Many executives and politicians spend so much time trying to figure out what reporters want in the form of answers to questions that the news makers lose sight of the primary goal: your message should be a reflection of good things you want to communicate about yourself and your organization. Of course you have to take into consideration what is of interest to the media and to your audiences, but don’t forget the most important constituency in the messaging process: yourself.
Whether you are facing a crisis in the media or the local society reporter wanting to write a puff piece on you, you should always be on the offensive, advancing positive things about yourself. Once you get in a reactive mode, you are stuck in a defensive mode. In this capacity you are forever trying to avoid getting hurt or to minimize pain.
Why be so pessimistic? No matter how cynical the reporter is or how negative the story may be, you always have a chance at getting some of your positive message points out. But not if you don’t even try.
Remember, if you know the media want to hear a certain message from you and your audience wants to hear a certain message from you, don’t give it to them unless it is also a message that you absolutely want communicated. If your message doesn’t appeal to all three constituencies, it is a failed message point, so scratch it.
The real-time Web has opened an opportunity for anybody to inject ideas into a breaking news story and generate tons of media coverage. I’ve been a communicator for two decades now, and I have never seen a technique as powerful as newsjacking. But it has primarily come up under the radar because it relies on a new communication speed that most organizations reserve only for crisis communications. I’ve noticed corporate communicators in large organizations unwilling to understand and take advantage of real-time communications, often becoming prey to smaller more nimble players.
As journalists scramble to cover breaking news, the basic facts — who/what/when/where — are often fairly easy to find, either on a corporate website or in competitors’ copy. That’s what goes in the first paragraph of any news story.
The challenge for reporters is to get the “why” and the implications of the event (which often goes into the second and additional paragraphs). Why is the company closing its plant? The corporate website may offer some bogus excuse like “because it wants to spend more time with its family.” Competitors may quote some expert’s speculation on the real reason, but a reporter can’t cite that without adding something self-demeaning like “according to an expert quoted in the New York Times.” Journalists need original content — and fast.
If you are clever enough to react to breaking news very quickly, providing credible content in a blog post, tweet, or media alert that features the keyword of the moment, you may be rewarded with a bonanza of media attention.
Paris Hilton was arrested with her boyfriend in Las Vegas in August 2010, he on misdemeanor DUI charges, she on felony drug-possession charges.
In a tweet to fans on September 1, Hilton said: “These rumors going around are so ridiculous, untrue and cruel. I’m not going to even pay attention to them, because I know the truth.”
Whatever, Paris. I could not care less about the perils of being Paris, except for what happened soon after the story broke — which I absolutely love.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne told the Associated Press that Hilton was to be barred from Wynn Resorts properties, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.
Newsjacking.
Don’t have a holiday or awareness week to target with your news? Why not just create your own!?! Tell us what unusual steps you have taken to make your less-than-newsworthy-news moreso! PR Discussion Board
PR Newswire carried this HOT story today: “Agency and Partners Kick-off Lightning Awareness Week“
WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire/ — Every crack of thunder that echoes from a storm is caused by lightning jetting across the sky or to the ground with a potentially lethal force. along with its government, academic and private partners are educating Americans on the dangers of lightning and ways to stay safe during its annual Lightning Safety Awareness Week, June 19-25, 2005.
Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes within the United States an average of 25 million times every year. A single bolt, with a length that can exceed five miles and a width of one to two inches, can generate 100 million electrical volts and a temperature near 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Lightning is a potential hazard to people outdoors and indoors and results in millions of dollars in economic losses,” said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “Lightning kills an average of 67 people in the United States each year and can result in property loss, damage to aircraft and electronics, and can be the spark that ignites devastating wildfires.”
Exceeding the number of fatalities are the estimated 600-700 lightning survivors that are left with debilitating health effects each year. “While about 90 percent of those struck by lightning survive, they frequently have permanent after effects such as chronic pain, brain injury and thought processing problems,” said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois.
Reduce your chance of being struck by moving inside a substantial building or hard-topped metal vehicle when thunderstorms threaten. Once inside, avoid contact with plumbing, corded phones, or anything plugged into electricity.
“Casualties are more likely to occur during the summer months and in open areas such as golf courses and playing fields, but lightning’s deadly strike can hit anytime during the year and in all segments of the nation,” said John Jensenius, a lightning safety expert at the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Gray, Maine.
