Manuel

It started early. Even as I showered the morning of my presentation at last month’s conference I could feel the nervousness building. I had to force myself to eat breakfast over a bit of a queasy stomach. I found myself distracted as I wandered from room to room attending the other sessions that morning. My sparse notes are evidence to the fact that I was thinking of other things.

Nervousness always comes. No matter how many presentations I make I think I will always be nervous right before I speak. The key is to have a strategy to deal with the nervousness.

My strategy for dealing with my nervousness at this conference was to attend the session that immediately preceded mine. This would give me a chance to:

1. Find the room well in advance of my time slot
2. Observe the room layout, sound setup, and so on
3. Learn from the way the previous presenter “used” the room

As I watched the previous session, I watched the sound man, dressed from head to toe in black, as he quietly, with few words, did his job. When it was my turn to be mic’ed, he strode toward me and asked, “Are you my next speaker?” I acknowledged my role and followed his instructions as we tested the equipment. After everything was hooked up, he looked up at my title slide emblazoned across the big screen at the front of the room. “Impromptu speaking, huh?” He asked, “Are you a Toastmaster?”

The man’s name was Manuel. He had a strong, smooth voice. He was a Toastmaster. In fact, he was in the process of forming a new club. We chatted for a few minutes about our shared connection through Toastmasters. I gave him a 30-second overview of my talk. I thanked him and began the last-minute preparation for my talk.

As the talk began, I noticed Manuel working the sound equipment. I could tell he was making live adjustments to the sound. When he was done, instead of leaving as he had done for the previous session, he walked to the back of the room and sat down. He granted me the honor of teaching him–Toastmaster to Toastmaster.

Manuel honored me with his words and with his presence. He encouraged me by just being my friend.

Practice Makes Perfect–Or Thereabouts!

I love sports. One of my favorite sports to play is tennis. I love it so much that when I developed tennis elbow I played left-handed! (I had just purchased a new racket, and I couldn’t let the thing go to waste!) Despite my love for playing the sport, I’m not really good at it–but I’m much better than I used to be. You know why: Practice. Natural ability or not, to get really good at a sport requires practice. Legendary Czech tennis great Ivan Lendl has been quoted as saying:

If I don’t practice the way I should, then I won’t play the way that I know I can.

Practice, then, is the key to getting better at something–really anything. Even more so, it is the only way to achieve your best performance! Even greats like Ivan Lendl didn’t win every game or even every match. Practice made him better. It helped him to achieve great things. It didn’t make him perfect. Perfection is not our goal. Competence is.

The same rule applies to the way we perform during impromptu speaking opportunities. The more we practice, the better we become. Like Lendl, we will never achieve the kind of performance we want, the kind of performance we’d like to achieve, without practice.

I have found that there are two ways to effectively practice for impromptu speaking:

• Do it more often
• Memorize and follow a pattern

The more you do something, the better you will be at that something. Just look at how badly the younger crowd beats us at video games! If you have a job or position that gives you opportunities to practice frequently, you will naturally get better. If not, I recommend membership in a local Toastmasters club. At each regular club meeting you will be given the chance to practice your impromptu speaking.

As for the patterns, we’ve discussed 3 of them in previous posts to this blog:

• Tell a Story
• Position-Action-Benefit
• Past-Present-Future

Having the pattern of choice memorized allows you to focus on delivering the content without being distracted by how to organize what you’re saying. By keeping these patterns in mind you can be practiced and ready when your next impromptu speaking opportunity comes along. You’ll be prepared to perform the way you know you can!

For more information about Toastmasters and help finding a local club in your area, check out this link:

Toastmasters International

Now get out there and Speak Up!

You Know it’s Coming

Back in the early 1990′s, I was working for a startup company. Things weren’t going well. Venture capital had dried up, as had our revenue due to quality problems in the field, and the president of the company was dipping into his personal accounts to help make payroll. I decided that it would be prudent to explore options elsewhere.

I landed an interview with a much larger company that made similar products. The interview was actually a series of interviews with the hiring manager, HR, and members of the team, with a group lunch sandwiched in the middle. The interviews in the morning went very well. I felt calm and confident as I strode into the restaurant for lunch. My guard was down. I felt like I was among friends.

