Everyone needs a story
So she sat looking suspicious at me from the middle of the room. I was pretty sure she didn’t ‘buy’ what I was selling about the need to have your own signature story. After all, this is a group of highly motivated, intelligent and soon to be MBA’s from the Fisher College of Business.
There it came. “I don’t see any reason why anyone else needs to know our story,” she blurted out after seeing two colleagues get up and recite what they thought were each other’s “signature” stories.
I wanted to reply, “What do you have to hide?” But instead, posed the question back to the group. The answers I got were expected: So someone can refer you, so people know what you don’t want to do, so you can have a reputation in the field of your choice, and so on. I suspect her question was rooted in a disdain for people knowing her personal life. But we all have different stories about ourselves, and the one I tell about my tennis career or being a mom rarely comes out when I’m coaching or teaching public speaking, presentations or storytelling. It isn’t relevant.
But it was reinforced to me, in this Leadership and Professional Development Program class that I was teaching on Storytelling, that not everyone is comfortable telling their story – even if they want to.
That was evidenced later in the class by a young woman of Asian decent who was distraught. She wanted to share her story and her great achievements, but her culture, she explained, held her back. After a few minutes of explaining the different ways of overcoming that barrier, she found some freedom in being able to talk about the problems she’d solve, not just the trophies she’d won. She honored me with a blog post reflecting on this experience, and I’d like to honor her for being wholehearted, knowing she was vulnerable but had some interesting things to share. That, to me, was a great story in and of itself.
No CommentsConvert the conversation to a presentation
Every conversation we have is with ourselves. And on occasion it involves someone else.
Every time I repeat this quote, I get a good chuckle out of my audience. It’s the nervous kind, that says, uh, you are probably talking about me.
Last week when I was teaching a class of MBA students at the OSU Fisher College of Business on how to develop their signature stories as they enter the workforce, one of them got up and started giving her talk.
But it was really a conversation she was having with herself. It just happened to be in front of her 60 peers and me.
This month’s tip is one we take for granted: Convert the conversation to a presentation.
I see this all the time in my public speaking and presentation training, and not just with students. An executive will forget that they have a specific message to deliver and they just start rambling. And what they are really rambling off is that conversation they’ve been having – most likely with themselves. You know this pain.
So, are your presentations for your audience or yourself? Are they thoughtfully planned stories with which your audience can relate or… did they just get crafted from a dream, a book, a meeting or even disaster that happened to you recently?
Make sure when you draft your talk or presentation, it starts not with “what do I want to share today,” but rather, “what will my audience care to hear?”
And that’s when you become a convert. Your audience will be one too – a fan of your talk and your message.
No Comments11 things to look forward to in 2011
Last year when we launched ar.tic.u.la.tion in mid-summer, we had no idea that we’d get the overwhelming response that we did. Between individual style coaching, signature story development advising and some unique teaching opportunities, we feel very lucky. But we know we need to work hard for that luck, so here are the top 11 things we’re focused on for 2011….(at least that we know of on this new year’s day!)
1. A vendor’s relationship with Nationwide, our hometown insurance conglomerate. We’ve been approved to work inside with their executives on speaking and presentations. This means if you work for Nationwide, you have a new source for presentation and public speaking coaching / training. If you work for another company and want the same opportunity, let us know!
2. A trip to TEDActive. This is the sister event to the ‘big’ TED, the annual event that showcases the best in new innovating thinking, trending and creations, in February. After two years of doing a wide variety of TEDx initiatives, I’m looking forward to being at a TED (okay, it’s not that hard seeing it’s in Palm Springs!)
3. Headed to the Experience Columbus (our visitor’s bureau) annual meeting in March? We’ll have a major role in shaping the stories and presentations for what will be a very different, well, experience, for them and their audience of 1000.
4. A teaching arrangement for some MBA workshops at the Fisher College of Business. We’ll start in January after Innovation Director Mike Bills does his personal branding seminar, I’ll follow up with translating that brand into your own story. You know, the answer you may struggle to find when you are asked during a job search process (or in that proverbial elevator), “What’s your story?”
5. Exploring new workshops and collaborations with Wendy Hardman, my alter-ego of presentation design. Watch for announcements early in the year. In the meantime, check out her site if you’ve got an annual meeting coming up and have a talent deficit on your team for understanding everything about presentation slide design.
6. Big ideas around TEDxColumbus. Nancy Kramer and I are noodling hard on this one. No news yet, but we are debating very exciting opportunities around what has become a very successful showcase of amazing local talent and their ideas worth spreading.
7. Weekly blog posts (right here!) on ar.tic.u.la.tion. We preach it, now it’s time for us to step up and live it. Our editorial calendar is already packed for the first quarter!
8. Live talk critiques. Once a month, we’ll attend a talk, speech or lecture and post our feedback on style, content, memorability, audience engagement, and more. If you want to nominate a talk to be critiqued, just email me.
9. A very personal one: Exchange of services with Amy Marzluff, a health coach. While I learn from her best integrative health techniques, she’s getting brushed up on her speaking skills. While I learn to diversify our new Gluten Free life (due to a child being diagnosed with celiac last year), she’s reaching new bounds with her workshops and seminars. I’m so excited about this partnership.
10. Monthly tip emails. At last! We didn’t quite get these off the ground this year, but already have the many tips already in line. If you want to subscribe, just enter your email here. We promise they will be brief and informative! We’ll include some of our favorite new reads and of course, TED talks.
11. Meeting YOUR needs. Please let us know if you would like a workshop, brown bag idea lunch or our signature one-on-one ar.tic.u.la.tion coaching for you or your associates. We have a variety of workshops, curricula and exercises ready to adapt to your specific situation.
And with that, Happy New Year. May it be filled with plenty of time and thought to create your own spectacular public speaking moments.
No CommentsSo you have invited someone to talk, eh?
This is a note to organizers. Your role in getting a speaker ready to talk is as important as the speaker’s own preparation.
In the last post about the “What If” event, there was a fatal flaw on behalf of the organizers. I thought I’d illuminate our top three forget-me-nots that every organizer needs to know. Read More