Another thing that audiences always enjoy is the chance to laugh. It achieves several things for both speaker and audience when humour is successfully injected into a speech or presentation. Amongst these are that it relaxes the speaker (or at least reassures them); similarly the audience is unified and reassured about the speaker’s general composure and their outlook; and the chances of the speaker making a good and memorable impression are also improved. In general too, it is acknowledged as ‘good social practice’; laughter, thank heavens, helps us out in very many situations.

But speakers need to be wary. Humour in the context of a speech needs to be defined in terms of wit rather than jokes. How often does the staged, opening ‘Three men walk into a bar ..’ story fail badly, leaving everyone with a sense of nervousness and disappointment? Not a good place to start or recover from.

The problem is not that it isn’t a particularly good joke, per se, but that it is so often not relevant. The joke is designed to stand alone and anything that contributes to a speech has to earn its keep (just as with the AV aids) by being relevant, topical or illustrative.

One way to think about how to generate laughter, by injecting wit, is to be alive to something very much ‘of the moment’ (the venue, the introduction, something in the headlines ..) and to make a brief but humourous reference to it. It goes without saying that it needs to be, in all aspects, wholesome and tasteful; do not risk offence, so easily given, by misjudging an audience.

Also by remembering to think of yourself as a ‘good host’ there is plenty of opportunity for some light-hearted exchanges with the audience to settle any opening apprehension. Simply by making them the focus of one or two opening exchanges will do huge amounts to persuade them about your good nature, intentions and demonstrable ease.

To see an example, though there are hundreds of good ones just on this one site, enjoy the company of Sir Ken Robinson for a few minutes, discussing whether ‘Schools Kill Creativity’. Go on, it’s very good stuff and at least he’ll make you smile.

In August 2009 the BBC Radio 4 magazine programme, ‘More or Less’, included the following interview with Prof Albert Mehrabian on the topic of ‘that formula’. So just what did his research set out to find, and what does the man himself make of the misplaced assertions that have dogged his findings for over 40 years?

Listen in as Tim Harford puts the questions to Albert Mehrabian (5 mins):

Mehrabian_Radio4_Aug09

Professional actors will do it as a matter of course. Musicians and athletes too. Why won’t the business world?

Rehearsing, in real time and out loud, not just in your head, is the hardest thing to find time for, in my experience. The big event, the vital pitch, the career-enhancing conference speech .. planned, designed, crafted, powerpointed to a ‘T’ .. but rehearsed? Seldom.

It’s the biggest casualty in the haven’t-really-got-time list of things that sit on so many desks. We know it’s a good idea, or at the very least we’ve been told it is, but we never quite find the time to do the rehearsing part. ‘Oh I’ve been on my feet before and survived; I’ll survive this time too’ or ‘Actually I’m much better when I’m winging it’. Ever heard those? Ever said them?

It’s tempting to speculate as to why speakers seldom rehearse. An actor, say, will spend six weeks with a professional team before even thinking of putting himself out in front of a paying audience. The actor knows that the show will be better in every respect if nothing is ‘left to chance’. The business speaker, by and large, is not actively seeking the opportunity to speak and therefore puts off doing anything about it until he’s in the moment and has to take the fatalistic view. Put simply, we don’t rehearse because, for the most part, we don’t want to be doing it. If we don’t want to do it why put ourselves through the pain of doing it more than once? So runs the flawed logic.

The dangers of not rehearsing need reinforcing – if we don’t run the full speech at least once how do we know how long it is going to take to deliver? How do we know that we haven’t written something that we can read well enough but find difficulty in saying (it might be a word, ’statistics’ is my favourite example, or a tongue-twisting phrase or proper name)? How do know what pace to take it at? How do we know what key points to bring out, and in what ways, to reinforce our main message? How do we know, in short, that the speech or presentation is going to work?

If we don’t know that before we’re ‘live’ in front of an audience we are adding immeasurably to the pressures on ourselves. Small wonder then that the experience turns toxic and nervousness takes over.

Perhaps the most compelling reason to rehearse, though, is this. It flatters your audience (who will always spot the polished speech ahead of the wing-and-a-prayer delivery) that you bothered to take the time to make the shared event the best that you could. The confidence you will gain from not having to find everything out ‘live’ will translate itself directly into your delivery, your body language and your attitude; your audience will not fail to reward the extra time you took. Just listen out for it in the applause.

