Demonstrating Presentation Skills Without Jitters, And SEALs Who Care About Effective Communication Training

Scared To Death Of Public Speaking? Try Conversing.

"Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary." John F. Kennedy

  I like what JFK had to say for a couple reasons. First, if you can't say stand up and say it in 15 or 20 minutes, then keep your rear end planted in the chair. When it comes to business communication skills, ponderous length doesn't impress; it alienates. We're all busy, and we all have limited attention spans. FOCUS your message and never forget: Brevity is clarity. 

  In business communication, the same rule applies whether you're trying to sharpen your presentation skills or writing skills. Keep your audience or readers uppermost in your mind -- stifling the urge to pontificate -- and they'll be there with you. The last thing you want them to do is examine the insides of their eyelids when you're halfway through your speech.

  Of course, keeping it concise isn't necessarily the easiest way. Many times I recall returning to the newsroom as a reporter with a notebook full of facts and juicy quotes from a homicide scene or a contentious city council meeting, only to hear my editor say: "We're putting it on the front page, but keep it short. We've only got 10 inches for it."

  Ouch, I'd think. I don't have time to write short. Now I have to decide what NOT to use. But remember: It's worth it. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was 278 words, and it took him only six or seven minutes to deliver the magnificent 701-word Second Inaugural Address. No, you're not Lincoln. But you are capable of distilling your thoughts and stifling your ego. 

  Second, I've got some advice for anyone frightened at the prospect of stand-up business communication, meaning a presentation or a speech: Think about it as a conversation between two intelligent people who care about effective communication. That way, you're not an actor all alone up there on a stage. Instead, you're in a dialogue that takes on energy and depth thanks to partners who listen and work with you.

  In a conversation, avoiding eye contact would be rude, wouldn't it? So why would you lower the lights and keep turning away from your listeners to look at a PowerPoint presentation on a screen behind you?

  Any good conversation is two-way, a give-and-take, a natural form of effective communication skills that benefits both parties. Of course, with a speech, you have to start out by doing most of the talking. But everything you say should be directed at encouraging questions from audience members and a conversation among them. If you start by standing up and speaking, then find yourself facilitating a lively discussion, congratulate yourself. You can add public speaking to your growing list of communication skills.

 Quality Time With Some Talking Seals

  Not long ago, I did some writing training and presentation skills training for seven bright young SEALs, the Navy equivalent of Special Forces. When they're not "operational" in South America or Bosnia or Afghanistan or Iraq, these seven guys test new weapons and tactics at the Naval Special Weapons Development Group in Virginia Beach, Va.

  Having covered the Pentagon for Business Week magazine, my expectations were low when it comes to military writing skills -- jargony, acronym-clogged, even pompous-sounding language. I was in for a pleasant surprise. To be sure, the SEALs were a bit wordy, but they quickly grasped the key to any workplace writing: Get to the point. Tell me what you want. Persuade me to adopt a new policy or spend money, analyze a complex situation, or explain a new development. Then tell me why I should be interested, what's in it for me. From there, you support that idea with details.

  What's more, respect me, and all readers, by being concise. Quoting the English poet Robert Southey: "If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams -- the more they are condensed the deeper they burn." That's quite a leap from modern-day elite warriors to a Romantic Age poet, isn't it? Still, it's all about deploying the language we share to achieve effective communication, using words wisely and economically and with conviction.

  I heard something else from the SEALs that makes me think all is not lost when it comes to military writing today. Their superiors have introduced  them to a writing organization concept called "bottom line up front." Makes sense, doesn't it? Get to the point. Unfortunately, that leaves us with the acronym BLUF. I wonder if the powers-that-be would like to rephrase that.