When my food arrived, the fellow directly across the table from me pulled a copy of my resume out of his pocket. He carefully unfolded it on the table in front of him. He looked at me, then my resume, then back to me and said, “I see that you have worked for several companies. Would you please tell me how your choice of each position built into the next and contributed to your overall career plans?” The question hit me like a punch in the gut. I wasn’t ready.

I stumbled through a long answer interrupted frequently by his additional questions. I never got to eat my food. I didn’t get the job. I drove home from the interview kicking myself in the rear–a difficult feat while driving!

I should have Anticipated a question like the one that prevented me from both eating my lunch and landing the job. It was an interview, after all. I should have known that such a question could come up. I should have been ready.

This post is a continuation of a series on the topic of Impromptu Speaking. We’re in the middle of discussing a few dirty little secrets for successful impromptu speaking.

In these posts we have been or will be discussing these dirty little secrets:

• Use a head start (Done)
• Anticipate (This post)
• Practice (Coming soon)

This post’s Dirty Little Secret is that we often can anticipate the kinds of questions that might come our way. A little thought before going into the meeting or a little consideration before making that phone call can make all the difference.

Tony Jeary, in his book Life is a Series of Presentations, tells the story of a woman who dreamed of making a presentation to the Vice President of the company that employed her. She had what she believed was a wonderful idea and wanted to get his support. The problem was, she didn’t work directly for him and generally had no interactions with him. She assumed that she’d never have the chance and didn’t prepare. Then one day he went through the cafeteria line with her! Opportunity? Yes, but only if she was ready to take it. Unfortunately, the woman hadn’t anticipated. In nervousness, she silently finished her business and left the cafeteria. Opportunity lost.

The bottom line for us has two parts:

1. We can very often anticipate the kinds of questions that will come up during a meeting or interview. If we’re prepared to answer those kinds of questions, our impromptu delivery will be much more effective.
2. If there’s something we’re passionate about, we should be ready to talk about it with a moment’s notice. We never know when the opportunities are going to come, therefore we must be ready!

Speak Up!

On Your Mark…

A couple of years ago I attended a presentation training “boot camp” at work. Right off the bat the instructor challenged us by going around the room and asking us each to stand and deliver! He asked us to give a brief impromptu speech about ourselves to the class. Yikes! So soon?!!? Do we not get at least 15 minutes of class overview or something? Isn’t that a rule?!!? Immediately I began to sweat. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. My palms felt cold and clammy. You’d think I’d know an awful lot about the subject (me!), but my mind went blank. What was I going to say?

Fortunately, things really went my way that morning. By chance (or by destiny!) I had selected a front-row seat on the opposite side of the room from where the instructor started. Bottom line: I went last! Woo-hoo! That gave me a bit of time to think about what I was going to say. When it came to be my turn to speak, I came off polished and prepared. Why? Because I had a head start.

I don’t have statistics to back this up, but I believe that one of the Dirty Little Secrets of impromptu speaking opportunities is that the majority of them give us at least a little advance notice. Even a few minutes can give us enough of a head start to make a dramatic difference in the outcome, especially if we have memorized one of the patterns we’ve discussed in previous posts: Tell a Story, Past-Present-Future or Position-Action-Benefit (PAB).

Let’s also consider this: I should have known something like that was coming. It was a presentation class, after all. I should have anticipated that I’d be giving some sort of introduction. Isn’t this also the case with many of the meetings we attend? I believe that we can frequently anticipate that certain kinds of questions will be asked, certain kinds of information will need to be provided. Isn’t it true that we’re all going to meet someone who asks that terrifying question, “What do you do for a living?” Why not use the head start and prepare in advance? What are you going to say if that comes up?

Lest you get some idea in reading this blog that *I* have it all together, I must be honest: I mostly walk into these impromptu situations completely oblivious and unprepared. For all but the most talented among us, it takes deliberate, purposeful steps to prepare. I need to do a better job of this. I’ll bet most of us do, too.

Let’s take advantage of even the tiniest head starts to increase our effectiveness and Speak Up!

