There is a famous study by a UCLA professor named Albert Mehrabian that says that 93 percent of the impression that you make when you speak is based on how you look and how you sound.  Many people in the public speaking business love to point out that, according to the study, only seven percent of the impression that you make is based on what you say.

Like many scientific studies, this study has been widely misinterpreted. I read Lisa Braithwaite’s blog “Speak Schmeak” this weekend and was delighted to find a public speaking coach that agrees with me that the study has been widely misinterpreted.  Braithwaite points out that 

Mehrabian was studying incongruent verbal and nonverbal communication when a person is expressing feelings. He looked at how subjects responded to images with different facial expressions and recordings of a voice saying a single word with different inflections conveying like, dislike and neutral emotion.

Here’s what Mehrabian says about his research being applied outside of the parameters in which he intended it: 

“Please note that this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like-dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable.”

The point is that the study only applies to situations where people are discussing feelings and attitudes, not business presentations.  Of course what we say during a business presentation is important.  Far more important than 7 percent.

With that said, I still like to reference the study.  But I’m always careful to point out that the study can’t be cited for the fact that what you say isn’t that important. But I do think the study highlights the general idea that how we look and sound does matter. Even in business presentations, we need to pay attention to how we look and how we sound.  People judge us on an emotional level. 

I don’t need a study to tell me that.

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Marketing guru Seth Godin has an intriguing post today about “Fitting in versus standing out.”     He points out that in everything you do, you need to choose whether you want to fit in or stand out.

In the public speaking and sales presentation world, I think the choice is obvious. You need to stand out.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that you need to be fool. You need to stand out as the obvious choice, the best partner, or a clear leader.

The problem I see is that many people find that extremely scary.  “If I present like that,” one client one told me as I urged her to speak with more passion and to hone her points more, “then people are going to notice that I’ve changed.”

To which I respond, “Yes. We’re not here to help you become average. We want you stand out.”

Stand out in a good way. Stand out in a good way. Stand out in a way that makes people want to be aligned with you.

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That’s a question I get a lot.  And unfortunately, the answer differs for men and women.

The one rule for both sexes is ask.  If you’re not sure how to dress for a presentation, ask someone who knows the audience.

“I”m going to be speaking at the board meeting next week. How do people dress for those meetings?” Or “I’m going to be speaking at a your conference, how do people dress for these presentations?”

If you’re not sure, then men can simply dress a half step above what everyone else is wearing. If everyone is wearing golf shirts, then put a jacket over your golf shirt. If everyone is wearing jackets with open collars, then put on a tie.

For women, choices are more difficult because much of the business world still has a double standard, expecting women to dress nicer than men.  Also, women’s clothes are more complicated than men’s clothes. 

In general, we recommend that women should wear tailored, more conservative clothes to presentations. 

Here’s a link to a nice discussion of women’s business attire.

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Focus on big picture. Let the CEO take you into the weeds.

That’s the philosophy of a strong executive briefing.  A tight, high-level message inspires confidence.  “If you can’t tell it to me quick,” one manufacturing executive told me, “you probably don’t have a strong understanding of the issues.” 

Long rambling remarks sound uncertain.  With that in mind, prepare relatively short messages that focus on just the most important issues. Deliver the update quickly.

“But our CEO wants to know all the details,” one of my clients told me.  

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be ready with the details when asked.   But don’t serve up those details until you are asked.  A good waiter recites the specials and takes his cues on further suggestions from the restaurant patron.  He doesn’t read out the entire menu.  Similarly, a good briefer gives the high points and then responds to the issues raised by the CEO rather than wading into a lot of potentially unwanted detail.

Let the CEO ask for the detail she wants.  When you start at a high level, you can always go deeper.

Use A Three Point Briefing Method

Try a three point strategy:

• Current Status
• Key Challenges
• Proposed Solutions

I worked with a telecom executive in charge of improving customer service. His task force had done several things to improve service and he had to report out to the CEO. He outlined his message as follows:

• Current status: Our key customer service metrics are finally starting to move in the right direction.
• Key Challenges: We’re still getting way too many customers calling us trying to figure out how to operate the new handsets.
• Proposed Solutions: To solve the problem we’re going to get more involved in early development of the handsets.

When it was his turn during the meeting to speak, he quickly outlined the three key points, giving an overview in 15 seconds. An overview helps the listener get the big picture. Then he went back over the three key points, giving a couple of sentences of detail and explanation.  Then he stopped and took questions.

“Actually it was a very orderly and productive discussion that everyone was happy with,” he told me later. “We stayed on track and didn’t get too lost in unnecessary detail.”

Keeping your message high level tends to keep the discussion properly focused, leaving plenty of room for detail if needed.

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People with heavy foreign accents often ask me what they can do to become better communicators.  Of course, accent reduction coaching is an option. And we recommend it when your accent is so severe that people have trouble understanding you.

But you can be a great presenter even if you have a heavy accent.  You need to speak with energy and focus.

