The Presentations Japan Series

Show Me, Don't Tell Me

Japan is an interesting place where there is a lot of respect for people's job titles and position in the company. Sometimes though, you are left wondering is this person really one of the elite or is this the best the elite can produce? American friends tell me Missouri is famous for it's "show me, don't tell me" mantra. When you can't back up who you say you are with the goods, credibility declines rapidly.

This seemed like such a case. Seriously sad really. Our speaker had some excellent points to convey but due to silly basic errors, killed his organisation's messages. I believe there is no excuse for this anymore. Today there is so much information available, so many role models, so much video instruction, so much access to insight, so much training, you really have to wonder how some organisations can do such a poor job.

The impressive thing was our speaker was delivering the talk in English, when that was not his native language. Actually, the level of English fluency was impressive. The speed was good, the pronunciation was fine, the speaking voice was clear. He came with a grand resume, part of the elite of the land, a well educated, senior guy. This was game, set and match to be a triumph of positive messaging and salesmanship. It was a fizzer.

I approached him after it was all over. Being the eternal Aussie optimist from the land of vast horizons, blue skies and wonderful sunshine, I thought our speaker would benefit from a bit of friendly, positive feedback on how he could help his organisation to do better. He wasn't buying that and asked me for one example. Clearly he believed his talk went down a treat with the crowd, a group by the way, full of long term Japanophiles and boosters for things Japanese. He was in fact preaching to the choir, in audience terms, but even then his messaging went astray.

I asked for the first slide to be brought back up. A confusing coat of many, many colours, seriously dense with data, totally impervious to easy understanding – a florid mess in other words. They were all like this. Data was simply killing the key messages. When I suggested the slides were perhaps attempting to put too much on the screen at the one time, he said I was looking at the cleaned up version. He had taken the organisation's standard slide deck and pared it back. "Pared it back?", I thought incredulously. Well it was still ridiculous.

The other issue was the delivery. Our speaker chose to stand in front of the monitor and read to us what was on the screen, while having his back to us for most of the presentation. Fortunately, he was handsome, urbane, charming, international and articulate. He had all the natural advantages to carry the room to his way of thinking. Unfortunately, he failed completely.

What could our erstwhile hero have done? He made the slide deck the centerpiece of the presentation, instead of making his messages the key. We should all carefully cull our ideas and distill the most powerful and important. We should present only one idea per slide, restrict the colour palette to two colours for contrast and try to keep it zen-like simple. If our audience cannot grasp the key point of any slide in two seconds, then it needs more paring back.

Graphs are great visual prompts and the temptation is to use them as unassailable evidence. This usually means trying to pack the graph slide with as much information as possible, showing long periods of comparison and multiple data points for edification. Instead think of them like screen wallpaper. They form a visual background. We can then go to another slide showing a turning point in isolation or we can have a pop up, with a key number, emphasised in very large font. In this way, we can cut through all the clutter and draw out the critical proof we want our audience to buy. Trying to pack it all on one screen is a formula for persuasion suicide.

We need to learn some very basic logistics about presenting. Despite how the organisers have set up the space, move things around if possible to give yourself the best shot to present as a professional. Try to stand on the audience left of the screen. We read from left to right, so we want them to look at our face first and then read the screen. We want to face our audience and if anyone drops the lights so your screen is easier to see, stop everything and ask for the lights to be brought back up. We need the lights on in order that we can see our audience's faces. We can then gauge if they are with us or resisting our messages. They can see us and we can use our gestures, facial expressions and body language to back up the words we are saying.

Changing the slides and the delivery would have made the speaker's messages clearer and more attractive. None of the things I have suggested to him are complex or difficult. Why then are we still assailed with unprofessional presentations from smart people? He remained resistant, he is part of the elite after all, but he didn't get it. So I saw him riding off into the sunset on his quixotic quest to convert others to his organisation's point of view. Good luck with that one buddy!

