Category Archives: 07c-Telling stories

Creating a compelling vision, engaging an audience, stimulating creative thinking *beyond* the logic and evidence of problem/solution/recommendation type of communication

07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation

7 Little Tricks To Speak In Public With No Fear

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No matter what, it’s hard for me to shake my nerves before a presentation. There are ways to cover them up that definitely help, but even after presenting over and over again at work, I still seem to always get a little nervous before a presentation. Lifehack has some good insight into this – these tips outline a few ways to overcome your nerves. The author admits that he still gets nervous before speaking publicly, but it’s all about finding ways to control your nerves.

His first tip is interesting – I can see how admitting your nerves could in a joking manner could break the ice. My favorite of his tips, though,  is redefining your audience. That’s something that I’ve found to be very valuable at work. Rather than viewing your audience as people critiquing you, view them as your peers or very close friends.

These tips may not work for everyone, but I think there are a few that could help overcome nerves. Good luck to everyone on your final presentations! At least in our situation, we really are all peers 🙂

07b-Using good information design, 07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation, clearing slides, PowerPoint resources, slide-craft

What Not To Do

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What Not To Do (When Giving a Presentation):

While most of us know what we “should” be doing when it comes to giving presentations, we oftentimes forget what we should NOT be doing. I have realized over time that what we should vs. should not do are not inherently mutually exclusive. You can be doing everything that you are “supposed to” (i.e. following best practices), but simultaneously be making common errors that can limit the effectiveness of your delivery.

I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to checking the boxes for everything that a strong presentation should have, but I’ve started to realize that by diagnosing errors that I am more inclined to make, many of the recommended strategies subsequently fall in line naturally.

To frame this as a metaphor, I’m talking about targeting the disease, not making the anecdote stronger. I’ve found that this starts with getting back to the basics and building from there. So, what are some of the more common pitfalls in presentation delivery? After vetting several resources I’ve consolidated a list of quick anecdotes that I have found to be helpful to keep in mind:

  • Avoid reliance on slides. Slides are there to compliment your presentation and provide a framework, not the other way around.
  • Overload: Less is more. Too much talking and/or too much text will easily disinterest any audience, no matter how rich the content.
  • Avoid Apologies: If something goes wrong, there is a typo, you say something incorrectly, etc… JUST GO WITH IT. Odds are that no one else noticed and by drawing attention to it you are just calling out yourself (and your credibility).
  • Avoid filler words: This is public speaking 101, it sounds easy and we’ve heard it thousands of times, but it is absolutely critical. Unfilled airtime between sentences and ideas is okay. Specifically avoid “um”, “so”, “right”, and “you know” are very common and very distracting!
  • Going over your allotted time: Once you start to go long you begin to lose your audience. And once you even begin to lose your audience, it’s too late. This can cause the audience to miss your “big finish” and really tear down everything you’ve worked so hard to build.

While there are many more, these are just some of the most common problems that can hold you back from delivering the most effective presentation possible. We never get to a point where we are too advanced to worry about the basics. While one of these points are anything that you haven’t heard before, hopefully you will find some of these to be helpful reminders.

 

Helpful Resources:
http://www.inc.com/eric-v-holtzclaw/big-presentation-5-rookie-mistakes-to-avoid.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNG0etmnwuk
http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/12/avoid-these-five-mistakes-in-y/

 

07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation

Making Stories Soar

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One area that I want to improve is my ability to tell good stories. I tend to rely heavily on my ability to connect with the audience by using numbers/figures but do not spend enough time preparing simple stories that effectively relate my points. Here are a couple pointers to improve your story-telling. Here are 2 simple rules that I found from the executive coaching sit: Essential Communications. Please see below for the link to the website. Stories soar when you follow two rules:

  1. Tell us details of what people did, said and felt. Don’t hover over the forest telling us about the landscape; bring us down onto the forest floor so we can enter the landscape. Give us the leaves and roots and dirt. Details of what people did, said and felt pull us into the story.
  2. Connect the details to other details. The details of what people did, said and felt must connect to and influence other details of what people did, said, and felt. The details you tell us need to feel important. In order words, the details you include must affect the outcome of the story.

Other Tips:

  • If the details don’t connect to other details, cut’em out.
  • Does everything in the story have to be true? The answer is no. But everything in the story has to feel true. The details what people did, said and felt have to create a truth that feels authentic.

http://www.essentialcomm.com/tips/execcoachtips/making-stories-soar-030311.html

07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation

Storytelling Tips for Success

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  • Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerable side.

