Ep. 284 WOULD YOU SAY THAT?

Mark, dost thou hear what I'm saying? Dost thou see me from afar? Let me look curiously over the meadows. And to my dismay.

Darren, in sooth, thou dost not perform Shakespeare well. And I'm wondering, for those of us, our listeners who are hearing us talk, we said, what am I listening to? Is this really the Unforgettable Presentations Podcast? Well, Darren, I heard you speak and I wonder, when you give a speech, would you say that.

Anyone can give a presentation? Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcast with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation. Ahas, let's dive right in.

Mark. I would only just say that in a mocking tune.

You know, it's funny in the promo what they say. I always say, your life tell the story. And there's someone out there who needs to hear it, but they need to hear your story in your voice the way you would say it. And you know, recently we've had some real good fun coaching different individuals. We had a four day program, we're coaching CEOs through a program right now as they prepare for a big event. And some. Sometimes you get a script and you read it and it looks really good and then you sing it and you ask yourself, hmm, will you say that? I have discovered, Darren, that many individuals, even seasoned pros, sometimes write for the eye and not for the ear. I got that advice from my coach, David Brooks, who was a once a journalism teacher, high school, also the 1990 world champion of public speaking, who's my mentor. I called him a master mentor. And his company was called Working with Words. So he understands how working with Words works, how working with words works. And he told me many, many years ago, many years ago, he asked me, mark, are you writing for the eye or are you writing for the ear? And there is a difference.

Yeah. And Mark, you and I, we're just changing in Stage Time University. If you're looking to stay connected to us and want to work with us and want feedback from us, but you can't. Your budget does not allow one on one coaching or duo coaching as we do in stage Time. We have a process where people can submit a speech and then we give them feedback on our weekly calls. And we're just changing the process because we're realizing the importance of the effectiveness. And Mark, I think this stops a lot of people that they sit down to write out the story and they can't, you know, just like me. Same thing when you told me to write it out and David McElhenney, my other coach, told me to write out my story, I literally sat down and I could not start. And so unfortunately, people get stuck there for a week, two weeks. It's frustrating. It's. And then even if when you start to type the words, they're not the words that would come out of my mouth. So not only does it take longer, is it frustrating. We also using words that we would write or type rather than actually say. So, Mark, we're changing the process in stage time and we encourage you if you listen to this, A, join us. B, use this idea. Even if you don't join us, it will get you to a better version 1.0, which more quickly. So, Mark, that sage advice from the decades of Mark Brown coaching wisdom, what would you tell somebody, The Darren from 2001, who would be like, but Mark, I can't write it down.

I can't.

Blah.

I know it's frustrating. I have been using a very simple idea with Microsoft Word as a tool I use to write my script. And it's a wonderful little feature it has called Dictate. Oh, dictate. Here's the deal. In Microsoft Word, you can find the dictate option in the document. Open a blank document, click Dictate, and then you simply tell the story. What's cool is using this particular method, you are just having a conversation with you, maybe somebody in the room. But the Dictate feature allows Microsoft Word to literally create a transcript while you speak on the fly. You tell a story, you stop the dictate feature and you go back and right there on your screen is every word you just said and you have a version 1.0, what we call sloppy first copy of your transcript. And this has been a game changer for many individuals for one particular reason. As Darian says, we often want to write the script out and to make sure it sounds good. Particularly when clients are going to bring a script to us, they don't want to bring us sloppy. So on their way through, they get the first two or three lines down. I don't like what that sounds. They stop, they edit, they backspace, they rewrite, they retype, and they may spend hours trying to get a first copy of, hoping we won't recommend too many changes. We are guaranteed we are going to recommend changes, but the point is they invest so much time, so much energy, so much angst, so much consternation. Darren, the idea of trying to create this first copy when, if we simply choose to dictate, let Microsoft Word provide the transcript, and then if you wish, you may go on to edit or even send that to us when you ask for a script review. But this tool will save you time. What you'll notice is you compare that copy to maybe a previous copy you were working on. You notice much of what you say in the transcribed copy is different from what you wrote when you wrote it by hand. Because we naturally read what we write, and it's a different kind of writing for the eye than there is for the earth.

Yeah. And we were just on the phone while on Zoom with one of our coaching clients, YPO executives, CEO from Australia, and same thing how we. We would come up with an idea on a situation, a situation with his mom and. But how would you say that? How would you say that? So we kind of. We got the idea, we had to write it down, but then we asked him, okay, now we got the. You got to get the words down. And if you're listening to this, this is the big lesson from my life. You can't edit what you don't write down. You can't edit what you don't write down. And in Mark's idea, you can't edit what you don't first transcribe. So the transcription now using Mark's method becomes so much easier. And it's actually, it's. It's like going from 0 to version 3.0 in much less time and much less frustration. So you're closer to really where you want to be now. You're still going to take. You're still going to miss a few things. We're still going to add a few things we still want to. I really. This is what I would say. These are the words I would use. We. We really want to be careful to let you know that writing is different from speaking. If you're a great writer, wonderful. However, you've got to make sure it is writing for the ear, as Mark said, through David, rather than writing for the eye. And it's different. So we want it to sound like you. We want it to be conversational. It's a faster way to conversational and natural. Even. People are great writers. They might be better with words, but sometimes they use words verbally that belong on a page.

