Tag Archive for 'produce your message'

The Engaging Speaker shares relevant personal anecdotes that support a message

Published on in The Engaging Speaker. Closed Tags: , .

Find your personal anecdotes

I recently went to renew my work visa. While changing metro lines I was walking along reading The Economist. I boarded the metro going the wrong direction. By the time I changed back and got to the train station, I missed my train by 2 minutes. I went to change my ticket for a later one and the ticketing system crashed. When I arrived in Suzhou, the taxi took me to the wrong road. Later in the day another taxi couldn’t find the government building. After completing one process, the lift went up instead of down. Unexpectedly, the payment process changed to credit card only, no cash. As I was taking the urgent track I had to pay an additional fee; cash no card.

Throughout this experience I didn’t get too stressed. In fact, despite all the small obstacles I finished the whole process in two hours. Having lived in China for so long I’ve come to understand that the best state of mind in these situations is to be calm and amused. As a triathlete, I’ve learned to race the race as it unfolds and not the one I had planned.

 

Taking the above anecdote, I could link it to several messages:

1. In China a calm state of mind works best.

2. A plan is only as good as how you react to changes in the plan

3. Be prepared. But be prepared to adapt.

4. Getting things done in China come with stress.

 

There could be several different types of messages that I could relate to the personal anecdote. Collect your experiences and think about messages that can help people learn from your experiences. People love stories and they’ll focus in when you tell them.

 

One final tip when telling anecdotes: add small concrete details to make your story come alive and feel more real. Mr Orange, played by Tim Roth, in Reservoir Dogs was an undercover cop trying to infiltrate a heist gang. The scenes where Mr Orange is rehearsing his story with his colleague is a great lesson on how to add the small but important details in a story.

 

 

 

What can Nordic design teach us about influencing skills?

Published on in Create Your Connection, Events, Presentation Analysis and Speech Analysis. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

I recently attended Nordic Innovation Week and was especially impressed by an event around what Nordic design is, how it’s regarded and how it can be used in China. As I listened to the three speakers, there were some good takeaways from an influencing and communication perspective :

Here’s what I observed:

 

Speaker 1: Lars Falk, VP of Design, China, Volvo.

Lars was talking around the context of building a design centre in China.

What he did well?

1. He made a human connection in the opening

Lars started by building rapport.

He showed his enthusiasm for the topic.

Shared his personal journey as a timeline.

He quoted Confucius “ wisdom is what you don’t know”

He contrasted the tastes of the Chinese consumers in 2011 and 2013.

He compared design tastes of different counties visually using their flags.

 

2. He set up the main content with a connecting question

“So what does China want?”

This gets the audience thinking along the right lines. He answers the question in a nutshell (great material and exterior design) and then moves onto the body of his content.

 

3. Good structure for the main content

Lars divided his content into three parts; Proportions, Dimensions and Interior Design.

He used impactful visuals to make his points in each section.

 

4. Attention grabbing close

Lars used a powerful but simple pie chart showing how 96% of a car in China should be on par with the best in the world. While the final 4% should be something special for China. This one chart really summed up nicely his topic. Then he closed it out with a quote from Einstein.

 

Speaker 2: Henrik Larsson, Head of Architecture of Inter IKEA Centre China.

Henrik’s talk was around implementing Scandinavian design in China through the eyes of IKEA’s real estate developments.

 

What he did well?

1. Set the context

Henrik briefly described IKEA’s approach to building around their stores to create a more complete retail presence and their current projects with shopping centres in Beijing, Wuhan and Wuxi.

 

2. He had a clear overarching structure

Why we do it

What it is

How to do it

This helps to keep the audience’s direction on track through the 30min talk.

 

3. Soundbite messages

Henrik used short and snappy messages throughout his talk.

We unify

We save

Design makes a difference

 

4. Used a clear visual style for slides

When running through the “What is it” section, Henrik used various characteristics to explain Scandinavian design (human, modern, functional) and had a clear visual for each point. The consistency ran through the characteristics. A large picture with key words dominated each slide. Each picture was a metaphorical representation of the big idea.

