Why do we have such a problem with presenting well?

Today I attended a large employee benefits conference in London. Unfortunately the organisers had made a few errors, such as an inefficient queuing system that made the sessions start late, conference rooms that were badly soundproofed and a lack of microphones to capture the questions from the audience.

Despite this, I was excited to listen to the presentations and hopefully maximise my day out. Overall it was an interesting day but I couldn’t help muttering inside my head about some of the poor presentation slides and skills that some of the speakers graced us with (however I do want to say that there were some very good speakers too!).

One of the presenters showed us their company’s history as a timeline. However, on this one slide there was at least 200wds of text! Although they had tried to break the text up with images and coloured text boxes it was still completely incomprehensible and ultimately just detracted from the message they were trying to get across to the audience. Most people know not to read off the screen but that doesn’t mean you can just write everything that you don’t say!

The second issue was more to do with the actual speakers. Now I don’t want to be precious but having been a member of toastmasters, I am used to counting “ums”, “ahs” and other crutch words ... and I had a field day today. I understand that many of the presenters were chosen more for their knowledge of employee benefits rather than their presentation skills but I was still disappointed. The problem is that these crutch words interrupt the flow of speech and are often very distracting (particularly for someone who is trained to pick them out!).

Today has prompted me to write a quick blog post about the things we should think about when presenting. I am not going to talk too much about how we speak when presenting as I covered this in a previous post. However, here are a few pointers when putting together presentation slides (whether using powerpoint, prezi, HTML5 etc).

1. Your slides should not be the main focus – you are! Use it to add (not detract) to what you are saying and don't hide behind your presentation!
   
2.  Use images! People find it difficult to read something on a screen whilst listening to what someone is saying – we are not very good at processing two bits of information at the same time
   
3. Key points only – when you use words on a slide it should be to illustrate key points or facts and it should be short and snappy
   
4. Keep your words to a minimum. You should really have no more than 33 words on a slide (and it will be better with less!)
   
5. Make two versions. When talking to people about presentations they often tell me that the reason they put so much information on them is so that people can refer back to them at a later date and fully understand what was being said. If this is the case, do two versions; one for the actual presentation and one as a reminder of what was said
   
6.  You don’t have to use powerpoint. Visual aids are used to add to a speech and sometimes powerpoint can be very restrictive. When we present we want to have a conversation with an audience and human conversation is not structured as rigidly as the traditional format of a powerpoint 

An example of a bad slide

The role of social media in customer communications

In the last couple of weeks I have become rather obsessed with my twitter account and not because I want to tell people what I have just consumed for breakfast.

Last week on the way to work I realised that I had forgotten my annual season ticket (a piece of paper worth over £2000!!) and had to buy a return ticket. I didn’t mind doing this as I knew that I had read on the train provider’s website that they would refund in full the first ticket bought in the case of forgetting my annual season ticket.

To be honest I forgot about the ticket for a few days and then turned up at Clapham Junction station at the customer service to request a refund. The abrupt lady at the desk told me that I couldn’t get a refund from here and I must go back to the place where I purchased the ticket and discuss it with them there. I was a little annoyed but it made sense as I presumed they had to keep track of it somewhere. The following morning in Dorking I repeated my story to the customer service desk. I was unhelpfully told that I would need to produce my actual ticket as well as my receipt in order to receive a refund. I have to admit that I sarcastically asked whether he meant the ticket that had been “swallowed” by the ticket barriers in order to allow me to exit the station. He told me that I should not have used the tickets at the barrier! (Still trying to understand the idiocy of this comment!)

After a frustrating 5 minute conversation about how I would not be receiving the refund I was entitled to, I left feeling let down and quite frankly, annoyed. It was at this point I turned to my twitter account to tweet my annoyance at the situation directly to Southern trains head office. I have used this tactic a few times and tend to get a fairly swift response and so I wasn’t surprised when I got a public message within 3 minutes asking me for further details.

I don’t know whether it is the fact that social media customer service teams are often a dedicated resource or whether it is because companies are more aware of the impact public negative feedback can have but I always seem to solve issues with companies quicker if I do it online in a public forum.

Within 5 minutes of tweeting I had been sent a PO BOX address in Bristol that I could send my receipt to and expect to receive a full refund ... something that one of the face-to-face customer service team should have been able to tell me. It would have saved a lot of huffing, puffing and frustration.

