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CORPORATE

OVATIONSYour Roadmap to More Effective Presentations

Russ Peterson Jr.

PRESIDENT AND CEO, RYAN-SANDERS BASEBALL

Kevin Karschnik

Foreword by Reid Ryan

Mark SanbornAWARD WINNING SPEAKER AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE FRED FACTOR AND YOU DON’T NEED A TITLE TO BE A LEADER

“Corporate Ovations thoroughly covers it from A to Z . . .

It will help make you a first-class speaker.”

CORPORATE

OVATIONSYour Roadmap to More Effective Presentations

Kevin Karschnik Russ Peterson Jr.

Discovery Tree Press

Corporate Ovations: Your Roadmap to More Effective Presentations

Copyright © 2013, Kevin Karschnik and Russ Peterson Jr.

Published by Discovery Tree Press

3000 Joe DiMaggio Blvd, Suite 81Round Rock, TX 78665

www.DiscoveryTreePress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN–13: 978-1-940039-00-8

Cover and Interior Design: Desktop Miracles, Inc.

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Karschnik, Kevin. Corporate ovations : your roadmap to more effective presentations / Kevin Karschnik, Russ Peterson, Jr. p. : ill. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-1-940039-00-8 1. Business presentations. 2. Public speaking. 3. Speech anxiety. I. Peterson, Russ. II. Title. HF5718.22 K37 2013

658.4/52

Printed in the United States of America

15

Table of Contents

Foreword by Reid Ryan 17

Introduction 21

CHAPTER ONE Overcoming Fear and Anxiety 27

CHAPTER TWO Know Your Purpose 39

CHAPTER THREE Audiences Want You to Connect 49

CHAPTER FOUR Open with Power 57

CHAPTER FIVE Close with Confidence 81

CHAPTER SIX Structure the Presentation Body 97

CHAPTER SEVEN Corporate Storytelling 115

CHAPTER EIGHT Say It Like You Mean It 137

CHAPTER NINE Engaging Body Language 163

CHAPTER TEN Using Visual Aids 189

CHAPTER ELEVEN Handling Questions 209

CHAPTER TWELVE Rehearsal and Evaluation 221

Implement to Improve 233

Acknowledgments 243

About the Authors 245

Satori 253

Endnotes 269

Index 277

221

The director of new product development was finishing his steak when the account manager said, “When we’re done with dinner,

let’s step out into the lobby and we can review the presentation you’ll be giving tomorrow to our customer.” The director lowered his fork and knife and shot back, “Listen, I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve given this presentation before. We’ll be fine. I’m just going to wing it.”

It doesn’t take a super sleuth to figure out what happened the next day at the customer presentation. The senior executive from the corporate customer not only had trouble staying awake, but he actually stood up and walked out of the presentation 15 minutes before it was scheduled to finish.

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last.

The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.”

—Wayne Dyer, Motivational Speaker and Author

CHAPTER 12Rehearsal and

Evaluation

222 | Corporate Ovations

After the meeting the account manager pulled a different cus-tomer VP aside to ask him privately for his thoughts on the meeting. “So how do you think that went?” he asked. With a frown on his face and glaring eyes, the customer VP replied, “I think you know.” This example is based on a true story, and unfortunately, it’s most likely not an isolated incident. Similar presentations-gone-wrong play out in front of potential customers and other disappointed audiences around the world every day.

Just because you know the content of a presentation does not guarantee that you’ll nail the delivery in front of your audience. Just because you have no fear of speaking in front of others does not mean you are a great presenter. As you learned in Chapters 2 and 3, when the purpose of the presentation or the audience changes, but the presentation does not, it can lead to very different results.

“Wing it.” Those two words get used often as if they are cou-rageous and daring, when in fact they are nothing more than rude and arrogant. When “winging it” becomes the preparation process of choice (or lack thereof!), the people using it make the excuse that they are just too busy to rehearse and besides, they reason, they know this material better than anyone else! That’s why they’ve been asked to speak! Rehearsal is not always about studying to understand the content better or to get over your stage fright. Rehearsal is the planning and preparation to successfully deliver the content to the audience.