People will judge us on what they see. They will note our resume, but they will make up their minds on what we present and the way we present it. Missouri's rule of "show me, don't tell me" is a good one to keep in mind when preparing to stand up in front of others and pontificate.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast "THE Leadership Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Designing Our Presentation Part Two

Questions are very powerful. These should be asked rhetorically, in a way that the audience is not actually sure if it is a rhetorical question or something they actually have to answer. This creates a certain amount of tension that drives audience attention to what the speaker is saying.

They are curious to find out what you meant.

Quoting some relevant expert on the subject is also good because it references the topic and gives the speaker additional authority to their message.

Statistics are powerful because they are hard evidence and tell the audience this is going to be a fact based presentation and not just opinion.

Something shocking is a good way to grab attention, so make a provocative statement and then explain what you mean.

We can always flag our conclusion at the start and then spend the rest of the time justifying our interpretation.

This is a standard ploy and for that reason we should use it sparingly. Audiences are already distracted and anything that smacks of predictability, sees them drifting away from us and straying into extraneous, unrelated thoughts, completely off-topic.

The title of out talk is usually selected before we get down to the nitty gritty of the speech design. We may have been requested to speak on a certain subject, so our ability to use our title to intrigue, may be contained. It is not such a problem though because most people will have forgotten the exact title of our talk. Unless there is a slide with the title listed, they will have trouble recalling it word for word.

The opening, therefore is the opportunity to break through all the audience noise - all their screaming monkeys running around inside their brains. This should be designed with great precision and delivered the same way. Don't digress, or comment on something that has happened in the lead up, get straight into the planned opening and grab the audience's attention.

Before the start of the event get there early and mix with some of the participants. Get them talking about the topic. This is a good way to connect with the audience by referencing what a couple of them said in the moments before the speech started. The person referenced feels very special for the recognition and the imaginary boundary between the speaker and the audience disappears, as the speaker becomes one with the group.

Only at this point should we start playing around with the slides to support the presentation. Once you have designed it this way, the need for a lot of text on the screen disappears. We know what we need to say and so we can start introducing pictures and diagrams as well as text. Even the text can be just one word, because we are able to talk to the key points covered by that word. This is very powerful, because it keeps your eyes one the audience and off your text. It also forces them to look at you, because there is no competition for audience attention, from what is up on the screen.

When we are designing the talk there will be key words that lend a lot of weight to our argument and these may be key words we want to emphasise on the screen. We can do this through a photo or a video or some image.

Everyone is used to seeing lots of text on the screen and when you present in a different way you remain memorable. The audience will not remember the details of your speech, but they will remember their impression of the speaker.

Japan may be the land of zen, but there is very little zen influence going on when it comes to slides. Baroque with its ornate detail is more the flavor here with many competing colors and a screens packed with information. These are spread across an astonishing number of different fonts and font sizes.

Japan has a love for detail, but we don't have to put it all up on the screen. Japan also has a love of the written word and what is written down, carries a lot more weight that in Western countries. The point here is that Japan is still some way behind the rest of the world in this aspect of clear communication.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts "THE Leadership Japan Series", "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Designing Our Presentation Part One

Designing our presentation is a critical stage. We have identified our target audience for our key messages. We have selected the title to really engage our audience. We know the purpose of the exercise - inform, persuade, entertain, motivate to action.

Designing the conclusion is always a good place to start. The conclusion is really the summary of the key message we want to get across. The actual content delivery of the concluding message may vary from what we design at the beginning but it is still a very good discipline to force us to focus on the one central thing we want our audience to take away from our speech.

Having prioritized all of the various things we could say down to the one most important thing, we can now work backward and think about how we get our audience to agree with our conclusion.

Too many points and our audience will have trouble following the thread. of our argument. Too few points and the argument may not seem convincing for lack of depth and evidence.

We may group similar ideas under the one umbrella idea and may roll these out together. We have the key points selected that we want to raise and now we have to construct the argument to support the ideas. This would include some evidence based around statistics, data, expert opinion, authority references.

