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He Has a Point. (A Damn Good One.)

While passing the time in the Atlanta airport, I picked up a book on making presentations, The Exceptional Presenter, by Timothy Koegel. Though self-published, it's garnered endorsements from everyone from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to Roger Staubach. My reasons for the purchase were selfish: I figure that the odds are high that I'll find at least one, small, operational piece of advice ... and indeed I did find a couple of new ideas and a ton of always useful reminders.

But there was one enormous point Koegel makes that is ever-so-obvious ... except that I've never seen it made with such impact and clarity. Are you breathless with anticipation? Well, you should be. Here goes: "Those who practice improve. Those who don't, don't."

Obvious. Golf. Fishing. Cabinetry. Biking & hiking. So: Why not presenting-communicating? In Koegel's seminars, he asks participants how much time they spend communicating—including formal presentations, meetings, interviews to collect information, and even voice mails. The answer, and he cites other research with like numbers, is 50 percent to 80 percent of one's professional time. (Which makes perfect sense to me, as I sit here at a keyboard ... communicating.) Then Koegel asks how much time people spend practicing and evaluating their communication skills. A very, very fair question, eh? The answer is: 0/zero percent to 2 percent ... mostly zeroes.

This result is no less stupid for the fact that it's not surprising.

Whether you get Koegel's book or not, you must/ought to admit he has one helluva point. Call it, even, a "dirty little/BIG secret."

I am a professional communicator—from this Blog to my books to my 75 speeches a year. I'm not bragging (much), but my "practice" & "prep" is bizarrely time-consuming and of course invaluable. E.g.: spending the 2+ hours on my flight yesterday from ATL to BOS, at the end of a long day, after speech #2,400 (roughly), reading-absorbing Koegel's book!

(Re-read the above paragraph. TP: "I am a professional communicator ..." Hint, not to be condescending: So are you!) (But ... do you think of yourself that way? Hint: The answer to that question may be a "life or death" professional issue.)

One of Koegel's greatest contributions is suggesting-revealing the fact, the great news, that we have many, many mundane opportunities to practice! He offers numerous ideas. Using people's names in conversations is very powerful. So practice it at a party this weekend. Smiling is a matchless "weapon" for winning over audiences ... so be aware, in family communications, the degree to which you smile, or don't. In my case, and my wife laughs at me over this one, I spend as much time spell-checking and working on grammar-word choice on emails to old friends as I do when writing something formal to a prospective Client: Every time I communicate with anybody is an opportunity to improve my communications effectiveness.

(NB: While in the D.C. airport a couple of days ago I picked up Drucker's The Effective Executive, the book of P.D.'s that most influenced me as a "starting manager" in the Pentagon in 1968. The one thing I underlined as I re-read it was a vignette about General George Patton ... literally standing in front of a mirror and practicing his "command face" every morning! Makes sense to me!)

My "bottom line" on this is less an endorsement for the book than a hearty 2-million cheers for "the big idea/s": (1) We spend most of our time communicating. (2) Our career success or failure depends to an extraordinary degree on communications excellence ... or the lack thereof. (3) The overwhelming majority (perhaps 90 percent) of experimentally measured communication effectiveness comes from the "soft stuff" (do you project energy, etc, etc). (4) We rarely systematically "work on" communications effectiveness. (5) As leaders, we seldom have our troops work on their communications effectiveness. And (6) "Those who practice improve. Those who don't, don't."

Comments, please!!! For starters, do you buy Koegel's argument, and by extension mine—e.g., the centrality of the relationship between communications effectiveness and career/life effectiveness, and the thence odd fact that we rarely work systematically or assiduously on this paramount skill and success-failure determinant.

FYI: As I review this, I think it has the makings of a Top Ten post in my last 18 months of active Blogging.

Tom Peters posted this on 02/10/06.

Comments

Um, Tom, where is the rest of the last sentence?

Posted by Nancy R. at February 10, 2006 11:02 AM

Tom - observing many media performers on TV for example I find as an aid to be more professional - really actively observing how they deliver and why they are successful.

Posted by Sean at February 10, 2006 11:57 AM

Nancy R: Sorry, coming!

Sean: Yup. An old friend returned to teaching Psych 1 at Berkeley years ago. He was pretty straight-laced, but he went to a host of nightclub acts to study how comics and others held the attention of a distracted (booze, dates) audience-clientele.

