Toastmaster Time is a long-running San Francisco Bay Area monthly television program, produced by members of Toastmasters International clubs in District 57.

Shows are broadcast on local television community access channels and a complete archive of the past eight years are available for viewing on the Toastmaster Time website. The show presents talks by Toastmasters, from Icebreakers to Advanced talks and features evaluations and interviews with speakers.

The purpose behind the show is to give Toastmaster members the opportunity to learn new skills and present educational and entertaining stories and speeches. For Toastmasters, it offers a unique opportunity to give a speech in front of cameras in a professional television studio. For most of us, this is a challenge quite different from speaking in front of a room of friendly faces at the local club meetings.

Toastmaster Time shows are recorded at the Media Center in Palo Alto.

Hosting a TV Show

Back in October 2011, I had the opportunity to present a talk on my youthful adventures in London and Paris. Earlier this year I evaluated other speakers. Then, just last month, I spent an evening in the studio as the host of an entire TV show.

It was a humbling experience to understand first-hand what sales leaders and company executives must accomplish these days when they host virtual meetings in the workplace. These are an increasingly common alternative to expensive in-person meetings. Toastmaster Time, and shows like it elsewhere, give anyone who aspires to a leadership role in a Fortune 500 company a great sandbox to hone your on-camera presentation skills.

Click photo to watch entire show

Monique Martineau’s mission is to share profound insights learned during her own pursuit of health and happiness. She’s had several painful “wake up calls” ranging from childhood crisis to having a baby at 19, giving him up for adoption, and meeting him as an adult. At 26, she lived the dark-year-of-the-soul, when doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. One time, sitting in ER again, she was so overcome with anxiety, she thought “I don’t care if I die, but I must find peace-of-mind!”

After coaching hundreds of corporate techies and their managers on wellness, Monique found most obstacles point back to stress. People essentially know how to improve nutrition and exercise. The problem is prioritizing and motivation. People are overloaded and exhausted at the end of a day. They want fast food and TV or a fancy dinner and a drink…too frequently, in which case, it’s neither a healthy nor a truly fulfilling life.

Whether speaking or consulting, one of Monique’s favorite questions is, “What’s the most important thing?” Many people have to stop and think for a while. Our culture is so caught up in achievement, progress and power; we forget why we’re doing it. We must keep what’s important to us in the forefront of our minds to guide decisions, such as, “It’s time to shut down the computer, go home, take a walk, and enjoy a healthy meal with loved ones.”

Easier said than done? Not when you learn what’s at the root of it all. Monique’s most profound insights have come from ancient wisdom traditions. When we shine the light on ego and its antics, it can’t run our lives anymore. The ego innocently tries to help, but mucks things up. Cultivating wisdom, on the other hand, allows us to embody our true nature. With wisdom, we enjoy mental clarity, physical vitality and emotional equanimity. The impact is as close to home as our relationships and as far reaching as world peace.

To find out more about Monique and her work as a speaker, consultant and coach, visit her website.

Pro-Track Profile

I recently talked with Monique about her background. To hear what she told me, and the ways she adds “juice” to the topic of stress plus her focus on meditation, as well as her impressions of the National Speakers Association Pro-Track class that she is part of, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:52 — 1.6MB)

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Authenticity is one the hallmarks of a successful presentation. Audiences can sense when a presenter is not delivering a message that is congruent with their beliefs. This is an emotional as much as an intellectual challenge, and one that many CEO’s are destined to fail. The reason, according to Anthony Goodman, writing in Monday’s Financial Times, is that many chief executives are prisoners of their environment. Quoting Professor Roger Martin who writes in Fixing The Game:

“Institutional investors, equity analysts, investment bankers, hedge funds and the financial press have emerged as central figures in the CEO’s community … a community rife with transactional relationships, exploitation and distrust.”

Martin believes that executives pander to these constituencies, leading them to make decisions that often do not deliver long-term value to the organizations they lead and deliver communications that lack authenticity.

When you hear a CEO present at a conference, you see one person. What you don’t see is the phalanx of communications staff, from the heads of Public Relations to the speechwriter, PowerPoint design team and event staff who had a hand in creating and revising the content that they deliver.

It’s a rare chief executive who has the time and attention on the speech to ensure that, as well as being an accurate communication about the institutional programs and objectives, it is also something that sounds totally authentic when they deliver it.

