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Two Key Executive Speaking Skills: Get to the Point and Project your Voice

Published on in Deliver with Style and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

The opening of The King’s Speech, starts with the King stammering his way through a speech in front of 120,000 people. While you may not face that level of pressure, having the ability to deliver effective presentations is an important skill to fast track your career, especially into senior ranks. Often a better presenter will be promoted ahead of a manager with superior technical skills. As an executive speech coach, I am invited to work with senior executives to help them iron out difficulties they have communicating with their key stakeholders, like board of directors or clients. Here we examine two common obstacles facing managers and executives in China and suggest a few solutions. Don’t worry, none of them involve smoking cigarettes or putting marbles in your mouth!

Obstacle One: Getting to the point

Many business presenters struggle to get to the point. They over-elaborate and leave audiences wondering, “What’s your point?” half-way through the presentation.

Sometimes changing industry is the cause. Jessie Wang, a 15-year veteran from a Big 4 consulting firm, switched to become an in-house tax specialist for a high-end real estate developer. Unlike her previous experience, where after submitting a client report, she had no connection with follow-through, now commercial directors expected advice and recommendations on how to implement a project. Although everyone regarded Jessie as an expert, frustrations emerged in meetings and telephone calls with the directors. Jessie gave rambling presentations covering tax legislation in too much detail. Her audience simply wanted to grasp the main point quickly and directly. Under time pressure and with millions of dollars investment on the line, they needed the best advice to make a decision and move on.

The solution worked on two levels.

Firstly, I helped Jessie understand how to construct a message-based presentation using a technique called the inverted pyramid. This technique puts the crucial information and message at the start and adds supporting points in decreasing order of importance. This executive summary approach uses the opening one to two minutes to outline the core message and key points to the audience who can then relax as they know where the presentation is heading. Secondly, to help Jessie adopt an in-house expert approach, I introduced a framework into which Jessie could slot her content. I work with 12 presentation frames and selected one that enabled Jessie Wang to cut out the irrelevant technical details, and finish the presentation with a strong recommendation. One approach divides the content into three parts; the problem, a range of possible solutions to address this issue, and finally a recommendation with caveats.

The resulting shorter, more outcome focused meetings helped lower tensions and improve key relationships with the commercial directors.

Obstacle two : Improving vocal projection

A common theme in The King’s Speech was vocal projection and this is a common obstacle facing many presenters. Jacky Li works in a Beijing professional services firm and as a new partner is expected to represent the company at industry events and bring in new business. Like many technical experts working in finance, IT, and engineering, Jacky is naturally an introvert, and is brilliant working with numbers and processes. Over the years by going deeper and deeper into his expert silo, he has secured consistent promotions. However, at this stage in his career, he needed to switch from being a technical expert to a more outgoing executive working with a wider range of stakeholders.

Two barriers stood in the way. Firstly, a lack of confidence at the daunting task of this expanding and unfamiliar role. This is common for newly promoted executives who find that their new portfolio includes a skillset that they have never developed. Secondly, Jacky had a very quiet voice, also common with introverts. This was not a problem when communicating one-to-one, but became a major fear factor when facing prospective clients or a conference hall full of industry peers.

Jacky worked on a plan to make steady and measurable progress on his voice which would also improve his confidence levels – a virtuous cycle. I applied a range of approaches to expand the range and volume of his voice. Warm up exercises were borrowed from opera singers, exaggerated vocal emphasis techniques were taken from improvisational theatre acting and scientific measurements were made with decibel readers. I provided a safe and supportive environment for Jacky to stretch his comfort zone.

In about one to two months, Jacky could clearly hear, see and feel the change. He had received some positive comments from his colleagues while in a client sales meeting, he could see that when he projected his voice with more confidence his audience paid more attention. This all helped Jacky feel more confident and as a result he was able to start to fill his new role with more energy.

Conclusion

Getting to the point and increasing your vocal projection will make a significant improvement to your presentations. Another take away from The King’s Speech is that hard work and persistence will triumph any current deficiency you have.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“I work with high-potential senior executives who need to be more confident and influential with their key stakeholders. I help the executive quickly and powerfully express their opinions into message based presentations – even when under pressure.”  Learn more about who I help here.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.  Buy or download the book here.

Now available on Amazon.com.

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

If you have ever sat through a presentation and felt like this picture, then give us a call. We help executives learn how to get to the point and create memorable and persuasive presentations. Call us on +86 21 6101 0486

“Ever feel like the presenter is making too many points?”
“Ever feel like the presenter is making too many points?”

