By: Kristi Hedges
My career has been focused on helping executives communicate more effectively. For a good part of it, I ran a PR firm where I personally trained leaders to be better presenters and speakers. I’ve worked with hundreds of CEOs and professionals down the chain, individually and in groups. I’ve videotaped, massaged talking points, managed body language, and provided all the best practices.
Then, several years ago I stopped. I took down that part of my shingle entirely. Because I realized that for most people, public speaking training is not worth the time nor the money.
Now, some of you might argue that it’s been useful for you. You get feedback on your style and mannerisms. You may find out if you’re doing anything that’s overly distracting. And you practice speaking, albeit in a forced setting that doesn’t resemble real life.
But you could have nearly the same information (and save thousands of dollars) from reading a presentation skills book on your own and taping yourself with a Web-cam.
Presentation Training Can Even Do More Harm Than Good
For those who’ve been through speaker training, you know the drill. You leave feeling less authentic than ever, with piles of “correct” postures, gestures, and speech effects to practice.
Don’t tilt your head! Stand up straight! Don’t pace too much! Walk more! Make eye contact with more people! Make eye contact with a few people! Gesture bigger! Gesture smaller!
(And I’d be willing to bet that after you leave the training, you’ll forget 90% of what you learned after a few short months.)
I say this not just from my own experience training, but from talking to scores of executives who have been through training conducted by others — often some of the best brand names in the business. (Usually former TV journalists, actors or other professionals who haven’t worked inside a business.)
Speaker training is helpful — if you want to be a professional speaker.
But for nearly all executives, you’re not training to be perfect orators who can mesmerize a room. You’re trying to develop presence to connect with and inspire others. You want to build trust and credibility, and be clear and energetic. You want your seat at the table to count.
This type of presence does not come from perfect, robotic gestures and words with lyrical cadence. As I discuss in Power of Presence, the type of presentation ability that propels careers and builds followership comes from the inside out. You can learn it — but not in a training class on superficial attributes.
Presence comes from developing intentionality and making individual connections. These days, as a coach, I’m often in the position of having clients “undo” many best practices they learned in public speaking training. Only then can we work on what engenders trust and respect.
So if you’re considering taking the requisite speaker training class, or have participated in one in the past, please keep these thoughts in mind:
There’s Not One Right Way To Present
Even among presentation trainers, there’s widespread opinion about what techniques are actually most effective. The studies behind these claims even contradict themselves. That’s why some trainers will tell you to make large gestures and others will say they’re distracting, for example.
This simply echoes the interpersonal reality that what appeals to one person doesn’t appeal to another. Two colleagues could watch you present in a meeting and have completely different opinions about your effectiveness. In the end, much of your style has to be what works for you.
Great Presenters Don’t Follow The Rules
While there are general truisms like speaking while glued to notes is boring, beyond a very few behaviors, you can view a wide range of approaches from great presenters. Steve Jobs didn’t gesture with proper technique or follow the most recommended speech framework. Watch a few TED talks. You’ll find plenty of reticent, wonky presenters who are fascinating. What makes a person a strong presenter is that their presence shines through, showing their passion and expertise for their topic.
Authenticity Overrides Form
We are used to observing a diverse set of human behaviors, and have adapted well to reading authenticity. We readily sniff out a person who cares, and we hone in on that. Authenticity creates a trust bond and establishes credibility. The rest becomes superfluous.
Further, when you focus on presence and authenticity, you calibrate your style to the occasion. It’s alienating to have a speaker present in perfect speechifying form to an intimate group more suited to a seated back-and-forth dialogue.
You Already Know How To Do This
People know how to communicate authentically, and present ideas in their own naturally effective way. You do it all the time with friends and family members. It’s when we’re under stress and in anxiety-filled situations that we forget what we already know.
The next time you’re discussing an issue in a relaxed situation, notice your own body language. That’s what you should be repeating when presenting — not trying to adopt someone else’s — no matter how much they charge. Then put yourself in real-life opportunities, starting small, where you can practice and build confidence.
What’s your experience with presentation training? Comment here or @kristihedges.
Kristi Hedges is a leadership coach, speaker and author of Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others. She blogs at kristihedges.com.
Join Kristi and Dana for an Authenticity-building leadership eSeminar designed to help you build your personal communication and presence strategies authentically, genuinely and in ways that directly benefit your career. Learn more.
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Dear Kristi,
Your headline and premise are certainly attention grabbing, but I think you are doing a great disservice to women by suggesting that they not get presentation or public speaking coaching or training (although I would agree with you that coaching or training that focuses on turning people into speaking “robots” is certainly ineffective).
As a professional public speaking and life coach, I help women (and men) tap into their personal power and strengths to communicate their message effectively in all kinds of situations. By painting all public speaking training with the same brush, you are doing exactly what you suggest trainers should not do: be one-dimensional and formulaic in their approach.
If you taught public speaking in the way you describe it, then you made the right decision to stop doing it. But just because THAT kind of coaching/training is not optimal for most is no reason to suggest that ALL public speaking training is waste of time and money — it’s simply not true.
