Engaging Covid-19 Isolated Audiences
Once upon a time, isolation from our audience meant we were not getting our message through to them. We were a poor presenter or the quality of the message was sub-par, so the audience wasn’t buying into it. Today, our audiences are in isolation at home, either through Government mandated lockdown or company designated instructions. Our communication patterns have been totally displaced.
In many cases, the equipment solution has been to have people use their phones or their tablets, rather than laptops. That choice really limits the communication tools which are available and reduces messaging to very simple interactions. The danger here is that communication becomes one way and rather limited. Sharing data, especially visual data, becomes tricky depending on what hardware you are using.
Today’s technology is amazing, but still audio connections can be fragile and internet overload can make connecting to on-line meetings a challenge. This is all a new experience for us, so we are often losing communication opportunities because we are in the midst of scarcity thinking. We see the problems, the difficulties and we are locked into our normal ways of interacting, so we not seeing the opportunities.
There are technical limitations, but where possible, have some degree of visual communication with people sitting in isolation. Just seeing other people’s faces for a few minutes is enough to re-establish the personal connection. If you have the bandwidth to sustain that throughout the meeting, that is best, but if not, then at least have some visual exchange, before moving to voice only. Remember to look at the tiny, little camera itself and not the big screen in front of you. The location of the camera is usually set well above the screen, so we are in fact making eye contact with the screen, rather than our audience.
Our strong voice tone and speaking speed become very important. We need to be really clear, because often the audio connections can be rocky and people can miss part of what is being said. Sometimes the way people uses microphones is not very effective, so if you can’t hear people, ask them to get closer to microphone and to speak more loudly. This is why checking for understanding on a regular basis is important. We need to be much more conscious of this, because there may be little actual understanding and we are just waxing lyrically to ourselves and no one else, but we don’t have any way of knowing that.
Also tell people that if they missed something, to let you know, because you will repeat it. Normally, we wouldn’t make that request because we are all expected to be paying attention. In an on-line environment, the tech may be the issue, so we have to accept that communication cannot continue as business as usual. Assume people are not following you, rather than the reverse.
It also means that we have to be agile, to keep our place when we get interrupted. It is a bit like consecutive translation. You say something, the interpreter conveys that and in the meantime you have forgotten where you were with what you wanted to say, because your concentration and flow were interrupted. When we are making an on-line presentation, we need to be making notes of what comes next if we get interrupted, so that we don’t lose our flow and can pick up where we left off.
Normally, we speak, then we take questions at the end. In the on-line world, we need to build in opportunities for discussion at certain points in our talk. This is the best way to engage the audience throughout the talk. We just stop talking and invite comment from the listeners. Now they feel part of the proceedings and can have a sense of ownership of the discussion. We then pick up the threads of the talk and move in until the next scheduled interaction. Some technology handles this interaction live and in other cases, we are relegated to the dreaded chat box.
I don’t like the chat box all that much, because we are now focused on the typing of the messages which means a time delay. It is much better to have live comments, in real time, if possible. If you have to use the chat box, then slow down and adjust the time for the talk or the content quantity, because you will need more time for the delivery and response.
We need to switch the way we plan our talks, the amount of content for the talk and the way we deliver them, to cope with a different receiving environment compared to all being in the same physical room.
Free Live On Line Stress Management Sessions
On a separate note, we are running public Live On Line Stress Management classes, which will be free to all attendees on April 16th (Japanese) and 17th (English). We are also offering the same thing as an in-house programme, delivered Live On Line for our existing clients and for prospective clients. This allows us to help our clients and our community.
The registration process for these free stress management sessions is being offered on our website, so please go to this specific page: http://bit.ly/dale_stress_e
Screen Based Strong Messaging Techniques
Most people have trouble getting their message across when they are in front of others and doing it in person. Being on screen while everyone is working at home, makes the whole proposition so much more difficult. A mediocre presenter becomes a shambles in this new medium. There is the tendency to imagine that the screen based delivery medium makes lousy messaging and amateur presentations acceptable. Well they aren’t, if you have a message to deliver, in fact you have to do a lot better in this case, than you normally would.
Get the logistics sorted. Dress for success, so don’t beam in wearing your pyjamas, Aloha shirt or your favourite deathmetal band T-shirt or anything other than full business battle attire. Go for power colours rather than pastels. Avoid narrow stripes because sometimes there can problems with the video technology not handling stripes all that well. Looking professional adds to the credibility of your message. A business suit looks a lot more powerful on screen than casual clothes, if that is the normal attire at the office.
