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Excellence in Public Speaking: A sprint or an Ironman?

One of my hobbies is triathlon racing. I enjoy the mix of swimming, biking and running as it keeps training interesting and you meet a great bunch of people at triathlon races. Triathlon races come in different distances. For example, sprint, Olympic, half Ironman and the pinnacle of all triathlons: Ironman. These races can take an average racer from one hour in the sprint to up to 17 hours in the full Ironman. I completed the 2010 Ironman China regarded as one of the toughest races on the Ironman circuit due to the extreme heat of around 35 degrees.

As with any endurance sport, the race is really a race of two; you against yourself. Depending on your current fitness levels you need to choose your race carefully. If you are new to the sport, it makes sense to start with a sprint or Olympic distance race. If you are already a solid marathon runner or long distance biker, you could start training for an Ironman.

We can use the metaphor of triathlon to help you become a better public speaker. If career progression is important to you, public speaking needs to be a core skill you develop over time. Here are three ways public speaking is similar to triathlon:

It’s a race. Choose your race. Learn how to race.

To succeed in triathlon you need to know about swimming, cycling, running, how to transition from one discipline to another, managing nutrition in longer races and understanding what equipment will give you the most bang for your buck. In public speaking you also need to combine competency in these various disciplines:

Know your “stuff”: Understand your content inside and out without the need to look at notes.

Shape a Madison Avenue or Hollywood message: Learn techniques from the masters of messaging so that your presentation has a clear, memorable message.

Rehearse like an actor: Dedicate sufficient time to focus more on your delivery than on your content. Dress rehearsing should take at least 60% of your preparation time. Most business presenters spend only 5-10% in real rehearsal.

Deliver like performer and entertainer: Understand that in a world of shortening attention spans, simply delivering information does not result in a change of behaviour. If you are intending to influence your audience you need to understand techniques that create a more engaging and entertaining experience for them.

Handle questions like a media professional: Most people are apprehensive about the Q&A session. As a senior manager you need to be always ready to step up and handle even the most challenging of questions. In fact, you should develop this ability so it becomes your most favourite format.

Success depends on how well you know your “race”. Become familiar with the components of public speaking and start to master them one-by-one.

Choose your intensity level

Every triathlete decides how hard they race. For example:

  • Just to finish in one piece

  • Win your age group [amateurs are divided by age]

  • Top 20 in the whole field

  • Win the race

This concept of intensity also applies to public speaking. Executives decide how much time and effort they dedicate to improve their speaking abilities. We can see this through the Speak with Executive Presence Pyramid:

0.0 Ineffective
1.0 Competent
2.0 Influential
3.0 Impactful
4.0 Change-makers
5.0 Executive Presence

Executives operating in the “Ineffective” zone just want to get through the presentation without “dying” and don’t show any style. In the “Competent” zone, the aim is to deliver a competent presentation in line with their peer group. Not a stand out but above average. “Impactful” zone executives consistently deliver confident presentations and are “always ready to deliver”. They string together influential presentations. They are the go-to executive when a media interview is called at short notice.

The level of your intensity will dictate how far you can take your influencing abilities.

It’s consistency that makes you stronger.

A myth of endurance sports is the “no pain, no gain” approach. If you wish to avoid injury and perform over a long time frame, there is absolutely no need to put yourself through high amounts of pain in your training. When he visited Shanghai, two-time Ironman World Champion, Chris “Macca” McCormack told me that consistent training is the key to success in endurance sports. I need a target,like a race, to get motivated to train. The target of a race helps me plan and execute a training plan over, a typical 20 week build up for a key race.

With this target, I scour my calendar for pockets of training time. I find the energy to get up at 5am to get in extra training session, and sacrifice weekend time for a long bike ride of up to 4 hours. Just having the race in my calendar helps me become a better time manager. A 20 week build up consists of four phases:

  • Preparation; low intensity training with a focus on building up endurance.

  • Base; start to add in longer sessions and sharpen up technique.

  • Build; weekly focus on different disciplines and plan nutritional needs.