Consider Freddy N., one of the leading accounting software sellers in the southeastern United States. A first-generation immigrant from Vietnam, this wonderful seller has a very heavy Vietnamese accent. His accent is so severe that he probably could use some remedial accent reduction coaching. I’ve recommended it to him.

But he has never had the coaching.

I probably wouldn’t go to the coaching either if I were doing as well as Freddy. Why bother?

One reason for his success is, ironically, that he is a very effective communicator. He is amazingly energetic in his somewhat broken English. He smiles constantly and he exudes real enthusiasm about his product.

Freddy brings that passionate attitude to every conversation. He is a high energy, fun guy to be around. During every presentation, he brings that fun guy to the pitch.

He also does a nice job of keeping his message focused.  He keeps his message to a few key points. While he is generally tough to understand, his three messages always come through loud and clear.  That focus, combined with his first-rate energy, makes this gentleman from Vietnam, who speaks mediocre to poor English, very effective in sales presentations. Indeed, he is very effective when most native English speakers are not very effective at all.

Freddy and other passionate sellers understand that the products and services are often indistinguishable to their competition. That means that the key distinguishing factor isn’t the product. The key distinguishing factor is the person attached to the product.

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“Can you teach me to be funny?”

I get that question a lot.   The answer is that you can learn to be funny. But it helps if you have a little natural talent.

The most important principle of humor is to make fun of yourself.

Here is an article from The Daily Beast, a news and opinion website, about the writers that write humor for political figures’ speeches.

The article states that the first rule for humor is “be self-deprecating.” 

The second rule is “repeat as necessary.”

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“No one can dub you with dignity. That’s yours to claim.”

Those are the words of folk singer and civil rights legend Odetta, who died this week.   If you don’t know about her, check out her obituary in the New York Times.

She wasn’t a noted public speaker. But the above quote touches on what great speakers do. Great speakers claim dignity by trusting in their own voices and speaking with passion.

Yesterday, I was in a workshop where one of the participants made a large stride in improving his ability to connect with audiences. He really was getting it. He was speaking with a kind of passion that anyone could see was real and unique to him.  And when he saw himself on videotape, I could see him getting nervous.

“I’m not sure I can do that,” he said. “Everyone is going to wonder what happened to me. It’s not what they’re used to seeing.”

But great speakers embrace how good they can be without fear. They realize that their passion is their dignity. They embrace it rather than run from it.

That’s what Odetta did.

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Filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr. produced an oddly humorous video of television interviewer Charlie Rose interviewing himself on the subject of technology.  The video, “Charlie Rose by Samuel Beckett,” seems to be Filippone’s take on Charlie Rose as avant garde theater. 

I laughed out loud. But maybe that’s because I was an English major.

But I also love the video as an example of how every meeting is a performance.  The clip is a wonderful study in Charlie’s unique and often spoofed style.  He’s obviously honed this style over a long period of time.  And I’m not saying that people should imitate it.

But I think it should remind us all that meetings are performances. And, if you want to sell ideas, you’re going to have to learn how to perform in a way that best connects with people. Find your own best style and hone it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFE2CCfAP1o

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People memorize a speech when they write out their script word for word and then commit it to memory. Don’t do that. Put together an outline and then simply begin to practice the presentation, figuring out the exact words as you go. 

Your outline might look something like this

I.      Safety is important to you.

II.     How we’ll promote safety on the job.

III.    How our program will save you money.

Once you have the outline in place, you should think of each of the key points as lead-ins for a short section. You might begin practicing like this:

When we met with you last week, you told us that safety was going to be an important issue for you on this job. Indeed, you told us that on your last job, you had a couple of minor injuries. We certainly want to make sure that we do everything possible to ensure that everyone working on and around the job is as safe as possible. That’s why safety is JOB ONE on our worksites.

 

Let me talk about what we’re going to do to keep your job safe. Blah. Blah blah.

 

Next, I’d like to tell you about how our safety program actually will save you money. Blah blah blah.

 

Then you should practice delivering the presentation several times, working on honing exactly how you say everything. Every time you do it, you’ll probably say it a little differently. That’s okay. After several tries, you’ll settle into a way of speaking that sounds natural and works for you. It won’t sound memorized and you’ll be ready to deliver it in a way that connects with the audience.

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I worked with a senior executive at a telecommunications company who wanted me to help him become a better presenter. He sent me the videotape of a presentation he had given recently. He walked to the front of the stage, looking rather stiff in a pinstripe suit.

Then he proceeded to deliver his presentation in a rather stiff monotone. It was clear he had memorized the entire thing and was reciting it verbatim.

The problem with memorizing your entire prevention is that you sound canned. That can be just as bad as being unprepared. Remember, you want to connect with the prospect and make them believe that you can add value to their business. If you’ve simply memorized your presentation, you come across as non-credible. Given enough time, anyone can memorize a presentation on any topic.

You want to come across as someone who can speak intelligently about your topic without excessive prompts.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how to prepare for a speech without memorizing.

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