Art of Speaking Business

This week on the Public Speaker I talk about tips for improving your conference calls.  You can listen to this fun, free, episode here or if you prefer you can read a quick summary below. After the summary I cover a few controversial points…to mute or not to mute, then to chat or not to chat.

You might be surprised by what I have to say…

First and foremost a conference call is a MEETING.  Think of it as a meeting that happens to use a phone and not phone call that happens to be a meeting.  I think that subtle distinction is actually an important one.  For meetings to be effective you need to follow all the rules of effective in-person meetings, plus put some extra effort in because the conference call presents some unique challenges.

So I think it’s best to review what you need to do for an effective meeting first, then you can read here what you need to do that’s extra.

• The facilitator must arrive early so the call can begin on-time
• Agenda needs to go out earlier than in-person
• Agenda needs to include call-in information
• Agenda needs rules for mute (eg. only mute if in public place or mute unless you are speaker)
• Agenda needs directions for what to do if someone puts the call  on hold
• Ground rules for entrances and exits need to be established
• Facilitators need to be someone what directive to ensure full participation
• Facilitator includes everyone for discussions by calling on participants
• Everyone needs to be as concise as possible due to distrations
• Important points should be repeated at least two times
• Photos can be used to help participants make a connection
• Don’t use the bathroom while on a call
• Don’t eat while on a call

Now to the controversial part… the part I didn’t include in the episode.

To mute or not to mute?

Many “experts” suggest muting your telephone during conference calls.  I think this just encourages people to have side conversations and to use their computer.  However, I do understand that by not universally using mute you risk unnecessary background noise. For internal meetings, my preference is to have a no mute rule. This means everyone needs to make their best effort to ensure they can participate in the call from a quiet area.  Of course, sometimes that isn’t going to be possible, so there’s got to be some flexibility in the rule.

For external or public meetings, of course, it would be impossible to control and you are then forced to mute all callers unless he or she “raises their hand” (of course, I mean electronically raise his or her hand).

To chat or not?

Many experts suggest not allowing the use of chat software during meetings.  Last week, I said that myself, but that advice was for IN-PERSON meetings.  In a conference call I think it’s great for engaging participants.  It’s a way to have people ask questions without interrupting the speaker, it a way to take votes, it’s a way to provided training, and it’s a great backchannel for enhanced communication.

For example, you can call for a vote and have everyone type in their response at the same time. This way you can get the response quickly and perhaps more honestly (instead of people waiting to see how another person will vote.)

You can ask participants to post their questions via chat. If you do this, it’s best to create another role of chat moderator.  This person then monitors the questions and interjects them into the meeting (or not).  This is a great way for the main  presenter to stay focused on the presentation and control which questions to respond to.

Another good use of chat is for a chat “break-out” — where smaller groups (2-4) can chat about ideas then bring the result back to group.

Chat can also be used for the parking lot and for on-going summary deliverable action items notes.

It can be used to supplement the meeting with additional information.  For someone that wasn’t sure what was said, a text clarification can be made.  Or perhaps addtion information or link to additional information can be provided.

For example, during our Spanish Club meetings which are global conference calls, the word moderator, looks up words that the speaker is struggling with and provides translations and definitions.  In addition, provides links to addition material for that content area.

At the end of the call, you can use chat to  ask for  “three word feedback” which asks participants to provide three words of honest feedback for the meeting.

Another great use of chat is for training.  I’ve successfully used chat to guide junior employees.  For example, We let a junior staff member lead the call with a customer.  Our team supported her via chat.  We supplied her with responses to questions and guided her away from landmines, while she was talking.  She appeared in complete control of the meeting and gained valuable practice in the “hot seat” with the customer.  It worked out well.  She learned how to manage the customer with support and guidance from the rest of the team.

Another benefit of using chat during external meetings, meeting with customer and vendors, is that it allows your internal team can comment on and discuss issues behind the scenes while the main speaker is engaged with the outside party. Of course, if you are going to do this be sure that everyone is using a quiet keyboard, otherwise, all the clicking will be perceived as not paying attention.

