For more on conference calls

Check out this great list of conference call tips from the blog Bad Pitch:

http://badpitch.blogspot.com/2009/04/conference-call-primer-bad-pitch.html

Enjoy!

Conference Call 911

Yesterday I gave a presentation to the Washington Area Legal Recruitment Administrators Association. (WALRAA) I asked two volunteers to tell a story to each other - at the same time. The goal for each was to distract the other.

The first time, I had them tell the story only with their voice.

The second time, I encouraged them to use movement.

It was remarkable to see the contast. The ability to move around dramatically increased the power of their voices. Somehow the physical motion set their voices free.

This is a particularly useful point to remember when you are speaking on a conference call. Stand up. Move around the room. Your voice will sound all the more animated and expressive.

From the Green Room: Move around. And set your voice free.

Focus on What Not to Do

Today's NYT Business Section profiles business guru Jim Collins. The article explains that one of his keys to success is his hyper-focused, minimalist approach to his work:

"...a willingness to say no and focus on what not to do as much as what to do...Therefore, in Jim Collins' world, small is beautiful."

This is a critical - and often missed - step of speech preparation. Often we are so busy trying to figure what to say, that we don't spend enough time and energy thinking about what not to say. So many rambling, long-winded presentations are the sad result of forgetting this step.

From the Green Room: When honing your subject, remember that small is beautiful and less is more. So ask yourself - "What is my speech not about?" This process of elimination will help focus your content.

Dangers of Being Overly Enthusiastic

A great speech coach once gave me the advice to "punch the operative words." If you want to emphasize something, punch it with your voice.

Kara Dioguardi, this year's new judge on American Idol takes this advice to the extreme. She punches everything! Each statement she makes is one big sock in the gut.

Kara speaks in a monotone of "incredibly enthusiastic:"

"You were amazing!"

"You are a musical GODDESS!"

"You were terrible!"

"You were pretty average!"

"You were unmemorable!"

"I didn't listen to you sing because I was in the ladies room!"

You get the point.

Kara often has very intelligent and insightful critiques of the performers, but her enthusiastic monotone makes all her comments blend together into one big PUNCH.

The listener is left feeling exhausted.

From the Green Room: Speak with passion. But vary your emotional intensity.

Speaking to Music

Listen to this inspiring talk on TED.com by artist Bill Strickland, who journeyed from being an at-risk youth to the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award in 1996.



Notice how the music does not distract from Strickland's story, but rather enhances it. The jazz piano gives his voice a rhythm and his intensifies the power of his words so it sounds as almost as though he is reciting poetry.

Next time you are preparing to give a speech, try practicing it with music in the background. Choose a piece that moves you. Something without words that reflects the tone of your presentation.

Now give your speech. As you practice, pay attention to how your voice changes when you speak to music. Practicing with music can add a layer of depth to your presentation style and bring out the underlying rhythm of your text - and your voice.

Listen to the POP to Know When to STOP

Who knew great speaking lessons could be found in the instructions for making Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn?

Instructions:

1. Microwave ovens vary. Cooking time may need to be adjusted.
How true. A speech that works brilliantly in one setting may "scorch and burn" in another. Temperature, lighting, room set up, time of day, etc. These are all variables that impact your audience.

2. Stay by microwave and listen.
In normal cooking, we set a oven timer and walk away. We know it will be done in 30 minutes. Perhaps we check once to make sure, but we don't stand there listening the whole time.

When you speak, follow the popcorn method of cooking. Listen. Pay attention to the audience's reactions and read their cues. And if you sense they are "done," try to end swiftly.

3. Open bag carefully.
Once the popcorn stops popping and the speech is done, don't end too abruptly. Take a moment to wind down and look at your audience before walking off stage. While you don't want to drag this out and let the popcorn get cold, the audience does need a moment digest what you've just told them and process your exit.

From the Green Room: Don't forget the most important instruction on the package. Enjoy! (Your popcorn and your audience.)

Matching the Internals and Externals

I recently published a short piece in the Wexner Foundation community newsletter.

I tried to pick the Torah portion of the week that would seem to have the least obvious connection to public speaking!

The Wexner Foundation Electronic Beit Midrash Tazria-Metzora
Tazria-Metsora and the Lessons of Public Speaking
By Sarah Gershman

What can leprocy teach us about how to be a better speaker?

In this week's reading, we learn about the mysterious skin condition called tsaarat. Often mistranslated as "leprosy," tsaarat is traditionally understood as a physical manifestation of a spiritual malady, such as haughtiness or excessive pride.

The Torah seems to be describing a condition where the body is deeply in tune with the soul. When the soul is infected, you can see it on the skin.

The physical manifestation of tsaarat reveals a much deeper internal problem. Perhaps the physical manifestation served to raise greater awareness of the spiritual problem. Indeed, many of us are visual learners - when we see something, particularly something on our own skin, it registers much more immediately. And once the condition is diagnosed, the physical symptoms can be healed only by working on the internal spiritual malady.

So what does this have to do with public speaking?

