Michael is a Co-Founder of the Big Apple Circus and the Founder of the circus’s Clown Care Unit.  Dikki is a senior member of that troupe, and a well-known clown and educator.  He is also one of my oldest friends.

Zach, on the other hand, is an actor in demand on Broadway and in Hollywood.  He is currently playing the part of a Nazi officer in love with the wife of a British aristocrat on the occupied island of Guernsey during WW II.  The play is called Gabriel.

At one performance, as he was about to kiss this woman in the climactic moment of the play, a cell phone went off in the audience, and the man who owned the phone could not find which pocket it was in, so the phone kept ringing.

Zach had a decision to make.  “Do I ignore the phone and kiss the lady?  Do I turn and face the audience to indicate my impatience?  Or do I ignore the phone and somehow make the scene work?”

He chose to make the scene work.  He stood waiting with hat in hand as the phone rang, as if waffling in his desire to kiss the woman, until finally, when the phone went silent, he lifted his hat in a gesture of exasperation and resolve, and kissed her.

The audience’s experience was not disrupted.  The drama was justified, and the illusion of the play was maintained. Zach showed judgment and composure.

Actors call this “protecting the fourth wall.”   A theater audience wants to stay behind the imaginary wall at the front of the stage, and look into the fictional world of the drama, as though through a window.

Circus performers like Michael  and Dikki have to let the audience in, because their audience feels the need to participate.  If one of them had been in Zach’s situation, they might have been tempted to turn to the audience, put their hands on their hips, glance at their watches, and tap their toes impatiently, and it would have gotten a big laugh.

It would also have damaged the drama of the moment.  Zach had a responsibility to the story the play tells.  If he had acknowledged the disruption he would have undermined the illusion of reality and the performance of his fellow actors.  He had a script, and so did the woman he wanted to kiss. 

Michael and Dikki don’t have scripts.  They have “routines” they do in hospital rooms, and each one is slightly different depending on the circumstances they encounter. 

That’s a long intro to a simple point:  some speeches require a 4^th Wall, and some don’t. 

For instance,  when you’re giving the State of the Union Address,  it’s highly unusual to break the 4^th wall.   It ‘s happened once or twice in my experience, when Clinton left his prepared text, and similarly when Obama responded to the disapproval coming from the Republican side.  But for the most part, the State of the Union is a script attempting to tell a convincing story about the current and future state of our country.

However, when you are raising capital, or selling your IT services, or your brand plan, you should be prepared to tear down the 4^th wall and collaborate with the audience. 

Every circumstance is different—you’re either a clown or an actor—but you’re in trouble if you misread the situation and stay behind the wall when you should come out, or come barreling out when the audience wants you to stay behind the wall so they can enjoy the story you’ve rehearsed. 

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

Yet scripts are often useful and necessary.  So what are the pros and cons of written speeches?  And how do PowerPoint presentations stack up?

Written Speeches are More Formal

Whether you write your own speech, or hire a speechwriter to help you, you are committing yourself to taking a written document to the front of the room and reading it to the crowd.

There are pros and cons to this.  First, the pros.  You will appear to be prepared; speak in full sentences; present your thoughts in a more formal fashion; be more likely to address big thoughts and avoid data and details; have a written document for the historical record; and finally, avoid the terror of standing alone on the stage in front of a crowd with the possibility of going blank or saying something really dumb.

Compared to a presentation delivered without a script, a written speech requires more time writing, and less time rehearsing.  And the script is a huge security blanket.  With a script, there are times when you can just show up and read.  (Not a great thing to do, but sometimes necessary.)

However, there are cons to consider as well.  You have to be a good writer to write a good speech; speeches that are read are less alive than presentations that are spoken without scripts.  (It’s hard to read and sound like you’re talking.  Even great actors and politicians have trouble with this.  It leads to a lack of engagement with the audience.)

There’s less give and take because the speaker is constantly looking down to read, and the listeners see this, know that the speaker is reading, and feel obliged to sit still and listen.  It’s a monologue, more about getting the words out than engaging with the audience in the here and now.

PowerPoint Presentations are Less Formal

Now how about the pros and cons of a typical business presentation, one in which the presenter stands and talks from slides?

The pros?  More conversational; more opportunity to interact with the audience; more informal; more lively; more room for improv; greater ability to display data and dive deep into technical subjects.

The cons?  Bigger challenge to the stage-worthiness of the speaker; more rehearsal required to discover an efficient way of verbalizing the points; greater likelihood the speaker’s cup will run over with data, data everywhere and not a thought to think; the likelihood that the predictability of PowerPoint will undermine the impact of the speaker and the message; and finally, the greater chance that a charismatic speaker with an inferior argument will carry the day.

Quo Vadis?

