The Key to “Upskilling” in Lockdown
"More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”
This quote, attributed to Saint Teresa of Ávila, could very well sum up the unforeseen radical change our lives have experienced. For the past several years, many of us have been craving more time: more time away from the office, more time with our families, more time to take up that hobby, more time to take up that self-improvement project. Well, now we’ve got it. Prayer answered. Seemingly overnight, our chaotic, overscheduled lives that left precious little time for extracurriculars, gave way to stay-at-home orders and newly blank work and social calendars.
“If only I had the time” no longer holds water as an excuse not to "upskill," a trendy but jargony word in corporate America these days. More on avoiding such words later.
Last week, I got a call from a woman, for whom becoming a better public speaker was a long-held aspiration. Facing countless weeks of home confinement, she decided there was no better time to move her back-burner project to the front burner. She told me that she’s always looked upon polished public speakers who captivate an audience with a combination of awe and envy. How great it must be, she often thought, to have an audience in the palm of your hand, hanging on your every word.
So, this week we will begin her quest to transform herself from a proficient public speaker to a polished orator. Here’s what we will work on together:
Developing Your Narrative
Unless you have written for either TV or radio, most people write for the eye, instead of the ear. For that reason, sitting down at a computer and scripting prose is a terrible way to create text that sounds conversational. A better approach? Make yourself an outline of what you want to say on large index cards. Then, use your phone to record yourself saying it as it would come to you naturally. Don’t worry if there are lots of starts and stops and mistakes. Then take the transcription of the recording and use that as your first draft. You’ll find the tone far more conversational, approachable and casual than anything you could have written.
How to Start
The age-old approach of telling ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em, telling ‘em, then telling ‘em what you told ‘em is just that: OLD. Your goal should always be to stand out by being distinctive. Following this dated, Mckinsey-esque strategy is merely an invitation to sound like everybody else. Starting out by stating an agenda is a real snoozer. A better approach? Start by telling a story that serves as a metaphor for the main point you want to underscore in your talk or presentation. The payoff to the story should be like the punchline of a joke and be thematically connected to your big idea and threaded periodically through your talk.
Keep it Real
From Leonardo DaVinci to Steve Jobs, the most brilliant people throughout history have preached the importance of simplicity. But the problem is, we human beings have a natural propensity for making things complicated. As a result, most public speakers make their language too formal and stilted. In my experience as a coach, it is the truly confident speakers who feel the license to be casual. Mastering the hard task of getting to simple means keeping sentences short and not using 25¢ words when 5¢ words suffice. Avoid the words “standpoint” and “perspective” altogether. Don’t turn nouns into verbs (efforting, diligencing, e.g.) and don't manufacture made-up words like "upskilling." By the way, on my computer, those three words just mentioned have red lines underneath them, which of course means they’re not really words. So, don’t break the “red-line rule” and have those words come out of your mouth. Stay completely clear of jargon and avoid clichés. Saying you’re on a journey to double down on your value prop is not a way to sound real and distinctive.
Practice, Practice, Practice
You can craft the best narrative in the world, but if you don’t put in the necessary rehearsal time, the whole thing could fall flat. So, what is considered sufficient practice? Think of an 8-to-1 ration, which means that if you have a 15-minute speech or presentation, you should be rehearsing for two hours. And when you practice, say it out loud, preferably recording it on your phone. Silently imagining in your head how to say it isn’t an effective way to rehearse. Hearing yourself and seeing yourself clearly points out what areas need improvement.
Ask any professional athlete what the ideal time is to significantly improve their performance and they’ll tell you it’s the off-season, when they have sufficient time to devote to a true transformation. With so many industry events and conferences canceled due to the pandemic, this spring is the public-speaking off-season, which makes it the perfect time to elevate your game. Various online resources make this easy to accomplish in a virtual setting, our on Clarity Academy, being one of them: https://claritymediagroup.com/courses
Good luck!