Learning Lab

Elvis has Left the Building: More on Dancing About Architecture

2009-11-24T04:02:00.000-08:00

Continuing from a post about business presentation not too long ago, here is the article on how to win clients that has been published in WomenUnlimited.

Enjoy. Feedback welcome!

Stage Craft, Not Witchcraft (Although There's Always Magic)

2009-11-21T04:36:00.000-08:00

Paula Vogel, my wonderful PhD advisor, used to say that empathy is a chemical reaction.

There's a kind of magic that arises between and among people when they're in the same room that just doesn't happen any other way. Sure, empathy is possible long distance, but it's just not the same.

Long distance, empathy requires some internal work, pulling out what we have already learned in person, even if we're not aware of it.

Empathy is also easily disrupted -- for example, if microphones are involved. The sound of a real voice to another person makes engagement less than immediate. Those few seconds of adjustment can mean the difference between engaging listeners immediately and losing them to passive hearing.

Talking to Dean Meyers last night via skype, we got on the subject of presentations and what people seem to do too often to turn off their listeners when it would be so easy to turn them on.

Dean works with visuals -- and he uses the word "stage craft". It's perfect. Once you are aware of your audience and that any presentation is theatre, you can begin making conscious decisions about what works and what doesn't.

In your presentation, you might want some disruption (in theatre, perhaps a la Brecht). However, if you are aware of stage craft, both the disruption and the manner of disruption are careful choices. Understand that what that an intention does not necessarily achieve the effect you want. Intention is only the beginning.

Once stage craft becomes a priority, it's easier to have the desired impact. If you know you need visuals and it's not your specialty, you'll go out and find someone who can do them right (rather than just doing it yourself because -- well -- you need slides).

Although the basis of presenting, content is the smallest piece of a pitch because its impact depends on the visual, emotional, and physical contexts in which (or with which) it is delivered.

The combination of the right elements produces a kind of magic you can't quite explain. And it's the feeling, not the specifics of the content, that people will remember.

Your listeners can always go back and review content. But the feeling of being present during a great talk can't be revived except in memory. Moreover, it's often exactly that talk's emotional impact that makes your listeners want to learn more.

So you'd better be careful about planning that (special) effect.

Advertag has Launched!

2009-11-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

It always feels particularly satisfying when a client gets off the ground. Jonathan Shrago, winner of a trip to New York and San Francisco from the SeedCamp where I coached presentations, has set up his site.

For those in London, Advertag are focusing their site first on jobs in the Harrogate area for feedback on SEO (and those looking for jobs).

Their work is wonderful, and they are a very smart team. Keep your eye out for their blog.

Just to Remember: It's Not ALL About Presentation . . .

2009-11-07T02:07:00.001-08:00

I write all the time about how important presentation is when persuading because people tend to ignore it in favor of content.

Just for a change, here's some emphasis on content --about Tom's Shoes that Raquel Dobson sent me. It's absolutely worth seeing, entrepreneurs out there (the presentation isn't so bad either, by the way).

Business Presentations: This Time with Feeling

2009-11-01T02:04:00.001-08:00

I've just penned a piece about business presentations for a publication that deals with new ideas. Here's the gist:

We need to replace the word "presenting" with "representing". Presenting implies only "introducing". Representing, on the other hand, demands that ideas are embodied in the performance we create. To do this meaningfully, this embodiment must stir up the inspiration, excitement, and other emotional reactions in others that they do in us.

It can easily make the difference between making a sale and losing one.

We treat business presentation skills as though they are a science when in fact they are an art. Again, I think the problem begins with the word "presentation".

Consider comedians. They strike a chord (or don't) because of the way they embody a situation rather than talk about it. Or embody a situation and THEN talk about it.

The humor comes from the emotional reactions that combine to become recognition. The recognition comes from the performance of a conversation with a partner, boss, store manager -- whatever -- which the comedian represents through embodying it onstage. Without it, any commentary would fall flat.

For maximum power, every medium needs to be exploited for its own particular possibilities. Film wouldn't work as dance, and visa versa, except as an exception to a rule or as a stand-in for the other.