In my experience, most people cannot learn how to speak and present well from reading a book (although books are sometimes helpful to some), for the same reasons that most people cannot learn how to swim, play golf, or parent children from reading a book. The best way to learn new skills involves a mix of theory and practice with heavy emphasis on the practice.
The top performers in their fields, almost without exception, have coaches to help them maximise their strengths, stay on track, fine tune their game, adjust for different circumstances, visualise success, stay mentally and emotionally focused, and use all the tools, tricks and techniques at their disposal to be the best they can be. Athletes have long benefited from the right kind of training and coaching. Business leaders and organizations have more recently come to recognise its value. As you well know, the job of a coaches/trainer is not to put someone in a box, but to release the power within.
You are absolutely right when you say that passion and authenticity are the cornerstones of great communication. And yes, plenty of “wonky” presenters are fascinating. That doesn’t mean “wonky” fits for everyone. It doesn’t. However, as you suggest, authenticity does.
Even the greatest presenters sometimes fall into the trap of grabbing a security blanket when they feel out of their element. Just take a look at Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech in which he reads his own story from a prepared tex (http://www.unleashamazingyou.com/public-speaking-a-presenting/tips-and-examples/star-examples/44-steves-stanford-stories.html)t! Great content abysmally delivered.
Compare it with any of his product launch presentations (http://www.unleashamazingyou.com/public-speaking-a-presenting/tips-and-examples/star-examples/16-theres-something-in-the-air.html): it’s hard to believe it’s the same man. How did that happen? Perhaps he was ill-advised by some PR consultant, or a member of his own team, or maybe he himself was intimidated at the prospect of speaking in that circumstance. Whatever the cause, the result was the same: a less than stellar performance by a normally great presenter.
As an aside, with respect to TED talks, I can tell you from direct personal experience that TED doesn’t do its speakers any favours with the preparatory “advice” it gives. But that’s another story… On the matter of emulating what works for great speakers – I’m all for people incorporating effective strategies into their own presentations *when they work for them and authentically fit with their personal style.* That said, most people need help developing their personal style and “presence,” and that’s why professional public speaking coaching and training (or coaching on the development of personal presence techniques, if you prefer) is so important.
I have no doubt that the way I teach and coach presentations “skills” is aligned with the way you coach around presence, and I’m sure your book is great. But I think you might have found a more positive way to promote it besides trashing public speaking training, which has been and will continue to be a huge benefit to many.
Best regards,
Susan Macaulay
Coach & Chief StarMaker, UnleashAmazingYou.com
Creator & Curator, AmazingWomenRock.com
Susan, thank you for your thoughtful response! I believe these discussions are so helpful, and I appreciate your perspective.
I certainly didn’t mean to “trash” the entire public speaking industry. I’m simply communicating what I often hear from clients in Fortune 500 companies who have been through top dollar training.
As I explain in this follow up post on Forbes — http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/05/21/five-ways-to-make-people-hang-on-your-every-word/ — if public speaking training is more about presence than presentation, it will hit the core of what professionals are most asked to do.
Influence comes from authenticity and passion, not mechanics and perfection.
I’m moving the dialogue with a little poke.
Kristi,
Thanks for your reply.
It sounds to me like the clients who have given you this feedback have hired the wrong providers.
I believe that any professional public speaking trainer (and/or communication professional) worth their salt would agree with you that authenticity and passion are the cornerstones of excellent communication. It’s what I’ve been teaching people for the past 25 years, and I don’t think I’m alone in doing so.
If you poke me, i’m more than likely to poke back
Krisit,
I think there is a lot of good sense in your words. I think great presenters are born, not made. Although I do believe you can train people to improve their presentation skills to a reasonable standard, the best presenters are those that are totally at ease with standing up and addressing a room full of delegates and appearing as though it’s the most natural thing in the world to them.
I believe that the best way to overcome any fear, or to improve a key skill even, is to practise, practise, practise. The more you do, the more natural you will become and the more your audience will be put at ease and enjoy.
Personally I’m not one of life’s natural presenters but I do continually step out of my comfort zone to push myself to greater limits.
Helen
Absolutely spot on. So much of the advice you see out there is not useful to most people. I tell my students it is all about confidence. How do you build confidence? Practice, practice, practice. That’s really all there is to it. The more you speak in front of groups the more comfortable you will become and your comfort translates directly to the comfort of your audience.
There’s loads to be said for confidence and practice.
However, I’ve seen countless senior executives present poorly (with confidence) and fail miserably to get their message across. I’ve seen many people who have practiced, practiced, practiced bad presentation habits – they think they’re stellar, but actually they suck…
Like virtually everything, this is not a case of either/or but rather both.
This is an interesting article. One that I do agree with. I went through lots of coaching and, as you’ve said, having your movements recorded etc. However, I then realised a similar thing and have now started to use a website called Present.Me. It allows you to attach a video of yourself presenting next to your PowerPoint slides. Not only do I use it when I need to present but cannot be there, but it does all the things my coaching did but for free. I can see myself on the camera and hear myself. Therefore, I can still work on my pace, timing, tone etc but without any of the cost. I really would recommend a method like this instead of all the pricey coaching that is out there. Hope this helps.