Now you’re smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
.
.
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Joan Baez Diamonds and Rust

Wednesday morning I really did smile out the window of a building over Washington Square. But it wasn’t a hotel, and Joan Baez wasn’t gazing at me from the bed (in my dreams). No. I was on the 10th floor of the NYU Student Center in a mirrored room with 250 of Manhattan’s movers and shakers. Gotham sparkled under clear Autumnal skies.

I was attending the Liminal Group’s half-day Articulate Executive seminar. Coming hard on the heels of Saturday’s NSA Northern California meeting, this was a study in contrasts for me, illustrating cultural differences between the West and East Coasts:

The crowd – was different in very predictable ways. I saw more neckties on power-suited men (both bsd’s and bsd-wanna-be’s) than I’ve seen in a year in Silicon Valley and more attitude on power-suited women than I’ve heard since Carly left HP.

The event – Big Apple prices ($482 for a half-day) contrasted with sub-$100 cost for a full-day at the NSA. For the money we got a catered breakfast and lunch and complimentary copies of the FT, Business Week and a free book. On the other hand, Fripp gave us two free CD’s and discount on her DVD. There was more structure to the program in NY. Toogood & Rose — the names alone sound like a Wall St investment firm — complimented each other. An outline of general rules was followed by the specifics of pitching VC’s. NSA’s coaching session was all Fripp all the time. Not a problem if you like one-woman riffs.

That said, the event organizers in NY were bedeviled by a/v gremlins. They spent big bucks on an a/v crew in vain. Dual pro-video cameras at the back of the room, a roaming steady-cam, a hyperactive still photographer, and still the sound guys could not get a working lav on Granville no matter how they tried (at one point he had triple redundant systems strapped to his belt and the sound was still a problem!).

These contrasts aside, there were more similarities than differences. Both events drove home the point that it’s counterproductive for senior executives to hide behind their PowerPoint slides and effective communications relies more on how you emotionally connect with an audience than just speaking quickly and delivering a boatload of facts.

So it was six of one, half a dozen of the other. Both events showcased professionals at the top of their game. Both audiences came away delighted with unique insights into the mystique of Executive Speech Coaching.

Speech coaches make better lovers

Staff in Corporate Communications departments in the Fortune 500 are like faithful spouses. We’re kept on hand to service the needs of one executive in one company, monogamously supporting a single C-level exec quarter-in, quarter-out, in, ‘till death (or the next re-org) do us part. Meanwhile, we do the housework: clean up your PowerPoint; take out the garbage from the business groups; put daily fare on the table; fact check and nit-pick. We enjoy close access to those in power (the corporate breadwinners) and that’s got its own rewards. But frankly, my dears, things sometimes get a tad….stale. It’s hard to keep the spark alive when you see so darn much of each other.

Gentlemen, he said,
I don’t need your organization, I’ve shined your shoes,
I’ve moved your mountains and marked your cards.

Dylan, Changing of the Guards

Then there’s the professional speech coach. Skilled in the arts of the podium, sharing special talents you can’t get at home. Charging more by the hour than we make in a week. A four-hour session makes you feel like a new man. Not afraid to spank you if you need it (oh, how you’ll need it); transforming your weaknesses to strengths; putting lead in your pencil; some zing in your thing. Here today, gone tomorrow. Don’t ask where. You are lucky to see them once a quarter. Whatever the coach does behind closed doors, stays there. Utmost discretion assured (not like those gossiping fishwives in the cubicles). There’s no question. Speech coaches make better lovers.

Granville Toogood Creating the Blockbuster Presentation

He’s not Italian-American but he’d like to be. He trades Greek quips so I’m guessing there’s more Onassis than Vito Corleone in his family tree. Silver hair swept back, worn long on the collar. A consigliere to the CEO, able to go mano-a-mano with Jack Welch (“It took me five years to change his mind…�). Granville is a piece of work. His advice comes straight from the trenches. Hard won and hard bitten:

His wisdom on what executives need to do to make an impression on stage is priceless. Buy his book The Articulate Executive in Action: How the best leaders get things done and read it, twice.

The principles of what he terms Communications Value Add (CVA) are a series of systematic changes that executives can implement to become instantly more effective in front of an audience. There are five keys in his POWER formula:

P – Punch up your opening with one of eight options:

1. An anecdote or illustration
2. A personal story
3. Begin with the ending, make a strong statement. Tell them the bottom line or sum total of your talk up front.
4. Ask a rhetorical question “What’s the worst that can happen to your business?�
5. A quotation “As it said in today’s FT…�
6. A future projection “My hope is that the new system will reduce costs�
7. A look into the past “Five years back it took 6 hours to provision…â€?
8. Humor – used carefully, best based on a true story.

