by Peter Meyers
CREATE A ROAD MAP. “We have one hour. In the first fifteen minutes I’ll present the findings, and then each of you will have five minutes to share your ideas as well. That leaves fifteen minutes at the end for us to have a discussion and make a decision as a group.”
ASSIGN ROLES. People tend to get passive in an audio conference. So use their names, and give them a job. “We’re going to hear from Bashir about his results. Jo Lin, I’d like you to be ready to step in with feedback after he’s finished. Anne Marie, please chime in with any relevant R&D along the way, and we’ll ask Ingmar to summarize for us at the end.”
WATCH OUT FOR DEAD AIR. This is radio terminology for the most dreaded of all occurrences—that crackling moment of unintentional silence when absolutely nothing is being said. You get a lot of dead air during a conference call, mostly because everyone has his mute button on. A question will be asked, or explosive statement made, and instead of a lively response, as you would have in a roomful of people, there will be a numb, frozen silence.
Dead air kills energy and rapport. If you’ve just stepped up with a new idea, and it is met with a long, cold pause, you will assume that everyone thinks you’re an idiot. Result? You secretly swear never to risk contributing again.
Why is dead air so harmful?
Human beings naturally rely on a series of acknowledgments from the other person— encouragement cues confirming that the listener has understood the point so far, and wants to hear more. When you’re face-to-face with someone, these cues may be offered subtly by the movement of his head, body language, the expression on his face, or the look in his eyes. This creates a feedback loop that allows the speaker to track the experience of the listener. But on the phone, the only encouragement cues you can give or receive are verbal: “Mmm-hmm . Yes . Right.” And if everyone is on mute, you won’t even get those little markers of agreement. Our brains tend to leap to the most negative explanation, and we interpret the silence as discouragement or disapproval.
SET UP THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. During conversations with everyone, ask the group to stay off the mute button and participate. Ask a lot of questions, and insist on getting responses from the group. Pause and invite these check-ins: “How does that sound so far?” “Lucia, what are your thoughts on the proposal?” “Let me pause here and see how this sounds to you.”
Make the conference interactive. If you speak for too long without pausing to check in, you run the risk that the listener has disengaged. Maybe they’re daydreaming; maybe they’ve lost interest in what you’re saying. But they’re not in the dialogue. They’ve gone invisible, and you have to make them visible again. Think of it like dancing with someone in the dark—you have to keep reconnecting with them, to find out where they are.
If you’re giving a presentation during an audio conference, apply all of the universal principles of High Performance Communication—but compress them. Do a ramp—but do it in three sentences, rather than taking three minutes. When you come to your Points of Discovery, spend four minutes instead of fifteen. Keep it brief.
EIGHTEEN MINUTES IS THE MAGIC NUMBER. Don’t talk for longer than that! Research shows that adult learners can stay tuned in to a lecture for no more than eighteen minutes before there’s a significant drop-off in attention. After eighteen minutes, make a shift. Tell a story, show a video, create a discussion, give them a break, ask someone else to speak, or engage in open dialogue with the group.
If it’s your job to facilitate the meeting, make it easy to generate ideas. Think of the dialogue as a ball that you’re holding—pitch that ball so that everyone gets a chance to catch and throw. Pass the ball around.
HAVE A LIST OF GREAT QUESTIONS READY. This will stimulate thinking and dialogue. There are two types of questions: point questions, which cover the topic, and double click questions, which go deeper. A point question might be, “Let’s look at this in terms of how it will affect us financially.” “How will this affect us in terms of innovation?” A double click question invites you to go deeper into a topic. “Say more about that.” “How does this relate to what we said earlier?” “What makes you say that?” “How do we know this to be true?” “What implications does this have for us?” Also have a list of everyone’s names in front of you, so that you can ask questions to specific participants, and check that everyone is staying engaged.
As facilitator, you direct who gets the question. People often want to contribute, but may not feel that their ideas are welcome. A good facilitator will ask their opinion and demonstrate genuine interest in the answer. Like a radio talk show host interviewing a guest for the benefit of the listeners, you ask the questions for the benefit of the other attendees.
When asking a question, always call the person’s name out first, and then throw in another comment before you hit him with the question. This gives him a critical few seconds to refocus his attention and prepare his response. For example, you might say, “Fritz, this is your region, you’ve got a lot of experience here. What do you think?” Avoid abruptly saying, “What do you think, Fritz?” with his name at the end of the question. This runs the risk of taking Fritz off guard and making him stumble. Professional soccer players kick the ball right to the feet of a teammate, to make it as easy as possible. Do the same—when you ask a question, kick the ball to his feet. Always make your teammates look good.
Sometimes there’s one person who tends to talk over everyone else. You know this guy—once he gets started, he’s nearly impossible to stop, and no one else can get a word in edgewise. Ideally, this should be handled at the management level—this person’s boss needs to have a courageous conversation with him.
