What Sarah Palin Can Teach Politicians

Sarah Palin shocked her constituents today as she gave an unexpected resignation speech. She didn't read a teleprompter. She didn't have a script. What she did do was speak from her heart. Whether you love her or hate her, the woman knows how to connect with an audience. She began by talking about her love for the people and state of Alaska. Her passion was genuine. She sustained eye contact as she spoke of both her accomplishments and challenges. Her language was straightforward and her message was clear as she shared her proud moments and her pain. There was no hesitation-just conviction. While some believe her premature resignation is career suicide, few doubt her ability to draw future crowds with her speaking ability. People find her candor and direct, folksy style a refreshing contrast to overly packaged politicians. The pen may be mightier than the sword but authenticity is the new competitive weapon.

To Touch Or Not To Touch

What do we communicate through touch?

Haptics is the study of contact cues. How frequently we touch, the intensity of the touch, the type of touch and who we touch, sends a distinct message.
With communication being 93% non-verbal, touching can speak volumes in the way we present ourselves.

In business presentations, the first haptic message is the handshake. Is the handshake a tight grip or a weak contact? Do you shake quickly and withdraw, is it a full handshake, or do you hold on longer than you should? The first example communicates nervousness or resistance, the second example is appropriate, the third example may be construed as sexual. If you grip and turn the hand over, you're trying to show dominance.

Where you touch is important. The safe zone is from the hand to the elbow.
A pat on the back between co-workers shows friendliness. A pat on the head is condescending.

How often you touch can reveal the nature of the relationship. Frequent touching indicates intimacy. It could also reveal aggression if it's finger poking or pushing.

Who you touch can signal hierarchy. The CEO might put a hand on a subordinate's shoulder but the subordinate would not touch the CEO.

People who are "touchy feely" may be perceived as warm and approachable or they may be seen as intrusive if the recipient is a person who doesn't like to be touched.

Realize that touching is communication. And like all presentations the type and frequency of your touch depends on your audience.

To Win Business It Takes a Team

The World is changing at warp speed. According to Richard Saul Wurman of Information Anxiety, ‘”The information supply available to us doubles every five years.”
What does that mean? It means the account executive can no longer act as a lone ranger.
In order to sell, promote, or position your company, an idea, or product, it takes a team. The relationship manager can’t sell client investment strategies without the portfolio manager. The advertising account executive needs the media planner and the creative team. And when customers start asking questions about networks and routers, the sales professional must rely on the “techie.”
In today’s competitive marketplace, products and services have become commodity-like. You can easily go from “first on the block” to the chopping block once your competitors develop a similar product. What distinguishes one company from another these days is the presentation and relationship.
What Goes Wrong
Too many times a sale is sabotaged because of a lack of coordination and preparation. The members meet the day of the presentation instead of preparing and rehearsing in advance. The result is a disorganized presentation. Customers can sense a lack of leadership. Another failing of teams is the lack of knowledge. The sales person doesn’t have to be the “expert,” but does have to demonstrate a command of the product or service. The subject matter expert must learn some basic selling/consulting skills in order to ask the right questions and to understand the customer’s needs.
Finally, teams may lack clear roles and expectations.
Too often, team members trip over each other and lose the sale. The common complaint is that the technical expert spends too much time on detail and may dominate the presentation. The techie thinks the sales person overpromises. Teams must decide in advance who is responsible for each part of the presentation and how objections will be handled.
Make it a Winning Team
Whether you are selling, presenting on a panel, or discussing your job at an employee orientation, here are some guidelines when giving team presentations:

•Act like a team. Your presentation should flow smoothly, with everyone working together. This isn’t the time to upstage others and compete for the spotlight. Leave your ego at the door. The team’s success is your success.

•Prepare. Meet beforehand to discuss roles, timing, and the general process. Agree on how you’ll handle difficult questions or situations that arise. (e.g., If it is a technical question, the subject matter expert will answer it. If it is a price concern, the account executive will handle it.)

•Appoint a leader or moderator. In the case of a sales presentation, the leader is generally the account representative. In a panel discussion, the moderator acts as a facilitator and does not present. The objective is to keep things moving.

•Decide on each person’s role. Who will speak on which topic, and for how long?

•Provide an agenda. The leader generally opens the presentation by introducing the team members and their topics. He or she then explains how the presentation will proceed: “First we will discuss the background history, then the current state of affairs, and finally we will make some future projections.” The audience needs an agenda to understand what you’ll be presenting. The agenda serves as a road map.

•Create transitions. To create a smooth flow, team members must segue from their material and turn the floor over to the next presenter: “That covers taxes. Now Ray will talk to you about estate planning.”

•Time each segment and rehearse out loud. Good presenters finish on time. If you’re given ten minutes, stick to the agreement. The only way to stay on time is to practice out loud and time yourself.

•Look at the audience, not your teammates. You need to watch the non-verbal behavior of your audience. You can’t do that if you’re watching the speaker or your teammates. It also looks more professional for the team to be looking in the same direction: toward the audience. Remember: all eyes are on you, and not just when it’s your turn to speak. If you look bored, chew gum, or tap your pencil, you will create a negative impression.

•Don’t debate or interrupt when someone is speaking. If a speaker omits vital information, wait until he or she is finished and then say, “If I may add to what John just said” or “To piggyback on what Carol said earlier..”

•Plan the closing. At the end, the leader announces the question-and-answer session and keeps things on track. Summarize and end with a positive message: “That concludes our presentation. We’ve discussed investments, taxes, and estate planning. We leave you with this thought: it’s never too early to start planning for retirement.”

•Be available after the presentation. If this is a sales presentation, be sure that both the sales person and the technical expert are available to talk to the customers after the presentation. Some people may be reticent to ask questions during the presentation. A fast exit from the platform can result in missed opportunities.