Posted by tom peters at February 10, 2006 1:16 PM

One simple way I "practice" is to videotape myself when I teach, then later review my presentation. Im often surprised by what I see. Many times I've felt I was giving a great presentation, but when I watched the tape I cringed at how bad I was.

Regular use of videotaping is an excellent way to review and evaluate one's presentations.

Posted by ajhoge at February 10, 2006 2:03 PM

I'm wondering if we need a communication 'spotter' - I think of the times that I've practiced/refined/jazzed only to find out later that people didn't get it (â€œwhat the hell was he talking about??â€) â€“ and I thought it sounded great. Hereâ€™s the rub: communication is a personal thing. A good communicator is â€˜putting themselves in to itâ€™ â€“ then being open to critical feedback, well that kind of makes things hard â€“ kind of personal. If I make something and someone says that it could be better â€“ thatâ€™s one thing. If I say something, and someone says it could be better â€“ thatâ€™s me.

Posted by Kurt Donath at February 10, 2006 2:44 PM

One of the most important (and basic) tenets of communication that we often forget is: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Good communicators adapt their presentation style, vocabulary and content with each audience in mind.

A good site for anyone interested in improving presentation effectiveness is: presentationzen.blogs.com

Sorry, I tried to hyperlink the site, but sometimes our good TP site gets paranoid when people add links to a post. So you'll have to do the old copy and paste I'm afraid (well worth the effort though). How lazy have we become!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at February 10, 2006 3:04 PM

Heres a good idea; I interviewed with an engineering firm that required all professional staff to give a presentation every so often. There was one presentation every week and the presentation duties rotated amongst the staff. The topic could be anything and was definitely not required to be engineering related (I think that how to play blackjack may have been one talk topic). The idea was to get the staff comfortable with giving presentations in a friendly safe environment before they had to face clients. I think this is brilliant!

Posted by Andrew Barnebey at February 10, 2006 5:35 PM

I have written elsewhere â€˜the basics are the new cutting edge.â€™

Why are we surprised when practice makes us better at what we do. As Golf Icon Gary Player said, â€œThe more I practice the luckier I getâ€?

As Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) said to his long suffering wife Sybil (Prunella Scales) â€¦

â€œSybil Fawlty, specialist subject â€¦ the bleedin' obviousâ€

I donâ€™t buy that practice makes perfect but but if you want to stand still then donâ€™t practice and donâ€™t do your homework.

Posted by Trevor Gay at February 10, 2006 6:02 PM

Why is it that in every dramatic movie scene the speaker destroys the script and delivers an astounding PASSIONATE speech? Why do you show up at a client with ONE slide in PowerPoint "Who are you".

I have to admit that most stuff I present comes out of my mouth as I think it, and sometimes it is not wisest thing. But I love my stuff (web, technology) and I can talk nonstop about it.

Some times talking unprepared might be more dramatic and passionate/honest. Sometimes I fall flat on my nose........ ;.)

Posted by Boris at February 10, 2006 7:40 PM

I would definitely buy Koegel's argument. Those who practice improve. Those who don't, don't. Period.

But I do not buy the conclusion that "Our career success or failure depends to an extraordinary degree on communications excellence ... or the lack thereof."

It actually depends on the type of "CAREER" chosen. In certain careers (Say Business), communication can be life or death (TOTALLY AGREE). While in others (Say Science or engineering, music or art), you could be a "regular fella" and still come out a winner (i.e. make very important contributions).
But there is no denying that an ability to effectively communicate is one of the most valuable skills one can possess.

I studied in India and I don't recall any mention of the need for "effective communication" in schools or professional colleges. It was all Math, Physics, and Chemistry & English. I donâ€™t know about the schools in US to make a comment.

I think we really need to take a closer look at these "soft skills" and make it part of the school program.

I also think that one of our problems is that we are very focused on things that have some kind of Tangible results(A produces B). Effective communication is an invaluable soft skill. But the results are intangible. You experience the fruits of your effort indirectly. Unfortunately, no one seems to care!

Posted by Namith at February 10, 2006 9:16 PM

Boris, I've read some stuff that says, in effect, nothing requires more preparation than improvisation. You have to be so damn comfortable with the basics that you become comfortable ignoring them. I depart from my script all the time, it's a trade mark. But I only feel comfortable doing that when I am perfectly clear about where I want to get to. Likewise, my business school friends insist that it's much harder to teach cases than to lecture. In the world of cases you must know precisely what you want to get out of the session so that you can gently guide the free-flow of the case in the pre-determined direction.

