Web Ink Now

How an understanding of body language transforms your public speaking

Some of my more popular blog posts in recent months have been about public speaking.

Top ten tips for incredibly successful public speaking

Presentation 201: Why public speaking is like billiards

So I wanted to offer another set of ideas for successful public speaking. I was thinking about the differences in what I do now as a professional speaker with 50 gigs a year compared to what I was doing five years ago when I speaking about once a month.

The importance of body language

The big difference in the way I present is that I am now focused on body language. I learned these important techniques from Nick Morgan, my speaking coach and the author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma.

After a gig, I run through video of the presentation with Nick.

I thought it might be interesting for those of you who are honing your own speaking skills to see the clip and hear from Nick about body language too. I realize this puts me out there for analysis, both good and bad, but I'm game.

So watch this clip from the Convention Industry Council CMP Conclave 2009 and then read Nick's comments below.

Here are Nick's comments on my performance, both good and areas for improvement:

"The great thing about David as a public speaker is that he is technically good so that his passion for the subject shines through. I should know – I'm his speaking coach. Every communication is two conversations, the content and the body language. When the two are aligned, you can be a persuasive, authentic, charismatic speaker – as David is. When they're not, people believe the body language every time. We're all unconscious experts in body language, and we pick it up instantly when someone is nervous, unprepared, winging it, or not passionate about the subject.

When I first started working with David, I could see right away that he had the passion and that the goal was to make a few technical improvements in his body language so that the passion could come through unfiltered.

All speakers have adrenaline-induced energy when they get up to speak. That energy comes out in different ways. David’s tended to come out in too much pacing around the stage. Pacing is good when you move purposefully to a point in relation to the audience, stop, plant your feet, and deliver. But when you just wander, you've got ‘happy feet’ and that’s distracting for the audience.

David quickly got the idea, and one of the great things that comes through on this video is the combination of good motion and passion that he’s now – almost – mastered. His move out into the audience about half-way through is brilliantly timed – and it becomes the high point of the speech both in the room and on video. Notice how many people talk about the Air Force in relation to this presentation. David covered a number of topics, but it’s the Air Force that will be remembered, because he went into the personal space of the audience at that point.

Personal space is 4 feet to a foot and a half away from audience members. (Never go into intimate space – a foot and a half to zero – in a public setting.) Because we all crave personal connections with our speakers, celebrities, politicians, and famous criminals these days, thanks to TV, we really engage as an audience when a speaker gets into the personal space of a few of us.

David still needs to work on his motion when he’s on the stage. The goal is to move on a thought, plant your feet, and deliver to a different segment of the audience – and make it look natural. David still has a tendency to move a little too much across the stage just to get rid of adrenaline.

Remember, the point of mastering all this body language stuff is so that people will hear your message, rather than be distracted by something you’re doing. David is a great storyteller, and because he’s on the way to mastering the technical stuff, you can get his stories. He opens this clip with the Singapore Tattoo Show story, and it’s a perfect illustration of his point, that social media is a new, better way to market than spending millions on TV ads. That’s what a good speaker does: informs and entertains at the same time. There’s a reason why David is in such demand as a speaker these days."

Thanks Nick.

Thinking about body language has transformed my presentations. I hope my clip and Nick's analysis is helpful to you too.

Authenticity vs. Authority

Mark Olson asked a bunch of marketers to write a one-paragraph riff on Authenticity vs. Authority. We did not see what the other’s had written until he posted the responses today.

Here's what I said:

I remember in college there was a professor who had tons of authority. He was tenured, had written books, and was the head of the department. Although he had authority, he was not a popular teacher and his classes were empty. I recall other teachers who were young and dynamic and had no authority. Barely older than the students, they had an authentic love of their subject and of teaching. Their classes were packed. In the always on, one-click-away world of the Web, authenticity wins every time because unlike a college class, people can immediately leave the sites that don’t capture their interest. That’s why a lone blogger can be more popular than a stuffy old trade journal both on the same subject.

Read Mark's post to find out what Seth Godin, Brian Solis, Chris Brogan, and Mike Volpe wrote for their paragraphs.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for including me, Mark.

