Teleconference tips

Can they hear you?
To make teleconference meetings run as effectively as possible, here are a few tips to ensure that you are heard, and that you can hear.
Ensure that you are in a quiet room. If you are in a busy area, close your door or find a quiet area where you can access a landline
• Turn your mobile phone off or silent mode. Vibrate mode can be distracting
• Announce your name every time before you speak so that everyone knows who is contributing
• Put your phone on “mute” when not speaking or during a presentation

Background Sound and noise
Be aware of how others will be hearing you and that all sounds are easily picked up by telephone microphones, especially using hands-free for mobile and speakerphones.

For people at the other end these noises have the potential to impinge greatly on meeting discussions - whole sentences can be missed depending on the noise levels in the room. Examples impacting call clarity are:
• Whispering in the background and side conversations at remote sites -these seem to spring up more readily than they would if everyone were in the same actual room
• Rustling papers or sweet wrappers near the microphone
• Persistent coughing
• Water pouring from a jug
On many phones you can use 'mute, which helps reduce noise on your end whilst a presentation is in progress.
Hands-free
Pick up and use the telephone hand-set where possible, it's preferable to the hands-free option. When hands-free is used, the line is often very hard to hear and / or cuts out frequently.
Mobile phones
Use a landline in preference to a mobile phone where possible. Connection quality is unreliable.

Poise on the Podium: Keys to looking good and presenting well

Your wardrobe and Appearance
Your appearance has a great impact on the audience and on your effectiveness as a communicator. Dressing well for the occasion is part of the performance.

Choosing your wardrobe means taking account of three things. One is that you need to feel comfortable, the second is your appearance should enhance your presentation. The third is you must look right for the event.
Naturally you have to combine all three into the one outfit.

Some simple rules will guide you.
Your clothing is a major rapport builder. Your clothing expresses your authority and your credibility. What is appropriate for the occasion and the audience? What time of day is it? Where is being held? What role do you occupy in relation to your audience? Who is watching you and how will they be dressed?
In general, being just a bit better dressed than the audience works well. If they are ‘smart casual’ you’ll be OK in a suit. If they are in jeans and T shirts, you can wear ‘smart casual’. The exception of course is if you decide that dressing exactly like your audience is the way to build rapport. But always make sure you feel comfortable.
Wear something that will feel professional. Even if it’s a social occasion you have a role as a speaker and you have to dress the part.

Think ‘neat’. Ensure your clothing and hair are clean and tidy. DON’T fiddle with it while you are speaking. You don’t want to be distracted by ties undone and shirts untucked, or having to wipe your hair out of your eyes.
Remember if you’re on stage your audience is often below you. They are quite likely to have your shoes, ankles, and knees at eye level . Make sure they’re impeccable. No runs in your hose, and polish your shoes!

Show your personality and dress fashionably and with flair by all means, but consider how you look from a distance. The bigger the space, the simpler and stronger your silhouette should be. Choose colours that read well from a distance. Patterns usually don’t, so be careful with florals, spots, stripes or tartans. In general, in a big space people look better in clean lines and good tailoring. Women should avoid soft fabrics, frills and flounces, and loose cut styles. Men - make sure your suit fits your frame and is not too big in the shoulders or long in the arms.

Too much flesh is a definite no no. Skirts should hit at the knee or lower. Even in formal attire at a special occasion like a wedding where you may be in an evening gown or cocktail wear, women should be cautious with a low-cut neckline or a strapless top. Ask yourself if it’s right for this occasion. Ask yourself whether you are going to be able to leave it unattended while the eyes of a crowd are upon you. You need to be sure your appearance does not distract you – or them, from your words.

High heels look smart but if they’re too high it’s hard to take you seriously. Wear what suits your outfit, so long as you can walk up to the microphone with comfort and confidence.

If you have a hairstyle that can be tied back, that’s a good choice. Show your face and you will look much better on stage. A downward light on a fringe or glasses can cast a shadow on your face – so keep ‘facewear’ to a minimum. Dangly earrings and beads are only for the tall. Bracelets and sparkles create clutter. Keep it simple.

If you need reading glasses for your notes you should decide whether they are on or off for the whole speech – best not to move them about too much while your speech s in progress.