For me, chat fills the attention gap and helps to keeps participants focussed on the topics of the meeting.  It keeps them occupied and reduces the temptation (and the opportunity) for them to do other things during call. The idea is to incorporate the technology into the meeting to enhance it.

I’m looking for creative, low-cost, or no-cost ideas to get more people listening to my show.

If you’ve got a crazy idea or even just a regular idea submit it publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com with “crazy idea” in the subject.

All ideas will be considered until May 15, 2009.

I need your help !

As you may know I am the host of The Public Speaker: Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Communication Skills.  I end every show by saying “I’m passionate about communication your success is my business.”

That’s not just a “marketing” tag line.  I sincerely believe that  improving  communication skills is the single most important investment a person can make in themselves.  Better communication and leadership skills lead to personal and professional success.  It’s my dream to help as many people as I can.  That’s why I chose to be host of the podcast and that’s why I chose my profession.

My dream is to reach business professionals, teachers, collage students, high school and middle school students, ministers, really everyone who is interested in improving his or her communication skills. I’m confident I can help, but I need your help to reach out to a broader audience.

If you’ve got a idea that might help me reach this goal, I’d love to hear it.  I’m looking for creative, low-cost or no-cost ideas to get more people listening to the show.

If you’ve got a crazy idea or even just a regular idea submit it publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com with “crazy idea” in the subject.

All ideas will be considered until May 15, 2009.  If I end up choosing and using YOUR idea this year (2009), in return, I’ll offer you a gift certificate for six hours of one-on-one private coaching (which is currently worth approximately $1,000).  You can use it or you can give it to someone.

How will the winning idea(s) be selected?  Good question!   I can only say that my decision will be biased and based on my personal preferences.  I’d like something that is fun, simple, and not pushy.  I’d like it to be no cost or very low cost.  The best idea would have the potential to double or triple the current number monthly listeners.  I’m hoping the best idea will be obvious when I see it.  I am really very anxious to reach out and hope that you can help me to achieve my dream.

Thanks in advance for reading this and I look forward to reading your idea.

Lisa

P.S. If you regularly listen to show, you know that I am already using Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This week on the Public Speaker I talk about how to plan and deliver effective and productive business meetings.  Here’s a quick summary of the episode, but you can listen to the episode here. (It’s less than 10 minutes time.)

• Know and state the purpose of your meeting.  Meetings are good for coming to resolution.  If you are sharing information perhaps another approach is better.
• Know and state the idea outcome.  This motivates participants to achieve it.
• Include the purpose and outcome on the agenda.
• List required and optional attendees.
• For each topic list who, what, and how long.  Ex.  Review conference location - Paul G. 3 min
• Include breaks and social time on the agenda.
• Send out agenda at least a day in advance.
• Start and end on time, even if everyone is not there. Return from breaks on time too.
• Mange time by assigning limits to each segment and using a timer.
• Use a two-minute warning system to alert participants they are about to go over.
• After each segment get explicit, public ownership of tasks.
• Maintain a positive engaged environment by assigning a facilitator who asks questions and encourages feedback from all participants.
• Have a rule that only one person speaks at a time.
• Latecomers shouldn’t be embarrassed, but they shouldn’t be “caught-up” either.
• Be sure to greet and say good-bye to all meeting participants.  It’s good manners and it’s good for networking.
• Verbally express support of good ideas.
• Insist on no blackberries, no phone conversations in room, and maybe even no laptops!
• Follow-up the meeting by distributing the notes quickly and updating project plans.

While researching for this episode I found a few, fresh new interesting ideas.  I wanted to include them in the podcast but it was already running long with the tried and true tips.  So here they are.

• From Marissa Mayer at Google: Block out a large chunk of time each week that can be divided into 10 minute increments.  Allow people to schedule “micro-meetings” within the larger block of time.  This idea comes from
• From Google: Consider projecting a large timer on the wall to help people keep to published time frames.
• From Google: Encourage people to supply evidence for their statements.
• From Seth Godin: Create a public space (either a big piece of poster board or a simple online page) that allows attendees to rate meetings and their organizers on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of usefulness. Just a simple box where everyone can write a number. Watch what happens. ‘
• From Bert Decker: Cut the meetings you have in half. Cut the time of the meetings that remain in half.

