Don't Underestimate the Power of First Impressions

We all heard the phrase, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”  However, it is more powerful than most of us might think. Always “place your best foot forward” when making a first impression; otherwise, you will unfairly miss out on some great opportunities. At the very least, you are sure to “go down swinging.” 

Often, we make decisions based on biased perceptions because we do not always take in enough information to make sound decisions.  There are two main reasons for this: one, there is too much information in our environment causing “information overload.” Two, we “filter” out unwanted information selecting only information that confirms what we already know. This “selective listening” causes flawed or biased perceptions.

We like to think of ourselves as good people and consistent in that our behavior matches our values, beliefs, and attitudes.  As long as we have that “match,” we feel our decisions for the most part are good, and generally, we will stand by our decisions even if we had the chance to do them over again. 

When our behavior doesn’t match our beliefs—we slip into “cognitive dissonance.”  This dissonance causes us distress and disharmony triggering action to get the two back into harmony quickly.  We have at least two choices: we can change our thinking that is being threatened, or we can change our behavior. Reconciling dissonance affects first impressions in a big way.

In a job interview, the interviewer likely has perception biases too.  Given this assumption, she may instantly notice something unfavorable: your appearance, your dress, your handshake, or even the way you might answer the first question or two. More questions come and your responses may contradict her first impression; however, she won’t select that information because she already decided you will not be chosen; selecting contradictory information would cause her to have cognitive dissonance.

Amazingly, your answer on the 10^th question is the only answer that confirms her earlier unfavorable impression and she immediately thinks, “Aha!  I knew I was right about you” thus, she is confident in her decision, and you unfairly missed out on an opportunity.

4 Strategies to Managing the “Jitters”

Would you like to earn higher grades?  Would you like to land your dream job? Would you like to earn a job promotion?  Would you like to earn more money?  Most folks would answer yes to these questions; however, only a few will do what it takes to realize these things. 

One way to successfully earning higher grades, getting the dream job or job promotion, and earning more money is learning to give effective presentations! 

Being afraid of presentations shouldn’t stop us from doing them. Don’t be afraid; don’t avoid them at all costs.  Here are a few strategies for harnessing the fear, and getting the fear to work for you: 

One, Stay positive.  Understand that the biological feelings we are having like the nervous stomach are natural and we all feel it.  We are outside our comfort zone and it makes us uneasy.  Use those biological feelings to your advantage; they will make you sharp and animated. 

Two, Be rational.  Think of the worse things that could happen. Then, be realistic, and see how they will not happen.  No one is going to laugh at you, no one is going to throw tomatoes at you, you will not forget everything (if you do forget something, so what?  The audience won’t know it). 

Three, Focus on the listeners.  Concentrate on the listener getting the information she/he came to hear.  Don’t look at a presentation as a performance.  Presentations are not about the presenter; they are about the audience.  I hate to tell you this; but, the audience really doesn’t care about you, your hairstyle, your dress, your nose, you weight, or anything else about you.  They care about the message you are giving. 

Four, Prepare early and practice.  An audience will get downright hostile if you come unprepared.  You owe it to them to be prepared.  Many students tell me they aren’t good at presentations after only preparing for one day.  I tell them that is not the case, you can be good at presentations, you simply are not good at preparation.

Follow these four tips and learn to practice as often as you can; you will also learn that the “jitters” or nervousness is normal and natural.  Take advantage of this adrenaline rush and use it to keep you sharp, look confident, and enthusiastic.  You will become good at presentations thus earning promotions, notoriety, prestige, better grades, more money, and better jobs.

Made to Stick

When giving instructions as a manager, or when speaking to groups, it is important to follow six principles.  All the statistics, charts, and graphs in the world won’t “stick” in people’s minds even close to the effectiveness of these principles.  And, that is our goal right—to say things in such a way that the listeners remember?

Chip Heath from the Business Graduate School of Stanford University and his brother and Dan Heath a former researcher at the Harvard Business School have documented these principles in their in depth studies on ”the stickiness factor” of getting audiences to remember what you say.

Principle 1:  Simplicity. Get your idea down to a one sentence statement

Principle 2.  Unexpectedness. Violate peoples expectations, do something they don’t expect.

Principle 3.  Concreteness. Make your idea clear.

Principle 4. Credibility. Get People to believe your idea.

Principle 5.  Emotions.  Get people emotionally involved in your idea.

Principle 6.  Stories.  Relate your ideas into stories people can connect to in their minds.  Use a narrative. 

These principles can be remembered using the following mnemonic:  SUCCES.

I have found that fitting all these principles into my presentations and giving instructions has vastly improved my effectiveness.  It will for you too.

