Hi, clients and readers. I have the strong sense–(and maybe YOU do, too)– that how people want to learn is changing. Please take this very quick survey so that I can learn about your training preferences. The survey will take you less than five minutes to complete.
Two (Extremely) Cool Benefits of Taking the Survey
1. I’ll compile what I learn into a report. I’ll share that report with you in November, 2018. You may use its findings to improve training in your organization.
2. I’ll also contribute $5 to the Global Women’s Water Initiative for every survey I receive. This amazing project trains women to become water and hygiene technicians, trainers, and social entrepreneurs.
First off: I am emphatically NOT suggesting we treat our audiences like pets. But learning from our relationships with our pets CAN help us become better speakers.
I spoke recently with a professional Animal Massage Therapist and adult educator. Together, we came up with the following five tips for improved public speaking.
1. You must meet their basic needs or they’ll die.
OK, so this is obvious and maybe even cruel to point out. However, this truth forms the foundation of effective presenting, even if your audience will only die metaphorically if you don’t meet their basic needs.
How do you figure out what those needs are? Analyze the four typical barriers for your specific audience below. Then, make sure your presentation addresses each barrier.
When you address these barriers, audience members will not only stay alive, they will THRIVE. (Thanks to Nancy Bacon for providing these four barriers to action.)
2. If you give them a treat, they will love you
This doesn’t suggest you throw Tootsie Rolls out to the crowd. (Personally, I find that a little TOO “animal trainer”- like.) But DO treat your audience with frequent breaks, humor, and meaningful interaction.
3. Talk too loudly, and they’ll run away. Talk too softly and they’ll ignore you.
Unlike your audience, pets lack the ability to pretend interest. They just tune you out! You must ensure that your voice and body movements truly engage your listeners.
4. Pets thrive on focused, energetic activity (followed by “robust resting”).
Picture your cat playing with a ball of string, or your dog with a squeaky toy. They invest their entire brains and bodies. Your responsibility as a presenter is to offer content that invites a similar level of investment. You can only do that by ensuring that the presentation is 100% relevant to your audience. (Then, be sure to follow that with a rest.)
5. Your relationship with your pet creates a mutual energy cycle, feeling great to you both.
You and your audience also form a reciprocal unit. When you do your best, they will return the favor.
ARF! Great Presentations Ahead
If you follow the five tips above, your audiences will remain attentive, energetic, focused, and connected. They may even reward you by licking your hand (just kidding)!
We’ve all had bored trainers and presenters. They lack passion, energy and spark.
But what happens when YOU deliver the same material over and over and over again? How do you keep it fresh?
5 Tips That Refresh
1. Remember the “Turf” That Comes With Being a Professional
Whether you are an athlete, an actor, a tour guide, or a trainer, the ability to perform at the same expert level time after time comes with the territory of being a professional. Professionals “give it their all” each time they perform.
2. Re-Arrange the Order of Things
Re-arranging content may feel risky when things are working just fine as they are. However, you’ll be amazed at how refreshing it feels to present a content block either earlier or later than usual.
3. Initiate and Enjoy Interaction
Each group’s energy is different. Have fun with that! Meet and “hob-nob” with individuals during the breaks. Listen for any unique words or concerns. Be sure to ask plenty of questions.
4. Increase Your Self Awareness in New Areas
Knowing your content as intimately as you do is a luxury. It enables you to tune into how you are presenting it. Are you using online tools? Are you making eye contact? How is your lighting and voice projection?
5. Feel Fortunate!
How many of us get to do jobs that involve such a high level of physical, emotional, and mental exercise all at once? From a purely selfish standpoint, what a great way to keep your brain young! Additionally, you are transmitting information that helps your participants. You are “doing good” in the world. How many people can really say that?
I hope these five tips help you keep your presentations fresh—not only for your participants, but for YOU, too.
If you feel a chill of dread at the prospect of leading or participating in a meeting, you are not alone. 71% of managers say meetings are unproductive and inefficient. Studies show that the more meetings we attend, the worse we feel about ourselves and our jobs. And yet between 36 and 56 million meetings occur in the US every day (see citations for these studies at end of post).
