In early December, I attended a full-day Own the Room “Communication Essentials” training. The workshop was in-person in New York, with ~20 other people from various industries and positions (and a whole bunch of participants from IBM). The day was full of hands-on examples and interactive learning – the coaches did a great job of making it real, relevant, and actionable.
The sessions were organized intro three topics, which seamlessly transitioned into each other. I’ve noted some of my favorite take-aways from each – and included some goodies in the attachments.
Executive Presence and Authentic Connections, ie. How to Be Memorable
- List
- In the opening session, we started with introductions. While most of us began with our names, company, and title – this wasn’t very memorable. Instead, the coaches recommended starting with an opener, the same as you would for a presentation. When you begin with an engaging question, joke, or fact, you ensure that the audience stays for the punchline.
- We discussed gaining – and keeping – an audience’s attention in a world of constant distractions. Based on their research, the average person’s filters are up way higher than you’d expect – and only go up with time!
- We learned about the psychological ideas behind intellectual vs. emotional change. I’ll save you the long scientific explanation – the key takeaway: once you trigger an emotional need or desire, it’s easier to make changes.
- Intellectual change – brain / should – slumps after initial upwards start
- Emotional change – must / will – moves at a consistent upwards pattern.
- The three-word secret to good speaking – “get over yourself”.
- Content is king. When presenting, focus on the content and it’ll shine.
- Not feeling like being in the spotlight while you recompose? Shift the attention and redirect to someone else, a slide, etc.
Dynamic Delivery
- Beware of filler words. These are any words that aren’t adding value – worse yet they’re stealing your delivery.
- To drive home this point, we started with a small glass of sugary soda – very strong – and then poured in water (to represent the filler words). The drinks were clearly less potent with the water mixed it. Worse yet, throughout the day we were instructed to “take a shot” of the vile concoction each time we slipped and used a filler word.
- For best delivery use the DIVE framework – Be Different, Involved, Visual, and Emotional.
- People won’t remember the little details, but they will recall the emotion you show / leave them with.
- For impactful delivery. use all five of these voice techniques – Volume, Diaphragm, Whisper, Super-Fast, and Staccato Slow – they help direct the attention of the listened.
- Pro tip: mark your notes with signals for each.
Telling Captivating Stories
- Good stories layer content and engage audiences.
- The key to impactful stories is Middle >> Beginning >> End
- Start with the setting of the climax
- Include 1 physical description of a character (this could be you, ie “five years ago, I…)
- Include 1 emotion description of a character
- Background of how you / character reached this point
- Build the bridge – this would be a lesson / message to connect the dots. Always bring the audience in with “YOU”.
- Start with the setting of the climax
Personally, I learned that I use too much “body-noise” when presenting, which is very different than “body language’ (intentional) – and speak too fast (generally, but worse in terms of public speaking). If you catch me on either of these (or anything else), please point it out so I can keep working on improving.
A final wise word of wisdom – focus on strengths and area of improvement (there are no weaknesses).
In short, I found the day to be fun and helpful in building better practices.