Photo credit: Piotr Bizior

Toastmasters: How to deliver an impromptu speech

Published on in Deliver with Style, eye contact, presenter, produce your message, Resources and You the Presenter. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .
young cheerful business man giving a presentat...

One very important skill to master is to appear certain and confident while you are delivering an unprepared speech. In this training – targeted at Toastmasters – you will learn to

  • Open with certainty
  • Structure for clarity
  • Close with confidence

In this 29 minute training presentation, Warwick John Fahy shares his experience in a high energy, often humourous experience which includes Warwick delivering a 2 minute unprepared speech at the end of the training – combining the lessons he has just delivered. You can download this training here (MP3, 26.6MB)

Warwick John Fahy is a Distinguished Toastmaster with almost 10 years experience as a Toastmaster delivering speeches in both English and Mandarin. Warwick was awarded the Presidential Citation in 2007 for his leadership in doubling the number of clubs in China and helping China move to district status.Warwick is an executive speech coach working with senior executives in multinationals across Greater China to help them become more influential with their key stakeholders.

Other Toastmasters trainings:

Four tips for technical experts who need to present to senior management audiences

Published on in Deliver with Style, executive presence, produce your message, Resources and treasure your audience. Closed Tags: , , , .

I recently conducted a survey on how technical experts – like finance executives – can better present themselves to senior management. Here are some of the insights from the survey, the common problems faced by presenters and some solutions on making sure your next presentation to senior executives is received in a positive light.

Common problems faced by technical presenters

Technical presenters have a strong tendency to focus on the ‘how’ of the content rather than the outcome. Technical presenters tend to either over explain the technical aspects of their presentation, even though they are facing a savvy audience who have a good grasp of the technicalities. Or they get too bogged down in the numbers and miss the overarching purpose of the presentation, meeting or conference call which is often to help the senior executive to make a decision.

I would like to share four tips that you can apply to improve your presentation skills when communicating up to a senior executive audience.

Tip 1 : Understand your audience’s motivations so you know why are in this meeting

In The One Minute Presenter, a key step is Treasure your Audience. The main purpose of understanding your audience in detail is to go deeper into their motivations and hot buttons. This understanding helps the technical presenter prepare for meetings. Ask key questions like, “Why is the senior executive joining this meeting?” Is it to gain a brief overview on a topic, an update, a summary or to receive your input on a critical time-sensitive business issue which needs a decision?

Tip 2: Technical literacy quick check

When thinking about your content and how deep to go into the technicalities, think about the literacy of the senior executive on this issue. Are they familiar in depth with the issue? If they are, don’t start from the beginning when introducing the topic. Is the senior manager highly literate but not as familiar with the local differences on which you are an expert? Then skip explaining broad concepts and get into the specifics. Don’t worry if you skip too far ahead, the senior executive will ask you a question.

Tip 3: Think through your presentation’s timing
When you are preparing your content or your slide presentation, ask yourself how much time you have to deliver. If you have twenty minutes and twenty slides of packed data charts, are you allowing yourself enough time for the audience to digest them? Is there a better way to extract your message from each slide and highlight it in a clear slide? Consider using handouts when you need to pass on a record of the data to your audience. Build in some time for questions into your presentation time in case you are asked a series of questions or time is cut from your delivery time. If you have twenty minutes to present, then arrange fifteen minutes of content.

Tip 4: Produce your message for every presentation

Even if you are delivering a frequent update for a weekly management meeting, think about what your message in a nutshell is for every meeting. Press yourself to find a link between your message and the motivations and interests of the senior executives. The more relevant you can make your message to their driving issues, the more likely you are get their attention and receive positive comments. You have to speak to the issues that are important to senior management. They often look at the same topics in a different light. They are more likely to take a broader look or apply a wider scope to the topic. Remember that they are likely to have shifting priorities based on the current state of the business. Are you able to link your topics to the major issues like total revenue, profit margins, share price, market share, and others. Can you fit your topic into those issues?

Conclusion

While you are a technical expert and are valued for the insights you bring, when facing senior management you may need to adjust your content and dig out a message that is in line with the senior executives current reality.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“I work with high-potential senior finance executives who need to be more confident and influential with their key stakeholders. I help the executive quickly and powerfully express their opinions into message based presentations – even when under pressure.”  Learn more about who I help here.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.

Now available on Amazon.com.