Rehearsal increases your chances of connecting with the audience.

In 1875, sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to create Liberty Enlightening the World, better known today as the Statue of Liberty. He was an accomplished and respected sculptor in France. Ten years later when it came time to transfer

Rehearsal and Evaluation | 223

the Statue of Liberty to the United States, he needed the assis-tance of Gabriel Lespinasse de Saulne, the Captain of the French frigate the Isere. Captain de Saulne would captain the ship that would ultimately deliver Lady Liberty to her permanent home on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.1 While Bartholdi may have known everything about the statue and the sculpture, he did not pretend to know anything about piloting a vessel across the Atlantic or docking it at its port.

The moral of this story? Knowing a subject does not make you an expert in transferring that content to others. Your rehearsal is the practice of the transfer of your content.

Rehearsal is Not the Same as Practice

To rehearse effectively, we need to have a deep understanding of what we are trying to accomplish. It is also helpful to have a process or a series of steps to follow. To some, rehearsal means you take a few minutes to toss around some ideas in your head, think about your key points, and then prepare for the questions you might get at the end.

That is not rehearsal; that is practice. There is a big difference. If you’ve ever been in any kind of theatrical production, you are probably familiar with the phrase “let’s run lines.” When a group of actors wants to get comfortable with a scene, they will sit around a large conference table with their scripts while they read through the scene, each reading their own lines. This is practice for acting. When you do a quick review of your content, you are practicing.

If you’ve been in a theatrical production, you are also familiar with the term “dress rehearsal.” And as you know dress rehears-als take place on the stage. Actors are in full costume. They are expected to have their lines memorized. In a dress rehearsal, actors will run through the scenes as if they are delivering them in front of a live audience. This form of rehearsal is very different from the practice of running lines.


Good directors will mandate as many run-throughs and dress rehearsals as possible prior to their first public appearance because they understand the importance of preparation.2 In much the same way, your preparation for a corporate presentation should be practiced and rehearsed. Always rehearse standing up. Go through the movements you plan to use the day of the presentation and if possible, rehearse in the actual venue.

“There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave: The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.”—Dale Carnegie, Speaker, Teacher, and Author of

The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking

The Rehearsal Process

Often we get resistance from our workshop attendees about rehearsing because they worry it will take up too much of their time. We’ve heard, “I’m giving a one-hour presentation on this topic. I don’t have extra hours in my day to rehearse this several times. Even if I don’t want to wing it, I have to!”

Understanding that we have more requests to present in busi-ness than we do hours for rehearsal, we can still rehearse the most important elements of our delivery. As you learned in Chapters 4 and 5, the open and the close of your presentation are the book-ends of your delivery. The first and last thing you say just might be the most remembered part of your presentation.

Because the open and the close are so important to your suc-cess, it’s essential that you always rehearse them both. We often hear students in our workshops say, “I’m usually a little nervous and shaky at the start, but once I get going, I’m fine.” This holds true for so many business presenters too. What better reason to


spend some focused rehearsal time on your opening! In addition to the open and close, you should also select the critical elements from the body content and rehearse those pieces.

The first and last thing you say just might be the most remembered part of your presentation.

Rehearsal can be accomplished in a short period of time when you have a process to follow. The rehearsal process we teach includes three key steps after you have constructed your presenta-tion and your visual aids:

1. Read the presentation out loud (open, close, key body elements)

2. Stand and deliver the presentation with your notes3. Stand and deliver with no notes

The rehearsal process should be repeated several times with adjustments or corrections made each time. How much of the pre-sentation you read and deliver and how many times you repeat it will be dependent on the length of the presentation and how much time you have to rehearse.

“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.”