On the other hand I recently read a story about someone who received instructions from a company’s social media team that referred them to another part of the business ... that then did not deliver and the person felt even more let down and frustrated then before. There is also the worry that twitter's ability to give instantaneous responses could potentially be harmful if those using it are not properly briefed or trained.

I am interested to hear what your opinion is on the place of social media within customer service communications? Is it revolutionising our customer solution strategies or is it just making it more complicated with the potential to easily damage their organisation’s reputation?

I would be interested to know your thoughts. 

Taking engagement to a higher level

Apologies for being so slow in putting up my latest blog post! I have had a crazy 4 weeks getting really stuck in to my new job, finding a new kickboxing club and meeting up with friends. However, I promise to face my blog with renewed vigour now!

After a number of posts about communication failures, I thought I would make the tone more positive in a post-celebration of the fantastic London 2012 Olympic Games (and hopefully Paralympics too)!

We talk about employee engagement as the ultimate goal for organisations wishing to raise productivity and consequently the bottom line. Often though we are not actually sure what engagement looks like or what we have to do to achieve it. To me, engagement is epitomised by the connection that people have with an organisation and the extent to which their own personal goals are aligned with that of the wider “vision” or goal.

During the Olympics I believe that I saw true engagement in action and I was thrilled to be in London whilst it took place. The dedication and passion of the 70,000 Olympic volunteers (aka Game Makers) has absolutely astounded me. I was lucky enough to attend two Olympic events and as cheesy as it sounds, it was the volunteers (including the armed services and police) that made the day for me. Smiles all round, well timed jokes and helpful directions were the norm and everyone, from the coveted positions of athletic guides to the volunteer cleaners, was welcoming and certainly shared their excitement at being part of this momentous event.

So how exactly is it that LOCOG, the organisers of the London Olympics, managed to have such an engaged workforce? Now I know some of the cynical of you will be thinking that it can’t have been that hard considering that these people chose to give up their time and work at the games for free. However, you forget that these people were often travelling long journeys to arrive at the venues and had long hours to work, something that would test anyone.

I believe that the reason that the Games Makers were so engaged was that they were able to align their own personal goals with that of the wider vision, “to set new standards, creating positive, lasting change for the environment and communities” and “to inspire a generation”. LOCOG demonstrated to volunteers the impact that each and every one of them would have on achieving the overall goal.

Turning this back to the corporate world, I think it is safe to say that companies that manage to show employees how their day-to-day work counts towards the bigger picture can often be the most successful. It is not just the “Innocent” and “Save the Children” brands of this world that can inspire their employees. Every single company has the opportunity of including their staff in the future of their business and they also have the moral responsibility to inspire them too. It may be harder to convince critics that you can ‘inspire’ those in the less ‘glamorous’ roles within a company ... and I would agree. However, it is definitely not impossible. Autonomy is the key. Allowing employees to take responsibility, be accountable and share their knowledge and opinions is an important part of engagement.

There is the story of Kennedy visiting NASA in 1962 to take a tour and meet the people. Whilst walking through the building he stopped to talk to a janitor and asked him what he did at NASA. The janitor proudly told Kennedy, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon, Mr. President” - A wonderful sentiment.

We can all work to achieve this level of engagement amongst employees – it is possible but be aware that once you begin on this journey you can’t leave it by the wayside. In fact, it is better not to start at all (raising the hopes of your workforce) then to do it in half measures. This is not to say that you shouldn’t try, but you need to be committed.

To business owners I say, invest in your people. Inspire them, nurture them and invite them to ‘buy-in’ in your business, just as you have.

To those who have not quite made the top yet, demonstrate your interest in the bigger picture, encourage your business leaders to listen and as you move up the ranks, help to inspire those following you.

Companies that engage their staff not only end up having the best pick of future talent, but they also open access to innovation, continuous improvement and importantly, increased productivity!

If that isn’t worth your time and effort – what is??

Another one bites the dust - Bloc Weekend 2012

Since my last post, I have been told about another total communications disaster ... but this time it wasn’t anything to do with G4S. In fact it was the electronic festival “Bloc Weekend” (July 2012) who had to close their festival down during the event amid fears of overcrowding. The event organisers brought in the police to aid them to ‘eject’ thousands of festival goers and faced a vicious backlash across all social media sites.