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

What Leslie Nielsen, ‘Airplane!’ and ‘Naked Gun’ star can teach business presenters

Published on in Deliver with Style, presenter and You the Presenter. Closed Tags: , , , , .
No need to be serious

No need to be serious

One of the funniest films of the 1980s has to be ‘Airplane’ – a parody of air travel – with Leslie Nielsen playing a deadpan role with a line that he became most known for. Amidst all the chaos going on in the movie, people would frequently say:

“Surely you can’t be serious!”

Nielsen’s character would reply:

“I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”)

With a career spanning six decades, Nielsen is a good role model for business presenters. Here are a few things we can learn:

Be open to comedy

Nielsen played serious roles for over 30 years before he moved into comedy and parody roles, like the Naked Gun franchise. As business presenters are we open to comedy? I recommend that all presenters follow stand-up comedy as much as possible. There is nothing harder in the world that being in a dark room full of people with a microphone and having to make them laugh for 40 minutes. Watch as much stand up as you can -either live or on video. Buy a book on how to write a joke and bring humour into your business presentations whenever you can. Make sure that you are staying on the right side of good taste as a corporate presentation is not as racy as a comedy club. If you are not sure check with a friend before you deliver.

Be known for something

Nielson was best known for the above catchphrase. What is your catchphrase? What are you known for? I like the phrase “you get what you give” which acts as one of my guides in life. It prompts me to give as much value as I can as freely as I can. You might have a quotation from someone, or advice you received from a teacher. Have a handy catchphrase when you are presenting to your team – it can help them understand what drives you better and also help them catch your point.

Be in it for the long haul

In a world where Facebook keeps people busy and unproductive, the work ethic may be a thing of the past. I hope not. Nielsen worked into his 80s and appeared in over 100 films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying over 220 characters. Whatever field you are working in make sure that you are in for the long haul. Imagine you are on a 50 year career journey. What do you want to achieve? Putting off writing that book? Why not give yourself two years and set the target of writing 20 words a day. People underestimate what can be achieved through consistent effort and so they keep postponing starting a project.

Take a leaf out of Nielsen’s book and remember to be:

  1. Open to comedy

  2. Known for something

  3. In it for the long haul

And why not take another look at Airplane or Naked Gun and refresh yourself on how funny films really don’t need computer graphics to be funny.

e-book download : A copy of  The One Minute Presenter for only Usd10 here.

‘It’s Trendy To Be Free’ – Lady Gaga At Poland Show: What can you learn about presenting a clear message

Published on in Create Your Connection, Deliver with Style and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , , , .
Successful business presenter?

Successful business presenter?

An essential part of business presenting is having a clear message and making sure that the audience come away with the same message you intended to deliver.

In the pop music world where it’s fair to say most people have short attention spans, we can learn a lot from pop diva Lady Gaga. Recently Lady Gaga managed to take a stand against an issue and at the same time mention her new album numerous times (Born this Way) and still arouse the love / hate responses she is known for. One article on Lady Gaga had over three thousand comments. Not many blogs can rival that response!

So what can we learn from Lady Gaga:

1. Clearly define the issue.

Lady Gaga starts off with a succinct definition:

“The funny thing is that some people reduce freedom to a brand,” Gaga said between tears.

This is a great tagline (with pop diva emotion) that positions her against her pop rivals. By clearly defining the issue, she is now ready to lay out her position.

2. Give your opinion on the issue

Lady Gaga now states her opinion on this pressing issue:

“They think that it’s trendy now to be free. They think it’s trendy to be excited about your identity. When in truth, there is nothing trendy about ‘Born This Way.”

Did you notice the beautiful bridge to her album. Sentence starts with talking about the issue and ends with bringing the attention to her key message – which in this case is her album.

Now, having made the segue, it’s time to hammer home the message:

3. Deliver your message vividly

A powerful way to connect with an audience is to use a metaphor:

“‘Born This Way’ is a spirit, and it is this connection that we all share.”

This metaphor has now linked her message to the audience. Now it’s time to get vivid and have a dig at her pop rivals:

“It is something so much deeper than a wig or a lipstick or an outfit or a [expletive] meat dress. ‘Born This Way’ is about us, ‘Born This Way’ is about what keeps us up at night and makes us afraid.”

Injecting emotion and making her message relevant to people’s lives is another technique that business presenters can use although probably in a toned down fashion.

So while you may not know who Lady Gaga is or whether you love or hate her, make sure that you take away these important lessons:

1. Clearly define your issue

2. Give a direct opinion

3. Use vivid language to deliver your message

e-book download : A copy of  The One Minute Presenter for only Usd10 here.

