Lies, Dam Lies and Statistics

Lies, Dam lies and Statistics

How to make statistics interesting…..

Cheers

Darren Fleming – Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

http://www.executivespeaking.com.au

Many speakers will share a quote in a presentation to add power to their message. Here is how to use them for greatest impact.

• Use them as supporting evidence. Deliver your point and explain it, then drop the quote in. It’s better to show that you have an idea that Obama supports with a quote, rather than having an idea of Obama’s that you have pinched and tried to expand. 
• Know the quote verbatim. No reading it out, no putting it on the screen. If it is integral to your message, it stands to reason that you know it back-to-front. 
• If you must put the quote on the screen, don’t use ‘Quotation Marks’. Quotation marks reduce the quote to a temporary message.  
• Always attribute the quote to the correct source.  

As always your thoughts appreciated below.

Cheers

Darren Fleming – Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

How to tell if people are really listening to the boss

Want to know if people are engaged in what your Boss is saying at your next team meeting? You’ll notice this after a report has taken about 3-4 minutes to deliver.
 
When your boss/colleague/whoever has finished talking observe how others MOVE. Do they start moving at the same time, shifting their weight from side-to-side, moving their whole body as though they have just woken up? If they do, there is a good chance they have just woken up – or at least come out of a trance.
 
This happens when your voice becomes monotone. When it is monotone it becomes hypnotic. In the way that a good hypnotist will relax you into a trance with their voice, you can do the same to your team if you are not careful
 
You can avoid this by varying your voice in speed, volume, tone and even just pausing……………mid sentence. It does not matter how interesting your message is, if it is delivered without energy and enthusiasm it will disengage your team.
 
Now I know that this does not happen when you speak, but it will for others at your meeting

More Strength to Your Arm

When you want to have more power in what you say or write, what do you do?

There are two ways people try to increase the strength of what they say or write. The first is to increase the word count. They put in a whole bunch of adjectives to give their message more weight. These include words very, exactaly, precisely, huge etc in the hope that it will give their point more weight. The better approach is to take the Zen path and reduce the word count. Cut the adjectives and excess words that do not add value. Pay particular attention to any adjectives ending in the ‘ly’. Words ending in ly weaken your sentence and reduce the strength of your message. The next time you see an e-mail with an ly word in it, re-read it without the word and see the sentence change.

As always, your thoughts appreciated here

Just Because You Can Does Not Mean You Should

Last weekend I attended a conference where the presenters would just not stop talking. Each person on the agenda felt they had a duty to congratulate the last and next speaker for the job they had done. Then there were other speakers who to 20 minutes to say what could have been said in 5.

What was the result of this? because there were so many speakers (5 in 20 minutes) the whole event lacked rhythm. We could not settle into the speakers and listen to the message they had. It was like trying to watch TV with the ads coming thick and fast. Those that did have extended times to speak lacked substance and the audience stopped listening.

What is the solution?

Make sure that every person who gets up to speak will add value to the event message and deliver value to the audience. If they don’t add value, do they really need to speak? Just because someone can speak, doesn’t mean that they should. As the great philosopher Groucho Marx put it, ‘Very few sinners are saved after the first 20 minutes of a sermon.’

Cheers

Darren Fleming

Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

Inform, Entertain, but be Incomplete.

The objective of any sales presentation is to instigate follow up action. This could be your audience approaching you for more information, picking your brains about a particular point or them giving you an order for product. What ever it is, you need to ensure that you have contact after your pitch. The best way to do it is to be informative, entertaining and incomplete.

1. Be informative – give information of value that your audience wants. This is why they are listening.
2. Be entertaining – keep them entertained so they stay listening – this does not have to mean laughing.
3. Be incomplete – omit nuggets of information. If the audience wants that information they will then have to approach you one-on-one to get it. You can then take the sales process to the next level.

Your thoughts please….

