Category

Life Lesssons

Oct 07
0

Poor Peter

By | 3D Speaking, Business, Event Management, Life Lesssons, Public Speaking, Speech Coaching | No Comments

Last time, I introduced you to Dynamic Dave.  This time, I want you to meet Poor Peter.  When I wrote about Dave, I wanted to share with you some tips about becoming a good speaker.  This time, I am sharing with you some bad speaking habits to avoid especially when you use slides for your talks.  But before doing so, please allow me to thank Poor Peter for inspiring me to write this article.  Thank you so very much Peter, you made my day!

Peter started his presentation poorly.  When he was introduced to us, he immediately went to his laptop to project the slides but the projector would not work.  He struggled with it trying to make it work.  He was tracing the cables and the power switches to make sure all were in order.  The audience started chatting with each other.  He lost an opportunity to capture the audience attention. Peter could have avoided this awkward situation by checking the equipments in advance.

Once the slides were up and running, Peter struggled with the slide clicker.  He was going back and forth with his slides.  Again, he should have tried using the clicker in advance.  Personally, whenever I speak, I always take my own clickers.  Yes, clickers.  I always carry two clickers with me just in case one of them fails to function properly and as a precautionary measure, I always take spare batteries with me.

He then committed the speakers’ biggest unforgivable sin when it comes to using slides.  Peter was reading from his slides.  He forgot an important fact about using slides; they are visual aids not notes to read from.  By doing this, he missed an opportunity to connect with the audience through his eye contact.  In addition, he sent a wrong signal to the audience, in a way, he told us: “I’m not fully prepared that’s why I’m reading.”  Finally, why didn’t you send us your slides to read in our homes or offices at our own convenience instead of boring us to death!

Let’s talk about Peter’s slides.  His slides were cluttered with text and pictures.  For example, in one slide he had four pictures on the left side while having one full paragraph and five bullet points on the right side.  What a way to confuse the audience!  Think about this analogy for a moment.  What happens when you present too many toys to a child? He or she gets confused on which toy to pick.  However, if you present one toy to a child, chances are he or she will focus on that toy only.  As a speaker; you should make your slides simple to help the audience in focus on your ideas and thoughts.

Now, allow me to share with you few more mistakes Peter committed in his slides.  Firstly, his text font size was inconsistent.  In some slides, the font size was big while in others it was small.  This is not a good practice.  Secondly, the pictures colors were poorly chosen and the lighting level in the hall complicated this matter further.  All the pictures seemed to be in black and white; they did not add vitality to his slides.  He should have asked the event organizers on the lighting levels of the hall and whether they are adjustable to support the visibility of the slides.

Finally, at many times Peter stood between the audience and the projection screen.  If you are projecting your slides, why you are not allowing us to see them!  As a speaker, you should always think about how to use the stage effectively.  If your slides are in English, it is better to keep the projection screen on your left side while are you facing the audience because this will make it easy for them to watch you when you speak and then shift their attention to the slides when required.  If your slides are in Arabic, stand on the right side.

Whenever you plan to use slides, think about your speaking situation.  Answer this basic question: Do you really need slides to support the ideas you are trying to communicate to the audience?  If not, leave them out and save yourself all the hassles associated with slides.  However, if you think that you should use slides because they will support you in speaking to the minds, hearts and the funny bones of the audience, plan their use carefully and never be like Poor Peter!

Mar 08
0

The Storyteller

By | 3D Speaking, Business, Life Lesssons, Public Speaking, Speech Coaching | No Comments

What do you remember from the last conference you attended? Think about it for a moment before you continue reading. So what did you remember? Chances are you do not remember any lessons from the talks you heard. If you are like me, perhaps you may remember some of the buffets selections that we’re on offer. For example, I have attended many courses and conferences in the lavish and the luxurious Jeddah Hilton Hotel. What do I remember from the courses and conferences there? Simply, nothing. But I can tell you, they served the best food ever.

Most speakers commit a big mistake when they deliver their talks. They rarely use stories to make their points more understanable and memorable. I recently attended a three-day conference on a vital business topic. During the conference, I listened to around 18 sessions and to 18 different speakers. They all were medicore except for a marvellous speaker who kept telling us real-life business stories. I raise my hat to him.

Here is one of his stories: Back in the 80’s British Rail suffered a significant dip in their revenues; their travelling passengers figures were dropping daily. To deal with this unfavorable situation, they talked to a strategic marketing consulting firm to help them figure out what was the problem and more importantly what are some possible solutions to tackle it.