  • Taper; reduce amount of time training and switch to shorter more intense sessions. Think through race plan and on-the-day details.

When getting ready for a big presentation, you can take a similar approach. In our workshops we use a 16-step guide which can be divided into four phases:

  • Preparation; purpose, message and organisation.

  • Base; mastering content, flow and critical moments.

  • Build; rehearsals.

  • Polish; final mindset and on-the-day preparations.

Effective preparation is the key to upgrading your skills. Pick an important presentation and work on sharpening up your performance at each phase.

In conclusion

Public speaking is like triathlon racing. Both can be painful if you don’t prepare correctly, but are extremely enjoyable when you commit to improving your performance over the long term. The takeaways:

  • It’s a race. Choose your race. Learn how to race.

  • Choose your intensity.

  • It’s consistency that makes you stronger.

Further reading:

What is triathlon? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triathlon

Ironman triathlons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_Triathlon

SWEP Pyramid

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“I work with senior executives working for multinationals in Greater China who lack the executive presence to effectively influence key stakeholders. While these executives are very smart, very knowledgeable and highly capable, a key piece missing. Their executive communication skills need polishing. I help executives build a strong foundation in executive communication so that they are able to better think, speak and act like a leader to set and implement strategy. Recently, we helped a CEO turn his communication style from being nervous and uninspiring into a more engaging, confident and purposeful executive.”  Learn more about who I help here.

Find out whether your executive team is performing to the best of their potential with Warwick’s article “10 Warning Signs Your Leaders Lack Executive Presence”. Email me and I’ll send you a PDF version.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”. Warwick is author of the forthcoming book ‘Speak with Executive Presence in China’ . Now available on Amazon.com.

Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com

©2011 Warwick John Fahy

What five burning questions will your audience ask?

One of the most challenging parts of a presentation is the question and answer session (Q&A). Many senior executives get worried and anxious about this inevitable part of the meeting. In fact, I would classify any presentation that did not lead to questions being asked as a complete failure. The main purpose of any communication, especially at the senior level, is to move people to action. This requires a level of engagement from the audience which must include questions that deepen their understanding.

So as it’s an inevitable and desirable aspect to your meeting, why not get ready for it in the best most complete way possible. My mantra is “always be ready”. For those of you who were Scouts, remember the motto of the Scouts? “Be prepared”.

Here is a six step process you can use to always be ready and prepared for your Q&A. Applications include:

  • Presenting to senior management

  • Getting ready for a media interview

  • Participating in a weekly conference call with overseas management

  • Contributing to a business review meeting

  • Being on a panel in a shareholder meeting

  • Keynoting at a town hall meeting

Step 1: The burning five

Write down the five most important questions the audience wants to know on the subject you are going to deliver. Some of these questions will be recurring and easy to answer. But use this time to think about some of the tougher question you have been asked in the past. What questions catch you out? If you wanted to ask the toughest, most difficult question on this topic, what would you ask?

Examples:

Topic: Business review meeting

Burning questions:

  1. How well has the research and development center been integrated into our global product development plans?

  2. What steps are you taking to turnaround a declining gross margin?

  3. How well prepared is the business for a slowing global economy?


Step 2: Trigger your bullet points

For each question, write down your answers quickly using bullet points. Write 4-6 words for each bullet to help you trigger a fuller answer. The skill here comes from not thinking about each question too long. Write down the first five or six bullet points that come to mind.

Example:

Burning questions:

How well has the research and development center been integrated into our global product development plans?

Bullet points:

  • Quick update on R&D operations

  • Outcomes from global R&D conference call

  • Pipeline 2012-2013

  • Manpower challenges slowing ramp-up

  • Opportunities we are not taking


Step 3: Make them mobile

Most executives are on the move and you need to be able to capture streams of time to help you get ready. For example, when you are on the road, waiting in the business lounge, taking a flight. These are all opportunities for you to get your Q&A ready.