Dirty Little Secrets

I work with a guy who is absolutely amazing. He seems to know everything–what’s happening, why it’s happening, who is involved, and how to fix things when they break. I have a theory that he doesn’t sleep, that he is constantly online monitoring everything! While that theory might be true, it was recently revealed to me that he has developed a number of tricks and techniques for being able to keep his finger on the pulse of the group with just a glance. The tricks and techniques amount to his “dirty little secrets” for success.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This guy is good. Really good. On top of amazing natural ability and a willingness to work hard, he gets bonus points in my book for being able to develop his dirty little secrets for success. The things he does are not earth-shattering or revolutionary. He’s simply smart enough to apply common sense to the way he uses the same tools you and I have at our disposal. When I heard what he does, I thought, “Why didn’t *I* think of that?!!?” I don’t think I’ll ever be this guy’s equal (Who wants to compete with a hero?), but I have learned to apply some of his techniques to make myself more effective.

Similarly, there are a few dirty little secrets for successful impromptu speaking. The are neither earth-shattering nor revolutionary. Once you read about them you’ll find yourself thinking, “Why didn’t *I* think of that?!!?” It’s okay. It happens to all of us.

In subsequent posts we’ll be discussing these dirty little secrets:

• Use a head start
• Anticipate
• Practice

I hope you will agree that becoming a more effective impromptu communicator is a matter of applying these dirty little secrets.

Speak Up!

Past, Present, Future

Imagine the scene: We’re sitting in our office late on a Friday afternoon, thinking a little bit about the weekend ahead. The anticipation of upcoming events has us, well, a little distracted. Unexpectedly, our boss walks into our office and says, “I just heard that you pushed back your delivery of XYZ by 2 weeks. What’s going on?” Jolted back to work reality, the mind begins to race. The pressure is on. Since it’s true we’ve pushed back our delivery, nothing we say will be good news. With little or no preparation, we’ve got to deliver a compelling presentation that will accurately represent the circumstances and justify the decision we’ve made. It’s time to apply pattern  #3: Past, Present, Future (PPF).

We’re approaching the end of a series of posts aimed at helping us to be more effective in our day-to-day impromptu speaking opportunities. The premise is that when we are armed with a simple pattern to follow we will be more effective at delivering our messages with little or no advance preparation. By memorizing one or more of these patterns we can concentrate on the message rather than the mechanics.

In this post we’re bringing you Past, Present, Future (PPF). The dirty little secret is that this pattern is a simplification of the impromptu speaking strategy we discussed in a previous post, Tell a Story.

PPF almost needs no additional explanation:

Past = the way it was before

Present = the way it is now

Future = the way we plan for or predict it to be

This simple pattern is easy to remember and easy to apply. Let’s consider what we might say to our boss.

(Past) Our original schedule was developed with the information we had in hand at the time. The team has been working on the project for almost a month now. They have made significant progress. In the course of this work, however, we have learned quite a bit. (Present) For example, we now know that our original assumptions about the API were too simple. Also, the UI requirements have changed. The date changed to reflect the reality of this new work. (Future) Later this week I have a meeting with the QA team to talk about ways that we can increase the overlap between development and test, possibly to the extent of reducing the effect of this schedule slip on GA by as much as 50%.

The PPF pattern can be applied in many situations. It’s short, simple, and shares its name with some jewelry I bought for my wife a couple of Christmases ago.

Position, Action, Benefit

If you’ve ever purchased a house or lot, you know that there’s a really important part of the process: Surveying the land. When I bought my house, a small team of surveyors came out and put stakes in the ground to define the borders of my lot. These stakes clearly defined the position of my land relative to the other lots in the neighborhood. It’s important to know exactly where we stand in relationship with our neighbors.

Likewise, when we communicate with others using impromptu speaking techniques it is frequently important to make sure that our position, our stake in the ground is clear. We don’t want our presentation to sound as if we have no clear point, as if we’re floundering searching for the words to express just what we want to say. And we won’t have a crew of surveyors nearby to help, either. It’s up to us!

Today we’ll discuss the second technique or pattern in our conversation about creating our own impromptu-speaking masterpieces. The first was discussed in a previous post:

• Tell a story

The first pattern is a simple and easy-to-recall recipe for success. I highly recommend you memorize and apply one or more of these patterns we’re discussing as you build your own skill in this area. It’s being able to communicate those valuable ideas you have that makes you most effective. It’s in our best interest that we be able to effectively get those ideas out in a form where they can be understood and discussed.

