Find Your Voice, Bertie

I went to see the Oscar-nominated film The King's Speech this week and was enthralled by a masterpiece of cinema.

It captured the frustration and sheer terror of the Duke of York or 'Bertie' - soon to become King George VI - as he fought a debilitating affliction...magnified by the new need to communicate by radio.

It made me think of a conversation I had with the highly-personable Scotland rugby forward Kelly Brown.

He explained to the leadership group of Scotland's international rugby team - with whom I was running a media training session last autumn - that he had taken four days away last June for intensive treatment to reduce his stammer. He then volunteered to do the first TV interview rehearsal.

And there I saw devices similar to those portrayed in The Kings Speech.

What George VI and Kelly Brown share is tremendous courage and determination.

Kelly realises the value of explaining his feelings about rugby through the media - and has done what it takes to overcome his disadvantage. He has my undying admiration.

What I felt The Kings Speech also captured was the sense of blind fear and utter panic that can set in before a speech - a feeling I hear about every week in talking to some who attend The Broadcasting Business's Presentation Skills courses.

For those who feel confident in such situations, it's difficult to understand what that's like. But very many have felt that way.

I could relate to the quiet sense of satisfaction the film's other hero - unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue - took from witnessing immense progress. It's how I feel every day a participant leaves our course with a greater sense of self-belief than when they walked through the door.

Fear of public speaking may be in the mind - but it's as real as the microphone and audience in front of us.

But because it's in the mind, we have the power to overcome it - given the right techniques.

These techniques have helped business leaders, entrepreneurs, public servants and emerging sportsmen and women make great strides over the 22 years we've been running such courses.

Watching George VI overcome his stammer to deliver the keynote wartime speech that forms the climax of the film reminded me of a second parallel: the four presenters pitching Scotland's bid for the Commonwealth Games to 71 voting members in Sri Lanka in November 2007.

I had worked with some members of the team for six months and had seen their fear of failure grow into a genuine confidence in their speeches.

As the last one left the stage, a colleague turned to me and confirmed my feeling with one short comment:  'They nailed it!'

And they had. Glasgow won the vote with a two-thirds majority - and the Games were awarded to Scotland.

That is the immense power of public speaking - and it lies within all of us.

It just has to be brought to the surface.

'Find your voice', Lionel tells George. He could have been speaking to any of us.

Take it Personally

I'm taking my seat in the 10,000-seat MGM arena in Las Vegas for the start of the Arbonne Global Training Conference.

Now, I've attended hundreds of conferences on business down the years - usually waiting to take my turn as a speaker - but today I'm here to learn.

I should explain. Three years ago my wife Caroline was asked to become a consultant with an international network marketing skincare company. The person asking her was Sue Cassidy, whose husband David in the ‘70s had a bigger fan club than the Beatles.

Today 130 of Caroline's 7000-strong team have flown the Atlantic to attend the conference - so we've all spent a lot of money to be here.

I watch speaker after speaker tell their own personal story. You can hear a pin drop when they describe their struggles, their setbacks, their triumphs and their disasters.

What comes through time and time again transcends all that. It's their ATTITUDE that's taken them where they are.

But there's something refreshing about the presentation. What is it? What's different about this conference compared to many I've taken part in? 

Let me tell you - they're sharing PERSONAL EXPERIENCES which are gloriously free of business JARGON.

And there's something else. When they click to bring up another slide, we're looking at a child rather than a graph or bar chart.  We see a funny picture rather than a statistic we're unable to read from the back of this vast stadium.

So today we're hanging on every word as each consultant speaks from the heart.  They are ANIMATED and ENTHUSIASTIC rather than straight-jacketed and dull.

Is it because they're American and natural speakers?  No - one of the best presenters is Iain Pritchard - a hugely-successful friend from Guildford in Surrey, who is massively successful in my wife's business.

I debated for an hour last week with one group of clients in London how personal stories, great illustrations, emotion and enthusiasm will beat unreadable, unintelligible PowerPoint presentations.

At first our clients disagreed....before making splendid pitches without PowerPoint.  They've since changed their minds.

In short, they are following a Broadcasting Business principle: Use visual aids to engage your audience, rather than confuse them with unnecessary statistics and complex models.

I'm looking forward to the closing session of the Arbonne conference today - because the speakers will again ENGAGE me.

We need more conferences like this in the UK - but first we have to give up our addiction to badly-constructed PowerPoint.

Once we do that, we're liberated...free to use emotion, experience and enthusiasm to tell a story and win the audience over.

28 Days Later...

I like January.

We’re past the shortest day…in theory moving towards brighter, longer days.

It’s also time to turn over a new leaf – literally – in the diary.

And that’s the bit I like best about January:  a new year lies ahead and it feels as if anything is possible.

Of course, to make the possible happen, we often have to two things.  Firstly, plan what it is we want to happen.  Secondly, stop doing the things that have made progress impossible.

In other words – we have to set goals and resolutions.

I’ve always believed in goal-setting.  Why let the year happen to you rather than decide what you want to happen?

Or as one of my clients puts it:  “Create your own plan – or be prepared to be part of somebody else’s!”

But you have to write down your goals.

An oft-quoted true story comes from Harvard University in the States.

A group of students was asked if they had goals.  Of course most said they did.

But almost three decades later when researches revisited those they could trace to see if their goals had been realised, they found something remarkable.

The 3% who had written down their goals all those years ago were now worth more than the 97% who had not. 

The road to hell – they say – is paved with good intention.  If you fail to write down your goals, it’s simply an intention.  If you write them down – and follow your own plan – you map out your future.

So that’s goals.  But what about setting resolutions?

Well that can be more difficult, because it often involves resolving to break bad habits and replace them with good new ones.

Several years ago, I interviewed - for an RBS audio production – Dr Steven Covey, author of the highly-acclaimed “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”.

I asked him how long it took to make or break a habit.

“28 days” was his precise answer.

He then explained that we cut a groove in our thought process if we do the same thing repeatedly for a month.  It becomes our habit – and replaces other bad habits which also had been stuck in a groove.

The difficulty is cutting the new groove for 28 successive days – whether that’s stopping smoking, banning cakes from your diet or slowing down behind the wheel.

But, Dr Covey assured me, it only takes 28 days.

In mapping out our route to success, we follow a key Broadcasting Business principle:

Positive thinking, channelled by effective preparation, leads to success.

So this week – the first working week of 2011 – have you set yourself goals and have you embarked on habit-changing resolutions?

If so, good luck.  Enjoy your progress.

If not, may I suggest you resolve to set new goals in the first pages of your brand new 2012 diary?

And that, in the meantime, you prepare to be part of somebody else’s plan in 2011.