Stories are incredibly important tools for communicating all sorts of information. I have been an “unconscious” story collector now for many years and as a trainer, these stories have been incredibly helpful to my participants in bringing the material I teach to life.

To be honest I tend to take them for granted because I use them without thinking but today their importance was drawn to my attention. It was the final presentations and feedback session from a class of managers who have been facilitating through a monthly series of leadership training modules.

 During the feedback I suddenly realised that stories were a key part of my USP and what makes my training so effective.  Not only do they help to make the topic relevant in the seminar, they also serve as memory hooks which help the participants retain their learning and then apply it in the real world  long after the course is over.

So, are you a story collector?    Do you capture and file away, either mentally or on paper, iconic stories that illustrate key principles.    Do you then weave those stories into your presentation, speaches, conversations and seminars?

If you don’t you are missing a trick!

In this day and age it seems like everybody is looking for the quick fix without any effort.   Whether it’s making money, getting fit, loosing weight or becoming a celebrity.  Andit seems to me that this obsession for instant success is supported and encouraged by adverts for all sorts of products both online and offline which claim to help you achieve success in your chosen field without doing anything!

I find the same think with aspiring presenters.   They want to go on a 1 day course or even just read a book and then start earning big money as a presenter or speaker.  It’s time for a reality check – nobody gets to be a great speaker without lots and lots and lots of practice!

So, if you are not prepared to put in the hours, set more realistic expectations. 

But if you are prepared to practice then the sky’s the limit.   Jack Nicklaus, one of the worlds greatest golfers said “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”     I agree.    I have been speaking in public since I was around 14years old and I still actively seek opportunities to practice.

Last night I attended a meeting of a new public speaking club called Hamwic Speakers- Southampton.  Hamwic have only been going since March but are doing extremely well.   At last nights meeting I was entranced by a wonderful speech by a young man called Rich Watts, who talked about “A trip to grandma’s“.

On the face of it, not the most exciting of topics but Rich delivered a most entertaining and excellent speech in which, by describing in vivid detail, what it was like to visit his grandmothers, from the perspective of his five year old self, he evoked powerful memories and emotions in all of us.

I was particularly impressed with the way Rich matched his energy and pace of delivery to the story he was telling.  At the start his pace was slow and measured as he described the rather boring car journey where he was too small to see much out of the car window but clouds.  Then, when he arrived at his gran’s the pace picked up dramatically as he described zooming into her house (an Aladdin’s cave for a five year old boy!) with his arms outstretched behind him pretending to be a plane.

The pace stayed high as he described how he explored and played and then slowed a little as he started to describe the other family members present.   The pace slowed further as he brought us up to the present day and how things had changed.  How his granny wasn’t as energetic as she had been, how the food wasn’t as home cooked as it had been and so on.   This “gear change”change of pace brought a poignancy and a sense of reflection to this speech that worked beautifully and lead us up nicely to Rich’s take away message.

Rich finished with two key messages, about remembering the importance of Granny and perhaps even more important, remembering (& not losing) the sense of wonder and playfulness we had when we were younger.

I hope this short article has captured the importance of being able to change gear in any speech or presentation in order to be a more effectie story teller and influencer.

In my last post I focused on the delivery side of an impromptu speech but what about the content?   How do I stop by brain going blank and running out of things to say?

Well here are two further technique to help you wow your audience ;

Use the PEP model

• Position – Start by stating your position on the topic – do you agree or disagree?
  
• Explain – Now expand on that by explaining why you hold this view.  How can you justify it?  What evidence support it? What alternatives have you considered and why have you dismissed them?
• Position – End by restating your position confidently and authoritatively.  Some people are good at coming up with a powerful and clever closing quote but if inspiration escapes you try a simple “and so I believe ….”

Paint a picture: See, hear & feel.