Usually three key points is easy for an audience to follow, but if the subject matter is complex or if you have been given a longer time to speak, then five may be needed. There are a number of structures for how you present the individual ideas. It could be a result/problem/ solution structure or you may switch the problem to the start and then outline the solution and the consequent result. The key is that the structure flows logically to make it as easy as possible to follow.

Having derived the key points we are going to make, we go back and design two closes. One is for the very end of the speech. This is to tie the whole presentation together. We might review what we said or we might focus on a particular key point.

Having designed that close, we now design a different one to follow the Q & A session. We need this second close, so that we can keep the whole proceedings on track. We have no control over what people will raise at the end, by way of questions and so it often happens that an audience member will take the discussion off topic. If we just allow the event to finish at that point, we have lost control of the messaging. We need to wrap it up in a way such that the audience have our key point ringing in their ears, as they leave the venue.

Finally we design the opening. This is a tricky one because it is wrapped tightly together with our first impression with the audience. If we try a joke that is weak and falls flat, our initial impression is negative. If we start rambling, we lose the audience's attention. If we commence with something very boring, we are going to have trouble breaking through the noise that is humming away between the ears of our audience. We need to break into their attention and capture them for the receipt of our key message.

We should also be very well choreographed with how we get going. Do the microphone check before the audience arrives. Have the slides ready to go. If there is a change over between your presentation and someone preceding you, then don't start anything until the logistics are completed. The start of the talk begins at the start and not with any discussion about what you are doing with your laptop to get it ready. Make the first sentence powerful and don't let anything else get in the way.

In Part Two of Designing Our Presentation, we will look at great ways to open the talk and some key elements of slide design.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts "THE Leadership Japan Series", "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Are You Any Good – It Is 10 Minutes In?

We have worked hard to get our opening right. We know that first impressions really count and we have planned the start. We contacted the organisers well before the talk to get a sense of who has signed up for the talk and what their main interests are. We got to the venue early and checked on all the logistics. We don't need to thump the microphone and ask if they can hear us don the back because we have already tested it. We don't need to fuss around with our laptop because we are ready to go or if there is a laptop change over, we do that first before we even start saying one word.

That first word is a chosen word, not some accidental offering. We have been speaking with some of the early arrivals to get a sense of why they are attending and to know their name. we reference their name as we start to connect with the audience and remove the barriers between speaker and the gathered masses.

We are also fully primed for the end, with both our first summation and our final close. We know we need two closes, one for the immediate end of the talk and another one for after the Q&A. We have prepared both. We know how to properly handle questions – repeating, if not hostile or paraphrasing if a veiled or direct attack upon us. In this way, we can make sure everyone heard the question and that any invective in a question has been properly neutered.

What about the middle bit of the speech? How we do we keep attention from start to finish when we have an entire audience fully tooled up with their escape vehicles firmly clasped in their hands. Their mobile devices will release them from the mortal toil of listening to us and they can be swept afar to more interesting and pleasant climes.

The next time, you are at a presentation look around after the first 10 minutes and see what the audience are doing. Many will be surreptitiously scrolling through their Facebook or Line feed or whatever, multi-tasking, rather than giving the speaker their full attention. How do not become that speaker who has lost the opportunity to get their key message across to the audience?

Every five minutes we need to switch the pace. We need to be presenting something that grabs the attention of the masses. We need an example, a story, demonstration, audience involvement, etc. This shouldn't be left to random chance. This needs D-Day level planning, so that you know what slide you will show at what point, what story you will relate. Your voice is such a phenomenal tool yet so many neuter it by turning it into a monotone that is guaranteed to become an insomnia cure.

We need to use pace – fast and slow, strength – loud and soft, vocal intonation – up and down. Japanese native speakers have a disadvantage on the up an down front because Japanese is monotone delivery language. No problem , just work on the pace and strength variables and you will gain enough variety in the delivery to keep your audience's attention.

