FRANCISCO SARAIVA

As a Chief Catalyst of CK Consultants, Chendil believes that speaking well is a vital part of his role. Not only that, Chendil is also a communications trainer, teacher and toastmaster based in Karnataka, India. He is connected with the Bangalore Toastmasters Club and is also the Founder President of Smedley Speakers Society.

His blog CK Online- Communicate to Connect was recently included in Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop (All the Top Stories in the World) web site, which I also featured in a recent post.

I had the chance to interview Chendil about his expertise as a public speaker and here is what he has to say:

“What were the main benefits you got from your Toastmasters experience?”

CK: Self esteem, a new career. My business in industrial adhesives was in bad shape. I was hounded by my creditors and it was a miserable existence. However, every Wednesday evening, I saw a transformation in me. I came home smiling, fresh from a Toastmasters meeting, where I frequently won ribbons for the ‘Best Table Topics Speaker’. I was liked and befriended because of my sense of humor and this feeling made me more resilient and slowly I bounced back by closing my business and taking a new avatar as a corporate trainer, exploiting my public speaking skills. I have visited 17 countries and command a decent price by working with some of the Fortune 100 companies and am a guest faculty at one of the leading B schools in the world. I owe my present status to TOASTMASTERS.

Most important, I am able to enable confidence in my trainees and no words can describe my sense of fulfillment when my trainees mail me to say what a difference I have made in their lives.

I heartily endorse what Helen Blanchard, the first woman TM International President once said “ If you can GET out of Toastmasters, all that you CAN get out of Toastmasters, then you can never get OUT of Toastmasters !”

“As a corporate trainer you focus on the sense of humor as an important tool which helps connect, build rapport and educate. What are the main challenges your clients face when they try to incorporate humor in their speeches and presentations?”

CK: Most of my clients find it difficult to get out of their comfort zone of making straight laced, data dump type of presentations. Some of them feel humor dilutes the importance of their presentations. Others can’t distinguish between humor and jokes. But a majority of them feel they are not humorous by nature and dread the thought of their humor bombing.

However, when some of my clients have used humor to link and involve their audience, they have reported a dramatic transformation in their confidence levels.

“Even the most advanced speaker has challenges and can improve in some area. What is the public speaking challenge you are working at right now? If you could choose anyone in the world to be your mentor and to help you in taking your public speaking skills to the next level, who would that be?

CK: My challenge is to master the art of repartee. As a Toastmaster, I get an opportunity every week to answer table topics. I find I ramble aimlessly when I get a vague topic. I want to be able to be quick witted and come up with a sensible response to ticklish questions.

I wish I could go back to my first public speaking coach Garnet Rego to take me to the next level in public speaking. He urged us to speak from the heart and always challenged us to reach higher.

Chendil’s touching story inspires ordinary people like us to strive further and reach for our goals. His story is a shining example of what Toastmasters can do to your life and well being. You can read more about Chendil on his blog CK Online: Communicate to Connect.

Pete Ryckman is a strategic messaging consultant and speechwriter for CEOs. His years of experience on the job make him one of the best speechwriters there is. Pete gave me the privilege recently, to ask him a few questions regarding his expertise as a speechwriter.

Q: If you were recruiting a speechwriter, what will you look for?

A: Successful speechwriters need four key skills. They must write for the ear. They need to write clearly and simply. They should write in the executive voice. And they’ve got to be able to create a detailed audience analysis.

* Writing for the ear: Every day, we read thousands of words in business communications, newspapers, books, and on the Web. They’re written for the eye — and that’s the way we receive them.

A speech is a completely different animal. It needs to be written for the ears of the audience. When the audience hears a speech, they’re using a different part of the brain. If the speech isn’t working as spoken communication, it isn’t working at all.

* Writing clearly and simply: Here’s a fundamental fact that influences how speeches are structured: the audience doesn’t have the script. Audience members have to make sense of the speaker’s ideas on the fly.

It’s as if they’re stringing together “idea beads” on a string — in real time. If the structure of the speech is too complex, it’s like giving the audience too many idea beads at one time. They’re going to drop some of them. And, in the process, they’re going to get confused. When audience members get overwhelmed or lost, they check out.

* Writing in the executive voice: Too many speeches are put together by content experts in the organization. Often, these speeches wind up being “a white paper on wheels.” They’re loaded with information. They have lots of facts and data. And, on paper, they make a pretty strong case.

