Presentations that hold you spellbound. (Career Management).

People often speak reverently of the quality called charisma. It's described as an almost magical aura that makes people want to listen to you and follow you. I don't know all that it is, but I do know that without good public speaking skills, you do not have a chance of having it. Charles Schwab said, "I'll pay more for a man's ability to express himself than for any other quality he might possess." (1)

Great presentations can make your heart soar and your eyes spill over with gentle tears. Poor ones can fill you with dread as you plan a physical or mental escape.

How do you make a great presentation?

* Memorize your speech. If you have good information to convey, but you want to add that extra zip to your speech, memorize It. If you do, then wonderful, magical new insights can happen when you are on your feet. If not, they do not. If you have much information at your command, then you can concentrate on the audience and sense what they need to hear. Any time you can speak memorized words, the audience is more impressed than if you are using notes. Repetition is the secret to memorization. Some can do it with a few repetitions. Others take more. (How long it takes can be your secret) Practicing out loud and writing the speech over and over can help you learn it. I know memorizing is not always possible, but keep in mind what a powerful tool it is when the situation or the audience warrant that kind of effort.

If memorizing is not possible, using visual aids to trigger your thoughts are the next best step. A Power Point presentation or overheads enable you to glance at words and then speak directly to the audience. Don't do much turning to the screen and reading the words. Each time I speak in front of an audience with the help of PowerPoint or overheads, I commit more of the presentation to memory. The intense concentration of performing seems to implant it in the grooves of my brain.

* Explain why something is meaningful to you and how it connects to your reason for speaking to the group. David Whyte, poet and author of The Heart Aroused, spoke at ACPE's Spring Institute in San Antonio. He recited from memory a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke called "The Swan." (2) Before he recited it, he explained the poem and how it had been meaningful in his life.

First, he said if you've ever watched a swan walk, you know it looks like it had one Guinness too many and wobbles to one side as if it will fall over. It seems to catch itself just in time as if ropes are holding it up and then it wobbles to the other side. But when it lets itself down into the water, the majesty is wonderful. He made an almost heretical statement in today's corporate climate--we do not have to always think about changing everything about ourselves and how we work. We just have to keep moving awkwardly toward the element where we are meant to be. It doesn't matter how clumsy we are or how bad we look as we get there. All that matters is that we keep moving toward the water. To an audience of physician executives who are dealing with rampant changes in health care, being reminded that it is all right to move awkwardly toward whatever is coming next was comforting.

Without his examples from his life about how he had been out of his element in a non-profit organization that can work you to death because you are always doing more good things, I could not have grasped the meaning of the poem as quickly. When he got to the line-"we have to let go the ground we stand on and cling to everyday," the tears streamed down my face as I remembered my own struggle of holding on too tightly to a particular way my job is done or to a certain way of relating to my adult children.

David Whyte told stories of how his own poems were written, what people and circumstances in his life were the impetus for his writing them. He demonstrated how poetry can help us remember what matters most to us and be a tool in finding satisfactory ways to do our life's work.

* Tell a personal story. A rumor spread through the crowd that David Whyte has memorized over 300 poems. I was impressed with his command of the literature that I had studied as an undergraduate and graduate English major.

Here's an example of a personal story I could use in a speech: My mother is a numbers and facts person. She watches the stock market and researches our family's genealogy mostly because it interests her but also because she believes in brain calisthenics to help prevent the onset of senility. Even though I have disliked poetry in the past, after hearing David Whyte recite many lines of it, I have decided that memorizing poetry would be good mental exercise for me. I have begun by memorizing "The Swan."

Who you are needs to shine through whatever words you say in the speech. If part of the speaker's story resonates with the audience, then the listeners may experience a feeling of connection. Some will find the courage to do two seemingly opposite things--accept themselves as they are and resolve to grow and change. Both are necessary conditions for satisfying living.

Delivery of the presentation

An audience cares deeply about the text of a speech, but all is lost if the delivery is bad. Marian Woodall in her book, Thinking on Your Feet, said when asked difficult questions "Many people give mediocre responses with superb delivery; they generally fare better than those with good responses and mediocre delivery skills. (3) Presentation content is important but even more so body language and voice quality because the best of messages will fall on deaf ears if you don't look and sound confident. Look at yourself on videotape and see if you would want to listen to you. If not, pick one bad habit and work on improving it.

David Whyte exemplified good delivery. He spoke without notes or audiovisual aids, a truly remarkable feat. He stood tall, feet planted firmly on the floor, used hand gestures in the middle part of his body, had a clear English accent as he repeated line after line of memorized poetry.

Ways to improve your delivery

* Look confident. To do that, keep your hands off your face. Use some gestures but as you move your hands, keep them between your shoulders and your hips.

