sacha chua :: living an awesome life

I had a lot of fun presenting at yesterday’s conference. Reflecting on it, I realized that my presentations are strongly influenced by what people bring to the session. The passion that people like about my presentations comes from the energy that people share with me when they listen and when they share. The insights they walk away with come from other people like them as well as from the people and experiences and thoughts I bring in through my presentation. I’m just there to prepare the stage and spark the conversation. =) Here are some quick tips for energizing presentations and some reflections based on the presentation I gave today.

1. Chat with people before the presentation starts so that you can make personal connections and find out what people are interested in.

2. Always treat it as a dialogue.

3. Turn your presentation into a conversation and learn something new from your audience.

Stage fright – everybody has it

I had one hour left before my presentation at the IBM Regional Technical Exchange in Markham. I couldn’t shake off my anxiety. The words felt heavy in my mouth, and my voice felt strained. The new stories I wanted to add didn’t quite blend in with everything else. My phrasing was off. My energy was off, too–I was having a hard time making the shift from the morning’s introverted-programming mode to the high-energy presentation mode I needed for the afternoon.

I headed over to the refreshments table to make myself a cup of mint tea, snagging a couple of chocolate-macadamia cookies along the way. I was savoring the chewy chocolate cookie when another IBMer walked up to me. She asked if I was anxious about my upcoming talk, and she said that she could never eat when she was nervous. I told her that a couple of cookies are remarkably effective at reducing stress. After my headless chicken impression at the IBM Web 2.0 Summit, I went so far as to pour milk into a glass and dunk cookies into it. (That worked. It’s important to know what works for you.) We chatted briefly about the talk and about some other matters, and she wished me luck on the presentation. I felt my mood start to lift.

By the time I finished my tea and munched through the second cookie, I was ready to set up the room. I plugged in my power supply, fiddled with the video settings, and tested the color scheme (no reds) and all the slides (legible). These little routines help me get into presentation mode.

(Yes, everyone gets stage fright. I think mine comes from the idea that so many people are trusting me with their time! Mine goes away when I start sharing my energy with people and people give it right back (in a good way). Neither my level of preparation nor the aesthetics of my slides matter, although having slides that make me happy helps. Nope, my stage fright depends on whether people in the audience are getting a good deal for their time. =) )

Chat with people

One of the key things that helped me tap presentation energy was chatting with the people waiting for the presentation to start. I really appreciated how people came up to me and wished me luck, or let me engage them in conversation–that helped me calm my stage fright. I made sure to ask a number of people throughout the room what they were interested in. I figured that if I could make those people happy, then I’d probably stand a good chance of making most people in the room happy. If people were interested in the session, then by golly, I was interested in it too! Hearing what a few people were interested in allowed me to see the hundred-something people as individuals and to talk about things in a way that felt (to me, at least) as if I was having a regular conversation (in which I’d feel comfortable making all these side comments). Establishing that initial contact with people throughout the room helped me remember to make eye contact and to talk about different perspectives. After all, you can’t talk to only the front row after you’ve met some people in the back row who are curious about what you want to say. And did I mention that talking to people helped me handle my stage fright?

So the next time you give a presentation, get your setup time out of the way, and spend the rest of the time talking to people who have made an effort to be there early. They’ll give you plenty of ideas, encouragement, and energy, and if you can engage them, you can spread that energy to other people.

Always treat it as a dialogue

Interaction is what makes an real-time presentation different from a recording. The presentation starts off with the energy you bring and the curiosity that people in the audience bring, and it takes shape as people interact with it. When people take the time to attend your presentation in person, give back to them by involving them in it. When you have the ability to see people’s reactions or even engage them in conversation, listen to those people throughout your presentation. You are always in a dialogue, even if you’re doing most of the talking.

How do you do this? You can use the same skills and instincts you use when talking to people one on one. You know how you can tell when someone’s interested or someone’s losing focus, even if they aren’t saying anything? If you focus on presenting to one person at a time, you can listen and adapt just as instinctively, and you’ll talk more naturally too. Just remember that there are lots of other people in the room, so talk to them too. If you’re facing a big audience and you can’t see people, you’ll have to imagine them. Talk to people before your presentation so that you can go into your presentation with a sense of real people in the audience.

Turn your presentation into a conversation

Another thing that makes me excited about presentations is that I know I’m going to learn something new. I love including a lot of discussion in my presentations, and I’m always amazed by what people share. For example, terrific issues and insights came from the audience today. (I’ve got to retell some of those stories!) So I’m not an expert passing on knowledge, but rather as a facilitator who sets the stage and gets the conversation going. When I give larger, less interactive presentations (like that blue horizon 2008 keynote to around seven hundred people!), I like thinking about the internal dialogue people are having with me, even if they can’t raise their hands and share what they’re thinking with everyone else.