Posted by tom peters at February 10, 2006 10:09 PM

This post reminded me of an old Asian adage worth sharing here. "The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."

Posted by VK Narayanan at February 11, 2006 1:02 AM

Of course those who practice improve. Those who don't, don't.

So why is it then that we find it neccesary to practice some things, but not others. While you would never play american football or drive a car without practice you find things like communicating, selling, networking so obvious to do without practicing.

Why is that so? I don't know.

But I know what to call it:

The Car Crashing Economy - like driving a car without practice

AndrÃ© Hedetoft
Movie-god
www.oddlife.se

Posted by AndrÃ© Hedetoft at February 11, 2006 2:49 AM

buy the comments - absolutely. you don't command a topic until you can explain it, communicate it - out loud - to others. i learned this in upper level macro econ as a junior at michigan state - if i couldn' stand at the board, draw and explain the philips curve to someone else i didn't know it. the exercise of speaking out loud and listening to yourself allows you to find the holes, the gaps where you have intellectually jumped ahead (because you know the topic) while leaving your imaginary audience behind. doing it in front of another person (hopefully someone who will provide brutally honest feed back) is a bonus.

Posted by steve waugh at February 11, 2006 7:04 AM

It only took me one unprepared moment during a presentation to convince me that the best way not to look like a complete fool in front of an audience is to practice, prepare, practice, prepare, and practice. And that's how we usually "get it." If we always have some lukewarm audience we blame it on them--they don't care, they are on mental vacation, it's just "butt time" for them, etc. We don't realize that WE failed to engage them. But, if we have a real embarassing, "look-like-an-idiot" moment in front of a crowd, we start to take our part more seriously and learn our craft. Amazingly, the lukewarm audiences start to become more responsive and awake after that.

Posted by Mike at February 11, 2006 8:46 AM

Trevor - "perfect practice makes perfect" - tho close to perfect is the reality one supects in this mortal spaceship Earth adventure.

Posted by Sean at February 11, 2006 11:24 AM

Tom -- I think Koegel's point is spot-on. People sometimes compliment me on my e-mails, which I copy-edit as thoroughly as anything I write for publication - not because I have to, but (I guess) because I've wired myself to vet every written communication.

This reminds me of an anecdote from Tony Robbins: When he was starting out, he knew he wanted to be a great speaker and communicator. If memory serves, he worked for the Dale Carnegie organization, but whereas his peers scheduled three presentations per week, he scheduled three per day. I've never seen Robbins perform live, but having heard interviews with him - and judging from the fees he commands - I'd say the practice paid off.

Another datum: In his early days, Bob Hope headlined four vaudeville shows per day, then did standup every night in nightclubs. Maybe 1,500 performances per year.

Posted by Tim Walker at February 11, 2006 2:58 PM

I think it is a no brainer. The person that is the most personable and comes across the best makes the sell. It is not the most intellectual, but the one that comes across as genuine. People are more likely to learn from, respond to, buy from, hire, and befriend those that have an ability to connect with their audience. People can develop this skill and misuse it like anything else. However, it is a fact of life, those that communicate well get ahead.

Posted by Rocky at February 11, 2006 7:07 PM

Yes, he has a very good point. And so do you. I find communication one of the two or three most neglected skills by leaders. It is so neglected, I'm not sure that many even know what they would practice, if they decided to start Monday morning. Practice is good, practicing the right thing is better. viagra pharmacy online

Posted by Ed Brenegar at February 11, 2006 9:49 PM

I have ordered the book, looks great.

Posted by Felix Gerena at February 12, 2006 7:18 AM

I think I had the direct application of this today - I had to write a proposal for my own consulting company (one person psf) that will make or break 2006 - I quickly realized that the way that the proposal was written (the quality of the communication) would determine whether the client would approve this proposal! Tom is dead on regarding the importance of this topic!

Posted by gary at February 12, 2006 10:01 PM

The arguement is really good. The main question for me is - how he proposes to practice in this every day? I'm really interested in these "many mundane opportunities to practice". Thinking on buying the book.

