I was recently interviewed by Vancouver-based social media and organizational strategy expert Rob Cottingham. Rob’s Social Signal blog is a rich source of information on social media and public speaking and speechwriting. He’s added a podcast series and you can click through and hear our conversation on the ways speechwriters can take advantage of social media.
Joanne Westley is a senior manager in the supply chain of the UK’s Jansen Display. In her spare time Joanne likes to go mountain biking as well as hiking in the Lake District.
Presentations are stressful, and PowerPoint can make them even more so. Will the computer read your USB stick? Will the version of PowerPoint be different? Are your pictures and video going to show up right?
And, even if all that works out, will you hear a groan from the audience when they see the first slide from yet another cookie cutter slideshow?
Break the cycle and move beyond PowerPoint. There are new and exciting tools available that will let you add some spice to your talk, as well as open new avenues for collaboration.
Prezi is the darling child of next-gen presentations. While the user interface can be daunting to a novice user, once mastered Prezi can produce murmurs of approval from your audience. While you can recreate the sterile slideshow feel within Prezi, it also has the ability to zoom in and out, rotate, and create visual experiences that are not possible from PowerPoint. Prezi can also integrate YouTube and other content seamlessly.
Sliderocket will look much more familiar to PowerPoint users. It’s slide based, but offers a snazzier selection of tools and ingredients out of the box than PowerPoint. You can add charts, tables, video, and audio, and the interface is very intuitive. Be careful though, both SlideRocket and Prezi will have issues if running on a slow computer or an out of date browser.
The Presentations feature of Google Documents is a simple, no-nonsense slide creator. It offers the majority of the same features as PowerPoint, although it lacks the ability to insert audio and has less presentation customization. However, given the growing popularity of the Google Documents suite, this is a safe choice for group presentations since it’s likely they already have a Google account.
One thing these digital formats lack is the ability to make adjustments to your presentation on the fly. Instead of PowerPoint or another online show, consider using a simple whiteboard for your presentation. This allows you to more closely tie your visual content to your talk by creating it as you go, as well as making your presentation more interactive by having the ability to answer questions on the whiteboard. Just make sure you and your audience will be comfortable with your handwriting and diagramming.
Another online alternative, Zoho Show is as close to an online clone of PowerPoint as it gets. The menus and options have the same look and feel as the traditional Microsoft product, and so Zoho would be a good choice for a less technically savvy group who still wants to use an online digital platform for their presentation.
No matter which tool you choose, take the time to learn it and your material well, and your presentation will be a success. Based on my research, Prezi has the most potential for creating a Wow! experience, while Google Presentations is number one for ease of use. If you have an artistic streak, though, go for the whiteboard. Good luck!
Since 1994, Cynthia Klein has been guiding parents to creating happy and healthy families. As a speaker to over three hundred groups, Cynthia has given parents the tools and confidence to improve their family dynamics. Her presentations are interactive, highly visual and easy for parents to apply to their own family situations. Parents leave encouraged that they are able to make positive changes. Cynthia’s clients have included the parents at Stanford University, Kaiser Permanente, The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, The Children’s Health Council and Hewlett-Packard.
Cynthia works privately with parents who want to make permanent improvements in their families. The wisdom she has gained from successfully raising her strong-willed young adult daughter is invaluable in understanding each parent’s struggle and prescribing the correct solutions. Her success lies in her amazing ability to first accurately assess family dynamics. Then Cynthia creates unique and individualized strategies during her interviews with the parents. This fine-tuned approach fixes the foundation of family problems. Parents gain wisdom of how to apply their newly learned beliefs and actions to other family situations.
Cynthia authors the Middle School Mom column for the Parenting on the Peninsula magazine. Her education background includes a B.A. in Psychology from Berkeley and a Training and Human Resources Certificate from U.C. Santa Cruz along with certificates from four parent education institutions. She has also been credentialed in California and New Mexico where she taught elementary school. Her greatest pride, though, is that her 23 year-old-college graduated daughter is self-sufficient, calls her for guidance and considers Cynthia her mentor.
Cynthia’s website is Bridges 2 Understanding.
I met Cynthia at a recent National Speakers Association Northern California Chapter Pro-Track class and asked her about her professional focus and what attracted her to Pro-Track. To hear what she had to tell me, click on the podcast icon below.
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Kate Peters has taught voice and communication impact for over 30 years, and is the author of the book, Can You Hear Me Now? In addition, she has been the communications trainer for many successful business clients, a featured speaker with many organizations, and a guest on the KNX Business Hour, as well as on the Wayne and Jane show in Canada, and others.