Source: Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath Random House New York 2007.    

It's Not Bad Speakers, it's Bad Speeches

In an email exchange with Jezra Kaye, author of the fabulous book on Public Speaking, Speak Like Yourself... No, Really! Follow Your Strengths and Skills to Great Public Speaking, I asked her why do we see so many poor presentations and speeches? 

Her viewpoint is (which I share) that some are not good speakers, and some are good speakers; however, “Their speeches aren’t good.”  From chapter two of her book, she shares her reasoning.

Here are the three steps in Doomed to Fail:

Doomed to Fail Step 1: Find out everything you can about your topic

Doomed to Fail Step 2: Put your facts into PowerPoint

Doomed to Fail Step 3: Ignore your speech until the day you give it

I found her reasoning to be spot on. 

For example, I got a call from a friend to help with his upcoming presentation.  He was promoted as new division manager at his manufacturing plant and one of his new duties was to give a presentation about his division to a monthly management meeting.  He didn’t know how to write a speech and called me.

I sat down with him and asked several questions about the audience, the topic, the purpose, what his boss expected, what other’s did, etc.  We developed a central idea and went to work supporting it with three examples and supported each example with some “Shop” stories and pictures.  I set up the Power Point to enhance his presentation.  Then, I strongly suggested he practice, practice, practice.

He showed the speech to the General Manager’s Executive Assistant, without my knowledge, and she said that nobody does it this way.  She said write out your speech, and I’ll put it on Power Point for you and all you have to do is read it.

So he scrapped all our work and fulfilled her request.  He gathered as much information as he could about his Division, wrote it down, and gave it to her to put on Power Point.  She typed it on several slides and gave it to him.  He, then, set it aside until the morning of the speech.

I called him that afternoon to ask how the speech went.  He said, “OK.”  I followed up, “Didn’t that opening line kill? How about that first slide on Power Point?  I bet they were rolling in the aisles.  You should have had their attention immediately!”  He sheepishly told me he didn’t give the speech we worked on.  When I asked why, he told me that the Executive Assistant told him that nobody did it that way. 

I guess she and he didn’t know that their way was exactly Jezra’s three steps to guarantee “doomed to fail.”

What is really at the root of Public Speaking Anxiety?

Over the past several years, my feelings on this topic have evolved.  I spent over 23 years of my adult life being terrified of Public Speaking such that it put my career into a deep freeze.  I overwhelmed myself with the fear of looking incompetent, being laughed at, and looking pathetic.  I would almost pass out at the thought of standing in front of a group even though I seemed to excel in one-on-one communication.

After years of study, practice, and a determined mindset to “harness” this fear, I succeeded in harnessing the fear even to the point of writing a book on the findings of my research and teaching others to improve their public speaking skills.

My feelings now (knowledgeable of The Francis Effect) are that most of my fear was based on an overwhelming amount of self-consciousness and selfishness.  I was so self-absorbed, my own feelings of fear were more important than any useful information I could share with others, thus stopping me before I got started.  The price was many years of lower pay, less help to others, and wasted time of friends enduring my private proclamations that I knew better than the brave people in front of the group.

If you can get the mindset that your message is more important than how you look, then, the fear will not debilitate you as it gives way to courage resulting in valuable information you will share with others.

Focus on your message and the audience, not yourself.

Who are these bad presenters?

In one of the thousands of books on Public Speaking, the author stated that 90% of all presentations, speeches, and meetings being held every day in North America are bad.  I don’t know about the accuracy of such a statistic; however, it might not be that far off. I know I have sat through hundreds of bad presentations.

The majority of Speakers (maybe 90%) think they are excellent speakers!  Clearly, there is a disconnect if most speakers think they are good and most audiences think the speaker is bad. Are you one of those?  How do you know?

I watch 2-3 speeches a day on the Internet and attend 10-15 per month.  I analyze every one through the eyes of an audience member, the speaker, and in context of the occasion.  There are many of excellent speakers out there; unfortunately, there are a lot of bad ones too.  I am not critical of the bad ones because as someone much smarter than me pointed out, all good speakers were bad speakers at one point.  The danger is being bad and thinking you are good. 

If so, how can you ever get better? In my observations, the disconnect is rooted in the following: often the speaker thinks that if he/she entertained, then he/she is good. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Just because the audience likes you doesn’t mean you communicated your message.  Maybe your style is entertaining; however, does the audience walk out of there knowing what you intended them to know?

Are you approaching Public Speaking as a Communication Event or a Performance? What does the occasion require?  If you didn’t ask those questions, you may be one of the bad presenters. The good news is you can be an excellent presenter, and not only in your own mind—really.