Today we’ll tackle a slightly more advanced pattern. I first learned this pattern in a “Presenting for Impact” class at my employer. (It’s a wonderful class, by the way. I strongly recommend that you take it when offered in a classroom near you!) The pattern is: Position, Action, Benefit (PAB).

Position is your stake in the ground, it’s where you stand on the issue, what you believe.

Action is the step or steps you want the audience, team, group, person to take.

Benefit is what’s in it for them. How will they benefit from following the action you recommend?

Let’s apply this to a real-world situation we’ve seen discussed right here before. Imagine we’re asked, on the spot with no warning, how our department can reduce costs. Our answer might come out something like this:

(Position) I believe that our team can cut costs be reducing the amount of waste paper we generate. (Action) I’d like us to consider eliminating header sheets, turning double-sided printing on by default, encourage each other to do multi-up printing–or not print at all–and to start making better use of the recycling containers that are available. (Benefit) The benefit to our group will be measured in the cost of using fewer sheets of paper overall. It will also be measured in green benefits as we reduce the amount of paper we send to the local landfill.

I think we’ve all followed a pattern like this one before, perhaps without even realizing it. With practice, the patterns we’ve learned so far–Tell a Story and Position/Action/Benefit–will prepare you for the unexpected and inevitable impromptu Speak Up opportunities.

Tell a Story

For his book, 10 Simple Secrets of the World’s Greatest Business Communicators, Carmine Gallo interviewed financial maven Suze Orman. Orman admitted that her message of getting out of and staying out of debt is not a new one. Gallo wrote:

“Anyone can know this material,” she told me. “It’s how you communicate the material you know that sets you apart.”

How we communicate plays an important part in how effectively our messages are delivered. In this post we’ll discuss a bit of advice that applies not just to our impromptu speaking opportunities, but also to the vast majority of our public and private interactions: Tell a story.

Most of us heard stories when we were children, and stories still capture our attention as adults. Stories are compelling to our audiences because it’s easy for people to insert themselves into our story. Stories invite our listeners to walk along with us, to experience what we’re saying rather than passively listening. This makes it easier for people to connect with us and understand our messages.

When applied to impromptu speaking, storytelling can attract and keep our audience’s attention and illustrate a point. The steps to create a story on the fly are as simple as the word CODE:

• Create the scene
• Outline the problem or conflict
• Describe what happened
• End the story

As an example, let’s consider a situation where we’re asked for a status report for a project we’ve been working on for a couple of weeks. We might say:

(Create) The project has moved into the testing phase. Two of the latest rigs were installed on Monday down in Lab 5. (Outline) When we ran our initial benchmark, we discovered some instability in the BIOS as shipped. (Describe) We immediately contacted the vendor to make him aware of the problem. We sent over some crash logs and participated in a conference call with the vendor on Wednesday afternoon. (End) The vendor has root-caused the problem and expects to deliver a fix to us on Monday so that testing can resume.

Note the importance of the last step–End the story. We shouldn’t drag the story on with unnecessary details. We’ll only succeed in losing our audience.

CODE (Create, Outline, Describe, End) provides a simple framework or pattern for building and telling our own stories. Telling a story is a simple way to bump up the effectiveness of our daily communication–impromptu and otherwise.

Color Outside the Lines

It’s popular to speak boldly about “coloring outside the lines.” I think of it as a more hip version of the threadbare “think outside the box.”

The truth is, though, that when we first clutched those fat Crayons in our pudgy little hands the lines on the page provided guidance as we struggled for mastery.

I can remember being really tiny and looking with admiration at the coloring books of the older kids. Not so much as a smudge outside of the lines! Wow! They were, to me, masterpieces. I struggled mightily to build my skill to emulate their success. The lines on the pages of my coloring books gave me guidelines or patterns to follow. It was these patterns that eventually helped me to succeed.