The consulting company asked British Rail to provide it with an opportunity to gather some data before they officially meet. Few weeks from their initial call, the consulting company invited British Rail executive to its premisis.

Two senior executives from British Rail arrived and immediately approached the receptionist who was talking over the phone. They told her: “Good morning, we are here to meet the managing director.” She just kept talking without giving them any attention. They told her: again with an irritated tone “We are here to meet the managing director” and she just continued talking. They waited a little bit for her to finish the phone call but they got more irritated because she was talking about the last shopping trip she had and her plans for the New Year eve. They told her for the third time: “We are here to meet the managing director.” To which she replied with a gesture: “Go to that meeting room over there and wait” and continued talking over the phone!

So, off they went to the meeting room. The room was messy; they were notepads, pieces of papers, pens, pencils and food leftovers on the meeting table. One commented: “I don’t think we should seek the advice of this company because they must get their house in order before they help others.”. The other executive retorted: “Absolutely.” This is when someone entered the meeting, collected few documents, and off he went. He even didn’t acknowledge the existence of the two irritated executives.

They kept waiting and waiting until the managing director arrived and greeted them. They vented all their irritation on him; the complained about the receptionist, the untidy meeting room, no one offering coffee and the delay in starting the meeting. To which the managing director replied: “This is how your customers perceive you. Your customer service levels are poor and that’s why you’re losing out to you competitors.”. The two executives from British Rail were speechless. What a valuable and insightful lesson on the importance of serving your customers right!

Our marvelous speaker used storytelling effectively to make his point clear and memorable. He used most of the elements of successful storytelling including the plot in terms of time and location, making the characters alive by having us listening to their dialogue and feeling their emotions through thier tone as well as sharing the moral of the story.

If you want to be better than most speakers, you should become a master storyteller.

(This post was written from 41,000 feet above the ground while I was on my way to London on 7 March 2012)

Jan 29
0

The $100,000 Speech

By | 3D Speaking, Business, Life Lesssons, Public Speaking, Speech Coaching, Uncategorized | No Comments

January is almost over.  So, how are you progressing towards your new year’s resolutions? If you’re not, don’t worry about it.

I have a proposal for you.  You can implement it today.  Here it is: Scrap all your new year’s resolutions and have only one resolution – improving your public speaking skills.  You may disagree with this proposal but I challenge you to disagree with it after you finish reading the next paragraphs.

A few months ago, my childhood friend entered a business startup competition sponsored by few large companies.  After the elimination process, he qualified for the finals of the competition.  Five minutes separated him from winning or losing the competition.  All the work he accomplished over two months was to be judged on those five minutes.  He had to face five tough judges – the CEO’s of the companies sponsoring the competition – to convince them that he had the best business startup idea.  And he did. He won over the rest and was crowned as the best.  He received a prize of around $100,000 and free consultancy services until he established his business.

I was so happy for my friend when he told me about his story.  I asked him: What was your edge against the other contestants? Was it your business idea?

He replied: Not the idea.  I won because of my speech.  Some of the contestants had good ideas too but they could not communicate them effectively to the panel.  $100,000 for a five minutes speech!  It is mind boggling if you break it further. For each minute he spoke, he received $20,000.  This story confirmed my firm belief that public speaking skills can do wonders for our personal and professional lives.

This belief was confirmed further two weeks ago when I finished reading a book entitled “How to Sell Yourself” by Ray Grose.  The book offers practical ideas on how to sharpen up your personal image to impress everyone in your organization and to achieve promotion quickly.

In one chapter, the author suggests five tested and tried ways to boost your image.  Here they are: (i) public speaking, (ii) Giving “Good” presentations, (iii) the nasty word “Selling”, (iv) the morning welcome and (v) step forward.  When I finished reading this chapter, I thought the author could have summarized it in one sentence:

“Become an Effective Speaker.”

Apart from the last idea, all ideas relates to public speaking skills.  For example, giving presentations is one form of public speaking where speakers inform the audience about certain matters.  In addition, when it comes to “the nasty word,” the author is referring to speakers who are selling things like their ideas.

In this article, I am selling you the idea of scrapping all your new year’s resolutions and having only one – improving your public speaking skills.  Effective speakers know the sales process and prepare diligently before they approach their audience with their ideas.  Sales is part of life. We sell when we try to persuade another person to do something, buy something or take on board an idea, whether the object of your persuasion is work colleagues, friends and family members.  So why not start learning how to use public speaking skills so that you achieve your life dreams faster?