Get yourself a mouse to whiz around the screen with, rather than using the trackpad on your laptop. Get a webcam camera if your laptop or home computer isn’t up to snuff. The audio when connecting remotely can be a problem if your internet connection at home isn’t all that robust. Headphones with a microphone attachment makes communication so much easier and clearer. Also, most technologies allow you to record the session, so certainly make good use of this opportunity so that you can see how you come across to others using this medium.
Eye contact is really important in this screen based world, but so often we have nostril focus, because the laptop camera is shooting straight up the speaker’s nose. This is distracting us from what the speaker is saying. The screen is confusing too, because the camera is above the screen and we all tend to talk to the screen rather than our audience. We have to get used to speaking to camera and ignore the screen. We can look at the screen, in the same way we would look at notes in front of us. The key point though is focus on spending as much face to camera time as possible. This is how technically difficult this is – raise the laptop height so the camera is at eye level. I think we can all manage that.
Make sure there is some decent lighting in the room. Often we don’t think about this and we and the room can be gloomy. Arrange extra lights to be focused on you as the centerpiece so we can see you clearly. We are used to close up shots in movies and television and this is the same thing with us when we are the focus. When you are speaking during an on line broadcast, most of the technology transfers your face to the full screen for the audience and you are now a massive close up.
You may or not be able to control the background but we should try, so we don’t have competition for our message. Some broadcast technologies offer virtual backgrounds, if you have the bandwidth, so your humble abode is not front and center of the broadcast. If you can’t manage that, then try to eliminate things which might be distracting from you when you are speaking. You may be able to drop the background behind you into darkness by turning off some lights and only have light on you.
Everyone is feeling tense and uncertain about where we are going with the Covid-19 virus and attached business meltdown. Without knowing it your face could be reflecting these worries, so don’t forget to smile on camera. You may not have a killer smile, but do the best with what you have. You can simply put a smiley face or the instruction SMILE above the camera to remind you to smile and that actually works quite well. Smiling shows confidence and friendliness. It also helps to build confidence in your audience that you know what you are doing, because you look relaxed and in control. Frowning, creasing your eyes, stiffening your facial muscles all do the opposite, so avoid these simple mistakes.
Don’t forget your body language is a powerful communicator. The screen can diminish you, if you allow it to. Instead try to own the screen and use your gestures and posture to your advantage. Sit up straight and forward and get your hand gestures to sync with what you are saying, to underscore the message. Don’t be afraid to stand up and present standing, because the camera just moves to a wide shot. Don’t stand too far back though, because the audio might not pick you up as well as you need it to. Also be animated and speak with passion, rather than droning on as a talking head on screen.
In the room, on screen, on video, it makes no substantial difference. The basics of presenting apply everywhere, although we do have to make a bigger effort when broadcasting remotely. Awareness is the key and repetition and practice assist us to become more professional in this screen environment.
Free LIVE On Line Stress Management Sessions
On a separate note, we are running public LIVE On Line Stress Management classes, which will be free to all attendees on April 16th (Japanese) and 17th (English). We are also offering the same thing as an in-house programme, delivered LIVE On Line for our existing clients and for prospective clients. This allows us to help our clients and our community.
The registration process for these free stress management sessions is being offered on our website, so please go to this specific page: http://bit.ly/dale_stress_e
Covid 19 And On-Line Presentation Skills
GIGO is a useful acronym from the past, which we can employ for the current problem we have conducting business meetings and presentations on-line. Garbage In Garbage Out on-line interactions is not what we want to be promoting in this current Covid-19 driven business and health crisis. Note that I put business ahead of health in this discussion. This is not to ignore or belittle the consequences for the health of those over 70 or with an existing health condition, who we know suffer the highest mortality rates. I just want to make the point that the business impact of the current crisis affects billions of people, while the virus affects hundreds of thousands. Businesses locate people in their homes rather than offices, to try and contain the contagion of the virus, yet companies are ill prepared for the human dimension of conducting business remotely.
There are tech issues around on-line meetings, which impact how many people can be on-line together and the stability of the streaming systems. There are also audio issues depending on whether you are using a headset with mic or just your computer mic. Many home offices in Japan are the dining room table or whatever can be rigged to set up the computer and not so many have a printer at home. Given the strong culture of working long hours at the office, the home office concept is relatively underdeveloped here. In fact, not so many Japanese companies issue laptops to staff, because everyone normally spends their entire time in the office using desktops.
There are also cultural issues around appearing on-line. Japanese homes were designated “rabbit hutches” back in the day, because of their small dimensions and crowded nature. Not much has changed, as most people live in small apartments. Turning on your camera to appear on-line, means you are now showcasing the family abode to everyone else. I do a lot of video conferences with Dale Carnegie in the US. One of the American meeting participants from Dakota, the land of endless vistas and big skies, noticed my camera background and asked me if I was doing the meeting in my closet. How could I explain Japan to her, so I just said “yes!”.
