mediabistro.com

August 2010

PR, Perfected: Coach C-Suite Execs for the Spotlight

Give top-level execs the prep and confidence to stay on message and engage audiences

By Jessica Howell

Hollywood legend George Jessel once quipped, “The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.”

It’s true that most seasoned executives — whether they appear to be or not — experience a bit of discomfort in the spotlight. Whether prepping for a quarterly earnings report or a small staff meeting, the concept of one-way dialogue is often fear-inducing to even the most polished among us. And while there’s no foolproof remedy for nervousness, it’s a PR pro’s duty to ensure that the C-suite team is well-equipped to hold their own behind the podium. And the best way to do that is to continually stress the importance of preparation, familiarization, and plain old practice.

Prep with a Crash Course

Frances Cole Jones, president of Cole Media Management and author of The Wow Factor: The 33 Things You Must (and Must Not) Do to Guarantee Your Edge in Today’s Business World, recommends one-on-one coaching sessions, which allows presenters to voice their questions and concerns privately. According to Jones, executives at every level benefit from coaching, even those who believe they perform better without a script.

“I have yet to meet anyone who speaks better off-the-cuff,” says Jones. “It can be done. But why? It’s far too easy to say or do something that inadvertently derails an initiative. That said, I don’t want a client who seems too rehearsed. An ideal coaching session lays a foundation that allows the presenter to be confident they’ve taken care of everything they can, which frees them up to handle the unexpected question or technical breakdown.”

When it comes to presentation coaching, tools of the trade often include a video camera with instant playback capability, digital clips of speaking techniques in action, sample slides and core messages that carry throughout your company or product lineup. In a perfect world, a half-day session allows for a trial run or two, review and analysis and on-the-spot modifications to the presentation, but even an hour can drastically improve performance if your CEO is in a time crunch.

“I have yet to meet anyone who speaks better off-the-cuff… It’s far too easy to say or do something that inadvertently derails an initiative.”

After any necessary coaching — but before the day of the event — it’s customary to prep your speaker with what PR professionals have dubbed a “briefing book.” This book, loaded with vital information, will serve as his or her go-to guide for all logistics pertaining to the day of. In it, include information on the event venue, the audience, fellow speakers, order of lineup, audio/visual cues, timing, as well as any potentially present delegates, media, or plain old hosts that require thanking.

Look Good, Sound Better

When the time comes, however, preparation can get you only so far. As Jessel eluded, many of us have a tendency to quietly panic when going before a crowd. An internal fear leads us to forget our talking points, stumble over our words, or continue speaking until we run out of breath.

According to image consultant Sandy Dumont of The Image Architect, it’s just as important to be as comfortable with yourself as you are with your topic of discussion.

“The presenter is the star, not the presentation,” says Dumont. To convince your audience of this, she advises wearing garments that convey power, and subconsciously, expertise. For men, this means wearing a tie. For women, a simple pantsuit and toned-down jewelry. These rules apply even when presenting in a casual setting, according to Dumont, who stresses the importance of color and shape as they create impact physically and psychologically.

When coaching your internal clients, it’s important to touch on appearance. For many speaking engagements, photojournalists and camera-equipped media will be on hand, and a reminder of the colors and styles that best suit the speaker is usually appropriate. Most likely, they’ll appreciate your suggestion.

Telling the Story

Once the spotlight goes on, familiarization with the material and the presentation really shows. And while some slides, especially those developed for technical presentations, are chock-full of data points, it’s important that the presenter isn’t relying on their contents to lead the discussion. Whether he or she is most comfortable with note cards, a typed speech lying on the podium, or a teleprompter, the speech should be written to complement, not reiterate, the slides.

Keep the presentation visual, recommends Jones. “Speakers need to trust that their audiences will take notes on what is interesting or integral to them. If you do have slides with text, also have speaking notes that go with each slide: a story, an interesting fact or additional statistic that adds value to what is up on the screen.”

In addition, she cites the “Rule of Three” as a guide to presentation-giving. According to the rule, an audience will remember only three things about a given topic. Hence, the story of the three blind mice, Goldilocks and the three bears, and the genie’s three wishes… if bullet points are a necessity, Jones quips, no more than three.

Driving Home the Message

Halfway through a presentation, the speaker should pause to ensure that the audience is indeed awake. (I joke.) But in all seriousness, he or she must make a concentrated effort to continually engage the audience throughout the speech, especially if the focus is on one topic or lasts more than 20 minutes.

Michael Shmarak, principal at Sidney Maxwell Public Relations in Chicago has coached many executives on adequately engaging their audiences. Here, he doles out three of his top tips for you to pass on to your speakers.

1. Talk with people, not to people: Imagine the space you are speaking in as your backyard instead of the stuffy venue that it is. If you’re milling about your lawn for an afternoon barbecue, let’s say, your goal is to connect with people, to establish relationships, to stimulate deep conversation. Keep these goals in mind on the stage, as well.

2. Leave the lecturing to the professors: The audience is a living, breathing entity. Allow your materials to be critiqued or give participants the opportunity for group discussions. You’ll find your topic becomes more relevant to your audience by doing this.

3. Use verbs, not adjectives: Verbs are action words; talk about actionable things. Using adjectives, prepositional phrases, dangling participles (all those things your ninth grade English teacher told you never to use) muddle good English and keep the points you are striving to make more difficult to be understood.

Lastly, in order to give the audience the respect it deserves, advises Shmarak, a speaker should educate an audience, not sell them. Leave the marketing lingo at the office and help your client or CEO to pull back the layers of corporate-speak and reveal the genuine purpose of their presentation. When all is said and done, what message or key point does he or she want the audience to leave with and why? If anything, this is the most critical factor of any presentation. And if the presenter believes in the message, it will undoubtedly show.

Jessica Howell is a senior account executive with Eisbrenner Public Relations, based in Royal Oak, Mich., and helps to lead the firm’s social media capabilities.