The Truth About Public Speaking (and the Media) Blog

The Places in Between

Picture yourself in Afghanistan in 2002, approximately one year after U.S. troops stormed the country and knocked out the Taliban. Sounds like a pretty dangerous place, right?

Now picture yourself walking across Afghanistan, vulnerable not just to political vagaries, but to unknown terrain, wintertime elements, and bad food and the ill effects it casts on your body. That was the endeavor undertaken by Scotsman Rory Stewart and reported in his book, The Places in Between.

I admit to knowing little about Afghanistan other than it being a mountainous nation that has been at war for decades and grows lots of poppies for the drug trade. Stewart changed all that.

Here in the U.S. the dispatches we hear from Afghanistan focus on wartime skirmishes. And to be sure, that aspect plays a part in Stewart’s book. But the author paints such a rich picture of the people and the everyday hardships they face, some war-related, some not.

Traveling from village to village, he was able to count on the hospitality of his Afghan hosts. Sometimes with a warm welcome and sometimes reluctantly, they took him in and housed and fed him. He did pay a price for his daily bread (sometimes all there was to eat) and meat—a stomach ailment that left him weak, but still able to continue the trek.

His account of his journey from the city of Herat, near the Iranian border, to the capital of Kabul is an utterly fascinating story. He carried only a walking stick, the clothes on his back, and a backpack with some basic foodstuffs. Most of his trip was done solo, with the exception of times he was accompanied, following local traditions, by guides who walked with him to the next village.

Though warned countless times that the trip was too dangerous, he forged on, refusing rides from well-meaning (and perhaps not so well-meaning) troops and international medical personnel. Stewart did make one concession to safety, choosing to take a shorter but more meteorologically treacherous mountain route and eschewing a better traveled road that could pose more political danger. That resulted in only a few reports of his feeling threatened by Taliban sympathizers, but many passages that detail the need to slog through two-foot deep snow fields.

The Places in Between has little to do with our world of television interviews, new product pitches, and podcasts. It is, quite simply, an eye-opening story about a country—and its people—with which all Americans should familiarize themselves.

De Rigueur for a News Briefing

It is not easy being a White House spokesperson. Witness the grilling Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino received earlier this week when questioned about Vice President Cheney's assertion that he is not part of the executive branch as he attempts to sidestep certain disclosure rules.

Even when faced with a challenging (or, as many would argue in this instance, an indefensible) position, the spokesperson must be ready for such questions and prepared with a line of messaging that addresses the issue. Yes, he or she may choose to bridge away from the questioner's viewpoint, but that strategy also must be practiced in advance.

Unfortunately for Perino, her "You have me thoroughly confused" quote is the sound bite that will live on. See the video on YouTube.

Media Training Inquiries

A quick follow up to yesterday's rumination about the increased need for media training among upper and mid-level managers: Don't let yourself be the type of organization that fails to come up with a logical plan for educating your spokespeople to the whys and wherefores of dealing with the press or public speaking.

Such endeavors need to be approached from an educational perspective. I admit to no little frustration when I get a call from a potential client and the first question is how much does media training cost. In fact, during my 10 years owning Barks Communications, I have found that when the first question is about money, the request tends not to be serious. If, however, the conversation begins with talk of a needs assessment, the organization usually gets it.

Here is my answer when asked up front for costs: I have no idea since I have no clue what your needs are. This is usually met with stunned silence on the other end of the line. I understand my response may sound flippant, but it is honest.

What are some of the questions that factor into planning for a media training, presentation skills training, or legislative testimony training?

• How many people need to be educated? It often turns out that, while a potential client says it wants to train only the president, others also have great responsibility for speaking to the press or before the public yet little idea how to do so.
• What is their level of seniority? Is this a group of experienced spokespeople or newly minted managers who need a soup to nuts primer?
• Why do you believe they need training as opposed to some other type of educational approach? This question often stops people dead in their tracks.
• Have you already developed messages or are you expecting me to do most of it? If organizational messages are airtight, that means I have less to do. If they are scattershot or non-existent, that means some heavy lifting ahead.
• Are you looking for a one-off type of session or a long-term educational relationship? I hate one-offs. Oh, I do them (better me than someone else if the client is determined to pursue this losing approach), but I always explain the pitfalls of expecting any significant improvement in a single day. The learning may stick for a few days, but the long-range benefits will prove slim.

Don't let anyone -- whether it is someone inside your organization or an external consultant -- wrestle you into the position of accepting the need for a stock half-day or full day of training. If they don't ask questions that lead to a discussion of your specific needs, they are not doing you any favors.

Podcasts and YouTube: Are You Ready?

Not so long ago, dealing with the media meant deciding such issues as whether your campaign should revolve around local or national press, print vs. electronic reporters, etc. No longer.

With the advent of new communications tools like webcasts, podcasts, vodcasts, and personal video, more and more individuals find themselves in the public spotlight. On one hand, this creates added opportunities for any organization. Yet it also clearly poses added risk.