 

5. Closing in reality

After abstract (and highly interesting) discussions around Nordic design, Henrik came back to reality and showed some plans from current developments. We learned about the anchor layout, how multiple attraction points are developed and key traffic pullers in each development. It was a good way to show how the principles are applied.

 

Speaker 3: Olle Carlbark Director SCA Innovation Centre in China, SCA.

Olle’s talk was based around introducing SCA and a case study of launching a product in the baby diaper market In China.

 

What he did well?

1. Set the journey

Olle opened with a quick slide showing the agenda clearly. Four sections:

This is SCA

Innovation

Relaunch Sealer

China insights

 

2. Keep self-directed information short

I was interested to learn about SCA but sometimes company profiles can drag on. Olle kept it short and used visuals to show the wide range of brands his company covered. His message “Europe’s largest forest owner” was a nice soundbite.

 

3. Case study

A case study on relaunching a product with some innovative safety features and package design that catered to local needs was capped off with a video TV commercial. Using a mixture of media is a good way to break up your delivery. All media used should be relevant and consistent in quality and message.

 

4. Close with clarity

Olle finished with a slide showing main innovation drivers in China. Three points.

 

 

Conclusion

All speeches were well structured, included personal touches and generally had very clear impactful visuals. It helped make the experience of learning about Nordic design and how it’s applied in China enjoyable and easy to digest.

 

Big mistakes executives make while communicating

Published on in executive presence, produce your message and speaking with purpose. Closed Tags: , , , .

Speak without a clear message

Executives from technical disciplines, such as finance or engineering, often have a misconception that technical ability is more important than communicating effectively. The very skills that make technical experts successful actually prevent them from being promoted to senior management. They focus too heavily on process and small details when the situation requires something more concise. Unlike junior managers, a senior executive’s main role is to communicate a clear and compelling message.

Executives with presence understand how to tell the story behind the numbers, correctly balancing big-picture with small details. The best executives, such as Steve Jobs, communicate effectively using simple and concise language that conveys powerful and memorable messages. Jobs has honed this skill over the years and his product launches contain such gems as, “Today, Apple reinvents the phone” from the 2007 iPhone launch. This ability to express a situation in its simplest terms is often overlooked by technical executives. However, all effective executive communicators have mastered this art.

Here are some examples of four word messages which can be used as an “umbrella” message or overall message for a pitch, presentation, change initiative or campaign. Once you have an umbrella message, each supporting section would also be given a short message to summarize that section of information:

“Better city, Better life” from Shanghai Expo 2010.
“The best-run businesses run SAP”from SAP Advertising campaign.
“Stay hungry, stay foolish” – Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford, 2005.
“Real Estate for Your World” from Century 21.
“The Ultimate Driving Machine” from BMW.
“The Company for Women” from Avon Products, Inc.
“Expect More. Pay Less.” from Target Corporation.
“Photonics in the Fast Lane” from Thor Labs.
“The Miracles of Science” from DuPont.

Taken from the book “Speaking with Purpose: “How to present ideas that matter in 18 minutes or less”. Learn more about the workbook here.

About the Author

“Warwick helps C-level executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, who need to become more confident and effective in their spoken communications. Warwick helps the executive project a clear message allowing them to express their opinions powerfully and gain respect from senior managers 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”.

Buy The One Minute Presenter here.

The power of five minute modules

Published on in executive presence and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , .

The content of your speech is like a diamond necklace. Imagine a string of stones on this necklace. Every diamond on your necklace is five minutes of content. Rather than delivering a data dump, these shorter modules help the audience digest your material and stay on track during your talk. Working your ideas into strong five-minute modules is the start of a great presentation.

Practice delivering these modules with different speech objectives from the Toastmasters manuals. I recently delivered five manual talks to identify five minutes of good content that I used as part of a 40 minute presentation. This polishing of content is the process that stand-up comedians use to refine their act. In the documentary Comedian, Jerry Seinfeld creates a new stand-up act. He went from comedy club to comedy club trying out new material and then reflecting on what worked and what didn’t. You can use a similar process.