NOAA’s National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. NOAA’s National Weather Service operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the n ational economy.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources.”
By Barbara Puffer
6-16-05
I’ve been paying attention to the things that command attention, both of myself and others, and I’ve made a list of 21 techniques that work. This list is far from all of them I’m sure, but it should be enough to get you started …
1. Be wrong
The world is full of people trying to do the right things. It’s become so common that many of us are bored by it. We long for someone that’s willing to do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, be the wrong thing. If you have the courage to be that person, you’ll find lots of people paying attention to you.
2. Be right
You can also gain attention by being right … but only if you’re more right than everyone else. Run a mile faster than anyone else, explain your topic more clearly than anyone else, be funnier than everyone else. Embody perfection, and people will take notice.
3. Communicate what others can’t
As writers, we take ideas from our heads and put them on the page. Sometimes we forget how difficult that is for some people and how valuable that makes us. Lots of people would give anything to be able to say what they mean. But they can’t. So, they turn to songs, books, and art that communicate for them. Be a producer of those things, and you’ll never lose their attention.
4. Do something
Everybody online is trying to say something important, but very few are trying to do something important. If you want attention, dare not to just give advice to others, but to live that advice yourself. Then publish it to the open web.
5. Surprise people
Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick, say that one of the best ways to set yourself apart is to break people’s “guessing machines.” Take a surprising position, making outlandish analogy, or otherwise do the opposite of what you normally do. As long as it’s unexpected, people will stop and pay attention.
Here are 10 quick tips to help you add polish at the podium, enjoy your public speaking experience and influence your listeners.
- Begin with the end in mind. Start planning your presentation by asking and answering this question: What do I want my audience to remember when they leave my presentation?
- Use a mind-map or other right-brain organizational tool to organize your presentation. Landscape beats portrait when it comes to presentation planning. Think, “map, direction, flow” rather than lists, paragraphs and text.
- Know the “story” your presentation tells. Refrain from data-dumping. The information you present has a story behind it. Your audience will understand the details better if they understand the big picture first.
- Do not apologize or put yourself down publicly. Even if you didn’t prepare, feel insecure, or have forgotten your slide show.
- Look at one person at a time rather than scanning the room. People feel your intention to include them individually if you speak directly to them. If it’s a large crowd, mentally divide the audience into a tic-tac-toe grid and target an individual to look at from each section. One-to-one eye contact creates connection differently from scanning the crowd.
Read full article via humancapitalleague.com
Steve Sargent, president and CEO of GE Australia and New Zealand, runs through a four-point checklist–sometimes in just 30 seconds–before every organized communication event, from small meetings to large speeches.
Don’t even think about speaking in front of an audience without going through this checklist.
Continuing from last week’s tip, remember, there’s no substitute for practice. There’s no easy way to develop your delivery skills. It’s like any other skill – the more you do it – the better you become. And the most important goal of practicing is developing your own natural style. You don’t want to imitate someone else. You want to be the best presenter you can be.
Just as professional actors and comedians have their own styles, you need to have your own style too. For example, Robert DeNiro’s approach to acting is completely different from Dustin Hoffman’s, and Jay Leno has a different comic delivery style than David Letterman. You want to find what works for you. What gestures are you most comfortable using? What body position or stance feels most natural? What vocal tone should you use? These are some of the questions you have to ask yourself, and the only way to find the answers is to practice – and practice often. It’s really the only way to make it “perfect.”
By Tom Mucciolo, President, MediaNet, Inc.
… if I were hiring a “Universal PR professional” to guide strategic communications in 2013 and beyond, here are some of my best practice tips to shape that PR person’s role:
- Be proactive and don’t wait to be asked. Today, we are looking for people who will raise their hands to get involved. For example, with the development of a social media policy, training initiatives and governance (new responsibilities that require PR to participate). You should never wait for someone to give you the assignment, especially if you identify an area in your department or company that needs support. Propose new ideas, do the research, and offer your assistance. The initiative you take will make you stand out among all the rest.
- Start with good communication on the inside. Take the time to discover how to be more efficient and productive with your teams. Make suggestions beyond simply using email communication on how to finish your projects on time and under budget. Use social collaboration tools on the inside of your company for better internal communications and then take the time to educate your peers on new ways to work together to increase overall productivity.