Image: Shutterstock

Presentation 201: Why public speaking is like billiards

My post yesterday Top ten tips for incredibly successful public speaking received the most hits of any post I have written this year, so I thought I'd add a thought about public speaking and why it is like billiards. I first shared this idea on the Marketing Over Coffee podcast with John Wall and Christopher Penn last year.

But it was my absolutely dismal performance at the Social Media Club pool 2.0 party at South-by-Southwest that made me re-think this. My teammate Jonathan Fields, author of Career Renegade, and I, playing for the "Authors 2.0" team lost in the first round. Photo from the event courtesy of net2no.

I used to play a lot of pool while in university and later while living in Tokyo. I got pretty good. Sadly, I’ve lost my skills in the past decade or so, but I fondly recall when I was at the top of my game how it felt.

These days, I do a lot of public speaking. I first started about 20 years ago while I was living in Tokyo and some friends started the Tokyo Breakfast Toastmasters Club. I spoke at least once a month for six years as part of Toastmasters. Then I began to speak a lot at conferences and events for my work as VP marketing for several companies. Now I am on the speaking circuit full time.

So here's the idea:

Novice: When you first start playing pool, you're worried about just hitting the cue ball properly and not looking stupid. You want to at least get the white one to hit a colored one and if it gets in the hole, that’s a bonus. Your total attention is on that cue ball.

As a speaker, the first few times on the podium, you just want to deliver your content without passing out due to stage fright. Your total attention is on your presentation.

Intermediate: After you've played some pool, you start to be aware of your opponent. What is he doing? Shall I buy him a beer so he gets a bit more drunk and starts to miss?

After you've delivered a dozen or so presentations, you start to get a true sense of the audience as more than just a fuzzy haze of faces. How are they reacting? Did the joke work?

Advanced: You've got the important shots down cold and nearly always hit them. Your mind moves away from the actual shots and you're starting to think strategy. Instead of taking a difficult shot, should you go defensive and block your opponent in?

After about 50 or so presentations, you really know your material. In fact, you know your material so well that you don't think about it and instead your mind can focus on secondary things like where you stand, how you hold your hands and if the joke worked better with a one second pause before the punch line or two.

Professional: I was never even close to a professional-level pool player, but I saw some hustlers in action. What struck me was that it was always a given that they would sink the next shot, so their mind was focused on placement of the cue ball for the next shot. A good player could run the table because they were constantly setting up one shot ahead.

I've gotten to the point after doing hundreds of presentations that I can be thinking several slides ahead. While I am delivering, say, slide 42 I am focused on how I am setting up a punch line that comes at slide 44.

There is an amazing Zen-like focus when you have this much experience. You start to be aware of things in the room that even the audience is not aware of. I will often look into an audience of 300 people and be able to count exactly how many people are not looking at me and instead focused on their iPhone or BlackBerry. And I get pissed if the number is more than zero. At this point, all the time you are presenting, you are making mental notes for how to improve little things the next time.

At this level, both pool and public speaking is like a drug. You need a fix. Where is the next stage (or table)? How far do I have to travel till I’m in the comfort zone of being in front of 250 people? When will I next experience a line of 50 people wanting to say hello after a gig?

Anyone else hopelessly addicted to public speaking?

Top ten tips for incredibly successful public speaking

I've been to something like one hundred conferences and corporate events in the past several years as I travel the world delivering keynotes and running seminars. I've seen a few great speeches. Sadly, most speeches I see are not very good. Some are downright terrible.

I've been collecting some observations on what makes a good presentation and also drawing from my own experience.

Most of us have an opportunity to speak, perhaps at your industry event, or your company's sales conference, or to a local club.

Make the most of your opportunity.

1. Take it seriously. If 200 people are in a room and you speak for a half hour, you are taking up 100 hours of people’s time. I see many speakers "wing it" and it makes me feel sorry for the audience. Don't look bad.