Up to 90% of business presenters talk at their audience instead of interacting with them.

Published on in Deliver with Style. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Learn what type of presenter you are and five methods to hold your audience’s attention throughout your presentation.

Work pressure contributes to a total lack of preparation for important presentations
Business presenters are under a lot of pressure today. Workloads have increased as companies implemented hiring freezes during the global economic slowdown and with Blackberrys ubiquitous, executives are always “on” and subjected to a constant stream of information. While they may have to chair weekly meetings, participate in global conference calls or provide regular updates to senior managers, very rarely are these frequent communication requirements fully prepared or rehearsed.

This means many executives fall into the trap of just getting by and filling up their presentation time with a stream of data that may or not be relevant to their listeners. Executives without adequate rehearsal and preparation have to focus so much on their content – to the extent that they have to think about each sentence before delivering it – that they completely ignore the fact that an audience is listening.

When their audience is peers or juniors then no comment is made on their lacklustre performance. However, when facing senior mangers – often located in different countries – the executive can face a grilling in the question and answer section, or a hostile reception with frequent interruptions. If they don’t face such direct confrontations, then word gets back to their line manager or HR that they do not possess the communication skills to progress in the organisation.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of being focused on content, executives should understand the benefits of being audience-centric in their preparation.

Moving away from data dumping improves marketability of the executive
While work pressure and the inevitable time squeeze is unavoidable for most executives, with some preparation they can greatly improve how their message is received. This has obvious benefits for senior managers. Being known as an executive who has mastered communication skills means that you feel satisfied when you are able to influence important decisions that affect the future of the company. You are more likely to be called upon when key projects and high profile pressure situation emerge. These can greatly enhance the marketability of the executive inside the company, as well as being immensely rewarding in terms of personal fulfilment.

So if you feel that you are stuck for time and believe that you could benefit from learning how to adjust your presentation from being too content focused, don’t worry, you are not alone.

Your audience is in the same boat as you…too much information
If any of the above sounds familiar, don’t worry, you are not alone. In fact, you are in good company. Many executives have similar issues. Today’s increasingly global work day means that work never finishes and many executives feel overwhelmed by the pressure and information that they need to absorb. You don’t need a scientific study to convince yourself that executives have to digest an immense amount of information compared with ten or even five years ago.

Of course this means your audiences are often in the same boat. They have too much information and usually not much patience for data dumps or irrelevant presentations.
Executives can’t be expected to automatically know what it takes to interact with their audiences. The good news is that help is here and you can learn these skills.

Move from content to audience focus with advice from The One Minute Presenter
To take a step away from data dumping and giving irrelevant presentations that focus too much on content and adjust more to your audiences, you first need to understand what type of presenter you are.

What type of presenter are you?
You’re audience blocked if you deliver a presentation without any idea of what the audience is doing, thinking, or feeling. You don’t see potential interruptions like pen banging or mobile message checking. You don’t hear sighs of exhaustion. You don’t feel when the audience is lost or doesn’t understand your message. In short, you give the same presentation whether the audience is present or not. Many experienced presenters and trainers still have this problem. In my train-the-trainer workshops, I am frequently amazed at how blocked many ‘experienced trainers’ are when it comes to the audience. They love their content and would deliver it to an empty room.  Many technical presenters fall into this trap as they fall back on process when they are nervous.

You’re audience reliant when you constantly need the audience’s reassurance that you’re doing a good job. You’re aware of every move from the audience. If one member of the audience looks unhappy, you’re willing to stop everything and solve their issues. You’re not sure whether you did a good job unless the audience tells you that you’re great. In short, the focus is on you, and the audience is there to make you feel better.
This type of presenter often gets side-tracked and is prone to stopping the presentation if even one person in the audience is breaking a ground rule, like mobile phone checking. While admirable, this often leads to confrontations which do not move the presentation forward or put the presenter in a favourable light. Many novice presenters and under-confident presenters fall into this category.

You’re audience connected when you’re aware of the feeling in the room. You can see how individual members are reacting and although you don’t stop every time you get a negative response (like a yawn or sigh), you do course-correct. You might stop and do a quick recap or ask checking questions. You’re aware that the audience only has a limited attention span. You vary the delivery pace, and you insert activities or interactive exercises every 15 or 20 minutes. You share experiences and appropriate stories, and you’re willing to have the audience give their input into the presentation. You see the presentation as a shared experience, and actively create the connection with the audience so they give their input. The One Minute Presenter is always audience connected.