Tell about your struggles or (mild) embarrassments. The audience will identify with a speaker who isn’t afraid to be self-deprecating. The audience will think you are more credible if they can relate to your failures. Ronald Reagan (see below) has told stories of walking down the street in a foreign country to explain to the audience what the people there are like. No one is perfect and the audience knows you aren’t either. As I stated in my previous post, the audience is rooting for you to succeed. If you portray yourself as an underdog, it will be even easier for them to like you because everyone likes rooting for an underdog.

Reagan’s Storytelling at its Finest

  • Make the audience feel like they were there.

Most importantly, it is better if you are telling a story that is actually true or that is nearly true. The purpose of the story is to set the stage for what the experience was like. Before television and movies, humans told other humans what happened in their lives by describing it to each other as if the other person was there. Use a lot of descriptive words. Set the mood. What was going through your mind as the events unfolded? As social media and other forms of instant, abbreviated content fills our minds and worlds (think texting, BuzzFeed articles, Instagram, snapchats, etc.), it will become increasingly important to be able to tell another person or group of people about an experience in a genuine human way.

  • Start with the end in mind.

The point of the story is not to entertain the audience. The purpose is for the audience to remember what you are trying to tell them. The medium of a story is easier for people to remember. It is ingrained in us from our prehistoric ancestors. They convinced people to do things based on stories and emotion, not with powerpoint slideshows or colorful charts and graphs. Make sure you the story brings you to the point and helps you drive it home. The story will make the audience much more likely to remember the presentation, and a good overall goal would have an audience member be able to convey it to someone who wasn’t even there by telling your story and relating it to the overall message. Of course practice is important. Professionals at the Advanced Publix Speaking Institute recommend practicing 30 times. TED presenter Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor says she rehearsed her presentation 200 times before delivering it. What should I do if I don’t have time to practice it that many times? You should do the best you can and practice it as many times as you think you need to be successful. However, at some point you can sound over-rehearsed and you should just “do it live” for more authenticity.

Do it Live

Inspiration: http://www.gingerpublicspeaking.com/storytelling-public-speaking http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-storydo-article.htm

07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation

Give a Killer Presentation, TED Style

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How to Give a Killer Presentation

If a 12-year-old boy can successfully present an idea/invention to hundreds of adults, can you effectively present quarterly financials to your manager?  The answer is “probably,” and the TED Talks curator, Chris Anderson, has a couple of tips that will help you present like a 12-year-old kid!

We have an obvious affinity for the TED Talks videos and why not?!  The subjects are mesmerizing and the presenters are passionate.  Many of them are professional speakers and others are at TED presenting for the first time in their lives.  TED developed a process to help inexperienced presenters prepare, and it typically begins six to nine months before the event.  (How long have you been working on your MP presentation?)  Here are a couple of tips from Chris, and be sure to watch the first video about Richard Turere (twelve years old!) and how he’s saving Africa from lions.

Frame Your Story:  Conceptualizing and framing what you want to say is the most vital part of preparation

  • As a presenter, you are about to take your audience on an adventure.  Your biggest decision is selecting where to start and where to end.
  • Don’t assume your audience is prepared for the journey. Quickly introduce the topic and explain why the journey is going to be AWESOME, why you care about it, and why they should too.
  • Use specific examples to flesh out your ideas and avoid abstract language.
  • Some journeys are too long (like baseball season).  Limit the scope of your presentation and don’t try to over explain.  For example, if you only watch Major League Baseball during the months of April and October, you’ll still get the gist of the season.

Plan Your Delivery:  Memorizing a presentation is the best way to go

  • Do not read, EVER.
  • Keep it natural and connect with the audience.
  • Pay attention to your tone and sound conversational.  Talk to the audience, don’t talk at them.
  • During the journey, don’t annoy your companions by projecting ego.  No one likes a Conceited Cathy or Pompous Phil.

Develop Stage Presence:  Stage presence is coachable and takes practice

  • While presence is important, getting the words, story, and substance right are more important.
  • Making eye contact is the most important physical act on-stage.
  • Swaying side-to-side or shifting your weight around can be distracting to the audience.
  • Nervousness affects everyone. Here are a couple tricks to deal with it:

o   Stay out in the audience until the moment you go on; this keeps your mind engaged.

o   Spend time before you present striding around, standing tall, and extending your body; this will make you feel more powerful.

o   Breathe deeply before you go on-stage.

  • Nervousness can be a powerful way to connect with the audience by showing vulnerability and authenticity.

Plan the Multimedia:  The best TED speakers don’t use slides at all

  • There are tons of technology aids, so experiment!

Putting It Together:  Practice, Practice, Practice

  • Practice on your own and in front of an audience.
  • If you rehearse to an audience, choose people who are experienced presenters and will offer constructive feedback.

