For more than 20 years, David Meuel has been an independent consultant specializing in executive speech development and corporate writing. He has worked with more than 80 business executives and public leaders, including the CEOs of eight Fortune 1000 companies, the CEOs of Visa International and Visa USA, and a State of California cabinet secretary. You can visit his website at www.davidmeuel.com or contact him at david@davidmeuel.com or at 650-804-2543.
I met David at a recent Silicon Valley IABC meeting. He’s a fellow speechwriter and executive communications specialist based in Northern California who graciously agreed to write a guest posting for Professionally Speaking.
Before They Say Anything: Preparing Executives for Speeches and Presentations
by David Meuel
It takes three weeks
to prepare a good ad-lib speech.
— Mark Twain
Several years ago, I read a survey finding that stopped me in my tracks. When asked which they feared most, the respondents’ number one choice – over snakes, spiders, or even death – was public speaking.
But the more I thought about it, the more understandable this finding became. Few things are more embarrassing than making a major mistake before a large audience. It’s no wonder that, for most people, speaking is extremely stressful.
Business executives who speak as part of their job have an added pressure: high stakes. A great performance can mean positive press, greater prestige, and even new business. A poor one can mean the opposite to all of the above. And, every once in a while, a very poor showing can even mean the loss of a job.
It’s no wonder then that executives, even those renowned for their nerves of steel, can get nerves of Jello when they think about an upcoming speech. And it’s no wonder that they often “rope in” their in-house communications people to help them prepare. Yet, while many business communicators are old pros at developing a PR plan or rolling out a new marcom program, they don’t have comparable expertise when it comes to “prepping” an executive for a speech or presentation. The solution is often “to just get through it” as best they can. But, depending on all the variables, this can be just as nerve-racking for the communicator as it is for the executive giving the speech.
Helping the Nervous Exec
What are some things you can do to make the three or four weeks before a major speech or presentation go by more smoothly? Here are some ideas that have worked for me:
1. Think through what you want to do.
The screenwriter Syd Field once made a statement I like very much. “The hardest thing about writing,” he said, “is knowing what to write.” This applies, of course, to any form of communication, including public speaking.
When I participate in the preparation process, I take executives through several steps that aim to build a strong content foundation. These include:
- Listing and prioritizing objectives;
- Learning as much as possible about the audience and what various people in it expect from the speaker;
- Determining the strongest possible central thought, or theme, for the speech;
- Organizing the central thought for maximum effect.
This is not easy stuff, and each step demands serious thought. But, perhaps the most difficult step is determining the central thought, or, as Syd Field would put it, “knowing what to write.”
I define the central thought as the synthesis of the speaker’s subject and objectives – the message. You can also view it as the engine that pulls the rest of the speech forward. Every point that’s made must serve to give this one thought clarity and dimension. And every point must be positioned in a way that people in the audience can easily understand and relate to.
For example, an executive from a major credit card organization is asked to speak to an audience of top college business majors about an intriguing subject: the future of money. Her main goal is to encourage students to consider joining her organization after graduation. But she also knows that she needs to explain the industry to students who probably aren’t experts on the subject.
Considering all of this, I would recommend as her central thought: Paper-based payment systems such as checks and cash – long the dominant forms of financial transaction – are rapidly giving way to far more convenient, versatile, and cost-effective electronic payment systems. This allows the speaker to meet both personal objectives and the needs of audience members by:
- Addressing the subject in a way that may intrigue listeners;
- Providing the audience with the appropriate amount of industry background or context;
- Suggesting that her industry is a place where many future opportunities will exist for enterprising young people;
- Depicting her organization as an excellent example of a group committed to fully capitalizing on the electronic payments opportunity (a nice way to make her organization look good without belittling the competition);
- Appearing as someone who is informed, engaged, authoritative, and visionary – someone a bright young person would love to work for.
After you decide upon your central thought, here’s another challenge – try boiling it down into one simple declarative sentence short enough to write on the back of a business card. That can be a very painful exercise. But once you’ve reached this point, you’ve done the most important work in the preparation process. The rest is development and refinement. That’s not easy, either. But it’s much less difficult when the basic direction has been thought through and spelled out. You know where you are going.
Briefly, here are some other recommendations:
2. Build in time to think.
Good ideas and clear thoughts take time to develop. I know this is hard, but make the presentation a priority and build time into the exec’s and your schedule to think about it. Jot down ideas and put them in writing immediately. One helpful hint is to post the central thought on the wall in front of you or on the side of your computer. As you gather material for the talk, constantly test it against the central thought.