Think how much more powerful a business presentation would be if you add all the possibilities of the art of representation. Move people. Inspire them. Make them feel something that moves them to action. It's the only way to do effective business.

Intimacy: The New (Technical) Frontier

2009-10-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

At the Tuttle Club yesterday, I had a rather inspiring conversation with FJ van Wingerde. For those of you who don't know FJ, his thinking is wonderfully, productively disruptive. His comments are also right to the point.

We talked about the mobile industry -- as well as (conversationally) ubiquitous social media (so how could we avoid it, really?). Here's the interesting part.

My feeling has been since the early mid-90s that what technology has to aim for is intimacy. As FJ said, we can call it "personalization", but it's personalization for the purpose of intimacy. FJ also noted that at a large entertainment company, he worked with others on finding ways to make mechanical devices (such as phones) into characters for the sake of creating relationships with users. Second Life does this with avatars. And games like WOW do it with communities.

As a theater person, I think we're missing the performance aspects of the Web and mobile -- after all, every medium should be explored to its unique full potential. Those in advertising talk about "engagement", but is it engagement we're after for its own sake?

OK, the overall goal is roi (usually for businesses) or repeated use (for geeks who just love getting things right). But before we get to the end, let's really break down the the path we're using to get there.

The bottom line is: when it is with the aim of creating intimacy that we go for expanding the possibilities of theatricality, engagement, or any other web-possible activity. That's how you hook consumers. That's how you create a relationship between a mechanical device and a human being.

FJ noted that people probably won't feel comfortable with word "intimacy" in a working environment. He's not wrong -- "intimacy" in work always implies sexuality.

But take the sex out, and remember that the reason people hate spam with their name at the top is the note's inappropriate intimacy. What else can you call it?

Thoughts?

One more piece published . . . .

2009-10-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

You will probably recognise a lot of this material if you follow this blog, but here you go: Enterprise Nation just published my article on presentations.

Article on mSearchGroove: How to Sell Investors

2009-10-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

Peggy Saltz has put a small piece of mine on mSearchGroove, a publication dedicated to mobile.

Here's the link to the article on presentation skills.

Let me know if it's anything I haven't said here yet-- happy to elaborate.

A Little Meisner for a Grey Wednesday

2009-10-07T04:55:00.001-07:00

Reviewing Sandy Meisner and his performance technique is a pleasure. One of his tenets: the foundation of acting is the reality of doing.

"Acting" here is taking all the walls away from being yourself in front of other people.

OK, it sounds obvious -- and simple. But how many people do you know who are great presenters? Here's a little more that will demonstrate the connection I'm making between professional performers and business people trying hook an audience at a conference.

Meisner says,

" . . in most professions, every practitioner uses the same tools and techniques, while the actor's chief instrument is himself. And since no two persons are alike, no universal rule is applicable to any two actors in exactly the same way." (Sanford Meisner's On Acting)

This is as true when presenting information that you've written as when it's material a playwright has concocted.

What exactly does it mean to be "yourself"? In front of people?

You either do what you're doing (eg explain -- really -- "the reality of doing") or you play AT it. Who cares what the content is? You're genuinely talking TO listeners (or talk AT them). As we all know from sitting through presentations, the second ends up being very dull.

Both are characters purpose-built -- but one is much more effective than another.

I have a nice example of Lloyd Davis in the reality of doing. He plays a great ukulele, too.

BizSpark and SeedCamp

2009-10-02T03:22:00.001-07:00

As I've mentioned, I was asked to coach teams for investor pitches at both SeedCamp London and at Microsoft's BizSpark. Very exciting, both. And everyone has been kind in their feedback.

The results were very different for each set of teams. And the adjustments one inevitably makes due to space and time allotments made everyone rise to the challenge.

SeedCamp

At SeedCamp, I worked with a content expert.

The room was an auditorium. The teams were given five minutes to present, and then mentors were given five minutes to give feedback. I hardly heard what was said. My responses was focused on how the material was presented physically and the resulting engagement (or lack thereof) with the audience.