Speeches have their place on formal occasions, and can be delivered brilliantly.  But it’s a rare person who can connect with an audience while reading a prepared text.

(Was it Dick Cavett who said, “Richard Burton can make reading the phone book sound like Shakespeare.  The rest of us make Shakespeare sound like the phone book.”?)

Presentations with PowerPoint provide a greater opportunity for connection between presenter and audience.  However, the over-use of text slides, the predictability of the typical format, and the demands on the speaker’s stage presence made by the wide open space of the typical meeting room cause many business presenters to struggle with the task of getting their point, and themselves, across to the audience.

The differences between the two seem to be getting blurred.  I recommend a speech when there is no real need for visual aids; when the occasion is emotional or commemorative; when the crowd is so big that a presentation with slides might be hard to see and hard to deliver.  (After all, as the audience gets bigger, the need increases for less information and more emotion.)

A speech is more formal and lofty.  A presentation is less formal and can more effectively accommodate the technical details of a narrowly defined subject.  A speech is like an opera.  A presentation is more like a chalk-talk, like a coach in the locker room diagraming on the blackboard what the team will do in the second half of the game. 

They both have perils and promises.  Choose wisely.

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

We went to a bar.  I ordered a Heineken and she a glass of wine.  We were sitting next to a drunk who began to sing, so we picked up our drinks and paper napkins and moved to a banquette.

When I put the napkin down, I looked at it.  And as soon as I saw it, I got curious.

(Don’t click here)

I am sure psychology has a name for why I got curious, but I don’t know it.

I have heard that Google banner ads that say something like, “Don’t Click Here” drive a lot of traffic.

I have a friend named Gary Forman, a great speechwriter. Go to his site and see his clever use of the technique.  When I visited the site for the first time, I looked at the navigation bar along the top.  Guess where I clicked?

I’ve heard that children instructed to not touch a particular toy will almost always touch it when left alone.

Is this the power of the forbidden?  And if so, could we begin our speeches and presentations by saying, “You must not listen to a word I say.  Turn around and face the back wall.  Talk amongst yourselves.  Because what I have to say is far too powerful to be heard by the likes of you.”

And then could we jump into our content and remind them now and then that they should not be listening.

Getting attention is important for all of us.  If we couldn’t get attention, we would die—wither on the vine, go hungry, and perish—psychologically and physically.

So this is worth our consideration as speakers.  It’s a technique to be explored—this technique of forbidding— and it seems to be effective because it taps into the  craving to do what is forbidden.

(Don’t open the napkin)

Sims Wyeth is an executive speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

In baseball, when a pitch comes at you, it is meant to either intimidate, bamboozle, or go by too fast to hit.  All pitches come with spin, except for knuckleballs, which float and dance on air currents sans spin.

In business, pitch is short for proposal, one that comes with an attempt to persuade the viewer or reader to say, “Yes.”

If it comes, like a baseball, with a lot of spin, it is not perfect.  In fact, it is deeply flawed because, while it might get the viewer to “Yes,” it will probably leave her disappointed that she took the bait, swung the bat, and trusted the pitcher.

This is not good for anyone, including the pitcher, whose business and career most likely survives on repeat business and the building of strong relationships.

So, if spinning, curving, and brushing back the batter won’t work in business as in baseball, what will?

A perfect pitch heads right for the strike zone of problem definition.  It involves a lot of back and forth—catching and throwing—until familiarity and trust emerge.

Once that occurs, pitcher and batter (seller and buyer) can agree on goals, metrics, value, and cost.

Together they can imagine what is present that needs to disappear, and what is absent that needs to appear.

The game of deception will be over.  The pitch will be an invitation to cooperate, and the sale will be a homerun for both.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

In fact, most of us hold our opinions with little respect for facts.  For instance, when you ask a passionate partisan why she voted for her candidate, you are likely to hear slogans about small government or social injustice. 

Lots of big ideas, but not a fact in sight.

This is why speakers who have dug deep enough to uncover specifics in support of their ideas are so much more convincing than those who stick to the broad and general.  And why speakers who are willing and able to address facts that favor the other side of the argument are even more persuasive.

For instance, I was helping a client put together remarks to support the purchase of a new building for her synagogue. As the director of religious education, she was expected to speak about what the new building could mean to her program.

She began with the broad claim that the new facility would unify the congregation, bringing old and young, lay and clergy, scholarship and community into the same home.

It was okay, but it needed some punch.  I asked her what the current situation was like, and she described the frustration she experienced running the school from a remote office, schlepping supplies and materials back and forth, dealing with teachers who wanted a place to store half-finished art projects, and parents with no place to gather while their kids were in class.

“Bingo,” I said. “Let’s start with that.”  And suddenly her wonderful little talk went from good to great, because she described the specific problems that the new building would solve.

