Monthly Archives: September 2018

Stance

What’s Your Presentation Stance?

Powerful stance for personal competitive advantage
An especially powerful stance can enhance your presentation

You want to project strength, competence, and confidence throughout your business presentation, and one important way to do this is with your presentation stance.

Your presentation stance fundamental to projecting the image of strength.

It’s basic to demonstrate competence and confidence.

But most of us never consider how we stand in front of an audience.

And this leaves aside the crucial point of how we ought to stand.   Do we want to convey power?  Confidence?  Reassurance?  Empathy?

Let’s investigate that now . . .

Stance for Power and Confidence

I assure you that I don’t expect you to stay rooted in one spot throughout your talk.

But at risk of sounding clichéd, let’s state forthrightly that it’s impossible to build any lasting structure on a soft foundation.  This foundation grows out of the notion of what we call “power posing.”

Let’s build your foundation now.  Let’s learn a bit about the principle of power posing.

How do you stand when you converse in a group at a party or a reception?  What’s your “bearing?”  How do you stand before a crowd when you speak?

Have you ever consciously thought about it?

How you stand, how you carry yourself, communicates to others.  It transmits a great deal about us with respect to our inner thoughts, self-image, and self-awareness.

Whether we like this or not is not the point.

The point is that we constantly signal others nonverbally.  You send messages to those around you, and those around us take their cues based on universal perception of the messages received.

Your Foundation – Power Posing

What is true in small groups is also true as you lecture or present in front of groups of four or 400.

Whether you actually speak or not, your body language is always transmitting.  What’s the message that you unconsciously send people?

Have you thought about the silent and constant messages your posture radiates?

Seize control of your communication this instant.  There’s no reason not to, and there are many quite good reasons why you should.

Recognize that much of the audience impression of you is forming as you approach the lectern.

Your listeners form this impression immediately, before you shuffle your papers or clear your throat or squint into the bright lights.

https://www.ihatepresentations.com/personal-competitive-advantage-2/
Especially Powerful Stances Abound Throughout History

They form their impression from your walk.

From your posture.

From your clothing, from your grooming, from the slightest inflections of your face, and from your eye movement.

This has always been true; speaking Master Grenville Kleiser said in 1912 that, “The body, the hand, the face, the eye, the mouth, all should respond to the speaker’s inner thought and feeling.”

Do you stand with shoulders rounded in a defeatist posture?

Do you transmit defeat, boredom, ennui?

Do you shift from side-to-side or do you unconsciously sway back-and-forth?

Do you cross and uncross your legs without knowing, balancing precariously upon one foot?

Is your free leg wrapped in front of the other, projecting an odd, wobbly, and about-to-tumble-down image?

Foundation of Your Presentation Stance

For any structure to endure, we must build on strength.

And I mean this both in the metaphorical and in the literal sense with regard to business presentations.

You must not only project strength and stability, you must feel strength and stability.  The two are inseparable.  A moment’s thought reveals to you why.

Think of the confident man.

To appear unstable and fearful before an audience, a confident man must take a conscious effort to strike such a pose.

Likewise, it would take a conscious effort for a man, who has planted himself firmly in the prescribed confident posture, to feel nervous, uncertain, or unsure of himself.

https://www.ihatepresentations.com/personal-competitive-advantage-2/
Maintain an Especially Powerful Stance for an Especially Powerful Presentation

That is, if he affected the confident pose and maintained it relentlessly against all of the body’s involuntary urges to crumple and shift, to equivocate and sway.

Think as well of the confident woman.

How does the confident woman’s demeanor different from that of the confident man?  Virtually not at all.

The point and the goal is to establish a foundation that exudes strength, competence, and confidence to add to your personal competitive advantage.

Essential to this goal is that you know the difference between open body language and closed body language.

It’s the difference between power posing and powerless posing.

This strong personal foundation is your ready position, your standard posture for your presentation.

For more on your especially powerful presentation stance, consult The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting.

