Stephanie Scotti / Professionally Speaking

SpeakerByte #4: It’s Never About You; It’s Always About Your Audience

Stephanie Scotti — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:08:38 +0000

Are you self-conscious at the podium, worrying about what you’re doing or not doing?

You may be surprised to learn that while you are the speaker, your presentation is never about you. Effective speakers realize that success comes from focusing on their audience. When you step up to speak, do everything in your power to ensure that your audience is engaged and your message is inspiring.

Remember, it is never about you; it is always about your audience.

SpeakerByte #3: Glance & Grab

Stephanie Scotti — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:11:31 +0000

Question: How can I create the most effective PowerPoint presentation possible?

Answer: Follow the principle of “Glance & Grab^SM.”

We all glance and grab critical information every day to make crucial decisions fast. Why not help your audience do the same? Use images to tell your story or make a point and keep text telegraphic.

This strategy will allow your audience to quickly glance at your PowerPoint, grab what they need and keep their attention where it belongs — on you.

Reach Out & Touch Someone: Communicate with Emotion

Stephanie Scotti — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:48:09 +0000

In 1979, AT&T debuted its iconic “Reach Out and Touch Someone” ads on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Almost quaint by today’s standards, the emotion-driven campaign highlighted the power of picking up a phone and connecting with someone across the street or across the world.

Though the tools may have changed — Skype, cell phones, Facebook, Twitter — the concept of “reaching out” and connecting with someone (or lots of someones!) on an emotional level remains just as vital for today’s high-stakes presenters.

Too often, I find that shyness or a lack of confidence keep speakers from focusing their presentations where they belong — on the audience. Self-conscious about how they look or sound, their presence can feel reserved and distant, almost as if they are talking to themselves.

Presenters who break through this distance and reach out to “touch” their audience are able to make a powerful human connection. How do they do it? By getting their whole body involved

Smile.
So simple, yet few things are more powerful than a smile when your goal is to connect emotionally, energize your listeners, and motivate them to take action. A natural smile builds great rapport and gets the audience on your side, reducing your anxiety in the process. So, before you say a word, take a moment to look out at your listeners and smile

The eyes have it.
The importance of eye contact for high-stakes presenters cannot be overstated. This visual connection helps you establish credibility while gaining and keeping the attention of your listeners. Pick out a colleague or someone you met prior to your talk, look at him or her for a few seconds as you speak, then move on to another part of the room. Try to look at every part of the room, because eye contact is all about touching everyone in your audience, not just a select few.

Speak to be heard.
You already know that your voice can be your most important presentation tool. How can you use it most effectively?

Maintain a conversational tone
Project to fit the room, whether it’s a ballroom or a conference room
Use your voice to emotionally connect with your listeners,use vocal inflection, pauses and pacing to make your point
Make listeners feel as if you are talking to each person, individually

Your voice should project a confidence and energy that shows you are in the room…in the moment…and have something important to share.

Stay personally engaged.
Physical tools like a smile or vocal variety can only take you so far. Powerful presentations must involve the head and the heart, too — demonstrating beyond any doubt that you have a deep commitment to the information you’re sharing. How can you expect listeners to get excited about your message if you’re not excited yourself? Mindlessly reading from your notes is always obvious, so make a conscious effort to “think the thought” and stay personally engaged from start to finish.

By taking a page from the AT&T playbook to “reach out and touch someone,” it’s easy to ensure that your message has the same effectiveness and staying power as this memorable ad campaign!

SpeakerByte #2: Be Spontaneous

Stephanie Scotti — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:51:47 +0000

Your personality and thoughts are just as interesting — or more interesting — than your script or any written notes. When presenting, be yourself! Interact with your audience, learn what is important to them and then offer little known facts and anecdotes that reflect your listeners needs and interests.

Remember, your presentation is happening in real time — take advantage of it!

SpeakerByte #1: It’s About Connection, Not Perfection

Stephanie Scotti — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:19:07 +0000

When faced with a high-profile presentation many of us strive to be perfectionists. But if we are “connectionists” we’d be better off. Instead of trying to be flawless, focus on what’s important to your audience and connect as directly and powerfully as you can.

Next time you step up to speak, remember . . . while preparation is essential, authenticity and connection always trump perfection.

It’s About Connection, Not Perfection^SM

Presenting at a High-Stakes Industry Event: Your Peek Behind the Curtain

Stephanie Scotti — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:44:13 +0000

Every industry has them – gatherings like conferences, sales meetings or trade shows, often filled with high-profile speaking opportunities. Ever wonder what it takes to present at one of these events? Let’s find out…

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Over the past decade, I’ve worked with executives and members of the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing (known as NACS) as they prepare for their annual trade event, which draws on average 20,000+ attendees. As the top destination for learning what’s new in the convenience business, the show features a mix of dynamic general sessions, workshops and training classes.