Kate stays active as an a performing artist, with several recordings , and her blog, Kate’s Voice is among the top 100 public speaking blogs in the US.
The Power of Intention: The secrets your voice reveals
by Kate Peters
I am often surprised by the lack of research in the area of voice as a barometer for the psyche, but we all know it is. I got a voice mail from my daughter the other day. All she said was, “Hi, Mom. Call me,” but I knew something was wrong. Fortunately, it was not a big problem, but how did I know there was a problem at all? It wasn’t what she said; it was how she said it. Politicians can deliver eloquent, powerful phrases in response to accusations, and we think we know they are lying, no matter what they actually say.
An Ohio State University study has shown that emotions can be “heard” in the voice. An emotion is what happens when many interconnected processes of interpretation, bodily reaction and expression happen in response to a situation, either external or internal. Emotion is physical. Therefore, since the voice IS also physical, it is no wonder that we can “hear” emotions in the voice. It happens through changes in the muscles, the breath and the brain which in turn affect the pitch, cadence, and inflection of the voice. Coupled with the ability for the voice to show emotion is the ability for the ear to pick up minute differences in the sound the voice produces. The ear can perceive 1400 different pitches and 280 different levels of volume for each pitch it can hear! So if you feel an emotion, you can be assured that no matter how hard you try to disguise it, someone will pick it up!
But what about intention? Can we pick up intentions in a person’s voice or because of their relation to emotions, or is there something else going on? Intention is what one has in mind to do or bring about, and I mean literally “in mind,” as was shown by two studies of intention. In the first, it was revealed by New York researchers that infants as young as six months old can understand our intentions, and respond to them. Another study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that the mirror neuron system tracks not only the actions, but also the intentions, of others. This mirror neuron system has been identified as being very important in guiding our social interactions, especially in survival and keeping us safe. Therefore, intention is a component of “trustworthiness” in social interaction and it is definitely picked up by others, which is why you need to be clear about your intention as a speaker.
Public speaking often feels like a solo act. Conversation can feel that way too! In personal expression, you will almost always communicate the representation of your personal perspective. You seek to persuade others, to inform others, or to entertain others. However, if you truly need or want to communicate something, you need to consider the perspective of others. You can think of intention in public speaking as something akin to good marketing: you need to know who you are, what you do and why anyone should care. In an article called “The Power of the Ask,” Market Like a Chick blogger, Coree Silvera, says “You build your solutions based on their needs and demonstrate how your unique product or service can help them achieve their goals.” Likewise, when speaking with others, you do the same. You are not looking for their intention to be the same as yours, but you must understand how their intention for being there intersects with or conflicts with yours.
Let’s look at some obvious examples.
Speech coach, Lisa Braithwaite has an article on her blog, Speak Schmeak, which addresses intentions in a broader picture. She stresses that your words have to align with your actions, and in her examples, the actions have intentionalitiy behind them. Though not in these words, she asks you to consider this: what is the intention behind your actions?
It is safe to say that there are those who have persuaded others to listen when it was against the odds. One fine example is that of a ten-year-old boy, Dalton Sherman, who has captured the hearts of over 500,000 viewers on YouTube. Dalton is a passionate speaker who makes us believe in him because he obviously believes in himself. Dalton’s voice is strong. His words are strong, and he intends that we move together to make a strong difference in education.
How can you be more like Dalton? How can you better align your intention with your voice and your content? The first step is often to get very honest with yourself and to take inventory of what’s going on in your mind and the minds of your listeners. Make it a part of what you do in preparation for a talk or a conversation. And consider that circumstances may interfere with your intention. A sound system fails, a heckler interrupts your talk, an unexpected emotional response affects you deeply, and changes your mind. Still, an awareness of intention in yourself and others is key to more clear communication. Here are some ways to discover yours and use it well.
Fletcher Dean is a working speechwriter at the Dow Chemical Company where he is Director of Leadership Communications. He’s also a regular presenter at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference and delivered a half-day workshop at the 2012 event on How to make an audience listen: rewriting with the audience in mind. Dean mentions fellow Ragan presenters Mike Long and Pete Weissman in his book and the forward is by Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray, who is also the books’ publisher.
In this book, Dean shares his insight on how to be a successful speechwriter, quoting Ron Kirpatrick, a veteran executive communications pro at Toyota: “Most writers and PR people would rather do anything than write a speech. It frightens them.” If you are new to speechwriting, this book will go a long way to removing any fears you might have about the challenges involved.