In sum, Anderson presented to a TED audience for the first time after curating for nine years.  Here are his parting comments on his experience:

“Presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and passion of the speaker.  It’s about substance, not speaking style or multimedia pyrotechnics.”

 

http://hbr.org/2013/06/how-to-give-a-killer-presentation/ar/5

 

05-Creating & constructing good solutions, 07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation, creativity methods

making the ordinary extraordinary

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http://www.fastcocreate.com/3016916/creation-stories/ricky-gervais-tells-a-story-about-how-he-learned-to-write

“It is so much easier to make the ordinary extraordinary than to try and start off with the extraordinary”  – Ricky Gervais

One of my favorite comedians and writers, Ricky Gervais, has a very curious observation about his own creative process (link above). In the interview he emphasizes how and why he writes the way he does. No matter what the topic is- always start with a story line that is relatable and focus on honesty above all else.

I was thinking about this as you all may struggle with what to present on; start with what you know or is important to you and then use your development plan to help foster a great presentation. Effective communication means convincing the audience or client that you believe in the subject too.

 

 

 

01-Structuring a problem, 04-Managing a project team, 05-Creating & constructing good solutions, 07c-Telling stories, creativity methods, issue trees, problem statement, scoping

Dig Deeper to Solve the Underlying Problems

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For the sake of switching things up, I thought that I would share with you a show that really knows how to “dig deep” (pun completely intended) into the things that we often take for granted. If you have the time and are interested in finding ways to approach problems in a very different and unique way, I highly suggest you watch “Going Deep with David Rees” on National Geographic (the show just started airing a couple of weeks ago).

Why does this matter and how does it apply to this course? Sure, the topics may seem silly, ranging from learning how to tie a shoe to creating the perfect ice cube for your scotch, but the show does a great job at taking a simple concept and really understanding the components that go into it. Let me explain one of the episodes to help give you some better insight. The steps are rather detailed, but that’s really the point.

How some of us think about digging a hole:

    1. Grab a shovel.
    2. Dig.

How David Rees thinks about digging a hole:

    1. He first addresses the problem and what he’s looking to accomplish (he wants to build a “party hole”).
    2. David went to an experimental mine at the Colorado School of Mines to understand how these subject matter experts dig holes in the mine. From there, he determines that digging a hole into a rock is too dangerous for him and as a result the scope of his project changes.
    3. He goes to a soil biologist to figure out the best combination of sand, silt, and clay to dig the perfect hole (medium loom).
    4. David then goes to visit “Dr. Shovel” at Penn State University where he tests out a number of shovels to determine which ones are most efficient for him to use. From there, he learns that you actually need a couple of types of shovels for different stages of a dig.
    5. David learns that the hole he designed was actually flawed and potentially dangerous if he doesn’t “shore up the sides.” This discovery makes him adapt and change his original plans.
    6. So where does he go to learn how to shore up the sides? He goes to a golf course to learn how to keep his hole intact.
    7. From there, David goes to a cemetery to meet with a professional digger to learn better techniques on how to dig a hole. They first mark down the location and dimensions of the hole they are going to dig.
    8. He then goes to Harvard University to understand how the field mouse burrows a hole. There, he learns that these field mice dig much faster when they dig together instead of alone. As a result, David learns that he will be much more efficient if he has his friends help dig the hole with him.

Whether you’re a project manager, part of the product development team, or your manager asks you to give a presentation on the dynamics of your competition within the industry, you can use some of the analysis and problem solving skills that are utilized throughout this show. That, and you may get a good laugh out of the show as well. And you thought digging a hole was easy?

Spoiler alert. He ends up digging his party hole.

07c-Telling stories, 07d-Delivering a presentation, questions

Presentation Tips from Stand-Up Comedians

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Stand-up comedians are some of the best public speakers around. They ooze confidence and make it look easy, and if you follow these tips for success, you can succeed in the business world, too.

