders for all in-person communications. The hard part is to bring your communications to a conscious level, where you are always thinking of the total experience.

Obama Needs A Communications Coach, not a Speech Coach

OK, OK, Obama is a great communicator!?!

At least that's the general consensus. And I had him as #1 on our Top Ten Communicators of 2008!

So why do I say he needs a communications coach? He doesn't need a new speech writer - actually he has one of the best and that is where his strength is - his words and oratorical skills. But oratory is not all there is to communicating, particularly in these desperate times where trust is so important in our leaders. And this is where he needs a communications coach. He didn't ask, but here's some free advice:

• Less professorial, more leader - President Obama looks, acts and sounds like a leader in most of his formal speeches (except for his use of the Teleprompter, and see below.) But in his informal communication settings he reverts to his professorial background - measured slow phrases and long answers. Practice in improv and spontaneity skills would be great (not that I expect a U.S. President is going to do that.) But increasing thinking-on-your-feet mental agility would help.

• Get skilled with the teleprompter - Obama's preference is to always speak from a prepared text, written for him in most cases, so he is reading someone's words. And almost always by Teleprompter - it's a part of his traveling package. And he looks like he is watching a slow moving ping-pong game whenever he speaks in a formal setting. He looks to the left for 4 seconds, then to the right for 4 seconds, and so on. (More examples here.) Watch him Tuesday night. No variation - which shocks me. It also shocks me that not that many people notice when I mention it. But they will - it becomes monotonous and distracting, and over time the unconscious will become the conscious in the public's experience of Obama's speech reading. (Unless he reads this and gets some training - teleprompter use can be seamless.)

• Less ums, more eyes - In interview settings particularly, and other informal communication situations he has a lot of non-words (ums and ahs) and his eyes cast down more often than not. These are not the hallmark behaviors of a leader. Pausing and looking directly, always, will correct these confidence leaking distractions.

Watch him Tuesday night - he does not yet approach Reagan or Clinton, yet with a little coaching...

Six Do's to Open Your Presentations

Take advantage of your opening.

You have the highest interest at the beginning and end of your presentation. George Morrisey in his book Loud And Clear first put forth the Retention Curve principle, and it’s a good one you can use to your advantage.

So open strong by using these six sure-fire methods:

1.      Start with a bang.  You want to grab people’s attention – and you are only limited by your creativity. Be unusual. Use silence, then a quote. Bring out a prop. Use a talent. Dr. Dean Ornish is a noted heart/health author and speaker whom I coached before he was going to give a major speech before 7,000 people at the Million Dollar Round Table. They expected him to talk  heart and health from his recent best seller, which he did - later. What they didn’t expect was how he grabbed their hearts in his opening by strolling out center stage with his guitar and starting in song – a funny and relevant one.

2.      Tell a story. The easiest, best and most useful speaking tool is story telling, and we don’t use it enough. It is the S of our SHARP principles to keep people involved and interested as you speak, and it is the MOST USEFUL at the opening. Tell a story of yourself, or an appropriate anecdotal story that your audience can identify with. Stories are easy to tell, will help ease the pressure you feel from the opening, and will connect to your audience. Remember that as kids we always heard stories read or told to us – they are easy to hear. And they make a point.

3.      Pause – Look – Move.  Come out to center stage, or your laptop table with your notes on it. Pause for a few seconds (2 or 3). Look at one person, then move with your eye communication towards another – and THAT’S when you begin speaking. Dramatic – a little. It will feel a lot more dramatic to you than it will to the audience. (There is a phenomenon called disparity that makes us feel much more uncomfortable than we look with new habits.) To the audience, it will just be effective. You’ll have their attention, since you began with a certainty and a confidence that is often not shown at the start. Too often we start with LBOW’s (see #5.)

4.      Be short and sweet.   Most presenters spend too much time in their openings, and run short at the close. This is another common phenomenon of thinking we might not be able to fill our time so we start slow. Then we run out at the end, when we should be rising to our climatic crescendo! Our studies have shown that rehearsal time is about 75% of the actual presentation time. Don’t waste time at the opening – or you’ll take away from your close.

