Episode #87: Giving Presentations: It Is Harder Than It Looks Folks

When you are an instructor and coach for presenters or a regular presenter, you tend to be immersed in that world and your sense of the degree of difficulty involved becomes numbed. I was reminded of this when we were doing a video shoot in Japanese the other day. We have employed an actor to appear in our videos advertising our core courses. I shoot a video almost everyday, but I am doing this in English. I have been debating with myself about whether I should be doing them in Japanese as well or whether we should have a native speaker do it. I can speak Japanese but naturally I have an accent. Also while I constantly struggle with English grammar, Japanese grammar perfection lifts the degree of ask so much higher.

In the end, we went for the Japanese native speaker and hired an actor to do the shoot. This was fascinating for me. As soon as we started, I realised that the skill sets to be an actor and to be a presenter are quite different in Japan. Reading lines on a teleprompter is a skill and is quite difficult and tiring because of the concentration involved. That is why the newscasters always takes breaks by alternating between two people or cutting to the visuals on screen and using just voice. With practice you can get better at this and he did too.

What was missing though was the ability to smile, use congruent facial expressions and gestures while all this teleprompter flow of words was whizzing by. As presentation trainers we know how to juggle many balls in the air at the same time. We are using our eyes to engage with the audience. We are also checking to see if we are getting agreement or resistance to our message. We are adding in our facial expressions to back up the eye power. Our gestures are chiming in to strengthen a point we are making.

If it is a point we are making, about which the evidence is not yet clear, a quizzical expression on our face combined with a hint of doubt in our voice tone really drives home the message that we are not sure what is going to happen next. If it is something we are definitely certain will happen next, then slowly, confidently nodding our head as if in agreement works very well. We add to it by strengthening the tone of our voice, our confidence level, when delivering the words and powerfully looking at members of the audience using our eye strength. This combined effect creates high levels of credibility for what we are saying.

Our actor needed some serious coaching on these points. This surprised me, but then I remembered “we are in Japan”. The base level of understanding of what is required to give a professional presentation is very low here. In fact, the actor was making the excuse that Japanese don’t know how to give proper presentations, which was why he was struggling with all of this stuff. The concept that just because Japanese are poor at presenting means we can all ignore professionalism wasn’t an idea I was buying that day. But it does throw up the fundamental concept here that being poor or mediocre when presenting is somehow acceptable. It isn’t.

A study published in 1967 by UCLA Professor of Psychology Albert Mehrabian pointed out an audience focus ratio of 7% from verbal, 38% vocal and 55% body language. The key caveat, which is often missed when quoting these research numbers, are the words “when incongruent”. What Professor Mehrabian meant was that “when what you are saying is not congruent with the way you are saying it, only 7% of what you are actually saying is getting through to your audience”. The rest of the time they are distracted from your key message by your voice and your clothing. This was the problem we had with our actor. He needed my coaching on how to get the words to be supported by the expression on his face, his gestures and his body language, so that we can make sure the viewer receives 100% of the message in the words he is delivering.

So if even actors can’t automatically do this stuff, how much more difficult is it for everyone else here in Japan? I attended a business talk given by the President of one of the most well known brands in the world, on a very sexy topic. It turned out to be a nothing sort of presentation. Not bad, but not powerful either. I doubt anyone of us can recall one word of what was said. Our speaker had no impact and left no key messages with us. Personally, I would call that a rank failure as a presenter, big name brand or otherwise.

The answer isn’t DNA, pedigree, big brand or luck. It is training. Get trained in how to present and join the top 1% in business who can stand up and capture their audience. I said capture their audience not just speak at them. There is a world of difference between the two. Remember in Japan, the 99% are really, really hopeless, so entry into the top 1% has a very low bar here.