I had the displeasure and pleasure of seeing two speakers yesterday, and I must say that the presence and delivery were so dramatically different. In one case, I wanted to leave immediately as I was bored out of my mind, and in the other case, the speaker was so engaging, I could have easily listened to her for several more hours. After attending conferences with the National Speakers Association, NSA/Carolinas and Toastmasters, I must admit I have a pretty high standard now when I attend a meeting or event. Recent meetings and conventions through those organizations have spoiled me since I always felt energized or inspired after attending those meetings and never felt I had wasted my time. Needless to say, one of the speakers I saw yesterday was absolutely dreadful and did just about every mistake a speaker can make on the platform.
The Arrival and Entrance
Speaker A was a disaster. She arrived at the event ten minutes late and had to take time adjusting to the podium and later the lavalier microphone. It was strange that she was late as my friend and I had driven to the event and were right behind her car! She had arrived twenty minutes before the scheduled time, but she didn't know how to get to the building. One of the coordinators for the event said she had to take a shuttle bus over to the event since she had arrived at the wrong place. Needless to say, she was flustered when she arrived and started off on the wrong foot.
Speaker B on the otherhand arrived early. She had flown in from Chicago to speak to our group in the evening and had been waiting with us while we waited for the previous group to leave our designated room. She had all of her materials ready to go on a portable jump drive so she could easily copy them onto a borrowed PC or laptop. She didn't fumble with any equipment, and was calm and collected prior to her speech.
The Handouts and Group Participation
Speaker A had a one page handout of the six or seven principles she was to cover. Imagine a simple word document with each topic simply listed out with lots of white space. The speaker would continuously stop her presentation to take polls in the audience regarding what they knew or didn't know about the topic, but didn't engage them in conversation, but primarily one word or "yes" or "no" responses. She waited until the end to discuss case studies and real situations after a lackluster, dry discussion of the definitions of each topic.
Speaker B had her Powerpoint slides available to attendees as well as a detailed case study which helped engage members in group conversation. She gave detailed examples early in her talk and also had an engaging style which encouraged people to participate. She wasn't just speaking to them, she was conversing with them as if they were old friends.
The Room Layout
Speaker A had already started off on the wrong foot by arriving late. Had she arrived early, she could have arranged the room to be more conducive to group participation as this was something she desired. The room had a capacity of about 300, and yet only 50 people had arrived. As such, everyone was dispersed in the room.
Speaker B had only 25 people in a room capacity of 60. Since she had arrived early, we had an opportunity to arrange the classroom into a format she could use. As such, everyone was much closer to the speaker physically and could be easily grouped into clusters for the activity. Participants felt comfortable answering questions directly and conversing directly with the speaker. It's always better to have a smaller room with people spilling out into the hallway than to have a cavernous large room with only a few people scattered throughout.
The Delivery of the Message
Every speaker knows this is the key to every presentation. You need to have something to say that people want to hear! In both cases, the speakers were looking to increase visibility to them and to their work in their respective fields. They wanted to give the audience information that they could use immediately. The marketing of the speech was adequate in both cases and provided enough incentive for attendees to arrive. Anyone can download a handout and read the information at their leisure. If someone has gone out of their way to spend their lunch hour with you or after work hours, they have deliberately made time in their day to get information from you. As a speaker, you need to make it worth their time.
Speaker A in addition to having lousy handouts had a lousy delivery. She had a habit of talking to herself and to the audience about things that weren't important. For example, when a tech brought over a laser pointer, she kept talking about how she had never used one before or had seen one. How long has this woman been alive? Have you been living in a closet all your life? In this day and age, most people have been to conferences, so don't tell everyone that you've never used a laser pointer before. Her credibility was significantly marred by that remark. She later started on a topic and later said, "what was I going to say?" I looked at my friend in disbelief. If you don't remember what you were going to say, move on. Nobody in the audience knows.
Speaker B provided humorous anecdotes on real life situations which allowed everyone to relate. She also provided humorous visuals of situations which provided a light atmosphere. For example, she had talked about the true story of how executives at one company were required to always keep their their cell phones or pagers no matter what. One of those executives received a call in the middle of a proctology exam. Now that's a visual you won't forget! It was vivid and also reinforced the point that we need to set boundaries between our work and personal lives.
The Speech Conclusion
Speaker A simply concluded with a simple "That's all folks!" She had a Powerpoint Presentation and flipped furiously through the last of it to find the last page.
Speaker B didn't finish her slide set either, but she didn't need to get tothe last slide. She simply and gracefully indicated to the audience that they can refer to the handouts after the presentation and she would be happy to entertain their questions. She also talked about her passion for the industry and for the work which inspired and motivated the audience. Finally, she brought two copies of her book that were available as raffle prizes to the audience. This gave her an opportunity to pitch her products, too!
Wrap-Up
Dave Chappelle is one of my favorite comedians. He has a skit with different situations where people would carry around box with the sign "Wrap It Up!" When someone was getting too long in a speech or activity or was simply wasting time, he or she could simply press the button, the "exit music" would play, and either could simply say "Wrap It Up!" Gosh, I wish I had one of those boxes for the first speaker. In some ways, I felt badly for her. No matter what industry you're in, it's clear that speaking to audiences is a skill that must be honed for business. Maybe next time, she'll remember to follow in the footsteps of Speaker B and do the following:
1. Arrive early
2. Distribute good handouts
3. Create a nice environment in the room for participants.
4. Deliver your speech dynamically
5. Inspire your audience and "Wrap-It Up!"
Or maybe I should just send her an invitation to join Toastmasters. She really needs the practice!