The days when only your CEO or vice president of communications talked to the media are over. Sure, they should remain front and center when you launch a major initiative or reach out to big media players. But asking them to deal with all the new communications channels means stretching them far too thin. Hence, the need for directors and managers to become more heavily and more directly involved in your organization's media relations efforts.

That means media training is no longer the exclusive domain of the C-level suite. Any organization hoping for long-term success now must include other upper as well as mid-level personnel in its media training plans.

Mind Your Messages

Many clients are surprised to learn that I spend more time preparing for their media training workshop than in running the actual workshop itself. Sure, preparation, research (on issues and participants), assembling the program to fit their specific needs, and other pre-training steps require planning.

But one of the biggest commitments involves their organizational messaging. This may center on macro messages for the organization, those for a specific campaign, or for a certain division or branch. Regardless, it takes time to sharpen those messages to a fine point. Lots of this, naturally, occurs during the workshop itself where the messaging is "test driven."

Yet much of it should take place in advance. When your group plans your next media training, it is vital that you share your messages in draft form with your trainer as early in the planning process as possible. I recall one client that forwarded its messages to me two days prior to the training. The basics were there, but the cohesiveness (or lack thereof) made it impossible for the spokespeople to internalize. There was too much verbiage plus too much fluff. That meant a greater need to spend time hammering out the messages during the workshop, time that could have been spent rehearsing them instead. The end result? A somewhat inferior learning experience.

Bottom line: Square away your messages -- in concert with your expert media trainer -- ahead of time. It will pay dividends during your workshop.

Even the Guys Who Invented PowerPoint Have Doubts

Dennis Austin and Robert Gaskins invented PowerPoint 20 years ago. Even they see the way it is used going off track.

Lee Gomes' column in today's Wall Street Journal (subscripton required) paraphrases Gaskins' reminder that "a PowerPoint presentation was never supposed to be the entire proposal, just a quick summary of something longer and better thought out."

Austin equates his brainchild with the printing press which, he notes, "enabled all sorts of garbage to be printed." The inventors rightly point out that the tool -- PowerPoint -- is less to blame for bad presentations than are the woeful talks slapped together by too many speakers.

The software remains but one tool you have to deliver a message. It is appropriate for some circumstances, not for others. And regardless how facile one's use of PowerPoint may be, it cannot magically hide lazy preparation or poor performance.

Gibberish Passing for English

I see too much of it. You probably do, too. The incomprehensible assault on the English language on the part of too many organizations. You know, news releases that are overly long and explain nothing clearly. Or messages that fizzle out in a dizzying array of unrelated bullet points.

Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten wrote a send-up of such gibberish a few weeks ago that just came to my attention. He is a hoot. It's worth a read.

What a Difference Hard Facts Make

A recent media training I conducted offered proof of how an interview with a reporter is made much more effective when interview subjects use vivid proof points. Bringing your story to life is critical, for reporters tend to be a skeptical lot. Tell them something and the likely reaction (verbally or not) is, "Prove it!"

During a practice interview, one of the trainees kept offering nothing but platitudes. It never occurred to her to add specifics (despite pleas to do so during our up front discussions). A singsong, halting delivery also did nothing to bolster her case.

Another interview with a different individual provided a stark contrast. She voluntarily fed the reporter sparkling analogies, market insights, and useful figures. No one in the room wanted to undertake a direct comparison and hurt anyone's feelings, but the critique comments made it quite clear that everyone noticed the contrast in quality.

If You Don't Care, No One Else Will

In preparation for a recent media training, I had been told that the participant (a CEO) was animated and quite good in front of the press. But the first practice interview was a disaster. He was devoid of energy, extremely low on eye contact, and trite rather than concise in his responses. It looked like we really had our work cut out for us.

To make matters worse, his body language displayed some serious discomfort when we reviewed the videotape. For some reason this guy was checked out. I knew I needed to do something -- quick-- to uncover his hesitancy if the training was to have any possibility of success. The first thing I did was to subtly loosen up his body language (I doubt he even knew this was occurring). Next, I asked him what he liked to do when he was not working. It turns out his second home is a ranch, and he loves the notion of heading out on his tractor to work his acreage. The delight on his face was evident as he told stories about his ranching endeavors. He was positively beaming.

Before we began the second interview, I asked him to mentally place himself on that tractor and get that positive feeling. Thankfully, the balance of the afternoon was a delight. He was engaged, upbeat, and performed at a high level.

We all have our down times. The trick comes in finding that mental switch that empowers us to be "on" when meeting the media. Yours may center on a tractor, a loved one, a childhood memory, or any number of other notions. Find yours and keep it top of mind when reporters call.

Bill Gates Does Harvard

Interesting article headlined "The Speechmaker: How Bill Gates Got Ready for Harvard" in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) providing insights into how the Microsoft leader put together his recent commencement address at Harvard.

Of course, Gates is able to draw upon legions of advisors at Microsoft and can even seek out advice from Warren Buffett. That expertise can be helpful. On the other hand, too many eyes and ears can sometimes lead to paralysis. Soliciting advice is fine. Just be sure you remain true to your own voice in the end, as Gates seems to have done.