The moment you rise to your feet or walk out ‘on stage’ you can sense that little kick. We all can, however much we say we can’t. For some, the onset of the butterflies is mild, for others very much more unsettling; just occasionally the sensation can be close to terror. We know the line from Jerry Seinfeld, quoting the much vaunted statistic about fear of public speaking versus the – much lower-ranked – fear of death, that at the average funeral the chap standing at the front would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy.

I seek not to emphasise the ‘fear’ here, because we all know, to one degree or another, how that adrenaline/cortisol rush makes us feel and react. If we choose to dwell on a poor reaction it can hole us below the waterline even before things have really got going.

My point is rather that we have a choice. A choice then and there, with a well-trained inner brain, to step out and make a bold assertion that can have a strongly positive effect on the audience and, particularly, on us, the speaker. Delivered with suitable style it can set up the whole speech that follows.

It is not complicated at all, but it requires a bit of planning, rehearsal, smiling (not always easy during those initial opening lines) and timing. You look briefly about the room and say “I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to speaking to you today ..” or “You won’t believe how much it means to be with you this morning ..”. Clearly there’s room for some variety in approach here.

It isn’t even strictly necessary to say this out loud (though my contention is that most audiences will very much approve of hearing it) so long as you say it to yourself. Importantly, you must mean it. The words alone won’t do the same job.

As an audience we are curious about our speakers – we may know them personally but we still seek reassurance, each time we’re addressed, that our investment of time is going to be sufficiently well rewarded. Anything that means we might be entertained, enthused, better informed and given things of practical use to us is the best kind of dividend and we’ll happily reinvest when the opportunity arises.

So step forward, give them your best spreading smile and tell them how glad you are to be there. The floor is yours.

You’re settled into the meeting, neatly ticking off the agenda items and thinking about getting back to your desk when you hear the chairman of the meeting mention your name. “Now,” he says, “We’d just like a quick update on where we are with the widget project. Over to you.” This wasn’t pre-planned and you weren’t expecting to have to contribute today. So, what do you do? How do you handle the impromptu talk/speech/contribution?

Here’s a simple but effective technique: pose three questions (to which you know the answers!) and answer them. Succinct and compelling. So, in this instance, the questions might be ‘What has been achieved on the project to date? What are we working on currently? When do we expect to complete it?’ Answer each question in turn and then, conveniently, shut up. The impression given will be that you are in control and, despite no warning of the question, fully up to speed. It is bound to reflect well on both you and the project/team. (Here, I am of course pre-supposing that it’s progressing well. If it’s got stuck then your questions and answers will need to reflect that and you’ll be in the business of managing expectations.)

It works this way. By asking yourself three questions you give yourself a vital moment or two to think about the answers and you provide a mini-agenda at the same time. This is important because you, and your audience, will know when you’ve said enough. Many impromptu replies tail off and finish with a shrug and “that’s about it, really.” Nowhere near as convincing. One significant caveat is that you mustn’t overstretch yourself with the questions, particularly the third question. Tempting though it is to shoot for the stars and ask out loud “.. and why this widget will beat ALL the global competition” it may just be beyond you to provide a polished line or two in response. Go for something within your grasp. If they’re interested, and they’re pretty much bound to be impressed at least, then there may be a follow up question or two anyway.

One of the reasons why this apparently simple technique is so impressive is that it is another example of the power of the ‘rule of three‘, whereby we instinctively acknowledge the symmetry inherent in a list, say, of three things. Be they words or phrases, or out into the physical, metaphysical and spiritual worlds. The number three is significant. There is much that has been written on it and a simple search will reveal just how widespread and adaptable this rule is.

‘Three definitely is the dynamic principle itself; and “three,” says Balzac, “is the formula of all creation”.’ R.Allendy, Le Symbolisme des Nombres (1948)

Try it for yourself. Ask a friend or colleague to remember three things (it might be film titles) and then ask them 10 minutes or so later to recall them. Or much later if that’s practicable. Then try the same experiment with a list of four similar things. Apply the same rule and see what happens.

So, for that next impromptu speaking event, stick with the rule of three and you’ll be in the best company possible. Do you have an instance of it working for you?

Hands and, in particular, arms. Odd isn’t it? They go about their daily routine not bothering you a jot but the moment you drag them up onto the stage they take on an awkwardness, shyness and general incapacity to function that is often very disconcerting.

So, what do we do with them? Short of lopping them off we have to have a strategy and it needs to be simple.