2. Know the conference organizer's goals. When I speak, I work with organizers to deliver three goals in equal proportion: Education, entertainment, and motivation. Since I am a paid speaker, I must deliver on all three so the conference organizer is happy they invited me. You need to know the goals for being on the podium too. Why were you invited? How would the organizer define success?

3. Tell stories. When someone says: "Let me tell you a story...," you're interested, right? When someone says: "Let me tell you about my company...," is your reaction the same? It doesn't sound like a way you want to spend your valuable time, does it? Stories are exciting. Most presentations are dry. Open with a story. Tell stories to illustrate your point. It's fascinating to see an audience sit up and pay attention when you start to tell a story on the stage.

4. Nobody cares about your products (except you). Yes, it's just like what I say about Web marketing. What people do care about are themselves and ways to solve their problems. A speech is not about you; it is about your audience. You must resist the urge to hype your products and services. Even if you’re asked to speak about your company or your products, make it about your customers or the problem you solve instead.

5. Prepare and practice. Run through your presentation as many times as required so that you are completely comfortable with the material. You should know the presentation so well that you could do it without PowerPoint and without notes.

6. Don't use PowerPoint as a TelePrompTer. Slides are great for showing images, charts, and the like. Consider showing a short video. But definitely don't use slides to show bulleted lists of text. Yawn! Way too many people just read off their slides. Don't! PowerPoint is not a speaker's crutch; it is a way to illustrate your spoken point. By the way, some of the best speakers don't use slides at all.

7. Arrive early. There is nothing worse than a presenter fumbling with technology on a stage. Everyone becomes uncomfortable and it is nearly impossible to make up that bad first impression. You should plan to arrive at the venue with plenty of time to spare and go to the room at least one hour prior to when you go on. You may need to arrive much earlier if there are sessions before yours because you will want to set up and test your equipment and stand on the stage to get a feel of the room. Use the microphone to hear your voice. Get as comfortable as possible with the venue before people arrive (or when they are on a break). The conference organizer and the A/V people will love you for arriving early! And when you are comfortable with logistics, you will deliver a better speech.

8. Bring an electronic copy of your presentation. I always carry my presentation on a memory stick and wear it around my neck from the moment I step out of my house until after I have presented. I wear it on the plane and in the hotel. I wear it out to dinner. You never know what may happen to your computer (I spilled water on my computer in Brussels once and fried it), so having that backup is comforting.

9. Don't go long. When you build a speech and deliver it for the first time, it almost always runs long. Don't go over time! It's okay to end short because you can take a few questions, but running long makes the entire event schedule get out of whack. Worse, they may pull you off the stage, which looks awful.

10. Be aware of body language. My friend Nick Morgan, author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma says: "When words and body language are in conflict, body language wins every time." If you are nervous, it shows. If you don't believe what you're saying, it shows. If you aren't having fun, it shows. And your audience will always react to your body language instead of your words.

Photo of me presenting in Istanbul, Turkey on February 25, 2009 courtesy MediaCat.

Telling Stories

I often use the word "stories" when I talk about the content people want to share. I do that on purpose.

People love to share stories.

Imagine you're at a cocktail party. Or you open an email. Or you're reading a comment in an online forum.

When someone says: "Let me tell you a story…," you're interested, right?

How about when someone says: "Let me tell you about my company's product…," is your reaction the same?

Learning about someone's product doesn't sound like a way you want to spend your valuable time, does it?

Stories are exciting. Most marketing is not.

Your job as a marketer is to tell stories that people are eager to share with their friends, colleagues, and family members.

Lose Control of your Marketing! New free ebook

Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure

Please download my new ebook Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure.

(Please note: This link brings you directly to the PDF ebook with no registration required and no landing page. It is a 1.2MB document, so please be patient.)

Do you market like the Grateful Dead? Or like Led Zeppelin?
(Find out in the ebook).

Here are some other things you'll find inside:

"For many executives, an obsession with ROI is just a convenient excuse to shy away from something new and untested. Yet that's exactly what the best ideas for creating a World Wide Rave are—new and untested."

"If you're obsessed with ROI measurements that worked in an offline world, then you're just making an excuse. If you worry about losing control of your message, then you're making an excuse."

