Your message and other things you say

After some sickness putting us out of commission a bit, we’re back in business. Sickness makes the well times seem so much more weller.

Had a faithful reader give this tip, and I can’t believe I didn’t know it or discover it before. You should know by now I’m a HUGE fan of video as the ultimate objective observer, and I watch lots of videos of other presenters and online training. My only problem is the lack of time to watch more. With Windows Media player, we can do it a bit more expeditiously.

Right mouse click on the video you are watching standalone or embedded in a web page and select Play Speed -> Fast (Ctrl - Shift G for us keyboard junkies). This ups the speed some 40%, which means your one hour video plays in 40-some-odd minutes.

Worried about understanding? I routinely show in my classes that you can hear twice as fast as most people can talk, so speed is not the issue (unless language translation is thrown in). Since most folks watch video as background anyway, this is a way to be more efficient in our viewing.

I have not found a way to speed up YouTube videos yet.

Speed up viewing videos and audio to save time.

I witnessed a great apology today.  At Toastmasters, we are frequently sarcastic and sometimes even caustic with one another (mostly the guys), and today was a light-hearted and enjoyable example of friends getting after one another.  It escalated quickly, with one member good-naturedly ribbing another with a direct comment that was laughed at, but probably inappropriate, and could have been hurtful (although I don’t think it was).  So where’s the problem?  Good friends (especially guys) often rib one another and in some places it is even confirmation that people are comfortable.  But in this audience, there were others who might not have been comfortable, and at least one visitor who was just sitting there watching the goings-on in wonder.

So the comment was ill-advised.  Big deal.  It faded as the program started, but the offender found himself speaking shortly thereafter.  He suprised everyone and decided to use the floor to apologize.

And he did a great job.  He stated in no uncertain terms that it was an inappropriate comment and addressed the offended (or not) party directly.  A few folks tried to make light of it and claim it was deserved, but he took the high road and said, “No, I shouldn’t have said that.“  Plain.  Simple. Direct.  Fully accepting responsibility.

In light of today’s political climate where no one seems to take responsibilty or credit for anything, and athletes use press releases to make mock apologies to regain their sponsorships, it was refreshing to hear such a short, direct, and appropriate apology.  Some simple rules for a good apology:

1. The scope of the apology should match the scope of the offense (don’t apologize to one when the offense was in front of 100, or vice versa)
2. The sooner the apology, the better
3. Don’t bring anything into an apology that even hints of an excuse. State the offense and accept that it was wrong.
4. Don’t take an offered out — own up.
5. Say it once, sincerely, and move on.

Apologies are harder to make than the offenses they supposedly make up for.  But done correctly, they can also gain more credibility and respect than the offense can lose.

Make good, sincere, appropriate apologies.

Had a guy last night offer up an English nugget to me. He was a very interesting guy — a true Renaissance man who was also a Toastmaster DTM (highest level possible). As we connected and talked, I used an incorrect word and he paused and said, “I’m going to correct you and you’re never going to forget this.”

He then explained the etymology of the words I confused. I used podium (something you stand on, from the Greek word podion for pod/foot) for lectern (something you put papers on and stand behind, from the Latin lectum, to read). He was right — I’ll never forget it.

The general populous speaks, writes, and understands poorly, and few if any will ever correct your grammar (I had an I/me problem the night before that my dad — who was hearing me speak for the first time — caught). But if we speak incorrectly and some select people do catch it, our credibility takes a hit, even if it’s just with a few. Someone who is a member of the self-proclaimed grammar police doesn’t overlook such transgressions easily. And just one audience member lost unnecessarily is a shame, and should be a personal challenge for improvement.

Required reading for writers and speakers: Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.

I’ll be thinking of this tonight as I stand at the podium, er, lecturn.

Use correct language in speaking and writing.

Saw the importance first-hand last night of connecting with the audience via eye contact and any other way possible.  Presenting to an aviation crowd in a hotel ballroom.  202 chairs set up — brought in another 25 as we reached capacity.  Final tally was 291 and we ended with about 25 people sitting on the floor scattered all over and 40 people standing outside the doors in the foyer listening as they could.  Chairs were put in such places I could no longer easily get up the aisles or transition from one side of the room to the other without walking through the projection beam.  Folks were coming down the aisles to sit on the floor as late as 30 minutes into the program.  The previous night, we crammed 245 in a room set up for 200 (don’t tell the fire marshall).
From a presenter’s POV, it’s a good problem to have, and it drove the energy level way up to be packed.  I’m amazed people would stand for 90 minutes to listen to anyone.  But there were people literally in the corners and probably 25 folks were so far laterally they couldn’t even see the screen.  This drives home the point that the PPT cannot be the presentation.  I admit I did have a few sight gags those folks likely missed.  So coming out of those gags, I made a point to go to them physically and visually, staying a little longer in the corners than I otherwise would, making sure that they felt a part of the program.

I’m always amazed at the reaction of those folks on the back row — probably about a dozen rows back in this case — who perk up when we clearly connect with them via eye contact.  One guy who I connected with the first time lit up with a huge smile when it was apparent I was making a point to him.  When I asked the next rhetorical question, he made sure he was the one to answer.

Since I was unable to easily get back to my laptop and had to handle a microphone issue there (the sound system had some problems), I assigned an audience member to do it for me.  He took on the task with a gusto I could never have mustered, allowing me a needed break for water and a chance to not only connect with him, but stay physically connected to those corner folks at the same time a task had to be done 40 feet away.

Regardless of how you do it, connecting with the audience is critical to a good message.

Listened to a speaker introduce his topic with a summary statement directed to his audience:

“We are able to do that for you.  I hope you will feel free to chime in whenever…”

But there was one major problem.  He didn’t pause when he hit the period.  So it sounded more like “We are able to do that for you, I hope.  You will feel free to chime in whenever…“  The effect was a strong statement turned into a fingers-crossed wish.

In the spoken word, punctuation is made with pauses and inflection.  Without it the audience will have a tough time following all the nuances subleties and groupings that are natural in our messages this causes the audience to work harder to understand and process the information the net result is a message that is muddled eventually the audience just tunes out message missed.

The interesting result is that by speaking slower — with more pauses/’punctuation’ — a speaker will actually speed up the transfer of information, because the audience can process it better.  You probably had to read the previous paragraph twice to get all that was stated.  The same would be true with the spken word.  Making it digestsible makes it quicker for you to move on.

Give your audience a chance to digest the message with appropriate and plentiful pauses, functioning as punctuation.