8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world
It’s that time of year again for review and reflection. This post shares with you the three most read articles on The One Minute Presenter from 2011.
iPad product launch: What Makes Steve Jobs a Great Presenter?
Five ways to know if you are a presentation professional or a presentation amateur
Other resources:
CEOs: Are executives frustrating you with their unproductive communication style? Read here for more on how you can groom executives to think, act and communicate like a leader.
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
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
Professional or amateur?
What is a professional? My key words are high standards, excellence, role-modelling, expertise, high status and remuneration.
The original meaning of amateur comes from the Latin root for love {amo} and used to be applied to hobbies and sports eg Olympian athletes had to be amateurs until the 1970s and today all boxers must still be amateurs. While it does have positive meanings, the word tends to be used more with “sub-par” and shoddy performance. Used as an contrast to professional performance.
I am a keen observer of business presentations, and have seen common behaviours that I think are amateur and should not be employed by business professionals, especially the C-level executives that I work with. If you are doing the following five things in your presentations, you might wish to consider the message you are sending your audience, and consider taking a more professional approach:
#1 You hit the microphone before you speak [to test that it is on].
The message you send the audience: “I have not done a sound check before the meeting and I have no concern at all that blowing or hitting the microphone sounds awful and looks worse. “
The Professional’s approach: You arrive early to the venue. You seek out the technical staff. You check the volume and sound quality from all the microphones. You prepare a backup microphone. You make sure that there is no feedback from the microphones when you move around on the stage.
#2 You run your presentation off a USB stick
The message you send the audience: “I didn’t think through the possibility that there would be a problem. Don’t worry, I’ll take a couple of minutes during the presentation to reload my USB and presentation.”
The Professional’s approach: You realise that it’s quite easy for a USB stick to disconnect, and that the most stable solution causes the least problems. You load your presentation onto the computer’s desktop. You test it by running through all your slides. You still plug in your USB stick as a backup. It’s there in the unlikely event that you will need it.
#3 You read from your slides
The message you send the audience: “I have done so little preparation that I don’t know what I really want to say, so I have written my whole script on this slide. And now I am going to read it word by word, even though you can read it much faster than I can say it.”
The Professional’s approach: You understand that text based slides are boring, dull and result in very poor memory retention. You know that the audience switches off when they see such slides. You rehearse thoroughly so that you have a clear message which each slide supports. You make your slides more visual - using pictures, simple charts and tables - rather than dumping data or cramming text. You prepare a handout if you need to pass on technical details or financial information.
#4 You walk across the screen while you are presenting
The message you send the audience: “I am so unaware of how this looks, that I think it’s fine to walk in front of the screen, stretch across the screen to reach the computer to advance the next slide, or even present with the slide projecting onto my face.“
The Professional’s approach: You understand that a presentation is a performance where you are in control of the stage including the technology and lighting. You use a wireless clicker to remotely advance slides. You practice with the clicker so you know how to use it. You are discreet while using it and point it at the computer - not the screen - when advancing slides. You ‘black out’ the screen when you need to walk across the stage so that the slide is not projected onto your face. You are in control of how and when the audience sees the slides. The slides support you and your message, not dominate the whole presentation.
#5 You finish with the Q&A
The message you send the audience: “I don’t mind the presentation finishing with low energy, or the final words being, ‘No more questions? I guess I’m finished then.”
The Professional’s approach: You know that the main purpose of a presentation is for you to deliver a message to your audience that they will remember, take away and possibly act on. You know that question and answer sessions often peeter out and are not a strong way to round off a presentation. You have prepared - and perhaps scripted - your close so that your key messages get reinforced and the audience know exactly the next step they should take upon leaving your presentation. There is a clear and motivating call to action.
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’
No doubt you will hear many accolades to Steve Jobs over the coming days. As I look at Steve Jobs though my lens - business communication - he is iconic in his approach to constructing, preparing, rehearsing and delivering fantastic experiences in the form of his key note presentations at Apple product launches over the past three decades.
When I work with executives in coaching and workshops, I regularly use clips of Jobs in action to help de-construct what he does that is insanely great [to use a popular Job adjective].
If you have never seen his speeches or presentation, I would recommend his Standford commencement address in which he uses three personal stories to share his life passions and drives. For a business presentation, his 2001 ipod launch or 2007 iphone launch are great examples for how business presenters can put together a clear, compelling message and deliver it in a memorable well-paced fashion.
