Speech Advice - Be Heard

Last week I had the misfortune of attending a "lecture" on the Eichmann Trial, in Palm Desert.  

I don't remember who put it on and I'm not going to mention the speakers by name because I don't want to embarrass them.  At least two were sweet older gentlemen and a third was an academic from Loyola Marymount (who seriously needs speaker training).

I will say, however, that I walked out of the lecture mid-way, after the third speaker.  Can't remember ever doing that.

Now why would I do that?  Because the speakers weren't speaking, they were ranting.  And even worse, they were ranting to the wrong audience.  The audience of probably 100+ attendees was made up of 50 - 80 year old Jews.  This is an audience who already knows the damage of the holocaust and the evilness of those who perpetrated it.  Some of them were probably survivors and lots of them have family who didn't survive.

This was supposed to be a lecture and discussion about the Eichmann Trial itself. 

Instead what we got was as follows (at least until I walked out):

They started the program without telling us what was going to occur and instead just played video clips from you tube. OK, I'll play along for a minute or two, but unfortunately they didn't bother to download any videos to their computer, nor did they bother to download the links directly to their desktop.

So we got to watch them go into their email for video clip link after video clip link.  Yep, we got to see their email list, and each email that they went into to get the clip. Oh, and there was the nifty "so and so is now online" Skype pop up that entertained us every few minutes as well.

Unfortunately they tortured us with this silliness for about 15 minutes, the last 8 - 10 of which was just streaming download pauses and 10 seconds of video then another streaming download pause.  

The only thing more irritating than sitting at a speech/lecture and watching a video try to download is watching Oscar speeches.

Bad enough.... but then...

Speaker #1/MC: basically just told a story of his father's escape from Germany.  I'm guessing more than half the audience had heard similar stories from their own parents while growing up.  What was the point? 

Speaker #2: basically paced back and forth telling us how evil Eichmann was and how Hannah Arendt's "the Banality of Evil" was completely baseless.  OK... tell this audience something they don't know already.  And stop pacing, it's distracting.

Speaker #3: this lovely older gentleman was the worst, simply because all he did was rant about what a horrible person FDR was and how he was totally complicit in the Holocaust.  Still not sure what he was trying to do either. 

I walked out after Speaker #3.

What are the lessons?

• Organize your conferences even if you are an all-volunteer force. Your audience should be treated with respect and that means respecting our time. Even retired people get annoyed when their time is wasted.
• Prepare your audio and video in advance.  Either:
  • download the video onto your hard drive (preferable), or
  • put the direct link to the video on your desktop so we don't have to see all of your emails and wait for you to find the right link
• When preparing your audio and video clips in advance, you also need to
  • Make sure the facility has adequate streaming capability, or go wired, and still make sure there is adequate streaming capability.  
  • If there isn't, you have to download to your hard drive or find another source.  
  • Make sure you remember to kill all programs on your computer and turn off all alerts, so we don't sit there watching your email, Skype and IM alerts.
• Meet your audience's needs - not your own.  I've said this a million times before. If you make this mistake, you can't recover.  
• Prepare an actual presentation, with an outline and all, or at least a few talking points.'
  • Don't rant. We don't care about your rants.  Rants turn an audience off and make them uncomfortable.
  • Don't rant. Speak to us, be thoughtful, organized, easy to follow.  Have a point.  Have three main points if you want people to follow you.
  • Don't rant. What is the point of your presentation? Decide in advance and create one - don't wing it or you may end up ranting.

Moral of the Story:  Passion is good.  Ranting is bad.  

John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio, recently gave his State of the State Address to an elementary school on February 7th this year.  Those poor kids. They will probably be confused for life.  They certainly won't be inspired to lead or speak in public.

This edited version, highlighting the most idiotic things Governor Kasich said, is pretty funny.  The speech lasted 80 minutes or so.  Again, those poor kids.

I'm sure somewhere in the jumbled 80 minutes he might have said something of substance, this is admittedly an edited version just capturing the choice phrases, but seriously?

As Vital Speechs of the Day points out... this is the hazard of impromptu speaking.  

Nobody needs to sound this stupid.

Or look this stupid.

Someone really needs to tell this guy how to dress when speaking in public.  That shirt, tie and suit combo is atrocious, sloppy and the colors clash.  There is more to dressing than wearing a red tie.

This past week I spoke at a State Bar convention.  I had a great audience (with a few of the usual exceptions, to be blogged about next), and I had fun giving the presentation.

I presented a shortened version of one of my attorney speaking seminars "Improving your Public Speaking Skills." The host of the event invited my company to exhibit in exchange for my presentation, which was great because I (and my staff) stayed for a great deal longer than usual and we had much more interaction with the event attendees as well. 