Dig for specifics to support your ideas.  Get them into your speech, early and often. 

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

I don’t really believe in “informative” presentations because no matter what the occasion, a speaker wants to convince the audience that he or she is trustworthy and well informed on the subject.

Therefore, I press forward with the belief that we are all PERSUADERS and we are all in the PERSUASION BUSINESS.

One element of persuasion is constructing a good message, and here’s one way to construct a point you want to make.

I call this “Can’t MISS Messaging.”

M stands for message. For instance, BP might find itself saying, “We are doing everything we can to stop the oil.”

I stands for information. BP might say, “We have 5,000 people on site working as a team to stop the flow of oil, and close to 10,000 volunteers in boats and on the ground trying to protect the wetlands.”

S stands for story. BP might illustrate the above dry, numerical facts with a story, such as, “In fact, one volunteer, Lisa Monniker, has set up a nursery for ducks that have come in contact with the oil. She has recruited school children to come clean the ducks one by one. Each duck is given a name and is adopted by a particular child. I must say, there’s a lot of love going on between these kids and their fluffy little ducks.”

The last S stands for Say it again. “So I want to reassure the public that BP is doing everything it can to stop the flow of oil and take care of any problem that arises.”

This is a very basic unit of persuasion, and one that we all should master. Don’t stop at the facts and the data. Go beyond the numbers to tell a story that brings the numbers to life.

And then end as you began—with the big idea.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills andpublic speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

May you always be courageous

Stand upright and be strong

And may you stay…

Forever young.

It turns out that, while a youthful spirit can enrich our lives, young doesn’t always cut it in the world of big business.

Granted, there are places in corporate America where youth is valued—in sales, customer service, and perhaps in research.

But at the senior decision-making level, executives tend to see new recruits as just so many puppies.  Smart puppies.  Eager puppies.  Maybe even successor-puppies.  But puppies nonetheless, inexperienced, naïve, and unfamiliar with the sharp-elbowed realities of business culture and global capitalism.

A degree from a prestigious university can help a puppy win a job, but it doesn’t guarantee that she will quickly earn the trust of an older, more experienced boss or client.

What does it take, aside from years of experience, for a young professional to overcome this bias?

One answer?  Five languages!

The first language to master is the language of the industry you’re in.  If you’re a consultant, you have to learn multiple languages.  Mastery of language implies mastery of the thinking beneath the language.

Within industry, there are functions—finance, marketing, R&D—all of which speak their own dialect.

Then there is the language of your own company, and the language of your client companies.  Again, if you are customer-facing, you must hold your own in substantive discussions conducted in the language of the client.

The second language is the language of your own vocal presence—the signals you send through the pitch, volume, speed, and resonance of your speaking voice.

Many young people speak quickly, have less chest resonance in their sound, enunciate poorly, use filler words such as, “Like, you know, I mean,” and demonstrate tentativeness in their pitch patterns—for instance, using a rising intonation at the end of a declarative sentence.

To senior people, all of these vocal characteristics signal immaturity and naiveté, and while they can be overcome with exceptional intelligence and sterling qualities of character, they represent another strike against the young.

The third language is what you say by listening.  Few of us, at any age, are highly effective listeners, but to excel at this under-rated behavior is to enjoy a profound competitive advantage.  The reason for this?  The greatest need that people have is the need to be appreciated, and the simplest way to show appreciation is to listen.

While the other guy is talking, younger professionals (I’ve been one) are often busy thinking of what they’re going to say in order to prove their intelligence or defend their position.  Wiser, more experienced hands are working to understand, and then recognize, the thoughts and feelings of others.

The fourth language is body language.  Older executives tend to have gravitas when they speak—with words, voice, or body language.  George Schultz, former Secretary of State, is someone who comes to mind when I think of gravitas.

Gravitas evokes a sensation of stability, solidity, confidence and calmness.  Gravitas makes me think of deep, still water.

The body language of younger people often evokes sensations of quickness, flexibility, and turbulent water.

Or, put another way, whereas older people tend to move like large animals at the top of the food chain—like elephants or giraffes—younger people are closer cousins to our friends the chipmunks, squirrels, and finches.

These frisky friends are beautiful creatures, but you don’t want to trust a million-dollar project to Alvin, Rocky, and Tweety.

The fifth language:  the language of clothes and grooming.  If you wear blue jeans and T-shirts to an executive meeting within the Fortune 500, you’re probably committing a CLM (career-limiting move.)

And when you show up with a mohawk or a mullet, you’re road kill, unless you walk on water in some rare way.

These are broad claims, but they represent a broad truth.  Large business cultures are more or less like the military.  Each has officers and foot soldiers, objectives and enemies, front lines and back offices, campaigns, strategies, and tactics.