Refine your content with these three steps: test-edit-test. Don’t just deliver a speech once. Instead, record every speech you deliver and listen to it. Observe when people laugh or react to parts of your speech. Extract those parts and try them again with a different audience. When different audiences react positively, you know you have good content. But what if your material flops? Try it on another audience. If it still doesn’t go over well, refine it and try it on a third audience. If after three times of re-working a story and it flops every time, drop it! Becoming more aware of how your audience reacts to your content is essential to being a better speaker.

Flexibility is the hallmark of all great presenters. You can ‘string’ your talk with different ‘stones’ of content depending on your speech message and audience. Each module could be delivered independently or as part of a longer presentation.

Express the big picture with your big idea

Published on in executive presence and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Crowns are used to represent power and convey legitimacy to the person wearing them. But crowns are not only for kings. You can ‘wear’ one to represent your expertise. Your crown of expertise is your big idea and frames everything you speak on. It provides the context for your talk and helps the audience understand the big picture before you go deeper into detailed content. Let’s illustrate with four examples:

1. Rory Vaden in a recent talk in China explained his big idea as “take the stairs”. He used it as a metaphor to mean literally stay in shape and also symbolically as the pathway to success. It’s easy to understand, remember and pass along.

2. Simon Sinek, a professional speaker, has a big idea called “start with why”. Simon believes that before you decide on a career, you should first understand what drives you by clarifying your passions in life. All his talks are hooked back to this main theme.

3. Educator Sir Ken Robinson’s big idea is to “increase creativity in schools”. He delivered two famous talks to TED Talks (www.ted.com) on this topic. His humorous delivery was effective because it reinforced his core message.

4. Zappo’s, an online retailer, big idea is to deliver “wow through customer service”. Their customer-friendly service allows goods to be returned up to one year after purchase and offers free shipping both ways.

Your big idea is your crown of expertise. It is expressed in three to five words, and can be applied to your job, your experience, your background or just a topic you like to speak on with passion. Create a big idea for your next presentation to help the audience remember your main message. With a big idea, you can also better filter ideas and decide how relevant they are for your speech

Lessons when communicating to senior managers: Get to the Point

Published on in executive presence, Master the Q&A and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , , .

A key skill to master when delivering your message is getting to the point. This is especially important when your audience are senior managers who are short on time and need to make decisions effectively before moving onto the next issue on their agendas. This is part of “Produce your Message”, step 3 in the 8 step journey of  The One Minute Presenter.

It’s a challenging skill to acquire as it often requires a different approach.

Start with the outcome. Most busy executives need to know the range of possible outcomes before they can make a decision. Don’t hold back on the possible consequences of your proposal or a plan. If you wait until the end of your presentation, you are likely to get interrupted with abrupt questions.

Samples:

“In today’s presentation I will outline the new project X which has the potential to increase our market share between 3% and 25% I will explain why that range is so wide and ask for your decision on getting stage one moving at the end of the presentation.”

“The main reason we are having issues in our quality control is due to our change in supplier. I will outline the implications and make some recommendations on how we can reduce defects immediately.”

Know what your message is. Spend time to think about the key point or message of your presentation. In workshops we help managers acquire this skill by taking a longer explanation and gradually boiling it down to it’s most salient point. This will give you clarity on what the core point you wish to convey is and importantly will help you deliver it concisely to your audience.

Samples:

“In a nutshell, the main message from today’s presentation has been the urgent need to align project controllers with the current priorities of the project managers. After lunch we will discuss how we will implement this in the next quarter.”

“In today’s presentation, I will explain our plans for 2011-12. The takeaway message is ‘maintain premium clients, expand into business parks’. Let’s start with our existing client base…”

Don’t be afraid to emphasis your message. Just because you said your message once, doesn’t mean the audience understood or remembered  it. Think about different ways of conveying the same point.

Samples:

“Executive presence is the key to building up an effective leadership team.”

“Our senior managers need to become more influential. Executive presence should be part of their development plan.”


Be brief and then be gone is the best advice you can have when delivering to senior managers. Spend time to craft yoru message and then refine it so that you can say it in the fewest possible words.


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

‘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.