While walking around the exhibit hall for 2.5 days I chatted up a bunch of the attendees.  And, unfortunately, the consensus was that the vast majority of speakers at the annual convention needed public speaking training - before they presented their CLEs to the bar attendees.

I know this is a pretty common issue, since I used to be a practicing attorney and I know how bad CLE programs can get. Additionally, my company puts on 60 - 70 CLE ligitation skills training programs per year; so I even know that some speakers are resistant to public speaking training and suggestions for improvement.

What I don't understand is why bar associations don't make the investment and offer training programs, or DVDs, to the attorneys who are going to speak at the bar's annual event.  It's a small investment compared to the event budget and income and the rewards always outweigh the cost.

I understand that not all of the speakers will take you up on your offered training, but enough of them will to make a difference and to cut down on attendees' dissapointment and complaints.

Not surprisingly several attendees told me they weren't sure they would return the next year due to the quality of presentations they saw.

Here is an open plea to bar associations:

You don't have to hire me to train your CLE speakers at your annual events, but you do have to hire someone.  Or at least license someone's training program to distribute to your speakers.  

Or maybe even just buy Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen or Nancy Duarte's Slide:ology in bulk and send them off to all CLE speakers booked for your annual event.  Yes, I really wish I'd written one of these books 20 years ago when I first started complaining about Power Point.

Seriously, do something! 

I just wrapped up a 10 day business/speaking trip in three cities: Boston, Chicago and Toronto. And if you have to be away from home for 10 days, those are great cities to visit!  

I gave three presentations during the trip - two at ACLEA (the American Continuing Legal Education Association) in Boston and one at the ABA's National Convention in Toronto.  And I mean it Australia... I'll waive my speaking fee if you pay my travel - you're on my bucket list to visit!

Anyway, I had a blast!

Speaking in public is what I love to do and this particular trip was especially fun.  I met a ton of great folks and had some wonderful, interesting conversations.  A judge from Toronto stayed after my program to chat for almost an hour about speaking skills and teaching younger students at law schools.  And there were at least five or six international attendees, including Spain, France, Poland, Australia, Italy and I can't remember where else.  

International bar associations take note:  For the next year or so, I''ll waive my speaking fees just for the fun of getting to travel internationally again, if my travel is picked up for at least 4 days.

But back to the point of this blog...

I received a follow up email earlier this week from the Managing Editor of a large legal publication, who will remain anonymous.  He was very sweet in his compliments about my program and then he went on to write something hilarious and a bit surprising.  

He said:

You offered a terrific program. It’s very interesting how the structure of a good oral presentation is the same as a good written article: short statement to start; a cogent intro; the main body in which one makes specific points followed by examples; and then a strong conclusion. 

Unfortunately, after attending your program, I was attuned to spotting only the flaws in the other presentations, and it became very, very painful.

Please inform future classes that they must never chew gum or use the word “like.” It is impossibly irritating.

Ok, I'll admit, I added the bold.  

Yes, someone at the ABA National Convention was actually chewing gum while speaking to an audience and someone else was saying "like" enough during their presentation to irritate my new colleague.

I could go on and on about why you shouldn't do either of these things, but that would be kind of silly. Frankly this is one of those times when it is obvious and and while I strive not to be snarky on my blog, all I can think to say is...

chewing gum while speaking....  really? seriously?

Tomorrow we are holding our Free "Public Speaking for Business Development" Webinar.  Update: Here is the link for the audio recording with slides. 

This webinar "sold out" at more than 120 attendees late last week.  If you are interested in this program, you should still sign up so you are put on the waiting list. We will email you when we hold it again, which will be in the next month or two.  Additionally, we are recording the program and will make it available on our website and on this blog.

What You Will Learn if You Attend This Seminar

Getting speaking engagements:

• How to use your blog to land public speaking engagements
• Selecting your audience
• Who to approach
• How to ask – what matters to the folks booking speakers

Making speaking engagements worthwhile:

• Making speaking engagements worthwhile
• Knowing your audience
• Preparing properly
• Marketing before and after to maximize the value of the event

I did a survey of our attendees before hand, and based on the results of that survey (about at 30% response rate), I realize that there are a few misconceptions regarding how one uses public speaking for business development. I'll start covering that topic more over the next few months on this blog.  

There are a few things I will say now, however, about tomorrow's webinar:

• Public Speaking for Business Development will cover the toipcs listed above; I will not be teaching many public speaking/presentation skills in this program, as that is not the focus of this program. 

