Wednesday 18 May 2016

Bringing about a ‘change of gear’ in your business presentation

Last year I discussed – here – the pros and cons of standing or sitting for a business presentation. As almost everyone I coach soon finds for themselves, standing always comes out on top – in terms of the control, body language and eye contact benefits that you gain – but there is way to have the best of both worlds.

If you start by standing, you can then pick the right moment to ‘change gear’ by sitting down with your audience at the table. This probably comes at the moment when you have made your big points with all the presence and impact that standing affords and you now wish to move to a ‘discussion phase’. Sitting together around the table is highly appropriate at this stage and the discussion is all the more likely to go in your favour because you have just made your points so powerfully.


There was a terrific example of a ‘gear change’ in a film broadcast on BBC 2 last weekend. Margin Call is based on a true story from the banking crisis of 2008. In a desperate attempt to save the company, Kevin Spacey’s character is instructing his staff to liquidate their entire holdings, knowing that such a move will be career-ending for most of them. So he builds to a rousing tone from a standing position that adds to his presence, gives power to his voice and enables broadly-spread eye contact. Some sensitivity shows through, nevertheless, via his finger fidgeting and he knows he is going have to speak from the heart as well as his position of authority. So, having spelt out what is required, he sits down.  He lowers his voice, increases the pauses, and makes a clear show of empathy, before standing again to bark his final call to action. Interestingly – and I am sure this was carefully planned – Spacey underlines the gear changes by removing and then replacing his spectacles.

I know it’s only acting, but it is particularly fine acting and you are unlikely to find a better example of the ‘gear change’ technique that I encourage people to adopt when the moment feels right. “There is nothing I like more” I tell the people I coach, “than the moment when I realise I have won my audience over, so I shut down the PowerPoint (rather pointedly, if not theatrically) and sit down with my audience for a chat”.


You can see the scene from Margin Call that I refer to just above and the entire film is available on the BBC iPlayer until the middle of June.

Monday 9 May 2016

Is it planning or passion at the root of Prince Harry’s success as a Royal communicator for the 21st century?


Prince Harry is clearly doing a terrific job with the Invictus games – in all sorts of ways, not least by bringing modern, meaningful perspectives to the concept of Monarchy. As someone who has given the Royals a bit of stick in the past – in the 1980s I declared them ‘Britain’s Clumsiest Communicators’ and garnered a lot of self-publicity in the process – I find this particularly pleasing. 

I have always believed that there is great potential for the ‘spare to the heir’ to engage people in ways what the heir themselves is constrained from doing.  Happily, Harry appears to be succeeding in ways that we never saw with his Uncle Andrew or Great Aunt Margaret.

Sam Leith has picked up on Harry’s interview style in his Evening Standard column, noting that he refers to his fellow soldiers as ‘blokes’. He poses the thought ‘did Prince Harry calculate that “men” would sound too officer class, and that “chaps” would sound too posh?’

Now, I know that Leith has very specific expertise in this area and I might be being naïve, but is it too much to hope that Harry was simply being himself and letting his personal passions shine through? If he really ‘calculated’ that ‘blokes’ would hit the spot to best effect, then we have to start imagining that it was planning sessions between Radio 2 and Kensington Palace that led to him greeting Chris Evans with “Hello Ginge”. If that sort of thing is going on, then the whole thing is soon going to unravel.

I am just delighted that we have a bright, energised ‘spare to the heir’ who, having expressed his fear of public speaking little more than a year ago, is fast developing into a fine communicator.





Tuesday 3 May 2016

Plan a moment in your business presentation that you know you are going to enjoy – and create your ideal environment


The recent death of ad man Peter Marsh reminded me of two very useful tips for enhancing your confidence and boosting your impact in business presentations: 1) Plan a segment of your presentation that you know you are going to enjoy 2) Wherever possible, make the environment work for your presentation as much as what you say and what you show.

Together with Rod Allen at the agency Allen Brady & Marsh, Peter Marsh was the brains behind the famous R White's "secret lemonade drinker" and "gotta lotta bottle" campaign for milk. They were the kings of the catchy jingle and became known for an overtly theatrical style of presentation. This extended to creating an environment that best suited their presentations. Most famously of all they purposely turned up late for a British Rail pitch, where the client waited at a table with half-empty coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays. Just as the client was about to leave, Marsh appeared and said: "You've just seen what the public think of British Rail. Now let's see what we can do to put it right". The agency won the business.

Now, I’m not going to suggest you should wear white suits or go into song and dance routines, as Peter Marsh did. That’s all a bit 1970s anyway, but the point is that he was clearly enjoying himself as he drew on his background as an actor. There is much to be said for letting a little more of the ‘real you’ shine through – you are likely to excel and your audience will warm to you.


More specifically, having a segment that you know you are going to enjoy presenting will underpin your confidence as you move towards it, then you can bask in a bit a glory as you move on from it, towards your all-important Call to Action.

I have a number of little moments that I enjoy in my training sessions and talks. It won’t really help to quote them here out of context but they tend to be short videos, little anonomised stories from training sessions, and references from magic, movies and music.

As for creating environments that support the presentation, I can be more forthcoming. I used to work in Drinks PR and was always faced with having to launch products out of season. So for a summer drink I was announcing in February I hired a theatre backdrop of an English garden on a summer’s day and brought my outdoor furniture into the boardroom. Similarly, when selling a promotion for an after-dinner drink, I divided the long boardroom table into two. When the moment came, I darkened the room, lit some candles and invited my audience to move to the other end of the table – which was set for dinner. In neither situation did the audience have to imagine the scenario I was proposing – they were already living it.

Furthermore, they enjoyed the experience and I enjoyed creating it – to successful conclusions on both occasions.