•Clarify the next steps. Will there be a demo? An invitation for an on site visit?
Determine who will be responsible for the next steps. (e.g., the sales person will phone qualified leads; the sales and technical experts will jointly participate in the demonstration.)

As competition heats up and information exponentially increases, it is absolutely essential that companies leverage the resources of their teams. Don’t wait. Get ready now to make winning team presentations.

The Persuasive Power of Words.

You may have heard the communication study that cites words as only 7% of the message.Well, that doesn't mean your words aren't powerful. A good speaker uses words to create pictures, evoke feelings, and persuade an audience.Think about it.
You don't persuade your listeners by pantomiming a message unless you're playing charades. An audience is influenced by your words. In direct mail marketing there are certain words that will increase the response rate. Words such as free, gain, results, money, guarantee are well known "selling words."

But now there is a single word that has been identified as so persuasive that when you use this word you will gain a 50% increase in the agreement to the requests you make of others.

According to the book, Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini, that single word is....because.

In experiments of people asking to cut ahead of others in line, the person would say "Would you mind if I get in front of you because...."
In most cases people would comply with the request. Even with flimsy excuses such as "because I have to make copies," people honored the request. Following the word because is a reason.
So whether you're speaking one-to-one, to a large group, or to the media, don't just ask for what you want-give a reason and use the word because.

Be a persuasive communicator. Call 212 481-8484 x312.

7.5 Million Americans Have Trouble Using Their Voices.

Diane DiResta, a licensed Speech Pathologist and author of Knockout Presentations, spoke at The Voice Foundation, the 38th annual scientific symposium on the voice. The conference attracts International otolaryngologists, speech scientists, vocal coaches, and speech pathologists who want to learn about the physiology and care of the professional voice.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health, approximately 7.5 million Americans have trouble using their voices. Despite widespread voice problems, too little is known about the vocal disorders that cut short careers, impair the speech process, devastate and even threaten people’s lives.

For the first time since it’s inception in 1969, the topic of The Speaking Voice: What You Need to Know About Speaking in Public was addressed. Nancy Solomon, Ph.D, kicked off the session by recognizing a lack of research in the science of speaking.

Ms.DiResta’s keynote revealed speaking as the new competitive weapon and identified 10 top speaker mistakes. Common mistakes in the scientific community include: speaking too long, providing too much data and detail than the audience can absorb, cluttering PowerPoint slides and talking to the screen, sounding scripted or unnatural and not tailoring the message to the audience.

She cited studies from MIT about the power of powerful presentation skills to sway venture capitalists to fund new companies and the research regarding the importance of likability of the presenter. DiResta discouraged scientists from reading their research. “I can read as well as you can, “ she claimed. “Reading is not presenting.” She advised that we’re all public speakers. “If you do research, you’re going to be asked to speak,” she stated.

After thirty minutes of audience questions, Ms. DiResta took part in a panel discussion with a psychologist, speech pathologist, speech and theater professor, an otolarygologist, and professor of communication disorders.

The conference stimulated much discussion and interest in the future study of the science of the public speaking voice. The conference was held June 5th through the 7th in Philadelphia.

Want Funding? Practice Your Elevator Speech

I've seen it time and time again. You're at a networking meeting. People introduce themselves. You turn to your partner and say, "I still don't understand what he does."
If you can't describe what you do and the value you provide, you'll forfeit funding, business partners, and new clients.

In a study by the University of Maryland's business school, they concluded that the business plan will not do much for attracting interest from venture capitalists. The reason is that they won't read all that documentation.
One venture capitalist said he'd rather hear the evidence in PowerPoint slides or in somebody's presentation.

Investors don't want to read a 50 page plan. They will read an "elevator pitch" executive summary. If that's well developed and well delivered they'll continue to read.

Mr. Goldfarb, from the University of Maryland business school, agreed that entrepreneurs should write a "150 word elevator pitch and to practice with anybody who will listen.

When I work with business clients, the first thing we do is to set a clear objective.
For example, is the outcome to be invited to a second stage meeting?
The second step is to profile the audience.
The third step is to write a clear elevator pitch or summary of the presentation.

Only after that elevator speech is clear, concise, and focused, can we begin to pare down the presentation and deliver a compelling case.

Smiling: An Asset or Liability?

A smile can be your greatest asset or a liability-especially if you're a woman. Flashing those pearlie whites can dazzle an audience. Think Julia Roberts. Her smile lights up her face and has become her signature.

Too often speakers mistakenly believe that to be professional you must be serious. Actually, the opposite is true. It takes confidence to smile and show expression. If you're too serious you'll appear nervous. In fact, the absence of a smile can be downright intimidating. One executive I coached was perceived as aggressive and arrogant.. Why? Because he showed no facial expression. He listened with a deadpan expression. It was chilling. We had to teach him to show teeth. When he started to smile he was able to connect with people. Smiling warms up the audience making you more approachable.

But smiling can also be a liability. Grinning like a Cheshire cat or plastering a non-stop smile on your face smacks of insincerity. When smiling is genuine you can see it in the eyes. Smiling too often can be more detrimental for women than for men. Women need to strike a balance between a serious expression and a smile. Excessive smiling can be perceived as subservient, people pleasing, or lacking confidence. Smiling is also situational. It's inappropriate, for example, to smile when announcing layoffs. Trying to break the tension with humor can backfire in that situation. Maintain a serious demeanor to demonstrate empathy and respect for the employees.
So to show you mean business-get serious. To connect and engage your audience- smile. When you smile and look somebody in the eye you acknowledge their presence. A smile says, "I see you. You're important. I care.". Your smile is your gift.