The upshot is that many participants joining the on-line meeting won’t want to show themselves and their homes to the other company members, so the ability to connect individually with everyone becomes more difficult. All you see is their name on screen and no face. Also, when you have many participants on-line, even if they leave their cameras on, the sheer weight of numbers reduces the individual on-screen boxes to a very small size. That means it is okay when you are talking, because your face is full screen, but everyone else looks like they are beaming in from Lilliput, where the people are six inches high. It is very hard to get any visual feedback to what you are saying, as the screens are too small and there are too many tiny faces to be able to focus.
We are now talking to nobody and everyone at the same time. We are speaking into a void, which can be very disconcerting. Usually people taking part in meetings when they are face to face, are underwhelming as presenters, but now the problem is amplified. They are dead dogs in person and become world champions at boring when they go on-line. The meetings become lifeless, mundane and rarely satisfactory or motivating. Your business communication becomes as dull as dishwater. Hardly a recipe for great work to be produced at home.
When we are on-line, we need to really power up our voice, use big gestures, bring energy to the screen and project our message with authority. Actually, all the things we should be doing in a face to face presentation. We have to go a bit harder than in person though, because we are reduced to a small screen version and that can minimise our messaging if we allow it. Don’t allow it. So go big, certainly much bigger than normal.
It is hard to see audience reactions, so ask for feedback. Most on-line systems have a chat box, so get people to write their feedback or questions there. Some systems allow checkmarks or icons such as smiley faces or raising hands. Get the audience to tell you when they have a question by raising a hand or that they are good to go with your message, with a reassuring check mark or a smiley face. Make the most of the tech available to you. As the presenter, you must remain the central focus though, just as you would in person. Keep people honed in on your message, by ramping up your presentation energy.
Free Live On Line Stress Management Sessions
On a separate note, we are running public Live On Line Stress Management classes, which will be free to all attendees on March 19 (English) and 24th (Japanese) and April 16th (Japanese) and 17th (English). We are also offering the same thing as an in-house programme, delivered Live On Line for our existing clients and for prospective clients. This allows us to help our clients and our community.
The registration process for these free stress management sessions is being offered on our website, so please go to this specific page: http://bit.ly/dale_stress_e
Covid-19 Challenges Leaders’ Communication Skills
Most leaders tend to underestimate the importance of communicating with their teams even in normal times. We are now definitely far removed from “normal times”. Panic buying, lockdowns, quarantine isolation, working from home are just some of the features of the response to the virus. The health issue gets most of the focus, but the real dangers lurking in the shadows are economic. People are not yet connecting what all this dislocation will mean for business. An economic downturn can get sparked by the stock market crashing, a major collapse in consumer sending, rising unemployment rates, trade restrictions, and supply chains grinding to a halt. Actually, we are facing all of these right now.
The virus is global and so are the effects on business. It won’t be one country or a couple of countries being impacted. The interlocking of business means we face an escalation of economic effects across the world. The virus will mainly kill those already in poor health or over the age of seventy, but the economic disruption will hit billions of people and kill off millions of businesses. As the leader, what are the messages we need to be presenting to our team and what are the mediums we should be using?
Japan is the most experienced capitalist country dealing with the virus. We are six weeks ahead of everyone else, so we can see the business impact of the virus, as it drives down the basis of commerce – the free exchange of goods and services. This exchange is grinding much more slowly than before and that has ramifications for small medium enterprises’ survival.
PM Abe suddenly closes all schools elementary level and above and this immediately hits the school lunch suppliers, the part time workers at the schools, and this impact is transferred down the food chain. Events are not held, tourists both internal and external stop travelling, restaurants are emptying as people stay at home, Hotels lose bookings etc., etc., and everyone expecting related revenue gets nothing now. They in turn stop spending too, because they are in a tough cash flow situation.
The initial leader communication efforts were focused on avoiding the virus and the health issues involved but things are moving much faster now and business bankruptcy is a prospect which must be faced. The economy was already slowing down, because of the trade friction between the US and China and the additional two percent increase in the consumption tax. The virus economy impact is already pushing Japan further into recession and the possibility of no Olympics being held will just add to the damage to business sector. The danger is that the virus dissipates, as the temperatures climb, only to return again in Autumn. Things may start to improve, only to fall back in a few months time and we go through all of this disruption again.
The time for a leader in Japan, to gather the troops together for a town hall has passed. No one wants to get together in a big group, because of the risk of contagion from people who may not even be aware they are infected. That means we are down to video calls and emails. People are increasingly working at home or are at work, but avoiding human contact as much as possible.