But too often, the speaker never seems to take ownership of the content. That’s a big mistake. If the speaker isn’t taking ownership of the content, why should the audience?

Successful speakers vigorously communicate their ownership and belief in their content. They say, “I believe” — “I’m convinced” — “In my experience.”

* Creating a detailed audience analysis: I’m convinced that the root cause of the failure of many speeches lies in lack of understanding of the audience and the occasion.

The preparation of every speech needs to be based on a detailed audience analysis. Who is the audience? Why are they there? What do they think of the speaker and the speaker’s organization? What are they expecting the speaker to talk about? Is the audience friendly, neutral, apathetic, or hostile?

With a detailed audience analysis in hand, speech preparation becomes much easier. The speaker, speechwriter, visual developers, and PR people all have a much clearer idea of what the speech needs to do to be understood and believed by the audience.

Q: What are the significant challenges that the majority of your speechwriting clients have in common?

A: The CEOs I work with don’t have enough time in the day to handle all the problems that land on their desks. My job, as a speechwriter, is to add hours to the CEO’s week by being his or her representative in the speech development process.

I’m very proactive. For example, many times, with long-term clients, I arrive at the first client meeting with a very detailed audience analysis and a detailed outline of speech content.

The audience analysis information is gathered from conference and event organizers, in-company experts, and outside research (got to love the World Wide Web!). The audience analysis covers demographics, event details, a complete program agenda, and expectations of the audience members.

In this first meeting, after we’ve reviewed the audience analysis, I talk my way through the proposed content outline. It’s usually in traditional outline format or a graphical mind map.

There’s a significant amount of risk in jumping right to a detailed outline. In 24 years of CEO-level speechwriting — and more than 800 speeches — here’s how the outcomes breakdown. About a third of the time the client says, “Good start. Let’s add this, take out that, and emphasize this point.” A third of the time it’s, “Much of what you’ve got is usable but I want to organize it around a different big idea.” And a third of the time the client says, “Not even close. Forget this and start over. Here’s what I want to say.”

Overall, my “quick start” process works really well as a way to add value to the client’s time. By the end of the first meeting (usually about 30 minutes) both of us have a very clear idea of what happens next. Plus, the proactive speechwriter gets credit for pushing the project along and taking weight off the speaker’s shoulders.

Q: In your blog, Memo to C-Level Speakers you say that too many speeches are “over planned, overloaded, and over scripted.” What do you suggest as solutions for these problems?

A: A major CEO speech at a high-value event (such as a major customer conference, shareholders’ meeting, or analyst presentation) is a big deal. I’ve seen good scripts get over planned by corporate communications and PR people who want to stuff their entire “message framework” into the speech. This happens even though the result absolutely doesn’t work for the audience.

Speeches-by-committee are often overloaded with facts, statistics, examples, and data. They often have too many visuals with mind-boggling amounts of detail. Committees have a “This is what we want to say” attitude — with little or no regard to what the audience wants and needs to hear. The results are predictable. Audiences tune out — and the whole exercise becomes a waste of time and resources.

Speeches are often over scripted. When speakers are short of preparation time (almost always) they just read the script. Most of the time, this doesn’t work for the audience. When a speaker reads a speech — head down, plowing ahead — he or she is saying to the audience, “I’m up here suffering and you should be suffering too.”

One thing you can depend on is that audiences love good stories. Stories organize and illustrate big, complex ideas and make them memorable. But instead of reading a story, the speaker should just tell it, as if they’re having a conversation with a friend.

Let’s say the big idea of the speech is “globalization is here to stay.” The script can have a line in it like this: (Tell the “local engineering firm with worldwide-projects” story.)

The speaker tells this personal story in his or her own words. It doesn’t have to be smoothed, polished, and honed to perfection. In fact, a little “rough-around-the-edges” makes it more authentic.

But the moral of the story — the big idea of the speech — is scripted. “A lot of people mistakenly think that globalization isn’t a part of their business. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Right here in this city — just a few miles from this room — a local engineering firm now has projects that are 13 time zones away. A decade ago, virtually all of their projects were within a few hundred miles of here. Now, their world is the world.”

What are the lessons here? Successful speeches are custom tailored to fit each specific audience and occasion. The big ideas in these successful speeches are built around memorable, authentic stories. And these stories are supported by just enough facts, statistics, data, and visuals to make the stories believable.