5.      Be focused – be net.  Too often we open with LBOW’s that are too long, boring and don’t take us anywhere but do use up time. (LBOW is an acronym we use at Decker Communications for Lovely Bunch Of Words – sounds like they should mean something but they are really bland nothings, going nowhere.) Be brief in your openings. Get right into it. Remember your retention curve is highest at the beginning, so you want to use it well. Move your listeners right into a main point – or a surprising benefit.

6.      Think intrigue and interest.   Then use it. There are hundreds, actually thousands, of creative ways to open your talks, speeches and presentations. Usually I will start my presentation by doing the absolutely wrong thing – reading a speech. I walk out on stage with what looks like a written text, plop it on the lectern, grab on to the sides, look down and begin reading in a monotone. And here is a supposed speech expert who is immediately boring with monotone voice and no eye contact – bad! For only about 30 seconds though, as the energy plummets so quickly I then raise my voice, step out behind the lectern, look at people with good eye contact and rip up the speech. Usually I get a round of applause, as people are so relieved to get a speaker, not a reader. Now I’ve used this opening many times as I know it makes several points that are relevant to my speech, and it works. But I’ll never forget the first time I tried it when I was scared to death – at a speech years ago for Equitec in the Berkeley Marina Hotel. But if I hadn’t thought intrigue and interest – it wouldn’t have happened. As Emerson said, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain

1.      Start with a bang.  You want to grab people’s attention – and you are only limited by your creativity. Be unusual. Use silence, then a quote. Bring out a prop. Use a talent. Dr. Dean Ornish is a noted heart/health author and speaker whom I coached before he was going to give a major speech before 7,000 people at the Million Dollar Round Table. They expected him to talk  heart and health from his recent best seller, which he did - later. What they didn’t expect was how he grabbed their hearts in his opening by strolling out center stage with his guitar and starting in song – a funny and relevant one.

2.      Tell a story. The easiest, best and most useful speaking tool is story telling, and we don’t use it enough. It is the S of our SHARP principles to keep people involved and interested as you speak, and it is the MOST USEFUL at the opening. Tell a story of yourself, or an appropriate anecdotal story that your audience can identify with. Stories are easy to tell, will help ease the pressure you feel from the opening, and will connect to your audience. Remember that as kids we always heard stories read or told to us – they are easy to hear. And they make a point.

3.      Pause – Look – Move.  Come out to center stage, or your laptop table with your notes on it. Pause for a few seconds (2 or 3). Look at one person, then move with your eye communication towards another – and THAT’S when you begin speaking. Dramatic – a little. It will feel a lot more dramatic to you than it will to the audience. (There is a phenomenon called disparity that makes us feel much more uncomfortable than we look with new habits.) To the audience, it will just be effective. You’ll have their attention, since you began with a certainty and a confidence that is often not shown at the start. Too often we start with LBOW’s (see #5.)

4.      Be short and sweet.   Most presenters spend too much time in their openings, and run short at the close. This is another common phenomenon of thinking we might not be able to fill our time so we start slow. Then we run out at the end, when we should be rising to our climatic crescendo! Our studies have shown that rehearsal time is about 75% of the actual presentation time. Don’t waste time at the opening – or you’ll take away from your close.

5.      Be focused – be net.  Too often we open with LBOW’s that are too long, boring and don’t take us anywhere but do use up time. (LBOW is an acronym we use at Decker Communications for Lovely Bunch Of Words – sounds like they should mean something but they are really bland nothings, going nowhere.) Be brief in your openings. Get right into it. Remember your retention curve is highest at the beginning, so you want to use it well. Move your listeners right into a main point – or a surprising benefit.

6.      Think intrigue and interest.   Then use it. There are hundreds, actually thousands, of creative ways to open your talks, speeches and presentations. Usually I will start my presentation by doing the absolutely wrong thing – reading a speech. I walk out on stage with what looks like a written text, plop it on the lectern, grab on to the sides, look down and begin reading in a monotone. And here is a supposed speech expert who is immediately boring with monotone voice and no eye contact – bad! For only about 30 seconds though, as the energy plummets so quickly I then raise my voice, step out behind the lectern, look at people with good eye contact and rip up the speech. Usually I get a round of applause, as people are so relieved to get a speaker, not a reader. Now I’ve used this opening many times as I know it makes several points that are relevant to my speech, and it works. But I’ll never forget the first time I tried it when I was scared to death – at a speech years ago for Equitec in the Berkeley Marina Hotel. But if I hadn’t thought intrigue and interest – it wouldn’t have happened. As Emerson said, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain

Sully: Authority and Authenticity

Eloquent in his brevity in his first speech (21 seconds long) after the 'Miracle on the Hudson' crash landing, Capt. Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger just had his first lengthy interview on '60 Minutes.' His legend continues.