Three bits of advice on this topic:

- Depending on the formality of the occasion one hand in a pocket is not too casual a look for most speakers. If it has the benefit of getting one of the culprits out of the way then it’s fine, at least by me. Both hands in pockets is definitely not on, however. It looks just too laid back and louche for one thing. More importantly, however, it may well hinder your fluency as a speaker since words and gestures are inextricably linked. In fact the speaker who is properly ‘in the moment’ always gestures just fractionally ahead of the word he’s gesturing to support. The coached politician, by contrast, gestures momentarily afterwards. Subtle but important differences which we notice without always realising.

There are even theories that the gesture itself helps us to find the word we’re seeking. In conversation with one or more people, for example, a gesture will often prompt one of the listeners to suggest the word we’re seeking. There’s a lovely story about two friends on a bitterly cold day in Rusia walking and talking as they go. At least one of the friends talks, the other just nods and adds monosyllabic responses. When his friend questions his taciturn behaviour the other simply replies “I forgot my gloves”. Inhibiting indeed.

- Find gestures that are natural and don’t overdo them. No gesturing above the neckline, unless you’re deliberately going for a ‘high five’ – which is unlikely unless you’re on stage with an Apple executive. Whatever you do avoid whichever wind tunnel it is in which they train BBC outside broadcasters; they roll their hands forever towards us, in a perfectly mirrored but meaningless gesture, as if we’ll stop watching or listening if they don’t look over-animated.

- One very simple but effective tip for making your hands ‘disappear’ if they really are feeling awkward is to let your arms hang naturally by your sides and then put your thumb and middle finger together (that’s the longest one, for most of us). This simple act of self-touch is very powerful and can, in an instant, make our hands and arms feel far less awkward. Best of all, it’s almost certainly entirely unnoticed by your audience too, so no-one will spot a nervous ‘tell’, if indeed that’s what it amounted to.

Try it now. Stand up, let your arms hang loosely. Then just put your two thumbs and middle fingers together. Next time you’re up ‘on stage’ give it a go. And do let me know how it went.

Of all the things that audiences value most their time has to be the most precious. We need to recognise it, we’re all time-poor; there’s just never enough, is there? Well it’s definitely true for your audience. You may know (it may even be in the day’s programme or up on screen behind you) that you’re due to be talking for 30 minutes (or better still 22), but do they know that you know? So don’t forget to say so. It’s a good opportunity to demonstrate that you really do have their best interests at heart.

If there’s no official time-keeper and you’d sooner not have to manage that part of the job yourself, you might like to ask for a volunteer to give you a ten and then a three minute warning. Or something similar. The idea that ‘one of their own’ is looking after that important aspect will also appeal greatly to your audience.

It’s not just a nicety. The importance of knowing your allotted time and sticking to it cannot be over-emphasised. A speaker who really values it will be asked to speak often, and probably for longer. Overriding your time allowance in the interests of ‘getting it all in’ is not going to win you any repeat invitations.

Here’s how it works. At the start, provided you are clear (and ensure that you really know how long you need – invariably it’s longer than you originally thought or planned) and provided that the parameters are reasonable, you can ‘buy’ almost any amount of time. It’s like a contract and the moment it’s agreed upon a stunningly accurate countdown clock sets off in each audience member’s head. Several of them will have one eye on a timekeeping device too.

As you approach the agreed time limit you’ll need to acknowledge it in some appropriate way and then start summarising and wrapping up in good time. Even if, importantly, even if you genuinely have more to cover. You can ‘buy’ that extra five minutes in a short while, if you’re patient. Or, more probably, you can keep the ‘extra’ for any Q&A session that follows, by posing a question to which that section is the answer. But either way you’ve kept your side of the contract. Vital.

Should you be in an audience when a speaker has already overshot his time allowance you’ll not be the only one fidgeting; look around you. By the time he’s 6 or 7 minutes past the line, there will be a lot of general restlessness visible and perhaps audible too. In another 4 or 5 minutes there will be still more. If he simply ignores the signals they will increase. Furthermore, if he makes the suicidal error of saying at this point “.. but I’ll come to that in a minute .. ” while still not winding up .. check the back of the hall. There’ll be a small knot of people forming a lynch mob, trying to work out whether hanging or shooting is the better option.

The real crisis here, along with those precious tens of minutes you can never retrieve, is that so many speakers are trying, at this late stage, to cover the messages they want the audience to remember and to act on. Meanwhile, the sole objective of the audience is to stop the agony. The two lines, the speaker’s focus and audience’s attention, are pulling apart at frightening and damaging speed. This is not going to end happily.

But, observe the letter and not just the spirit of your contract with the audience and they will treat you with well-earned respect. Should they want more, and those chances are very good, they can always ask some follow-up questions, seek you out later, invite you back or ask you then and there to carry on.