How do you interact with your audience?
Actively involve the audience
For larger presentations or trainings, adopt strategies such as games, role plays or other hands-on methods to get your audience involved with the material or subject matter. For conference calls or smaller executive meetings, use the check back method below.

Mix up your approach
To better reinforce messages and allow for individual differences in learning styles, use a variety of methods in presenting material. When in doubt, use something visual that represents your message. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth a million pictures. Do I have to mention that the visual should be relevant to your message?  Other techniques include shortening your presentation (wow what a nice surprise!) and for larger groups using different learning formats, like mini-discussion groups.

Use appropriate humor
Maintain interest by using a small amount of humor (but not too much to be distracting). Always test this out before your presentation. Ask three to five people you trust and if they agree that it’s funny – try it out. Never cross the bounds of taste and if in doubt don’t use it. Again all humour should be related to the point you wish to convey – and not just a video clip of your pet cat on a skateboard.

Always give relevant and specific examples
The more anecdotes and personal stories you can weave into your presentation, the more likely your audience is to understand and remember your message. With clients and senior managers, open with the phrase, “In my experience, ..” which sets you up as an authority in your area of expertise which is exactly what they want from you. If you don’t have any of your own stories, you can reference other people’s stories by acknowledging them. This is not as powerful as something that comes directly from you.

Probe and check back with your audience
Never assume your audience understands your message just because they are not interrupting you. Many Asian cultures do not have a habit of directly challenging a presenter but that doesn’t mean they are listening either! Get into the habit of asking questions frequently and being aware of their response. Simple checking questions – like “Does that make sense to you?”, “Can you see how this relates to the problem at hand?” – lets you see how the audience is digesting your messages and also gives permission for questions to be raised. With larger groups you can lead into problems for the audience to solve, e.g. group work or case studies. The poorest technique I have seen is to deliver your presentation and then only ask one question at the end: “Are there any questions?” Invariably there are none because the audience switched off ages ago. Insert questions every two to four minutes in your presentations.

Many executive have benefited from The One Minute Presenter coaching
I work with many senior executives from multinationals around Greater China. Just recently, after helping one senior executive to become more aware about what type of presenter he was (audience blocked) and to practise some of the techniques mentioned above, he was able to interact more effectively with his audience which meant that his presentations were more enjoyable as issues surfaced during the delivery rather than a week or two afterwards. He adjusted his interaction skills to become much more connected with his audience. He now tends to seek more audience participation as a way to test and strengthen his ideas which has made him a more effective (and liked) executive.

So what now?
If you are ready to take a step up in your career, and want to learn how to be a more powerful communicator, then visit us below and download a free chapter on how The One Minute Presenter system works to help you develop more executive presence.

About Warwick J Fahy
Warwick works with high-potential senior executives who struggle to get their point across and influence their key stakeholders. Warwick helps the executive gain respect by quickly and powerfully expressing their opinions – even when under pressure.
Warwick is the author of The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world. Warwick can be reached on  +86 21 6101 0486.

The Power of the pause

Published on in Deliver with Style. Closed Tags: , , , .

delivering-voice-energy-pause1Good tips from Chris King of Creative Keys:

How to Make Use of the Power of the Pause:

45. Begin with silence. It takes “guts” to stand in front of an audience after being introduced without saying something immediately, but this can prove to be one of the strongest ways to get their attention and to create rapport. Lee Glickstein, a well known speaking coach and speaker from Mill Valley, California, suggests that we start our presentations by standing quietly, making eye contact with audience members, letting them make contact with us, and then once everyone is comfortable and waiting with anticipation, start with a dynamic story. You will be amazed at the level of attention this produces.

46. Pause to develop relationship between you and your listeners. During a pause, the speaker is more like a listener. This is a time when both are listening and the speaker can take note of the audience’s quality of listening. We might realize that as the presenter we need to change course and tell a story or possibly ask for questions. If, however, we don’t take a moment to evaluate reactions and interest, we might just forge ahead without maintaining the audience’s attention.

47. Pause with purpose. There are many times throughout a presentation a pause can add emphasis and/or give the listener a chance to ponder, or even laugh. When we have just made an important point, a startling or unusual statement, or a call for action, participants need a moment to take notes, think about what we just said, or catch up. Even though we can hear words faster than anyone can speak, we do need time to think about what was said and then form our own ideas. If, as presenters, we give participants enough time, they will be much more likely to buy into what we are presenting than if we just keep on moving fast forward with the information that is so familiar to us. I have also heard speakers who make a humorous statement and then don’t let the audience members have time to “get it” and laugh. People need time to laugh. And laughter is important because it bonds the audience and speaker.