Though each NACS executive I work with may be prepping for a different type of presentation for this event, they all have one thing in common – an extraordinary commitment to being confident and inspiring when they take the stage. In reviewing my notes from 12 years of NACS coaching, I found three common elements that stood out as the keys to a successful industry presentation.

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1. Identify your core message.

The theme of the 2011 NACS Show was, “One Industry, One Voice.” When we met over the summer to begin preparing for the October event, the NACS executive team had taken the time to develop draft presentations that complemented one another and reinforced the “One Industry” theme. Knowing that stories and examples make information much easier for listeners to digest, each presenter planned to use personal experiences to illustrate main points.

The takeaway: A clearly defined message – told via powerful stories, examples or simple props – adds human interest and depth to your presentation, while making the message memorable.

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2. Make the message your own.

Though the NACS executive team was delivering a presentation based on the same theme, each of their presentations reflected their unique personality as well as their role within the organization. The result was a cohesive, highly effective presentation – one that took advantage of each speaker’s strengths and point of view while maintaining a collective focus on the core message.

The takeaway: Shaping basic content to make it your own increases your comfort level, making your presentation feel more authentic to listeners while helping to keep you engaged and in the moment.

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3. Maintain a meaningful connection.

Integrating stories into their presentations paid clear dividends for all these high-stakes presenters. Why? It allowed them to engage emotionally with the audience. Another way to encourage engagement is the judicious use of image-heavy slides – rather than reading loads of text, your audience’s attention remains on you – maintaining that connection. Slides should always be considered a supporting backdrop, not the main event. That’s you!

The takeaway: Solid eye contact with memorable stories and carefully chosen supporting visuals helps you to emotionally engage with your audience and transforms a so-so presentation into a showstopper.

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So that’s our behind-the-scenes look at being a presenter at a high-stakes trade event. As you can tell, a tremendous amount of preparation goes into making a great presentation look effortless. Apply these success secrets and you just might find yourself on stage at your industry’s next big event!

Teaming up for Maximum Impact

Stephanie Scotti — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:01:41 +0000

THE TEAM APPROACH TO A HIGH-IMPACT PRESENTATION

While meeting with a new client last week, one of the partners took me aside and confided that his company had just lost a potential new piece of business. What had gone wrong? The prospect said their pitch wasn’t “buttoned up” enough — the kiss of death for any sales presentation.

My client quickly realized that his prospect’s feedback was accurate. Countless hours had been spent on the pitch content, but they hadn’t taken even five minutes to coordinate and build real teamwork among the presenters.

The bottom line? When presenting as a team, think like a team.

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Team dynamics create a dynamic team

Team presentations can be a terrific opportunity — the whole is often much greater than its individual parts — or they can be a vexing challenge.

If you’ve ever been part of a . . .

Pitch team chasing the next big piece of business
Panel presenting at a meeting or conference
Research team sharing findings or recommendations

. . . then you know presenting as a team is very different than presenting solo. For one thing, there’s a lot more to think about, such as:

Each team member’s specific role
Continuity of the content
Dynamics of the presentation
Approach (or “tone”) of individual components

You also have to plan out the interactions between team members throughout the presentation.

It takes coordination, cooperation, and attention to detail. When it’s done right, the results speak for themselves. If you’d rather not wait until you lose your next big pitch, here are a few keys to a winning team presentation.

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Coordinate content and visuals

First, decide in advance who is delivering each section. Then, make sure each speaker knows his or her part. You don’t want any weak links in the chain. Maximizing the expertise of each speaker and having clarity about team member roles and responsibilities are great ways to you are “buttoned up”.

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Handoffs and rehearsals

Decide in advance who will open, who will close and — especially important — how you’ll transition from one speaker to the next. A strong open and close and smooth transitions speak volumes to your audience and differentiate you from your competition. Figuring it out on the fly also says a lot — not in a good way. Take the time to rehearse until your pitch runs like clockwork. Ask colleagues to sit in and find any flaws in your content or approach.

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Look and act like a team

Remember, during any presentation, the whole team is always “on.” Resist grimacing or interrupting if a teammate says something incorrect. Team members should all look engaged, supportive and affirming from beginning to end.

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Every great presentation team has someone who gathers the troops, coordinates the content, manages the flow and schedules the rehearsals. If these essentials aren’t happening, remember — every great team needs a leader. You may have to step up and get things going, even if you’re not the senior member of the team. That’s called leadership.

Using “Glance & Grab” to Perk Up Your PowerPoint

Stephanie Scotti — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:35:49 +0000

YouTube videos satirize them. Bestsellers criticize them. And we all dread them. I’m talking about those dense, badly organized, put-you-to-sleep PowerPoint presentations.

Why do people keep plodding down the typical tedious PowerPoint path? Here are a few possible reasons:

That’s the way I’ve always done it!
They’re only giving 15 minutes and I’ve got a lot to say.
That’s the way my boss does it!
People will need all this information when they get back to their offices.

(Be honest, how often do you go back to a PowerPoint for reference? Others probably don’t either.)