- Test technology … always. Don’t be behind the curve, instead stay ahead for advancement. Be ready to answer those leadership questions asking “why” and “how” your brand should participate in new social communities. Take the time to “Tech Test” in different areas including collaborative platforms, applications, monitoring software, influence tools, etc., which will make you a more valuable asset to your organization.
- Listen to be heard and to be relevant. Gathering customer intelligence is the best way to internalize information and then use it to communicate with meaning, through offline and new media channels. Since I started in PR, I was always told to listen first to solve problems. This is much more apparent today, as a result of social media. By truly “listening,” we can help people and build stronger relationships with our constituents.
- You are always on! Social media doesn’t sleep, so your organization’s readiness is key. Creating the social media crisis plan (integrated into an overall crisis plan) requires knowledge and skills. It’s imperative for you to build a system that catches negative sentiment early on before it escalates, and to put processes and people in place for different levels of escalation through new media
Read full article by Deirdre Breakenridge on PR 2.0 Strategies
Clearly, there are basic ‘hygiene’ factors that companies need from their comms people: strong written/verbal skills; excellent conversational and presentation skills; an eye for design; awareness of communication technology trends and corresponding audience reach strategies.
However, a good PRO will always stand out on a number of more complex, intuitive and leadership levels and I would proffer the following attributes:
1) Acts as strategic and trusted advisor to the leadership team (including the CEO, CFO and commercial and functional heads); contributes with authority to strategic corporate discussion and works on his/her track record to be viewed as a contributing equal;
2) Through accumulated insight and marketplace persceptiveness, may be in a truly unique position within any organisation to ‘Bring the Outside World’ in to corporate thinking, ensuring sound future governance and guiding strategies that help protect any company’s future ‘Licence to Operate’ in the open, global marketplace;
3) Is an astute and credible diplomat, able to navigate elegantly through all layers and across all organisational silos to inform, to encourage collaborative thinking and to galvanise operational solutions to any issues or opportunities faced by a company in its public and employee dealings;
4) Intuitively understands and bridges the interdependency between internal and external reputation and has astute command of the theory and tools/practice of its delivery;
What attributes would you add to this list?
Letter from Executive Director Terry A. Scrogum to Illinois Arts Council grant applicants, sent August 17, 2009:
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Dear Applicant:
At the end of July, Chairman Madigan emailed you about the status of the Illinois Arts Council’s FY2010 budget. This email will further update you and it is not good news.
Unfortunately, our budget has been reduced more than originally expected and the total Council budget of state dollars is now $7.8 million. We have lost over 60% of our budget in just three years. This drop will be very negative for the individuals and organizations that receive funding from the Council.
As we have struggled with the devastating reality of this enormous cut, we have had to make some very tough decisions. We are suspending many programs and greatly reducing others both in number and amount of grants. In times when funds for the arts are more available (because they are never plentiful), it is less difficult to make decisions about allocations. When times are harsh and funds are scarce, every decision has negative and potentially far-reaching results.
Our process for making choices incorporated feedback we received during our strategic planning process of 2006, one in which many of you participated. As we traveled around the state and studied the results of surveys and other information gathering tools, it was very clear that you valued the operating grants as key to the health of the arts community in Illinois. We also recognize that artists are obviously the keystone to the creation of art.
With this in mind, we have suspended the following programs for FY2010: Artstour, Literary Awards, Ethnic and Folk Arts Master/Apprentice, and Youth Employment in the Arts. All open deadline programs which include Arts-in- Literacy, Governor’s International Arts Exchange, Short Term Artists Residency, and Special Assistance Grants, have been suspended or greatly reduced. We use the term “suspended” advisedly – we remain hopeful that Council funding will be restored in the future and we can once again fund a broader array of grant opportunities. Our commitment to the importance of individual artists remains steadfast — we will continue to provide direct support to individual artists in some form although the Artists Fellowship program for FY2010 has been suspended.
In addition to updating you, I wanted to prepare potential FY2010 Program Grants, Partners in Excellence, and Community Arts Access awardees for the shock that is coming when award letters are opened. The grant reductions were considerable after the Blagojevich administration slashed our program budget by 30% in FY2008. But those reductions are minor when compared to what is coming as a result of an additional 50% cut in our programs by the legislature plus another 8% reduction in funds imposed by the Governor.