Prevent “Meetings to Meet”
First, you must ask “WHO really needs to participate in this meeting?” Shun collaboration for collaboration’s sake. Make sure that those who participate in meetings are the ones who can get things done.
1. Prepare, Then Participate Early
If you are leading the meeting, send out an outcome-focused agenda within a week of the meeting. If your role is meeting member, read the agenda carefully. Plot the best moment for your contribution. Converse with key players before you get into the room. Speak as early as possible once the meeting begins.
2. Prevent the Tyranny of the Most Verbose
Those who speak most forcefully often dictate what happens in a meeting. Many of us find that speaking up can be nerve-racking in an environment like this. To make it easier to jump in, be sure to express confidence through your body language and word choice.
Sit toward the front of your seat and do not lean back. Consider ditching your laptop; it can set up a barrier between you and everyone else. Speak up, be factual and clear, and avoid deferential language and filler words such as “I think”, “maybe”, etc.
3. Embrace the Uncomfortable
Groups are more creative and productive when differences are aired. Take the risk to identify “the elephant in the room”. Remember, if something does not feel right to you, odds are it is not just you. Enormous time and energy is wasted when meeting members try to ignore uncomfortable issues.
Meetings should be action sessions. At their best, meetings solve problems and set direction. Let’s all take the steps above, and make this commitment: Fewer, more productive meetings!
The car in front of me pokes along at 20 miles per hour. I clench the steering wheel as I try to push down my road rage. The concept of “steam coming out of my ears” feels very real…
And then I suddenly, falsely, crazily, I bark out the word “JOY!” and force a grossly false smile. The smile doesn’t reach my eyes and looks more like a grimace, but I try it again: “JOY!” I croak out a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. I don’t want to laugh. I am mad! But guess what, my shoulders relax. Suddenly I realize the smile has reached my eyes. Following the poky driver in front of me no longer seems like the end of the world. My breath deepens. I relax.
By smiling, I have just tricked my brain. And it worked!
You Don’t Need Chopsticks
Psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman of the University of Kansas researched smiles, including fake ones their subjects created by holding chopsticks between their lips. They found that even fake smiles increased the subjects’ immunity, strengthened stress responses, and lowered blood pressure. Dozens of other medical studies support the connection between smiling and stress reduction. Because the brain is a sucker for a grin, it doesn’t care whether you’re smiling because you’re joyous, or because you’re just pretending.
So smiling reduces stress. That’s good news for trainers and presenters.
Smile to Prepare to Knock ‘Em Dead
I am not suggesting that trainers and presenters begin their session with a big, fake smile. However, before “going on stage”, try following these five steps:
Find a bathroom stall. Enter, and close the door.
Plaster a huge, ear-to-ear smile on your face while relaxing your shoulders with a big breath.
Shake your body all over, as if you were a dog shaking off water. Keep smiling and breathing.
Open the cubicle door while still smiling.
Walk to where you will present. Chances are your face will settle into a genuine smile by the time you get there.
By forcing that little “smile” moment, you have boosted your immunity, energy, and dynamism. Best of all, you have lowered your stress.
Now you can be the amazing trainer or presenter you were always meant to be!
Have you ever felt that something’s just not working right, no matter how well you know your material, how confident you came in, or how much you practiced?
You may be experiencing an attempted “Death by Room.” This malady has knocked many a trainer and presenter to their knees—and kept them there. The disease is preventable. But to overcome it, you must take these tips to heart.
3 Tips to Prevent “Death by Room”
1. Ask yourself: What do I want?
Do you want a dialogue or a monologue? Many presenters espouse one theory (for example, “participation is good,”) but everything they do communicates a different message (like “sit down, look at me, and shut up!”)
The seating arrangement provides a strong, non-verbal statement from the minute your participants walk in the door. Make sure your room set-up is congruent with your message.
TIP:
If you desire interaction, you must provide a seating arrangement that allows participants to talk easily with one another, as well as with you. This may involve using round tables, a “U” shaped set-up, or rectangle tables pushed together. If you must use a “theater style” set-up, ensure that participants can move their chairs into small working groups of 3-5.