—John Steinbeck, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men

Rehearsal Requires a Critic

When you think about actors rehearsing for a play, who sits out in the empty seats of the theater watching, listening and providing


feedback? That’s right . . . the director. Even if the actors practiced their lines and rehearsed on stage, if they never received any feed-back prior to opening night, their delivery could fall flat with the audience. In a corporate environment, we need to seek feedback on our delivery so we can consistently improve.

Throughout his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell claims that the key to success in any field is practice and feedback. He says that to a large extent, practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours and receiving feedback on our performance helps us continually improve.3

This feedback will come from three sources:

• You• Your peers• Your mentor or coach

You Are Your Best Critic

Speaking from experience, no one will be tougher on your per-formance than you. This is the reason why we give you two other sources for gathering feedback. The best part about using yourself as a critic is that you have total control over that critic’s schedule! You can schedule time with you without much trouble.

The next question we are usually asked is, “How do I critique myself? Let me guess . . . present in front of a mirror!” Our response would be, “Actually, no. Don’t do that.” This tip is the first to come to mind because it has been around for decades. Many teachers taught their students to present in front of a mirror so they could see their delivery as the audience would see it. Then, they could critique themselves.

But when you speak in front of a mirror, you are truly multi-tasking. You are asking your brain to be the best presenter it can be while at the same time, be the toughest critic it can be. And you expect your brain to do all of this at the same time. You cannot


expect to be the best at anything when you are doing two things at once.

Research in neuroscience has proven that multitasking actu-ally makes the brain less efficient than single tasking your time4. Practicing in front a mirror was used for decades because it was the best method at the time. But with today’s technology, that is no longer the case. Now, you probably have both an audio and a video recorder in your pocket courtesy of your smartphone. As Apple, Inc., says, “There’s an app for that.”5

If you want to critique yourself on video, hand your recording device to a friend and ask your friend to record you as you speak. If you want to work on your vocal delivery (eliminating filler words, slowing your pace, changing vocabulary, etc.), you can set your recording device on the lectern or the conference table and start the audio recorder app before you begin speaking.

When asked to deliver a custom keynote message, we will often times audio record our delivery several times, pick our best delivery, then transfer it to an iPod® so we can listen to it while flying to our destination. After you listen to your message, listen to it again. You will discover new critiques during a second listening that had escaped your attention the first time.6 In today’s techno-logical world, it is much easier to critique your own delivery, but you shouldn’t stop there.

Seek Feedback from Your Peers

Flixster® is a helpful application available for smartphone devices. It is a movie application, which shows you the movies currently playing in theaters as well as upcoming releases. One helpful feature is the ratings feature. For every movie currently showing it pro-vides the percentage of critics and the percentage of users (people like you and me) who rated the movie with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. Since we don’t always agree with the ratings from professional film critics, it is nice to see the ratings of our peers.


Similarly, peer feedback is important when you’re preparing for and/or trying to improve a presentation. Even if your friends have not taken a workshop on presentation skills, they can surely offer a simple thumbs up or thumbs down on your performance. Peer feedback will be most helpful if someone is willing and able to see you speak in person prior to the presentation. The key for most will be finding the time to make that happen.

If that isn’t possible, don’t forget about your ability to record audio and video with a smart device. If face-to-face peer review is not possible, audio or video recordings shared through email, Facebook® or YouTube® can be the next best thing. Even when one of us is in Singapore and the other is in Romania, we are still able to use tools like Skype® to provide each other with feed-back on our upcoming presentation. With technology today the world is truly a much smaller place, but as Steven Wright7 says, “I wouldn’t want to paint it.”

In a corporate setting, you will usually know a few mem-bers of your audience. After a presentation, ask them what they thought of your delivery. Selecting a peer friend who will be honest is critical. You do not want someone who responds with, “It was great. Good job.” That doesn’t help. Make sure that you always ask follow-up questions like, “What did you like/dislike about it?” and “What could I change for next time?”

One of the best people to recruit will be someone who also has an interest in improving their own presentation skills. That way you’ll both have an accountability partner. You know how it is always easier to jog or get to the gym when you know you have someone else relying on you, the same goes for improving your speaking skills.