Failing that, here are a few suggestions: the most effective way to initially stop the flood of talk is to say his name. You may have to say it more than once, raising your volume each time, until you get his attention and he stops talking: “Frank . Frank . FRANK!” Once he has responded, then you need to ask him a question. You can just say, “Can I ask you a question?” He’ll say yes . and in those few seconds, you will have thought up a question to ask. The content of the question is not the most important thing; what matters is that asking the question disrupts Frank’s pattern, and brings his awareness back to the group. The question also returns control of the interaction to you as facilitator. You could also ask a question like, “Can we hear from some others in the meeting about their thoughts on this topic?” Or say, “Let’s get some input here from some other members of the team.”
A skillful facilitator summarizes the findings and looks for patterns to reflect back to the group. “What I’m hearing in terms of themes are . ” “What I’m noticing is . ” “What I’m experiencing here is . ” The meeting needs to be captured, ideally by someone other than the facilitator, so that you have a record of what happened and what was said.
For an example of how this works, imagine that we’re eavesdropping on an audio conference hosted by Jasmin, the manager of a global team that sells technology. Her team is spread all over the world, and she has to bring them together. Her challenge is that people are not collaborating, and not talking to each other enough.
Here’s one way to run the meeting:
“Welcome, everyone. I want to talk to you about something that I think is very important to all of us.” She carries on for over twenty-five minutes, running through ideas including why it’s important for them to collaborate, why working in silos is not a good idea, how they’re not leveraging their talent or market position. At the end of her monologue, she asks if there are any questions. There’s a nineteen-second pause. No one speaks. Jasmin says, “Well, if there are no questions, let’s get an update on the finances. Birgit?” More silence . “Birgit? Are you there? ” Finally, with a click, Birgit speaks up, sounding flustered. “I’m sorry, I was on mute.” (It’s obvious that she hasn’t been paying attention.) “Could you repeat the question, please?” Sound familiar?
Here’s a more powerful way for Jasmin to run the meeting. “Each
and every one of you has the opportunity to be part of a major push forward as we take back the market in the next six months. But to do that, we need to share our best ideas as a team. In today’s conversation, I’ve asked each of you to come to this meeting with prepared requests and recommendations. Areas where you need help from others, and areas in which you can offer help. We’ll hear from everyone, region by region, starting with you, Jack. In the last fifteen minutes we’ll put together a plan for a way forward. How does that sound to you?” She gets a chorus of response. Nothing fancy, just people saying, “Good,” “Fine,” “Yes . ” and she’s off and running.
Jasmin could also add face contact to her meeting. But only if she knew how to use .
CAMERA AND VIDEO CONFERENCING
Using video can be a powerful way to connect with people, particularly in a global environment. As organizations become increasingly aware of the carbon costs of flying employees from place to place, video technology has become standard equipment in the workplace. It’s not just movie stars who need to be able to transmit their presence through a camera anymore! The ability to use the medium well is now essential for anyone working on a global team.
Video can be helpful when you need to make a message more personal—make an apology, inspire, congratulate, or show that you care. Video offers you a powerful additional tool, which is your eyes. Your eyes reveal more about you than you know. Making a video says, “I care enough about you to reach out, and allow you to see me face-to-face.” You become more transparent. If your intention is clear, it will come through your eyes.
The great thing about working with a video camera is that the camera will do most of the work for you. Just allow the feeling to come through your eyes, and the camera will do the rest of the work for you.
PICTURE THE VIEWER. Because you are talking to a glass lens in camera work, the tendency is to come across with a “flat” expression. Your expression is robbed of the warmth and movement it would naturally display when you talk to a real person. People who make their living in front of a camera remedy this by imagining someone on the other side of the lens. Then they talk to that person. Choose a specific person to put inside the lens—someone who is eager to hear what you have to say. It can be someone who is actually in the audience, or a member of your own family. Choose someone who brings out a feeling of warmth in you.
BE YOUR OWN DIRECTOR. Set up the lighting so that you look your best. Overhead lighting will cast shadows down on your face, making you look evil. Not good for your brand! A light directly behind you will create a halo effect. A room that is too dark will make it difficult for people to see you. Get hold of a gooseneck desktop lamp, and experiment with angling it so that the light in your video image is clear and warm.
ADJUST THE CAMERA HEIGHT. If you’re shooting video off your computer, be aware that the lens is below you, creating an unflattering camera angle. If possible, play with stacking books underneath the camera to adjust the level to the point where you look best. Try to correct the level of the camera so that it is at your eye level. This will create the sensation that you are speaking directly to someone, rather than talking down at someone, with the lens looking up your nostrils.
PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU WEAR. White will catch too much light. Solid, bright colors are the best. Avoid busy patterns—they create a zig-zag “moiré” effect in the eye of the camera. If you have long hair, pull it back so that your face can be seen. Remove flashy jewelry and long, dangling earrings—these things will catch the light and distract the eye of the viewer.