Story telling is so powerful and so under used. There is huge demand for reality television, which are like home movies into the lives of celebrities. This is basic storytelling, often at a very mundane level. Nevertheless, these programmes draw an audience because we are fascinated by the personal lives of others. So tell your disasters, your fails, your hard won lessons, your triumphs. Come up with pithy quotes that are referencing well known legends like JFK or Churchill etc.

The key here is the planning and then the practice. What is written down sounds a bit clumsy sometimes when we say it out loud. This is where rehearsal comes in. Go through the presentation and work on the cadence of the delivery. Make sure that every 5 minutes you are switching gears and giving your audience something to do, like raise their hand (don't overdo this, it is annoying) or ponder, or laugh at, or nod to knowingly.

We cannot let our audience escape and lose the benefit of hearing our valuable message to the idiocies of whatever is trending on social media.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts "THE Leadership Japan Series", "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

You Need 400 Faces When Presenting

Can we be successful as a presenter if we don't connect with our audience? Many presenters believe this simply is not needed. This connecting lark is rather fluffy and irrelevant for them because the content is king. The delivery is a sideshow, a trifle, a distraction from the main game. Solid high value information, backed up with verifiable data is the mother lode. Actually that is not true.

Solid, verifiable data delivered in a monotone, presented looking down to the reams of notes on the podium, in a disinterested manner is a communication killer. No matter how good the "goods" are, it is not much help if no one if getting your message. Why aren't they getting it? They are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Line instead. We cannot be so arrogant as to imagine our content can carry the day in this age of distraction. The younger generation are going to be the future business audience from Hell. They are growing up totally distracted all the time, with the concentration span of a dazed gnat. They have an addiction to being in touch with each other all the time and are unapologetically reaching for their escape vehicle - their phone - in a heartbeat.

If you are looking down at your note when speaking then the most valuable data is being withheld from you. Watch your audience like a hawk. If you see them disappear under the desk scrolling with their device, then you can kiss your message goodbye. Look them right in the eye. And do it for six seconds. Why six? Less is not giving us time enough to connect and any longer becomes intrusive - we start giving them sunburn from our intensity.

So the maths on that calculation are pretty simple. Six seconds means ten people per minute. A 40 minute speech means we are constantly using our eye contact to connect with 400 faces. Some will be the same faces, depending on the size of the audience. In a large audience, we may think we cannot connect with everyone but we can. Those seated far from us will imagine we are looking at them. The actual person we are looking at and the twenty people sitting around them, all believe we are talking directly to them. Our object should be to speak one-on-one to every single person in that audience.

But Greg, in Japan, we don't make eye contact. Not true. In a typical business meeting, continuous eye contact will be burn out the retinas of our Japanese counterparts, so we have to learn how to turn the eye contact on and off. A presentation is not the same thing though. This is a different role for us and we need to play the bigger game of being persuasive. To do so means we have to bring our full armory to the cause, to battle listener distraction and escape attempts.

Divide the audience up into six sectors, depending on the size. A smaller audience might become just three sectors. The point is to ensure we visually rove across the audience and speak to every single person, no matter where they are seated. We are not looking at the projection screen, our laptop monitor, the back wall, the front row or only one side of the room. We are circulating in a random fashion around the audience, trying to draw them into the web of our message.

We have in our mind those 400 faces we have to connect with, before our time is up. When we do this, the members of the audience feel more closely connected to us. They feel as if they are being spoken to directly and they feel flattered with the attention.

We can read their faces for reaction to what we are saying. This allows us to respond by varying our delivery, by using voice tone, questions and silence to keep them in the room with us.

If we have their attention then we have a chance of getting our message across. Even if they cannot remember all that we say, they will never forget us. Getting both would be a wonderful result, getting one is better than being totally forgettable like most speakers.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts "THE Leadership Japan Series", "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Should I Memorise or Read My Presentation Content?

The content was really great and the way the words were put together was quite clever. Obviously a tremendous amount of work had gone into this piece. The speaker had a previous professional journalistic background and the careful selection of just the right vocabulary and the descriptive flourishes were excellent. The speech was a dud.