It’s a quick read at just over 100 pages and is filled with nuggets of condensed wisdom, told in an unassuming, practical manner by a speechwriter who has been there and done that.
The 10 steps to writing a speech, according the Dean:
Some of the most enjoyable, and insightful, parts of the book are the analysis of icons of American rhetoric including General Douglas McArthur’s 1962 speech to West Point cadets and Robert Kennedy’s 1968 speech in Indianapolis on the night Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Each chapter lists “Insider Tips”. These are nuggets of wisdom such as:
Always write a second close to your talk, one that comes after any Question/Answer period if there is one. When the questions are over, hit the audience again with a second close of about one minute. It should include three items: a thank you for the opportunity to speak, a thank you for their interest, a quick summary of the key message.
An added bonus are the Last Word and the Appendix which list practical tips that are worth the price of the book.
Dean claims that
Speechwriters have to be so much more than just good tacticians and excellent writers. In fact, you might do best to avoid being called a speechwriter altogether.
He advises taking a more holistic view of the executive communications function, using your skills as a communicator to achieve the organizations’ goals.
This book is a good overall introduction to the craft of speechwriting. Recommended.
I caught up with Fletcher at the Speechwriters Conference and asked him about the background to the book and what future plans he has to author more books. As you can see from the picture, Fletcher makes sure he color-coordinates his tie with the cover of his book!
To hear what he said, click on the podcast icon below.
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This is one of the longest blog postings I’ve done on a single presentation. I believe that there was sufficient content in Justina Chen’s keynote to justify the cost of attending the entire 2012 Ragan Speechwriters Conference.
In a spectacular closing keynote at the 2012 Ragan Speechwriters Conference, Justina Chen celebrated The Heart of Storytelling. A former speechwriter for the head of the Entertainment division at Microsoft, Chen is now an award-winning author of young adult fiction books such as North of Beautiful which has been praised for “lively, artful prose.”
Her command of language and the stage was on display throughout the hour-long talk that celebrated the many ways to effectively bring the essence and power of the story into the corporation – to empower the spokespeople of the organization with the ability to change hearts and minds through storytelling.
She quoted with relish Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes who notes in Women Who Run With The Wolves that stoytellers are:
“… direct descendants of an immense and ancient community of holy people, troubadours, bards, griots, cantadoras, cantors, traveling poets, bums, hags, and crazy people.”
Chen noted that something about stories lift our spirit. This is something all children are in tune with. The question is, how to convince hard-bitten executives and harassed middle-managers that their speech should be built around stories when all they want is the facts and nothing but?
To convince executives who don’t want to use stories, Chen finds it useful to quote the neuroscience research outlined in Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina which proves:
Medina writes:
As you no doubt have noticed if you’ve ever sat through a typical PowerPoint presentation, people don’t pay attention to boring things (Brain Rule #4). You’ve got seconds to grab someone’s attention, and only 10 minutes to keep it. At 9 minutes and 59 seconds, something must be done quickly—something emotional and relevant. Also, the brain needs a break. That’s why I use stories in this book to make many of my points.
Here’s a useful illustration of Medina’s 12 Brain Rules.
Given this evidence, Chen proves to her clients that corporate stories matter. The right story told in right way can inspire change people’s minds and hearts.
A story is not a vignette. A vignette is defined as a short descriptive literary sketch or a brief incident or scene. A story, on the other hand, involves conflict and transformation, a call to adventure, crossing a threshold, succeeding in tests, surviving a crisis and reaping a reward.
The core of Chen’s presentation detailed three types of stories she has used in her speechwriting. There are stories of corporate mythology, of personal narrative, and product stories. These three powerful templates will connect with the audience.
(I would add that writers can explore a wider variety of stories by reading The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. This tome outlines multiple frameworks for stories embedded in an audience’s unconscious, using archetypes such as Rags to Riches, Rebirth, Overcoming the Monster, the Voyage and Return and so on.)
Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth talks about the eternal truth of myth. One that is celebrated in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and other classic stories where good overcomes evil.
As in Middle Earth … so in middle management.
The corporate world needs to recognize the importance of mythology. To figure out:
Don’t be afraid of discussing failures, the crucible moments in the company history is where we see character emerge. Speechwriters can research the times the company has failed and show the lessons, the backbone, and the spine of the organization:
Only then do triumphs feel well earned, only then does success become so much more meaningful, only then so our hero’s, our leaders, our companies, become that much more beloved.
