Effective Presentations and Body Positioning

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When giving a presentation or speech, what goes through your mind? Often, you are so focused on the content of the presentation that sometimes you forget important things like whether you brought the correct USB drive or even whether your zipper or shirt is properly buttoned. The content remains king in your mind.

Now, contrast the aforementioned scenario to one where you’re listening to a presentation. What goes through your mind initially? You may notice the presenter’s clothing, voice, or style of delivery. If something is off, it takes some time to pay attention to the presenter’s content. For example, suppose the presenter’s shirt has one too many buttons unbuttoned. You may be thinking about his appearance rather than his presentation.

Typically you start paying attention to the presenter’s content only after you’ve made note of her appearance and speaking skills. It’s clear that effective communication begins with a first impression. It’s also clear that speaking effectively from a podium requires one to simulate the podium experience. What’s not always clear is that body positioning is an under appreciated aspect of giving an effective presentation. Where do you stand during your presentation? If you do walk around, how much do you walk around?

Instead of standing in the middle of the stage or room and going through the points one by one or randomly walking around, try this body positioning technique. Let C be the center of the stage, podium, or simply where you’ll be speaking. L will be two or three steps to the left of C and R will be two or three steps to the right of C so that the configuration will look something like this:

L – C – R.

First, take two steps to your right when giving your first main point so that you are standing at R. If it’s impossible to take one or two steps, then simply turn your body so that your chest is angled toward your right. Spend the entire first point, with your body in this section. You can look and make eye contact at different focal points, but position your body so that you are standing at section R or position your body so that your chest is angled toward your right. 90% of the audience will be right handed and will naturally look to their left (your right) first. This technique is typically most effective if you execute the steps after your introduction so that the first main point and positioning at section R coincide.

Second, step to your left when giving your second main point so that you are standing at point L. This means taking three to four steps from R to L in the L-C-R configuration. If it’s impossible to step to your left, then simply turn your body so that your chest is angled toward your left. Spend the entire second point, with your body in section L or with your chest angled toward your left.

Third, for your next point, go back to point C and position your body so that your chest points straight towards the middle of audience.

Repeat, for as many points as you have. Another option is to wait until your last three points to take your first step or to do it for just the first three points. You’ll find that your audience will be able to better distinguish between your main points and your presentation will have more stickiness. Another benefit is that you will have a clear reminder of which main point you are giving.

The invisible man or woman

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Invisible is an option, of course. You can lay low, not speak up and make no difference to anyone. That’s sort of like dividing by zero, though. You’ll get no criticism, but no delight either. – Seth Godin

Some qualities of being invisible:

- It’s safe. No one can hurt you because no one can see you.
- It’s easy. Laying low means never putting anything out there.
- It’s quiet. If you speak up, people may know where you are so to be truly invisible is to be quiet.
- It’s comfortable. You’re accountable to nobody, just yourself. Most of us are usually easy on ourselves.

Safe. Easy. Quiet. Comfortable. If you want to be a difference maker, in particular a leader who makes a difference in this world, then these four qualities are probably the qualities you most want to avoid. However, if you want to be a difference maker in this world then we need to be visible. How? Simply look at the qualities of being invisible and consider when you need to be the opposite of safe, easy, quiet, and comfortable.

How can you be more visible in your life today?

 

Recruiting from the lower tier

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If you had the choice to hire someone from a top-tier school or a lower-tier school, which would you choose? This is usually not even a serious question, since the answer seems obvious to most: hire the best possible candidate with the best possible training which typically includes the criteria of having attended the best possible schools.

The Taj Group, however, believes they’re better off recruiting from lower-tier schools for their top management positions.1 Here’s why:

“For the company’s topmost echelons, the Taj Group signs up 50 or so management trainees every year from India’s second- and third-tier B-schools… It doesn’t recruit from the premier institutions, as the Taj Group has found that MBA graduates from lower-tier B-schools want to build careers with a single company, tend to fit in better with a customer-centric culture, and aren’t driven solely by money.”

The Taj Group has decided to strategically recruit in this manner because they believe that a potential leader’s commitment is as important as their educational background. The fact that these recruits have graduated from lower-tier business schools is enough, they believe the minimal business/technical qualifications have been met. Yet, they’ve seen humility and commitment from this group that they have not seen/or have seen rarely in graduates from top-tier business schools.

This is a bold move, since most organizations are blinded by the more visible qualifications such as educational background when in fact there exist other valuable qualifications that are often found in those who are not from top-tier schools. Perhaps, some companies have overvalued the prestige factor or have simply overlooked the fact that there are other qualities of a recruit that are equally valuable.

Give up what you’re good at

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Something interesting about leadership is that the higher you go up an organization, to be promoted, you must let go of the very thing that got you there. Here’s a statement about this transition from Harvard Business School‘s Executive Education Program:

Most managers achieve success in the early phases of their careers through increased specialization—continually refining their expertise in a single functional area. At some point in their careers, however, the best of these specialists face a difficult challenge: to re-create themselves as generalists. Almost overnight, they must develop new skills and adopt a business wide perspective to become effective strategists, organization builders, and leaders.

Suppose you were an engineer and had a Ph.D. in engineering. Or perhaps you have a background in finance or IT. In your first position, or perhaps even your second position, you would be hired because of your expertise in engineering, finance, or IT. However, in your third promotion or beyond, you would most likely have been promoted for reasons that had nothing to do with engineering, finance, or IT. You may have gone from being an engineer, to head of an engineering unit, to head of a division, to becoming a VP, and then into the C-suite. The further you go up this chain, the further you are from that first specialization/first job.