It failed miserably because it was a written speech, read to us. He could have emailed it to all of us and we could have read it for ourselves. If we read it for ourselves and struggled with some of the big clever journo style words, we could still break out our dictionaries and plumb the meaning.

The next speaker just spoke. He wasn't such a fluent talker, sometimes stumbling over some of his words, occasionally stuttering, but he had everyone's attention because he was authentic. He wasn't reading to us, he was looking at us and connecting with us. He had a slide deck, but he just used this as his navigation, to help draw us into his story.

The issue here is how should we reproduce the content we have designed. Do we have to remember it exactly, memorise it so we can be faithful to our speech design and message? Speakers get very hung up on their content. They feel that they have to deliver the perfect coalition of words to get their message across.

Our first speaker couldn't memorise his speech because it was too long. That is the case for all of us – usually the sheer effort required is not worth it. His speech content was far superior in the construction of the content, compared to the second speaker. But he failed as a communicator, because he read it to us. All of his effort went into the crafting the script and nothing into the delivery.

If it is a very short speech, you can try and memorise it, but these are usually very special occasions. Japan is a very formal country, so if you are asked to speak at a friend or subordinate's wedding here, then there are established protocols and sentences you must use in Japanese. If you greet the Emperor of Japan, then there are set things you must say in Japanese, the specific content will depend on the occasion. Mick Jagger told me not to drop names, but I have done both and I did memorise the content. These were short pieces, so I could can manage them without getting myself into trouble.

I did get myself into trouble though, trying to memorise a longer speech. I was the Dean of the Kansai Consular Corps at the time and was asked to speak at the farewell party for China's Consul General Li, before he left Osaka for America. I had studied Chinese at University and although pretty rusty, thought I could pull off a short speech. Because I am not a fluent speaker of Chinese, having lived here in Japan for thirty years, I had to memorise the content. The plan was to memorise the first part in Chinese and then switch to Japanese, which is much easier for me.

As the Australian Consul General in Osaka at that time, I thought this would be a pretty deft piece of national branding, emphasising Australia's commitment to Asia. It seemed like a good idea at the time!

This is where memorisation can get us into trouble, and this includes trying to do it in your native tongue. Well I wasn't doing this in English, so it was a high risk strategy. I was doing fine actually, until I got to a quote from the famous poem by Mao Zedong called "Reascending Jinggangshan". All of the Chinese guests in the audience immediately recognised it and started applauding enthusistically. At this juncture I made a fatal error.

After having an internal debate with myself, I decided to wait for the applause to die down and then resume. Because it was a memorised speech and not natural conversation, it was a forced exercise to remember the words. Suddenly my mind went completely blank, a total whiteout.

I could not recall what came next. If you are ever up on a big stage, facing thousands of expectant faces and your mind goes blank, you will find that a solitary microphone stand is not much cover behind which to hide your embarrassment. After about 20 seconds of stone motherless silence, which felt like an eternity, I was somehow miraculously able to pick up the next part and complete the speech, before switching into Japanese. Probably wiser to avoid memorising your speech.

Please don't read it to us either, if you can avoid it. If it is a highly technical speech, something with gargantuan legal implications if you get it wrong, a life or death statement to the media or on behalf of your absent big boss, then you may have no choice. If so, then please use as much eye contact with your audience as possible. You can study the text, such that you really know the content. You can read the first part of the sentence, then voice the last section while looking at your audience and still remain perfectly faithful to the sacred text.

You can read the words and add in gestures, to emphasis the message. You can stand straight and tall and project confidence, reliability, credibility and trust rather than hunching down over the microphone stand. You can have pauses, to allow the audience to digest the key points. You can hit key words for emphasis and can use voice modulation to bring the text alive. Do not have your head down, eyes glued to the text and cut yourself off from your audience.

Even better, read your audience not your text. Observe if they are buying what you are saying, see if they are understanding the point. You don't have to memorise your talk or read it to us or read the slides to us. You can have speaking points and talk to those points.