Audience’s remember those CEO’s who do take the time to embody their speeches as authentic communications of who they are. The rest, they forget.

All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
— Desolation Row, Bob Dylan

Fear and Loathing in Silicon Valley

Greg Bardsley does for Silicon Valley what Hunter S. Thompson did for Las Vegas. His new novel, Cash Out, is a 400-page gonzo-journalism inspired riff on a bizarre world hidden behind the bland office parks and drab suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area.

His alter-ego, Dan Jordan, is days away from seeing his $1 million stock options vest, yet the moment he leaves the medical office where’s he’s just had a vasectomy, things start unraveling. He’s kidnapped by a rabid band of redundant IT workers who blackmail him into betraying the trust of the executive he writes speeches for. From this point on, the clock is ticking and the game’s afoot.

Bardsley, I mean Jordan, is an emasculated postmodern hero married to a kick boxing beauty and best friends with a cage fighter. Caught in a maelstrom of comic book violence he lurches from one scrape to the next, searching for bags of frozen peas to numb his bruised gonads, surviving on pain killers and alcohol. He loves his family, despises his boss and is unnerved by a cartoon character cast of neighbors who indulge in sadistic rituals with lawn furniture behind the innocent facades of their suburban garage doors. Some truly strange stuff here. I’ll never be able to ride on the upper deck of a London bus again without the sour memory of Bardsley’s scatological imagination re-surfacing.

Silicon Valley Speechwriter

Greg and I have worked as speechwriters at some of the same Silicon Valley companies. But his novel describes a parallel universe that I could not possibly have imagined. Nor did I find anyone recognizable in this work of fiction. He really did rearrange faces and give them all other names.

But anyone who makes their living as a professional speechwriter will recognize his interactions with egotistical executives, scheming support staff and the faux-glamour life in the corporate jet fast lane. For me, the vasectomy and subsequent attacks on his mid-section symbolically represent all the suffering speechwriters endure: doing whatever it takes to put words of wisdom into the mouths of the real men who deliver the speeches; constantly threatened with crazy deadlines, undermined by outside consultants, sleep deprived and subservient.

Greg is a fantastic writer. The dialog crackles, the pace is relentless, the characters unforgettable. The lottery-like frenzy of Silicon Valley stock options must have given rise to countless tales of those who were able to cash out and those who missed the jackpot by a few months, weeks or days.

You don’t need to go to Las Vegas to gamble your life away. Cash Out tears the veneer off the Silicon Valley stock-option crapshoot. Kudos to Greg Bardsley for telling it like it is.

Gina Smith writes freelance articles for magazines, online outlets and publications on behalf of a number of companies, including Spanning.com. Smith covers the latest topics in the business, golf, tourism, technology and entertainment industries.

Online Presence is the New “Storefront”

The majority of people and businesses now go online first when they want to search for a product or service. Your website is now your “storefront”. As a professional service provider, how can you ensure your online presence is not only appealing, but sells both you and what you do? Here are a few easy tips to help boost your online charisma.

Make your website appealing

Hire a professional to develop copy and design a website which stands out. Often, your website will be the first impression people have of you and your service. Is your website organized, designed well and easy to navigate? Or, is it cluttered, unappealing and just “there” so you have a presence. Think about your own consumer behavior. When you shop, do you choose stores, which are clean, well stocked and orderly, or ones which are disorganized and disheveled? Remember, your website is also your storefront.

Ask customers to connect with you through Social Media

Social Media is an excellent online PR booster. Peer impressions make an incredible impact. Connect with your customers and interact with them. If you are a freelance speaker, encourage your audience to connect with you as well. Perhaps even break the ice by jokingly saying something like, “OK, I’m going to strike a pose right now so anyone who wants to post a Facebook update about being here can take my picture…” Social Media is also a great avenue to ask questions and gather feedback about your services.

Continually check and monitor reviews

It doesn’t hurt to search your name or company every so often to see what is being posted online. If it is positive, help spread it! Link the positive comments to your website and interact with those posting them. If you discover negative content, address it immediately. Try to find the source and make every effort to reach out and explore opportunities to facilitate a positive experience.

