Learn the Easy Way—From Other People’s Mistakes

by TJ Walker

Published on this site: July 3rd, 2006 - See more articles from this month

We’ve all been subjected to awful speakers—some are boring, others are sanctimonious, a few are tedious. The one thing all of these rotten speakers have in common is this: listening to them is pure torture and all you can think about is how you will never get the last thirty minutes of your life back.

Most of us tune out quickly once we are subjected to a lousy speaker. We pretend to take notes on our Palms only to check our email or add items to our To Do List. We daydream about our summer vacations. Occasionally, we literally fall asleep.

The master communicator does none of these things. Instead, the master listens and watches the poor speaker and watches the other audience members carefully. The master understands that the more you know about how other speakers lose their audiences, the less likely you are to lose your own audience the next time you have to speak.

Only by watching and listening to dreadful speakers can you break down, step-by-step, exactly what their mistakes are. Once mistakes are isolated, they are easier not to repeat.

The essential ingredient that master communicators must have is self- awareness. The masters must be able to see other people’s blunders and acknowledge that they too have made the same mistakes and are likely to do so again and unless they remind themselves constantly not to do so.

For example, most of us have sat through countless business presentations from executives that are incredibly boring because the speaker lists one abstract fact after another, quickly. The speaker races through 157 key developments that happened in his division during the last 6 months. Not a single example, story, anecdote, vignette or case study is offered, just a quick regurgitation of abstract bullet points.

We’ve all been there, and yet most executives planning a presentation
make the exact same blunder when creating and delivering their own speeches. They have no self-awareness.

Master communicators are not necessarily any smarter or harder working than average or boring speakers. The only difference is that they ask themselves, “Why would I want to submit someone to the same thing I hate myself?”

When given the option, I always choose to watch another speaker by standing at the front of the room and on the far left or right side of the room. This allows for a clear and unobstructed view of the speaker and the rest of the audience without being distracting to either. From this position it is easy to see when a speaker is buried in notes, gives insufficient eye contact or ignores whole sections of the room.

Take note when you hear other people speak; your notes should include info on subject matter as well as presentation technique. Your notes may include entries such as this:

“Sally held everyone’s attention brilliantly for the first five minutes as she gave us a blow by blow description of her battle with the account executive at the Acme widget company, but the second she launched into her slides, the energy went out of her voice and the room. Five minutes later, I noticed everyone was slouching and shifting in their chairs uncomfortably. After ten minutes of her slide presentation, I could swear I saw Dickinson nodding off and then catching himself and pretending to mask his snore with a throat clearing.”

Everyone makes speaking mistakes. The master communicators reduce theirs by learning from yours. You can too.

TJ Walker is the worlds leading speaking coach, author of "Presentation Training A-Z." and "Media Training A-Z." He is the current host of
http:// www.Speakcast.com and http:// www.SpeakingChannel.tv and can be reached at [email protected]. You can read more of his presentation and media tips at http:// www.tjsinsights.com.