However, whilst the company was frantically trying to deal with the chaos unfolding they forgot to communicate with their customers. Specifically, when they took the decision to eject people from the venue, they forgot that they had authorised a number of “pre-set” automatic tweets to be sent from their twitter account, @BLOCWKND. Whilst festival goers were slamming the festival’s ineptitude and complaining profusely about the manner in which they had been thrown out of the festival, @BLOCWKND was telling them that the next artist was coming up and posting “here’s one I took earlier” photos.

Unfortunately, the use of programmes that send out pre-set automatic updates is used all too frequently by companies and their self-titled “social media experts”.  Now, I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with using automatic update programmes, such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Tweetadder, but ... and this is a massive BUT, you have to understand that social media networks are all about being socially interactive and reactive. An automated system will never be able to do this for you; it all requires a human element. By making the mistake of not managing this process, @BLOCWKND found themselves further angering their customers as they continued to tweet inaccurately. What is more, when they did realise what had happened they went silent for some time.

Finally they sent out a status saying:

“By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns. We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount. Given the situation on the ground, we feel that it was the right decision to end the show early. Bloc will not open on Saturday 7th July so please don’t come to the site. Stand by for full information on refunds.”

Now I may be being silly but for the life of me I cannot find an apology in that status. I can’t even find the classic “we are sorry for any inconvenience caused”. Interestingly, Base Logic Promotions Ltd (the company name behind Bloc Weekend) quickly went into voluntary administration following the fiasco meaning that attendees of the festival will struggle to retrieve any refunds. I am not implying in any way that a better communication strategy would have saved the company from administration or from their overcrowding issues, however, I think they owed it to their disappointed customers.

My real point in this blog is that we have to be careful with our social media tools. It is all very well finding tools that help us, as companies or even individuals, to make the most out of social networking. However, we must not forget that these processes have to be managed properly if we choose to use them. Our customers, friends, circles and followers demand that we interact with them freely, openly and honestly, this was an unfortunate example of the exact opposite.

This says it all ...

Honesty really is the best policy!

What is it exactly about bad communication that makes a situation/issue/challenge ten times worse?

We have all sat on a train station platform or airport when the LCD screens flash to tell you that your train/plane is delayed by 20 minutes. Doesn’t seem too bad, right? But following this, every 5 minutes, the delay seems to increase and before you know it you have been waiting for 90 minutes with only a mechanical voice “apologising for the inconvenience”. I don’t know about you but this reoccurring situation infuriates me. I can’t understand why people aren’t more upfront and honest about issues. I would much rather be given the most correct and up-to-date information at the time to be able to make my own decision as to how I will proceed. There is nothing worse than sitting on a train station platform and realising that you could have gone out to the pub for 40 minutes whilst you were waiting.

An interesting situation to assess right now is that of G4S, Olympic security provider, who have been plagued with problem after problem in recent days relating to the under-staffing of security posts for the impending Olympics. Currently there is a lot of scaremongering in the press about the lack of trained security personnel that were meant to be provided as part of the 10,000 person contract and 3,500 Army personnel, due to go on leave, have been brought in at the last minute. Anyone following this story will see that the obvious mistakes made plus the media furore and high profile “dress downs” have turned G4S and the security aspect of the Olympics into an absolute shambles.

3,500 soldiers are drafted in to plug the
security personnel gap at the Olympics. 

At this point in time, we can only allege as to where the communication break downs have happened. Boris Johnson seems to think that Government were aware of the staffing issues a few months ago, whereas Theresa May insists she only found out 9 days ago. It is interesting to note that many reporters have failed to alert readers to the fact that the initial G4S contract was based on the employment of only 2000 security personnel, not the 10,000 that it increased to in January of this year. So where exactly does the blame lie for this complete and utter breakdown in communication?

Over the coming weeks, as more information surfaces about the mistakes that have been made and the real situation behind the hype starts to appear, I would like to have a look at ways in which the situation could have been handled more effectively by G4S and Government. Please do feel free to add your own comments and thoughts.

Times are changing ...