Next time you plan a presentation, try adding more dialogue. You need energy and openness in the room to get this going. People need to want to add something, see that they have something to add, and feel that you’re open to it (and you’ll manage the time and the rest of the discussion as necessary). It really helps to have some friendly faces who will take pity on you and jumpstart the conversation if needed. =) Have some backup questions based on what other people might ask you, and feel free to ask the audience questions as well. Most speakers are unnerved by silence (trust me, three seconds of quiet feels like an awfully long time!), but you need to give people time to understand what you’ve said and to think about what they want to say. A teaching tip I picked up before is to count to seven (silently) instead of moving on after just a few seconds. That seven-second gap helps people shift from listening mode to interacting mode, and if you can get people to share, your presentation will really sparkle.

So here are those quick tips again:

1. Chat with people before the presentation starts so that you can make personal connections and find out what people are interested in.

2. You’re always in a dialogue. Listen.

3. Turn your presentation into a conversation and learn something new from your audience.

And don’t forget to have fun! =)

[mostly drafted right after I got home]

I just got back from a presentation I gave to the Concordia University Alumni Association on blogging your way out of a job into a career. My voice is a little hoarse and my feet are slowly getting reacquainted with the ground. No, seriously–I must remember not to wear those heels to presentations. But I really enjoyed sharing those stories and tips, and I’m glad that people found the presentation not only informative but also entertaining.

What did I do well?

The combination of blogging, social networking, writing, and self-development in a single talk made this one really pop with passion. I love sharing my experiences and tips on social media because I can’t wait to see what other people will do with it, and if there’s anything I can do to help them get over that rut, that’s awesome! This passion and all the practice I’ve had talking about these topics made it really easy to get up there and focus on making a connection.

I used the rule of three all over the place: passion, skills, and network; "I don’t know what to do, I don’t have the time, I don’t know who’ll read it;" remember, reflect, reach out; start a blog, share regularly, reach out. This fractal structure helped me prepare the presentation (not too long, not too short), remember what I was going to say, and show some semblance of order in the presentation.

I put in some effort and a few dollars into visually fixing up this presentation with stock illustrations from stockxpert.com. Most of my presentations have been plain text (white on a black background, usually), but I felt like giving graphics a try. The coordinated graphics I use helped make my presentation feel more fun for me. Practice will help me get better and better at communicating visually as well as verbally…

I rehearsed the entire talk while reading my speaker notes, recording it as an MP3. I looped over this recording during my commute today. This helped keep the topics in my mind. I also printed out a few pages of slide handouts (9 slides per page) to visually anchor my talk as I rehearsed it mentally. During the actual presentation, this practice helped me remember the key points I wanted to make for each slide. Giving myself permission to say things differently helped me not only avoid anxiety (which would have made it even harder to remember what I wanted to say!) but also work within that flexible framework to match the interest of the audience.

I built interactivity into the talk, with two networking breaks and a number of shows of hands. One of the things I love about speaking to a small audience is the challenge and experience of listening while I’m talking. I’m not always good at this. My own enthusiasm sometimes makes it hard for me to slow down! But the physical experience of listening to people’s eyes, people’s postures, people’s smiles, feeling that itch in my hands and in my bones as I find myself attuned to their energy… Wow.

What can I do better next time? (Yes, see, I really do this!)

The key thing that will make this even better would be to make sure someone else is in charge of recording. ;) You know, someone who’ll remember to bring fresh batteries instead of dead ones, someone who’ll remember to actually start the voice recorder, someone who’ll get all of that sorted out. When I’m out there, I’m just too caught up in the moment, in the opportunity to connect with people,

I could use some more planning. I’m glad that people felt comfortable asking me questions throughout the presentation. I completely forgot about defining what a blog is in the first place, silly me, and other things like that which I inevitably discover right after the projector’s turned off. Such is life. Next time, I’ll try listening to my recording with my newbie hat firmly on.

And I should probably bring along a fishbowl and collect people’s business cards or e-mail addresses so that I can make it easier to keep in touch after the talk! =)

My proposal was accepted at an IBM conference on best practices! I’m thrilled to have all these opportunities to share what I’m learning and to learn even more from other people. It’s a little mindboggling dealing with all of this as an early-career employee with less than half a year on the job, but I know from personal experience just how wonderful public speaking is when it comes to networking and connecting with people.

