Today we are going to look at inspiring people to embrace change. Not grumbling and finally accepting change.  Not resisting change, until the bitter end. We are talking about “embracing” change.  This is a big task.  We may have all done that exercise where we fold our arms across our chest, but with the bottom arm on top this time.  It is a simple change, but instinctively we don’t like the change.  If we can’t deal with such a simple change, how hard is it going to be to get people to accept big changes.  

How can we persuade people to go for the changes we are recommending?  Here is how we design the talk.

1. We start with clearly defining what it is we want to change.  We have to make sure this is crystal clear to ourselves and everyone else involved.  If you have ever designed a questionnaire or a survey and haven’t been clear enough on the question, about what you want, then you know it throws the whole effort out of kilter and you can’t use the results. So, the change has to be communicated to people and that means we have to be concise and clear about what the outcome is that we want.

2. This isn’t the order we present the talk in, but for design clarity purposes we start at the end. We need to design two closes. We have to decide how we are going to close the talk before we open up for questions.  The second close is for after the Q&A.   The latter is particularly important. We don’t want some random, off topic question hijacking our audience’s attention and have them forgetting the key point we were making. 

Remember we want our recommendation to be ringing in the ears of the audience once the talk is over. So the second close is the last thing they will hear from us and we have to dominate their memory banks with our messaging.

3. We should be anticipating likely questions we will get.  We don’t want to be surprised by a question we are not prepared for.  We can see our own credibility and the credibility of our suggestion about the needed changes crash and burn, if we cannot properly handle the questions thrown at us. 

4. We have to justify the reason for the change.  This has two parts, one being the statement of why we need the change.  We have to be clear about asking for the change so that there is no doubt about what we say we need. The other part is an example why we need the change.  This example has to be clear and compelling.

5. Now we need to come up with three quite viable solutions for fixing the problem we have specified.  We can’t have two ludicrous solutions and one which looks like the perfect idea.  This type of approach will come across as an attempt to manipulate the result and our credibility will be damaged.

6. To demonstrate balance, we need to nominate the pros and cons for each of the three suggestions.  Having chosen legitimate alternatives, there will be real pros and cons and we need to outline what these are in detail.  We want the audience to feel we are being objective in our approach.

7. We purposely make the third suggestion the one we prefer.  We know that recency means that the listeners will best remember the last thing they heard.  It has to be the strongest of three strong alternatives. 

8. We need to specify that we are recommending option number three and then provide convincing evidence of why we are recommending that solution.  We have to make sure the audience feels the other two options could work and that this last one is clearly the best option.

9. Lastly, we design the Opening.  As always, the opening has one main task and that is to break through all of the distractions going on in the minds of our audience.  People today are so preoccupied with their phones and social media, that we have a gargantuan struggle ahead of us to pry their phones out of their hands and have them give us their full attention.  This is the hardest time in history to be a public speaker, so we need to be up to the task.

So the order of delivery is as follows: 1. Opening, 2. Statement of Need, 3. Example of the Need, 4. Solution One – pros and cons, 5. Solution Two – pros and cons, 6. Solution Three – pros and cons, 7. Our recommendation that we choose Solution Three and why, 8. Close number One, 9. Q&A, 10, Final Close

If we follow this structure, then we have a much better chance of people adopting our suggested course of action.  Getting people to make changes is extremely difficult.  Getting them to make the changes willingly is even more difficult, so we need this type of special preparation in order to be successful.

Today we are going to look at motivating others to action. Actually, this is a devilishly difficult task. Getting anyone to change what they have been doing and take a new action is extremely complex.  We all talk up a storm about this or that should change, but we are not keen about changing ourselves. In fact, we expect everyone else make the necessary changes and we want to stay exactly the same. 

In our training on the topic of mindset, to underline the power of our habits, we ask people to make small changes.  For example, put your wristwatch on the other wrist or fold your arms across your chest, such that the arm that is usually on the bottom is now on top.  Try it for yourself and like most people you will feel a bit uncomfortable with the change.  Appealing to others on the level of logic works well, but people need their emotions to be engaged for them to take action.  We act on emotion and justify it with logic. Let’s look at how we can design a talk which will motivate others to take an action we recommend.

Here is the design order, which is different to the delivery order.

1. We start with the end in mind and decide what is the concrete action we want people to take. This action has to be clarified and made not only easy to understand but also made to seem easy to complete.  If the action required sounds complicated and onerous, our audience won’t be motivated to make it a reality.