My Thoughts:

Finally, I just want to add a comment.  I do understand that many of the ideas discussed are for INTERNAL organizations.  For me, I spend most of my time in meetings with clients, vendors, partners, and prospects.  I think different rules apply in those situations.  In addition, I also spend time in meetings with volunteer groups and these are by far the most painful meetings for me.  I hope to write something with these types of meetings in mind as well.

Your Thoughts:

If you’ve got some tips and suggestions for these situations, please pass them along or post them in the comments!  I am very interested to hear what you think.

Here’s how we all should be when we perform on stage!

My favorite part is when she is being interviewed before the performance and she says with strong confidence “I’m going to MAKE that audience ROCK!!”

She sure did!  Wow.

Click here for the Susan Boyle Video

This is the type of unshakable confidence that we want!  Go Susan!

I thought it would be fun to compare a traditional storyteller a Seanachai (pronounced “shan-a-hee”), an Irish storyteller to a modern day American storyteller Jeff Smith-Luedke, who is an author of two books and runs a popular channel azrinoch on Youtube.  

Watch them both, then we can discuss a bit.  When you watch the clips, try to listen for descriptive details.

Here’s Jeff Smith-Luedke (azrinoch)…

The best thing we can learn from both of these storytellers is their use of very specific adjectives and specific verbs to help us create unique memorable mind images.

• “he put the pony in a makeshift shed that was at the gable of the house”
• “there it twas a beautiful wheel of bread with a cross on it like you see the spokes on a wheel”
• “his teeth were swimming inside of his mouth for a bite of it”
• “bounded to the bathroom with glee” (he just didn’t go to the bathroom)
• “the avatar of my body, the very skin of my face had been mercilessly slaughtered” (he had pimples)
• “vying for a last-minute, well-scripted Hollywood miracle” (looking for skin care product)

I’m sure you heard even more descriptive language that stuck out.  Tons more we can learn. Listen for the unique analogies, listen for the repetition, listen for vocal variety, and listen for the use of pauses.  Thanks to master story tellers for lessons we can incorporate into our own stories.  Use this for the stories you tell at parties, in presentations, in interviews, or even at the dinner table.

Last week on The Public Speaker, I talked about how to create attention getting openings and memorable closes.  I talked about how we can benefit from watching how directors achieve this in movies.

This week on The Public Speaker, I’ll talk about four basic building blocks of any good story. But, that’s just the start!  There is so much more to learn!

Stories are such an important part of presentations and of persuasion, it’s worth investing some time to listen to the experts at telling stories.  John Truby is a professional in the art of screenwriting.  His book, The Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller describes the specific elements needed for any good story…for a screenplay, for a commercial,  or for a story in a presentation.

I found some clips on YouTube which I think are worthwhile watching of John talking about some of these 22 steps.

Here he talks about plot. There are very specific techniques that can be learned for creating a good plot.

The last clip he’s talking about oppositions when talking about characters.

This week on The Public Speaker I talk about when it makes sense to read, when it’s OK to memorize (never) and when to use notes. I also give tips on how to read and how to use notes.

Interestingly, Bert Decker twittered this link to this article that talks about how our President Barack Obama doesn’t go anywhere without his TelePrompter. I think the article is addressing many of issues I talked about in the podcast.

The article suggests that for our President, it’s OK to use a TelePrompter, AS LONG AS the words in the text are ones that reflect the real ideas, thoughts, and words of our President.

Here’s a quote from the article that I found interesting.  “Whether one uses note cards or a teleprompter, the American people are a lot more concerned about the plans relayed than the method of delivery. This is not always true of the media,” said Bill Burton, deputy press secretary.

I think that we (Americans and non-Americans) are in a very difficult economic environment. And we look to our nations leaders for confidence and strength.   Yes, we want the plans, but much of perception about the plan is communicated via eye contact, smiling, fluidity, vocal power and inflection.