I’ll need to work extra hard to balance all these conferences with paying work, and to show the business value of all of that. It’s a bit of a challenge in the consulting world where we’re supposed to maximize our utilization, but maybe it will work out well.

To help keep track of all the conferences, articles, and other significant events on my horizon, I’ve added an upcoming events widget below the calendar on my blog. I used MagpieRSS and PHP to read the XML file from Google Calendar, and I did a little regular expression magic to get just the dates and locations. Maybe you’ll find it useful too!

Business responsibilities come first. If my clients aren’t happy, I may just have to pull out of some of the conferences. I think everything will work out, though, and the conferences will help me bring even more value to my client work!

Does the thought of speaking in public make you anxious? Want some
tips on how to deal with the butterflies in your stomach? Come to the
Toast I.T. Toastmasters Open House on Oct 10, 2006 for a fun,
informative session!

I’m giving one of the Toastmasters International educational modules
called “Taking the Terror out of Talk”. It will be part of the 229th
meeting of Toast I.T. Toastmasters, so you’ll also get to see a little
bit of what Toastmasters is like.

This is free, so come on over!

Toast I.T. Toastmasters

Metro Hall

55 John Street, Toronto, Ontario (map)

Oct 10, 2006 (Tuesday)

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

(And even if you’re a polished public speaker, come anyway to show
support and share tips! ;) )

Photo credit: Cherie, Creative Commons Attribution License, from Flickr.

On Technorati: toastit, toastmasters, speaking

I’ve been in Canada for a year, and from time to time I still feel
very alien. Last night, I mispronounced “adolescence”. In moments of
inattention, I often forget how to pronounce words I already know,
because I just “read” them in my mind. Sometimes I try to use a word
I’ve never even heard someone else say. When this is brought to my
attention, I accept and remember the correction—but it’s difficult
for me to squelch that sudden feeling of insecurity, of feeling
different.

My accent grows thicker the longer I stay here—or is it just that I
notice it more? I pause more, gesture more, stumble over words more
than I remember doing. And yes, from time to time, I say things that
people don’t understand until I repeat myself or spell things out. It
distracts them from what I’m trying to say. (Although it does show
that they’re paying attention! =) )

One way to deal with this is to learn the phonetic alphabet and read
the dictionary. Computer-based dictionaries tend to not have
pronunciation guides. Web-based ones don’t let me flip through them
for random words, although I think I should scale back on that a bit
and focus more on great combinations of words. I sound too bookish
already.

The best thing to do, I suppose, is to listen. I need to listen to
more things. I need to listen to people with wide vocabularies and
well-expressed thoughts. I really should format that iPod or do some
other magic so that I can connect it to my laptop and make the most of
it.

I need to be exposed to the sound of other people’s voices. My media
diet is almost entirely print and web. I don’t watch television, and I
hardly listen to the radio. I should fix that at least with audiobooks
and podcasts.

And maybe I can pay more attention to the experience created by
sound… It takes a certain skill to form sentences that sound good. I
should learn that. It’ll be fun. =) Right, there’s something I need to
work on.

On Technorati: communication, speech, speaking

Today (Thursday) is the area-level Toastmasters international speech
contest. I don’t feel prepared for it at all. Unlike the other
contestants, I haven’t spent weeks preparing for it. I still haven’t
finalized which anecdotes I’ll tell and in what order. Argh.

Today I also have a chance to watch Take the Lead
for free. Well, nearly free. TTC fare round-trip. Whatever. Antonio Banderas! Ballroom dance plus hip-hop moves! Antonio Banderas! Dancing!

_ARGH!_

Decisions, decisions. I’m the only person who’s even somewhat prepared
to represent my club at the speech contest, as no one else volunteered
for the thing. If other people are bad (unlikely!), I might even win
and go on to the district conference, etc. Even if I don’t win,
though, I’ll have a chance to listen to other speakers and learn a
little bit more about style and technique.

From the take-the-first-circus perspective, Toastmasters wins hands
down. This particular contest will occur only once. I can always watch
the movie when it comes out in the cinema or six months from now
during some Graduate House movie night. I’ll probably end up watching
it by myself. It’s one of those cheesy feel-good movies that my guy
friends would probably not be caught watching.

But I’m _still_ going to wish the two events were on different days,
and I’m still going to hate performing. I’m not excited about this
contest. I’ll just to have to grit my teeth and turn up the energy.
I’ll go to the contest, give my speech, listen to other people’s
speeches, and maybe learn a lot about what I like and don’t like.

