West Wing's President Bartlet on words and public speaking

We had to turn it off. As this week’s TV entered the eighth circle of Hell with yet another "scripted reality" show (in other words, complete unreality), we had to turn it off. 

Or rather, turn to the Box Set of “The West Wing” which we are watching yet again. The scene featured President Bartlet complaining about the presentation style of a preacher whose service they had just attended.

Bartlet himself is a superb speaker, with his scripts written and perfected by Toby and Sam. (Yes, I understand they are TV characters. I still love them). In the scene we watched, he talks about the possibilities of public speaking – if we take care to craft the words we use.

“Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music. They have rhythm, and pitch, and timbre, and volume. These are the properties of music, and music has the ability to find us and move us, and lift us up in ways that literal meanings can’t”.

When you are next preparing a presentation, think about the actual words you will use. Try to add figures of speech, metaphors, alliteration – all the devices you learned in English class. Rhetoric – the art of crafting how you say things in order to enhance your powers of persuasion – is the mark of a great speaker, or great presenter.

There are several online sites about rhetoric – take a look, and improve your presentations by employing rhetorical tricks, tropes, and triples. (Yup, that was one – an alliterative triple).

Incidentally, don’t overdo it. The response from Bartlet’s wife (played by the incomparable Stockard Channing, the real attraction in “Grease”) is “You are an oratorical snob!”

Presentation tip - play it, don't say it

This week I have a special guest at the Professional Speakers Chapter I run – John Cremer from Brighton.

John runs The Maydays, one of the UK’s leading improvisational comedy groups – I have performed with them quite a few times, and enjoyed (almost) every second!

I saw him speak in South Africa recently, and was struck with how good he is at translating what he’s saying into what he’s doing.

Of course, John has an acting background, but anyone, yes anyone, can put more performance and action into their presentations – and you should try it.

I call it "play it, don't say it". Look for passages in your presentation where you are describing a scene, or telling a story, and use movement, body language, facial expression to bring the piece alive.

Watch friends telling stories in the pub – they become animated, adding gestures, pulling faces, and acting out what actually happened. Try the same in your next presentation – bringing your talk alive will bring your audience alive too.

Presentation Tip - You must end on time

There’s a Bob Monkhouse line popular with after-dinner speakers that your duty is to “Stand up. Speak up. And shut up”.

It makes a valid point. One of the first things an audience wants from you as a speaker or presenter is for you to stop talking.

Especially if the conference, event or pitch is over-running, they want you to finish on time. If you can cut your presentation down to the time remaining until the close, they’ll love you for it.

You may wish to aim for this and then ask if they’d like more, but leave it up to the audience.

Don’t simply think “I was given an hour, so I’m going to take an hour”. Audiences don’t like you taking them over time, whether they are leaving to go home, desperate for the loo or (heaven forbid) you stand between them and a free bar.

I failed on this point recently. I was given a very prestigious keynote spot for an audience of professional speakers. It was a big moment for me – I was closing the conference, and had just been made a Fellow of the organisation.

I had a great time. Such a great time I forgot it’s about them, not me. I over-ran, and some marked me down for that. Rightly so.

It doesn’t matter how much fun you’re having, or how much fun you think they’re having. Finish on time. And let them come up to you afterwards and say “I could have happily listened to you for much longer”.

Incidentally, if it’s a paid speech, check with the person paying your fee first. It may be that they’d rather move the end-time so that they get the full time for your fee!

Presentation Tip: Your first priority is to start on time.

There’s a long running online discussion on the pages of a speakers’ group, about speeches starting late. It asked for reasons – in one or two words – why a speaker might not start their speech on time.

Several justifiable reasons were given – fire alarm, emergency, illness. But one thing that struck me was the number of reasons which (to me, at least) seemed to be down to the speakers themselves. “My laptop wouldn’t work”. “My train was late”. “I went to the wrong room”.

These aren’t reasons, they’re admissions of fault. It’s the responsibility of every speaker, every presenter, to arrive on time – indeed, to be there early. In any case, if you’re there early, you can get a feel for the room – and the audience! And you can check your laptop, have a run through – or just relax a bit. Yes, your train might run late. That’s why you get the train two before the one that should come in on time.

My tip? Imagine the worst thing that could go wrong – and leave enough time for that to happen, and you to still start on time.

Incidentally, if you look at the reasons given above, only a few were the one or two word answer asked for. Several responses ran to five or six words. Perhaps that’s why so many presenters also over-run?