Present Like Steve Jobs, and Then Some!

So first, I love communication coach Carmine Gallo's recent Business Week article that distilled Steve Job's opening "show" at Macworld into 10 key elements. Let me take a moment to review those 10 elements and point out further ways to expand and incorporate these elements into your presentations:

1. Set the tone
Ever start a presentation with a video clip that loosens up the audience with something funny or grabs their attention with something moving? Have a marketing campaign leading up to the event that helps to set the tone?

2. Demonstrate enthusiasm
The best way to do this is to be yourself. How do you typically show you are enthusiastic about something?

3. Provide an outline
I remember my early days of public speaking - the rigid "here are the three things I am going to talk with you about today" <...content content content...> "to recap, here are the three things I just talked with you about today". Ok, things aren't so rigid in the real world. But it is very important to bring home what got them hooked in the beginning.

4. Make numbers meaningful
So another way I have seen, and started my own, presentations is to throw up a bunch of random numbers to have the audience "guess" at what the heck those numbers mean before you explain to them what they are. Make em relevant. Make em interesting. And those numbers will stick in the audience's heads for a while.

5. Try for an unforgettable moment
Again, video clips, they are wonderful. What about a snippet from a movie? TV Show? YouTube? Also, see "Give 'em a show" below.

6. Create visual slides
This is definitely the hardest elements of them all to get used to. You're used to bullet point slides, some fun Microsoft clip art and if you're like an architecture diagram (ICK!). Typically you need others to help you here because you are an "expert" in what you are presenting on, right, not a graphic designer or illustrator. The best coaching I've received in this area to date, especially for complex topics to communicate, is to list out all the attributes and ideas you want to communicate - in one slide - and then begin to sketch with a theme how you can relay those ideas and concepts via an image, vs., a bulleted list of stuff (bor-ing).

7. Give 'em a show
Back to videos. They can be great, especially if you are not a great actor but know someone else who can leave an impression. For example, in presenting to a sales team once to try to convince them to "sell things differently", I decided that I was not going to be the center of the video. Instead, it was going to be one of their leaders that they respected (and who, by the way just happens to be funny). What was the end result? People remembering the red and blue pills I sold them on for months to come.

8. Don't sweat the small stuff
Remember the bigger reason why you are delivering, and why, people are there to listen to you.

9. Sell the benefit
Why am I sitting here to listen to you for 10, 20, 30, 60, or even, 90 minutes? Sell me often, and sell me up front, on why I am going to give up this time to hear what you have to say. And always end the conversation with a compelling "call to action" - though don't always close a presentation with "now buy our X" but instead have the audience think about why they need X.

10. Reherse, reherse, reherse
Sound familiar?

By the way, it is very valuable to have a presentation coach or mentor to help you, especially for conversations that are critical to have with a huge audience.

At the day gig I am very lucky to have a marketing director where one of her responsibilities is coaching us executives on polishing our presentations - from reducing complexity to the flow of the message to the graphics and more.

Lastly, it is good to find and follow presenters you admire so to incorporate their techniques into your delivery. For example, I also work with some amazing senior executives that I observe their presentation often so to incorporate some of what I like of their presentations into my own delivery. Flattery, eh?

If you are a technologist or engineer by education, you are used to, if not love, diving into the detail to explain how something works. But let's face it, not everyone wants the detail, nor, will they get it like you. You need to simplify and, more importantly, know what your audience wants and focus on delivering to that need.

So where are you in getting ready for your next presentation?

Make it a tidal wave of a presentation! Need help? Drop me a line.

Practice, Practice, Practice - Another Step in Getting Started

OK, so my first post was on jumping in and getting started. You are probably saying, "Thanks Jaime, I've started, now what?"

Practice.

What, no executing a marketing plan? No putting up a web site? Not finding my first customer?

I'm not saying don't do that, but to get from starting with a good concept and becoming known for a great business, you have to "do" it. That may mean:

1. Giving away something to friends, family, or close colleagues/people you know to get feedback on what you "do".

2. Hold a free seminar, overview, or provide samples to a target audience.

3. Deliver it to yourself.

4. Deliver it to an organization that caters to your target audience (for example a Junior Chamber if you are targeting young professionals, Women in X if you are targeting a female audience, etc.)

5. Start small.

You will learn early on that you have to balance the time you spend planning vs. executing. You will find that planning is needed to save time in the long run, but you don't want to over do it. There will be peaks and valleys on when you will have more bandwidth to plan versus when you have so much business coming at you that you have to focus on executing.