"For decades, companies have offered Web content as lead bait. But the goal should be to get the word out about your organization, not to misuse the Internet for the sake of an outdated technique."

"For your ideas to spread and rise to the status of a World Wide Rave, you must give up control. Make your information on the Web totally free for people to access, with absolutely no virtual strings attached."

Please download my new ebook Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure. And please share!

(Please note: This link brings you directly to the PDF ebook with no registration required and no landing page. It is a 1.2MB document, so please be patient.)

Learn to fly in 2009

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a fan of ebooks as a great way to deliver information. When I find one that I like that is in a new market, I love to share with you. Sometimes what people write ebooks about are downright surprising – that's often what makes them work.

Max Trescott just released Learn to Fly, an ebook that is the perfect format for getting information out to people about a process—Learning to fly an airplane—which is non-trivial and often unclear to people.

Download Learn to Fly: Live your Dream and Get a Pilot's License! here

Sharing your passion with the world

Max began learning to fly at age 15 and became a part-time flight instructor while working at HP. In 2004, he left HP to found Glass Cockpit Publishing, a publisher of aviation training materials, so the eBook format nicely complements his more traditional products. And it does a great job in introducing people to his work. His passion is preserving and growing general aviation in the U.S. so that it remains available for future generations. He is the President of the SiliconValleyGA, which protects and promotes General Aviation in California's Silicon Valley and he is the "2008 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year."

Max told me that he came up with the idea of doing a blog a year ago while "stuck" in Jackson Hole waiting for an airplane to be repaired. (Hey I can relate, I do my best reading in airports! But in my case it is while waiting for commercial planes). It was a fortunate wait for Max because the ideas inspired him to start a blog as a vehicle for raising his profile.

Have you wanted to learn how to fly? I took a few lessons on college and would probably have kept going through to getting my license if I had enough money at the time. Now that I do have the financial resources, my wife won't let me. Too bad. But if you do, check out the blog and ebook that Max has published.

Better yet, if you’re in professional services, you can learn from what Max has done.

Why don't YOU start a blog or write an ebook? It will make your business soar. 2009 is the year to take off and fly in your market. (Sorry for the bad jokes).

Need a keynote speaker?

I've spent nearly a year working on a video that captures what my keynote speech is like. It was surprisingly difficult for the right combination of large stage, great lighting, flawless sound, and multiple cameras all coming together. I have footage from more than a dozen events that didn’t work for one reason or another.

Fortunately, everything was perfect at the TS2 Conference. I just posted the ten-minute video on YouTube.

If you're planning an event, please consider me as your keynote.

Here is a direct link to the video.

The video was produced by Brian Alves at The DV Show and would not have been possible without the support of the management and staff at the TS2 conference, Doug Eymer at Eymer Design, Jerry Cropp at Merida Audience Response, and Mark Bornstein at SmartSource Computer & Audio Rental. Thank you all.

I didn't think that marketing was like torture

OK, regular readers of this blog know that I've offered a bunch of suggestions in the past few months for how to convince your boss to let you reduce the traditional marketing & PR that doesn’t work so well in an online world.

The suggestions are ways to get them to allow you to adopt the new rules.
- A top ten list for implementing the new rules
- The one question to ask new marketing & PR detractors
- An answer to the ultimate question (measurement & ROI)
- And if all else fails, you can quit your job

Now from HubSpot comes an incredibly clever music video re-mix. You should show this to your bosses if they are still resistant. In Oughta Know Inbound Marketing the multi-talented Rebecca Corliss sings her heart with alternative words to You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette.

On the HubSpot blog, you can download components to remix your own version. The component pieces of the song and video are offered to use however you like. Nice. Maybe you can sing your own version for your bosses.

Oughta Know Inbound Marketing
By Rebecca Corliss from HubSpot

If I make one more call

I might go punch a wall.

No one understands

That this doesn't work.

They hang up cause I'm a creep.

The mail I send they don't read.

They always find a way to

Ignore me.

I'm interrupting their lives

So they threaten me with knives.

I didn't think that marketing was like torture.