Over the course of The One Minute Presenter’s blog since 2009, we have featured Jobs in a number of blogs. Here are a selection:
Conclusion
I am a strong believer in the power of role models as a catalyst to improving your own skills. Steve Jobs has left a legacy of fantastic presentations that will continue to set a high benchmark for all business communicators in the years to come.
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’
In running The One Minute Presenter workshops around Asia, we encounter the pains and challenges of “death by PowerPoint”. The main problem is that business presenters mis-use the tool - treating it more like a word processing tool than a visual aid software. We see slides crammed full of text because the presenter wants the crutch of being able to read the text in case they forget what to say. In other words, they are putting their script on the slide. This is a lazy approach to business presenting. It replaces proper rehearsal with text heavy, instantly forgettable data heavy slides.
A large part of our workshop shows how to create a message and connect it to the audience. In this article, we will cover three simple tips you can use to create more attractive and memorable slides. We frequently work with technical presentations and financial presentations and these skills can be applied to these situations as well. Remember that the golden rule while presenting is variety.
Tip 1: Use full slide pictures
Instead of packing text onto the slide, use full screen pictures to add impact. In this example you can use it as an opening slide for a section, or as a talking point. You show the picture and then relate how it is relevant for the message you are delivering for your audience.
Tip 2: Use metaphors and taglines
In this example, a picture is used as a metaphor. It conveys the meaning behind the message. The added tagline “when you connect you plug into the audience” reinforces the meaning. In this case, as a presenter you may not need to add anything further. Simply letting the audience read the slide can be effective. Don’t fall into this trap: reading every word on the slide. Often it’s not necessary as the audience can read quicker than you can speak.
Tip 3: Add a summary slide
Get into the habit of recapping every section and adding a summary slide at the end of the presentation. It allows the audience to mentally catch-up and by refreshing what you said they can digest the message. This will improve memory recall rates and importantly it can be used as an opportunity for you to answer relevant questions to that section. Summary slides should be clean with key points only. No new information should be added. The purpose is to simply review the previous messages.
Summary
While this is not an exhaustive coverage of slide design, critically look at your slides and ask yourself if you are using them as your script or are they truly an aid for the audience to better understand your message. Be audience-focused not presenter focused and you will be on the road to getting your point across in an engaging and memorable way.
About the Author: Warwick J Fahy
“I work with C-level executives working for multinationals in Asia Pacific who lack the executive presence to effectively influence key stakeholders. While these executives are very smart, very knowledgeable and highly capable, a key piece is missing. These executives’ communication skills need polishing.
I help executives build a strong foundation in executive communication so that they are able to better think, act and communicate like a high performing leader. 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 Warwick helps here.
Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.
Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com
Being a subject matter expert is often why you are called upon to deliver a speech. However, your content is not enough. You need the secret sauce of inspirtainment; an ability to both inspire and entertain your audience while delivering great content. This requires a deep source of inspirational stories and anecdotes that relate to your big idea or speech topic.
Moving people to action requires inspiration
One way to find inspiring examples is through other people. While visiting Holland, I was inspired by Richard Bottram. To raise awareness for cancer charities after he lost his wife to cancer, Richard conceived the idea of the Wheel of Energy situated next to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. This huge wheel turned 24 hours a day for one year with people running in it at all times. Richard committed to run a marathon every single day for a year – 365 marathons. This amazing effort kept his worthy cause in the public’s mind and also engaged people around the world to come and run in the Wheel of Energy. As I listened to Richard’s story, I thought “Wow. This is amazing.” I now call this the “wow” test. Whenever I find something inspiring that makes me go “wow”, I write it down as a story for a future talk.
Use your own experience to inspire
Another way to make even deeper connections is to share your own inspirational stories. This helps you become a more authentic speaker. Your story could come from your hobby. In 2010, I completed an Ironman triathlon in 36C (97F) heat which included a 3.8km swim (2.4miles), 180km bike ride (112 miles) and finished with a marathon. It was by far the hardest physical challenge I ever faced. When I told a friend about the race, he said, “So what does triathlon mean? Tri-not-to-die?!” Although the Ironman is a tough race, I learned from the experience of training consistently for over a year and pushing through the heat and physical discomfort during the race.