On the topic of the Q&A part of the speech .. watch this space; some further thoughts soon.

(Originally posted on November 5th) Today was a bit special. Today I got to assist a local school, in Suffolk here in the UK, with some presentation training for the Lower Sixth form – so, roughly 16 to 17 year olds. What an inspired idea on the part of the school.

Well, so indeed it proved because I was thoroughly entertained along the way with a variety of 5 minute presentations (in the ‘bare bones’ style – no AV aids) on a very broad range of topics. There was evidence of much hard work and preparation, along with the inevitable butterfly or two.

One speaker chose as her topic a stylishly contentious theme along the lines of ‘Why we shouldn’t give financial aid to developing countries’ (this was not her thesis nor indeed her conclusion but it proved an excellent starting point). Her articulate and engaging talk then took us through various questions, and suggested answers until, about halfway through, her talk really grew wings as she painted a picture in words for us of a well in Africa. Not just any well but a well using children-power by means of a roundabout. The children play on the roundabout, the roundabout generates the power to draw the water from the well. Thousands of gallons a day are provided to the residents at the ‘cost’ of an hour or two’s fun.

It so beautifully fitted the moment and provided such an iconic image that it has stayed with me ever since.

The moral of this particular tale? Just a reminder, really, to all speakers everywhere of the power of storytelling and, in particular, of clear pictures painted in words. Striking graphics are always good but, should you find yourself presenting/talking without the omnipresent laptop and projector, and you certainly should, then think hard about the pictures you can show nonetheless.

When Tolkein first wrote ‘The Lord of the Rings’ it was not an illustrated book and yet no-one who read it could have failed to have a whole panorama of striking images in their head (ok, strongly linked to archetypes in his case). A Dark Rider, an Orc, the Hobbits themselves – all much more than shadows. Shakespeare’s plays are full of the most stunning pictures painted in words and many speeches have inspired, and continue to inspire, artists to capture them on canvas.

It’s tempting to say that often the most compelling pictures are never drawn.  Which ones compel you?

Under just about any circumstances we know, without needing to be told, that it’s important to maintain eye-contact. One-on-one or one-on-many, the same general principle applies. If you don’t look at me, occasionally at least, I’m going to get turned off pretty quickly. Leaving aside some interesting cultural variations on this theme, one question that constantly recurs is ‘how can I hope to maintain eye contact with an audience of more than 20 or 30?’.

The risk of presenting to an audience of, say, 100 or more is that in order to fulfill our part of the bargain we’ll be tempted to weave our heads around from top to bottom and side to side not unlike a set of windscreen wipers in a strong breeze. Uncomfortable for the presenter and distracting, rather than reassuring, for the audience.

The skill here is to adopt not the X factor but the ‘X scan’. Imagine an auditorium in front of you. When you want to make a particularly telling point, or to summarise, or to put a general question (these are good moments but by no means the only ones) look at your audience from the top/back left corner of the room and scan slowly over the seats to the bottom/front right. Then continue up to the top/back right and so across the sea of attentive faces to the bottom/front left. Or, of course, the other part of the ‘X’, whichever side of the room you take in first.

If you get the timing right you will add greatly to the moment but, in any event, everyone in your audience will feel as if you have made eye contact with them. One consequence of which will be, with any luck at all, that you’ll receive the presenter’s greatest bonus, namely several nods and genuine smiles by way of reciprocity.

There’s lots of energy in those moments. Use it to keep yourself fizzing and to keep the energy levels in the room flowing. About which, more soon.

One golden rule of presenting is that you are your most effective audio visual aid. Better still when supported by some finely crafted slides or other visual aids, no question. But the slides are there to do just that, support you, your argument, proposal, sale .. whatever it might be.

When presenting the main arguments or benefits, and in order to maximise the attention of your audience, you will often (very often in many cases) want them focused on you and what you are saying. The only feasible way of achieving this is to have no other distraction, particularly not up on the screen behind you. So, intersperse ‘blanks’ in your presentation slides when you need this full focus from them. Blank should mean something other than glaring white, but, within the context of your slides theme(s), something that in no way distracts. I prefer to use a washed out or blurred image (perhaps of the basic template design itself) that is pleasing but not distinct.

Then, when you are ready, you can move your story forward with the next summarising, explanatory or introductory slide and, crucially, everyone will be looking at it together. You retain control of the rhythm and pace and, to the greatest extent that you can, the attention of the entire audience as well.

It works. Try it next time and let me know if it worked for you.

Here’s a very short video on the same topic: