Jane ni Dhulchaointigh: A Speech Deconstruction

About this presentation Inventor Jane ni Dhulchaointigh recounts the roller coaster journey from having a crazy idea about being able to hack everyday objects to the creation and launch of Sugru, an incredible self-setting rubber. Or, as Jane puts it: the six-year process of going from "hmm" to "yay" via "eureka" and "wow."

Jane ni Dhulchaointigh is not a professional speaker and that’s a big part of the reason I chose to launch this series of presentation deconstructions with her 99u talk. It’s easy for us to think that only polished presenters can have an impact. That only the very best, most experienced speakers can touch hearts, change minds and move people to their feet. Not so. And Jane is a perfect example to debunk the “perfection is power” speaking myth.

Her story on its own is inspiring: she created something of value from nothing and overcame countless obstacles to do so. But it’s her doubt-ridden confrontations with failure and her humility, ingenuity and sense of humour that make you cheer for her as a person and a speaker.

Here are three key aspects of her talk that might inspire you as they did me:

• Authenticity and Humility. One of the key strengths of Jane’s talk is how much of her whole self is on the stage. You get a strong sense that she’s being open, real, honest and vulnerable. Her humility is ever present as she tells of her repeated failures and quiet successes.

• Use of Humour. Her humour is grounded in her humility, both of which are infectious and draw you in.

• Storytelling. Jane’s entire talk is a story—the story of her journey to develop the material that would become Sugru and the story of building a business that would foster a passionate user community. She does a great job sharing the highs and lows, the turning points and what changed her trajectory along the way. She also does a brilliant job of telling the story of Sugru by sharing the stories of her customers and how they are using Sugru to improve their lives and the lives of the people they love.

You can watch her presentation here. You might want to watch her talk straight through first and then take a look at the deconstruction so you can appreciate the whole and then the bits that make it special. Or steal some glances at the commentary below as you watch the first time.

00:19	She’s wearing orange tights and pink sneakers. Definitely a stand-out even at a creative conference about making great ideas happen.
00:20	Jane starts her talk by admitting that she’d never heard of the 99u.com conference before she was invited to speak. Refreshing and honest.
00:43	Jane’s talk is full of unexpected admissions, insights and colourful language. Here she shares that “good design makes everything look easy. The truth is completely the opposite. Making stuff happen is “really f#@king difficult.” A great insight, authentically expressed that resonated with the creative audience.
2:39	In describing what Sugru is, Jane says, with humility and levity, “You can mend things with it. You can make things with it. And it has some really great physical properties: it’s dishwasher proof, waterproof, heat resistant, blahdey-blah [with a dismissive, humble hand wave]. That’s it.”
4:17	Jane talks about moving to London at 23 to study product design “with big high hopes of becoming a famous product designer...until I realized a few weeks in that I was actually a pretty sht product designer. Really sht.” Again, a refreshingly honest confession, delivered in a humourous way.
5:05	She uses her own handwriting to label the various highlights and lessons learned over the course of her discovery and development journey, making the process more personal.
6:06	Throughout her talk, Jane shares the “what if” questions that drove her process, an inspiring example of humility in creative problem solving and putting the customer at the centre of a design process, instead of the designer. (Pro tip: great presenters do the same.)
8:47	Jane talks about meeting a bunch of scientists who taught her about chemistry so she could perfect the silicone substance that would eventually become her product, Sugru. At 9:00, she talks about getting the white coat (like a scientist in a lab) and that helped her feel the part. As she shares this part of the story, she mimes putting on the white coat and does a little “joy wiggle” that is endearing and funny.
14:50	Jane shares a picture of herself, on the floor, in shock, after the online launch of Sugru exceeds all expectations and changed the business. The antithesis of the humble brag.
18:30	Jane is jumping up and down as she shares a customer letter. This spontaneous expression of pure joy is touching and hilarious and conveys the passion she has for her customers and what they’re doing with her product.
19:15	She shares a moving story of a dad who uses Sugru to fix his child’s feeding tube, a beautiful example of sharing a customer’s story to engage the audience and create emotional resonance.
20:39	Jane suggests that it’s not Sugru that’s awesome, it helps make [the customer] more awesome. Genuine humility at its best.
21:36	She recounts how a customer who wanted to participate in an epic canoe race in the Yukon was only able to do so because she modified her paddle with Sugru to accommodate the missing fingers on her left hand. Wonderful storytelling told with joy and authenticity.

Jane’s talk works because she speaks with humility, candour and colour. She has an infectious spirit that helps her form a quick bond with the audience so we’re celebrating her victories as our own.

The Importance of Pace and The Power of Pause

If you’re like most people on the planet, the pace of your speech speeds up when you’re excited, nervous or even passionate about something. A speedy delivery can be very effective when you have great news to share with friends, but it’s decidedly less so when you’re pitching new business or trying to impress a senior executive. When you speak like you’re trying to beat a shot clock, your audience can’t keep up with you or connect with your content. And that’s a shame because you’ve got great ideas that are worth listening to. What’s a fast talker to do?

The best place to start is silence, and recognize that it is easier to stop talking than it is to slow down. Rather than focus on the number of words per minute coming out of your mouth, take a breath, a beat, and pause. Here are ten ways you can prompt yourself to do just that:

1. Enumerate. When you enumerate the points you’re making, you’re naturally inclined to pause after the number. As a bonus, enumeration adds clarity to your communication. And people think you’re organized.
    

2. Truncate. Don't be afraid to follow an enumerated point with a truncated expression or sub-header. For example: "First. [Pause.] Nature versus nurture. [Pause.] While many people may come down on the side of DNA to explain extraordinary performers, I am squarely on the side of nurture…"
    

3. Ask rhetorical questions. Why? Well, what follows a rhetorical question? A pause! Few people use rhetorical questions, which is a shame because they’re helpful pause prompters. And your audience will be even more mentally engaged in your talk as their brains try to answer your rhetorical question. As an aside, any time you think you are losing your audience and you want them back, simply pose a rhetorical question. Of course, you don't want to overuse rhetorical questions, but very few speakers even come close to risking overuse.
    

4. Pause your hands. On occasion, you may want to use your hands to delineate the points you’re making. When you do so, try to leave your hands in place for longer. If you are discussing the objectives for two parties in a transaction (say, a record label and a recording artist), you may use your hands to delineate what each party is trying to achieve. As you physically delineate the parties in the space in front of you, leave your hands out, holding the place you’ve created for each party, for longer. This will enhance your presence, increase your clarity, and prompt you to pause.
    

5. Follow empathic points up with some silence. One of the challenges for fast talkers is that their emphatic statements don’t land with the intended emphasis because they get lost in a flood of words. Make it easy for people to capture, consider, and retain your most important points.
    

6. Make emphatic statements s l o w l y. If trying to add some silence after your most important points isn’t prompting you to pause, try making your emphatic points as slowly as you can. Watch George H. W. Bush in 1998 saying, “Read. My. Lips. No. New. Taxes." He may not have delivered on his promise, but he did deliver his message and he got elected.
    

7. Use some short sentences. Those who speak quickly are often also blessed with verbal fluidity—they have no trouble finding new words to follow their last ones. As a result, they often speak with long sentences that contain multiple subordinate clauses. As one sentence rolls into the next, it is difficult to identify where one paragraph ends and a new one begins. Short sentences stand out. Use them. And if you follow them with a pause, they’ll work extra hard for you.
    

8. Proactively create silence. This is a deceptively simple tip. For those who are willing to incorporate it, it can deliver huge returns. Often the simplest thing you can do to improve your speaking is nothing, except revel in some silence.
    

9. Lengthen the duration of eye contact. Somehow, there is a string and pulley system that connects your eyes to your pace. When your eyes slow down, so does your voice. Try to lengthen the duration of eye contact per person to 3 to 5 seconds and wait for a comma or period before turning to the next person. This will strengthen your connection with your audience, enhance your presence, and slow down your pace.
    

10. Increase the volume. Volume is often another string-and-pulley connection to your pace. When you increase the volume, your pace slows down.

To take these tips for a test drive, enroll a friend or a colleague and tell them you are working on your fast talking ways and trying to add more pauses to your presentations. Then go ahead and try to explain something to them with way too many pauses and pauses that feel much too long. Then, ask them for their feedback. There will likely be a huge gap between how appropriate you thought the pauses were compared to their experience. It is rare that anyone ever successfully pauses in ways that those listening find to be too frequent or too long. Use their feedback to help you grow.

Adding pauses will help you slow down and allow your audience to capture more of your gems. They will help you harness your passion without losing the essence of you or your message.

How to Be a Great Panelist in 8 Simple Steps

When you reach a certain stage in your career or your business begins to get some attention in the press, you will start getting invitations to share your expertise and experience at conferences and events. One of the most common invitations that smart, interesting folks receive is the panelist request. An event organizer is pulling together a panel to discuss a particular topic and he is looking for people with an interesting point of view or relationship to the topic and you get the call.

These invitations are flattering and they can be a great opportunity to build your profile and share your knowledge and insight. And they can also a complete waste of time because they are often moderated poorly and populated by self-promoting gasbags who are looking for a soapbox.

Participating in a panel discussion can be challenging so the next time you’re invited to speak on a panel, try out these tips to make sure you and the audience get the most out of the experience.

BEFORE YOU SAY YES…

1. Understand the audience. Before you even agree to participate in a panel, talk to the organizer and/or moderator about the audience. Who will be in the audience and what is the level of their experience and expertise? Why are they attending the conference and/or panel? Ask to see the invite list to get a sense for what type of organizations and positions will be represented in the audience. Conference organizers often talk about their aspirational, not actual, audience. Make sure you’re clear on who you’re going to be speaking to and whether or not you have something to offer them before you say yes.
    
2. Ask about objectives. Talk to the moderator about the objectives for the discussion. Find out what she is hoping to have each panelist contribute. Ask specifically what she hopes the audience will do, what they need to know to do that and how she would like them to feel during the panel discussion. You want to feel confident that you have something meaningful to contribute.
    
3. Clarify expectations. When you’re speaking with the moderator, clarify what’s expected of you in terms of the format. Is it a true panel discussion or is it a series of short presentations from each of the panelists? Are interruptions and counterpoints encouraged or frowned upon? Make sure you are comfortable with the format before you agree to participate.
    
4. Research the expertise of your fellow panelists. Be clear on what each person on the panel will likely contribute to the panel discussion and how your content will augment the expertise of the others. Sometimes the best reason to participate on a panel is to network with your fellow panelists. If you make them shine, you’ll be sure to catch some of their reflected light.
    

ONCE YOU’VE AGREED TO PARTICIPATE…

5. Plan and prioritize. Once you’re clear on the nature of the audience, the likely contribution of your fellow panelists and the objectives associated with the panel, it’s time to plan and prioritize your points. Don’t try to cover the whole waterfront. Ask yourself which ideas will best serve your audience and prepare short vignettes and crisp examples to illustrate them and subtly showcase your experience.


6. Contribute thoughtfully. Add dynamism to the discussion by building on other people’s contributions. The moderator is not the only one who can ask questions. Pose questions to the other panelists, either for clarity or to draw out other points of view. Engage others in your responses by giving specific panelists a heads up that you’d love to hear their thoughts after you’ve shared your ideas about a topic. Politely and respectfully provide a counterpoint when you disagree with something said. Nod in affirmation when you agree with another panelist. And don’t be afraid to take some leadership in drawing people who haven’t said much into the conversation. And be sure to monitor your own contribution. Don’t speak for the sake of speaking, no one likes a self-promoting blowhard. And beware of anxiety; it makes some people ramble. When you have nothing new to add, say that you agree with the others so the discussion can move along.


7. Use your eyes and hands. Eye contact is even more important than you think. When responding to a question from the moderator, look at him first and then move to the audience and your fellow panelists. As you do so, be mindful of the position of the microphone. Don’t move your head so much that—in an effort to be an eye contact hero—you move away from the microphone and can’t be heard. Finish your response by looking at the moderator to signal you are done. And don’t forget about your hands. Rest your forearms on the table, not under the table, and use them to gesture as you make key points and acknowledge the moderator or your fellow panelists.


8. Sit smart. Sit in the seat the furthest away from the moderator because it gives you the best vantage point to look at the moderator, the audience and your fellow panelists in a natural and fluid way. If you’re stuck in the middle, it’s tough to monitor the facial expressions of your fellow panelists. And get there early enough to go up and claim your chair. Make sure it is the right height and adjust if necessary. Push your notes far enough away that they are easy to see. It helps to bring a closed binder to set your notes on so they’re easier to see. Make sure you’re setting yourself up to have a strong, confident presence on the panel. It’s easy to shrink back in this format. Avoid the temptation to sink back into your chair. This contracts your diaphragm and reduces your presence. Be conscious of your posture and sit closer to the front of your seat and rest your forearms on the table when you are not using your hands. If you’re a woman and undecided about what to wear, be sure to ask about the physical set up. Will it be talk show style in easy chairs or a more traditional panel set up with chairs at a skirted table? Some set ups are more conducive to skirts than others!

The bottom line is this: panel discussions can be incredibly dull. It's best to ask questions and be prepared so you can have some fun and enjoy the contribution of the other panelists and the moderator. Audiences will enjoy the discussion if you do.

The Power of Examples: How to Make the Abstract Concrete

You’re an expert.

You’re an expert in something that other people find interesting and valuable.

As an expert, you are invited to speak at conferences and client seminars because you can share something new, something that will advance the audience’s knowledge, provide clarity and spark some new thinking.

Because you are a highly regarded expert speaking to an audience that knows less than you do, you will use language, provide technical details and share concepts that no one understands or cares about.

Then you would be an expert who is very bad at sharing his expertise.

And you would not be alone.

The knowledge gap between an expert speaker and her audience creates a significant communications challenge that many professionals struggle to overcome. It’s not easy to navigate but those who do it well will find themselves in hot demand.

So, the question I’d like to explore today is how do you effectively share abstract concepts and complex ideas in a way that is easy to understand?  The best and easiest way to do this is through examples.

In their book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Die and Other Survive, Dan and Chip Heath write thoughtfully about the importance of “concreteness” if we want to make our ideas clear, compelling and “sticky”:

“We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information. This is where so much of business communication goes awry. Naturally sticky ideas are full of concrete images – ice-filled baths, apples with razors – because our brains are wired to remember concrete data. In proverbs, abstract truths are often encoded in concrete language: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure our ideas will mean the same things to everyone in our audience.”

When you’ve been hired to share your knowledge and experience with an audience who knows less than you do, don’t force them to try and interpret what you’re saying, don’t make them work to extract meaning. That’s your job as a speaker. You must make the abstract concrete, make your expertise relevant and meaningful and use language and examples that will create a clear and shared understanding.

Here are four different ways to effectively incorporate examples into your next presentation:

1. Leverage a light-hearted hypothetical scenario. Let’s say you’re speaking at a conference a few weeks before Thanksgiving and part of your presentation is about the effectiveness of using Decision Tree Analysis when making business decisions. Instead of prattling on about the theory and the power of this approach in the abstract, you could connect it to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. So, for you, talking about Decision Tree Analysis in the context of a hypothetical Thanksgiving scenario might go something like this:
   
   

   "Decision Tree Analysis is all about making choices based on projected outcomes. Let’s look at the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend as an example. I could spend the weekend with my in-laws and extended family or I can take my immediate family to Disneyland. On one hand, there is an 87% chance that my husband Sam and I will have to return to couples therapy immediately following Thanksgiving. On the other hand, if I go to Disneyland with my family, there is a 95% chance that Sam and I, and our two daughters, Alexandra and Chloe, will create wonderful shared memories that we can cherish for many years to come. Hmmm…"

   
   The hypothetical example explains the Decision Tree Analysis process in a way that is fun and easy to understand. Once the concept is clear for people, you can share a real example from the audience’s industry, or it’s own organization, that further illustrates how the process of Decision Tree Analysis works and why it is, or has been, effective in their context.


2. Draw on examples from the public domain. One of the best examples of using something in the public domain to make something complicated more concrete is the Big Mac Index that was created in 1986 by The Economist. The Index was developed “as a lighthearted guide to whether currencies are at their “correct level”. It is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), the notion that in the long run exchange rates should move towards the rate that would equalize the prices of identical goods and services (in this case a burger) in any two countries. For example, the average price of a Big Mac in America in January 2015 was $4.79; in China it was only $2.77 at market exchange rates. So the “raw” Big Mac index says that the yuan was undervalued by 42% at the time.” (www.economist.com) The Economist used a universally understood food product – the Big Mac - to illustrate the purchasing power of currency in various markets. Not bad.


3. Use metaphors or analogies. One of my clients was just discussing how he was going to help his team improve their project management process. He said, “The easiest way to change the direction of a large ship is pushing the ends of it. It’s very difficult to change the ship’s direction by pushing in the middle. Well, we’re going to focus on improving our process at the beginning and end of projects...” If you are having a hard time creating metaphors and analogies, plumb your passions . Maybe you love gardening or monster truck rallies or sewing or fly-fishing. How could you draw a comparison between an abstract professional concept and a personal pursuit in a compelling way? Doing so will demonstrate deep knowledge, showcase your personality and helps you make memorable point. The most indelible communicators in history, from Churchill to Clinton, use comparative devices. You should too.


4. Share client success stories. One of the most powerful ways to make the abstract concrete is to share client success stories. Case study examples invite your audience into a story of transformation where people just like them went from a place of fear and frustration to a better place, one filled with confidence and success. And the best part? You were the bridge between the land of pain and suffering and ultimate triumph. Even though you were a supporting actor in the case study story—because your client is the lead character—you were the agent of transformation. Casting yourself in a supporting role helps you avoid sounding too self-congratulatory or grand-standy.