The space was ample for performers to practice. Perhaps equally important, the auditorium was where they would later pitch for investors -- for real.

Teams pitched and were given feedback by us in front of all their competitors. This is a different reaction than I've got in more academic classes, and I was both pleased and surprised.

I was told that feedback for one team often helped prepare the next, and everyone was to have been in a room of critical voices. It was a pretty exciting experience.

BizSpark

This was the first year of BizSpark, and the events' full, high-calibre schedule made it impossible to practice in the room in which teams would perform.

So instead, we were put in a room usually used for meetings. The table was pushed back, there was enough room for teams to move around as they would in the auditorium. They showed their slides on their lap tops.

An odd thing happened with the energy in the room that didn't happen at SeedCamp. Because the laptops took so long to get ready, and because the space was temporary, teams seemed both more relaxed (it was an ad hoc space) and more nervous (it was an ad hoc space -- so what was the relationship to the one in which they'd pitch?).

A good thing -- at BizSpark, I had each team one-on-one for fifteen minutes, and we worked on 3 minute presentations rather than 5. This works very well for students who would like to articulate their anxieties and concerns. It would be impossible in a room full of competitors.

The work wasn't less effective than at SeedCamp, but it was very different. The changes from rehearsal to final performance were different, too -- at SeedCamp, those with challenges seemed to struggle more with content in their final pitch. At BizSpark, teams were thrown off a little by the space change. So any awkwardness was with how to move and where to look.

And So . . . .

I've got nothing but happy feedback, and it will all go up on the Stradbroke site in about a month when our webmistress returns.

However, I've learned a few things about making an environment friendlier, and that's a good thing.

And, contrary to my expectations, one-on-one teams could use more time with me than those in front of large groups. The latter expect to be thrown in the deep end and prepare as the last group is finishing. The former are not exactly sure how to settle into the space immediately. It takes a little more to make them feel comfortable.

That's the great thing about collaborating -- you never know what's going to happen. And you always have to stay on your toes.

Start-Ups: Beware the Buzzwords, Says Venture Beat

2009-09-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

I usually work with clients more on presentation style than content, although the two are so closely connected that untangling the two is often challenging.

Excellent piece, though, on Venture Beat about start-up buzz words at TechCrunch50.

For those at SeedCamp next week -- and at TechCrunch London -- it's worth taking a look.

See you SeedCampers tomorrow for speed pitching.

SeedCamp: Coming Up Soon in London

2009-09-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

SeedCamp, a boot camp for start-ups, will take place in London in a couple of weeks. The short list of 40 companies was down to 20 and the SeedCamp participants were announced today.

It's useful to see the trends in business models over the years, all included in Mike Butcher's article (link above).

I'll be serving as SeedCamp pitching mentor on the Sunday for all the companies -- 10 in a room and then the other 10 -- five minutes for pitching, five minutes feedback.

Having seen a couple of the companies pitch for other reasons already, there seem to be a lot of differences among the ways in which companies are represented by their leaders. Looking forward to it.

Will report back at the end of the month on how it all went.

Presentation is a Full-Time Job in (Family) Business

2009-09-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

The notion of genuine engagement when giving a presentation -- and self-awareness and discipline -- take on a refreshing shine when Steve Blank talks about it on VentureBea t.

Everyone who works hard knows that presenting in business is s full-time job. Always on the hunt for opportunities, we always have to be aware of how people perceive us, on what we focus, and what we reveal.

However, usually, home life is usually thought of differently. Too many of the high-power executives (particularly men) tend to turn off their awareness -- of their own presence and of those around them -- once they hit the front door.

In fact, the business of life outside work requires the same level of engagement. Everything takes practice, including being present in new contexts. And the more present you can be, the more you can listen (to both yourself and those around you), the better quality of presentation and response you'll get from yourself and others.

Lovely post, Steve.

May I Have a Word?

2009-09-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

I had a lively discussion with Euan Semple today about life, the universe, and everything.

Euan doesn't like the word "teach" to mean the very broad set of activities by or from which people can learn. He's right -- it implies a top-down, Victorian style classroom behavior that is more broadcast than conversation.