Such an experience could reinforce a point in a talk. For example, I could use my 12-month training regime to illustrate the message that small consistent steps can overcome seemingly huge obstacles. Or I could use the heat as a metaphor for the challenges we all face along the way to achieving something worthwhile. Look for ways to connect your inspirational story to your big idea. Practice delivering your story in under five minutes clearly stating how it links to your big idea.
Find your “wows”. What are you doing that you take for granted but other people think is amazing? A single mother bringing up four children has a wealth of insights, experiences and wisdom that could benefit many people. Your work, family, hobbies, achievements, failures, where you spend most of your time, where you would like to spend most of your time are all sources for inspirational insights.
Be open to finding your stories. If you carry around a phone with a camera, take pictures of newspaper clippings that inspire you or capture scenes from your life that you can use in your next presentation. Use your phone’s recorder to capture ideas and re-listen to them so that you remember to work them into a talk or develop them into five minute modules.
One of the most important steps in preparing for any type of communication is understanding the motivations and burning issues for your audience. We call this “Treasure your Audience” and it’s step 2 in the 8 step journey of The One Minute Presenter.
Two words that should be burned into your memory when it comes to communication is “don’t assume”.
Don’t assume that the audience has the same motivations this week as last week. Regular meetings can get into a rut - most people don’t bother to prepare in advance for them - and if you don’t check what is top-of-mind for your senior manager this week, you may be missing opportunities to align your message with his interests. Or you may annoy or irritate him by focusing on the wrong topics. Ask checking questions before your presentation.
Samples:
“I am planning to cover A, B and C. Which area would you like me to cover in most depth?”
“Has anything changed from the last time we spoke? Would you like me to focus on any particular area first?”
Don’t assume that you know the motivation behind a question. Have the confidence to check-back and narrow the focus of a question.This will prevent you from answering the wrong question (from your manager’s perspective) and help you to only answer the question with the appropriate level of detail. Don’t attempt to download everything you know on the topic of the question. Give shorter answers and allow your manager to make a follow up question.
Samples:
“Thank you for your question. Could I just clarify whether you would like me to go into A or B in more depth?”
“That could be covered from different perspectives. Which perspective would you like me to address first? X or Y”
Don’t assume that every audience can be handled in the same way. In many regards, every time you speak is an unique occasion. Even if you are speaking to the same audience at regular periodic meetings, they are in a different state of mind. They have different things on their mind, different current pressures and different immediate motivations.
Samples:
“We covered this issue in great detail last time, what extra insight would we like to cover this time?”
“What is your most burnign question at this moment in time.”
Always keep these two words close at hand when you are presenting and communicating. Assumptions are the root of most misunderstandings. The most confident communicators can push-back and check what exactly their manager or audience would like to get from the presentation.
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Learn easy-to-implement strategies to communicate more effectively with your senior managers
Many technical experts find a glass ceiling prevents future promotions
While you are technically excellent and have risen through the ranks smoothly until now, you sense resistance to your future promotion prospects. Your last two performance reviews have flagged up communication skills as a development area. But to be honest, you are not entirely convinced that you need to improve – you have been successful in your career, so why change now?
You have to give opinions on complex issues to directors who may not fully understand all the technical aspects. As you are not sure how much they know about the technical issues, you have tended to explain all the basic processes in a logical fashion so that the directors will understand your conclusions. This approach often results in your presentation being interrupted and you sense that the directors get impatient the longer you speak. Although you are comfortable in one-to-one interactions, when you are standing in front of your superiors and getting asked a question, you find it difficult to find the words to adequately express your ideas concisely.
You are not always fully certain that you understand the motivations of the people in the meeting or on the conference call. Some directors you only see once a year and others you have never met before. It’s difficult to know how to prepare a presentation for people you don’t know well and who may have different expectations. The result is that you sense a lot of frustration and tension when communicating with your senior managers. It doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t need to be stuck here forever.
Finance executives who switch their mindset can become valued business partners
Imagine a situation where you are able to engage with your directors on an equal footing. Shatter the glass ceiling that is preventing your promotion by grasping the essentials of executive communication. Switch your mindset from a technical expert to an effective executive by understanding how future leaders all have superior communication skills. Adapt to how top executives think so that you layer your presentation and deliver just the right amount of technical detail. Handle question and answer sessions with confidence and use a framework to manage unexpected questions. Anticipate the motivations of senior executives and how to deliver on these expectations to a diverse audience.