When President Obama speaks without hesitation and disfluencies (ums and ahs) we gain confidence.  Right now, I think we need this President  to communicate in a clear, compelling, and concise manner.

However, as, I have mentioned many times before, President Obama is still working on his delivery with and without the TelePrompter.  When he does not use a telepromoter his speech is full of hesitation and disfluency.

Unfortunately, the only time he speaks with limited disfluencies is when he is using the telepromter.  Even then, his eye contact is lacking because his eyes are glued to the teleprompter. With time, his delivery is improving both on and off teleprompter, but he’s making slow gains and this is not something that can be fixed quickly unless he spends time practicing this skill.

I think it’s a good idea for him to continue to use the TelePrompter, especially for very important speeches, but I also think he should continue to work on his skills for fluid speech and for improved eye contact when his is using the device. Ultimately, the nation wants a leader who can think AND SPEAK on his feet (without a teleprompter).

We want and need a communicator that is clear, compelling, and concise with or without reading. We want and need someone that knows how to read (without sounding or looking like they are reading).  But most importantly we value leaders who are able to speak extemporaneously in an effective manner (without a teleprompter).

I need your help. I am finally getting a website makeover for my main website. The programmers are busy creating new functionality and the webpage designers are busy creating new layouts. BUT they are all waiting for me to send them my NEW LOGO.

I decided to run a CONTEST to find a great logo.

If you are a designer, you can find the details here about entering the contest.

If you just want to help me decide, I’d like for you to leave your feedback either as a comment HERE on this post.

Please, DO NOT leave a comment on the contest website or change any of the rankings.

This contest will end the end of February in 2009. So if it’s already after that date, it’s too late to help.

Thanks for helping out! Really, I’d like your opinion!

After my seminar people come up to be to ask questions they didn’t want to ask publicly.  Without a doubt the most common “private” question I get is about accents.  People want to know how they can reduce their accents.

For me, it’s not about reducing an accent, it’s about acquiring accent options.  This week my show The Public Speaker, I talk about ways you can learn to modify  the way you speak.

Here’s a fun video that show an actress who learned 21 different accents.

On my Art of Speaking Science blog I describe a variety of free and fee accent modification resources to help you get started.

In my experience, when presentations (or training sessions) go horribly wrong, the root cause almost always boils down to one thing:

The presentation didn’t resonate with the audience because the material wasn’t specific enough for that particular audience.

Unless you take steps to adapt the material for your participants, you’re guaranteed to have a problem.

So what can you do? How do you reach your audience and connect with them?

First listen to the “Connecting the Dots…” episode of my The Public Speaker Show.  It only takes six minutes, go ahead, I’ll wait.  Then create a practice audience analysis slide.

To do that, you’ll want to find out as much as you can so that you can adapt a presentation to the needs, interests, and background of your listeners. It may seem simple and obvious, but it deserves extra attention.  It’ the most important thing you can do for any presentation. The more you understand about the participants, their work environment, and the stresses they face, the more successful you’ll be at making a solid connection. I can’t emphasize that enough.

I create a slide. It’s a hidden slide, meaning I’m the only one who ever sees it. I create it to paint a picture of the people involved. After each conversation, I fill in details and it helps me to keep track of what I still need to find out. When I’m editing the presentation material, this slide helps me keep focused on the importance of connecting to THIS particular audience.

Specifically, the slide outlines the responses to the following questions: Who are they? What do they already know? What do they want to know? How might they resist? Finally, and most importantly, what should they say, think, or do differently as a result of hearing me speak? Again, the slide isn’t projected; I just like to include it in the slide set to keep me focused.

Recently, I did a public speaking program for architects, preservationists, and city planners. Here’s  the audience analysis slide that I created for that presentation.

Again, this not ALL of the information I gathered.  This just the summary of the details that I collected in the planning conversation survey that I use.  I really find the creation o f this audience analysis slide useful.

I the comments let me know if you are using a tool like this and how it helps you!