For additional presentation information and other Special Reports loaded with great tips visit: http://www.creativekeys.net/SpecialReports.htm

Source: Three Tips from Special Report #5 – “60 Tips on How to Give ‘Knock Their Socks Off Presentations”

Product Launch like an Executive – Memorable product launches Part 3

Published on in Deliver with Style, Finish on Time, presenter and You the Presenter. Closed Tags: , , , , .

preparing-rehearsal-video-camera-and-man1In part three of this three part look at product launches, we will build on “Less is More” as featured in Part 1 here and Taglines in Part 2.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

One of the most overlooked part of a presentation preparation is the rehearsal. Most presenters think making a slide deck is enough. Or silently clicking through slides. While others may deliver it out aloud while alone in the office. Any rehearsal is good rehearsal, but the best type is putting yourself in the actual same situation that you will face on the day.

Jobs is a role model as he conducts live on-stage rehearsals to ensure every aspect is thought through from start until finish. He is known for putting in hours at a time in the days leading up to the big day. This has helped create a culture of presentation prowess in Apple that showed in the launches that were given by Job’s colleagues in his absence due to surgery. Are you a role-model for presenting in your company?

Allocate one whole day before your next big presentation and spend the day rehearsing in a live environment with your slides, projector, and clicker ideally on the actually stage that you will deliver the product launch. If there is a question and answer section in your presentation, rehearse that too by inviting your team members to fire questions at you from the floor. Time spent in live rehearsal will show when you deliver with style on the day.
Make sure you don’t sell your next product short by cutting corners on the big presentation launch. Investing time to deliver a visually stimulating, tagline-rich message will allow all your stakeholders to walk away with an easy-to-remember message. A good presentation can then be passed onto your sales team to use in front of key accounts and helps your marketing team push a consistent powerful message through your usual marketing channels. An added benefit will be that your high standards of presentation preparation will trickle down to your team members.

RESOURCE BOX

Warwick John Fahy is the international executive speech coach for senior executives, business leaders and entrepreneurs who need to influence clients, investors, shareholders and team members. His highly practical approach and deep cross cultural intelligence have made him a sought-after business presentation coach throughout the world.

Warwick is the author of the acclaimed book, The One Minute Presenter – 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world. For free executive speaking tips visit http://www.oneminutepresenter.com/blog

To arrange presentation skills training or coaching to build your executive presence visit this web site.

For a media interview call +86 1391 786 7502.

Copyright 2010 Warwick John Fahy All rights reserved.

iPad product launch: What Makes Steve Jobs a Great Presenter?

Published on in Create Your Connection, Deliver with Style, Events, interaction, presenter, produce your message, rapport and Visual presentations. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .
ipad
The new iPad
by Rebecca Hong

Steve Jobs is my favorite presenter for his ability to get his message across so clearly and effectively. I love listening to his commencement speech in Stanford University entitled “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish”. This morning I listened to Steve’s iPad product launch presentation. Steve Jobs proves himself to be a great presenter again. I would like to evaluate his presentation from a presentation skills perspective. I won’t touch upon the technical side even though I am fully sold that iPad is a phenomenal gadget.

Let me tell you why I think Steve Jobs is a great presenter.

1. Well-designed Structure/Organization

A great presentation starts by having a well designed structure/organization. So let’s first look at the structure of his presentation; the opening, body and closing. Please pay special attention to some very good transitions in between points.

Opening

Steve Jobs first overviewed of the company status-mainly good news about product sales and the large customer base. Then he threw out a question: “Is there a 3rd category device between a smart phone and a laptop?” The answer is: iPad.

Body

  1. Overview of what iPad can do.

Transition: “So that gives you a little overview of what the iPad can do, but it’s nothing like seeing it. So I’d like to show it to you now.”

Demo of what iPad can do.

– web surfing: New York Times, Buy movie tickets, National Geography

– emails

– photos

– calendar

– address book

– maps: Google Map

– video: Youtube, TV, movies,

II. Hardware features of iPad

III. 3rd party software features of iPad: App Store (presented by Scott Forstall, Apple Senior VP of iPod Software)

Demo of online game

Demos from several 3rd party software developers/content providers

IV. New App: iBooks (Steve Jobs back to present)

Overview

Demo

Transition: “Now, something very exciting: the iWork.”