If you are old-school like me and prefer to think on paper:

Print or write your questions and bullet point answers on some cue cards. Take one cue card for each question. This method works well because you can still work on them when you are taking off and landing. Also, you can move the cards around and see connections between them more clearly than working in digital. Keep blank cue cards handy in your briefcase.

For the people who like to keep everything digital:

Set up a document on your phone or tablet computer that you can come back to and edit. Scan through the questions and rearrange them according to the priorities of the audience you are addressing.


Step 4 : Polish to make them shine

Add, modify and polish your answers. When you have new anecdotes, data or ideas to share add them into the file. If you are using cue cards, you may need to re-print them every now and again. Carry your cue cards around with you in the days before the presentation. Read through them to refresh your answers. You can also keep them close to you in the meeting, especially a conference call and glance at them when a question arises.


Step 5: Flex your Answers

Rehearse so that you can answer each question in a maximum of 2 minutes. Color up your answers with your personal insights, stories and data. Remember most TV media interview expect answers under 60 seconds. Adapt your answers depending on the audience. Senior management prefer concise direct answers. Your company staff in a town hall might like to know more about your personal style or experiences.


Step 6 : Data-bank your Q&As

Overtime, build up a question and answer data-bank Whenever you get a good question, add it to your database. Ask colleagues to suggest questions on the topic you are preparing. If you ever get stuck by a question, add it to your data-bank. You will be surprised at the relatively narrow range of questions you get on any particular topic.


Conclusion

This is how you get and stay ready. As I tell my CEO clients, you need to “always be ready” so you are not surprised by questions. Use this six step process to become bulletproof in any question and answer session.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“I work with senior executives working for multinationals in Greater China who lack the executive presence to effectively influence key stakeholders. While these executives are very smart, very knowledgeable and highly capable, a key piece missing. Their executive communication skills need polishing. I help executives build a strong foundation in executive communication so that they are able to better think, speak and act like a leader to set and implement strategy. Recently, we helped a CEO turn his communication style from being nervous and uninspiring into a more engaging, confident and purposeful executive.”  Learn more about who I help here.

Find out whether your executive team is performing to the best of their potential with Warwick’s article “10 Warning Signs Your Leaders Lack Executive Presence”. Email me and I’ll send you a PDF version.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”. Warwick is author of the forthcoming book ‘Speak with Executive Presence in China’ . Now available on Amazon.com.


Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com

©2011 Warwick John Fahy

Can introverted executives lead with executive presence?

The introverted executive

I work with C-level leaders to help them become more effective leaders by speaking with executive presence. We work on the inner game and the outer game. The inner game is all about the person and is essential to expand the awareness of self confidence of an executive before they then work on polishing their performance in the outer game. Today we will look at the inner game and especially focus on introverted executives.

I mainly work with executives from technical disciplines like finance and engineering and meet many senior leaders who tend to be introverted. One way to spot an introvert is in a crowded room, like at a networking function. The extroverts will be the centre of attention with a group of people around them being kept rapt in the conversation. Introverts tend to be off to the side, perhaps in one-on-one conversation. While there is not right or wrong here, being an introvert can get in the way of becoming an effective executive.

I have been called in to work with executives that were avoiding speaking in public, like at conferences or even at internal events. This limits the executives ultimate career potential in the long term, but in the short to medium term can impact the business. People look to leaders for direction. When a leader shuns public communication this makes his job harder. Successful CEOs like Doug Conant, former CEO of Campell Soup used to spend one hour a day writing handwritten cards to his employees which is an excellent way to connect on a personal level. That requires a real commitment which I don’t seen many people making on a consistent basis. At it’s worse, a void of communication is filled with rumour, uncertainty and indecision as people are not clear on the company’s strategy.

Here are three things to consider for introverted executives:

1. People judge you on what they see

Many senior executives believe that the quality of their technical ability, great ideas or strategic thinking compensates for their unwillingness to go and engage with people. Certainly they are assets, but for senior executives their main job is communication. Without communicating they are not fulfilling their primary purpose.

