Episode #391: The Japanese “Way” of Presenting

Foreign companies often want to appoint a Japanese person to be the head of their Japan operation. This is done on the basis that they will know what is best for the business. This proclivity has made many washed up, tremendously mediocre Japanese Presidents a lot of money and substantially extended their careers. At some point the shareholders, or the Board, start to ask why there are no results in the Japan operation.

The local chief usually manages to fend off these “rude” enquiries for a few years until the jig is up. In comes the shiny new President from headquarters who has been despatched to “fix” the Japan operation and turn it around. This typically leads to another array of problems, but that is another podcast. The idea is that the Japanese way of doing things is the best for Japan – “when in Tokyo do it the Tokyo way” kind of thing.

I remember trying to sell our High Impact Presentations Course to a foreign financial firm. The Japanese lady I was speaking with told me she wanted the “Japanese way” of presentations instead of the Dale Carnegie global best practice way. It is an interesting question, isn’t it. How far do we go to accommodate the Japanese culture and way of doing things, while still getting the maximum benefit from doing things at the highest possible level?

We do meet foreigners here who have been here for a long time and have quietly gone troppo. They are trying so hard to assimilate they are out Japanesing the Japanese. What should we do about how we present in business? Should we go troppo too and do it the Japanese “way”? What is the Japanese “way”? Here is your handy dandy guide to going troppo when presenting in Japan and how to blend in with the locals.

1. Monotone
Speak in a complete monotone voice and forget about using any voice modulation, pauses or hitting of keywords and phrases. Some people will say this is just how it is because the Japanese language is a monotone language and so there is no chance for vocal variation, as we have with foreign languages. That is almost true, except even Japanese speakers can use two mighty levers to elevate their presenting world.
Speed and strength will produce the variety needed. Slowing words down for emphasis or speeding them up both work well. Taking the strength down to speak in a conspiratorial whisper is good and so is using power to hit keywords.

2. Be Seated
Invariably, when I am invited to speak in Japanese the layout will feature a desk with my name written on paper either draping over the desk or sitting upright on a paper tent. The microphone will be on a low stand. This is to make it clear that I am humble and I am not standing above the audience, making myself out to be better than everyone else. It also means I lose my access to my body language and most of my gestures.

3. No Eye Contact
Looking a superior in the eye in samurai times would get your head cut off for insolence. The culture ensures that we don’t make direct eye contact with people when we speak and so Japanese presenters have migrated this into their presentations. They never look into the eyes of their audience members.

It also means that they haven’t realised that normal conversation and giving presentations are two different things and different rules can apply. The engagement of the audience members through six seconds of individual eye contact are foregone in order to keep your head on your shoulders.

4. Weak Voice
Speaking softly is a cultural preference and so why not keep that going when presenting? The speaker is under-powering their presentation, so often, it is hard to hear what they are saying and there is certainly no passion involved as demonstrated through voice projection. This guarantees the speaker has almost zero presence in the room.

5. Few Gestures
Holding the hands in front of the groin, behind the back or together at waist level are all favourites. Each position locks up the hands and cancels out using any gestures to emphasise the message being delivered.

6. Casual Posture
Having the weight displacement 70/30 is common and usually it results in one hip being kicked out to the side. Swaying around is also popular as they speak. These are all distractions from the message, but no one is conscious of that, so they keep doing it.

7. One packed slide
Cramming everything on to one slide, with five tiny different fonts and six colours, is definitely a typical effort by Japanese presenters. The rule that we have to be able to understand the point of the message on the slide in two seconds has been tossed overboard in favour of a full noisy baroque effort.

Good luck with out Japanesing the Japanese when it comes to the Japanese “way” of presenting.