General, Technique, Tips

Business Jargon

Personal Competitive Advantage by reducing business jargon
Business Jargon is not a family value . . . or is it?

I struggle with a macro-profession that cultivates its own vernacular, its discrete jargon . . . business jargon.

The arena is academia.

Academia fused with that of the larger battlefield of the business world.

The struggle is between those of us in a noble minority (we must posture as such) and those legions who wear smiling faces, furrow serious brows, and who are imbued with the best of intentions.

The Struggle with Business Jargon

The struggle is for clear and original expression against the encroachment of weasel-words.

The struggle is for meaningful distinctions between useful locutions and the vulgarity of “jargon.”

Every profession contrives jargon and then clutches it to its breast.

It’s useful, yes.  Incredibly so.

Especially Powerful Personal Competitive Advantage
Jargon is not necessarily a bad word

But some of the more Machiavellian among us contrive it as a second code for entry into a priesthood of the knowledgeable.

And so we have the conundrum – one man’s obfuscation is another man’s sharply drawn argument.

Both use “jargon.”

Who with compassion could strip a man of his outlet for facile expression, the utility of shorthand “jargon,” simply because there exist unscrupulous cads who abuse the privilege of a profession’s lexicon?

It’s a Noble Enterprise, this Struggle

So it’s a struggle, yes, but it’s also an internal struggle.

This struggle is waged within me – I’m torn, because it is my bane to be charged with teaching the lexicon, the “business jargon” to vulnerable young minds.

Minds to which the jargon sounds fresh and innovative, when it is actually already stale and reified.  It’s an axiom that once something makes it into a textbook, it likely is already outdated.

“Business Jargon.”

But business jargon does perform valuable service.  If used judiciously and properly and with clear intent to the purpose for which it was created.

If it is wielded not to obfuscate.

If it is wielded not to mind-taser the listener into a kind of numb dumbness.

For those of us in the profession that is home to our jargon, it serves as shorthand for many thoughts already thought, not simply a comfortable refuge.  Shorthand for many debates already concluded.  Many theories already expressed.

Many systems already in place.

In fact, a deep vein of rich discussion lurks beneath the glib façade of most of our, say, business jargon.

And thus “jargon” presents us with a dilemma – if it were not useful, it would not exist.  And anything that is useful can be misused.

It should come with a warning label.

A Warning Label?

I provide such a warning label.  But only half-heartedly.

Half-heartedly, because it is my first obligation to ensure that my charges remember the “jargon” that I serve up to them.

They must imbibe deeply.  And, at some point during a seemingly interminable semester, they must regurgitate the jargon.

They must master it.

They must drink deeply from the cup of “personal competitive advantage.”

They must feast heartily at the table of “core competency” and ladle large portions of “market failure” and “pioneering costs” along with a light sprinkling of what some consider the oxymoronic garnish of “business ethics.”

Especially Powerful
In praise of business jargon

More insidious than the standard jargon is the phalanx of “new” program buzzwords that march our way in endless columns, recycling ideas of old . . . and then recycling them yet again.

“Best Practices,” “Re-engineering,” “Six Sigma,” “TQM, “Benchmarking,” “Balanced Scorecard,” and on and on . . .

For those of us who bathe regularly in the sea of “competitive advantage” and “market saturation” and “pioneering costs” and “core competencies,” we cannot exercise the luxury of contempt.

Instead, we must labor as any wordsmith must labor.

We must not ban the hammer because some use it to bash their thumb instead of the nail.

We must ensure that tools are used properly.

Just as any writer seeks and secures precision in language, the business writer must labor likewise to secure our business jargon from misuse and abuse.

Constant vigilance is our only guarantor against the debasing of the language.  This is true in business and in academia as it is true in the high-minded world of the literati.

High-minded?  It might be also useful to exercise constant vigilance that high-mindedness does not become high-handedness.

Humility and the hunger for clarity.

Uncommon qualities in the business and academic worlds?