This year is bleak and next year, as Chairman Madigan stated, will be bleaker still without additional revenues. This year’s state budget has benefitted from one-time federal stimulus money – new dollars that will not be available in FY2011. Arts people both by nature and necessity are optimists, and while I remain optimistic that the future of states arts funding will improve, I feel I must tell it like it is.
Tough times like these only reinforce the IAC’s resolve to do everything in our power to support you in what you do for the people of the state. We will not give up in our commitment to see the arts recognized for the key role they play in a healthy and productive state, one that has the arts as a central priority. And we thank you for the incredible work you do and for the unwavering commitment you have to the arts in Illinois. We will be in contact about future developments.
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I’ve quoted my friend and mentor, David Berlo, numerous times in this column. Here’s one of his more curious gems. “The key to being effective is sincerity,” he said, “and if you can learn how to fake that, you’ve really got it made.” He was joking, of course. But like the old saying goes, there’s a bit of truth in every joke.
Key to Leadership
I was reminded of David’s quip recently when I attended a presentation on a report entitled “The Authentic Enterprise.” It was published two years ago by the Arthur W. Page Society from a study that examined the role of senior communicators in the 21st century.
Based on comments from numerous CEOs and chief communications officers, the report summed up the study’s pivotal finding like this – “In a word, authenticity will be the coin of the realm for successful corporations and for those who lead them.” The report goes on to say, “Demands for transparency are at an all-time high, and give no sign of ebbing.”
Reality is Fabulous
Perhaps it’s not surprising that businesses have struggled with the elemental need to be straight shooters. It’s certainly not new – just look at what Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden more than 150 years ago …
“Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous. If men would observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, music and poetry would resound along the streets. Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks, which we can call reality.”
Despite the apparent yearning for greater authenticity … or sincerity … or reality, some skeptics think it’s mostly a hoax. They argue that when stakeholders – inside or out – say they want more authenticity, all they’re really looking for is consistency. I guess they haven’t run into as many consistently inauthentic “spinners” as I have.
A Choice and a Voice
Still, the remark made me examine what I mean when I use the word authentic. It was easier to grasp its significance by describing what I mean by IN-authentic. Here are some words and phrases that come to mind – doubletalk … misdirection … sanitizing bad news … glamorizing good news … manipulating the truth … distorting the facts … empty jargon … phony platitudes. It’s rarely an outright lie – just an artful shading of reality. Sound familiar? From where I stand, that’s a whole lot more sinister and unsavory than merely being inconsistent.
Professional communicators have a choice and a voice. We can play along and help our organizations engage in “shams and delusions” that strain credibility – or we can be champions of authenticity. Promoting the latter, the Page report says, “If we choose this path, we can transform our profession, open up new and meaningful responsibility and learning, and create exciting new career paths for communications professionals.” Now that’s something to look forward to – sincerely.
Les Landes, Landes & Associates
Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement
Words and phrases including “blog,” “wiki” and even “chat room” make some business leaders nervous. They’re not sure what to make of these new social media. The technology seems mysterious and a bit scary to people who are still trying to find their way around the Internet or figuring out how their BlackBerry works.
If the wild world of online media makes you hyperventilate, relax. Take a deep breath. Despite the hype around Skype, behind the stress caused by RSS, it all comes down to a fundamental process as old as humanity: communication.
What really matters is how well you communicate with employees, customers, shareholders, the community and other important people. The methods you use, while important, are secondary to the quality of communication.
A recent illustration of this principle involves computer maker Dell. Unhappy customers took their complaints about Dell’s products and service to the “blogosphere” – that online place where everyone with a laptop and an Internet connection can share their opinions with the world. Despite the outcry over problems with Dell, which quickly reached hundreds of thousands of people thanks to blogs with names like “Dell Hell,” the company resisted joining the virtual discussion.
Apparently, however, the pressure became too much. A few months ago, Dell created “Direct2Dell,” a blog intended to improve communication with customers about issues ranging from the company’s battery recall to new products. The company’s critics considered the action too little, too late and charged Dell with paying lip service to open communication with customers. On the surface, bloggers said, Dell seemed to be improving communication, but in reality “Direct2Dell” represented more of the company line.