Cheers

Darren

Political Speak: We believe vs. the Facts

With elections in South Australia and Tasmania this coming weekend, as well as a Federal election and Victorian election due sometime this year, it is appropriate to look at political language – and I’m not talking about politically correct language.

In election mode you will hear speakers from all sides of politics telling us what is the right way to think on a particular topic. Unfortunately though, the words that they use will often detract from the message given. For example:

When someone prefaces a comment with ‘We believe…’ or ‘The labor/Liberal party believes…’ they do so to give power to their statement. Unfortunately it does the opposite. When you add statements such as ‘We believe’ you are by definition offering an opinion. And as we all know, opinions are never wrong – but they are debateable.

What should be done instead of offering an opinion? Simply state your opinion as a fact.

Instead of saying, ‘We believe putting in a highway is the best thing to do’ say, ‘Putting in a highway is the best thing to do.’ The difference is subtle but profound. Your audience is no longer hearing an opinion, but a fact. Facts are much harder to argue with than opinions.

Next time you hear your local Poli offer their opinion, ask yourself if you would believe them more if they gave you a fact instead.

As always, your thoughts are appreciated.

Cheers

Darren Fleming

Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

How Will You be Different for Your Clients in 2010?

With 2010 promising more than 2009 ever could, how will you be different for your clients? Will your sales team visit them and offer the same products in the same old way, just hoping that they will need your products this time?

Or will you enable them to be different. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Break the mould: Give staff permission to vary the traditional sales presentation. If the client sees the 2010 sales presentation as 2009 extended, why would they pay attention? They have seen it before!
2. Then jump on the bits of the mould: Encourage your staff to try something different. Just because your staff have permission to try something new in the sales presentation side does not mean that they will. Actively encourage them to be different.
3. Equip them: Give them the tools to be different. This includes training, support material and maybe even pricing structures (though this is not as important). If you want things to change, how will they change unless you drive the changes with a new approach?
4. Get ideas from industries not related to you. If you are in the superannuation game, look at what the food sector is doing to sell their product. You will be amazed at what you can learn. If you look at your own industry too much you will put the blinkers on to what is possible. Industry experts have their place, but keep your eyes open for someone who knows nothing about what you do. That is the person who will question the norm.

If 2010 is to be different to 2009, how will YOU make it different. As always, your thoughts are appreciated below….

Cheers,

Darren Fleming

Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

The 5 minute Annual Sales Conference

Keep you team and audience interested at the next sales conference by insisting that every person presenting does a lightning talk. These are the instructions:

1. Maximum time allowed: 5 min + Q&A time (time set by you)
2. Slides: Every speaker has 20 slides (no more; no less)
3. Slide transition: Slides automatically move on after 15 seconds (slides cannot be repeated or returned too)
4. No logos on the screen (we know who you work for!)
5. Lights in room stay turned on.

What is the result:
1. Speakers who focus in on their message
2. Speakers who do not waffle
3. Speaker who know their material because they cannot read the slides
4. Audience members who can remain awake through what would otherwise be boring presentations
5. Shorter and more enjoyable presentations

This is how lightning talks work. http://vimeo.com/7021316

Will this work for sales conferences? YES. You just need to be in tune with your message.

Follow these instructions and the annual sales conference will be worth attending for more than just the boozy nights!

Cheers

Darren Fleming

Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach

Comfort vs. Competence

Many people say that they are comfortable when speaking to groups. Unfortunately comfort rarely equals competence.

What they mean by saying they are comfortable is that they do not feel nervous when standing in front of a group. This is not usually a good thing. Elton John once told Andrew Denton that he is always nervous before his concerts. He is not alone in performers who feel this way.

Being comfortable has nothing to do with how effective your presentation will be. Effective presentations are about connecting with your audience and having them adopt your message. They are not about you feeling comfortable.

Feel the energy that the opportunity to present gives you. Don’t call it nervousness; call it excitement!

As always, your thoughts on this are appreciated.