For the vast majority of speeches, a conversational tone of talking to key points will work extremely well. If it is severely formal and you have either memorise it or read it, well go ahead. However if you don't have that type of caveat, then look at us, talk to us and engage with us. We will forgive any sins of grammar, pronunciation or lack of speaking fluency in the delivery.

We will connect with you and we will receive your message and we will regard you highly as an authentic person who spoke from their heart. And we will remember you in a positive vein.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts "THE Leadership Japan Series", "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

How To Present Technical Subjects To Non Experts

Technical experts love their specialty. Usually, they have studied hard and long to get into their profession and there is also substantial on-going professional development required to stay current. They are analytical types who thrive on the detail. When they present technical subjects to business people who are not experts they can run into trouble.

The slide deck will be vast and detailed. There is a lot of information to get through and so the slides can be dense. The subject matter, being technical, is a serious business and that is how they approach their delivery. Somber, low energy, no gestures, monotone delivery are all de rigeur for our self assured,

serious experts. The pace is slow, large numbers of the slides are read to the audience. The entire atmosphere is funereal.

Is there a contradiction between the subject matter and presentation delivery skills.? If the matter is technical shouldn't the material speak for itself. Isn't the presenter just a simple conduit of information? Yes, you could do it that way, if you want to be completely forgettable, have no interest in establishing a powerful personal brand and become the go to person on the subject. For many technical people that would be just fine, because they don't enjoy the limelight, they don't really want to meet new people and would rather be immersed in their specialty.

If the firm is happy for them to be nobodies in a crowded field of similar experts all vying for the same client business, then that monk like approach is a good outcome. If however, you want your firm to stand out above the din, to become famous for the quality of your team and for your professional bedside manner with non-specialists, then a re-think is in order.

Lets start with the deck, because this is the holy grail for specialists and this is where all the time is sucked up, with iteration after iteration. Slides can be printed out and distributed after the presentation. Why not during? Yes, you can do that but the chances are that you will be on slide 5 and your audience will be on slide 45 and you have lost control of their attention. Better to mention at the start that the materials will be distributed after the presentation. There may be one or two sheets where the detail is so dense, say numbers on spread sheets, that it is impossible to read on screen and these could be handed out at the start.

The details can be presented on the slide because our audience can read it for themselves, which means we don't have to cover every detail on every slide. We can show and tell. That is, show the slide in its full glory but only refer to a few key points. This allows us to speak without being trapped by the text on screen. We can speak to the points, elaborate and tell stories to bring the facts to life.

Storytelling is mainly absent from the repertoire of technical presenters but these are the things the audience will remember after the talk. They also make the detail more interesting because they are usually dealing with things at the application rather than the theoretical stage.

When speaking not every word needs to have the same value. This is the monotone delivery approach, which quickly puts everyone to sleep. Instead we can select out key words for additional emphasis and hit those words harder when we deliver them. We can bring energy to the fore when we make recommendations or issue warnings. These are simple voice modulation techniques which add validity to what we are saying.

We can use gestures to back up our words, again these bring energy to key points in a way that adds credibility to the content. Our passion for the subject should shine through. The specialist though often believes that their subject matter should be unemotional and delivered in a bland way, that is not controversial. We don't have to be outrageous to make a connection with the audience. Regardless of the subject matter, it usually has ramifications for people and people are emotional. We can find how this topic relates to their businesses and their lives and make it real for the audience.

We don't have to be dull. We can take highly technical subjects and humanize them, tell stories, inject situations and people into them to bring them to life. We just need to change our mindset about what we are actually doing here. Are we simply going through the motions or are we trying to communicate our key messages to our audience? That decision makes the path forward very clear.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts "THE Leadership Japan Series", "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Don't Give Mystifying Presentations Please

The global chief's private jet has landed. We are all assembled in a luxury hotel's gorgeous function room. The big brand name, the resplendent silver mane, the speaker's resume and abundant confidence all speak to a brilliant talk coming up. After the obligatory networking and chatting with tablemates over lunch, the main event gets underway. The keynote starts well but gradually we start to lose connection with the speaker's message. The talk is full of supple subtleties. The main point becomes fuzzy, distant, unapproachable and impenetrable. We sit there wondering are we all stupid, because we can't grasp the speaker's nuanced argument or is the speaker simply rambling and incoherent?