“Evaluate what you want— because what gets measured gets produced.” —James A. Belasco, Speaker, Consultant, and Author


Find a Mentor or Coach

The best method for improving your presentation skills is to find a mentor or a coach who will be dedicated to your consistent improvement. A mentor is someone who possesses the skills you want to emulate. It could be a colleague, a friend, or someone out-side your profession. Most mentors won’t ask to be paid for the help they give you. They want to do it because they have a sincere interest in seeing you succeed. In some cases, the mentor simply sees a bit of herself in you and wants to help you avoid the mis-takes she made along the way.

If you know of someone you could approach, keep in mind the mentor will most likely be flattered and at the same time fearful of the time investment. From the very start, it is in your best interest to communicate the expectations on time commitments. Proper mentoring can be done in as little as 15–30 minutes per week. It can be done over the phone or over lunch. Mentor relationships develop over time so be prepared to continue conversations for at least six months before reevaluating.

A coach, however, is often a paid position. If you want serious dedicated assistance, you can hire a professional speaking coach. Many of these individuals have obtained licensed certifications in professional coaching and many have their own development programs they bring with them. They will provide structure to the coaching conversations and the process for improvement.

Coaches, like mentors, are accountability partners for you. The speaking coach will have a wealth of knowledge to share and tools to help teach and train you. They may not have the same presen-tation style as you, but they have the know-how to raise your level of performance. Think of it like this. Even Tiger Woods has had different golf coaches work with him over the years.8 Tiger is one of the best golfers of all time and his coaches cannot come close to achieving what he has accomplished on the golf course, and yet he still seeks their feedback on his golf game. He understands these coaches know the game, and they can tell him what he needs to do


to improve his game. Speaking coaches are skilled and trained in the ways of speaking and presenting. They are experts at dissecting your performance and providing suggestions for improvement.

There is no best; there’s always a better.

Always Seek to Improve

Whether you evaluate your own performance or seek feedback from others, no one will improve their performance without con-sistent evaluation, reflection and implementation of new skills.9 A great presenter understands that there is no such thing as a best speaker, because there’s always room to get better. Make rehearsal and evaluations a standard part of your speaking process. Don’t just “wing it” ever again!


CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Many people make the excuse that they don’t have time to rehearse so they decide to just “wing it.” But the reality is rehearsal is an essential step in your presentation preparation and can be accomplished in a short period of time when you have a process to follow. The rehearsal process includes three key steps after you have constructed your presentation and your visual aids:

› Read the presentation out loud › Stand and deliver the presentation with your notes › Stand and deliver with no notes

• You need to seek feedback on the delivery of your presentation so you can consistently improve. This feedback can be done by yourself, can be provided by your peers, or can be delivered by a mentor or coach.

• Whether you evaluate your own performance or seek feedback from others, no one can improve their presentation skills without consistent reflection and continuous implementation of new skills.

TOMORROW’S CHALLENGE

As you prepare for your next presentation, answer these questions: ■ What is your motivation to practice and rehearse? ■ Which of the evaluation methods will you use for critique

and feedback? ■ Who will be your coach or mentor?

247

CORPORATE

OVATIONSNow that you’ve read the book . . .

What’s next?

Start a movement!

Join the thousands of others who have committed to putting an end to boring presentations.

www.CorporateOvations.com


Connect

www.facebook.com/corporateovations www.youtube.com/corporateovations

www.twitter.com/CorpOvations www.CorporateOvations.com

Tools

There is no best; there’s always a better.

–Kevin Karschnik

Perfection is a direction, not a destination.

–Russ Peterson, Jr.