Stories and case studies come to life when the speaker paints word pictures that hep us re-create the situation in our heads as they speak. To do this you need to use sensory specific language to bring your words to life.   A good tool to practice this skill is to describe  three things you could see, three things you could hear and three things you could feel (and also things you could taste and smell if appropriate).  This sort of detail really helps your audience see, hear and feel what you are talking about it.

For example, if your story is about meeting someone in the queue at the post office you could describe:

• See – What they were wearing, the looks on the faces of the other people in the queue, the curling posters on the notice boards etc.
• Hear – The muttering complaints from people in the queue next door, the laughter of a child playing at his mothers feet…
• Feel – The mounting frustration as all the other lines seemed to move faster than yours, the firmness of their grip as they warmly shook your hand etc.

Have fun experimenting with sensory word pictures and see for yourself how they can make even the dullest subject come alive.

A few days ago I was running an advanced presentation skills course and when one of my participants gave her first presentation it was clear that she had fallen into the trap of confusing a presentation with an information dump.   Its not that her content was bad, there was just far too much data and as a result it was almost impossible for the audience to tell the wood from the trees. Couple this deluge of data with a series of very wordy bullet point slides and you have a recipe for disaster.

Thankfully, by the end of the workshop she was starting to get the message and had reworked the presentation into a much more impactful and easily digestible package.

So next time you come to write a presentation remember that less is more.   Be kind to your audience, don’t overwhelm them but instead only present relevant key facts thst help you tell the story you want to tell.   You can always put the extra facts in a concise but detailed handout for those people that really must have all the data!

This video clip serves four purposes for students of presentation and public speaking skills:

1. It demonstrates the value of a clearly structured message
2. It shows how things like eye contact, body language and vocal variety engage the audience
3. It shows how simple visual aids with well chosen images add to the presentation
4. It contains a valuable message that we all should learn and take heed of.

Enjoy

Recently I was invited to give a talk on presentation skills tips to JCI Southampton.  We had a lively evening in the lovely Jury’s Inn  Hotel and I was able to record the talk so that you all could hear it to.   You can listen to it from the web or download it to your ipod.  Just click on the link here and scroll down the page till you see the audio player.

The talk lasts about 45 minutes and covers a range of public speaking related topics including; handling nerves, setting objectives, slide design, & engaging your audience.   Listen to it and let me know what you think.

As part of a recent presentation skills coaching programme for a large client, I have been reviewing videos of some of their top directors presenting at a company conference. Some presenters got it right and got great evaluations and others clearly didn’t and,as an external observer the reasons for the latter were clear

• Lack of connection with the audience
• Lack of clear purpose (as perceived by the audience)
• No obvious audience benefit
• Presenting only lists impersonal statistics, facts and figures with no clear structure, point or flow
• Wooden, unexpressive “professional” performances. If the presenter doesn’t appear to care about the subject why on earth should the audience?
• Boring word dense, image scares bullet point slides. Written text is a poor excuse for a visual aid!
• Lack of audience involvement

So if you have a presentation to give in the next few weeks or months what can you do to ensure that you win the audience attention and motivation stakes?

Preparation:

• Have a clear purpose for your presentation. What are you trying to achieve as a result of this speech and what do you want the audience to do at the end of it?
• Establish the relevance of your content to the audience early on in the presentation. What is in it for them? Why should they listen? And don’t forget to tell them early on in your presentation?
• Design your presentation as a story which has a logical flow and emotional content to support it.
• Keep your visual aids clean and simple. Ban the bullet point and have only one idea per slide. Replace those words with an attention getting or emotive photograph. Read presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds if you need some inspiration.