And each has a uniform—clothes and haircuts that signal that you are a member of the team.

These, in short, are the five languages we must master in order to earn the trust and respect of senior business people.  The language of:

• Industry and function
• voice
• listening
• body language
• clothes and grooming

Some are easier to learn than others.  For instance, developing your voice to make it deeper, more resonant, or less nasal takes time.  And speaking more slowly can be a confrontation with a lifetime of habit.

But anyone can learn to speak all these languages more effectively, and thereby get people to take you and your ideas more seriously.

I’m with Dylan 100%:  May you stay forever young.  But may you also climb the learning curve quickly, to bring value to yourself, and to the enterprise you serve.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

I was struck by one simple thought.  A soft-spoken manager gave me cause to suspect his level of confidence and decisiveness.

His colleagues who spoke before him were more senior and they also projected their sound more easily.   When he stepped to the lectern, I was immediately struck by the absence of force in his voice.

I leaned in to listen, and while I could capture most of what he was saying, I was concerned about the impression he was creating.  I thought about yelling, “Can’t hear you,” but hesitated.

Instead, I got the A/V guy in the sound booth to turn up the volume. 

Electronic amplification is not always available, but in this case, it was the only thing I could do to help my client.  Immediately, I experienced his voice as the dominant signal in the room.  You could not ignore it.  Before, he seemed to have trouble penetrating the space.  Now, with boosted volume from the microphone, he became the voice of authority.

The human voice is a powerful instrument of emotion, and in business, the most important emotion is confidence.  I don’t think a confident voice has to be loud, but I do think it needs to be full of intention.   An adequate degree of intention leads to a voice that reaches the ears of the listeners, and has enough oomph to register on the emotional centers of the brain.

The voice we use needs to inspire confidence and belief in the people who are listening.  Anything less will open the door to doubt, and that can eventually lead to problems with clients being lured away by other, more inspiring voices.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

 He wants to do this for good reasons:  To put the results his team will report into context, and to demonstrate his broad knowledge of economic cycles in order to put his investors at ease: “You are in the hands of a seasoned pro,” is the message.

But there are a number of problems with this kind of tour of the macro.

First, the audience comprises institutional investors.  They already know what’s going on in the markets.  They read the papers, watch the news, and subscribe to trade publications.  No matter the perspective of the senior guy.  To his investors, it ain’t gonna be news. 

Second, investors come to hear about their investments, not to hear a lecture about the economy.  Their job is to go to the meeting, make sure everything is working according to plan, and report back to headquarters that their money is being put to work wisely…or not.

Third, LP meetings tend to be long and the macro lecture makes them longer.  This frustrates investors and undermines the quality of their experience at the meeting.  Since the annual LP Meeting is one of the key “branding moments” for the manager, it would make sense to keep the meeting lively.

Fourth, because professional investors have multiple managers, they go to many meetings and hear the same macro view multiple times.  If your meeting is not the first they attend soon after the New Year, your senior guy is most likely telling them something they have already heard.

It could be that the decision to have the senior guy give a macro view is necessary because other senior guys are doing it, and if your own senior guy doesn’t put forth his view, it might occur to the investors that he doesn’t have one.

It could also be that nobody wants to tell the senior guy not to give his macro view.

My view is that the manager should do a little survey of investors before the meeting, and after as well.  The answers to the questions will guide the manager as he allocates his precious time with investors to the subjects of greatest importance to the audience.  And the key messages the manager wants to get across can be repeated in the presentations of the various funds and underlying assets in the portfolio.

Let the senior guy be the benevolent host, and let the hands-on managers speak to the audience about what they (the investors) came to hear.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

There’s a tradition in show business:  “The show must go on.”  Actors and performers have a code of honor: They are not going to deprive their fellow performers of a day’s pay.  (And they’re not going to let an understudy take their part!)  If they are healthy enough to stand on their hind legs, they will perform.

And when they do, they don’t draw attention to the fact that they are under the weather.  They give it their best shot and hope for the best.  Amazingly, adrenalin tends to help us transcend our misery.  In fact, performing in front of a crowd is a vacation from whatever ails you.  Probably because it allows you to focus on something outside of yourself.

We hear all kinds of excuses running through our heads—I didn’t have enough time to prepare; these are not my slides; I just flew in on the RedEye—you name it, we’ve got a million of ‘em.

Keep it to yourself.  When you speak it aloud, you distract the audience, look like a whiner, and undermine your ability to do your best.

Just as water will find a way out of a pipe if it sees a tiny crack, we will find a way out of giving it everything we’ve got if we give ourselves an excuse.

Ladies and Gentlemen!  Please welcome the No Excuses Presenter!

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.