Actually, it doesn't matter which of us is stupid, because the talk has failed. The speaker has not been able to get the message across in a way that resounds with the audience. Being intellectually brilliant and speaking above your audience is not effective communication. We have to know who is in our audience, their level of understanding of the subject and their capacity to be challenged. We need to be able to communicate, which means the listeners can understand and follow what we are saying, rather than trying to impress with our own brilliance.

Structure helps to guide the audience through the proceedings. This speech, if it had a structure, it was obscure, vague and puzzling. Consequently the speaker lost the audience. A heavy mist rolled in on this speech after about the first ten minutes and engulfed us all in such a way, that we struggled to follow where this meandering was going. What was the point being made here? Where are we going with these stories? What is the key argument being made? These are all bad questions for an audience to be asking. They should never have to wonder because the speaker is clear, coherent and provides direction.

The use of slides on this occasion was minimal. In many cases this is a blessing, but not this one. We needed some more form to follow the speaker's points. We were lost. We could have found a path, if there had been some visual guideposts for us. The slides roll out and pull us along the path of the argument. Other simple ploys like "there are three key issues" or "the five areas of urgent attention are…" helps to frame the content in a way where we can track it. These structures help us to relate the current point to those preceding it.

Maybe a fellow genius, if indeed our speaker was a genius, may have been simpatico with our speaker's intent and understood the thesis. Alas we were just ordinary punters, turned out in the hope of a nice lunch and some enlightenment from this font of knowledge. Our font this day though was dry and not at all helpful because we couldn't get the point.

As speakers we have to make it easy for our audience to understand us. If we are going to be clever and tangential, we run the risk of losing people. If we are fixated on subtlety, we can be too opaque for the troops and they just get lost. We were all crime scene witnesses to the merciless murder of a major brand that day. When the big cheese fails like that, we doubt the whole organisation. Our faith in the firm has completely subsided. Apart from the damage to the company, the individual's personal brand is shredded, torn and tattered.

The stakes are high when you are a presenter, so mastering the ability to connect with your audience is critical. Don't over complicate the exercise. Have a clear structure, be easy to follow as you navigate your way around your talk and pitch it at the right level for your audience. Do that and your personal and professional brands will be enhanced, appreciated and working for you, not against you.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast "THE Leadership Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

What Is The Correct Breathing Method When Presenting?

Breathing is such a natural act and normally, we don't pay it much attention. Some how though, when we are giving a presentation, our breath control becomes a factor of success. One component is our nerves, which are driving the chemical surge through the body, making our heart rate skyrocket, which speeds up our breathing pattern.

If we are not breathing properly, we can have mental white outs of the brain, because we are not getting enough oxygen. We can't remember what it is we are supposed to say. We get lost, become panicky and come across as disorganized, unconfident and flakey.

Voice is driven on the winds of breath exhalation and lack of breath power impacts audibility. If we don't have good breath control, we can find ourselves squeaking out to the audience in this little voice that says, "I am not confident. I am not confident, I am not confident!".

We might find that our lack of breath control results in our final words of our sentences just dropping away to nothing. We often see speakers kill their key messages, by not supporting the key points with their words voiced with power and conviction. There is no opportunity to punch out a strong message, because we are just vocally doing a disappearing act in front of the audience.

It could also be that we are becoming very breathy when we speak. It sounds similar to people who have respiratory illnesses. They always seem to be gasping for breath. Actually they are and so are speakers with no breath control. They simply can't pull in enough oxygen.

The lack of breath control gets transmitted to our cadence of when we speak. A lack of air means we are confined to short breathy sentences and the lungs are only being filled in a very shallow fashion just from the top portion.