  1. Know your audience. Would you give an X-rated stand-up routine to a church group? In business, would you give an overly technical presentation to a group of executives who don’t understand (or care) about all the details? I didn’t think so. It is very important to understand the context of your presentation.
    • The culture: What communication style do they prefer? From what starting point or base of knowledge do the people in the room have? In the business world – is it an internal presentation to superiors, to your direct reports, or is it external to members from a certain industry? Knowing the culture will help you relate better to the audience.
    • Their level of knowledge: Is English the native language of your audience? If not, keep the phrasing simple and speak clearly, but don’t insult them either by talking very loud and very slow. Are you giving a training to a room full of beginners? Avoid overly technical phrasing and start from the beginning so the whole audience can understand where you are coming from.
  1. Practice, practice, practice. So much of stand-up comedy is in the timing and the delivery. If you are telling a story in the wrong order or blurt out the ending out of sequence, the joke will fall flat.
  2. Don’t force it – be yourself. Dave Chappelle doesn’t pretend to be anyone other than himself, so why should you try to act like someone you’re not? The audience can gauge authenticity quite well, so it’s best not to pretend to be someone different than you really are.
  3. Be likeable. The audience is rooting for you to succeed. Who wants to go to a comedy show where all of the comics crash and burn? In the same way, you should understand the audience, come across as genuine and confident, and don’t be afraid to stumble. If you slip up, chances are that the audience hasn’t even noticed.
  4. Watch out for hecklers. Know your facts and figures well enough to be heckled. Whoever will be asking you questions at the end or in the middle of your presentation may be analogous to a heckler at a comedy club. Be confident and knowledgeable enough to respond succinctly but firmly to keep the presentation on track. Not all questions in a business presentation are from would-be-hecklers, so it is important to distinguish the two.  Stay on your toes. You never know who might be about to throw a (metaphorical) shoe at you like this guy did to George W. Bush.

Inspiration:

http://www.trainingmag.com/content/supercompetent-speaking-tailoring-your-presentation-your-audience

http://www.mrmediatraining.com/2012/04/25/want-to-learn-public-speaking-try-stand-up-comedy/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1g35RNrsoU

http://thecomedybook.wordpress.com/tag/presentation-skills-2/

 

06-Building a case, 07c-Telling stories, evaluating evidence

Intuition + Data = Good Decisions and Compelling Storytelling

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One of my reasons for attending business school is to improve my decision making skills. I typically apply the mantra “follow your gut,” when making decisions, but have quickly found that this doesn’t fly in the business world.  Colleagues want evidence based recommendations, which in my mind means I have to work with numbers (not my favorite).  Fortunately, incorporating both data and intuition can result in good decisions and compelling storytelling.

In this article by Andrew McAfee, we learn from specific examples that human judgment alone does not trump algorithms. So is the sum of our experiences and beliefs worthless? No! It’s all about using judgment or opinions as inputs to data models. Unfortunately, many people get this process turned around and disregard data that doesn’t align with their opinions.

From there, you can use data to tell compelling stories and build persuasive business cases. In this HBR blog, Walter Frick interviews Jim Takersly on how data and stories enhance each other. At one point, data is referred to as “medicine” and the story as something that helps you consume that medicine. I’d have to agree with that metaphor, but I also understand how data can give a story shock value or credibility. There are many different kinds of stories to tell with data. Here are ten.

03-Planning the work of a team, 04-Managing a project team, 07a-Crafting an effective formal presentation, 07c-Telling stories, 99-Applying business intelligence, team dynamics, team roles

Are you a Leader or a Manager?

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I took a class in undergrad about “Servant Leadership” by Robert Greenleaf. I started questioning the difference between a manager and a leader, and have been intrigued by the concept ever since. As I was interviewing for my current position, I was questioned as to what type of leader I would be in the organization.

I pondered, and proceeded to explain the type of manager I would be and the skills that I would bring to the table. I described that I did not feel that someone could place me in the role of “leader”. It was a position that others saw me as based on how they felt about my abilities. They would make the decision to follow, I could not decide that for them.

I stumbled upon this article in the Wall Street Journal regarding this very topic. It discusses the importance of differentiating between a manager and a leader as the concept of the knowledge worker becomes more profound in our society.

“The leader originates, the leader challenges, the leader is an individual, the leader focuses on people.”

Take a look at the article and see how your natural characteristics fall into the spectrum. I believe that leadership is a way of life. It’s a characteristic that exudes from you, both in the professional world and your personal life. Leaders are the people that I select as mentors. The fact that I have placed them in that position in my life re-iterates how I feel about their ability to lead and challenge me.

My father is a mouthy, Italian businessman with salt and pepper hair. He has drowned me in the business world from a very young age. Along the way, I have gathered a few Tony-isms from him about this matter:

“You can promote people and make them managers, but you cannot make them leaders. That trait is who you are. When it comes out, people will know.”

“The person who knows how and why will always have a leg up on the person who only knows how or why.”

He’s a deep fellow.

Decide the type of position you want to hold in the lives of your co-workers, and work towards being looked at in that light. These abilities will alter the way you present, the way you communicate, and the way you analyze situations.

I leave you with one final Tony-ism: “Be cautious not to take too much advice.”

Christine