Great Speaking Coach

Strategy Doesn't Have to Put Your Audiences to Sleep

What is strategy, anyway? Strategy is the framework for a business under which all goals, objectives, tactics and decisions are made. For example, if one of your strategies is profit growth by entering new markets, you'll then set:

• Specific goals (identify the target markets)
• Objectives (timeline, dollar value)
• Tactics (bid on RFPs, social media marketing, speaking at industry conferences)
• Decisions (who, when, how much you will spend)

The future of your business is exciting and interesting to your colleagues and employees--IF you talk about it in an exciting and engaging way. That's the difference between an executive who inspires first vs. one who merely informs. Save the information for a document and use your speech to get everyone on board.

Tips to do that:

1- Evoke a picture of the future--let's say 3 years ahead. Describe in great language the outcomes everyone will enjoy when the strategy is succeeding. This picture of the future needs to be a picture that every employee will enjoy, not one just investors and the media will approve of. Make it real to everyone.

2- Ask everyone to imagine their part in making these outcomes happen. This message can't be about sacrifice. It must be about the importance and value of their unique contributions. Talk about milestones that will be celebrated (as opposed to deadlines that must be made).

3- Talk about your own near term actions in order to get them inspired to participate with you. What changes will you make in order to put the new strategy in place? What's the first meaningful action everyone needs to take? How will you recognize these first steps? What's your plan for keeping momentum going for three whole years? Why this plan?

Sharing strategy successfully with your company is not about mind-numbing facts, figures, dollars, organization, and new policies. Strategy is about a future that is better than the present, so speak about it that way. When you've got a new strategy to talk about, remember to Inspire them First...Inform Them Later.

Let me know when you need my support to make this happen.

Quotes in Business Speeches-Do and Don't

Quotes from known figures are appealing to business speakers crafting their own speeches. I recommend using quotes as one element in your high-impact content mix. There are three rules to follow when you use quotes:

1) Give credit to the originator of the idea. I can't stress this too much. Your audience will downgrade their estimation of you if you pass off someone else's idea as your own. So the points you thought you were making by using the clever or memorable words will hurt you badly instead.

2) Tell the audience what this quote means to you. This gives you credibility and helps the concept you're speaking about stick with the audience. While you may admire someone else's ability to frame an idea in a memorable way, you want your audiences to admire you. They will do that when you help them make the idea their own by showing them how you made the idea belong to you.

3) Be absolutely sure the idea reflected by the quote really fits with your call-to-action and your own key points. Test your quotes out with some people who will give you their honest "gut reaction" to the quote. While you may love it, you might find out that no one else does. Time to get rid of it.

What's most important for speakers is to help their audiences learn what to do with the information they hear. Quotes are sound bites of information that can be found online in an instant. When you give the quote meaning in an entirely fresh way, you create tremendous value that is not found online.

People go to speeches and presentations hoping to get inspiration--meaning, direction, a vision of the future--that exceeds the informtation. Using quotes correctly will do that for them and for you.

What's your favorite quote and how do you make it fresh? Post your ideas in our comment box.

What Makes a Rock Star Business Speaker?

What makes a singer a rock star? Out of the hundreds of thousands of people who sing and make music, only a handful achieve the status of Rock Star. What do they do and can you, a business speaker, learn from them?

Rock Stars surprise and delight their audiences. They bring something unique, even if they are in a crowded genre. Is it the words, the music, the musicianship? More likely it is charisma, which is hard to define but is recognizable when we see it. They definitely do not try to be like anyone and everyone else.

Rock stars perform their well-known songs in every concert. Their fans know these songs word for word and beat for beat. Yet in the charged atmosphere of the concert, what is important is familiarity accompanied by the excitement of the moment. Rock stars sing exactly what is expected and yet each concert is unique. If you weren't there, you missed that moment forever.

Perfection and the ability to create the pulsing atmosphere come from hundreds of hours of practice and rehearsals. Rock stars work hard--really hard--behind the scenes, internalizing getting every note just right and every beat exactly when it's supposed to be. They work up a sweat in rehearsal, knowing they will need the same stamina when they're on the stage.

Contrast these behaviors with business speakers:

Business speakers do what everyone else does. There are no surprises.

Business speakers write and read scripts so that they are perfect. They don't internalize their ideas --which is not memorization--and they refuse to create a lively environment or respond to the energy of the audience.

Business speakers rehearse very little. They speak about what they know, they rely on their scripts, and they don't make time for the work it takes to be a presence on the platform.

Which are you going to be? A Rock Star speaker or just a another business talking head?

Outstanding Content First and Foremost

When was the last time you stood up and cheered a speaker because of his posture, her gestures or whether he or she stood to the left of the screen? Without amazing content, your perfect delivery style will be worthless. When your content is great the audience will paint your delivery style with the same enthusiastic brush.

I worked with a team who had to present an proposal orally to the customer. The competition was fierce and this company had the added disadvantage of not being known by the customer through past work. They were adamant about standing to the left of the screen, the so-called "power" position.  And one person insisted upon reading, word for word, her "perfect" content, no matter how many times I coached her not to do this.

They did not win the contract. In the debrief after the fact, the chief acquisition manager told my client that the rigid position on the left of the slide and the reading of perfect--but phony sounding--text was a total turn-off!

Lesson learned? Instead of putting delivery style first and foremost, you must focus on crafting content about solutions that produce exceptional results. Then speak confidently and with passion from your inner knowledge. When you speak naturally, even with a few small conversational bumps, you are believable, and that's what wins.

Work with a speaking coach and then listen to her!

Little Speeches are What Get You to the Big Speeches

What business speakers do you admire? Steve Jobs always comes to mind. And who else? Think about your industry--who is prominent and often speaks at industry events, is a sought after keynoter and may have appeared on TED? Whose videos have you watched and forwarded to your social network?

These business luminaries began back some time ago giving short presentations to small groups. Maybe in conference rooms, perhaps for company meetings, or they were breakout session speakers at conferences. Most likely all of these. They got better and better by taking every small speaking opportunity seriously.

Compare this to your way of thinking (believe me, I know!). "It's just a short presentation to my team. I know what I want to say. I'll throw a few slides together the day before and I'll be fine."

"I'll be fine" is not the same as "The audience deserves the best I can give them. It takes time to select the right content and craft it into a meaningful and concise speech or presentation. Then I have to practice it at least ten times, so I'll be able to tune in to the dynamics of the audience. That way I'll be able to respond to their facial expressions and body language as well as their comments. I want them to take away at least one idea that makes them glad they were there."

Success as a business speaker comes from taking each speaking opportunity seriously and putting everything you've got into it. There will never be a  'big speech' if you don't make the most of the little speeches.