Last week, Dell posted a new “Online Communication Policy” and held a news conference to announce it. The policy, aimed at Dell employees, recognizes the value of online communication tools, lays out expectations of employees who use them and states the company’s commitment to “transparent, ethical and accurate” communication. Translation: no more company PR disguised as real, direct dialogue.
Time will tell if Dell’s policy makes a difference, but for now the bloggers are skeptical. “Dell Hell” creator Jeff Jarvis wrote, “Isn’t it always a company’s policy, in any interaction – by blog, telephone, or letter – to be open and honest?” He wondered if Dell’s 500-word policy might have been boiled down to three words: “Tell the truth.”
What can your company learn from all of this? It doesn’t matter if you choose to communicate through blogs, chat rooms, e-mail or good ol’ face-to-face interaction. What matters is that you communicate honestly and as completely as possible. The latest technology won’t save you if your stakeholders feel you’re not being truthful with them.
It’s the quality of communication that ultimately matters.
My second job was in a large corporate environment, and I had been given the responsibility to produce the employee magazine. I was writing a typical article about a committee’s planning efforts so that everyone in the organization had a feel for what was happening. I asked what the team was doing, who was on the team and when they expected to finish the work, and I got a blank stare from the manager who was my source. She said she didn’t want to put a date out there because the team might be held accountable to that date.
That’s when I first learned the truth about truth: it’s a moving target. And it’s why so many brands are so bland. When there’s no truth – no authenticity – there’s no focus, there’s no goal, there’s no accountability to the brand.
It’s happened time and time again since that day…a client, for example, will boldly make a claim that is different and relevant, only to back down when it’s put in writing for all to see. “I’m not comfortable with that” is the common response (usually during the second or third round of the approval process, just before the piece goes to print) because they realize they can’t guarantee the claim operationally.
As communicators – as brand warriors – we have only one choice: speak up, loudly and often, and demand our co-workers or clients be true to the brand. It’s the T in a D.I.R.T.Y. brand. And it’s what will help us move out of the tactical conversations and be part of the strategy conversations in our organizations.
A few years ago, I was facilitating a brand discernment process with a group of employees at a small bank client, when the receptionist asked if she’s supposed to hold the vice-president accountable to the brand. I said “absolutely” and the whole room went quiet. A smile slowly crept over the face of the vice-president, a quiet man who completely bought into the premise, and he said “yes, you should.”
It’s difficult to demand authenticity across an organization. If the brand is understood by everyone, positive brand management examples are shared with everyone, and there’s buy-in at the top of the organizational chart, however, it’s easy to be a brand warrior.
And there’s nobody more empowered to be the brand warrior than the communications professional. You can use your skills to:
• thoroughly explain the brand,
• demonstrate how others are living the brand,
• help the leadership craft a brand story and
• take it to the market.
And keep telling the story so others know how to tell the story, too.
By Mark True
Many business communicators lard up their speeches with jargon and weasel words. The result? They sound like bureaucratic stooges.
Your goal when dealing with the media is to communicate a message in the clearest and simplest manner possible, while at the same time building your reputation as a strong and forceful communicator. Strong and forceful are relative terms, so if you use all of the same buzzwords that everyone else does, you will always seem mediocre. Many businesspeople acquire their bad rhetorical habits at some point during their second year of business school or after having attended their third annual board of directors meeting.
Here are some of the worst offenders:
“Going forward . . .” What an utterly useless phrase. Use “in the future” instead. You wouldn’t tell your teenage son, “Going forward, please keep your room straight,” so why use it in a speech or interview? The sole purpose for using a phrase like “going forward” in a speech is to create the impression that you are saying something fancier than you actually are. So please, going forward, never use the phrase “going forward.”
“If you will.” People tack this phrase onto the back of a sentence as if to say, “Look at this most original and brilliant insight I have just come up with. It will require you to change your whole conception of the universe, if you will be so kind as to indulge me in this mind- thought experiment.” Pretentious drivel! Imagine a trap door, if you will, that will spring open and devour you if you ever use the phrase “if you will” in a public speech.
“As it were.” See above.
There is nothing wrong with using specialized language to convey complex concepts to sophisticated audiences, but that is not what many business communicators do. Instead, they use complex phrases to communicate simple concepts because they are under the delusion that this makes them sound more professional. The more simply and conversationally you can speak, regardless of the topic’s complexity, the more likely your audiences will understand, respect and appreciate you and your message.