2. Don’t make assumptions.
Here are a few common assumptions that kill trainers/presenters:
“I sent a diagram—I know the room will be set up just like that.”
The space doesn’t matter. Content’s the thing.
I don’t need to see the room until it’s time for me to start.
TIP: When possible, set up the room yourself (with help, if necessary.) View the room the night before. If this isn’t possible, arrive at least one hour early. Remember, the way your space is organized can impact your presentation as much as your content knowledge.
By eliminating your assumptions, you’ll sleep better the night before an important event.
3. Rehearse in the room.
There is no way that a professional actor would work in a space in which he or she had not practiced. Professional trainers and presenters make the room their own by visiting it, testing it, and practicing in it.
TIP: Deliver the first 3-5 minutes of your presentation. Check the acoustics. Does the room absorb your voice, or can it carry with ease? Walk around the area from which you will present. What parts of the room could be blocked from view? Remember that all participants must be able to see you at all times.
Can a room kill you as a presenter? YES—but only if you allow it to. You can prevent “Death by Room” by attending to these three easy steps.
To go shopping, would you use a minivan or Ferrari? What if you were going to race? The choice is a no-brainer. Yet when speaking publicly, many of us want to take a minivan when we should be gearing up to drive a Ferrari.
The Role of Adrenaline in Peak Performance
Driving a Ferrari takes careful practice, or it will feel out of control. The same goes for making the most of your adrenaline. It’s important to rehearse your presentation in situations beyond your comfort zone. Start getting used to the extra power and “zip” that adrenaline provides.
The research is clear. Being calm and comfortable when speaking in public does not necessarily improve performance. In fact, many speakers perform best when they feel anxious, whether they enjoy that feeling or not.
Peak performance requires a tremendous amount of energy. Energy requires adrenaline. By embracing your shot of adrenaline, you transform it into fuel. You’ll excite others through your own total involvement, focus, and excitement.
Centering For Your Dynamic Ride
A Ferrari driver must be 100% present. The same goes for speaking. To be a dynamic speaker, you must center yourself. These four steps will help.
1. Create a clear intention.
Develop a short statement that will motor your soul during your presentation. State the intention in a positive way. (For example, avoid using the word “won’t”, as in “I won’t say ‘um’”.) Here are several examples of intentions that clients of mine have developed:
“I am going to speak brilliantly.”
“I will speak with support from my gut!”
“I will enjoy myself and the audience.”
“It’s show time!”
Mentally state your intention immediately before you begin to speak.
2. Shake off excess muscular tension.
Have you seen dogs, cats, or horses shake their bodies when they are stressed? Do the same—wiggle and flap your body to shake off excess energy. Do this behind the closed door of a bathroom cubicle before taking the stage.
3. Breathe mindfully.
Breathing shallowly and rapidly keeps us in the “fight, flight, or freeze” mode. Try to get your breath down to your abdomen. Take at least five deep breaths as you prepare in that bathroom cubicle, and then take a couple more deep breaths before starting your presentation.
4. Feel your center.
Long before your presentation, practice finding your body’s center of gravity. Then, before speaking, tune into that core for a second. This focus provides strength and solidity.
Take The Wheel
Through centering and allowing adrenalin to fuel you, you become strong, dynamic, and in charge. So leave the mini-van at home and enjoy the ride!
Guila Muir is a premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com
A pet peeve of mine: Trainers who either lecture or simply read their slides, but who call themselves “facilitators”. Training and facilitation are very different animals.
Different Roles, Different Skills
A trainer absolutely must be a content expert. Surely, the best trainers integrate facilitative techniques to make learning easy, but at core they must “know their stuff” intimately.
Great facilitators need not be content experts. In fact, sometimes those who run meetings the best are those who know least about the subject. Instead, they focus on the quality of the process itself.
This chart shows the core differences between being a content expert and a facilitator.
If you are a trainer, your best bet is to combine the roles shown in the chart. This will ensure you’re doing your job as a content expert while eliciting robust engagement and involvement.
If you are facilitating a meeting but must impart information at some point, inform folks what you are doing. When you unexpectedly begin to tell instead of ask, confusion arises and engagement shuts down.
