TJ’s Insights

If you speak long enough to groups in-person or on TV or radio, you are likely to offend somebody seriously. If you are on a TV or radio show that has a call-in format, you might be called a fascist or a communist, simply for expressing a mild preference for a mainstream political figure. If you are giving a speech, someone in the audience may ask you a threatening question, or worse, try to shout you down.

These problems occur more frequently for politicians and political commentators (as a former political commentator, I received my share of death threats, on-air rants, and Nazi-sympathizing stalkers), but they can also happen to local business people, developers and civic leaders.

Every book written on selling says the same thing: Don’t make cold calls. They don’t work. You make enemies. It’s too frustrating. It’s counterproductive.

And I agree. In fact, I haven’t made a cold call in years. The more effective way is to give value to people in the form of newsletters, books, videos, speeches, and information-packed websites, and then let people call you. I can personally testify that all of these systems work.

Dustin Hoffman appeared on the Today Show November 9, 2006 to promote his movie “Stranger than Fiction.” But there was something different about his appearance on the program. The moment he was introduced by Matt Lauer, the show was interrupted with applause, cheers, and hoots from the cameramen, technical crew and production staff.

What was gong on here? That doesn’t usually happen.

As it turns out, the Today Show staff loved Hoffman because several years earlier he had appeared on the show and did two memorable things: 1. He stayed an hour after the program just to talk to the technical crew and “hang out,” and 2. He sent a large tray of Danishes to the whole crew.

Most people will think the advice I am about to give is so obvious that it should go without saying. Sadly, it still has to be said:

“Don’t place your eye glasses on top of your head while giving a presentation or appearing on TV—you will look like a Martian if you do stick your glasses on top of your head.”

Again, I know this sounds obvious and most of you would never do this. But I have clients who begin their speeches with their glasses perched on top of their head. I even saw someone recently appearing on Bill Maher’s HBO show wearing his glasses on top of his head (Maher couldn’t help but make fun of the guest for doing so).

Here are 5 more reasons to pause while you are giving a speech or presentation in front of an audience.

1. The act of pausing creates the impression (perhaps true) that you are genuinely thinking “in the moment” for your audience. Therefore you aren’t giving some canned content created earlier, perhaps by someone else.

2. By pausing, you create the illusion that whatever you say after the pause is a new insight that just occurred to you; therefore your audience is receiving the freshest thinking possible.

3. Pausing disrupts the normal rat-a-tat-tat-tat flow of the typical data-dumping speech.

1 – Think to yourself “I can’t be any worse than the last 10 people I’ve seen present, because they were all awful.”

2 – Remember, there is a small chance you will help yourself and your career immeasurably, a large chance that no one will remember you or your speech, and only a teeny tiny chance that you will really hurt yourself. So the odds are either in your favor or are neutral.

3 – No one will know you are nervous unless you tell people or show people you are nervous, so don’t tell anyone you are nervous.

Jack Welch, famed business leader and former CEO of General Electric is well known for placing importance on how well executives give presentations. He has particular nits to pick when it comes to PowerPoint slides. His number one complaint is when executives use slides “to show off how smart they are.”

Welch has a particular philosophy on how PowerPoint slides should be used in the course of normal business meetings within an organization. He says that PowerPoint slides should always be used “to start discussions.”

Acclaimed management guru and professional speaker Tom Peters believes that it is essential for a speaker to use every ounce of strength giving a presentation. Peters claims he is so physically exhausted after a keynote address that he can barely walk. He likens the process to a great running back or basketball player—the athlete should spend all their energy during the game and not leave any extra for after the game. Peters believes that a speaker who has leftover energy after a speech has somehow cheated his or her audience—the speaker has held back.

When I work with executives around the world on how to become better presenters, there is often a moment of joy in the room when people see how effectively they can communicate when they use good visuals, tell stories and shun their former data-dumping ways. But inevitably, I get this reaction at some point during the training:

It’s fun for talk show hosts and average citizens to make fun of politicians for being boring and humorless, but the consequences for humor gone bad are much worse for public officials. If you or I make a dumb joke and nobody laughs, everyone will forget it in about 30 seconds. If Jay Leno or David Letterman messes up their timing in telling a joke, they might get a groan from the crowd and then they quickly go on to the next joke.

But if you are a Senator or some other official in national office, a poorly told joke can turn into a scandal that chases you around for days and days.