The Well-Spoken Woman (18 page)

The Event

As you gain a better sense of the audience members, you need to investigate what type of event is being planned. Are you speaking to five decision makers in a boardroom, fifty video conference participants, or five hundred annual meeting attendees? Is the agenda well organized, and does it outline a program in which you are excited to participate? Use the following list of event-profile questions to ensure you have a thorough understanding of the program and your role.

Work with the event organizers to select your time slot on the agenda. The morning hours are better than immediately before or after lunch, when people are either hungry or digesting food. Post lunch is not a good time to dim the lights for a PowerPoint
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presentation. The most challenging time slot is at the end of the day or during evening events. Speaking before or after dinner presents a multitude of challenges, as most people are tired and some may have been drinking. The rule of thumb for the evening presentation is to keep it short and keep it moving. Pull out your most entertaining stories or, better yet, hire a professional speechwriter to add humor.

Find out who is going to introduce you and what she plans to say. Offer to provide a draft introduction. Writing it yourself ensures that the relevant pieces of your resume and experience will be showcased. The event organizers will be grateful for your input and relieved that they have one less task to complete. Keep the introduction short. It shouldn't run longer than a couple of paragraphs. If your last name is unusual or difficult to pronounce, provide a phonetic pronunciation.

PS Step 2: Stage Setting

Set the stage so that you are comfortable with the room and equipment arrangement and they suit your objectives. The setting and your proximity to the audience will have a direct impact on your ability to engage and interact with them. What is the planned setup, and to what extent can you change it to suit your preferences? If you stand behind a lectern, it can be more difficult to interact with individual members of the audience. Can you easily access the audio/video controls, or is the setup awkward? Will you be able to see the screen and the audience? The following settingprofile questions will help you use the available space and equipment to greatest effect.

Find out when the room is available for a walk-through prior to the event. The evening before is an ideal time to check out the arrangements so any necessary changes don't have to be made in a last-minute rush. At a minimum, be sure to make time the morning of your speech to acclimate yourself. Many speakers skip this step, setting themselves up for problems when they stand before the live audience.

A well-laid-out room will be conducive to engaging the audience. But keep in mind that you may still need to warm them up. As a young trainer, I was most uncomfortable speaking to groups of older men who would stare back at me with blank expressions that were intimidating. What I interpreted as disinterest or hostility was nearly always not the case. Most often they were an audience being an audience and not secretly plotting schemes to derail me. Audiences tend to be initially cool because they are dealing with their own issues and distractions. They may not want to be called on or be singled out. They may feign indifference because they don't want to volunteer to talk about an issue they don't feel comfortable addressing.

Step off on the right foot by modeling the behavior you seek from your audience. The professional dancers on TV's
Dancing with the Stars
lead with sure footwork that helps their celebrity partners complete audiencepleasing routines. Start with a question if you want the session to be more interactive. Move out from behind the lectern to set a conversational tone. A technique Dole uses to involve the audience is to ask them to give them-selves a round of applause or to stand up and be acknowledged. In the kickoff speech of her US Senate campaign, she said: “I know some of our veterans are with us today, and I promise you that one of my top priorities is to stand up for you and our men and women in uniform. Now, would all of you please stand up, so we can show our appreciation for your service and your sacrifice?”
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The applause creates a social atmosphere, and the audience members are more likely to relax and enjoy themselves.

PS Step 3: Break Murphy's Law

Dole was in top form the night of the convention address with the assistance of a professional team of stage managers and technical crew. Walking and talking isn't as easy as it looks, and she demonstrated true
grace under fire when three minutes into the presentation, her lavalier microphone hissed, sputtered, and cut out. Although the speech was being broadcast live, no look of panic crossed her face. She paused and waited for an aide, who appeared from off camera and handed her a backup micro-phone. Without missing a beat, Dole smiled to the audience, and they responded with warm applause. Anticipating the equipment breakdown prevented a nationally televised embarrassment. The speaker and the advance team had done their jobs.

Murphy's law holds that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong,” and it is particularly applicable when technology is involved. In fact, a corollary law holds that “to err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.” Sometimes the stiffest competition you face in getting the audience's attention is the room environment. Waiters drop trays. Technicians fuss with a balky audiovisual system. People arrive late, and the program starts behind schedule.

Most speakers perform at a peak level when challenged constructively. Encountering the unexpected and unpleasant can leave you flustered. Have you walked into a room minutes before you are scheduled to speak to find a mess? People are crammed into a too-tight, too-hot space littered with debris. The LCD projector is on the fritz, so the PowerPoint slides don't appear, and nobody knows how to fix it. What should have been a no-brainer becomes a disaster that leaves you frazzled. The following are some of the most common logistical problems and solutions for solving them in advance.

Annoying Ambient Distractions

• Extraneous noise:
  Ringing cell phones, clattering dinnerware, and buzzing air-circulation units can drown you out. The only noise more distracting is the jackhammer of a nearby work crew or the cheering Amway® crowd on the other side of the folding partition. (Amway salespeople are notorious for spirited team chants.) Woe to the presenter who finds herself in competition with a raucous neighbor. Check the sound system in advance, especially if you are speaking to a large group in a large room. If your voice is soft or hushed, you need quality amplification to be heard. If the sound system is weak, ask if it can be replaced. If not, position yourself at a spot in the room so you are close to the audience and they can easily hear you. It may be helpful to stand on a riser, as this will help you project to the back corners. A strong voice may project over a noisy disturbance, but don't shout, as shouting strains the vocal cords and is hard on the ears.
  