For example, at SunGard Higher Education I apply agile software development methodologies in leading the priorities of a blossoming business (software development methodologies have a lot of great frameworks that can be applied to any business). At the beginning of every week my leaders and I gather to go through our "punch list" of what's on our plate that we either have to tackle this week (execution) or would like to tackle to help in building the practice (planning and marketing activities).

Some weeks we have so much coming at us that we are just executing on the opportunities on our plates. Sometimes we have a bit of down time where we can do more planning and strategic work around packaging and marketing our services. Or, in our down time we focus on practicing - such as learning new skills to help in providing best practices and recommendations to our client or building a new piece of technology to gain that skill while having a new asset to offer a client.

I talk more about practicing what you do, and why, to get and stay ahead at my HubPages blog "Learn to Lead Early and Get Ahead!!" (yup, there is more of me out there!)

As Nike says, "Just Do It". Shouldn't you?

Define Your Leadership Style

I've realized that the leadership traits I brush up against that I like in working with colleagues and others rub off on me. This is how we build and evolve our own leadership style over time to lead your peers and organizations to make the impact you are looking to make.

How do you know you are evolving your leadership style so to become, and continue to be, a great leader?

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to stay on top of your leadership game:

1. What are your leadership traits today?
You have to start by knowing where you are today, yes? Document what you believe defines your leadership style. Some of mine are as follows:

• Physical - Not concerned about being overworked
• Emotional - Self awareness, ambition
• Social - Listener, Takes initiative
• Intellectual - Knows how to delegate, explore new ways of doing things
• Communication - Communicates passion to others
• Experience - Give responsibility to followers
• Trustworthy - Caring

Not sure what traits make up your leadership style? Check out the American Library Association's leadership traits page for food for thought.

2. Where do you want to improve?

Is there an area you are lacking in leadership wise that you feel is important to the style of leader you want to exude in front of others?

For me right now it's about being more positive and encouraging to those I lead, both up and down, along with displaying more professional verbal and non-verbal traits that I'd like others that I lead to emmulate.

3. Are the people you surround yourself with great leaders?

If they are, pick out leadership habits you'd like to try on for yourself. If you are not, you need to find new colleagues to work with!

There are a number of people both on the job and off that I work with who I admire for their leadership skills - being able to articulate vision to a wide audience and being positive influencers are what I surround myself with daily because those are areas I am working to further develop.

4. Do you have opportunities to practice developing leadership traits?

Is there an organization you volunteer with where you can try something new out vs. on the job? Are there small projects you can try something out at?

For me, I did this some years ago as the president of a local chapter of Junior Chamber International. Even though I was not in the mind set to "figure out what I wanted to practice" I just did - found ways to show volunteer appreciation and lead the team to have high quality and well run programs through the year.

5. How well did you lead today?

Reflect on situations where you applied your leadership skills today. What went great and what can use further refining?

For me today I reacted to quickly to a few situations I probably should have sat on longer (or should have slept first before responding). Email is a dangerous tool for leading remote colleagues. So, less email, more phone calls.

If you are not making the impact you believe you should be making ask the above questions and evolve.

If you need assistance putting an action plan together to define and improve your leadership style, drop me an email.

Unwritten Rules

When a leader you respect is about ready to lay it on you, but instead counts to 10, you know you just had a "coaching moment".

The other day I passed up the "where is the list of expenses that are approvable, then those that are not"? And well the answer was "there will never be a list".

What does that mean, you ask?

It means us, as leaders, need to decide based on what is written, and what is implied, how to live by what is written. Interpret as we need to to ensure we get the job done, meet our goals, and ensure those that work with us are motivated to stick with us, and meet their goals.

PS - Underlying lesson to those of us being leaders - don't get mad in front of your colleague or team who just frustrated you. Count to 10. Calm down. Coach on how to improve/do things the way you want them to be done. Then get even. :)

Showing, and Feeling, Appreciation

As many of us either move up the ranks or go out on our own, we forget what it is like to be appreciated because instead of us getting the "at a boys" from managers as an individual contributor, we get the "now look what you did" from clients.

So, how do you coupe and make sure you and/or your teams feel great about what they are doing beyond material compensation (that is a starting point, by the way)?

Giving Appreciation

1. When you are out on vacation and have others manage the helm, send them a snail mail card when you return thanking them for keeping things afloat while away (I highlight snail mail because email is overrated for this type of activity)
2. At unexpected times tell colleagues to leave early
3. Take the team out for lunch or happy hour
4. Compliment colleague in front of peers or other leaders within the company
5. Promote promote promote (I don't mean promote by levels, I mean promote with peers the quality and capabilities of someone that deserves recognition)

Feeling Appreciated

1. Tell someone how much you appreciate them ('nuff said)!

So, who have you appreciated today?