Perfect Introductions

Introductions are among the most common and least-well-done aspects of public speaking. Your job is to set the speaker up and excite the audience for what is to come. Introductions should be graceful and fun. Fun to hear and fun to give.
An introduction serves two purposes:

1. It acts as a bridge, a transition from one part of a meeting/assembly/function to another. It gives the audience time to make a mental and emotional shift.
2. It prepares people for the speaker, heightening their sense of openness and anticipation.
Your task is to introduce the speaker, not to take centre stage. The spotlight is on you only for a moment so that you can shine it where it belongs: on the speaker.

Keep it brief. For informal gatherings 30 seconds is plenty. For larger events, aim for no longer than a minute. Under certain conditions — a very formal event with a very important speaker — you may need to speak for up to two minutes.
• Take the time to prepare well before you speak. Don't put it together at the last minute.
• Ask the speaker for input. Make a short call in advance to ask what s/he'd like to emphasize, what's especially interesting, or other details you can use to make the intro meatier. Find out whatever helps establish the speaker's credibility on the topic he or she is addressing. Learn as much as you can about their experience, education, life, interests, and accomplishments. Many speakers will send you a resume or their own written introduction. Use it to help you prepare your remarks, but do not use it verbatim.
• Ask how to pronounce his/her name.
• Don't read - it’s is no better than reading a speech, and shows you didn’t prepare.
• Audience interest is highest at the start of any talk, and you are the start of this one. So reward your audience by looking at them and by delivering an engaging, lively introduction that packs a punch.
• Add some perspective of your own: You're building a chance to connect the audience with the speaker. So put yourself in that equation. What would make YOU interested in this person?
• Don't skimp. Even the most familiar speaker deserves some words to warm the audience to the task at hand....and if you skimp on an introduction, you're just missing your own opportunity to show your speaking skills.
• Always be grateful that the speaker is there. Chances are they are just as nervous as you, and some warm words ‘we’re very privileged’ to welcome them will make things easier.
• Conclude with the speaker's name, which is her or his cue to come forward. Wait at the podium until the speaker arrives. Shake his or her hand and step back from the podium, handing it over symbolically to the speaker. Lead the applause.

Thanking a speaker
To thank a speaker is a lot easier because you have heard the speech or presentation. All you then have to do is comment on something mentioned to show that it was really worthwhile listening to. Compliment the speech and never challenge the content. Lead a second round of applause.

Meryl Streep - How to give a Thank You Speech

We're all Oscar'd out by now, and in the leadup and the aftermath there have been plenty of tips on how to make an acceptance speech great. As usual, The Eloquent Woman has wonderful advice. My all time favourite however, is still Meryl Streep.

A quieter triumph for The King's Speech?

As well as scooping the awards and giving Australian audiences a shot of national pride, 'The King's Speech' will, I hope, be an inspiration for people who suffer from stammering.

I'm not a speech pathologist but I've coached clients with speech disfluencies. They range from a strong lisp, to stammering - but only in public, to habitually transposing sounds (replacing 'd' with 'v' or 'th' for example).

Some of these people have bravely confronted their difficulty, and some were aware of their problem, but didn't care. They did not want to change anything.

My job is to bring clarity to their communication. If a person wants to develop their professional presence, how can they can do that if they stammer, lisp, or mix up their consonants? In our culture, a a public stammer can be agony for speaker and listener alike - as Colin Firth's George VI so powerfully demonstrates (you can listen to the real Bertie here). And lisps, or an inability to say 'th' sound to us like 'baby talk'.

To be serious about sounding professional, mature, intelligent, capable, I believe these disfluencies need to be reduced or overcome. I refer people to a speech pathologist if they agree to it. I hope that Geoffrey Rush's Lionel Logue will mean more people feel comfortable getting the help they need.

What do you think?

Pick me ! or How to Survive and Succeed at a Job Interview

I know someone who is waiting to hear if she’s landed the job-of-a-lifetime. She’s been interviewed, and thinks it didn’t go so well. She’s telling herself she messed up because she didn’t prepare properly. She’s a highly competent woman – internationally renowned, so expert she’s even addressed the United Nations. So why does a job interview cast her adrift in a sea of self-doubt?

For most of us an interview feels a bit like doing an exam. We’re being judged. Are we worthy? Our inner 8 year old is crying ‘pick me, pick me-e-e’. The fear of rejection can be profound. And no wonder. A lot hangs on the outcome - the stakes are really high.

Like any speaking situation the key to success is preparation. Answering questions is always easier when you have foreseen them and know what you want to convey. Work out your key messages for the interview and incorporate them into your answers.

