Archive for the ‘Public Speaking Skills’ Category

I make an effort to avoid violent movies, television programs, and evening news stories.  I’ll admit to watching one cop drama, with occasional violent scenes, on a regular basis.  In general, I also try to stay away from war metaphors and other aggressive language when I’m speaking, in public and in private. Ordinarily I would let the Tucson shooting story play out and not add to the cacophony of commentary about it.  But maybe this is the tipping point for change in our public dialogue. One can only hope.

Words alone don’t cause people to do heinous things, however we are all responsible for the impact our words have on others and on our collective consciousness.  Do my words inspire, support, encourage, praise, give joy or are they critical, demeaning, antagonistic, negative, or dehumanizing?  If we each can start thinking about what we say before we say it maybe we can change the very toxic environment of our public discourse.  To paraphrase…speak to others the way in which you would like to be spoken.

Happy New Year! Saw a marvelous movie over the holidays and highly recommend it.  ”The King’s Speech” tells the real life story of Britain’s King George VI and his struggles to overcome his inability to speak without stammering. The acting is wonderful and it hit home for me because of the relationship between the King and his speech coach.

For most people public speaking is a challenge and the obstacles often seem insurmountable.  And the work gets very close to the bone for those who decide they want to improve. To coach someone in that situation is an honor and a big responsibility.  It requires building trust and creating a safe place for people to move outside their comfort zone. And it requires imagination and a bit of courage to find just the right strategy that will work with each specific individual.  It also helps if you can have a little fun along the way.

The King’s speech coach did all of these things brilliantly and in the end the audience appreciates what the King did to find his voice become the leader he was destined to be. It was also great to see the transformation of a human being meeting a most difficult and very public personal challenge.

See it…you’ll be inspired on many levels!  And if you are struggling with your speaking skills, take a page from the King and get a coach who can help you!

At the suggestion of my best friend, Carol, we watched a wonderful documentary this weekend called “Paper Clips.” We got it through Netflix. It’s the story of how a history project on the Holocaust transformed a rural Tennessee middle school and its surrounding community.  The students and teachers at Whitwell Middle School remind us of what can happen when hate speech is tolerated and how evil spreads when times are challenging and we demonize people because they look different, have different religious beliefs, or come from other cultural traditions.  The closer we get to the fall elections it appears that hate speech rules. I suggest we take a breath, remember we have much more in common than our differences, and look behind the curtains to see OZ-like people who are fanning the flames of division and funding the sources of hate speech. And if you’re looking for something uplifting to watch try “Paper Clips!”

The furor over the proposed building of Muslim cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero has reached a fever pitch, now that the President had weighed in, at least it has in the media.   Freedom and democracy is messy and more importantly, our freedom does not mean bupkis if we don’t stand by our principles when it is hard.  There are many millions of people who will be against whatever this President says or does.  I’m familiar with that feeling because I have felt it when someone I didn’t vote for got elected to run this country.  However this principle is bigger than politics.  And if we allow the haters to win on this one, we have truly handed our enemies a gift wrapped victory and more propaganda to use against us.  And if this organization is somehow tainted by extremism, which I seriously doubt, what about the idea of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?

I saw the news stories featuring Steve Jobs’ press conference Friday about the new iPhone’s antenna glitch.  The clip that caught my attention showed Jobs pacing in front of a large screen and with a click of a his remote the words “We’re not perfect.” appeared, followed by “Phones are not perfect.”  Underneath those two sentences came “We want to make all of our users happy.”  That seemed to be the media’s favorite sound bite, capturing the story and the tone…sort of.

My question is was it really necessary to put those words up on the screen?  Did having those sentiments written out on slides help Jobs make his case?  Seems to me it was a classic misuse of Keynote, Apples equivalent of PowerPoint!  And I think it diminished his credibility.

When you have something important to say, you want the communication to be between you and your audience, not between the slides and your audience.  Just because you have all the bells and whistles, it doesn’t mean that’s the best way to deliver your mea culpa!  Get real, stay connected to the people who are important to your company.  Don’t do a “dog and pony show” when you are addressing problems. You risk insulting your audience at a time when they are not happy with you in the first place.  Resist the temptation to let your slides do your talking.

Jobs has a great reputation as a speaker. He’s cool under pressure, never uses notes, and connects extremely well with his audiences.  But you really get a clear picture of a person’s true personality and sensibilities when they are responding to negative press.  If Apple has a few more public difficulties and Jobs continues to react defensively, he could join the pantheon of superstars who fall hard because they lost touch with the integrity that attracted followers, customers, and all the accolades.