TJ Walker, Media Training Worldwide
For more information on media and presentation training please visit http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com,
So many business speakers have a difficult time concluding their presentations in a powerful way. Instead, they simply sputter to the end and then weakly and meekly say, “That’s it! Any questions?”
This is a great way to leave a bad taste in your audience’s mouth.
Conclusions don’t have to be heartwarming, poignant, or uplifting, but they do need to conclude, not simply die an untimely death. Too many speakers bore their audiences by quickly running through 163 facts, one after another, within a short time period. Then, after the last fact is presented quickly, dryly and in a boring fashion, the speaker announces that the presentation is now over. This speaker is being selfish and thinking only about his needs to dump data, not about the needs of his audience.
Do the audience a favor by making it easier for them to retain the really important stuff. Remember, you audience does not have your full speech in front of them. Most likely, they weren’t transcribing your every word. Time for a reality check: Your audience has already forgotten MOST of what you’ve said, and you haven’t even finished your speech yet. (When is the last time you remembered more than a handful of points from any speaker you listened to?)
You can help your audience by reinforcing your most important points. How do you do that? By simply repeating your 3-5 main points in the last couple of minutes of your speech. If your audience didn’t get it the first time, they might get it the last time.
So end your speech with a strong summary of key points and then ask audience members in a positive, upbeat manner to do whatever it is you want them to do. Then stop. Keep your mouth shut. Smile. Your audience will know you have concluded without you having to say “That’sItAnyQuestions.”
Of course, you want to give some thought to your appearance when you are preparing to give a presentation. There are two main factors to think about:
1. Is my appearance consistent with the message I am trying to convey?
2. Is there anything I’m wearing that could distract my audience from focusing on my message?
In terms of the first point, if you are a financial manager who’s attempting to get a major foundation to invest $100 million with you, then you obviously want to wear an extremely expensive and conservative suit, perhaps blue. You want to look established, not flashy, and as if you are already successful and don’t need their money. However, if you are an artist who is trying to convey your own brand of quirky creativity, then wearing a blue business suit would be the worst thing you could wear. What you wear needs to communicate who you are and what you are about as much as your words do.
When it comes to number two, you want to make sure that every single element of your appearance is in sync. If you are a businessperson asking people to invest money with you and you have a conservative suit, shirt, and shoes but a Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia tie on, then your audience members are likely to be confused and scratching their heads with distractions.
One important appearance rule: Look at yourself in a mirror before you start to present. Perform one last check to see if your hair is sticking up, if there is any lipstick smudged on or spinach stuck in your teeth. This can help avoid all sorts of appearance blunders.
The only other rule you should follow is to dress at the same level as—or one notch above—your audience members. If your audience is wearing sports jackets, you might want to wear a suit. But don’t dress two notches above. If, for example, you are addressing a tech audience in which everyone is wearing jeans and a T-shirt and you show up in a suit to present to them, they may look at you as though you are a total loser. Always factor in the image you want for yourself, the expectations the audience has for you, and the need to avoid distraction. Focus on those three things, and your appearance will be fine.
(BAD ADVICE)
Your Director of Communications: “Start by thanking your hosts or order of rank.”
Your Marketing Director: “Be sure to weave in our branding slogan in the first 30 seconds. Then tell people about all of our locations.”
Your director of new business: “Tell people about all of our locations and branches.”
Your mother, “Tell people how humbled you are by the nice introduction you received.”
Your inner voice: “Good morning. As you heard, my name is ___ and my title is ___. I’m happy to be here today. Thank you for that lovely introduction. Before I begin today, let me tell you about the incredibly boring history of my company starting back to its founding in 1923. Next, I’d like to tell you about all of the cities we are in (that you couldn’t possibly care about, because you aren’t in those cities.)
(GOOD ADVICE)
Listen to your audience: “Stop boring us to death! We don’t care if you are happy to be here; we don’t know you well enough to care yet. We already know your name and title; the person introducing you told us–we aren’t stupid!!! Stop talking about you, you, you. We don’t care about you at this stage of our relationship. Instead, tell us something interesting and relevant to us. We care about ourselves. If you address our needs, we’ll be more likely to pay attention to the rest of your speech!”