Start with the audience. Do everything you can to find out about their priorities, concerns, interests etc. What is driving their decision? Where are they up to in their selection process?

When you make a major purchase like a house or a car, or new IT, you consider alternatives, choose one, get a good deal - and finally, you settle the loose ends like after sales service and spare parts. Your prospective employer is going through the same process. Are they considering options? Narrowing the possibilities down? Finalising a ‘deal’? With this understanding you’ll be able to prepare an approach that fits. Your aim is to talk to them about their needs and how you can meet them.

You should utilise the ‘three Cs’: Credibility, Connection, and Content. Long ago Aristotle picked 'ethos, pathos and logos' as the pillars of public speaking, and they remain robust and reliable two thousand years later.

Credibility is your professional status. Devise a succinct way of explaining your experience, skills and qualifications. Ensure you have examples of what you’ve done, as these make your case compelling. You may describe the approach you’ll take to the new role.

Connection is the rapport that’s essential to strong communication. Use your personal qualities - warmth, good humour, personal presence, clear voice and good eye contact. Also demonstrate your knowledge and appreciation of them, what they do, what they value, what they want. Be sincere and enthusiastic about this opportunity. There’s no limit to how much praise a person can take.

Content is the informative bit, the facts and the logic of what you say. It relates closely to credibility. Professional communication needs you to make sound points, explain them and support them with evidence and examples that prove the point. If you like acronyms, try PRE: Point, Reason, Example, to give your answers a structure.

You may use a ‘leave behind’ such as a portfolio of work to add more substance to your interview.

When you answer questions, don't feel like it's the third degree. There's often no 'right' answer. It’s alright to take a minute to prepare mentally. A well structured response can begin with a reflection eg ‘So we’re talking about….’ Or ‘yes that’s a major issue, I understand your interest in it….’ It gives you a minute to think about your PRE response.

A job interview is a pitch. It must be persuasive and therefore it needs an underlying argument. Don’t make the mistake of telling them everything there is to tell. You need a story, so cherry-pick. Serve up what’s relevant and meaningful and tasty for them.

A classic structure for persuasive speaking is Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. You can easily adapt its five steps to suit a job interview. Here’s the outline.

1. Attention getter: You need to hook them in. Impress them and establish rapport – you can do whatever is socially appropriate eg a warm greeting, saying something profound or insightful, or expressing your enthusiasm or pleasure and being called to this meeting.
2. Explain the need: Show your knowledge and understanding of their situation. Politely emphasise the harm that’s being done and the fact that it won’t get better without (your) intervention. ‘I understand you have a problem/need help. Here’s how I see it. It’s pretty significant and there’s damage/harm being done unless you fix it’.
3. Satisfy the need/solve the problem: ‘I have a solution (eg employ me, give me the scholarship etc). My solution is better than anyone else’s because I alone offer ….can do…...have experience of …..’
4. Visualise the change: Paint a picture of the new order…‘With me in the role, this is what will happen…. Or, if we don't implement my solution, this is what will happen’.
5. Action: State the next steps for them to take and what you’ll be able to do immediately in response. ‘If you decide to engage me in the next week, by May we can be…..’.

Incorporating all these elements in your interview makes it powerful, especially if you can do it in the sequence just outlined.

Finally, give them the chance to air their concerns. It's a disarming move but can be decisive. It shows you understand their process, and gives them an opening to raise things they may have been reticent about. Better to have everything on the table than lying hidden and unaddressed. Ask 'What's on your mind, what concerns do you have, now that we've spoken about these issues?' If you've planned ahead you'll be expecting the sorts of things that come up, and it gives you a chance to allay any fears and reassure them.

Words that Work in a Crisis

Today we saw two very different leaders - one local one world. Each is dealing with shocking and distressing events. Each does it brilliantly. Obama is working from a beautiful, statesmanlike script. The grief and the loss of those in Arizona are woven into stories of those who died (which give comfort)and the meaning of these killings for America (which provokes thought). His delivery is melodious, compelling. His demeanor is serious, sincere.

Anna Bligh is exhausted after days of disaster. Her announcements are factual, but her emotions are on view. Her delivery is natural. She's a real woman - she could be your Mum or the School Principal. She too is distressed, but she's the person in charge and she does what she encourages others to do - keep on going. 'This weather may break our hearts but it will not break our will...we can pull through this'. And somehow, you believe her.