Cause the calls, direct mail

TV ads, they all fail.

And they aren't getting me anywhere. They don't work.

No!

And every time I try to sell

'Didja know that I'm told I should go to hell?

Then I cry. Then I cry.

And you wonder why.

I want leads

To come to me.

Fix our SEO

Get some inbound links.

RSS

Let's get blogging.

Why don't we just use inbound marketing?

You. You. You. Oughta know.

Get my page rank up.

Tag my content.

Fix my landing page.

Let them come to me.

Now I can blog I can tweet

Publish things you will read.

Won't have to bug you in the middle of dinner.

Google me organically

Search results one two and three.

You need my products? Uh huh. Yeah you'll find me.

Cause the calls, direct mail

TV ads, they all failed.

And they weren't getting me anywhere. They don't work.

No!

And every time I tried to sell

'Didja know I was told I should go to hell.

Then I cried. Then I cried.

And you wondered why.

Now my leads

They come to me

Fixed our SEO

Got some inbound links

RSS

Now we're blogging

Thank god now we use inbound marketing.

You. You. You. Oughta know.

Disclosure: I am on the HubSpot board of advisors.

Quit your job

More and more, people tell me things like this: "David, I've tried everything. I've explained why I want to create information online to spread my company's ideas. I've done a top ten list on what my company can do in social media and presented to management. I've asked my bosses to read your books and those of smart thinkers like Seth Godin and Paul Gillin and Larry Weber. I'm pointing out that we all make decisions every day based on what we find online. But they still won't let me do what I know is right by working on the sort of marketing you talk about. And they still insist on blocking social media sites like Facebook and YouTube."

If you face a challenge like this, don't fret. If it just isn't working and you know in your gut that you can do more, I've got news for you. If your company wants to hold you back from implementing the ideas you know are right—after you’ve explained what you want to do and why, then maybe you need to find a new company that will appreciate your talents.

Maybe it's time for you to quit your job. Now. Today.

If your business life is measured exclusively in terms of ROI, then maybe the best personal investment you can make is in a job search. Thousands of organizations would benefit from your enthusiasm. Many company executives lament the fact that they cannot find good people to implement online marketing strategies at their companies.

Your skills are in high demand. Quit your job and find a company that values them!

Many people escape the corporate salary world completely to become independent contractors. Or maybe you need to strike out on your own and build a business based on your enthusiasm. Millions of people start businesses every year. That's what Jonathan Fields did. He went from a six-figure, mega-firm Manhattan attorney to become a serial lifestyle entrepreneur, building a string of health and fitness companies that have changed the lives of thousands of people. "At some point, it dawns on you that the corporate-ladder is really more of a treadmill," he writes. "You run faster, work harder, climb-higher, sweat more blood, and push through stifling fatigue. But, in the end, all too often, you’re no freer or happier than the day you began."

Become a career renegade

Jonathan Fields wasn't satisfied with his career so he became a career renegade, quitting his job to pursue what was in his gut and in his heart. Now, just one of his businesses, Sonic Yoga is the top rated yoga center in New York City.

I wasn't satisfied with my corporate career either. I had been vice president of marketing for several publicly traded technology companies in the late 1990s, and even though I was making good money and well respected by my peers, the companies I worked for didn't want to implement my pioneering ideas to reach people online with great Web content. The companies I worked with were conservative and preferred to advertise in trade magazines, invest in expensive direct mail campaigns, and exhibit at countless tradeshows.

I escaped the corporate world in 2002. Although I didn't quit – I was fired from my last job as vice president corporate marketing at one of the Thomson businesses (now Thomson Reuters).

Today, I to sit on a few company boards, write books and magazine articles, blog, speak, and run seminars on the new rules of marketing and PR. Was it scary? Sure. But I'm having a blast. I'm making a difference in people's lives. I enjoy work every day. I meet interesting people - who comment on this blog, who interact with me via Twitter and through other social networking sites - every single day. And I've built a successful business and sold tons of books simply by implementing the ideas that you and I both know are right.

You can do it too. But maybe you need to quit your job to REALLY make it happen.