The messaging needs to be transparent, factual and realistic. Papering over the economic ramifications of the approaching recession won’t fly with a sceptical workforce, who have already seen the blunt incompetence of Japan’s political leadership. Trying to pretty up the money situation is pointless. You tell everyone that “we are fine” financially and then a few weeks later, you may be telling people they need to take a pay cut or take unpaid leave. It doesn’t take long for small companies to burn through their cash reserves.
The leader needs to communicate the real situation and get everyone’s support to weather the storm together. The danger is people will lose faith in you, and faith in the company. If you survive the economic impact of the virus, you may find your best people will leave when the opportunity presents itself, as things stabilise. They will look to go to a bigger, more robust company that provides a safer financial situation for them. You come out of this crisis substantially weakened and then it gets worse again.
Being honest, transparent and flagging what may need to be done to survive can have the effect of rallying everyone together to fight. This effort needs constant communication with the whole team, a good chunk of whom may be sitting at home with lots of time on their hands, just worrying about their future. In this situation you cannot over-communicate what is happening. Constant updating should be the norm. Communicating your confidence that the company will make it through this and come out stronger must be the message. People need repeated reassurances from the leader. Are you ready?
Free Live On Line Stress Management Sessions
On a separate note, we are running public Live On Line Stress Management classes, which will be free to all attendees on March 19 (English) and 24th (Japanese) and April 16th (Japanese) and 17th (English). We are also offering the same thing as an in-house programme, delivered Live On Line for our existing clients and for prospective clients. This allows us to help our clients and our community.
The registration process for these free stress management sessions is being offered on our website, so please go to this specific page: http://bit.ly/dale_stress_e
Should I Recycle My Content Between Presentations?
We go to a lot of effort to prepare for our presentations. We find the best quality information, assemble the slides to showcase that data and we make big efforts for the successful delivery of the talk. Once it is over, then that is the end of it. It was a lot of effort for a one time event. It reminds me of that esoteric Japanese art Sunae, where you craft sand into artistic landscapes and designs and then discard the artwork thereafter. We craft our artistic efforts and then as the presentation comes to an end we discard the work. Isn’t this a waste? Or should each presentation stand alone, representing a point in time in our speaker journey?
For me, I try to create the opportunity to give the same presentation a number of times. Obviously, repetition helps to improve the presentation. We learn so much from the first time we gave it, that it seems motainai or a complete waste not to be able to use those insights and try again. The problem is how to create the opportunity to repeat the presentation? Various host organisations have some degree of requirement for exclusivity and they want their members to have the virgin roll out and not the recycled rendition. They resist allowing you the opportunity to offer them the new and improved version because they want to differentiate themselves from other organisations.
I understand the point but in fact no two presentations are ever the same anyway. The speech is not being read out aloud (if you are doing that please contact me immediately!), so we are usually talking to the points we bring up. What we say in the moment may be phrased an entirely different way to last time. In fact one would hope that was the case, because the idea is we learnt something from last time and now we can offer a better version.
We may have supplemented the slide deck or thinned it down based on our last experience with the limits of the time, for the quantity material we prepared. Hopefully these were not too far apart, because we should have been rehearsing before we gave it, so we should know the time required for the delivery. After we gave it the first time we realised that now there may be some slides which no longer fit, given the time interregnum between presentations or we may have found something better since the last time.
We may have left bits out the first time, in our fevered efforts to get through the presentation and this second time we want to make sure they are not missed. The audience questions may have raised issues we hadn’t considered when framing the presentation and now we can incorporate the answers to those issues this time around. Or we may have been given constructive feedback and have now been able to incorporate that into this delivery.
We might worry we will be flat the second time around, as it has become a bit ho-hum for us. That is rarely the case though, unless you are doing the exact same presentation every week for months, which for most businesspeople is highly unlikely. Even stage actors, who have their shows run for weeks, always manage to freshen up their performance. If you see the same show twice, you will notice that the two performances are slightly different.
If we can, we should try to convince the good burghers in our towns, to have us present the same topic to different groups, within a reasonably close span of time, to reap the benefits of what we learn from actually doing the presentation in front of an audience. I remember when I gave a talk to a 5000 person audience. I found the scale of the venue was so different from normal, that I had to change how I presented. I instinctively knew that in order to master that environment and that situation, I would need to repeat that experience at least five times a row in order to master it.
Keep all of your presentation materials and notes and plunder the past for the keys to future glory. Practice makes perfect, so manufacture lots of opportunities to speak. Don’t wait for the phone to ring, instead get on the phone and get the next gig. That is how the pros did it and why wouldn’t we do the same.