By Diana Rowe
“Public speaking is no longer just a nice tool to have,” said Vickie Sullivan, president of the Tempe, AZ, Sullivan Speaker Services Inc. “Public speaking is now considered a necessary leadership skill for meeting professionals. Public speaking gives planners a forum to impress their company’s leaders, display their personal style and competence. If a meeting professional wants to get a seat at the executive table, she must be able to put on the hat of public speaking.”
A nationally recognized market strategist for experts on the professional speaking circuit, Sullivan speaks throughout the United States and Canada, and has served twice on the editorial board for Speaker magazine. Even though public speaking can be a meeting planner’s number-one fear, Sullivan says that planners who want to transform their industry and, more important, their career, must learn to be 
comfortable with public speaking. “It’s no longer a possibility that you’ll be called upon to speak at some point in time. It’s now a probability. The best thing a planner can do to ease the pain is to know how to develop a powerful presentation. If you are confident in your content, the process of speaking will be a lot easier,” she related.
Where To Start
Word has come down that you have been chosen to deliver a powerful presentation to C-levels on behalf of your department; or perhaps, in the course of planning meetings, you have earned the reputation as an expert, and are called upon to speak. You know that public speaking is very stressful, so how do you present your message with impact? Is it content? Is it delivery? What really creates a memorable speaker?
According to Sullivan, many first-time speakers make the same mistake — presenting too much information. “It’s like drinking from a fire hose. Too much information drowns the audience in information overload. To cope with nervousness, an automatic response is to create more information as a sort of security blanket. Speakers want to educate so badly that they pile it on, but too much content doesn’t make a good speaker — nor does it make a good leader. The information becomes mind-numbing, and it’s just not possible for a person to soak up all that information. Instead of listening, your audience will tune you out.”
“Know your audience might sound like a cliché, but the truth about public speaking is that it’s not about the speaker,” said Sullivan. “It IS about your audience. Both professional and amateur speakers get nervous and forget who they are serving. However, in order to impress your audience and garner their attention, your content will be created with them in mind.”
To develop your content, Sullivan suggests you do your homework. “If your speaking engagement is an invitation to speak at a conference, then ask for the demographics of your audience. Ask your sponsor — what does this audience need to know from me?”
Meeting professionals are also increasingly asked to present to C-level executives, from in-depth presentations on the strategic and tactical aspects of meetings to updates of meetings in the queue. No matter the topic, meeting professionals must be able to articulate to senior executive management.
In a C-level setting, Sullivan recommends that meeting professionals be articulate and keep it short. She explained, “These leaders have asked you to be there for a reason. C-level executives can spot tap dancing 
a mile away. Do your homework and be prepared for questions, but start off brief and to the point. To be blunt, these executives want to know what time it is — they don’t want to know how to build a watch.”
Be Prepared
A frequent presenter, Kevan Allbee is president of Allbee Green Events & Marketing, a Lehi, UT-based company that has been creating powerful presentations, supported with graphics, video, music, lights, sound, staging and talent for more than 17 years. When preparing to present, Allbee is a proponent of the premise that meeting professionals need to prepare a conversation with their audience.
“The audience doesn’t respond to a recitation of facts,” noted Allbee. “Rather they respond to a relationship with a speaker they respect. Too often the word presentation correlates with PowerPoint, and the speaker’s first stop on the preparation trail is to boot up PowerPoint. This should be the last step. PowerPoint is a great support tool for a presentation, but when it becomes the frame and structure that you build your presentation upon, then it sinks your credibility.
“To paraphrase a Mark Twain quote,” continued Allbee. “It takes at least two to three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. When you are able to carry on a ‘conversation’ with your audience that sounds spontaneous and from the heart, the audience will be more inclined to buy in to your argument or message.”
Allbee suggests that a planner can sound spontaneous when they are passionate about the topic. “To become passionate, you must first have a core objective. That core objective in any presentation is what I want my audience to DO, not what I want them to KNOW. Use this handy fill-in-the-blank rule-of-thumb: After my presentation is over, I want my audience to do BLANK. Once you have defined the final objective, then you can continue on to researching that objective.”
For each presentation, Allbee recommends that you give yourself the pure luxury of going out there and finding everything you can about the topic. “Spend an afternoon researching your audience, competition, quotes, sociology — everything you can think of that relates to your objective. The Internet has made this 
information easily accessible, so go for it. However, once you’ve done that, you have to discipline yourself to throw out three-fourths of that information. Toss anything that does not directly relate to your objective: what you want your audience to DO after your presentation. Once you’ve completed the research and purging aspects, then you will have rich and powerful content for your presentation.”
Capture The Audience
Allbee recommends arranging the purged information in such a way that your “argument” builds to the most compelling, interesting and exciting note. “Speakers are often tempted to spill the beans in the introduction. It’s okay to state your objective, but from there escalate the information to an engaging crescendo. That will get your audience excited about your topic and capture their attention.
“You must remember that creating a powerful presentation,” said Allbee, “is not simply a recitation of facts and figures. If you are not having a conversation with your audience, then you are missing an opportunity to endear them with your point of view. Like Mark Twain says, taking the steps before stepping on the stage is what makes your presentation sound like an impromptu speech, and fully engages your audience.”