Delivery:

• Avoid reading a script or auto cue. This will reduce eye contact and therefore connection with your audience. It will also make you sound dull, stilted and boring. Spoken English is different from written English. If you must have a script, record your speech first as you would like to say it and then have the recording transcribed.
• Don’t be afraid to show your emotion, Yes it is a business environment but human beings are hard wired to be driven by emotions. If you don’t evoke an emotional response in your audience they will not be motivated to follow your recommendations.
• Use your full vocal range to engage and enthral the audience – Everything from a roar to a sotto Voce whisper is at your disposal. Don’t be afraid of exaggeration in order to stretch your comfort zone and show your passion , enthusiasm or disappointment. Oh yes and don’t forget the power of a well placed silence too.
• Use your body language to reinforce your messages and project confide3nce and the appropriate degree of gravitas. An open upright posture, large open gestures, plenty of facial expression. Make sure that your body is sending out the same messages as your words and voice otherwise your audience won’t believe you.
• Be willing to experiment and accept that as a result you will make a few mistakes along the way. Perfection isn’t connection and your audience will empathise with you if you show that you too are human.
• Be present and in the moment during your presentation. If you are remembering the past or worrying about the future then your mind is not in the here and now and the audience will notice it.

Good luck!

Gavin Meikle
The Internet Presentation Coach

Today, I was mind mapping another session at a conference and once of the speakers stood out head and shoulder above the rest because of her enthusiasm and passion but…

She started of well, coming away from the lectern and standing centre stage. She used no visual aids and she challenged the accepted norms of her audience. She had something really important to say and she said it with passion and belief but she could have done so much better.

Why? Because her presentation lacked structure and WIIFM.

Now I’ve talked about WIFFM before in fact I’m passionate about it. WIIFM means what’s in it for me. In other words – the need to quickly establish relevance in the heads of the audience.

So what about flow? Well frankly this lady’s presentation rambled. It did have a good summary but it lacked both an effective opening (complete with WIFFM) and a logical supporting structure. Don’t get me wrong, the information was all there, but it took a lot of hard work to follow it. Now my rule of thumb is “don’t make your audience work too hard”. If you do, too many of them will give up and switch off.

Now I can’t do anything about this lady’s presentation (although I will ask her if she wants feedback!) but what about you? Do your presentations flow?

If they don’t then I recommend you read Cliff Atkin’s wonderful book – Beyond Bullet Points.
It will teach you how to turn your presentation into a story that wins the hearts and minds of your audience. Alternatively you can contact me directly via this blog.

Go with the flow!

People love stories particularly if they are well told. They are they way our ancestors passed on their wisdom and despite the recent surge in new communications media, the story is still alive and well.

I was reminded of just how important they are by two recent incidents. The first was yesterday when I was travelling on the underground after a running a presentation skills workshop in the City. After I sat down, no this isn’t a fairy story, I did get a seat on the tube for once, I noticed that the lady opposite was entertaining her granddaughter by telling her a story.

What made this example so special was the way in which she was telling the story. She was animated, expressive and descriptive. I couldn’t help but become engaged myself and I noticed that I wasn’t the only one. Lots of people on that crowded tube were entranced by the granny’s storytelling abilities. If only more business presenters could learn what this lady did instinctively the days of boring business presentations would be numbered!

My second example comes from a professional speaker. Internet psychologist and speaker Graham Jones was talking to a group of entrepreneurs in Southampton on how to make money from blogging. Now I have heard many so called experts speak and many have been a great disappointment, but not so Graham. Not only does he know his subject, he presents it in an engaging humorous and straightforward manner.

In forty five minutes he convinced a sceptical and largely non “geeky” audience of the considerable benefits to be gained from blogging. He demystified the subject and made us all feel that we could all be effective bloggers with just a little bit of planning and the use of some super free online service from Google called Blogger.

However there was one other thing in particualr that Graham did which really lifted his presentation. He told stories and he told them well. His talk was peppered with entertaining yet relevant anecdotes which grabbed our attention and sharpened our recall. He “acted out” elements of these stories using his body language. He kept them interesting by varying the pace, volume and tone of his delivery and he kept us involved with excellent eye contact.

As a teacher of presentation skills, I still love to see other people demonstrate so effectively the simple secrets which lift a presentation from mediocrity to greatness. Thanks Graham for being such a good exemplar.