The Role of Public Speaking in Your Career
IT IS AMAZING THAT THERE ARE so many capable managers who can’t handle a public speaking situation well. Standing up on the platform they come off as dull, uncertain, and of limited talent. The impression the audience receives is that they’re not very good on the job, either. That impression may not be valid, but as we’ve discussed earlier, people act based on their perceptions.
PRIOR PREPARATION
Many managers are poor public speakers because they wait until they find themselves in a speaking situation before they do anything about it. By then, it’s too late. You can be the greatest manager in the world, but it will be a well-kept secret if you don’t prepare yourself to be a public speaker.
Because so few people in managerial positions prepare themselves to speak publicly, you’ll have a leg up on most of them if you learn how to do it well. Public speaking frightens many people, and so they avoid it. Many people—not just managers—have a fear of public speaking. In fact, public speaking ranks near the top of phobias that people have.
As a new manager, you may have the option of not having to do presentations or public speaking to outside groups but you probably will not have that choice within your own organization. It may be a meeting of your department in which you have to explain a new company policy. It may be a retirement dinner for someone in your area of responsibility, and you’re expected to make a “few appropriate remarks.” You may have to do a presentation to a client or to the board of directors. Your boss may be ill and you may have to step in for her at the last minute. Managers will often go to almost unbelievable lengths to avoid these types of speaking situations. They will use ploys such as arranging a business trip so they’ll be out of town or scheduling their vacations for that time. They’ll spend the rest of their business lives plotting how not to get up in front of a group and speak. How much better off they’d be if they’d obtain the necessary skills and turn these situations to their advantage.
What many people don’t realize is that learning to be an excellent public speaker will also improve their ability to speak extemporaneously. How do you respond when you’re unexpectedly called on to say a few words?
Presentation training won’t get rid of the butterflies in your stomach, but it will keep them from making you look less capable than you are.
WHERE TO RECEIVE PRESENTATION TRAINING
There are three specific ways that can help you learn how to be an effective presenter—Toastmasters, training classes, and presentation coaching.
One of the best ways to improve your presentation skills is commonly available. Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people develop public speaking and leadership skills through practice and feedback in local clubs. Toastmasters is a very low cost option and groups are available worldwide. A simple web search will identify clubs that meet in your area. Their website is www.toastmasters.org.
There are neither professionals nor staff members in Toastmasters clubs, only people who have a mutual interest in developing their speaking capacity. For a modest semiannual fee, you receive the materials you’ll need to begin the process. You go at your own speed, and you’ll find a supportive group of people who help one another not only by providing an audience but also by engaging in formal evaluation sessions when you are ready to receive their input.
Another aspect of the Toastmasters’ training that is invaluable is called Table Topics. This part of the meeting is designed to develop your skills in extemporaneous speaking. The Topic Master calls on various people (usually those not scheduled to give a formal speech that evening) to talk for two or three minutes on a surprise subject. You have only a few moments to prepare your comments. It is a very valuable exercise that not only builds your speaking skills, it also bolsters your confidence.
Another benefit of participating in Toastmasters is that you will meet people from other organizations in your area, providing an excellent opportunity for informal networking. With Toastmasters clubs all over the world, it’s very likely that you’ll find one in your area.
The next way to build up your public speaking ability is to take a training course or a college course in presentation skills. If your organization has an established training program, it likely offers presentation skills training. There are also many training organizations that offer excellent programs. One of them is the American Management Association (AMA), the organization that published this book. AMA has a variety of presentation skills seminars available in numerous locations throughout the year. Their website is www.amanet.org.
The third way to become an effective presenter is to get one-on-one coaching. Here, you or your company hires an individual to give you private instruction and guidance. Professional speaking coaches are readily available and can potentially assist you significantly—not only with your presentation skills but also with the content of your presentation. They are expensive but can be very valuable. Your HR department can help you locate a qualified speaking coach.
By no means are these three suggestions your only alternatives. You can read books, watch professionals in action, find someone in-house whose presentations you admire and ask him to work with you, rent or purchase video training courses, or access online videos of professional speakers. But improving your presentation skills ultimately comes down to getting up in front of people and speaking. All the knowledge and preparation in the world will not substitute for actually doing it. The exciting part is that once you get past any hesitance or uncertainty you will find that doing it is a powerful confidence builder.
