DON’T speed up your presentation if you have limited time. Give a good paced presentation with the right amount of information for the time available. Focus on the essence of the material and give YOUR take as the expert.
Facilitate your next presentation instead of simply “presenting.” In every presentation consider how to involve others. Without participation you will simply have spectators quietly judging you and your content. With facilitation you will have fellow participants engaged.
Nora Dunn from Saturday Night Live in the 80s told my class of actors, “Your job is not to please the audience, your job is to engage the audience.” (And it is in the engagement that they will be pleased.) You cannot engage if you only talk, no matter how good you are.
The audience, especially today’s audience, has far more wisdom than we do. Let them talk to one another and learn with them. (And a hint: Never ever say,” Turn to the person next to you”…instead get them moving with “When I give you the signal I want you to get up find two other people not at your table and go and sit with them to form a group of three AWAY from the tables (you will have to enforce this). Then tell them what to discuss for 5-8 minutes (not too long or they will start talking about sports and their kids) then ask, “What did you just learn from your group?” (and then wait in silence)…when they start talking you have engagement. Avoid: “What did you just talk about?”
When preparing your presentation, think about what information the AUDIENCE NEEDS and how they are going to use it. It shouldn’t just be what you want to say. Make sure you truly understand the essence of your presentation and can deliver it less than 3 minutes. Then hey presto... you have a powerful opening or closing!
Do you use powerpoint? Remember it will look different on the big screen to how it looks on your computer screen. Organize the visualization of yours slides for those who are visually impaired, and ensure it’s simple enough that you can capture it for these people. Also consider people who are hearing impaired - always use a microphone. It makes you stronger and ensures you are the centre of attention, which is why they invited you there – you’re the expert! Watch this video to learn more...
When you are asked by an outside group for a tour of your facility, don't think of it as a marketing activity. Instead think of the audience. Who are they? What will help them solve their problem? Why did they pick your facility?
Do they really need to know how many trauma surgeries you did last year, or do they need to tour your trauma department and talk to the surgeons and nurses? Do they really need to endure the standard dog-and-pony PowerPoint program or do they need the time to have a robust Q&A...not with your CEO or CNO, but rather your most endearing ED nurse?
Be careful when you are asked for the tour. Find out first what your visitors want.
In your next meeting give people more choice. Lace your language with choice making: ‘Is it possible that…?’ ‘Could it be…?’ ‘I wonder if…?’ instead of making a judgement. Maybe you’ll decide to watch this video to learn more…or you could decide not to!
Take 3 MINUTES to learn the rule of 3 and your next presentation will be THE BEST YET! It focuses your answer, helps you to understand exactly what you’re going to say and most importantly makes the audience remember what you said. And not only does it work for presentations, you can use it for wedding toasts, speaking to a stranger in an elevator, talking to your kids…
Watch this video and give it a try. Let me know what you think.
How much jargon has slipped into your day to day work and even your presentations? ADR, JAHCO, NQF, PAYOR MIX, HIPAA, RAPPS, TIPS, CHIRP, MOB, HOPD...
Great presenters simplify and illuminate as not everyone in the audience knows what all those letters are! So, consider this: spell it out, say the words, explain in lay terms what the term is and what it means. What is its importance for this presentation? For THIS presentation!
In most cases, the audience doesn't know the most important part of your presentation which is ‘your take’ on the topic, the data, the 'thing' that they came to hear about. They all have a number of boxes in their heads and your content (or jargon!) is ready to go into one of those boxes with a self-assured “Oh, I know what that means!” Make sure that your take on things has no prepared box. Be different enough so they have to roam from box to box and they cannot dismiss what you say with “Oh I know that!” Instead they have to respond with “Uh, I never heard it presented that way before!”
I learned a lot from the time I spent with a group of Saudi Arabian doctors, nurses and administrators at the American College of Healthcare Executives Global Executive Program. My main take away was how specific and detailed the feedback they gave was. WOW! It almost made me tearful. It reminded me that I should be more specific about what I liked, learned and appreciated about interactions with people, whether at work, at home…in the airport! Try it this week and let me know how you get on!
Here’s an idea for your next networking lunch or dinner to help people get to meet one another and to harvest some of the wisdom that’s in these people. It’s called a French Salon, and when I did it at the Ritz Carlton for some of my clients, it was amazing. People still talk about it! Watch the video to find out more!
STOP reading from your slides when presenting! If you do, the audience will wish they could get that hour of their lives back again. Simplify your slide deck using the archive technique described in this video, then TEACH the slides, don’t read the slides!
One of my clients mentioned to me this past month that in their coursework they were striving not only for information, not only for behavior change, but also for ‘performance based’ courses. This may not be new to you but to me it represented an important word shift…knowledge, behavior, and performance.
My graduate students read to understand, we demonstrate to isolate useful behaviors, and we practice to get so good that our performance is second nature. Actors call it ‘muscle memory.’
Can you think of a time when you said the right thing at the right time, in the right way…and even you were surprised with the outcome!? Perhaps that went beyond what you knew, beyond how you behaved, and the ‘performance’ was the integration of it all. Behavior change is certainly good. Performance, well that may be something different and better altogether.
Here’s an idea to take your presentations to the next level. I call it, ‘The Larry King’! Try interviewing a person of prominence in the audience. Their ‘prominence’ is simply because they are the one being interviewed, not that they are a bigwig! Spend 15 minutes asking unrehearsed questions about their career, then let the audience get involved and ask their burning questions too! The answers are always fascinating (especially if you ask what they wanted to be when they were a little kid!) Meanwhile there is actually something else, something powerful, going on in the minds of the audience as well. Watch the video to find out what! Give it go…what’s the worst that could happen!