Chen quoted Leonard Cohen from Anthem
There’s a crack in everything / That’s how the light comes in.
(She omitted the preceding line which speechwriters on a tight deadline might pin above their desks:
Forget your perfect offering.)
Today’s leaders must understand the power of telling their own story. It’s important that a leader be a good storyteller, but equally important that the leader embody that story.
Harvard’s Dr Howard Garnder writes in Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership that “the artful creation and articulation of stories constitutes a fundamental part of the leader’s vocation”, and these well-crafted stories constitute “the single most powerful weapon in the leader’s literary arsenal.” Whether consciously or unconsciously, inspirational leaders always fashion and tell stories of identity. Gardner goes on to state that a political leader, when dealing with a diverse group, must tell stories that are sufficiently elemental to be understood by the “unschooled” mind.
(More on this topic can be found in Professor John Sadowsky’s blog:
Leaders actively craft and tell authentic personal stories of identity that bring their values to life. And, they use their stories to teach their followers, their teams, and their organizations. It is through their personal stories that leaders reveal who they are, and it is by revealing their true nature that they inspire others to action.)
Leaders need to develop a communications platform that explains
Here’s where Chen delivered the goods, big time.
She spoke of her personal experience, at Microsoft, researching story content and weaving it into presentations. Her tips are a recipe for success for any speechwriter in a corporate environment who wants to put storytelling into practice.
Her tips include:
With this background you can build a foundation of trusted communication with your leader. Establish an agreement that every week you can email three questions, one of which will be personal. Ask: Who have you met this week? What’s your favorite book? What kind of music do you like to listen to? What do you like to eat?
All of this detail infuses speeches. If you learn they are reading about Harry Truman, include a quote from Harry Truman in a speech.
The biggest compliment you’ll get from a speaker is for them to look at the speech and say “This sounds like me, this feels like me.”
And when they can own the content they can own the stage.
Marketing and PR can give you background that allows you to tell the story in manner of a “Director’s Cut” version of how a product was made. Tell the story of the individuals.
(I totally agree. I’m a big fan of NPR Planet Money and the way they use stories to explain some of the most complex and abstract financial concepts. Host Chana Joffe-Walt has described in detail the ways they take dry content and make it come alive with magic of stories:
When I am beginning to research an Idea Story I try to lay out the mechanics in my mind. “OK so we buy Chinese stuff. Dollars go from here to China. Then they pile up there in the banks. Then they get used to buy US treasury bonds.” At some point early on I always ask who is the guy who does that? Someone has to put that money into the Chinese bank, someone at the bank manages it and sees it piling up, someone sits at a computer and buys US treasury bonds … who is that guy?)
Weave story content together so the speech is as rich, as interesting and as evocative as possible.
As well as telling stories in an individual speech you can weave stories into longer events. Volunteer to be the storyteller for your next big company meeting. Figure out the emotional arc of the day. Play with the full eight hours and see where individual speakers fit. What do you want audience to feel? When do you want them to feel inspired, refreshed, challenged? The three types of stories listed can come alive over the whole day.
Whether writing a book or a speech, Chan employs the same step-by-step creative process.
While this process seems very logical, it is actually a deliciously messy affair. She urged us to lean into the process and enjoy the anti-corporate nature of discovery that is involved. Read books and magazines. Find ideas to incorporate into your speeches. Get out into world and play. Keep your creative energy fresh.
Your search for a story involves meeting the right people. Ask executives for time to “conduct an interview” and they’ll clear a busy calendar. Just “asking for a meeting” won’t have same effect.
It’s essential to have executive air cover since you need free range in your organization to go up, down and across. Your single purpose is to find the story.
Talk to the company super-stars, those who are making things happen. Your list of interview candidates should include the person who embodies the soul of the company. Talk to the IP Lawyers – they know everything that is going on. HR is a treasure trove of information and know who are the up and comers.
Use the first twenty minutes of your interview for personal chit-chat about their lives. This is where you’ll get the color. Look around their office for items to talk about. Have an eye for the visual. Always ask “who else should I talk to?” Then meet with these new people and expand your story sources. As your reputation as the corporate story-teller expands, people will call you.
Reward your sources by ghosting a nice email from your executive to everyone you contact who helps with a keynote or project and cc: their managers. Also, share presentation tips with people from your list of sources that will help them when they present.