3. Be merciless about eliminating information.
A piece of information might be fascinating in its own right. But, if it doesn’t relate directly to the central thought, then it isn’t right for this presentation. (Save it for a time when it will be appropriate.)
4. Don’t force humor or cleverness.
People often feel great pressure to begin or end a presentation with an attention-getter such as a joke, funny anecdote, clever quote, or startling fact. But no one is ever obligated to. The moral here is: do what is right for the exec. Beginning with a good attention getter is fine, but don’t try to do something that’s not natural for the exec or irrelevant to the central thought.
5. When using PowerPoint, keep it simple and graphically interesting.
Rather than being an effective speaking aid, PowerPoint is often a major distraction. To make matters worse, many speakers design their graphics the same way engineers design microchips – cramming everything they can into every nanometer of available real estate. The result, of course, is that the people in the audience often don’t understand what they’re looking at and stop listening to the speaker so they can figure out the perplexing visual puzzle in front of them.
First, ask if the exec really needs to use PowerPoint. You’ll be amazed how often execs really don’t, especially if they are CEOs who fancy themselves “big picture” people. In fact, I’ve often encouraged executives not to use it, and they’ve said that this has made them look more “statesmanlike” and helped to differentiate them at conferences.
Second, if you use PowerPoint, keep it as simple as possible – no more than one image per minute, no more than one thought per image, as few bullets and words as possible, and, whenever possible, an easy-to-understand graphic that illustrates or complements what the exec is talking about. If you aren’t a wizard at PowerPoint, you might want to “rope in” someone who is to help make the presentation as professional looking as possible.
6. Plan to be short.
People are rarely criticized for not speaking long enough. If the exec is asked to speak for 20 minutes, plan for 15. Also, consider that many things—resounding applause, uproarious laughter, uncooperative technology, etc.—slow a speaker down. Plan on them. The difference between ending five minutes early and going five minutes over can seem like an eternity.
7. Prepare for questions.
Write up a list of tough questions and answers so the exec is prepared for anything the audience might throw out after the presentation.
8. Rehearse the exec at least twice.
If possible, set up the final rehearsal at the conference the day before the exec is scheduled to speak. You’ll be amazed how much this will help the exec during the actual presentation.
Staying Out of Panic Mode
One way to avoid much of this last-minute stress and strain is to take a more pre-emptive, strategic approach to the speaking opportunity. In these days of tight budgets and stretched resources, I know this is much more easily said than done. But, if there is any way you can do it, you should.
This approach requires that those involved think less in terms of specific speeches and more in terms of an overall speaking program. It also requires significant upfront planning. What’s involved in this planning? Some of the most important tasks include:
- Developing speaking topics that are clearly aligned with your company’s key business and/or marketing objectives;
- Seeking out appropriate forums where these speeches can be delivered – places where executives can have the biggest impact on the industry press, peers, etc. – and then pitching these topics to the forums;
- Selecting the right executive for each speaking opportunity;
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Cultivating a core group of “go-to” executives, the men and women who can best represent the company at various forums (Ideally, your number one “go-to” guy or gal should be your CEO. But this doesn’t always have to be the case.);
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Cultivating a group of “go-to” consultants, people familiar with your company you can count on to help out with speech development, graphics development, and presentation skills. (Once again, budgets are often the constraining factor. But, if you can get help from a handful of good people, use them. It will make your life much easier.);
- Getting extra mileage from speeches by reprinting edited versions of them as executive articles, etc.
All that sounds like a lot of work, and it usually is. But the difference between reacting to each speaking invitation and running a more strategically oriented program can be mind-boggling. The company gets the right messages out on a regular, systematic way. Audiences enjoy the speakers more and leave conferences both with the message you wanted to give them and with a positive impression of your company. Then, all this feeds on itself – more invitations to conferences, more press attention, and greater visibility in the industry.
In Conclusion…
Preparing executives for speeches and presentations is often difficult, frustrating work. But the payoff can also be big both for your company and for you. The challenge, of course, is to do the right things. So, when a nervous exec ropes you in, sweat the big stuff first. Work closely with the exec to define the message, considering the exec’s goals, the needs of the audience, the development of a clear, compelling, relevant central thought, and the organization of the speech around that thought. After you do all that, then think about a great joke to open with, PowerPoint, Q&A, and time to rehearse.
As you prepare, you might also want to pitch the exec on the idea of taking a more pre-emptive, strategic approach to the public speaking opportunity. Not only would an ongoing speaking program help the company in countless ways, it would also help make the weeks before a major presentation much less anxious for all involved.
In a recent 