NEXT WEEK’S PRESENTATION
You might be saying to yourself that these are all great suggestions for the future, but what do you do if you have to give a presentation next week? Here are some basic things to remember and do when presenting in front of a large group:
• Decide what the purpose of your presentation is and write it out in one sentence. It should not be longer than one sentence and should be clear to anyone listening to it or reading it. There are two basic outcomes for presentations—information transfer, inspiration, or some of both. If you are transferring information, you may want the audience to remember certain things, know a particular procedure, or physically be able to demonstrate the use of something. If your goal is to inspire, you are seeking to have a positive impact on the attitude of those in the audience. Keep these two general outcomes in mind as you craft the one sentence that captures the purpose of your presentation.
• Develop your subject matter outline. Most studies have shown audiences remember only one main point and three subpoints. Keep the presentation as brief and tight as possible.
• During the planning for and delivery of the presentation, keep these well-known words about presentations in mind. Tell them what you are going to tell them (do this in the opening), tell them (do this in the main body of your talk), then tell them what you told them (do this in your conclusion). Though not at all original this strategy will serve you well. The great majority of us need to be told something more than once to retain it. Plus the overview during your opening of what you will be covering helps the people in your audience to be better prepared to receive your message.
• Before planning your talk try to do an audience analysis. Find out who they are, their reasons for being there, their interest and academic levels, their attitudes, their cultural backgrounds, ages, and so forth. The more you know in advance about the audience the better you will be able to prepare for your talk. If it is vital that you have the benefit of the audience members’ thoughts on a specific issue before you present, you may want to query audience members in advance with a few calls or an online survey. The information you get from such an effort can be invaluable in understanding audience members’ thoughts and attitudes.
• During the presentation, watch your audience. Are they smiling and attentive or restless, confused, engaging in chats with their neighbors, texting, emailing, or leaving? You may need to change your delivery style by talking louder or lower, faster or slower, cutting things short or explaining in more depth, changing your tone of voice, and so forth. Be prepared to adapt your presentation as needed.
• If you are using visuals like PowerPoint slides, don’t talk to the slides, talk to the audience. Many new managers make this mistake. Visuals should be a backup for the audience. You need to be the main attraction. Nothing will make your presentation less interesting and make you look more like a total rookie than standing up there and reading your PowerPoint slides. Your slides should only reinforce your major points, not serve as a substitute for your note cards or a script. If you are using PowerPoint or a similar application, keep the content on each slide to a minimum and use large type. Few things will destroy a presentation faster than unreadable slides. One of the worst examples I have seen is someone who cuts and pastes a nearly indecipherable spreadsheet into a slide then stands in front of it pointing to various cells with a laser pointer trying to explain it. Instead they should make a slide that presents the three or four key points derived from the spreadsheet.
• Practice, practice, practice. If you are prepared and comfortable with what you are presenting, you will come across as much more relaxed and you will experience much less stage fright. However, do not make the mistake of memorizing your presentation. This can be disastrous if you forget your place. There is nothing wrong with using a few note cards or a presentation outline printed in a large font to help you keep your place and remember the next point you will be making.
• Be ready to adapt to all situations. You never know what might happen at a presentation. The equipment may be faulty, rendering useless your wonderful slides or video clips. You have to be ready to reorganize your presentation quickly. Or suppose your plan includes having the audience break up into small groups for discussion purposes during your presentation—but the auditorium has chairs that cannot be moved. You must have an alternative plan or your presentation will fall apart before you begin. One of the best tests of whether you are well-prepared is to challenge yourself to give the presentation in half the allotted time. Doing so as one of your practice presentations will have two benefits. It will make it clear that you understand the core elements of the presentation and prepare you for the possibility that the time you have for your presentation will be cut at the last minute. This happens often, particularly if a senior executive who does not feel a need to abide by the time limit for her presentation is on the agenda ahead of you.
• Be energetic, lively, and demonstrate to the audience that you are enjoying your talk. If you don’t, you really should not expect them to be enthusiastic and interested. The more it is a conversation rather than a presentation in tone and energy, the better. And smile.
FRINGE BENEFITS
How many outstanding public speakers do you personally know, either inside or outside your organization? Probably not many, if any. Why don’t you resolve to be one of the few who are outstanding? Think of the possibilities not only for promotion within your company but also for positions of leadership within the community and your industry. As a matter of fact, the opportunities for leadership challenges may come more quickly outside the company. Consider what that may open up for you: There are many followers out there waiting for someone to lead them. One characteristic most outstanding leaders have is the ability to speak persuasively on public occasions. There is no reason you can’t be one of those few leaders.