The narrative tools of speechwriting include not only the basic story, but company history, product demos, industry white papers, and customer testimonials. Think of creative ways to highlight and profile a wide range of material to showcase the fruits of your research in creative ways.
Each speech should have tweet-worthy sound bites. Better than saying “We have researchers in our company” say “We sent the Neil Armstong’s of our company ten years out into the future to explore new horizons.”
Know your audience and look into social media tools like blogs and tweets for source material. Paraphrase comments from social media – especially anything you find from members of the audience – and feed these back in the speech. This pays homage to people in the audience.
Use lyrical tools. Writers need to play with supple language. Rather than telling an internal audience “We want to be seen as a creative company” say “We need to evolve from being credible to being creative. We need to go from being believable to being beloved. We need to more than trusted, we need to be treasured.”
Speeches are not merely to inform, but to captivate an audience for as long as you have their attention.
No passion in the speechwriter, no passion in the speech giver. Find the soul of your organization. Put heart into your words and share those stories with the world. The world, more than ever, needs heartwarming, soul sustaining stories, needs your stories.
A Ragan Review on Justina’s presentation 7 ways to become a masterful storyteller from Ragan’s Role of Communications in Creating Best Places to Work Conference held at the SAS headquarters. The seven topics covered:
Justina interviewed at a past Ragan Conference:
The annual Ragan Speechwriters Conference was held March 14 – 16, 2012 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC.
Over 200 professional speechwriters met for two days and attended a series of main stage keynotes and break out sessions.
Unlike other Ragan Conferences I’ve attended, where I had to select a small number of “top tweets” from thousands, this list represents pretty much everything that was said on Twitter about #raganspeech.
What does it say about speechwriters that, while over half of the audience claimed to have a Twitter account, only a small handful were active? Why is this? Are people who are paid to deliver content for others are inhibited about expressing their own opinions? Are they so used to writing long-winded speeches that they can’t express themselves in 140 characters? Was the audience just too darn OLD to be into Twitter? What do you think?
Whatever the reason, I believe the tweets that were posted are a great source of information to anyone who wants to know about the things speechwriters are interested in. We owe a special debt of gratitude to anyone who tweeted, and especially to the four most active people:
Here’s a fun picture that shows at a glance what topics attracted the most comments and, without a doubt, that Justina Chen was the star of the show!
Click to enlarge – Image by Wordle.
The list, like Twitter, is in reverse chronological order, with the most recent tweets at the top.
From first-time attendees to 10-year veterans, attendees at the 2012 Ragan Speechwriters Conference were uniformly impressed with the event.
Hear what a random baker’s dozen of the audience had to say.
The final day of the 2012 Ragan Speechwriters Conference ended with a Speechwriter’s Survival Guide Panel session:
Caryn Alagno (CA), SVP, Corporate Issues at Edleman
Mike Long (ML), Freelance Speechwriter
Colin Moorehouse (CM), Freelance Speechwriter
David Murray (DM), editor of Vital Speeches of the Day
Pete Weissman (PW), Freelance Communications Strategist and Speechwriter
Fletcher Dean, Director of Leadership Communications at The Dow Chemical Company was the moderator.
The first day of the 2012 Ragan Speechwriters Conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC concluded with a blue-ribbon panel of former Presidential speechwriters (from both parties) calling for more discipline on the part of contenders for the USA’s highest office.
George H.W. Bush speechwriter Chriss Winston said Republican candidates are focused too much on process and the negative campaigns of their opponents instead of their vision of how to turn the country around. They need to discipline to focus their message. Reagan-era speechwriter Clark Judge agreed that the 24-hour media coverage will unseat those who practice politics as usual:
“Presidential communications begins with the discipline of thinking through what you’re saying, who you’re saying it to, how you’re saying it and whether you’re going directly through cable to the country or if you’ll be mediated by reporters picking out sound bites.”
The partisan speechwriters naturally talked up their own champions strengths and highlighted the weaknesses of the opposing party. However, moderator Lenny Steinhorn, in a clever twist, asked them to state what they’d advise if they were writing for the other side.
Here’s some of the comments that struck me.
Overall, this was an enlivening panel discussion where current political differences in the USA were debated in a civilized manner. However, it might be a measure of how far down the divisive path America has come that some of the European attendees at the Ragan Conference were aghast at the level of partisanship. I guess they need to watch a few CNBC and Fox News shows, followed by a drive-time commute with Talk Radio, to realize how constructive the panel discussion actually was.