Posted by Dmitry Linkov at February 13, 2006 5:04 AM

I guess we all know of some people who are great at their job and are nice-as-pie folks but who are stuck somewhere low down the totem pole because they lack the ability or confidence to present themselves well. And conversely, we probably also know a few people who get into senior positions largely by dint of their great ability to communicate... a talent that isn't really there!

I see quite a few presentations in my job and I keep reminding my team: look behind the presentation, look behind the smiles, look behind the nice words and the nice binders and the nice slides: look for the substance.

It raises the thought in my mind. We're focusing on the selling and pitching side, but what about the buying side? How do you ensure you don't get sucked in by a sincere presentation with no real relevance or substance?

Posted by Mark J Foscoe at February 13, 2006 6:41 AM

Great points Mark. That's why smart organizations will take the fluff out of their message and clearly communicate what's relevant to their audience.

You're right to advise your team to look beyond the bells and whistles - and the presenters that you are observing would be wise to make that easy for your team to do.

Transparency is demanded more and more by consumers today - and rightly so. Fewer and fewer execs can hide inside corner office suites and behind persuasive pitches. Years ago, the bottom line was the focus for execs. Now it's demanded by their customers.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at February 13, 2006 7:11 AM

I love the idea that people should present on a regular basis and it doesn't matter what the topic is.

The only time people practice is when they are faced with a presentation. When that happens they practice their presentation (over and over) rather than presentation skills. Often this leads to things being a little too rehearsed (dull!)

By far the best presentation I gave recently was to a 200 strong customer meeting with 15 minutes notice. No power point just a fistful of index cards (always keep some around) with some hasty bullet points. Less preparation (but plenty of previous practice!) can really work

Posted by PaulH at February 13, 2006 7:39 AM buy generic viagra uk

I produce a magazine for CFOs, and you'll be hard pushed to find a managerial type that's had to learn so much about communication so quickly.

Not so long ago, you could be top of your game as a finance director by being outstanding at the numbers and generating useful analysis. Now, unless you're close to the business (and I mean talking to the guys in every business service department as well as the people in ops), you're sunk. You have to understand front-line people well enough to cope with the non-financial drivers, you have to generate analysis that will be genuinely useful in decision-making and you have to communicate financial reality to people who (in my experience) are often barely numerate.

Presentation skills are pretty high on the list, in other words. And don't get me started on the value of IR...

Posted by Richard Young at February 13, 2006 7:41 AM

Great post Tom. I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes an interaction with someone evolve from being a mundane interaction into a true human encounter. Although great encounters have a genuine spontaneity, they are supported by things you can learn and can practice, all of which involve the fundamentals of great communication.

As for my formal presentations, I use a 5:1 rule for new material. I need to spend 5 times as much time practicing it as it will take to present it. This seems to be the right amount.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at February 13, 2006 8:25 AM

The best place to practice is where people give you information about what is good and what needs improvement and exactly how to do that; where you can see other people practicing and learn from them, too; and where you can have fun at the same time! And that's at Toastmasters. It's easy to find a club almost anywhere in the world (www.toastmasters.org) and it's very, very inexpensive to join this non-profit, all-volunteer organization.

Posted by Marianne Powers at February 13, 2006 11:06 PM

plagerism may not be as bad as teacher want to make it if it is mindful practice, there may be even more risk factor retain-ment.

Posted by Bradford at February 14, 2006 12:58 AM

Another opportunity for practice! One important aside; without gushing, I would like to say how much I value Tom's website, blogs and regular Times! email. Tom, you ask questions and create trails to the most interesting thinkers...every day that I access the site, I feel richer for it. Thank you. The things that stood out to me in this post were about practice and about the "soft" stuff. Just read a riveting book that I picked up also at an airport bookstore (Powells at PDX. Great!) Complications is its name...sorry, can't recall the author's name at the moment. It was about surgeons and surgery. Turns out, the best surgeons are the best not because of innate talent but because they are willing to practice the most.
Re: the soft stuff...I am just realizing after many years that the things that have probably been the most powerful in my work as a consultant and facilitator have been the sheer energy, enthusiam and optimism I have for the work and the people. Charisma=animation. Again, thanks so much for creating this site that we can all participate in (yes, I know it's a preposition but it seems more conversational). Vicki W

Posted by Vicki W at February 16, 2006 3:47 PM