V. App: iWork for iPad (presented by Phil Schiller, Sr VP Product Marketing)

Overview

Demo

– Keynote

– Pages

– Numbers

VI. Sync with iTunes (Steve Jobs back to present)

VII. Wireless networking in US and internationally

VIII. Pricing

First gave the product benefits: what iPad can do, Apps, iBook App, iWork App.

Then gave a price in pundits’ opinion: $999

Then shows the actual price: $499 and the more expensive models with higher capacity

IX. 3 Accessories

– a dock to view photos

– a key board dock

– a case for protection and serves as stand

X. Video of iPad

Closing

Echo the opening

Call for action: get your hands on it to feel it.

2. Subtle Salesmanship

Steve Jobs utilized this product launch opportunity not only to introduce the new product but also to persuade the audience to own it by adding many salesmanship lines. Let’s see how he made his sales pitch subtle but effective.

Example 1. After the demo of what the iPad can do, Steve said, “I have to say, though, watching it is nothing like getting it in your hands and feeling it right underneath your fingers.” This is to tell the audience that you need to own this gadget to really feel its charm.

Example 2. When it’s time to unveil the price of iPad, Steve first recapped the product benefits: what iPad can do, Apps, iBook App, iWork App. Then he didn’t tell the price right away. But to build some suspense and also contrast, he gave a price in pundits’ opinion: $999. Of course, the actual price is much lower: $499 for the most basic model and higher prices for other more advanced models. Here Steve used two skills. The first one is to mention benefits before the price so that buyers are reminded of the wonderful benefits of this product first and then are more likely to accept the price. The second skill Steve used is to give a higher price first and then the real lower price. This contrast of prices naturally makes the buyer feel the actual price is really low and it’s a great deal to get it at this price.

Example 3. At the end of the speech, Steve called for action to own this product. “So we’ve got a hands-on area next door, we’d like to get you to get your hands on an iPad because when you feel all this power, and this much fun and the internet in your hands, you will never want to go back.” This call to action is effective because it is not a hard sale. Rather it appeals to the emotions: the desire to feel, to have fun, and the need to try something cutting-edge.

3. Echo between the Opening and the Closing

When you first listen to the opening of the presentation, you might think that it seems a bit irrelevant to the main topic of this presentation, the iPad launch. But when you listen to the closing of the presentation, you will realize that actually the opening is well structured to serve as a set up for the closing. The opening’s main message of Apple having a massive customer base links to the closing message that this massive customer base is exactly the customer foundation for iPad and why iPad will take off strong in the market.

Let’s have a close look of how the opening and the closing echo with each other.

  1. Opening: “Everybody uses a laptop or smart phone… Is there a room for the 3rd category of device in the middle? Something between a laptop and a smart phone?”

Closing: “So let’s go back to the beginning. Do we have what it takes to establish a 3rd category product, an awesome product that’s in between a laptop and a smart phone…We think we got the goods. We think we’ve done it.”

  1. Opening: “A few weeks ago, we have sold our 25millionth iPod.”

Closing: “Because we’ve shipped over 75million iPhones and iTouchs, there are over 75 million people already know how to use the iPad.”

  1. Opening: “A few weeks ago, we announced that a user downloaded the 3 billionth application from the App Store.”

Closing: “Users have downloaded 12 billion products from these stores (iTune, iApps and iBooks), so we are at scale and we are ready for the iPad.”

  1. Opening: “We’d like to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product today.”

Closing: “Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”

4. A Strong Tagline

A good speech, no matter how long or short it is, should be able to be crystallized into a sentence or even a phrase, which we call a tagline. Steve Jobs gave this iPad a clear and strong tagline:

“iPad is a truly magical and revolutionary product.”

(Short version, used in the opening)

“iPad our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”

(Longer version, used in the closing)

This longer version tagline perfectly crystallized the features of iPad: advanced technology, magical, revolutionary and the affordable price.

However, I do have some recommendation to make this tagline stronger. The problem with the current tagline is that it puts the focus on the most advanced technology, which is too technical oriented. I would recommend to change it to focus on its emotional appeal:

“iPad is a truly magical & revolutionary device with our most advanced technology at an unbelievable price.”

(recommended tagline)

The changed version puts the emotional appeal of “a truly magical & revolutionary device” as the focus in this tagline to make it more user oriented rather than technology oriented.