2. We might think it is a good idea, but will our audience be convinced? This requires some clear benefit to taking action. Everyone thinks in terms of what is in it for them, so we have to supply that component.  It also has to be powerful or the work to achieve the benefit may not seem worth the time and effort.  The outcome of the action has to seem much more advantageous than sticking with whatever it is they are doing now.

3. Telling people what to do will induce resistance. That is why starting with the action is almost guaranteed to fail. Instead, the incident, the context, the background  providing the evidence that this is a good idea comes next in the planning. 

Storytelling is so powerful and this is where we have to make good use of it.  There must be some reason we think taking this action is a good idea.  What have we experienced, heard or seen that makes us think that is true.  We need to reach back into our memory and capture the very basis for our belief.  Our job now is to tell that as a story involving the people, the place, the season and the time.  Ideally, we should include these elements in such a way that the listeners can see it all in their mind’s eye.  People they know, a season they can relate to, a location they have seen or can imagine etc.

This structure is called the Magic Formula. When we deliver the talk, we reverse the usual order and we start with the Incident, then we finish off with the action and the benefit.  The key here is the majority of the time is spent on the incident, the context and the action and benefit are honed down to the most key elements. 

If we have more than one action, we are splitting the focus of the audience and we don’t want that.  If we pile on the benefits, then each additional benefit we add dilutes the effect of the first one and so on.  We must focus on the most convincing benefit and highlight that one alone.

One huge advantage of the Magic Formula is it is very hard to oppose what we are saying.  Normally if we put up an idea, we are faced with a room full of critics.  They are firmly fixed on why our idea won’t work and why their idea is better.  By starting with the incident, we are taking our audience straight into the background, the context. 

Often hearing the context, they conclude the same thing we have concluded.  By the time we get to the action part, they are already there ahead of us and have concluded the same thing themselves.  This is genius, magic, because we have now secured their agreement to undertake the action before we have even made the recommendation.  If you want others to take an action you want to sponsor then this is the winning formula, the Magic Formula  to make that happen.

So how have your New Year resolutions been unfolding?  Change is tough, as is forming new habits by adding in new concepts and at the same time removing old negative habits.  Resolve requires consistency, patience, perseverance and application – all of which need extra energy on top of what we are already doing.  As presenters we have time, talent and treasure at our disposal to take ourselves up a few rungs on the ladder to success every year, if we can break out of the pull of gravitational forces holding us to where we have always felt comfortable.

Time is Life.  We know that and what we decide to do with it becomes the summation of our lives.  In all facets and periods of our lives, the ability to be persuasive is the big divide.  We either live our lives according to someone else’s plan or we decide our own way forward.  To be able to achieve that we need the cooperation of others.  Once upon a time, perhaps and it is a big perhaps, we could do it all ourselves.  That is a distant memory in today’s highly complex, global and interlocking world.  Being persuasive brings people with us and we can meet the goals we have set.  The issue is if we are not persuasive, then they may not choose to follow us, but seek someone else who is more persuasive.

The beauty of being a presenter is that we are sharply focused on one of the most important business and life skills.  Those like the old me, who will run a mile if asked to present or speak in public are really missing out.  The fear of embarrassment and possible humiliation overrides the ability to plumb the benefits of having this facility.

The talent lies within us and the trick is to unleash that talent.  It is not an inborn talent.  We learn how to become a more convincing, persuasive speaker over time.  The biggest obstacle is lack of knowledge of what to do in order to master the art of public speaking.  Those in denial do not sign up for classes, coached by professionals. They don’t purchase the videos, audio sets and books written by experts on the subject.  They don’t listen to the free podcasts available.  They don’t tap into the vast experience of others and so short circuit the learning process.

Talent comes from nurture and we have to invest the time to nurture our abilities.  Content marketing has become one of the greatest educational breakthroughs in human history.  Putting out great content for free has never been done before on this global scale.  The intellectual property was proprietary and if you wanted to gain access then you had to pay for it.  The idea of giving away your Intellectual Property for free sounded like nonsense.  Yet today what do we see?  A vast array, in fact an overwhelming array of insight, information, data and analysis sitting out in the public domain at no charge.  If you want to do something there is probably a YouTube video on how to do it.  How good is that!

We must invest our time though in a calculated manner, because we are all drinking from the firehose, given that the free content volume is immense.  Educating ourselves in a considered way will help to sort through which content is the most valuable.  Of course, the only valuable knowledge is applied knowledge.  We need to be taking what we are learning and then adopting the better ways of doing things and making them our new default positions, our new habits.