So how do we stop this and better instruct our instrument – our wonderful speaking voice? I am going to pass on what I have learnt from nearly 50 years of karate training, where breath control is absolutely vital. It is the same method used by singers.

Controlling our nerves is a key part of breath control, because if we don't, we are working at cross purposes with ourselves. One of the techniques for controlling our nervousness is to go through some deep breathing exercises, before we go on stage in front of the audience. We can do these seated or standing and they don't take very long.

Place both hands on your tummy and just touch lightly. As you breath in, imagine you need to fill the lungs from the bottom most part of the diaphragm. To help us do this we breath slowly and deeply and we can see if we are succeeding, because the hands on our tummy are starting to move forward. This pushing out of the tummy is a good sign, it means we are doing the deep breath sequence correctly. We reverse the process and slowly exhale and the hands are slowly drawn back in. We need to do this slowly, because a bit too much force and speed here and we can become dizzy, as the flood of oxygen to the brain makes us feel lightheaded.

This diaphragm breathing is actually how we should be breathing all of the time and I recommend you start the practice and make it your default habit. When we are in front of the audience, they cannot see the breathing rhythm, so there is no need to feel self-conscious. Every breath we take starts at the lowest point of the diaphragm and we sense our tummy being pushed out and then being pulled back in. This is how we should be breathing while we are on stage.

Interestingly enough, if we lose the flow and suddenly, the breath begins from the very top of the chest, we will feel our pulse rate pick up, our chest tighten and our shoulders start to rise. This might happen at first, before we can master this deep diaphragm breath control, but don't worry. Just slow the breath down and concentrate on the lower diaphragm and trying to push your tummy out with each inhalation. Once you do this, the cycle will re-institute itself and you will be getting plenty of air. The key is to pick this up in rehearsal.

Correct breath control gives us the ability to make the tonal variations which keep command of our audience. We can bring power to words and build to crescendos, when we want to emphasis particular key points. It also helps us to relax and look super composed when we are standing in front of people. That confidence is contagious and our audience buys what we are saying. And that is what we want isn't it.

Action Steps

1. Get to the venue early and find a quiet, private place to do some breathing exercises
2. Place the hands over the tummy and check if we are breathing from the lower diaphragm or not
3. Make this method your default method of breathing from now on
4. If you start to feel yourself lacking air, then re-set and concentrate on breathing from the lower diaphragm.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at [email protected]

If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.

About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast "THE Leadership Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.

Where Should I Stand When I Am Presenting?

Usually this isn't even a question for most presenters because the organisers have already set up the room and your speaking spot has been designated. But have we been designated a spot by experts in public speaking or by the venue crew who usually just haul chairs, lug tables around and set up the stage? Sadly the coalescence between expertise in speaking and membership of the logistic's team is rare.

So where should we stand? This will depend on the venue size, the illumination of the room, the size of the audience, the layout of the stage, where the projection screens are located and what you want to achieve. I attended a talk where the stage was empty, yet the speech suddenly got underway with no speaker in sight. He was actually wearing a Lavelle microphone and was behind the audience at the rear of the room. The acoustics of that hall however, gave no indication of where he was standing and so it created a buzz as the assembled masses tried to place the speaker's location, with the voice being the only thing they could all hear. He then strode manfully to the stage and continued his oration. As an attention-getter, to break through all the clutter in the heads of the audience, it was very effective and he did that just by varying his speaking spot from what everyone was used to.

If we are using a screen, then where is it: is it hoisted high above us, are there two giant screens on the left and right or is it at our height in the center of the stage? In smaller venues, the screen is normally at our height and usually set up such that the podium is on the audience right of the stage. No particular thought has gone into this podium location. The choice is purely random, often linked more closely to power outlets and cabling considerations, than the speaker's effectiveness.

We should stand on the audience left of the screen, so that the audience can read our facial expression and body language and then move their eyes right to read text or images on the screen. We always want the screen to be subordinate to us. So set up the proceedings such that they have to look at you first, rather than at the slides on the screen. Our face is a trillion times more powerful as a communication tool, than anything that is on the screen.