Perhaps, but surely they should be considered corollary to the business jargon that seems pervasive and inescapable and that nettles us so naughtily.

Cast all of this business jargon aside and consult The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting for entre into the high priesthood of the finest business presenters in the corporate world!

Confidence, Personal Competitive Advantage, Power

Power Words . . . Words of Power

Especially Powerful Power Words!
End self-sabotage in your business presentations with Positive Power Words!

We can remedy public speaking self-sabotage by the ready application of Power Words.

I think you already know that we sabotage our own presentations more often than we recognize.

Self-defeating behaviors come in many forms, but negative self-talk is one of the chief culprits.

We tell ourselves repeatedly that we’ll fail.

We envision humiliation, embarrassment, and complete meltdown.

We concoct a destructive fantasy that we then dutifully fulfill.

The Negative Spiral Down Begins . . .

Negative self-talk begins with the most ubiquitous cliche in business school – “I hate presentations.”  This is the chief culprit that leads to inevitably awful presentations.

It undermines everything we strive for in business school presenting.

How can we construct a positive presentation experience on such a spongy foundation?

Negative self-talk results in physical reactions.

We talk ourselves into failure.

Nervousness, trembling, faltering voice, shaking knees, sweating, and flushing.

Especially Powerful Power Words
Replace Negative Self-Talk with Power Words

Moreover, our sour and weak attitude ensures that we aren’t the greatest source of strength to our teammates if we happen to be delivering a group presentation.

The negative spiral guarantees that things get worse before they get better . . . if at all.

We have, in fact, no greater guarantee of failure and we forfeit personal competitive advantage.

How could anyone succeed at anything with this type of visualization?

Let’s try something different . . .

Think Like a World-Class Athlete

The world’s elite athletes train the mind as well as the body.  Visualization of successful outcomes is one of the techniques they use to prepare for competition.

At moments when confidence is most needed, many athletes go to their “power words.”

These are words that help visualize success and victory rather than failure and defeat.

The words can be anything that the athlete has found to negate nervousness.  It can be something as simple as mentally reciting “Power!” or “Victory!” at a crucial moment.

Say, just before a critical service in a tennis match.

This technique works.  And it can work for you.

I collaborate occasionally with sports psychologists and mental toughness coaches who train athletes in visualization techniques.  These psychologists affirm the utility of Power Words.

They assert that power words can affect performance in positive ways.

All of them are of one opinion that the mind-body connection – healthy or unhealthy – impacts performance tremendously.

Develop professional presence with power words for personal competitive advantage
Positive Self-Talk with Power Words is an Especially Powerful Technique

Lets leave aside the specific techniques for a later time and the psychological underpinnings of it that go back more than a century.

Let’s say here that we must at least rid ourselves of the negative self-talk.

We do this to give ourselves a fighting chance of succeeding at business presenting.

So why do we talk ourselves down into the morass of self-defeat?

Quite possibly, it’s the widespread ignorance of how to deliver a powerful presentation.  This ignorance can mean incredible uncertainty of performance.

Ignorance, uncertainty, and pressure to perform breed fear.

This fear of the unknown drives up anxiety and results in stage fright.  So the key to reducing that anxiety is uncertainty reduction – thorough preparation and control of the variables within our power.

Preparation is the second of the Three Ps of Speaking Technique – Principles, Preparation, Practice.

Can we foresee everything that might go wrong?

No, of course not, and we don’t even want to.

Instead, we plan everything that will go right, and we focus on that.

We leave to our own adaptability and confidence to field the remaining unexpected 10 percent.

Envision Your Triumph with Power Words

No one can win by constantly visualizing failure.

Envision this, instead – you deliver a tight, first-rate presentation that hits all the right notes.  One that weaves a story that grips your audience.

A story that keeps the audience rapt, and ends in superb closure, a major ovation and a satisfying feeling of a job well-done.

When we take the stage, we focus mind on our intent, and we charge forward boldly and confidently.