The last contest wasn’t that much fun, either. I joined the humorous
speech contest six months ago. The first speech relied on scatological
humor, which was a bit crass. My speech was so-so, although I got a
few laughs. I didn’t really find the last speech funny, but it was
more of a speech – used more of the techniques, had more special
effects.

I know competitions are nice for forcing myself to grow. I learned so
much because of my programming competitions. In terms of speaking,
though, I much prefer listening to and interacting with the speakers I
meet at conferences. I don’t like competing head-on with people. I’d
rather measure myself against a standard, competing against myself to
get better.

I’m just not excited about my upcoming speech. Come to think of it,
I’m not that excited about learning from the other speakers, either,
not if the speech quality’s like the last contest.

Maybe this is a lesson in just doing something. I’ll probably
go to the contest and do the best I can, but I’m going to have to fix
this sense of unease. The Toastmasters people aren’t bad. They’ve been
nice to me, and I’ll probably find enough to keep myself busy and
involved. Then I’ll go home, heat up some dinner – whatever’s in the
fridge, probably lasagna – and have myself lots and lots of hot
chocolate. Maybe I’ll bug James or Mike for some company so that the
place isn’t too quiet.

I wish my family and friends were here (or at least in a closer
timezone!) so that I could ask them for advice, or so that they could
push the Toastmasters event from being something I have to get through
to something I’d enjoy. I’m telling _our_ story, and it’s kinda sad
having to cast it as a bloody speech with an introduction, body and
conclusion instead of just part of our shared memory. Ay, Clair and
the rest of my barkada gathered around that vegan sinigang, my father
making jokes… How am I going to tell this story without missing you
all terribly?

I don’t want to give a speech. I want to be able to talk to friends.
Right. That’s how I should think of it. A roomful of strangers who are
paying more attention to the structure of my speech than to its
content – I should forget that, and treat them as people to whom I’d
like to introduce my other friends, to whom I’d like to tell stories
about the warmth I’ve felt. I shouldn’t think about anything else I
could be doing. I should live in the moment.

I’m not ready to give this speech. Then again, I’ve never been ready
to give any speech. I’ve always just gone out there and done it. I’ve
promised not to be intellectually lazy, not to take the easy way out,
and that includes this. Watching a movie would be self-indulgent. This
is going to be annoying, but it’ll probably help me grow. And if it
doesn’t, well, I’ll have hot chocolate and an unexpectedly productive
evening…

On Technorati: speaking, toastmasters, argh, contest

Random Japanese sentence: 犬が１匹、猫が１匹、カナリヤが３羽います。 We have a dog, a cat and three canaries.

I survived the ice breaker!

I had drafted talks for all sorts of things: lifehacking, the
Philippines, even the weather. None of them seemed to fit. Then Pierre
Duez of IBM CAS suggested that I talk about pets. Come to think of it,
he may have been joking. Anyway, I told myself, it’s the ice breaker.
They don’t mind non-serious topics. They want to get to know who I am.

Right. I could get away with a story about my cat. I threw together
the talk in the corridor. I knew I could tell plenty of stories about
Neko, who’s quite a character. I picked a couple, came up with a nice
beginning and a nice ending, and went for the thing.

I had so much fun bringing a few laughs from my seasoned audience.
They weren’t belly laughs or anything, probably just
I-know-what-you’re-talking-about laughs. But that was good. I wasn’t
sure how reactive people were because the past few talks were mostly
serious, but it was fun.

It was my first time with a U-shaped arrangement. I don’t like having
anything between me and my audience. I stepped in front of the
lectern, but I didn’t know what to do about the hulking large
projector in the middle of the room. I ended up going in front of it,
which cut off eye contact with the people on the ends of the U. Doug
Vowles suggested that I move all the stuff out of the way next time. I
still have to figure out how to properly do blocking for U-style
arrangements.

I remember how the all-around stage we performed Junto al Pasig was an
interesting blocking challenge in grade 4. I should read up on
theatrical blocking for plays in the round, and maybe ask Tita Naty
and Mrs. Castillo as well…

I also need more lead-up to the punchline. I told them about ensuring
my cat’s safety in the household by telling my parents I’ll petition
my cat and my cat can petition them. ;) That went by too quickly
because I was already overtime. Hmm, must work on my timing.

I say “like” way too much. Must work on my filler words next time.

I also need to work on my resonance. (Err, must find out what they
mean by that, too. Yes, voice. But how?)

Whee… =D

On Technorati: toastmasters, speaking