No stupid questions at business seminars

The audience chuckled last week when I opened a seminar by saying:

We all know intellectually that there's no such thing as a stupid question, but...sometimes we're not sure about our own.  Take advantage of the lunch break, or take a business card and call from the privacy of your own office.

I think it was an effective ice-breaker, so I'm sharing it with you for your speeches.  I wish I'd added

Your questions are important, so please ask them.

The follow-up from the seminar was encouraging.  Nothing is more effective than face-to-face communication, when you can convince people to take time off from their busy schedules.

Take our kids to work

Yesterday I enjoyed my first paid speaking engagement.  Now I can put "professional speaker" on my resume, along with my public speaking prizes.

The crowd wasn't very demanding: 3- to 12-year-olds visiting the office for Take Our Kids to Work day.  After my speech, they had pizza and then they were supposed to go across the street for cotton candy and bean bag tosses.

My speech, of course, was entertaining and educational.  But for the rest of the day, what did these children learn?  That when Daddy and Mommy go to the office their bosses shake their hands and offer them hot chocolate?

When I visited my father in the office I saw the stock tickers.  When I visited my stepmother I saw the Linotype and the manual exchange switchboard.  That photocopy machine made my day.  Once I figured out how to use it, I wrote and illustrated books.  Unfortunately I wasn't invited back...

When my kids visited me in the office they watched me stare at the computer and yell at them if they interrupted me in mid-sentence.  Or they helped me address mass mailings. 

When they visit Lloyd, they see a real chem lab with spectrometers and safety glasses and everything.

In other words, my children and I saw real work.  I hope all those children who participated in Take Our Kids to Work Day yesterday saw a little of that as well.

Ginny Hillenbrand’s “Instant Focus” Works

There was a problem with the way I presented myself. I’d read books about it, prayed about it, asked others. Still I couldn’t put my finger on exactly where the problem was and what I could do about it.

So I called Ginny Hillenbrand. Ginny trained me when I started out as a realtor. Some of the best advice you see on this blog actually comes from her.

Ginny is now a life coach. She offers three kinds of coaching.

• Presentation Skills
• Instant Focus™
• Leadership Coaching

I want instant results, of course. So I went for the Instant Focus™

As Ginny puts it

“Instant Focus” is a one-time coaching session designed to help you move quickly toward an answer, an idea, a solution… NOW! This unique hybrid between Coaching and Consulting has helped scores of top executives and salespeople pump energy and clarity into confusing or exasperating situations.

I described my problem as best I could. And within minutes Ginny responded in a way that made me understand where I could improve my performance, and how to do it. I’d been fretting over this issue for months. Ginny got right to the heart of it. I can’t say enough how impressed I am.

Here’s how Ginny’s Instant Focus™ sessions work:

1. Initial phone call to discuss the format (no charge). This will help you clarify your goals. If you don’t move ahead, no problem, but what do you have to lose from making the call?
2. “Discovery” survey exploring the goal of the process for the individual. All information shared is totally confidential.
3. 90-minute coaching session over the phone.
4. One week after the session, follow-up call to reinforce and identify areas of progress.

I’m touched and grateful that Ginny pinpointed the problem area for me and gave me concrete ways to address it. If you have a work or life problem, contact Ginny for that initial phone call and see if she can help you the way she helped me. Ginny’s website is www.1-866-IMPROVE.com

What if the media call and you’re not ready?

High-profile employees at large firms receive training in public speaking, including speaking on camera.  If they suddenly have to speak up on behalf of the company, they and their bosses are confident that they’ll come across well.  In the best cases they’ll express exactly what they’re supposed to.  They’ll be articulate and poised.

The rest of us may want to be that suave, but it’s not really that important, is it?

It is if you have a dream.  If you have a product or service you want to persuade others about, you need to speak compellingly.  And if you suddenly have a big breakthrough and the media want to talk to you, would you want to say, “No…thanks, really.  I’m just not a good public speaker.”?