• Extreme temperature:
  Expect the air to be either arctic cold or stifling hot, and expect the temperature to be the first thing audience members complain about. If you are on early in the morning, the room temperature may have been lowered overnight. Adjust it beforehand so that it reaches a comfortable setting. Monitor it throughout the day, too, as any mass of bodies will raise the temperature. A lack of ventilation or vents that blast cold or hot air will also affect the room temperature. If the ventilation is inadequate, open windows or doors to circulate the air. If you open doors, be sure the areas around them are kept clear and quiet. Try not to stand directly in the line of fire from a vent. The blowing air may irritate your vocal chords.
  
• Bad lighting:
  Is there an appropriate level of lighting so that you and any visuals can be seen? Astonishingly, many hotel conference rooms have dim lights or lights that are not adjustable. Check to see if the room has a separate control that can lower the lights when you are ready to show slides or video. Rooms with large windows can create an inviting aesthetic, particularly for daylong conferences. But windows can be a disaster if you plan to use large-screen projection. Glass creates glare from the sun, and the room may heat up in the afternoon. Are you able to adjust the drapes or blinds? If not, try to position screens so the glare does not hit them directly. If you are taking the stage in a large auditorium or at an evening event, check beforehand to see if the speaker's lectern will be lit by a spotlight. The intense glare may blind you or impede your ability to read from your notes. Ask the technical crew to make the necessary adjustments.
  
• Uncomfortable seating:
  Work with the event planner to select a seating arrangement that is conducive to the goal of the presentation. Most hotels and conference centers can provide a variety of chair and table combinations. If your presentation lends itself to note taking, request round tables or rows of chairs and short tables. If you want to create a dialogue among the audience members, consider a U shape. If the rows are placed in a slight curve rather than straight across, the presenter and audience members see more of each other; the listeners aren't stuck looking at the backs of heads.
  
• Sufficient seating:
  Try to estimate the crowd size so the appropriate number of chairs is available. Don't put out too many, because people tend to fill in the back first, forcing late arrivals to create distractions as they reluctantly walk to the front. Have extra chairs available in the back of the room. Many people prefer to sit on the aisle, so avoid having long rows that prohibit movement and create a cramped atmosphere. Check the sight lines by standing in the back of the room. Will people have a clear view of you and the visual aids? Can any dis-tracting decorations or wall hangings be removed? Do you need to move any equipment so that it is not blocking someone's view?
  
• Dysfunctional microphone:
  It's comical to watch what happens when a speaker is handed a microphone. Inevitably, they do three things in this order: (1) stare at it as if they have never seen one before; (2) blow into it; and (3) ask two questions: “Is it on?” and “Can you hear me?” Always test the microphone setup beforehand. When using a mike that is attached to a lectern, position it just below the mouth, about six inches away. If the previous speaker was taller or shorter, adjust it before you begin speaking. When you speak over the top of the mike instead of down into it, the quality of the sound will be better. Never blow into the microphone or tap on it. Use a normal speaking level and let the system do the broadcasting. The lavalier is easy to use because it attaches to a jacket lapel or shirt collar, thus freeing the hands. Position it about three inches below the collarbone and attach the battery pack to the waistband in the back of your pants or skirt to ensure the wire trails behind you.
  
• Malfunctioning hardware:
  An embarrassing computer malfunction occurred during a presentation by Bill Gates when he was CEO of Microsoft Corporation. While he was rolling out Windows 98 at the Comdex Computer Show, gremlins caused the operating system to crash. Gates had the wherewithal to quip that the snafu might explain why the company wasn't ready to ship the new product. For less experienced presenters, this type of glitch can induce a panic attack. There are two solutions. First, don't become overly reliant on any piece of equipment. Expect bugs and be prepared to sail ahead if they can't be fixed. It is always a good idea to prepare a set of note cards with your speech outline as backup. If you are nervous about the setup, bring a copy of the entire speech and have photocopies of the PowerPoint slides available for distribution. Second, it is imperative to arrive early so you have plenty of time to test the equipment. This is particularly necessary if you will be using an unfamiliar setup. Even simple things like a mouse can cause aggravation. I've seen PowerPoint clickers that are shaped like doughnuts. Not only is an unusual shape difficult to hold, it can be tricky to operate.
  

PS Step 4: Notes That Work

The presenter who speaks from a written text that was designed to be read aloud will give a better presentation than someone struggling to decipher handwritten notes. Mistakes are more likely to occur if the script is not legible. It is not enough to lay out a speech in a standard document format. When you are standing at a lectern with the lights dimmed, twelve-point font will not suffice. Neither will crossed-out lines and last-minute notes scribbled in the margins. Sloppy notes lead to a sloppy presentation.

Several options can work for the speech script: word-for-word text, a detailed outline, or bullet points. Some clients come in with the notion that they don't need a script because they will memorize the speech. The executive director of an international nonprofit was convinced it would be okay to memorize the opening remarks she would deliver to over three hundred people after logging a fifteen-hour flight to New Delhi. The stress of the travel could be enough to block her ability to recall main points, much less every single word. Who wants to suffer through the discomfort of going blank? A well-laid-out text is an important tool, whether you are an experienced speaker or a novice. It can ensure a strong performance, especially when the stakes are high—you've earned the promotion, you're testifying for the record, you're running for high office, you're chairing the
big meeting. If you are starting out in your career, learning how to use a script early on will help you improve more quickly.