If you are interested in learning how to be a better public speaker, please attend one of my public speaking programs, or purchase our Public Speaking for Attorneys DVD.  We will offer a 10% off discount coupon for our DVD for anyone that is interested (just email us or include a comment here).

• I will not be teaching sales techniques. Public speaking for business development is not about making a sale or closing a deal, especially not on or from the platform.  

Using public speaking for business development is a long term investment in your reputation and your relationships, which translate to clients and referrals. Sometimes it translates immediately, sometimes it takes months, and like a lot of business development, sometimes it takes years.  Unfortunately, there is no "easy" button.

• Paid Public Speaking is a different animal altogether. If you are interested in learning more about the paid public speaking profession, I recommend you check out the National Speakers Association (NSA).  Most cities have a local chapter that you can join as an associate.

Because it merits its own few hours or days, and is of little interest to the majority of attorneys who attend our programs, I will not cover paid professional speaking in the webinar listed above.  

I am happy to answer any questions related to paid professional speaking; just shoot me an email or post a comment.

Last week we held our annual Superior Court Boot Camp at the Arctic Hotel in Seattle (what a gorgeous restoration - can't believe it is a DoubleTree).

And I have to share a bit about our one of my favorite speakers to book.

Judge Paris Kallas retired last July after 15 years on the bench in King County. She is now a neutral at a small ADR firm called Judicial Dispute Resolution LLC in Seattle.

Judge Kallas is one of my favorite people to book at our seminars because she is a joy to work with and a pleasure to meet and chat with.  Yes, I'm ending in a prepositional phrase; live with it.

Judge Kallas cheerfully joins our planning conference calls, gives us her handouts and input in a timely manner and always has a smile for my staff and I on the day of our program.  Even the first time I met her a year ago it was like we were old friends.

There's something about that kind of warmth and welcoming presence that just makes you feel good.

And, in case you're thinking I only like booking her for her sparkling personality, she is a great presenter, provides practical, useful tips, and always gets great evaluations.  She knows her stuff when it comes to trial practice.

This isn't to say that all the other panelists on that particular panel weren't fantastic, they were. I enjoyed talking with and working with all of them.  Judge Tim Bradshaw has an incredible sense of humor, great advice, and he pinch hit for Judge Spector, so we owe him one.  Loren Dunn of Riddell Williams has spoken for us several times and he always works on providing an excellent, informative, practical presentation and a charming presence to boot.  Steve Fogg of Corr Cronin joined the gang like the old pro that he is and Judge Jim Rogers always has insightful, interesting advice to provide.  Glenn Draper substituted in for Matt Bergman, both of Bergman Draper & Frockt, and both worth listening to.

This year we were joined by plaintiff's attorney Mike Wampold, who managed to join us while in the middle of a trial - an impressive feat!  

What made the entire program work so well however, was the great interaction between the panelists.  They had fun, they joked with each other and the audience and they did it while presenting useful, practical litigation tips and strategy all the while.

Now that's a conference that makes me happy to be a part of.  Yep, another prepositional phrase. 

Just for fun, here's a picture of the seminar room.  For once I didn't mind not having any windows!  

Whether speaking in the courtroom or out of it, finding comfortable shoes that are also professional, appropriate and stylish is always a challenge as a woman.  Sometimes it is my biggest challenge - as my closet full of uncomfortable pumps that I rarely wear proves.

I have been on the hunt for a new pair of "speaking pumps" since my lovely puppy Jax (see photos here) destroyed my tried and true Nine West simple black pumps.  I almost cried.

Now that my back-up pair of speaking pumps is gone too (see my previous post), I have been checking out Corporette's latest "Guide to Comfortable Heels, offering a list of brand options at various prices.  

And remember - when in court or speaking in public, always go for the professional pump. 

So, first I can tell you what I don't know about the speaker pictured below:

1. I don't know who this speaker is; and, 
2. I don't know if she is any good at speaking in public.

And now I can tell you what I do know:

1. This is a horrible outfit for speaking in public

Why?  

First, the jacket is too tight, so it stretches too much across the chest when she gestures.  

Second, she has too much "stuff" on her; it's distracting.  Get rid of the name tag, the pin and the necklace. I know, I know, organizers always hand you (and me) a name tag when you speak at their events.  Thank them and put it away until after you speak; it's not like anyone in the audience can read it anyway.

Third, you want to wear color on the inside - your shirt - and dark on the outside - your suit jacket.  This brings people's attention to your center and your face, instead of the other way around.

And last - what is that jacket anyway?  Is that a cardigan?  Michelle Obama may be making cardigan's popular in the work place (according to the Careerist), but don't even think of wearing one when speaking in public (unless your audience is full of women doing the same).