Equally, I don't like the word "coach" to describe the activity through which an individual works to improve his or her presentation skills through interaction with someone who understands performance.

Again, it implies a top-down set of behaviors.

As I am called both a teacher and a presentation coach and find the lack of readily available and suitable vocabulary irritating.

Anyone got better words for multi-directional interaction through which learning takes place on all sides?

Play Within Structure: More on Giving a Successful Pitch

2009-08-31T01:36:00.000-07:00

On the subject of practical tips on giving a pitch, here's anecdote about working with a very successful client.

This client is an advertising executive -- let's call her Lucy. Lucy had been effectively selling ideas to companies for years. But she felt that something was missing. (More on that here).

A Different Way of Depending Too Much on Content

Lucy is a strategist and excellent at what she does. However, when it comes to doing her pitch, there always seems to be too much information to relay in the time allotted.

Furthermore, Lucy has many slide decks to present every week. She would need a photographic memory to remember it all. So she compensates by looking quickly at a slide's headline and improvising on each topic. To remind herself of where she is, she uses industry jargon to get her from one subject to another rather than telling a story that could stand on its own for anyone.

The effect? Lucy hits a heading, wandered around a topic, hits yet another, and rambles again. All the information is there. But there seems to be no emphasis, either within or among the paths that lead between sign posts.

You can follow the plot line, but it isn't exactly gripping.

Creative Performance Depends on Structure

When in doubt, impose a structure.

In this case, I suggested Lucy should ask a Question (or State a Premise/Heading), explain step-by-step how to get from the question to the answer, and end with a So-What? Clause.

For those of us who are new to this blog, a So-What Clause is the content with which you should conclude all presentations -- written, or oral. Time and space is valuable real estate when selling an idea. You've already told them the WHAT. Now tell them why they should care.

It Worked

Lucy was thrilled with the results. She said she hadn't been able to reconcile her feeling of being lost with her thorough knowledge of the subject area and experience presenting. She had gotten bored and hadn't really addressed her audience. She felt she was focusing instead on her content.

Lucy concluded enthusiastically by saying she wished she had met me when she was 20.

I must admit I was chuffed.

Performance Coaching: Some Tips

2009-08-17T01:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who need performance help but do not live in London, I thought I'd share a few tips with those who feel nervous about presenting that I offer to my clients.

It's certainly not all there is to the process, but it should help.

Tips for Non-Actors

1. Good presenting skills are not mysterious. Here's the math:

95% of great performance is preparation and practice. Only 5% is inspiration and/or innate talent.
+
People are innately creatures of habit. Once we start, it’s almost impossible to stop. Effective performing habits can be learned.

= The odds are in your favor to become at least an above-average presenter - at best, excellent -- with practice. No matter where you are today, you can get there.

2. Inspiration is a meeting point of emotional and intellectual insight. So get that 95% preparation down cold – only then will you find a way to channel inspiration into your performance with consistency.

3. Empathy is a chemical reaction – you automatically effect the people in the room by being present. If it feels natural for you to smile, do it – it’s about the most effective sales tool you’ve got. But only if it’s genuine.

And, believe it or not, acting with sincerity can be learned.

4. The best way to channel nerves is enthusiasm. The alternatives are dire.

5. You’re most effective when you find your own presenting style. But steal whatever works from wherever you can get it.

Become aware of the way people move, sit, and stand around you. If there is something particularly effective in a gesture or expression (or particularly undermining), write it down with as much detail as possible. It will make you more aware of your own body language.

6. Practice. Slides never sold a thing, so don’t depend on them.

Pretend there’s only one word on every slide – the main idea, say “Opportunities” or “Management Team” – and then explain why it’s there. Don’t point or even look at the screen unless there is a very good performance reason.

7. Practice. The value of your performance reflects the credibility of your company. Half an hour a day. Every day. In front of someone who doesn’t know your material.

Don’t say you don’t have time. If you had a big bug in your software, you’d throw all resources into fixing it.

Think of your performance as the most important software you’ve got.

8. Practice. Find different emphases for different audiences, and have a few presentations up your sleeve. Make sure you can do them in automatic pilot.