When I watch the likes of EMC CEO Joe Tucci or President Barak Obama take questions from an audience, I feel like that little kid again. I watch as they produce a coloring book’s worth of impromptu speaking masterpieces that I wish to emulate. How do we build our skill to achieve a similar level of comfort and articulation? I believe that the answer, like when we first learned to color inside the lines, is to follow a pattern. Following a pattern will give us the guidelines we need to build expertise and eventually succeed.

Knowing and practicing a pattern to follow will also prepare us for the surprises that impromptu speaking opportunities bring. Consider the brilliant work of US Airways Captain Sullenberger in the recent crash landing in New York’s Hudson River. All passengers and crew aboard flight 1549 survived because in the 5 minutes between take off and splash down Sullenberger followed practiced guidelines and patterns. He had never lost two engines on takeoff before, but years of training and preparation equipped him with patterns he could follow automatically.

Knowing the patterns allowed him to focus on delivery–successfully delivering the passengers and crew alive!

Similarly, but with much less danger, our impromptu speaking opportunities present us with situations we’ve never been in before.

Like Captain Sullenberger we can handle these unexpected situations by automatically following patterns we’ve memorized and practiced. These patterns help us remain in control and focused even in the most challenging situations–successfully delivering the information our audience demands.

In a short series of upcoming posts to this blog we will discuss three patterns that we can follow to develop our impromptu speaking skills.

The patterns are:

*     Tell a story

*     Position, action, benefit (PAB)

*     Past, present, future

Stay tuned…

Don’t Apologize

I’m sitting in the weekly staff meeting. Sally, who normally reports our team status, is late because of a flat tire. When Sally’s agenda slot comes up, the boss doesn’t skip as I had expected. Instead, she turns to me and says, “Brian, why don’t you give us the update for your team.”

Time is frozen. A thousand thoughts rush through my mind. I am not ready for this. Everybody is looking at me. What are they going to think of me? What am I going to say? It’s then that I utter those fateful words: “I’m not really prepared, but…” I just started my impromptu status report with an apology. Ouch!

It doesn’t always happen at a staff meeting. Unexpected questions come our way in all aspects of our lives. At work. At school. At church. At the playground. The truth is that we are having impromptu conversations all day, every day. We don’t freak out when a friend asks us about the ballgame last night, but we often do panic when the stakes are higher.

When we get asked that question at the meeting or are otherwise asked to speak on short notice, I believe that one of the most common mistakes we make out of nervousness is to apologize unnecessarily.

Apologies are appropriate when we spill coffee on someone or are late. If something like this happens, apologize with sincerity. The problem is that apologies are not appropriate if they are about our lack of preparedness, nervousness, or lack of skill. Apologizing unnecessarily damages our credibility–especially at the beginning of our impromptu remarks. We often put our audience on alert for things that they might not notice if we hadn’t apologized.

In our Toastmasters <http://www.toastmasters.org>  club meetings, we practice impromptu speaking. Often participants that showed no signs of nervousness during the meeting will admit later that they were really nervous. Nervousness frequently doesn’t show on the outside even when the alarm bells are clanging in our ears. Opening with, “I’m sorry. I’m kind of nervous,” often serves to reveal something no one would have noticed!

Consider the “first impression” posts I’ve written previously in this space. What kind of first impression does, “I’m not really prepared to tell you about this,” make? Our audience will either tune out or become detectives looking for evidence to use against us. We want our audience focused on the information or message, not our behavior.

Consider also the “last impression” when we’re done speaking. If we finish our talk with a phrase like, “I hope I didn’t waste your time,” we’re seeding doubts in the minds of our audience members. “Was he really worth listening to? Can we trust what he said?” Is that really the kind of “last impression” we want to leave?

IMPORTANT: I’m not suggesting that we lie or put on some kind of false front. We must always use our communication powers for good! Faking it can do far more damage to our credibility than a bad first impression.

If we’re asked for information that we don’t know, we should admit it, ask questions about the subject to show interest and to get the information we need to follow-up, and offer to get back to them when we have the answer. A simple, “I don’t have that information. Would it be okay for me to get back with you after the meeting? What was the account number again?” will leave our audience with a very positive impression of us as someone who can think on their feet, is honest, and knows how to get answers when necessary.

It is important that we maximize the chances for our message to get across and that we’ll be perceived as the competent leaders that we are!