Gather testimonials

Don’t be afraid to ask for testimonials. They can be simple, short (1-3 lines) statements from your customers about the quality of your work, their experience with you and recommending others to utilize your service. Obtain written permission to post these on your website, and across all of your Social Media platforms.

Technology has fostered an online culture which makes it imperative to implement Internet strategies that complement your traditional marketing and public relations efforts. While it can be overwhelming and time consuming, effective implementation of an overall online PR plan can prove very profitable in the long run!

In a recent blog posting I pointed out that an organization’s Annual Report is an important competitive differentiator.

When I’m hired to help write Annual Reports I follow a number of steps to ensure success. Since these reports are, of course, an annual event, it’s a good idea to put systems in place that will serve the purpose year after year.

Tracking Report Components

The first step is to break the report down into component parts. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of the content and owners of each section. Define the overall message and list how each chapter in the report supports this. Use the spreadsheet as a guide for all the team members: graphic designers, content creators, subject experts, proofreaders and review staff. Make the spreadsheet as detailed as necessary, you might list:

• Page numbers: As the project progresses keep track of each section by page number.
• Themes: If you have multiple themes for the report, color code the spreadsheet to show which theme each section falls into.
• Deadlines: for draft copy, design work, interviews, research, and more.
• Roles and Responsibilities: for both freelance and staff members.
• Estimated time to complete: useful to measure the overall cost of the project.

Make one person responsible for the spreadsheet and route all status updates through them.

The Discovery Phase

Gather preliminary information to enable the writers to draft the content. Use a 3-ring binder to store source material, with tab dividers for each section of the report. Sources might include:

• Previous year’s report
• Competitors reports
• Executive speech transcripts
• Interviews with subject experts
• Website content
• Product brochures
• Press Releases
• PowerPoint presentations
• Analyst reports
• News articles

These days, most of the content will be online, but a printout in a binder will help as you start to review and collate what you need as background for each section of the report.

You should also create a hierarchy of bookmarks in your browser, corresponding to tabs in the binder, to store relevant website information.

First Drafts

As early as possible, the writers will need to create outlines of each section which can be expanded into first drafts. A good working relationship between the in-house staff and the freelance writer is crucial at this point. It’s worth taking the time to spend a day meeting in person at the start of the project, or at least scheduling a videoconference on Skype or TelePresence so that everyone is operating from a position of trust. There will inevitably be challenges in communicating what the organization needs the report to say and how the writer interprets this. One major advantage of working with a freelance writer is that they bring a fresh pair of eyes to content that people inside the organization might be too close to.

Rewriting

I’m amazed at the similarities between writing speeches and writing Annual Reports. Both projects:

• are highly visible and represent the overall company vision and strategy;
• involve upper management in the approval cycle;
• also involve a large team of support staff, from marketing and PR to legal and financial teams;
• must find a balance between an overall message and supporting data, avoiding fluff while not boring everyone with facts alone;
• inevitably involve many rewrites before the content meets corporate standards.

Again, an experienced freelance writer will be able to craft the 150-, 500- and 750-word versions of the text you’ll need on each topic. Indeed, like keynote speeches, a good Annual Report will contain material that can easily be re-purposed and used in sales and marketing presentations by staff throughout the year.

Online Versions

While the printed Report might be distributed at the annual general meeting and mailed to shareholders, there’s a great opportunity to post content online. The least effective way is to have a downloadable PDF of the printed report. Consider hiring a savvy web designer and have them create a dedicated corner of your website where the content can come alive. Wolters Kluwer did just this for the online version of their Award Winning 2011 Annual report. You can also read the report in a dedicated iPad app.

Annual Reports are required of all public companies. While some elect to publish the minimum information required by law, others see their Annual Report as an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the past year to current and potential investors; press and analysts; customers and partners. Indeed, a well-written and attractive Annual Report can be a competitive differentiator, helping brand a company by listing past accomplishments and strategic direction.

In order for an Annual Report to have maximum impact, it’s important that not only are the financial statements accurate, but that the whole report, from the Chairman’s letter to product and program information, is compelling and coherent.

Design

Creative graphic design is a feature of many Annual Reports. Awards for creative design acknowledge those that have invested in a unique look and feel. Some of these Reports rival the trendiest of European fashion magazines in eye-catching color, layout and style.