Fripp added a 9th – an interesting statistic to captivate the audience.

O – Make sure you have One clear theme which you can discuss in many different ways.

W– Windows, or examples, anecdote that provides proof.

E – speaking for the Ear – conversationally, don’t ‘speechify’.

R – aid Retention in any of the following six ways:

1. Summarize key point or points
2. Loop back to the beginning
3. Ask the audience to do something specific
4. Project into the future
5. Deliver good news/bad news
6. Tell a symbolic story that embraces your message

Granville claims that learning and using the POWER formula “could be the single most important decision you will ever make in your working life.� (I wonder if Jack Welch agrees?).

Other tips:

Using PowerPoint (Assuming it’s a necessary evil that your corporate culture forces on you):

Be aware of the 18 minute wall. Adults turn off after listening to one speaker for more than 18 minutes. To counter this, either deliver your message in fifteen or intersperse videos, cameos from other people onstage, panel discussions, audience interaction or just tell ‘em a story.

As valuable as these tips are, frankly, anyone can read them in his books. What made the event worthwhile for me was seeing him in action — coaching volunteers from the audience. He showed how difficult it is for any speaker to actually implement systematic change, to step out of their comfort zone. This, assuming the strong cultural barriers in your organization to considering radical change in presentation style have been breached to the extent that a coach is permitted to work with executives.

There was an absolutely astounding session with a lady in the Investment Banking business (who dripped New York attitude) where he first observed her current pitch to investors. And then, “like squeezing toothpaste from a tube until you see what comes out of the nozzle at the end� he ran her through his drill. He asked first for a 3 minute version, then a 2 minutes version, then a 1 minute version, then a 30 second and finally an 8 second version of the same speech. This is his ‘8 second drill’. He rarely put words in her mouth, apart from occasional reminder to keep a strong opening and a single theme. We saw how utterly effective this discipline is in distilling the essence of a speech. The beauty is, anyone can run this exercise with a buddy at work. How many will? In under an hour the results will surpass countless meetings to outline the essence of a speech.

I did disagree with one recommendation. Granville stated that he does not spend much time coaching executives on body language or drilling them in gestures or stage mannerisms:

“I’m not into charm school, how you walk on stage. That’s cosmetics.�

This ignores the distraction of a speaker who paces (as Mr. Toogood himself does from time to time) and the way mannerisms, mirrored gestures, fidgets and other outlets for nervous energy dull the power and impact of a speaker. Knowing acting techniques and being aware of the effect of body language is a must.

One nit — his book on page 5 attributes to a quote to my ex-boss, Sun CEO Scott McNeely (sic). I doubt his ex-boss Jack, umm, Welsh appreciates his golfing partners’ name being mangled.

At the end of the day, Granville is too good to ignore. Forgive me. I resisted using that obvious pun for 1,500 words.

David S. Rose, Successful Business Fundraising

Successful entrepreneur, angel investor, David Rose puts his money where his mouth is. He specializes in taking the dozens of start-ups who pitch his New York Angels group each month through a presentation boot camp. He makes this a requirement. They all suck at presenting. If this isn’t a niche for presentation coaching I don’t know what is – the future of a start-up rides on a 15 minute pitch. They might not be able to afford high-fee coaches, but can they not afford to invest in communicating a clear message before they ask others to invest?

David addressed the familiar problem of Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) using too many jargon-laden slides that give too much information and fail to communication the basic message a VC needs to hear. A good VC pitch has 10 requirements:

1. Integrity – show us we can trust you.
2. Passion – show us you care about your company.
3. Experience – Experience is a hard school and some will learn through no other (Ben Franklin)
4. Knowledge – show us you know your onions.
5. Skill – show what skills you already have and where you’ll recruit those you lack.
6. Leadership – exude it or fail.
7. Commitment – will you follow through?
8. Vision – show what your aims are.
9. Realism – show you know what is realistic.
10. Coachability – will you listen, especially to a presentation coach!

It’s interesting to compare this with the famous 10/20/30 Rule for pitching VC’s proposed by Guy Kawasaki – 10 slides in 20 minutes in no less than 30 point font that cover:

1. Problem
2. Your solution
3. Business model
4. Underlying magic/technology
5. Marketing and sales
6. Competition
7. Team
8. Projections and milestones
9. Status and timeline
10. Summary and call to action

His coaching of Oren Michels, ex-Feedster VP, now CEO of start-up Web 2.0 Mashery, was awesome. He took him apart piece by piece and put him back together again. Wordy slides (Michaels: “You probably can’t read this�) were transformed into bold, simple text that conveyed the essence of the company. Less is more.

Here is your throat back, thanks for the loan.

Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man

I was blown away by Mashery’s business plan. But that’s a topic for another blog.