Not everything we need is free and some investment of our treasure is needed. The content marketing logic is that you get to taste the quality and if you think this is what you need, you purchase more of this content.  Do you have an ongoing education budget allocation for polishing your persuasion skills? Where is the best allocation of treasure to gain the most powerful outcomes?  How much do you need to be spending every year to become an outstanding professional?  There is an old observation about do rich people have libraries because they are rich or did they become rich, because they have libraries?  I firmly believe education, however humble or basic, is critical to personal growth.  The more money we can pour into our education, the more successful we will become.  It can’t be an intellectual curiosity in business, it needs to be applied.

We have time, talent and treasure to help us become better presenters, more powerful persuaders and boost our personal and professional brands.  No matter if your New Year resolutions went off the rails already, time to regroup and reset for the coming year.  It is never too late to start again.  The second time for us will bring more context and perspective to where we need to apply ourselves for greater success.

Today we are going to look at communicating with greater impact.  So the first question is what do we mean when we say “impact”?  Most talks are totally forgettable.  Test this hypothesis yourself – how many of the many talks you have listened to, can you remember either the speaker, the topic or both?  Generally, we struggle to remember either, because there was no impact for us.  We were not touched emotionally and logically by the presentation.  Logical presentations with really great data and insight are fantastic, but these do not stick because we are under constant bombardment from new data.  Statistics from a year ago are now irrelevant today, because we have moved on.  The content in written form is difficult to bring alive, but when delivered by a trained presenter the same content can be scintillating.  I don’t mean reading it word by word, but taking the content and really being excellent in the delivery of the content.

Speaking in a boring manner must be the evolutionary default setting of the human race, because this seems to be the easiest way to give a talk.  The only problem is we might be impressed to be on the giving end, standing up there on stage pontificating,  but those on the receiving end are not paying attention.  They are bored by us and our talk and they escape to the internet to find more interesting things to do.  Two or three clicks on a mobile phone and our audience are in distraction heaven, completely oblivious to us and our message.

A monotone delivery is guaranteed to lose the audience and therefore your message isn’t going to resonate with anyone.  That constant same tone is like a version of presenter “white noise” and it makes us drowsy. We need to have some variety in our delivery, which will keep our audience listening to us from start to finish.  There are some simple techniques presenters need to master to avoid being sent to presenter oblivion by our audiences.

Here are some points to work on:

1. Word emphasis – we should try to add extra stress to key words or phrases when we speak. Not all words have the same heft and we don’t want harmonisation across the whole sentence. We want certain elements to stand head and shoulders above their neighbours. This makes a tremendous difference to how our message is received. 

Let’s take an example with this phrase: “This makes a tremendous difference”. Say these phrases out loud to yourself and listen to the difference in impact when I stress key words:  “THIS makes a tremendous difference” or “this MAKES a tremendous difference” or “this makes a TREMENDOUS difference” or “this makes a tremendous DIFFERENCE”.  Just be adding some stress to certain key words, we can change the meaning of the sentence. 

2. Pauses – when we stop speaking, that is a “pattern interrupt” and if some people have been escaping from our presentation, this will bring them back to us. When we insert a pause, it creates a contrast between our sentences and it grabs people’s attention.  The next time you give a talk, try doubling the length of the current pauses you are using in a couple of parts of the talk.  It has that pattern interrupt feature and generates anticipation of what is going to come next.

3. Pacing – we can really slow words down to give them emphasis. L-E-T-S S-L-O-W   I-T R-I-G-H-T  D-O-W-N  We can also go very fast for contrast, but not for too long or we will lose people.  We are looking for emphasis here to give us impact with the listeners.

4. Modulation – Japanese is a monotone language, so it doesn't have the same natural tonal variety of most western languages. However, it can have differences of speed and strength injected into the delivery to create variety. If a classical music orchestra only played the crescendos or only the softer lulls of the piece, it would be extremely boring.   If we speak with the same strength, soft or strong throughout, we will lose people.  Highs and lows are what create variety. 

5. Phrasing – we can use alliteration or rhyme with certain words to create memorable phrases. For example we can go from “hero” to “zero”.  This a good example of a phrase which sticks with an audience.  Look for places where you can create these memory links to you and your talk, so that people won’t forget either.

6. Movement - gestures are super powerful and when congruent with what we are saying, can really add a lot of strength to our statements. Hold gestures for a maximum of fifteen seconds, because after that, their power goes right down and they are no longer effective.  Be very careful about running around, up and down the stage, pacing to and fro – this is a real distraction from your message.  The rule is to move for a distinct purpose only.  Design that in from the start so you know what you are doing and why you are doing it.

These six points will create impact with your audience because remember, everyone else is stuck in the same groove like an old vinyl record and they are losing their audience.  You however will be seen as a person of value, absolutely enhancing your personal and professional brands.