There are many perspectives to analyze, laud and talk about when we consider this unique hero. It's the intention here to emphasize how the 'communication experience' Sully creates is that which reflects the man accurately. It is so rare that happens when a man or woman is NOT trying to make a 'presentation.'

He was uniquely brief in his first (of many) ceremonies honoring him, which reflects perhaps why he was also uniquely brief in his communications with the air traffic controllers when under intense pressure to pilot his aircraft to escape disaster. And he did it.

"I was sure I could do it," he said to Katie Couric in the interview - and we believed him. And we believed him throughout this long (for him) interview. (See complete 60 Minutes here.) When Sully said he had to 'force himself to use his training to force calm on the situation' Katie asked, "Was that a hard thing to do?" Sully replied, "No, it just took some concentration."

So cool, so task oriented (thank God) and so even in temperament. Is he a machine? No - and I (we) teared up along with him when his eyes filled as he reflected on the human lives involved, and the humanity effected by this epic event.

Captain Chesley Sully Sullenberger is a hero, deservedly so. He is uncomfortable with carrying this mantel, by his own admission And yet he acknowledged that this is a time where we want and need heroes - men and women of character and integrity that we can look to for guidance. People need to be inspired by role models who have authority and authenticity, and Sully Sullenberger has that. And he communicates that.

I truly hope that he sees his role now not in flying airplanes, but in using his new platform to teach us a thing or two about discipline, teamwork and leadership. I hope he continues to motivate people in his communications - he is so naturally good at it. Brief yet always making a point, getting out of his own way, and showing a slight smile with great eye contact. He connects. With authority and authenticity.

Sully, we want more...

Six Don'ts for the End of Your Presentations

Seth Godin had a nice post today on "Sorry, we're out of time." But there's more to it than that:

Even strong speakers can undercut a whole presentation with multiple endings, or a few seconds of wobbly indecision at the end.  Those last few seconds amount to the last important picture people remember of you.  Watch your body language.

Not even Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty…” line can bail you out if you act nervous, disgusted, insincere or hurried.  For example:

1. Don’t step back.  If anything, take a half-step toward your listeners at the end.  Don’t step back verbally, either, by softening your request to “I surely hope something…” or worse, “There seems to be a need…”  Keep saying “we” and “you” to the end.

2. Don’t look away.  Some people harken back to the last visual-aid, as if for reinforcement.  Some people look aside, unwilling to confront listeners head-on at the last words, the murmured “thank you,” or the instant of silence that follows.  Stay with them.

3. Don’t move on the last word.  Hold still for a half-beat after the “you” in “thank you.”  You don’t want to look anxious to get out of there.  If anything, you want to let people know you’ve enjoyed being with them and are sorry you have to go.  Don’t rush off. 

4. Don't raise your hands.  In our seminars, we recommend “clean and firm endings” to actually show people you’re finished.  You must “let them go” visually.  If you keep your hands up at waist level, you look as if you have something more to say.  You’re still “holding them.”  (You can see this same phenomenon in one-on-one seated conversations:  the person whose hands are up still “holds the floor” and the listener will not begin talking until the hands themselves are finished.)  In speaking, think of yourself as the gracious host or hostess as you drop your hands with an appreciative “thank you.”  That image prompts you to be warm and natural. 

5. Don’t rush to collect your papers. Or visual aids, or displays.  Stop and chat with people if the meeting is breaking up, then begin to tidy up in a calm, unhurried manner.  Otherwise you might be contradicting your calm, confident demeanor as a presenter.

6. Never blackball yourself with a critical grimace, a shake of the head, eyes rolled upward, a disgusted little sigh.  So what if you’re displeased with yourself?  Don’t insult your audience by letting them know you were awful; they probably thought you were pretty good.  Remember the audience only gets what you give them. One lip curl in those last three seconds can wreck 30 minutes of credibility.

So as the @Jack, the founder of Twitter says: "Close with precision!"