Finally, effective speakers know the importance of the morning welcome.  They arrive early in the speaking venue to greet the audience as they arrive with a warm welcome with a sincere smile and a confident handshake.  They do this because they know that rapport with the audience should start before the speech begins, and they know that the audience will be friendlier if they have already met the speaker.

The benefits of being an effective speaker are many and are beyond this article.  Look around you; many people attribute their success to this one skill – Public Speaking.  The choice is yours. You could continue working on your many New Year’s resolutions or focus on this priceless skill but before you do so, keep this in mind: my childhood friend did not win his $100,000 because of his business idea but because of how he communicated his idea.  I trust you will make the right choice.  Work on your public speaking and it will be a step forward you will never regret.

Nov 17
0

Powerful Event but Powerless Speakers

By | 3D Speaking, Business, Event Management, Life Lesssons, Public Speaking, Speech Coaching | No Comments

The place smelled like money; the company must have spent at least USD 500,000 on the event.  This amount is peanuts for the billionaire investor who has investments in all major business centers of the world from New York to London and Tokyo.

The place was so well decorated; I thought I was walking in one of the internationally famous galleries.  The gorgeous servants were wearing very short and tight skirts along with high heels.  They were as busy as bees serving the VIPs.  In the right side of this commodious reception hall, there was an old man playing a strange musical instrument, it looked like an enlarged guitar but sounded very disturbing.  I felt like a stranger because I did not meet anyone I know and these VIPs were busy talking to each others, perhaps striking lucrative business deals.  Few minutes, I was lucky to meet some of my business contacts and few friends.

The organizers called us to enter one of the halls of Bahrain RitzCarlton Hotel to begin the official launch ceremony.  It was on the eve of 1 February 2011 around 8 o’clock.  We sat comfortably on one of the round tables.  Without waiting for the organizers permission; we attacked the samboosa, spring rolls and the cheddar cheese cubes on our table.  We were so hungry!

The Master of the Ceremony tapped the microphone to check whether it was on or not and then began by opening in the usual way: Your Excellencies, Your Highness, Dignitaries and our most welcome guests: Good evening.  I thought this was very boring and expected.  This well-known TV news anchor lost an opportunity to make an impact on the audience by having a better and stronger opening.  She then continued with her prepared remarks and introduced the different segments and speakers of the event.  She was very formal and dull.  She did not smile at all.  I thought we were supposed to be happy and jolly because a new company is born.  But instead I felt I was in a funeral.

Unfortunately, the pain and suffering continued.  All the speakers she introduced lacked the basic skills of public speaking and had common areas of improvement to shape up their speaking abilities.

For example, the first speaker did not start with an attention grabbing opening, instead he had the same boring opening of the MC.  He almost put us to sleep because he spoke in monotone voice.  He would definitely be a good babysitter.  In addition, he had zero eye contact with the audience because he was reading his remarks from his notes.  I did not connect with him at all; he did not use stories to engage us.  I thought: Please tell us about your vision for the company, share with us your dreams for it, tell us how all this started, and take us with you in a journey.  He was pouring facts and figures that did not make any sense to me because he did not put them in perspective. His speech was verbose.  Five of the six people on my table started typing and fiddling with their Blackberries and iPhones.  I even overheard someone telling another: “Can you believe it, we are in the RitzCarlton and we do not have a 3G network!” When he finished everyone was clapping for him, instead I grabbed another spring roll.

I remained in the hall observing the speakers and making mental notes about their performance while I was indulging myself in the starters available on the table.  What would you do if you were in my place? Stay or leave?  I decided to leave the event because I was so bored but then I decided to stay few more minutes because they started a fantastic laser show.  It was so colorful.  The two performers were magnificent.  They knew their routines, they perfected their choreography and they were so entertaining.  The audience clapped for them several times during their show. What a change from the powerless speakers who did not prepare very well and did not make us listen to them.  When the show finished, I left the hall to go home.

Do you think it would be a good idea for those speakers to join Toastmasters International to enhance their public speaking skills? You bet.  On the other hand, if these executives are too busy to attend Toastmasters meeting regularly, they could have hired a speech coach to help them in crafting their speech messages and improve their speech delivery because the last thing you want as an event organizer is to have a powerful event but powerless speakers.