It’s a paradoxical thing, being invited to share our expert knowledge with people who don’t share our level of expertise. The very expertise that landed us the gig is the very same expertise that can make it hard to connect with an audience. We have to mind the gap. Examples are the bridge, use them well.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How and when have you used examples with great results? Have you ever attempted to make the abstract more concrete and failed fantastically? Share your experience in the comments below.

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The Top Ten Things TED Has Done For Public Speaking

As a presentation skill consultant and coach, I spend a lot of time watching TED talks and sharing them with clients. It is fantastic to have such a diverse database of speaking performances to learn from and teach with.

But in a recent conversation, a client challenged me on the usefulness of TED Talks, suggesting that TED speakers have raised the bar to the point where mere mortals like him were expected to deliver TED-quality presentations every time they were asked to speak.

I love contrarian points of view like this because they push me to reflect on my own assumptions. What has TED done for public speaking? Has it changed or improved anything, contributed something positive? Or has it just made things more difficult for aspiring public speakers?

After much debate and discussion, I still come down on the side of TED. And so I give you the top ten very good things TED has done for public speaking:

1. It’s made public speaking aspirational again. For a long time, many of us felt that public speaking was something other people did—people like politicians, business leaders or celebrities. TED has challenged this paradigm and made getting up on a stage and sharing ideas publicly an incredibly exciting thing to do. Every year thousands of people clamour for a spot at one of the hundreds of TED events taking place around the world.

2. It has proved that we have a voracious appetite for great ideas, presented well. I often hear from clients that their time-pressed audiences “just want to get the information and hear our ideas without any fluff or fanfare.” Audiences definitely don’t want fluff or fanfare, but they do want information and ideas served up in inspiring and illustrative ways. When we share our ideas and use stories, examples and demonstrations to elevate their relevance and meaning, audiences connect with us, and the content we share, more deeply. Benjamin Zander’s TED Talk about classical music is  a wonderful example.

3. It has shown how public speaking builds profile. Before she gave her first TED talk, Brene Brown was a research professor at the University of Houston studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame. After her 2010 TED talk about shame went viral, she became a recognized and sought-after speaker, a best-selling author and a friend of Oprah.

4. It's proven that you don’t have to be famous to make a difference. No longer is world stage reserved only for high-profile public figures. TED provides a platform for anyone with compelling ideas. Academics are emerging from scholarly obscurity, technologists are blasting out of their computer labs to share their brilliance on a global stage and unassuming social justice pioneers are compelling international audiences to give more and do more than ever before.

5. It’s demonstrated that there is no one, single way to be a great speaker. There are important fundamentals, but there is no cookie cutter approach. You only need to watch a few TED talks to realize are so many ways to be brilliant on the stage.  Dan Pallotta combines storytelling and statistics to make a compelling case for change in the charitable sector. And Susan Cain proves that soft-spoken introverts can be equally engaging and persuasive  in a gentle and thoughtful way.

6. It’s encouraged people to ditch public speaking conventions. TED has forced people to lose the lectern, give up their addiction to text-heavy PowerPoint slides and say goodbye to the notion that more—more information, more time—is more. And the results speak for themselves

7. It’s reinforced the importance of speaking fundamentals. For all its convention-busting, the TED format has also provided countless examples of what’s possible when you embrace the fundamentals of delivering a great presentation: (1) developing a talk with your audience in mind; (2) sharing ideas and illustrating them well through examples and story; and (3) preparation, preparation, preparation so you can deliver authentically and without notes.

8. It has celebrated authenticity and diversity. One of the most powerful things you can do as a speaker is bring yourself to the stage. It seems obvious but so many presenters forget to connect their personality, their history and who they are with the content they’re sharing. If you want to touch the hearts of an audience, you must let them see you. Perfection is not required. Authenticity is must. Jane Fonda’s talk is an honest, strikingly open perspective on aging that is Fonda at her authentic, activist best.

9. It has proven the tremendous power of storytelling—over and over again. Human beings are wired for story. It’s how we share our experience in the world and we use stories to make sense of what’s happening around us. Stories also connect us to one another in rich, important ways.

10. It’s raised the bar. Yes, TED has raised expectations and audiences everywhere are rejoicing. The world doesn’t need any more boring, badly delivered presentations. Our ideas deserve to be shared well. We can do better and TED presenters inspire us to do so. As John F. Kennedy once said, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How has TED affected your views about public speaking and your practice and experience as a public speaker? Share your experience in the comments below.

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Photo credit: elliot brown