Let’s make a pact right now to always be clear on what role we are embodying. Are we training? Or are we running a meeting? Our understanding makes the process more clear, and easier, for everyone.
I have been fascinated with the question “What makes a great trainer (or adult educator)”? for years. Through exploring research, examining my own practice, and evaluating hundreds of other trainers, I formulated a set of effective training behaviors. I used these behaviors as the basis for an assessment tool called Elevate Your Training! Assessing Training Skills in Your Organization, which will be available soon.
This article is your “appetizer”. Enjoy!
Four Dimensions of Effective Training
Across diverse industries, effective adult educators consistently model a few specific behaviors. These behaviors tend to fall into four dimensions.
Effective trainers:
Carefully prepare for a successful educational experience, instead of just hoping that one will occur.
Maintain abundant participation from the beginning to the end of the class.
Strive to perfect their platform skills.
Effectively manage their classrooms, demonstrating appropriate levels of both dominant and cooperative behavior with participants.
Let’s take a quick look at Dimension #2, “Maintaining Abundant Participation”. I have included five behaviors within this dimension. Most adult educators might very well come up with a similar list of behaviors. But my challenge is this: Do you, and others on your team, consistently model all the behaviors that fall into this dimension?
My bias: Only those educators who consistently perform all these skills can be considered “facilitators of learning”. (Otherwise, they are simply “presenters”.) As adult educators, we must be clear about what we do, and honest in the language we use.
Maintaining Abundant Participation
The trainer/adult educator:
Encourages class-wide participation, using words, body language, and affect.
Integrates individual, pair, and small group activities in which participants process training content for the majority of classroom time.
Responds to participants’ non-verbal cues and behaviors.
Elicits responses from all participants, not just the more verbal ones.
Integrates opportunities to plan how students will apply new information or skills to their roles outside the classroom.
Asks open-ended questions. Waits for a response before re-phrasing the question.
Finds ways to meaningfully engage participants who finish tasks first.
Preview
I’ll soon make the entire Elevate Your Training! Assessing Training Skills in Your Organization Tool available. It will be formatted in a way that will make it easy for you and others to assess each others’ skills in real time. My goal is for you to support each other while building a world-class training team for your organization.
Who wants to feel exposed and inept in front of an audience? No one! Yet recently, I observed a presenter obviously wish she could disappear…all for the lack of a sound check.
This speaker had plenty of important content to deliver. The press was buzzing and there was excitement in the room.
She was introduced, cleared her throat, and said “I’d like to kick off our time together with a short video. It will move you as much as it did me”.
She clicked her remote and the video started, soundlessly. From the audience, we watched a silent video which showed people doing things we didn’t understand and saying things we couldn’t hear.
“Oh!” the speaker gasped. Several people ran up to the stage and started clicking away. Soon we saw the computer’s desktop, then its settings, then some photos of her family members projected onto the screen. Still no sound. More helpers flocked to the stage as the room ignited with conversation and laughter. People checked their texts, wandered to the snack table, and even, in one case, began a loud phone conversation.
As the video continued it silent display, the presenter’s face moved from bright to dark red. I felt her pain and her sweat! “Let’s just skip the video”, she finally instructed the swarm of people onstage. More images flashed across the screen until her PowerPoint presentation once again appeared.
Nearly 15 minutes after she initially began, the presenter ad-libbed: “Well, what the video would have shown was…” Thanks to the lack of a sound-check, this speaker lost the powerful and dynamic opening she had intended. Her confidence was visibly diminished.
What’s the moral of the story? There are several:
Check ALL equipment on-site before you begin.
Bring extra adapters, cables, connectors, and other potentially useful technical items.
Be ready to give the presentation without any visual aids at all. Create and bring notes. You will find these helpful even if your equipment never lets you down.
Don’t be taken by surprise! By being totally responsible for your presentation, you will never experience “presentation hell”.
I have been fascinated with the question “What makes a great trainer (or adult educator)”? for years. Through exploring research, examining my own practice, and evaluating hundreds of other trainers, I formulated a set of effective training behaviors. I used these behaviors as the basis for an assessment tool called Elevate Your Training! Assessing Training Skills in Your Organization, which will be available soon.