Like tsaarat, speaking effectively depends on your ability to match internals—the content—with externals—the delivery.

Here are three ways to make that happen:

1. Diagnose your own public speaking "tsaarat." We all have external speaking mannerisms that reflect something internal. Some of us "um" and "uh." Others over-gesticulate. Others shift back and forth. Whatever your speaking tick is, chances are it is a symptom of an inner anxiety or struggle. For example, we tend to use filler words such as "umm" and "uh" when we do not feel confident about the content. Identify the external symptom, diagnose the underlying issue, and focus on resolving that rather than on fixing the tick.

2. Own your message. Make certain you truly understand the essential message you want to communicate to this particular audience. If you take the time to clarify your content, it is much more likely that your delivery will be strong. Often it is when our message is unfocused that our voice shakes and we stumble over our words. Just like tsaarat, the external reflects the internal.

3. Synthesize content, voice and body language. The audience will pay attention, when what they hear is also what they see. Here are a few suggestions:

Move purposefully. If you change directions in your content, turn and walk the other way on stage. If you are taking a moment to address the audience more personally, step away from the podium and move towards them.

Vary Tones. Mine your content for emotional shifts. Perhaps in your opening remarks, you want the audience to feel intrigued. Later on, you want them to feel frustrated. At the end, you hope to inspire. Let your voice express these contrasting emotions. Speak with feeling and let the feelings reflect the substance.

Speak to Individuals. You've worked hard to craft your message for your audience's needs and interests. Now, use your eyes to strengthen your connection to each individual in the room. Make eye contact with one person at a time - the general rule is one person per thought.

One final thought: The Talmud also explains tsaarat as a physical manifestation of lashon harah, the sin of harmful speech.

How compelling it must have been to see physical proof of the damage caused by hurtful speech! Tsaarat is a reminder to each of us of the power of the spoken word. May each of us continue to learn how to use our words to inspire the changes we seek.

Rachael Ray and the Art of Public Speaking

From this week's NYT Sunday Styles:

Jonathan Rosen, the agent to Food Network stars, describes how he knew that Rachael Ray would succeed:

"I told her I felt like her personality translated directly across the screen and made you feel like she was in the room with you."

Truthfully, when I first watched 30 Minute Meals, I said to myself, "What makes her special? I could totally do that!"

And now I realize that this is her secret weapon.

Rachael Ray's slip-ups, cutesy expressions, and goofy laugh make her seem not like some celebrity chef, but like your fun (and albeit sometimes annoying) girlfriend. She's not giving a cooking demo - she's chatting it up with her buddies.

We can all learn from this.

The next time you get up in front of an audience, try saying to yourself, "I am not giving a speech. I am having a conversation with people I care about." You don't have to be best friends - or even know the people in order to find sometime about them you care about - even if it's just, "I care that they understand what I am trying to say because it will be helpful to them."

You will connect with an audience, when you speak to them as if you are having a one-on-one conversation with each person in the room.


From the Green Room: To master the art of public speaking, don't just give a speech to an audience. Have a conversation with the audience.

Adapting to the Audience

Recently, I worked with a rabbi to help him prepare a pre-Passover sermon. He worked hard to prepare and practice a meaningful and powerful message. The rabbi tended to need to write everything down beforehand and was working on developing a more conversational, spontaneous style.

Little did we know how far he would take that.

The morning of the sermon, he says in his own words, "I looked out and saw - the audience for the drash (teaching) we worked on was just not there. In its place were two families in shiva, two or three people out of work, a few dealing with illnesses. Hurting people."

So this rabbi did something quite courageous. He adapted the speech at the last minute to make it a sermon about hope.

He told himself, "If I really am committed to what I have to say, and to my relationship to the audience, I will be able to speak without the notes."

Which he did.

Afterwards, one person said, "Great drash." Another said, "I don't know if you worked on this a lot or just winged it, but it meant a lot to me."

Indeed. This rabbi went beyond simply giving a great sermon. He connected directly to the individuals he was speaking with.

From the Green Room: Prepare. Then, when necessary, trust yourself to be able adapt your speech to the audience when necessary. The connection you make with the people in the audience will be worth it.

How to Give an Acceptance Speech: The Top 5 Things My Dad Did Right

Last Friday, I had the privilege of hearing my father speak at a ceremony honoring his 25 years of service as the first and only president of his organization.

My dad knows I'm his biggest critic - but that day, I was his biggest fan.

Not only was I tremendously proud of his accomplishments, but of the (dare I say) perfect thank you speech he gave.

Here are 5 things he did just right:

1. He kept it brief.

2. He spoke with genuine emotion.

3. He did not spend a long time listing people to thank, but rather expressed gratitude for the honor itself - for the privilege of having served a cause he is passionate about.

4. Rather than thanking the audience for helping him reach this day, he thanked them for helping him serve the organization all these years. We all felt part of the journey.

5. He brought everything back to the essential mission of the organization - and thus made those around feel inspired to continue the effort.

Great job, Dad.