What Can I Do for You Today?

When was the last time you asked someone "What Can I Do for You Today?" Or any of the following:

"How Can I Better Serve You?"

"How Can I Help?"

"What Could I Do Differently for You?"

These are questions you should ask frequently to friends (yes your friends will love you!), colleagues, those you manage, and those that manage you. This is a great way, inadvertently, to coach, and to be coached as well.

This is also good to do when you are feeling down or not making any progress on anything. Helping someone else make progress will make help you out of a rut because you are making progress, just on something different. And remember the connecting conversation from yesterday? This is a bit of an excuse to re-connect with someone.

Of course, once you ask that question be ready to commit and do what you say you are going to do.

Now who are you going to ask today?

Connect the Dots, Continuously

Today I reflected on how I enjoy "connecting the dots" - be it connecting people with one another for business or personal reasons, or linking business ideas with other concepts to execute. In dusting off a book I received at an Executive Leadership Forum a few years ago called "Connecting The Dots" by Cathleen Benko and Harvard Professor F. Warren McFarlan, I was reminded of why we often look to connect the dots:

"Aligning Projects with Objectives in Unpredictable Times"

I hate to say it, but aren't we always in unpredictable situations? Shouldn't we always be looking to align our projects with objectives we want to accomplish, and thus, always look to connect the dots?

Are you connecting the dots for both yourself and your business/organization you either manage or work within? Here are some tips on making those connections to create tidal wave results:

Connecting the Dots for Yourself

1. Document your strategic goals/objectives for your life.
2. Review the list of things you do for yourself/not for your organization.
3. Does each activity you do for yourself map back to your personal strategic goals and objectives? If not, can you stop doing it? If it does link back, can you find other things to link it to so to make a bigger impact?
4. Who can you connect with, or what can you add to your activity list, to help accelerate meeting your goals/objectives?
5. Make it a weekly or monthly goal to connect with someone new and help make a connection for someone else via an introduction.

Connecting the Dots for Your Organization

1. What is your organization's strategic vision and mission? If you don't know it go find out what it is or recommend getting this figured out asap!
2. Review the projects and activities you are working on.
3. Does each project/activity take your organization one step further to meet the strategic vision and missiong? If not can you stop doing that project/activity? If so is there a way to accelerate the project?

Even though this may seem like a "new year's resolution" alignment process to go through, in actuality you should be doing this type of alignment much more frequently - once a month if not once a week.

Why not begin to ask yourself the above questions when you plan out your goals and objectives for the week?

If you can continuously connect the dots with yourself and for your organization you will be in a much better position for the uncertainty faced every minute.

Getting Started

"You don't have to be great to get started, but you do have to get started to be great."

Debbie Mrazek, The Sales Company

Only one word can describe Debbie - amazing. I've always appreciated her opinion, and this quote of hers comes to mind often.

So, turning the wonderfully young age of 30 almost a year ago jolted me to "get started" on what I wanted to be known for being great at. Though I knew I started already, but something wasn't quite right. Instead of jumping right in at what I wanted to be great at, I found myself diving into a process of asking myself a series of questions around

Who am I?

What am I doing?

Am I where I want to be?

Am I focused on my passions?

Am I leaving the legacy I dream?

Am I a role model for others?

Am I making an impact?

And quickly I realized that in about 50% of my life I was exactly where I wanted to be - building a growing business with amazing potential and colleagues, plus am extremely happy with the people I have come to surround myself with since moving to Dallas. (Yes, I am an overachiever - for many this would be 100% fulfilling, not 50%.)

But 50% was missing. Or more like the other 50% was cluttered with things I either didn't care much about any more or cared about for the wrong reasons, which unfortunately began to affect others, or took me far off my unique path. It wasn't me nor what I wanted to be known for doing.

However, I did not know what was missing, or better yet, should be the remaining 2-3 things I start to focus my energy on. So I couldn't really get started to be great, yet. Instead, I began a process of self discovery and exploration. I read books. I dabbled in different things to see if the glove fit.

By asking the above questions in different contexts I began to see patterns around what has been missing that I want to be known for being great at:

Motivate Others to Make an Impact

Thought Leadership on the Soft and Hard Side of Technology

Making an Impact on Education and Children

So almost a year later, just weeks before turning 31, I have honed in on the 50% that is missing that I want to be great at. Part of what's next is getting through the de-clutter process and setting realistic goals for 31.

So get started to become great. I have.