Rhonda Abrams, the president of The Planning Shop, a Palo Alto, CA-based publisher of books for entrepreneurs, advised, “The first part of a winning presentation is to organize the content, and then edit it down — again and again. Speakers try to do and say too much. You might have 50 great points to back up your objective, but listeners simply can’t process that much. Cut your presentation to only the essentials, and then re-emphasize your core objective.”
Abrams concurs that although PowerPoint is a great tool for speakers, it can be deadly. “Literally in an hour, a novice can learn how to add pictures, animation and sound in this program. Just a little bit of liveliness can make your presentation more effective. Props, like a PowerPoint presentation, help enlist interaction of the audience, but nothing can destroy your audience’s attention more than slide after slide of words,” she warned.
Engaging your audience’s attention is the most effective way to win them over, according to Abrams. “One way to engage is to begin your presentation by asking them a rhetorical question they can respond to by simply raising their hand. Perhaps you are pitching to C-level executives an alternative destination for your next sales meeting. Your rhetorical question might be, ‘how many of you would like to cut your travel time in half when attending sales meetings?’ You’ll get the audience’s attention, and you’ll re-emphasize your core objective of the benefits of an alternative destination.”
Stick To What Works
Chris King, a Beachwood, OH entrepreneur and CEO of Creative Keys, a company that mentors entrepreneurs in their creative quests, is a frequent speaker and member of the National Storytelling Network. King advised that to be effective, a presentation should stick to proven, simple practices.
For example, King suggested, “Select a maximum three major points to emphasize your core message. Any more than three is simply distracting. Then prepare, prepare, prepare. Action or a call to action has to run through and connect the threads. This may be old advice, but it’s proven that you should begin by telling 
the audience what you are going to tell them. Then you tell them. Then you tell them what you told them. Most listeners simply don’t remember everything you say, so a proven method to getting your objective across is to repeat your message.
“Don’t memorize,” King added. “Whether a novice or a professional speaker, memorization will only set you up for failure. When nerves develop, a result is that it makes you forget what you memorize, and then, when memorization fails, your entire presentation will be thrown off. Obviously it’s important to know your material, but memorization and nerves can be a deadly combination.”
Instead King recommended, “Be prepared enough that you have confidence. People who don’t prepare think they can wing it, but a powerful presentation is not created by winging it. Know your topic. Know your audience. Begin with a strong opening, and end with a strong closing. Entertain without distracting. Keep your focus on your core objective or message. This is the recipe for snagging and keeping your audience’s attention.”
Betty Garrett, CMP, president and CEO of the Irving, TX-based Garrett Speakers International Inc. has worn the hat of both planner and supplier. Prior to opening her speakers bureau in 1993, Garrett worked for Meeting Professionals International (MPI) identifying speakers for hosted conferences and programs.
Know Your Audience
Garrett said, “A speaker has to grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds. If you don’t, they’ll leave you. Then, you have to keep their attention because minds continue to roam every three minutes. Tell a story. Re-emphasize your core message. Use examples your audience will understand. Use inflection in your voice, softer or louder. The most important thing about delivering powerful presentations is to connect with your audience. When you do that, everything else will fall into place.”
The best way to connect with an audience, according to Garrett, is to know your audience. “Ask yourself, what’s in it for them? What are their hot buttons? It doesn’t matter if you are giving a sales presentation or a proposal for an out-of-the-box idea, you must know why your audience is there and address that. Don’t preach to them. Instead be passionate and genuine. Believe in yourself and your presentation. Know your audience, and your presentation’s delivery will be powerful.
“A meeting professional is on stage 24/7,” noted Garrett. “Public speaking skills are no longer optional. Whether we’re presenting to our supervisor, the CEO or committee, we have to sell our ideas. Every time we speak to a group of our peers, we are in essence re-branding ourselves, so it is important for meeting professionals to sharpen their presentation skills. Meeting professionals must have a seat at the table, and powerful presentation skills will help them earn that seat.” C&IT
Four Rules To Live By
Rhonda Abrams, president of The Planning Shop, a Palo-Alto-based publisher of books for entrepreneurs, is the author of Winning Presentations In A Day. Here are four great tips gleaned from her book:
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare:
If you’re presenting to a group of people you don’t know, ask your event planner to give you the names and contact information of a few attendees. Call them and find out about their knowledge of your topic and their concerns, and ask them what they hope to learn from you. You’ll improve the quality of your presentation, and you’ll already have a few friends when you walk into the room.
Visualize The Structure:
When creating your presentation, it helps to visualize something that represents its structure. One proven image is that of a building. Your presentation will have three basic components:
1. The Foundation: The opening, in which you introduce your core message.
2. The Pillars: The supporting arguments, which hold up your core message and help convince your audience of your point of view.
3. The Roof: The conclusion, in which you review your core message and main arguments and issue a call to action.
Include the Audience:
• Ask for a show of hands. Take a quick poll about an issue related to your topic.
• Ask the audience to share personal experiences related to your topic.
• Take the microphone out to your audience, Oprah-style.
• Ask for volunteers from the audience. Call these brave souls to the front of the room to help you demonstrate a product or act out a scenario such as in a training program.
Follow the Four-by-Four Rule:
The Four-by-Four Rule is simple: Limit the content of each of your slides to no more than four bullet points containing no more than four words each. Audience members cannot absorb hundreds of printed words and listen to you at the same time. Once you have entered your text on a PowerPoint slide, go back and edit, edit, edit. C&IT