Address the Individual

This week on Slate, John Dickerson comments on Obama's second press conference:

http://www.slate.com/id/2214510/

Obama returned to the theme of togetherness to buy time. We will "travel that road as one people," he said in his opening remarks. "We are all in this together." Lovely sentiment, but the times seem to call for a stronger pitch. Why should people join together when bailouts are rewarding people who didn't act in the common interest?...

Obama may be popular enough to make the case. But to bring about collective action in this environment, Obama may have to return to a lesson he wrote about in Dreams From My Father: the power of self-interest in helping to create community.

Good point. Truly connecting to an audience means addressing individuals - not the collective group. In Obama's case, he could have spoken to each individual, without losing his call for people to join together to get our nation back on track. Obama could have stated that we travel that road - not just as one people - but as a community of individuals, each with something to contribute.

From the Green Room: When you speak to an audience, imagine you are having a one-on-one conversation with each individual present.

Stop the Tone Drone

Ever wonder how you can maintain concentration when you listen to talk radio?

The answer is that you never have to listen to any one voice for too long.

Note how one person gives the traffic report, another talks about weather, and a third gives the financial update - all in under a minute.

We maintain our attention because of this vocal variation. If the same person were to speak for all three, we would have a much harder time digesting the information.

This is why someone can have no problem listening for an entire hour to talk radio while driving, but will drift off during a 15 minute lecture.

So how can you achieve this kind of vocal variation in a speech?

Change tones!

Divide your speech into several mini-speeches, each with a different, contrasting tone. Each tone should have an emotional intent - how you want the audience to feel when they listen to you. The tones should be completely distinct from each other.

For example, you might begin your speech with the goal of making the audience feel frustrated and then immediately switch tones so they feel hopeful.

And it goes without saying that tone changes should reinforce and support your content - that, of course, is the point in the first place!

From the Green Room: End vocal monotony. Change tones.

The First Speech Coach

As my family gets ready to celebrate Passover, I am reminded that the fear of public speaking is as old as...well, Moses.

When God tries to convince Moses to speak to Pharoah and argue for the slaves to be freed, Moses responds, "Please, my Lord, I am not a man of words...for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of speech.

Does God respond by giving Moses a pep talk about his underated speaking abilities? Nope.

God says, "Who makes a mouth for man or who makes one dumb or deaf, or sighted or blind? Is it not I, God? So now, go! I shall be with your mouth and teach you what you should say."

What can the non-prophets among us learn from this interaction?

Sometimes it helps to see yourself as an emissary. Rather than worry whether the audience will like you, focus on delivering your message.

G-dcast: The Power of Visuals

What is G-dcast?

As defined on their site (G-dcast.com), "G-dcast is a place to watch cartoons based on the story Jews are reading in the Torah this week."

This week, I am the lucky narrator. I discuss the story of the Golden Calf, and my words are animated by the incredibly talented Nick Fox-Gieg.

Parshat Ki Tisa from G-dcast.com

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

In my discussion, I talk about the power of sight. The seriousness of the sin of worshipping the calf is only truly recognized when God and Moses see it with their own eyes.

This message about sight really hit home for me months after the initial recording, when I actually saw my words come to life through the animation!

A famous study at UCLA tried to answer the question, "What makes the most impact on an audience?"

The study revealed that only 7% of the impact comes from the words you say.

37% is the sound of your voice.

And a whopping 56% is what the audience sees when they listen to you. (stance, movement, visuals, eye contact, etc.)

So the key to making your content stick is to reinforce it with your body and your visuals - and especially with eye contact.

What makes G-dcast so powerful is the simultaneous audio and visual expression. Each reinforces and enriches the other.

From the Green Room:
Synchronize what you say with what you do with your body. Watch G-dcast.com.

Afraid of Public Speaking? Try Crossing a High Wire

What can the seemingly fearless teach us about fear?

Take a look at an interview with Philippe Petit, the tightrope artist who crossed a high wire linking the Twin Towers. (His story is the plot of Man on Wire, the 2009 Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature):

Given Mr. Petit's steadiness at 1,500 feet and his entrepreneur's resilience, it's fair to ask what does rattle him.

"I am very human and full of little stupid fears on earth," Mr. Petit says. "I have problems with big dogs showing their teeth. And centipedes and tarantulas. But up there, I have no fear. And I have no fear, I feel, out of working on it, knowing my subject, not out of not wanting to know."

"That," he said with characteristic seriousness of purpose, "would be death in my profession."

(New York Sun, July 2008)

This is not the answer I expected to hear.

I thought Mr. Petit would say that he is afraid when he can't get out of his head. Yet instead he says that it is knowing his subject that allows him to conquer his fear of it.

Of course, one has to imagine that when Mr. Petit is actually on the high wire, he survives because he is able to quiet his mind. Yet, what enables him to do that is the preparation he does beforehand - his absolute knowledge of his subject.

So unfortunately for those of us who like to wing it (I am often guilty of this), there is no substitute for thorough and thoughtful preparation.

From the Green Room: Prepare. Prepare some more. Then trust yourself.