You are not alone.
Advance your career by learning how to speak like an executive
If any of the above sounds familiar, don’t worry, you are not alone. In fact, you are in good company. Most senior finance people have similar issues. Being technical experts means that you are excellent with process, procedure, the integrity of data, and especially paying attention to very small details. All of which is essential – and desirable - in finance executives. However, when you reach a certain level in the organisation, these technical skills become less important as the core task of an executive is to make decisions and communicate them throughout the organisation. All highly effective executives are superb communicators and presenters and they set the benchmark for others to follow. Today, when decisions are made on who to hire as a CFO, CEO or other key role -the ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders is one of the top two or three competencies.
With the right support you can become a confident presenter
However, as a finance expert, you can’t be expected to automatically know what it takes to be an engaging and confident presenter – you are not an executive speech coach – and with the demands on finance executives already very much more than they were a few years ago, your time is squeezed so that executive communication skills has probably been relegated to only a couple days of training if at all. The good news is that help is here.
To take a step away from being a technical expert and learning the craft of an effective executive communicator, here are five things you need to do and a couple of things not to do:
Tip 1: Always stand up to deliver a speech of importance.
An engaging speaking voice is very relevant today, as many business presentations are given through teleconferences. The lack of visual cues makes it harder for listeners to catch the message and tougher for speakers to read the audience. Standing up places you in an assertive posture and allows deeper breathing from your diaphragm which aids better vocal quality projection. Opera singers could not deliver with such a wide range while sitting. Strengthening your abdominal muscles enables you to better fill your lungs with air. So you now have another reason to get to the gym.
Tip 2: Gradually expand your ability to project your voice.
Adding strength and authority starts with becoming comfortable with the sound of your own voice. Before I became a professional speaker, I was incredibly shy and self-conscious when speaking to groups. Partly this is because I am a natural introvert like many professionals in finance, IT and engineering. This can’t be changed overnight but like any skill can be developed. Practise your presentation out aloud, ideally in a meeting room, and project your voice so that someone at the back of the room would hear. While you don’t need to sing out your windows, find fun excuses to raise your voice, like playing sports or refereeing a football match at your children’s school.
Tip 3: Great speakers are made, not born.
No infant starts with a fear of public speaking. Conversely, no one is born a natural public speaker. Circumstances, experiences and environment all play a key part in how people develop. I had a bad experience in a school drama class that put me off public speaking for decades. The good news is that these fears can be overcome. Hard work and determination to improve are the greatest success factors in becoming an effective public speaker. Many presenters do not allocate any time to rehearse their speech. If you have three weeks to prepare a totally new 20 minute presentation allow between 30 minutes and 1 hour a day for preparation and time-block it in your calendar. You wouldn’t expect to become a better swimmer if you never went to the pool, so find the time to practice your speaking skills.
Tip 4: Learn to self-evaluate
You don’t learn by doing, you learn by re-doing. Accelerate your learning by listening to your presentation on a video or audio recorder. This highly effective way makes you more aware of the areas you need to focus on – if you can get over the embarrassment of looking or listening to yourself! After watching a recording, take a piece of paper and divide it into two halves. Write down all your strengths on one side and areas that you would like to improve on the other. You will be surprised after this exercise, sometimes you sound better than you imagined. Most audiences don’t judge us as harshly as we critique ourselves.
Tip 5: Visit the venue for larger conference speaking
For important talks, consider simulating the environment or actually visiting the venue where you will speak. This is important for all presenters because by walking on the stage you get a feel for the microphone, the seat arrangements and the acoustics. Every room is different, so the best business presenters, like Steve Jobs, work live rehearsals at the venue into their preparations.
Don’t do this…
The Oscar winning film, The King’s Speech showed some bizarre therapies to improve public speaking. Best to avoid things like:
Relaxing your throat by smoking deeply into your lungs! Voice care is important so drink plenty of water and add lemon or honey. You can also lightly massage your vocal chords before you start presenting.
A piece of bad advice is “always start with a joke”. While humour can connect with your audience, it’s such a high risk approach. You might offend, not deliver it with the best timing or just not tell a funny joke. Not the best way to start your presentation.