They have other stories to cover.  While you’re gathering your wits, they’re turning to their next assignment.  Too bad, so sad.

That’s why, if you want to promote something, you need to be ready to speak.  That’s why I joined Toastmasters eight years ago. 

At Toastmasters you practice giving speeches in a friendly environment.  Fellow club members give you feedback about your speeches.  If you like speaking, you can also participate in contests.

Toastmasters needs you to fill in other roles, such as leading the meeting, being the “humorist” (telling one joke), and counting the number of times speakers say “ah” and “um.”

Toastmasters membership costs under $100 per year.  If you put in the time, you get something invaluable back—the ability to say the right thing at the right time.

Here’s the link to my club, the Murray Hill Speakers Club.

Here’s the link to Toastmasters International, where you can find a club near you.

If you’re serious about marketing, drop by a meeting for free and learn more about the program.

Leadership and Communication Workshop in March

Books give me great ideas, but they don't give me feedback.

That's why I'm glad to see that my friend Gloria Pierce is organizing a new course of the Individual Development Program. Under the auspices of the Business and Professional Women (BPW) of New Jersey, Gloria taught me personal communication and leadership skills in the ID program 15 years ago. (Frankly, I did not enjoy seeing my skills on videotape. Fortunately, the tape was VHS, so no one will be able to watch it anymore!)

When I read about her new class in the Independent Press I called her to wish her well with this course. She told me that this was a new, revamped ID program. She sent me the details, included below. That convinced me to sign up myself, instead of simply recommending the course to others. Men are welcome, too, Gloria said.

The IDP Leadership program will be March 14 and March 21 from 8:30 to 4. It will be somewhere in the Cranford or Kenilworth area, but the exact location will depend on the size of the class. For BPW members the cost is $50; everyone else pays $75. If you want to sign up, please call Gloria at (973) 375-5445.

IDP LEADERSHIP PROGRAM of the BPW/USA

The IDP Leadership Program is BPW/USA’s leadership development series. The program will assist people to succeed in meeting their goals for community action and Change.

The modules are:

Module 1: Historical perspective and current opportunities of BPW defining membership opportunities, objective, mission, vision, and legislative platform.

Module 2: Understanding peers and employees behavioral and communication styles – managing for improved performance.

Module 3: Reviewing behavioral styles and learning to recruit the right person for the right program/task.

Module 4: Learn how to create presentations

Module 5: Learn to give oral presentations

Module 6: Networking – A Skill for Life.

Module 7: Interviewing tips and techniques.

Module 8: Negotiating skills for the workplace and beyond.

Module 9: Developing leadership qualities that will help you rise to the top!

Module 10: Using parliamentary process can streamline any meeting and committee.

Module 11: Business etiquette: standing out from the rest by understanding how to be the best!

Module 12: Understand your advocacy role in your business and community.

Module 13: Learn about governing values – what is important to you, how do you see the world, and what do you believe in? Develop your goals.

Module 14: Develop media relationships for your business or organization.


©2005 BPW/USA 1

Christmas Pageant

I was always the narrator and never the angel.

What fun is it to stand up at the lectern, knowing that the grownups chose you because you can pronounce most words right? So you mumble and rush through the story, watching the angels trip down the aisle in their lovely white robes.

Now, though, I'm on the other side of the lectern, coaching the children to SLOW DOWN for heaven's sake.

They've narrated before, they think. Obviously THEY don't need to listen to me. They know the story. Everyone else knows the story. Ho hum.

Besides, it doesn't make any sense anyway, they think. Why should the shepherds be terrified? Angels are just overgrown fairies, right? And, look, the angel appeared to Mary, too. Obviously, angels positively infested Bethlehem, like pantry moths. Big deal.

But for one person in the audience, this will be the first time to hear the story. And if that one person can see a miracle instead of juvenile ennui, we will have succeeded.

It's my job to make sure that they tell the story again for the first time.

I guess it's not too different from my day job.