Firstly I want to apologise for not writing a blog post for four weeks! It has been a month of highs, lows and significant change. I made a decision to follow Paul to London, leaving my Cheltenham life, job and friends behind, and have consequently been submerged in the chaos of moving, going to Hideout festival in Croatia (yes, I can feel your sympathy flowing!) and starting a new job.

Over the last few weeks I have experienced immense turmoil at the thought of leaving friends, even though it has been sprinkled with elation at the prospect of reacquainting myself with old friends and making new ones. However, the thing that has become most clear to me is the importance of the relationships you form with people throughout your lifetime and the potential impact that these interactions can have.

If I mentioned Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Marie Curie, what would you say that had in common? Well, apart from being famous enough that you know who they are, these people have had a significant impact on the lives of others. Some of them used the power of rhetoric to inspire and others used their actions to have a profound impact.

However, these are people that we may not feel have directly impacted on our own lives. Often it is the unsung heroes; parents, teachers, friends, partners and groups of like-minded individuals that leave the most lasting impressions. These people may never have their name in shining lights, or remain imprinted in the minds of millions across the world but nonetheless they often deeply influence our lives, the experiences we have and the people that we become.

In Cheltenham, I encountered a number of individuals who have really managed to touch upon my life and I hope that in my last few weeks I was able to articulate to them the impact that they have had. This blog post was really about reiterating my thanks to all of you who have been part of my Cheltenham life and all of you that have made me who I am today (you can all share in the blame :P).

Sometimes it is important to think about the positive impact that you can have on those around you.

Jackie Robinson once said: “A life is not important, except in the impact it has on others”

I don’t think you need to be famous or well-known to have an impact, we just need to be aware of the experience, advice and support we can give to others. If life is measured by the impact we have on others, I would say that I must be surrounded by many people whose lives are pretty darn important!

Presentations – How to keep your audience awake!

We have all been there, sat waiting for an inevitably dull Power Point presentation delivered by an equally as dull presenter with zero charisma that seems to last for hours. Occasionally you get the odd surprise but they tend to be the minority. So what exactly makes a presentation engaging and actually worth watching?

I could go on about how to develop your content, how to structure your presentation or which programmes to use but I won’t have the space to fit it in! Instead I have put together my top tips for actually giving presentations and making sure that your audience stays awake and engaged in what you have to say.

 Inspire confidence

Your knees are knocking and the room feels like you are in the Caribbean, but you must try and show confidence in your body language and the way in which you speak. Make sure that you know your topic well, as this will help you to relax and also take a deep breath before you start.

Maintain eye contact

As mentioned in my previous post, eye contact is an important way of engaging with people. You don’t need to try and look at everyone at all times, you’ll end up looking like you are watching a Wimbledon final, but you should ensure that you include the whole audience throughout your speech.

Make yourself heard

Speak clearly and project your voice so that every member of the audience can hear you, even the best presentation will fall by the wayside if your audience can’t hear what you are saying. Try and imagine someone who is hard of hearing sat at the back, you need to make sure that they can hear every word of your speech.

Don’t rush!

Make sure you vary your pace and tone in order to keep the audience interested but be careful not to rush, otherwise your audience may lose track of what you are trying to say.

Pauses are your friend

We all have crutch words, such as ‘um’, ‘ah’, ‘basically’, ‘and’, and many others but pauses can be used for impact and to give you time to think about what you are about to say. This can really help to eliminate your crutch words, so try to practice it in everyday life, not just in your presentations.

Vary your vocab

There is no need to introduce jargon or long words for the sake of it but rhetorical devices can add colour and animation to your speeches. Some examples of which can be found below:

Alliteration repeats the same sound at the beginning of nearby words – What my Wife Wanted

Assonance – repeats the same vowel sound in nearby words – How Now Brown Cow

Metaphor is when two unconnected things are compared – Life is a Highway

Similes are the same as metaphor but using the words like or as Forrest Gump said Life is like a box of chocolates

(Examples taken from http://charuzu.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/how-to-be-the-grammarian-in-toastmasters/)

Enjoy yourself

Although presenting or making speeches may not be your most treasured past time, try to enjoy it! Presentations and speeches are a great way to connect with others and to share your knowledge. At the end of your presentation, make sure you await your rapturous round of applause!

With my tips, I hope that you will find your audience awake and engaged!