(BAD ADVICE)
Your Director of Communications: “Start by thanking your hosts or order of rank.”
Your Marketing Director: “Be sure to weave in our branding slogan in the first 30 seconds. Then tell people about all of our locations.”
Your director of new business: “Tell people about all of our locations and branches.”
Your mother, “Tell people how humbled you are by the nice introduction you received.”
Your inner voice: “Good morning. As you heard, my name is ___ and my title is ___. I’m happy to be here today. Thank you for that lovely introduction. Before I begin today, let me tell you about the incredibly boring history of my company starting back to its founding in 1923. Next, I’d like to tell you about all of the cities we are in (that you couldn’t possibly care about, because you aren’t in those cities.)
(GOOD ADVICE)
Listen to your audience: “Stop boring us to death! We don’t care if you are happy to be here; we don’t know you well enough to care yet. We already know your name and title; the person introducing you told us–we aren’t stupid!!! Stop talking about you, you, you. We don’t care about you at this stage of our relationship. Instead, tell us something interesting and relevant to us. We care about ourselves. If you address our needs, we’ll be more likely to pay attention to the rest of your speech!”
Never read a speech to your audience. Never read a speech. NEVER READ A SPEECH!
I say that all the time to my clients. Every presentation coach says this. Why?
Because 99.99999% of the world reads a speech in such a way that their voice becomes flat, monotone, lifeless and boring. The audience falls instantly to sleep.
However, there is a way to read a speech effectively, even though the method is rarely used. Ronald Reagan was a practitioner of this art form. (I’m not talking about when he or others use a TelePrompTer)
Here is the process. You reformat your speech on your page so that there is only one phrase per line (not a whole sentence, just one phrase). The phrase must be short enough that it fits on one line and does not have to continue onto the next line.
Next, you put a space between each line of text. Now comes the reading part, and this is the hard part. You must silently look down at your paper and read a line, then look up and give someone in your audience direct eye contact. Then and only then do you verbalize the line. You must say it in a conversational way, full of inflection. It doesn’t have to be memorized, because it is very short and you just read it a second ago. If you change a word here or there, it shouldn’t matter. The key is to say it so that you sound like you are just talking to one person in an informal way.
The next part is tricky for most people. You must pause, silently, while you glance back down at your notes to read the next line. Your audience will appreciate the pause; it gives them a chance to catch up and digest what you are saying. Your pauses will make you seem much more confident and relaxed.
The problem for most speakers is that it feels awkward and weird to pause while they are reading the next line. So what do they do? They figure, “I’ll kill two birds with one stone and read and talk at the same time.” The puts us back to the beginning: sounding flat, boring and monotone.
The key is to remember never to read when you are talking and to never talk when you are reading. If you can master the concept of doing one thing at a time, you can read a speech effectively to any audience.
What do you do if you are being interviewed on a complex subject and you’ve done your homework? You have narrowed down your messages to the top three. You have great sound bites for all of your messages points. But still, you have this nagging concern:
“What if this reporter screws up all the facts about my business?”
This is a legitimate concern. But if you spend all of your time trying to educating a reporter on every fact about what you do, you lose control of the interview and you increase the chances that you will be quoted on some point of minor interest to you. Or worse, you don’t get quoted at all because the sound bites you prepared got lost in the sea of facts you were spewing forth.
What’s the solution?
Providing simple fact sheets will do the trick. You don’t need a long and complicate press release. All you need is a simple sheet of paper (or email) with bullet-pointed facts about your subject matter. This will ensure the reporter has all of the facts at his or her disposal. The chances of the story about you being more accurate increase. Plus, you now don’t have to worry about using your valuable interview time focusing on large numbers of facts. Instead, you can focus on your main message and work on getting the quotes you want. The reporter can now work the facts from your fact sheet into the story without having to quote you directly.
Fact sheets are not appropriate in every situation; say a financial reporter is calling you for a quick reaction to a Fed rate increase. But on many occasions, such as a new product launch, an official political campaign announcement, or a crisis where you have advance warning, fact sheets can be a great tool for reporters and an asset for you. When preparing fact sheets, keep the following tips in mind:
- Don’t use complete sentences
- Leave plenty of white space
- Double space
- Make font easy to read
- Provide most important facts first
- Keep it simple
- But provide as many interesting and relevant facts as possible