Content

However, it’s content that matters. Awards that judge Reports based on narrative as well as design are more accurate reflections of the publications use to investors. Very few investors are likely to be swayed by design alone. But a well-written Annual Report, like the Award Winning 2011 Wolters Kluwer Annual Report that I worked on, can focus attention on the best aspects of a companies competitive advantages, product offerings and benefits.

Writing your Annual Report

Producing a well-written Annual Report takes time. Staff in Marketing and PR are the people most likely to be tasked with gathering information from across the organization. In order to create content, they will need to contact subject experts in sales, engineering, support and administration. A well-written Report should contain a mix of data and human interest stories to attract and keep the readers attention. While there’s no way to dress up the Financial Statements, nor would regulators permit this, the rest of the Report can tell stories that showcase the best aspects of the company.

Hiring a freelance writer

In-house staff face the challenge of finding time to research, collate and write the Report on top of their existing duties. Hiring an experienced freelance writer not only relieves this time crunch, but also offers a new perspective. Especially for organizations with multiple divisions, an outside writer can bring coherence to a report which might otherwise seem as if it has been patched together from different sources.

In future blog postings I’ll be sharing my own experience as a freelance writer working on Annual Reports and, in addition to listing tips and tricks, suggesting ways to make the collaboration between freelancer and in-house staff as effective as possible.

If you have any specific questions you’d like me to address, please leave a comment.

Thanks to Oriana at Gotham Ghostwriters for alerting me to this artfully produced parody of Irish rock band U2’s song “With or Without You”, recast as a promo for a recently published book on Scrabble: Is That a Word?: From AA to ZZZ, the Weird and Wonderful Language of SCRABBLE. If you are part of that vibrant subculture of U2 fans who are also avid Scrabble players this video will rock your world!

“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things” – Theodore Levitt

Jag Randhawa shares a deep passion for making a difference in the world, and enjoys sharing his life lessons through speaking. Creating a Culture of Innovation is one of Jag’s most requested talks, based on the Open Innovation program he developed in his company. His presentations are interactive, engaging, and appeal to the heart, creating a lasting impact.

Jag serves as the Vice President of Information Technology and eCommerce at CAMICO Mutual Insurance, where he manages the Technology portfolio and eCommerce channel. Jag has integrated his passion for neuroscience and behavior psychology to develop a very scientific approach to inspire employees to perform at their best. This approach also contributed to the development of an Open Innovation program where all employees contribute ideas to grow the business.

Jag is a frequent speaker at many CIO and executive networking events where he shares his experiences on Leadership, creating a Culture of Innovation, and Employee Engagement. Jag has more than 20 years of technology industry experience. He is an active contributor to the local CIO community and chairs the Silicon Valley CIO chapter of TechExecs. Prior to CAMICO, Jag worked as an IT consultant and engineer serving a broad range of industries where he developed many innovative and award-winning software systems. Jag has degrees in Electronics Engineering and Information Technology.

His website and blog is available at: http://jagrandhawa.com/

Culture of Innovation

Innovation is ranked as the top priority year after year by CEOs in annual surveys, but most struggle with how to get started. How do you take the resources you have and spark interest in creativity and innovation? Jag has created a simple program to help companies get started in creating a Culture of Innovation. The program engages employees to generate ideas that will increase the top line and create operational efficiencies. When companies involve employees, they are more engaged, and go above and beyond the call of duty to make the company more profitable.

Pro-Track Profile

I recently talked with Jag about his background. To hear what he told me, and the results he’s seen proven in his own organization as a result of embracing a culture of open innovation, as well as his impressions of the National Speakers Association Pro-Track class that he is part of, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:27 — 1.0MB)

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I’ve just come across a fabulous Channel on YouTube.

THNKR posts original videos in four sub-categories: on books, prodigies, thought leaders and public speaking. The public speaking channel (called PODIUM) is described as

Embracing oration & those with something to say. From historic political speeches, to contemporary commencement addresses, to wedding toasts, the series explores various genres of speechmaking and provides inspiring insightful analysis including “how-to” content. New episodes premiere ever other week, and run about seven minutes.

Here’s an example of the well-produced content – four tips on overcoming fear of public speaking.

I also enjoyed the analysis of Obama’s 2004 Convention speech which launched his career and features commentary by American University professor Robert Lehrman and other experts.