Stand equally balanced on two feet. Do not cross your hands over your chest and, even worse, do not fold one arm across your waist and then have the other arm perpendicular to it holding your chin in your hand. You will look tired and insecure.

* Enunciate with a good strong voice. Exercise your lips before you stand up, particularly if you are speaking early in the day. You'd be surprised how your mouth can be stiff and you won't realize it until you begin to speak. Repeating rapidly "Bumpy baby buggy" is an effective lip exercise and speech warm up.

* Make sure the sound system is working properly. If it doesn't, the audience will blame you. It's not fair, but it is true.

* Make a conscious decision about how fast you will talk. Try to find out the speed of other successful presenters to a particular audience. For instance, you will probably need to speak at a slower rate in a house of worship than at a business conference. If you use the slower speed with a group you are spending the entire day with, people tend to fall asleep.

* Look happy and exuberant. "...when you are doing any kind of public speaking, if you're not smiling, no one else will be. When you show your excitement, you end up giving people an energy transfer." (4)

* Get rid of "ahs" and "ums." "Audible pauses such as 'ah,' 'er,' 'um,' and other verbal fluff, obscure your message and reduce your credibility....Audible pauses are like background music that is too loud. (1) You will need to see yourself on videotape or listen to yourself on audiotape to know if you do this.

Many people use "ahs" and "ums" to help them think of the next sentence they want to say. The humming sound seems to help them pull the words out of their brains. No one wants to watch you do that. They want you to have thought through the speech well before you begin to speak and not waste their time. Memorization helps here too. A technique that can eliminate this problem is to write everything you plan to say and memorize it. Don't deliver the speech in a rote fashion, the way you may have recited a poem like "Invictus" in the sixth grade. Practice speaking it at the right speed with good inflection without "ahs" and "urns," ideally in front of a video camera.

I worked with someone once who eliminated "ahs" and "ums" after eight tries in a three-hour practice session. He would give the speech in front of a video camera and then we would watch it. At first he would hear the "ahs," stop and say, "I did it again." Then he would awkwardly pause, wanting to say "ah" and finally he did it without verbal pauses. Silent pauses, used occasionally, are acceptable and show that you are confident and in control of the audience.

Also a fully written text is an added insurance policy against the greatest fear public speakers have--getting in front of an audience, going completely blank, and having nothing to say. If it is written and in front of you, that cannot happen. At the very worst, you could read it. Everything in this article recommends not reading the speech, but that would be better than slinking off without having said a word.

Conclusion

Many of you have watched Lee Kaiser and Chuck Dwyer deliver compelling information for seven hours with a great deal of energy and few notes. Eric Berkowitz is in a league of his own, taking all the skills I've described and adding a level of humor equal to Jerry Seinfeld. Most people are not called on to give such lengthy speeches, but whether they are five minutes, 20 minutes, or an hour, consider working hard on them and practicing them in front of a video camera. Good speeches delivered powerfully can inspire people to work hard and want to be a part of the goals of your organization. Memorized speeches delivered well can give people courage to step out of their comfort zones, take risks, and make changes in their lives that will benefit themselves and their places of work.

An apology

My sincere apologies for not giving proper credit to the participants of the Cyberforum in my last column. Barry Herman, MD, MMM CPE, FACPE, facilitated the "Navigating the Job Search Superhighway" Cyberforum and all the information came from the 700 pages of conversation it generated.

References

(1.) Charles Schwab quotcd in 101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly by Jo Condrill and Bonnie Bough, PhD. Palmdalc. California: GoalMinds, 1999.

(2.) Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke. A Translation from the German and Commentary by Robert Bly. Now York: Perennial Library, Harper & Raw. 1981.

(3.) Woodall, Marian K. Thinking On Your Feet, How to Communicate Under Pressure. Lako Oswego, Oregon Professional Business Communications. 1996.

(4.) White, Kate. 9 Secrets of Women Who Get Everything They Want. Now York: Three Rivers Press, 1998.

RELATED ARTICLE

The Swan by Ranier Maria Rilke

This clumsy living which moves lumbering
as if in ropes through what is not done
reminds us of the awkward way a swan walks.

And to die, which is a letting go
of the ground we stand on and cling to every day,
is like the swan when he nervously lets himself down

into the water, which receives him gaily
and which flows joyfully under
and after him, wave after wave
while the swan, unmoving and marvelously calm
is pleased to be carried, each minute more fully grown
more like a king, composed, farther and farther on.

Barbara J. Linney, MA, is the Vice President of Career Development at the American College of Physician Executives in Tampa, Florida and a member of its faculty. She can be reached by calling 800/562-8088 or via email at [e-mail].