Doug Conant in an interview with Harvard Business Review said, “People are not mind readers. They don’t know what you are thinking as a leader, they hunger to know. They hunger to know you. And they are going to judge you from what they see, unless you tell them differently.”

This desire to know the CEO means that when you speak, people are paying more attention to the words you use and the way you speak, than when the finance director is presenting. That’s because people want to know, understand and believe in their leaders.

Introverted executives often send the wrong signals. Conant gave this example:

And when I was in a meeting, I might be off to the side and look very unapproachable and what people didn’t realise was, was that I was very shy and was nervous talking to people.”

People cannot read your mind so if they see you being unapproachable, they assume you are unapproachable. If they see your presentation and you are not being articulate and clear on the company direction. They assume you don’t know the direction.

All executives can benefit from becoming more self aware of how they are communicating with the people around them. Spend the next week, becoming very focused on the words you use every time you are in public with people from your business. Watch what you say just before and after the meeting, ask yourself, “Will what I am about to say help clarify the situation.” don’t speak unless the answer is “yes”.

2. Self awareness leads to self expression

Becoming more self-aware is an important first step. Many executives hit a ceiling in their careers when their technical abilities can no longer compensate for their lack of presence and effective communication.

Introverted executives needs to face the situation head-on. Conant took the brave step in his time at Campell Soups:

I’m just going to tell them I am an introvert. If you see me standing off to the side, don’t say ‘there’s Doug he’s being aloof again’, say ‘there’s Doug he’s being shy and I am going to bring him into the conversation’.”

If you feel you need support in getting ready with your presenting or managing company meetings or delivering at public conference, reach out to your line manager or HR director. Ask them for help. The impact can be immediate and positive, as it was for Conant:

And as soon as I did that it was such a freeing feeling. The power of declaring yourself and telling people what was really going on. They were more than willing to engage with me in a different way.”

When you face up to the reality of a situation and tell people, two things are apparent. Firstly, you are now clarifying why you sometimes act the way you do. Once you have told people, they will immediately “get it”. Secondly, you connect with yourself in a way that builds your authenticity – another key competence in executive presence. There is nothing more powerful, more engaging and more convincing than an authentic speaker.

3. It’s never too late to change

In my practice, I work with senior executives who can range from their late 30s to late 50s. Sometimes I am faced with an executive who asks “Can I really change?” The answer is simple, you can change if you decide you can. Conant realised this after he had faced his introversion:

Then I kicked myself that it took me until I was 49 years old to realise I could say that. I was so self conscious and nervous about it. It’s been incredibly freeing. The more I acknowledge that I am an introvert, the less of an introvert I have been. “

I have consistently found that when people face their problems head-on and work on improving them, great things happen. Shy executives have discovered that they can give engaging presentations to hundreds of people, and enjoy it. The people around them notice and their leadership is viewed in a new, positive light.

Conclusion

Whether you are introverted or not, these three lessons will serve you on the road to becoming a more influential executive:

  1. People judge you on what they see

  2. Self awareness leads to self expression

  3. It’s never too late to change

This blog was inspired by listening to an interview with Doug Conant, former CEO of Campell Soup and Nabisco on Harvard Business Review. You can listen to the interview here. The section on being an introverted leader starts around 9 minutes in.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“I work with senior executives working for multinationals in Greater China who lack the executive presence to effectively influence key stakeholders. While these executives are very smart, very knowledgeable and highly capable, a key piece missing. Their executive communication skills need polishing. I help executives build a strong foundation in executive communication so that they are able to better think, speak and act like a leader to set and implement strategy. Recently, we helped a CEO turn his communication style from being nervous and uninspiring into a more engaging, confident and purposeful executive.”  Learn more about who I help here.

Find out whether your executive team is performing to the best of their potential with Warwick’s article “10 Warning Signs Your Leaders Lack Executive Presence”. Email me and I’ll send you a PDF version.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”. Warwick is author of the forthcoming book ‘Speak with Executive Presence in China’

Now available on Amazon.com.

Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com
©2011 Warwick John Fahy