We execute our presentation with masterful aplomb.

We mentally recite our chosen power words to squeeze out the doubts and anxiety, wring them dry from our psychic fabric.

The right kind of preparation means we can deal capably with the handful of unknowns that nettle us.

Positive self-talk . . . power words . . . is an essential part of your schema for preparing an especially powerful presentation and developing personal competitive advantage.

Find more on preparing the right way in The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting.

Technique, Transition

How to Transition? No Problem!

Especially Powerful Personal Competitive Advantage
Passing the baton should be a regular part of your presentation practice

A big surprise for me is that the most-searched term that leads people to this site is this one . . .

“How to transition between speakers.”

It turns out that this is one of the most perplexing and yet easily fixed problems in group presentations.

Let’s fix it now!

How you pass the baton – the transition between speakers – is one of the least-practiced aspects of the group business presentation.

Yet these baton-passing linkages within your presentation are incredibly important.

They connect the conclusion of one segment and the introduction of the next.

Shouldn’t this connecting link be as strong as possible, so that your audience receives the intended message?  So the message isn’t lost in a flurry of scurrying presenters moving about the stage in unpracticed, chaotic fashion?

You forfeit tremendous personal competitive advantage if you ignore this seemingly small aspect of your presentation.

Don’t Lose Your Message!

It sounds absurd, but group members often develop their individual presentation segments on their own.  Then, the group tries to knit them together on the day of the group show.

A formula for disaster.

The result is a bumbling game of musical chairs and hot-baton-passing.

Imagine a sports team that prepared for its games this way, with each player practicing his role individually and the players coming together as a team only on the day of the game and expecting the team to work together seamlessly.

Sports teams don’t practice this way.  Serious people don’t practice this way.

Don’t you practice this way.

Don’t yield to the tendency on the part of a team of three or four people to treat the presentation as a game of musical chairs.

How to Transition Between Speakers?

This happens when each member presents a small chunk of material, and the presenters take turns presenting.

Lots of turns.

This ungainly dance disconcerts your audience and can upend your show.

Minimize the passing of the baton and transitions, particularly when each person has only three or four minutes to present.

How to Transition between Speakers for Especially Powerful Personal Competitive Advantage
Smooth transitions can bequeath personal competitive advantage to you and your teammates

I have also noticed a tendency to rush the transition between speakers.

Often, a presenter will do fine until the transition to the next topic.  At that point, before finishing, the speaker turns while continuing to talk, and the last sentence or two of the presentation segment is lost.

The speaker walks away while still citing a point.  Perhaps an incredibly important point.

Don’t rush from the stage.

Stay planted in one spot until you finish.

Savor your conclusion, the last sentence of your portion.  It should reiterate your Most Important Point.

Introduce your next segment.  Then transition.  Then pass the baton with authority.

That’s how to transition.

Harmonize your Messages

Your message itself must mesh well with the other segments of your show.

Each presenter must harmonize  the message with the others of a business presentation.  These individual parts should make sense as a whole, just as parts of a story all contribute to the overall message.

“On the same page” . . .  “Speaking with one voice” . . .

These are the metaphors that urge us to message harmony.  This means that one member does not contradict the other when answering questions.

It means telling the same story and contributing crucial parts of that story so that it makes sense.

So that each of you acquires, incrementally, personal competitive advantage as you progress through your show.

This is not the forum to demonstrate that team members are independent thinkers or that diversity of opinion is a good thing.

Moreover, everyone should be prepared to deliver a serviceable version of the entire presentation, not just their own part.  This is against the chance that one or more of the team can’t present at the appointed time.

Cross-train in at least one other portion of the presentation.

Remember:  Harmonize your messages . . . Speak with one voice . . . Pass the baton smoothly.  Transition between speakers with authority and confidence for an especially powerful business presentation.

You can find more discussion on how to transition between speakers in The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting, your key to personal competitive advantage in business school and beyond.