What will get you promoted? The most clear answer is that it has nothing to do with your speciality. So you do not get promoted by being an excellent engineer, though that may be the very reason they hired you in the first place. At this point something else is required, leadership. What do leaders know that others do not know? What do they practice to get that promotion or raise? The most obvious first step is that they have to give up what they are good at to become a leader in their organization. This is a hard thing to do. Can you give up the very thing that you excel at? Can you give up the years of education, training, and mindset that you have put into your specialization? If not, you may be an excellent engineer or finance whiz but it’s very unlikely you’ll truly become a high level leader in your organization.

Leading from the back?

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Often people have this view that leaders lead from the front. They show others where to go by acting first. This is true of course. Leaders do need to show others where to go, how to get there, and especially the “why” of going in the first place. However, many believe that this is all that is required of leaders to lead – being first in all things.

There’s another aspect of leadership, however, that often appears in leaders who have led for more than 30 or 40 years – and that’s leading from the back. Some call this “servant leadership.” The idea is that leadership requires that one not only lead by being first in all things but also being last. That is, putting the needs of others above one’s own interests and needs. Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, and others often display this trait. They are world class leaders who excel both in leading from the front and leading from the back. To ignore leading from the back is to ignore one of the most powerful traits of being an effective leader. What kind of leader are you?

It’s, its, your, and you’re

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Look at these sentences can you pick out the incorrect ones?

  1. Its raining outside.
  2. It’s raining outside.
  3. Your car is being towed.
  4. You’re car is being towed.

Both 1 and 4 are incorrect. (2 and 3 are correct.)

The most common grammatical error I see on presentations is between it’s and its. The second most common error I see is between your and you’re. The difference between its and it’s is simple. It’s (with the apostrophe) = It is. If you use it’s, be sure that you can replace it’s with it is. So sentence 2 is correct because you can substitute It’s with It is. Sentence 1 is incorrect. The confusion is that we often add an apostrophe for other words which have a similar meaning to its. For example, Jenny’s car is outside. The apostrophe indicates that the car belongs to Jenny. It is possessive. However, the possessive form of it = its (without the apostrophe). If you remember this it will help you not to confuse the two terms.

The difference between your and you’re is also pretty straightforward. You’re (with the apostrophe) = You are. So sentence 4 is incorrect since if you replace you’re with you are, the sentence is nonsensical – You are car is being towed.  The word your indicates possession. Your mother, your father, your job, your car, your house, your apple, your computer, or your apple computer. You’re = You are.

You’re done reading this post. It’s important to remember that it’s easy to confuse the words ‘its’ and ‘it’s.’ I hope your day is filled with joy.

Happy Happy Workers

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Does it matter? Isn’t it enough for your products or services to be top quality? Some companies truly believe that the happiness of the employees or the workplace environment should be a top priority. Consider the following written about EC studios in Japan and Zappos in the USA.

If you examine the nuts and bolts of these companies and why their employees are so happy, perhaps you may think that it’s all about the benefits. For example, Zappos offers free lunches, concierge services, and 100% coverage of health insurance premiums. EC Studios offers a free iPhone and data plan (nearly $100/month in Japan), 140 days off including weekends and four vacations of at least 10 consecutive days, and there’s no overtime which is highly unusual in Japan. In fact, they pay for employees to visit their hometown twice/year if it’s more than 140km away which is extremely unusual (and important) in Japan since visiting one’s hometown to see family is a very important part of Japanese traditional culture.

Of course, there are other companies that offer equally great benefits including Google which is famous for great healthcare, free high quality food, and an excellent health club all on Google’s facilities so you never have to leave work. However, Google’s goal in providing these benefits is to “strip away everything that gets in our employees’ way.”

However, the goal of Zappos and EC studios is much more explicit. The goal of these companies is actually foster happiness for both their workers and their customers, the benefits are merely a means to the end goal of happiness. Zappos offers several thousand dollars for each new employee to quit, just to be sure that everyone who is working there wants to really work there. You can get an idea of their environment by looking at their blog:  Zappos Blog. At EC studios, each employee is treated to a monthly lunch with the CEO just to talk about how things are going – another highly unusual practice in Japan. It’s not just about the benefits, but rather a philosophy that is committed to the following: if you focus on the employee first, then the product/customers will take care of themselves. If you focus internally, then the external will automatically follow.

This philosophy applies to both large companies as well as smaller groups, including families. What about your company or your group? What is the goal of your company? Is this something you’d want for your company where the happiness of its employees is goal #1A or #1B? What would it look like to implement such a philosophy at your company if you were the CEO?

Ultraman

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ウルトラマン or Ultraman has had a long run. The original series only ran for about one year from 1966 to 1967. If you grew up in the USA in the 1970′s, you probably saw this show in all its glory on American Television. The most amazing thing about this show is that the original show is still popular in Japan even after 40 years! They’ve tried to update the characters with CGI graphics, better acting, and more realistic characters yet young (and older) Japanese folks still love this character. That’s true longevity. Imagine your company or your job lasting as long as ultraman’s 40+ year run.

Leadership and your experience

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Leaders often have a unique set of experiences, after all they are leaders. Does this show that their experiences are superior to their direct reports? One can have 20 years experience in an industry and be better suited for a position than someone who may have only 3 years experience. Of course, it’s also possible that the person with 20 years experience in an industry is actually relying on older methods so that he is actually not better suited for the person. Experience alone is not enough for someone to be a great leader.

A leader in providing vision, guidance, and direction for a group of people relies not only on her own experience but also on the experiences of her team. Her experiences are not superior. This is important in understanding not only how to lead your people but to recognize that the experiences of others are as valuable as your own. From the CEO down to the cleaning person, each person’s experience in their jobs/personal lives are uniquely valuable. Recognizing this fundamental connection between everyone in the organization is an important part of being a great leader. To recognize this requires much humility, which is why leaders must be humble about their own experiences relative to those that work under them.