But don’t. Ever.

More in the next post.

Teach Engagement, Not Content

2009-08-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

Continuing from the last post on performance coaching:

To a large extent, great presenting is like great teaching -- Ben Zander's performance at PopTech! might shed some light on other aspects of such things.

The key, I think, is that everyone remembers a favorite teacher who inspired more than any other. However, it's the passion, not the content, that people remember most. I've covered this before, but it's worth restating here:

Teach your listeners, not your content. It couldn't be truer in business than it is in school.

Creativity Redux: How to Get Where You Want to Go

2009-08-03T01:41:00.001-07:00

Following on the heels of the last post, how do you become more flexible in the ways you think about yourself and what you do for money?

I thought it worthwhile here to link to a post from 2005 on just this subject. No less true today than four years ago.

Funny how that works.

For those of you who just came aboard -- and to continue yesterday's discussion -- please take a look at why Creativity is not a singular quality. It's a practice. In business and elsewhere.

You Aren't What You Eat (or What You Do, Either)

2009-08-02T00:59:00.000-07:00

The recession has made me think anew of the relationships among profession and our sense of identity.

The US is famous for 12-hour work days, short holidays, and a focus on profession to the exclusion of all else.

Europeans, who came up with the stereotype and like to look down on the US for this attitude, brags a higher quality of life with long holidays and much shorter work days.

But how different are the cross-continental individuals' sense of self based on what they do?

What Has Changed

So many people have lost jobs that there is a big push to "retrain". Not just in the US but everywhere. Look at how much effort the UK, for example, has put into new initiatives for just this.

It's going to be a problem.

Re-learning, on the other hand -- particularly learning how to learn -- is going to be the key to success in the new economy. Just ask a financial services leader.. Or for that matter, anyone in the world -- CEOs, policemen, teachers -- with charges to tend and grow.

I've banged on enough in past posts on the differences between training and learning. Long story short, the former is about mastering a specific set of skills, usually in a particular environment to accomplish a fixed group of tasks. Learning is about seeing the relationships -- among environments, ideas, skills, tasks, and so forth -- across disciplines and contexts. And it's process-driven as well as oriented toward results.

Again, ask a business leader in advertising who feels passionate about it.

And This Has Changed.

I've found in the past, when asked "What do you do?", most people describe a profession with conviction. Lately the statements sound a bit shakier. And they're amended with "But I've also done other things."

Being someone myself who has had a series of interesting jobs rather than a career -- and being forced to justify the relationship among them -- I find this encouraging.

Not just for me, either. Given momentum, it could be very good for the economy.

If we retrain, what happens if the new job goes away like the old one did? Retrain again?

Why not instead be the kind of effective learner that everyone is looking for -- from kindergarten through the Boardroom?

Just a thought.

Doug Rushkoff Redux

2009-07-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

Following on from the post about Doug Rushkoff's ideas on a new CFO and Life, Incorporated, see Rushkoff's appearance on the Colbert Report.

There is very little Douglas Rushkoff says that isn't worth hearing.

At least twice.

More on Emotion and Expression

2009-07-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Continuing on the theme of my recent Affect Labs' blog post about relationships among emotion, thought, and being human, there's a great site that talks about human facial expression worth investigating.

Nick Givotovsky: A Proper Goodbye

2009-07-14T00:04:00.001-07:00

Dean Landsman wrote this beautiful tribute to Nick. It's worth reading.

People, Thoughts, and Feelings

2009-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

I find it fascinating that there's no such thing as a neutral expression on a the face of a healthy human being. Our thoughts and feelings are so connected that it's obvious when the latter is missing. The former seems gone as well.

See this post I blogged for Affect Labs.

Proof of Concept: Working Social Media

2009-07-04T02:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you struggling with what social media can do, here's a wonderful proof of concept.

This parody of West Side Story (and social media) was designed and distributed to enact, rather than show, how social media functions, its impact on those who participate, and how to market its producers at the same time.

You want to see how fast and widely it spread? Do a search for comments on Twitter. See how many hits it got that instigated public endorsement.

Fabulous.