Group Discussion

Guidewww.CorporateOvations.com

www.CorporateOvations.com

What’s Next | 249

Bulk Orders

Corporate Ovations can be ordered in bulk. Whether you need 25 or 5,000 copies, we can help. Bulk orders are great for corporate gifts, sales conference breakout sessions, university business school special events or church leadership train-ing. The Group Discussion Guide (PDF) available at CorporateOvations.com is a free tool designed to help small groups get the most out of the book. Discounts are available for quantities as small as 25 books. If you would like to place a bulk order, please contact us at [email protected]

Special Offer

Access the accompanying online video library for Corporate Ovations at iSpeak University. Use the Promo Code below to receive 50% off the registration and access to videos which parallel the Corporate Ovations book.

ww.iSpeak.com/ispeak-university ISPEAKU50


Group Study

The Corporate Ovations Group Study kit is ideal for you to conduct your own mini-training sessions on the skills taught in the book. Let Russ and Kevin teach you their workshop through video lessons. Then facilitate your own interactive exercises to practice your new skills. Group sessions work best with up to 10 participants.

Facilitator Kit

- Facilitator Guide & Instructor training videos - Video lessons for the workshop taught by Russ and Kevin - Copy of the participant guide - Audio version of the book Corporate Ovations

Participant Guides

- Participant guides for each attendee

Self-Study

The Corporate Ovations Self-Study kit is designed for individuals interested in further improving their personal communication skills with the techniques taught in Corporate Ovations. The Self-Study guide comes with:- Video lessons taught by Russ and Kevin- Participant workbook- Audio version of the video lessons- Audio version of the book Corporate Ovations

What’s Next | 251

Speaking

Need a professional speaker who can inspire while developing new skills? Russ Peterson, Jr. and Kevin Karschnik will leave your audience informed, inspired, and ready to improve!

Corporate Ovations Keynote

It’s not what you say that’s important, it’s what they hear! As speakers we all have a goal or purpose for speaking, but too often we forget that the audience is there because they have a goal or purpose for listening. When we place the focus of speaking where it needs to be (on the audience) we are able to construct the right message. In this keynote the authors share the three key areas of focus for effective presentations – Prepare for the right audience, develop effective visuals, and deliver an engaging and memorable message. Don’t let your next presentation end in a sigh of relief from your audience. Learn how to end your presentation with a Corporate Ovation!

9-Minute Presentations Keynote

According to Opinion Matters research in 2012, 50% of time in meetings is wasted. Much of this can be attributed to poor presentations rambling aim-lessly for far too long. We can cure this issue by starting a movement within our organizations to incorporate 9-Minute Presentations. If you have ever said to yourself after watching a presentation, “There was a whole lot that just wasn’t necessary,” then you need to know about this effective and timesaving method for presenting. While not every presentation can take on the 9-minute format, far too many 60-minute presentations can. In this keynote the authors share the research behind the selection of 9 minutes, as well as the template for how to construct and deliver this effective form of presentation. Learn how to improve the effectiveness of your meetings while saving time and money for your orga-nization. Join the movement today!


Workshops

The ability to communicate ideas and influence others through public presenta-tions is consistently ranked as a top quality sought by employers today. Become a polished and persuasive public speaker!

Corporate Ovations for Business Professionals (2 days)

Business professionals in management, HR, finance, or IT can benefit from this two-day workshop. All participants will learn the methods from the book and practice their skills with video recordings plus coaching and feedback.

Corporate Ovations for Sales Professionals (2 days)

Sales professionals present to some of the toughest audiences – prospective customers. Using methods from the book, attendees will learn to align their proposals to their audiences. Presentations will be video recorded and each par-ticipant will receive feedback and coaching.

Corporate Ovations for Leaders (3 day workshop, plus 6 hours of private coaching)

Leaders and executives have unique needs for developing speaking skills because they tend to have the widest array of potential audiences from the Board of Directors, to the media, to their team of employees. In this workshop facilitated exclusively by the authors, participants will learn and practice the Corporate Ovations presentation methods. Attendees will also receive 6 hours of private coaching to improve upon their own specific skills.

award winning speaker and bestselling author of … · the moral of this story? knowing a subject...

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