Steve and Jayne Lowell introduced me to three very useful words: Mission-Moment-Mess. I sometimes use them for personal reflection, sometimes to frame a speech or a coaching call, often as a set of choices for someone taking my presentation skills class, and always as a reminder that words provoke the story.
Can you imagine giving a presentation on any of those three words and not launch into a story, an example, a person, an interaction? Even in ordinary conversation we can probe gently with “What do you think drives your efforts (mission)?” or “What was that moment like for you?” or “That sounds like it was quite a mess! How’d you get out of it? (or better “What did you learn from that?”)
As I reflect on my previous day I’ve found it helpful to just briefly, always non-judgmentally, and honestly ask…”How did I act on my mission, what was that special moment, and whew, how’d I get out of that mess (or what did I learn if I’m not out yet!”) Of course at the same time thankful for people like Steve and Jayne who remind me with their words.
Make your weekly team meetings more effective by having everyone come together to solve each other’s problems. No more updates, no more reports, just real team working. Learn more in this video!
“Remember, solving a problem does not have to be the ultimate solution, it means we’re on the right track.”
There is a classic “Family Guy” episode where the talking baby, Stewie, is looking at his mom Lois lying on the bed and repeats over and over again, “Lois, Lois, Lois, mom, mom, mom, mummy, mama...” He goes on and on! In the end Lois does acknowledge with irritation and Stewie runs off as if this was great fun. Anyone with children knows this scenario all too well!
At the airport last month, the scene repeated all the way through TSA, with the mother finally and exasperatedly saying, “What!?” The little boy after a pause said, “I forgot.”
Have you ever tried to get someone’s attention, perhaps not quite as Stewie did, but over and over again you are ignored? Especially on a job search this happens far too often. We hear, “Yes, send me your stuff!” And then, nothing! We send a polite reminder and…nothing. I wonder if maybe sometimes we are not showing enough interest in their stuff. To them it may be that Stewie has returned! Perhaps it can all begin with a devoted interest in them as we are pitching ourselves. Get them talking about their career, their choices, their challenges. That will be a memorable conversation which is exactly what we want…to be in their memory.
It was wonderful to meet Reyouf Al Azmi at the American College of Healthcare Executives Global Executive Program this week. She attended my session on Healthcare Possibility Thinking in Complex Environments. She is from Saudi Arabia, as were her 18 colleagues, coming to Chicago for the past two weeks. Great fun!
She is holding Speak Up! one of my books that I co-wrote with the very creative Cyndi Maxey, CSP on presenting and facilitating...this one especially for women executives written at the request of our female editor at St. Martin's (Macmillan) in New York.
Our other book Present Like a Pro teaches how to solicit useful feedback; deal with hecklers; evoke the power of your own life in your talk; and much more!
Fearless Facilitation shows how to make any learning environment come alive! It outlines proven guidelines any trainer can use to unify groups, inspire creativity, and get audiences, teams, and colleagues to speak up, talk back, participate, and engage in meetings.
If you want to learn more about presenting like a pro or facilitating fearlessly, you can order one of my books or let's get in touch with a virtual coffee...my treat!
The Heart Surgeon, Dr. Paul Massimiano MD from Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center in Maryland said, “Patients are nervous before open heart surgery…pretty understandable. I tell them the important thing is that I’m not nervous!”
Your job interviewer understands your nervousness, but really wants to see your confidence. Your boss also when you are newly promoted. You're nervous for sure, but remember why you were promoted. You are good at this. As they say, “YOU GOT THIS”!
Nervous can equal excited if seen properly. As Dr. Massimaiano said after a successful surgery, “Every day is a new day, exciting. I’ve never been bored a single day in my entire career. It is a pleasure and an honor to operate on patients and to be entrusted with their care.” This is what each of us can say when we understand that our work is our mission, regardless of our role.
I was at a hotel last month where every worker seemed to know that their job as cleaner, wait staff, valet, hotel manager, and Starbucks server was secondary to their real job…to make my visit memorable! Their mission was achieved!
One of my bosses (I’m a consultant so at any given time I have about 60 of them!) told his staff yesterday how to best communicate with him. Interesting!
Working Today?
How do you like and not like how to be communicated with…and do your people know?
Family Time Today?
How do you manage quiet time at your home, for you and for each person?
On Your Own Today?
How do those closest to you want you to show them? If you want…you could ask!
In July I was at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville for the National Speakers Association Convention. True to the Gaylord name, it is a maze of trails and connecting ramps encompassing you in vegetation, people, music, and ‘something else’ just around the next corner.
At first, especially in search for coffee, it reminds you just how addicted you have become to a ‘normal hotel’...as well as to coffee! It is a delight however and over time I was able to feel fairly confident that I could get from here to there!
It reminded me of the times I was with my son, Corbb, who is blind, as he would accompany me to these conventions. Our first order to business was “O&M” - orientation and mobility. For those who are blind, O&M is not only a course to learn how to independently get around, it is also an ongoing task of seeing their way to and through the ”Gaylords” of the world.
Once properly oriented the mobility comes more naturally. It is a discovery process and I notice it among my sighted friends as well. New airport? Where am I? New neighborhood? Who am I? New role? What am I? For those who are blind O&M is a necessity…for those of us sighted, we do the same thing whether through the jungles of the Gaylord or the traffic before us.
I wonder too if there is a metaphor here for us as leaders. Perhaps our next meeting could use some O&M to help explain what is it really that we are all about. Perhaps we could use some O&M to speak to our history of our family. Or we could remind ourselves that what we know the other might not yet know. O&M!