Glance & Grab

The C-level executives I coach are often surprised to know there’s a better way to get their message across — by using what I call the “glance & grab” approach. Here’s how to make it work for your next PowerPoint.

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Pro Tip #1: Imagine yourself driving down the road . . . you check your rear view mirror. How long do you look? A second? Less? In an instant, you’re probably doing several things, from seeing if you’re being tailgated to making sure you won’t get a speeding ticket.

The truth is, those brief moments can involve important, even critical decisions. Now apply that same thinking to your PowerPoint. Imagine you only have seconds to help your audience make a critical decision. What information will they need? What’s the best way to communicate it? Should you use words? Pictures? A combination of the two? Whatever you choose, make sure your listeners can easily glance at your media and grab what they need, so their attention returns to you as the speaker.

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Pro Tip #2: Think more graphically. It’s well known in advertising that people don’t read ads, they scan them. The same holds true for PowerPoint. Why write a treatise on each slide when you want your audience to simply “glance and grab” key information?

From flip charts to videos, remember that media serves just one purpose — to make things easier for your audience. Your job? Give them the information they need in a way that’s easy to grasp, easy to use and easy to remember.

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Pro Tip #3: Author Steve Krug’s book, Don’t Make Me Think, counsels against forcing your audience to invest too much brainpower into understanding your message. If we make people think too much, they may not have enough energy left to take action.

Simply put, if your audience has to puzzle out your main message, you’ve lost them. Instead, make sure that your presentation has a crystal clear overall theme or idea. Then make sure each slide also has a distinct central thought. Don’t forget to use visuals — again, think “glance and grab” and you’ll have them on the edge of their seats.

We all glance and grab critical information every day. And every one of us uses that information to make crucial decisions — fast. Why not help your audience do the same thing? Organize your presentation around a central message…make each slide count…make each word count…better yet, use visuals…make it fun! If you do, your presentations will be more engaging, more valuable, and much more memorable for both you and your audience.

The “Curse” of Overthinking Your Presentation

Stephanie Scotti — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:11:32 +0000

If you’re in the midst of preparing for your next presentation and suspect you might be over thinking it, try this quick test. Are you . . .

Obsessing rather than progressing?
Feeling as if you’ve hit a wall?
Frantically looking for that magic bullet to get back on track?

If you answered “yes” more than once, take a moment to step away (physically and mentally) and clear your head. Chances are, you’re falling victim to one of three common traps. Here they are, along with some tips for breaking free and ensuring that you’ll be confident, heard and inspiring when you step up to speak.

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Trap #1: “Spinning your wheels”
You find yourself repeating the same few lines over and over, struggling with exactly what to say. Most likely, you don’t have a clear core message — that one simple sentence that summarizes your entire presentation.

By asking yourself exactly what you envision your listeners saying or doing at the end of the presentation, you’ll clarify your intentions and quickly get yourself unstuck.

Trap #2: “The curse of knowledge”
If you’ve read the book Made to Stick you’re familiar with what authors Chip Heath & Dan Heath call “the curse of knowledge” — in an effort to be complete, we feel obligated to share every single thing we know rather than considering just what our listeners need to know to get the point. As a result, like the Energizer Bunny we keep going…and going…and as a result, little sticks with our now-overwhelmed audience.

Instead, circle back to that all-important core message — what do I want my audience to say or do when I’m done? — and identify 3-4 main supporting points rather than reciting a laundry list. Remember, quality always trumps quantity.

Trap #3: “Stuck at the starting gate”
Recently, I was helping a client prepare for a webinar that was guaranteed to attract hundreds of attendees. This bright, focused and motivated presenter quickly stalled trying to create a picture-perfect opening. In fact, she was so determined to nail the ideal icebreaker, she was running out of time and putting the rest of her high-stakes presentation at risk.

If you find yourself in this situation, mentally table your opening and move on. Chances are, the ideal opening will emerge as you develop the rest of your messaging. Or try asking a question or quoting a startling statistic to grab listeners’ attention right from the start.

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What’s the common cure to avoid falling victim to these three overthinking traps? Remembering it is never about you – it is always about the audience. By getting out of your own head and returning the focus to where it belongs – your listeners – you’re guaranteed to stop overthinking and start moving toward a cohesive, effective presentation that will deliver the business results you want.

Reflections on the 4th of July 2011

Stephanie Scotti — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:00:54 +0000

Reflections on the 4th of July

VFW Voice of Democracy Winner
Kelsey Woo
Shares her views about life. liberty & the pursuit of happiness

Kelsey Woo, a graduate from Harvard-Westlake School was named the first place winner in the 2011 National Voice of Democracy Program and recipient of the $30,000 T.C. Selman Memorial Scholarship Award provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

This holiday, when they play our national anthem prior to the fireworks display, my mind & heart will be with our soldiers around the world. I hope yours will, too.

what does Independence Day mean to you?
Stephanie Scotti, Professionally Speaking