Pete Ryckman is a veteran speechwriter with 24 years of experience writing at the CEO level. His blog, Memo to C-Level Speakers (http://memotospeakers.typepad.com) offers practical, nuts-and-bolts advice to management speakers. Pete also teaches a unique, 14-week course for communications professionals who want to advance their careers by learning the craft of speechwriting.

Tony Burns and Olivia Mitchell help their clients gain confidence and credibility when they’re presenting to a group. Tony and Olivia run a presentation training business known as Effective Speaking, based in Wellington, New Zealand. They also have a very insightful blog site Speaking About Presenting which gives people tips and new ideas on the different aspects of effective presentation and public speaking.

We had the opportunity to interview Tony and Olivia on certain topics about public speaking and they were very warm to accommodate us. Here it is:

“You have an interesting concept: “Be your own coach”. Can you elaborate on that?”

“Our “Be your own Coach” page on our website is about giving people guidance on assessing how they come across. There’s a distinction between an effective business presentation and a winning Toastmaster speech. So our guidance is not focused on body language and vocal variety - but on your credibility and the connection you’re making with the audience.”

“What are the main challenges in public speaking that the majority of your clients have in common?”

“There are two. The first is that most inexperienced people focus on their delivery of the presentation - how they’re going to come across to the audience. Some of our course participants expect our courses to be entirely about delivery. But the most important aspect of a business presentation is the content. Preparing relevant, structured content supported by engaging examples is the key to an effective presentation.

The second is dealing with nervousness. Nerves affect many people from young ones starting out on their careers to CEO’s. In dealing with nerves, I believe that we should learn from what works with extreme fears such as phobias. Cognitive behavioral therapy is now recognized as being one of the most effective treatments. For more information on this, see the articles on our website about using cognitive therapy to overcome the fear of public speaking.”

”You talk a lot about rehearsing the speech before delivering it in front of a live audience. Don’t you feel that some people rehearse so much that when they deliver they are just acting and that the communication style is not congruent with their own personality?”

“It has to be the right sort of rehearsal. I don’t believe in memorizing a speech or presentation. And I think that the practice of choreographing and rehearsing gestures is a recipe for artificiality.

“A presentation is about communicating ideas - not a specific set of words in a particular order. Here is an advice that a professional speaker once gave me regarding keeping a presentation fresh - “say it a different way every time”. And so it should be in rehearsal.

The advantage of rehearsal is that the content of your presentation becomes second nature. That means that during the presentation you’re not thinking “what’s coming next”. Instead you can focus entirely on your audience and connecting with them.”

Visit Tony and Olivia’s website, www.effectivespeaking.co.nz and their blog www.speakingaboutpresenting.com. You can contact them at info@effectivespeaking.co.nz.

This 19:29 minute-video lecture by Sir Ken Robinson in 2006 is very informative and enlightening. He was able to clearly stress his point that creativity is as equally important in education as literacy, and as such should be treated equally.

The manner by which he conducted his lecture is very formal but with interjections of humor and personal experiences enticing interest from the audience. Mr. Robinson’s thrust in bringing education outside the four-walled classroom could be very well pictured with examples of true-to-life encounters of people he met.

According to Sir Ken Robinson there are three themes running through out the conference as evidenced by the speeches delivered in the different sessions of the conference. The first theme is the extraordinary evidence of human creativity as was shown by a little girl who was a guest at the conference the previous night.

The second is the unpredictability of the future but none the less we prepare for it through education and we expect our education to take us into the future we can not even grasp.

The third is the extraordinary capacity of children for innovation. Sir Ken Robinson stressed the fact that children are most innovative because they are not afraid to be wrong, and this is precisely what is wrong with our educational systems. According to him the biggest mistake one can make is to be wrong. He strongly believes that if one is afraid to be wrong one can not be creative.

Sir Ken Robinson believes that the hierarchy of subjects in the educational system everywhere in the world makes it difficult for us to recognize the real essence of education. He observes that schools tend to prioritize subjects like math, languages and the sciences over the arts which according to him are as important to the development of the students as the subjects on top of the hierarchy.

He believes that we give a second thought to the idea and essence our systems of education are predicated upon, with the view that intelligence is diverse [multiple intelligences], dynamic in the sense that is a product of the interactions of many factors, and it is distinct in that different people think in different ways.

Sir Ken Robinson ended his talk with a call to help our children discover their own capacities and prepare them for the future which they will live.