AVOID EXCESS MOVEMENT. You’re doing a close-up, and any movement will be magnified. Cultivate “soft movements” with your hands, face, and body; avoid jerky, abrupt motion. Tics like playing with your hair, pulling on your ears, touching your nose, etc., on camera lower your status and make you look twitchy. Stillness conveys authority.
LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE LENS WHEN YOU SPEAK. This is the most important thing about using a camera, particularly if you’re working off a laptop. Because of the location of the camera lens on most laptops, if you are looking at your screen, the viewer won’t see your eyes. In a video conference, look into the lens when you’re talking, and then drop your eyes to your screen to watch his face as he speaks. It may feel strange at first—but it will create a greater sense of intimacy.
And then there’s that favorite tool of speakers today .
POWERPOINT
As anyone knows who has sat through endless slide presentations in a darkened room, PowerPoint can be mind-numbingly dull! It’s ironic, isn’t it? Many organizations decide that their team members need more “face time.” They fly the members of the team into the same city, and put them up in a hotel, at great expense. Then the members are all herded into a room, where the first thing they do is turn off the lights, so no faces can be seen. A huge screen comes down, and the speaker takes his position at the edge of the stage, usually partially hidden behind a podium. As the presentation begins, what happens? Too often, the speaker begins to read his slides, turning his back on the audience. Since anyone with a second-grade education can read faster than the speaker can talk, this results in a cascade of slides so boring that the audience grabs desperately for any caffeine or sugar available to keep them awake.
And then we wonder why people feel alienated and disengaged in meetings.
Is this human connection? Is this quality face time? Not really.
If you have a choice, the most powerful way to connect with an audience is to face them using the full range of your facial and body expression—with the lights turned up. But understanding that presentation programs like PowerPoint are here to stay, these techniques will help you use them successfully:
Stand so that from the audience’s point of view, you are to the left of the screen. Because their eyes move from left to right when reading, whatever is on the left-hand side has visual prominence. You are the most important part of the presentation, not the slides.
When you’re using slides, construct your narrative first, and then match the slides to it. The slides should support the narrative—not the other way around.
You need to ramp a slide; make them curious about the slide before it appears. You can do this in one of the following ways:
1. Ask a rhetorical question. “So, what does this look like, region by region?” (Cue slide of map.)
2. Give an introduction that links it to the previous material. “So we’ve looked at the past, and we’ve looked at the present. Now let’s take a look at the future.” (Cue slide of future.)
3. Give it a context. “Many of you may have been wondering about the architecture of the new building. Will it fit into the style and history of the campus? Well, you don’t need to wonder anymore, because here it is.” (Cue slide of building.)
Slides are not for prose. Don’t put a lot of text on a slide. Use slides to show visually interesting pictures, graphs, pie charts, or a few bullet points to support what you’re saying. Keep it simple and brief. The most powerful slide is a white slide with one picture, graph, word, or phrase. Don’t read slides out loud to your audience —they can read faster than you can talk. Instead, use the slide as a springboard for your ideas. The text can provide a framework, a blueprint of the big picture. Then you fill in the details with the words that you speak. The important principle is that each slide is a link in your narrative—a visual illustration of the story that you’re telling.
Direct the audience’s focus. Speak directly to the audience, and then turn and send your audience’s attention to the screen (using the open hand gesture) at the appropriate juncture. Your audience will look where you do. Tell them where to look, particularly if it’s a complex slide. If the slide shows four financial quarters, for example, say “Notice what happens from Q2 to Q3.” If there is something that you want them to see and reflect on, then pause for a moment. Don’t let your slide deck hijack your presentation. You’re still the center of the exchange. To hold the room, you must retake t
he focus between slides. At the end of the presentation, hit the “B” button on the keyboard, and turn the lights back on. Deliver your dessert face-to-face, using your eyes to reconnect with individuals in the audience.
All of these new technologies act as magnifiers, allowing you to send your message out to increasing numbers of people, over longer distances than ever before. But remember that your message still connects to one person at a time.
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SHANN
KGO Radio is what they call a “flamethrower station”; 50,000 watts of power means that at night, when there is less interference, the signal travels all the way from Canada to Mexico. That means that at times I might have anywhere up to 1 million listeners.
But I was trained very specifically to foster the sensation of intimacy by speaking to one person at a time. People listen one person a time. Especially at night, each person tends to be alone with the radio. And that’s the way you need to address them. That’s the way you create the bond.
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Part Five
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FINDING YOUR VOICE AND MAKING IT HEARD
To thine own self be true.
—HAMLET, ACT I, SCENE 3
FINDING OUT WHO you are is a lifelong process—because you’re always changing. But unless you know what you’re willing to fight for, then it’s difficult to know what you want to say. You may not want to change the world, or wrap yourself in a flag; but you must know what you’re passionate about. It could be your kids’ school, or creating a great neighborhood community, or opening a new library. In those moments when your voice counts, your sense of conviction will come from having found those things that drive you—and make you want to speak out.