There’s a new article featuring eight tips for crafting your elevator speech. It’s based on an interview I did with Alan Hughes of Black Enterprise Magazine.  Alan did a great job of capturing the foundational tips for standing out and building your business networks.  Click here for the article

Also coming soon is the second edition of my book. It has a new chapter on the elevator speech and personal branding and some new tips in the media section on new web and social media.

It’s already available as an e-book on my site. We’ll have the actual books available by the end of July.

I was very saddened to read the Helen Thomas story yesterday.  After a groundbreaking, glass ceiling shattering, brilliant career she left the job she loved because she said some really dumb and offensive statements which were captured on camera.  She is like the superstar baseball player who stays too long and leaves the game a shadow of his peak years.  We had a little taste of that this year with Ken Griffey, Jr. who abruptly left the Mariners because, his public statement says, he didn’t want to be distraction for the team.  Unfortunately he was having a lousy year and no true Mariner fan wanted to see him leave the way he did.

The same is true for Helen Thomas.  I met her in the mid-1990′s when she was covering the Clinton administration.  She was a great guest on our morning news show when we broadcast from the White House lawn. I had the pleasure of talking with her before and after her interview.  She was knowledgeable, feisty, and never afraid to ask the tough questions.  She was a trailblazer who made it possible for many more women journalists to move beyond covering the society pages.  But maybe she stayed just a little too long.

How do we know when it’s time to hang ‘em up?  It may be a bit easier for athletes to know, because the body often gives out before the heart gives up.  For the rest of us, I don’t know.  Hopefully we’ll learn something from Helen Thomas, not the least of which is not to say dumb and offensive things in public!

You may recall hearing about the catch phrase “duck, cover, and hold!”  It was a strategy taught to millions of school children in the 1950′s to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack.  Some of you may be old enough to remember the drills, the rest of you may have seen it in documentaries about the Cold War.  Looking back, it seems like a totally ridiculous idea, but it seemed to give a fearful public something to do and distract them from asking tough questions about the threat of nuclear war.

I’m reminded of that phrase as I watch the current sex abuse scandal that is enveloping the Vatican and the rest of the Catholic Church.  And just as idiotic as it was in the 1950′s, “duck, cover, and hold!” is not going to work in this instance.  There is no way of stopping the momentum that abuse victims have worldwide.  The only thing that works in a crisis is truth and transparency, and the sooner the better.

And the response has to have more substance and authenticity than the formulaic public apologies we are now seeing from celebrities and public figures like Tiger Woods.  Get real people…and Your Holiness!

Yes, it’s difficult to come clean, admit wrongdoing and shine a light on the ugliness, but attacking the media or the advocates of the victims only exacerbates the problem, it’s throwing gasoline on the fire!

How many institutions and individuals insist on stonewalling or lashing out when hit by a crisis?  How many leaders will continue to insist they are above scrutiny or the law?

Given Pope Benedict’s history and personality, it’s not likely he’s going to bend on this.  I hope I’m wrong.  However, watching what he and his defenders are doing is a great example of how NOT to handle a crisis!

That is the question…and I get it all the time.  I was watching Nancy Pelosi last night on the PBS News Hour and she was talking about the passage of the historic health care bill that was signed into law earlier this week. Putting politics of the issues aside, I was struck by Pelosi’s ability to stay on message regardless of the many times Jim Lehrer, the interviewer, wanted her to bash her Republican colleagues.

If I were coaching Ms. Pelosi, I would give her kudo’s for bridging back to her main points and being very disciplined and not rising to the bait by revealing any harsh feelings she may have about the grueling process she had just witnessed.  However, there’s one behavior that distracts from Ms. Pelosi’s message and that’s the constant smile that she wears in all of her media interviews.  Sometimes it looks like her face has been cast in plaster and the smile sits there without regard to any human emotion.

For people who are regularly in the media spotlight and talking about controversial issues, instead of a constant smile, I suggest they create a warm and friendly demeanor.  Smiling all the time is not natural.  But if you can think “warmth and friendliness” it looks more authentic to the viewing and listening audience.  Smile if it comes naturally and the rest of the time, be yourself and think “warm and friendly!”

Peter Baker of the New York Times has written an article about President Obama’s use of the teleprompter. Some critics say Obama risks his credibility by being so scripted and tied to the machine. Others say he’s very precise with his words and why fool around with the success he’s had.

I’ve had clients ask about using a teleprompter and my response is a based on the event, the speaker, and the audience. Using a prompter sets a tone of formality and it can be misinterpreted as a sign of pretentiousness in the wrong setting. And if a speaker has an informal approach in most circumstances, I would stick with what works with their personality. That said, it’s not a bad idea to know how to use a teleprompter, especially if you plan on doing a lot of public speaking. You never when you might be asked to address a stadium full of people!