Another bizarre technique in the film saw a speech therapist ask King George to fill his mouth with marbles and start speaking. This was supposed to improve his articulation. While I wouldn’t recommend this technique, clear articulation is an important aspect of a good speaking voice. Instead find some private space and practice reading your script or a book out aloud at half your normal speed taking care to pronounce every single syllable in every single word. This exercise brings attention to clear pronunciation and will help you deliver your speech more crisply when you return to normal speed.
In addition to the above tips, remember these two key lessons. Firstly, only you can change you. If you don’t want to improve or if you don’t think it’s that important then your progress will reflect that. Secondly, being consistent and realistic about changing an engrained behaviour is essential. Put some time aside to rehearse and the improvements will follow.
Case study: Many CFOs have benefited from The One Minute Presenter coaching
I work with many CFOs from multinationals around Greater China. Here is a case study of a typical challenge we face:
Background
Chinese national, 15 year veteran from a Big 4 consulting firm, now an in-house tax specialist with a high end real estate investor and project manager. Project-based with high pressure from commercial directors based all across China and a global CFO in New York.
One big difference that affects executives when they change companies and industries is the change in working style. The main different in working style was that John was used to provide advice to the client and then the client would choose to use it or not. Either way, John was not usually involved in the implementation. In his new role, he was expected to not only provide advice, but to do so in grey areas where there were no clear mandates from tax authorities, then supply a recommendation and once the commercial director had made a decision, drive this plan forward.
A common issue inside multinationals based in China is that executives are not proactive enough. This is due to a mixture of reasons ranging from personality, culture, education and previous working environments. When working with senior executives who have already obtained a measure of success in their careers, it can be diffficult to switch their mindset. A common reaction is “why should I change? I have already reached a high position in the company and am happy with my compensation.” this is true and with the current talent situation in China, qualified executives can easily find a new position. However, most executives are still driven to improve and do better and this is the hook that needs to be found to make the change stick. As Marshall Goldsmith says, “what got you here, won’t get you there”. Once executives make the mindset switch, they are more open to work with.
The pain
Although everyone regarded John as a subject matter expert, frustrations emerged in meetings and telephone calls with the business directors. John used his consultant’s approach to give detailed, sometimes rambling presentations that went into tax legislations in great depth. This is a common symptom when the presenter feels that they need to continually establish their credentials as an expert. In this situation, his audience just wished he would get to the point quickly and directly. With millions of dollars investment on the line and time-pressure a major factor, they needed to get the best advice, make a decision and make it happen.
The lack of face to face contact of teleconferences adds more stress on executives who are operating in their second language. In face to face settings, they can pick up more meaning from non verbal cues like facial gestures and more clearly hearing tone of voice. Down the line this information is lost and executives are less reluctant to commit themselves.
What we did?
After a few coaching sessions, John realised that he needed to find a new approach. We introduced a framework – a structure in which John could slot in his content. We work with about 12 presentation frames and we selected one that enabled him to cut out the technical details which his audience didn’t want, and complete his presentation with a firm recommendation.
A major point was the change in mindset that took place when John realised that even seemingly simple engagements like conference calls needed a great deal of preparation – far more than he had previously thought necessary. The “ah-ha” moment came when John said “This really needs a lot of preparation!” After he ‘got it’, we could then work on the techniques to help him prepared more effectively.
Outcome
His commercial directors appreciated this approach as their meetings were shorter, they didn’t have to drag the information out of him and they could focus their efforts on driving their project forward.
An important take-away is that often executives underestimate the preparation time required to have a masterful grasp of their content. This is a basic entry point before you can start applying tools and techniques to arrange, express and deliver a clear message.
So what now?
If you are ready to take a step up in your career, contact us for a initial complimentary strategy session where we can outline approaches to help you starting speaking like an executive.
About Warwick J Fahy
“Warwick is passionate about helping executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, speak out with executive presence so they can think, speak and act like a leader. I help executives turn the complex into compellingly simple message that are understood, passed on and acted on.”
Learn more about who I help here.
Download the Speak like an Executive Executive Communication White Paper here (PDF, 237kb)
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.
New: Read “The One Minute Presenter” as an e-book. Available in all maor e-book formats here.
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©2011 Warwick John Fahy