5. Well Paced Speed and Great Use of Pauses

If there is one thing that differentiates Steve Jobs from other great speakers, it is his speaking speed. Steve’s speaking speed is about 100-120 words per minute while a normal English speaker’s speed is about 210 words per minute. This means Steve is 50% slower when he speaks. Why does Steve Jobs speak slowly? Because he enunciates each word clearly and he takes time to emphasize the key words and messages. The effect of his slow pace is that audience will feel very comfortable following him without being rushed or missing anything he said. As a result he gets his message across successfully.

Here is an example of how he uses pauses effectively. When he made the statement that “Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”, Steve puts three pauses in this sentence to let the audience hear and get the three features clearly:

“Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology [pause] in a magical & revolutionary device [pause] at an unbelievable price [pause].”

6. Beautiful Selection of Words

Listening to a speech with beautiful words is like listening to a masterpiece of music. Steve Jobs is one of the speakers who carefully selects his use of words. He uses many adjectives in his presentations and metaphors to create mental pictures in audience minds.

Example 1. “This is around 18 months since its inception, 3 billion applications from App Store.”

Example 2. “The e-book app. Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this functionality with Kindle and we are going to stand on their shoulders and go a little further.”

7. Show of Emotions

A good presenter connects with the audience on a personal level by expressing his own emotions. Steve Jobs is such a presenter. Here is a good example: “We just ended our holiday quarter, our 1st fiscal quarter of 2010, with $15.6 billions of revenue. I don’t even believe that!”

8. Repetition of Key Lines

Steve Jobs knows the power of repetition to strike his main messages in the audience minds. Here are two examples:

Example 1. “By revenue, Apple is the biggest mobile device company in the world now… Apple is the #1 mobile device company in the world.”

Example 2. “Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” (repeated once)

9. One Message per Slide

In all Apple’s presentations, you will see what it means to have one message per slide. Besides, the most important message is put in bigger font while narratives in smaller font. Here is one example:

Sample slide:

50,000,000

Visitors last quarter

10. Never Forget to Promote the Company/Brand

Steve Jobs smartly utilized the product launch opportunity to promote the company and build up its Apple brand. Here are two examples.

Example 1. In the beginning of the presentation, Steve Jobs gave a positioning to Apple: “Apple is a mobile devices company. That’s what we do.” If you think Apple is just a digital appliance company, then after listening to this speech, you know that to be specific, Apple is a mobile devices company.

Example 2. At the end of the presentation, Steve Jobs reiterated the competitive advantage of Apple: “We’ve always tried to be at the crossroad of technology and liberal arts, to be able to get the best of the both.” This is what differentiates Apple from other technical companies.

So the above ten skills were demonstrated by Steve Jobs in his 1.5 hour iPad product launch presentation. Steve is a role model as a highly effective technical presenter. But only seeing is believing. So go to www.apple.com to see it with your own eyes and listen with your own ears.

Vary your Lifeforce

Published on in Deliver with Style. Closed Tags: , , , .
Vary your energy

Vary your energy

Even a well framed and messaged presentation delivered in a monotonous and disinterested manner will be poorly received. Executives (and all presenters) have a bubble within which they are comfortable. It has been successful to get them to where they are today. However, I am often asked to help executives with strong technical backgrounds to make the step up to senior positions. This requires coming out of the comfort bubble which means overcoming deeply engrained habits. Common habits include being too softly-spoken, projecting a constant (often low) stream of energy and little variety in voice and energy throughout a presentation.

I don’t believe you need to be an extrovert to be a good presenter. Steve Jobs is regarded as one of world’s best business presenters without being a hyper-energetic speaker. However, regardless of your starting point, you do need variety in your presentation.

The most obvious is to bring enthusiasm for your subject. When you are enthusiastic, energy levels increase and this is very attractive to the audience. Think about how you talk about your hobbies to your friends. What gets your energy going? Talking about the sports results, mentioning your toddler’s latest developments or sharing your knowledge with others? A good resource for enthusiastic presentations can be found at TED Talks (www.ted.com). Pick a topic and notice how the passion of each speaker is very engaging.

Examples of Lifeforce:

Take your next presentation and after you have prepared all the content (including messages), practice delivering it out aloud a couple of times. When you feel you are starting to get familiar with the flow, take the opening one minute and deliver it as though it was the most boring topic in the world. Then, go straight into delivering the same one minute as though it is the most interesting topic to you. Record both rehearsals. Playback and observe the main differences in your delivery. Pace and intonation of your voice. Energy delivered. Which one would your audience prefer to listen to? Which one would be more engaging and persuasive?

Use your energy and lifeforce to put a sparkle into your presentation delivery. Variety is the key to keeping your audience engaged.