Executive Presentation Training 101:
The mic is always hot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As soon as you enter a media or presentation environment assume everything you say and do is being recorded. Heck, as soon as you enter 7-11 these days you are on videotape. There are fewer and fewer corners of the world where what you say isn’t subject to scathing public replay and scrutiny.

Consider poor California assemblyman Michael Duvall who was recently caught on tape boasting about his sexual peccadilloes, with  a couple of lobbyists no less. He should be the one getting spanked—but I guess losing your job and mortally embarrassing your family and friends, to say nothing of your political party,  is masochistic enough.

The moral irony is almost too much. Here we have another politician who espouses, who publicly and passionately champions one thing and does another. Well, no surprise there. That’s hardly even news anymore.

Maybe one day we’ll do a blog on the return of the shadow, or why successful people so often self-destruct. But for now let’s take a presentation skills training lesson from this poor man’s stupid demise.

Is that too harsh?

Is stupid too strong a word for boasting about your sexual indiscretions in a public place like the legislative chambers? That’s bad enough, but while wearing a mic?

Let’s see, how many political and business figures have been caught with their pants down, I mean, with their mics on when they thought they were speaking in private? Too many to count. You would think this lesson would be learned by now.

So let’s say this one more time. As soon as you enter an environment where there are cameras, recording equipment and other conveyances for capturing your image and words consider yourself speaking publicly. Why risk it?

Howard Stableford covers this topic of live mics with humor and insight in his downloadable audiobook, which you can get for subscribing. It’s at the top right of this page.

Related posts:

1. TV Interview at Your Office?
2. Should CEOs Speak Up?
3. Why Online Presentation Coaching Works

What does it mean to be an authentic communicater?

“You are perfect, just as you are (and you can use a little improvement).”
–Shunryu Suzuki

Over the past 11 years I’ve coached literally hundreds of executives through a surprising and sometimes grueling mock TV interview at the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

And the funny thing is, with few exceptions the executives who go through this interview, no matter how much (or little) media training or exposure they’ve had feel that they did terribly.

Even after a sumptuous dinner it’s with a somber, hangman gallows humor that they enter the debrief room that evening to watch themselves and hear commentary from a psychologist, their peers and me.

With the lights dimmed they watch themselves objectively, some for the first time. And just as predictably, what most see is pleasantly surprising. They did well. At the very least they were adequate. They weren’t terrible like they first suspected. And to others they seemed perfectly natural and competent.

Of course, there are always a few imperfections, but they are mostly slight and easily correctible with just a little practice. (More on that in a future blog).

Perhaps you are saying, “Well, yeah. You are working with high level executives. Of course they are going to be good already.” And that is true, but only in part. Most are excellent communicators already–but not necessarily in front of a camera. Most are extremely bright. But they, just like you and me, have a certain trepidation when being filmed for TV.

Maybe it’s because unlike in person, or even a group presentation, there isn’t that sense of audience. There’s no feedback, just the daunting red glare of the live camera light. It’s hard to feel comfortable with an interviewer you just met two minutes ago and who is now asking uncomfortable questions. You have no idea how you are coming across and at this point many businesspeople resort to a kind of executive speak. They retreat to safety, speaking abstractly and in generalities. It’s as if they were addressing a board interested only in a strategic 50,000 foot view of their operations. But even this is fine, as far as it goes.

One of the questions asked, often the last, is a personal question. “Tell me about your new grandchild,” I might say. Or, “What about that scuba trip you just took.” Or, “I hear that on weekends you like to play in a rock-n-roll band at your church?” Inevitably, the veneer of seriousness disappears. A smile forms. And a different person speaks.

Who is that person? And why has he or she been hiding all this time? That person speaks naturally. They laugh. They show enthusiasm and energy. There is an aliveness, a sparkle in their eye. That’s the person I feel most comfortable with. That’s the person I most like.

When I ask how they can bring some of that energy, that passion, to their previous business responses they often look puzzled. “There is no way. I mean that other stuff is serious. There is no room for levity.” True, some topics are serious. Layoffs, disappointing results, these are all worthy of, and may require a serious tone. But that’s not entirely what I mean. I want that other person, the more authentic one, to answer the question in a way that is like one person speaking to another, not someone making a statement or trying to remember what the press release said.

There are ways to create a bridge between those two personas, and to do so with integrity and authenticity. How you can do this using some of the latest research on neuro-physiology I’ll explore next week in part two of this posting.

Related posts:

1. Executive Presentation Training
2. Leadership Communication: Speak with the power of a king
3. Speaking with the Power of a King (part 2)

Click here to view the embedded video.

You just got the call.

A TV crew wants to interview you!

Finally, your chance to talk to the media, to get some great, well deserved, long-overdue publicity.

One problem. They want to come to your office and film you there. Hmmm.

Before you say yes, take a look at this video.

Related posts:

1. Mike Duvall: What do you mean the mic was hot?
2. Leadership Communication: Speak with the power of a king
3. How will you learn to be a great speaker?