Funny having you say that because we had a program last Week in Las Vegas. And one of our attendees, One of our VIPs, his background is law enforcement. And I have teased him before about what I call cop speak, and I'm sure I've used that term before on one of our podcasts. But it might be an interesting exercise for you as a presenter, and I'm being very serious about this. You probably can find copies on videos of police press conferences on YouTube, particularly when there was a heinous crime that was committed. And sadly in America, maybe a school shooting or some kind of violent crime, you'll often see a police commissioner or a police chief with three or four dignitaries behind him, hosting a press conference. And he'll walk forward and deliver a statement. And in these statements, you will hear language that's definitely been written for the press to digest. And the quote unquote, semi humorous one I often talk about is when the law enforcement officer declares to the press, you know, we approached him on the corner of 5th and Main, and the suspect hastily exited the vehicle and made his way hardly down the alleyway. Three of our officers engaged in foot pursuit. We deployed our K9 unit. We were able to successfully apprehended him as he attempted to enter the building through the alley. What he just said was, we saw him at the corner 5th and Main. He took off running down the alley. Three cops chased him. The dog went after him. We got him, we nailed him, and we took him down. They may even add, he is now being safely held in our holding facility downtown. We locked him up, but notice in these press conferences, police don't speak that way. And I was teasing. I'll call him Ed or guest or attendee. And I said, you guys always talk that way. And he says, we've been trained to write reports that way. Ah. So they speak in a press conference the way they write in a report. And for speakers, that's a no, no. You want to speak the way you speak, not the way you write. It's a very simple sounding distinction. But ask the audience members and they'll tell you, ooh, what a difference.

Now, in their situation, legally, they have to use terms, correct? So we're not saying they shouldn't do that. And Ed, quote, unquote, Ed shouldn't do that. When they're doing a press conference, they need to do that. It's essential to do that. We're just saying, okay, boom. One of our other clients is a lawyer and he has to use lawyer speak. But we had to train that out of him. When he is, let's Say, telling a story, right? So we want to make him likable and conversationing, conversationing, conversational.

You gotta compensate me. Gotta conversate, right, Yo. Yeah.

So we need to say it in the words. But make no mistake, one of the biggest ahas for you may be what Mark offered as that to have the translation happen, dictation happen to get you more quickly to how you would tell the story. And, hey, you might leave a few things out. You might add a little too much. You're going to anyway, but why not get to version 3 more quickly? And now we're using your words and how you would say it. Now, an idea for this is to bullet point out ahead of time what you're going to say and have it physically in front of you or on your screen in front of you. So you just know that, oh, mom said, get out of here quickly. So that way you have some key terms. So just. But give yourself bullet points and then speak from those bullet points, and you're gonna get so much further along. Farther along.

You can go farther along.

Yeah, I don't know.

Yeah. And Darren, I really appreciate you mentioning about the. The press conference, because their words will be written down by journalists, ported in journals, newspapers, and online. So definitely. And please don't. If you're a cop, please don't come and arrest me. I was not saying it was wrong, but I sing. As presenters, we have to become more conversational. Case in point. Darren, I want to point out as well that we are also active Toastmasters. And I grew up speaking in Toastmasters. I've been a toastmaster for 32 years, almost 32 years. And I know that over time, the way Toastmasters speak has changed, particularly in the International Speech Contest over time, presentations have become that much more conversational. Over time. Certainly here in North America, you'll find even at large major conferences, keynote speakers who 30 years ago wore suits and ties, are in jeans, relaxing shoes, you know, a polo and a kind of jacket, and they roll their sleeves up and they simply have conversational styles that has become much more acceptable in the marketplace. Are there times to be formal? Yes, there are certain times to be formal. But more and more, the conversational style has become accepted. It does get tricky, Darren, when we talk about the global world, the world has, quote, unquote, shrunken. It has shrank because of access to each other electronically through media. We now can access anybody else. But I've come to understand that there are certain parts of the world where, even to this day, young people are being Taught to emote and to be eloquent when they speak. I grew up in the 1960s and 70s and I remember there was a subject in school in my home country of Jamaica called elocution. You had to learn to speak in a certain way and to do so very, very well. And I'm thankful I was given the tools to learn how to do that. But I've learned also to adapt to what's happening now. And I know I'm a word nerd, Darren. I can't help it. And I can be tempted oft times to use a bigger word here and there, but I've done my best to adapt to the times. The key becomes this to ask yourself when you read what's on your page, would I say that in conversation? And one of the most difficult things I find people do for people to do, Darren, is to quote, unquote, disconnect themselves from the idea of okay, now I have to deliver a presentation. I must now give a speech. And we try so hard to write the words that sound good in our mind for delivering a speech when the audience wants to hear what you have to say from your experience. And that takes some adjustment because even people who have spoken for a while still find themselves drifting into, I'm delivering a speech now, so therefore I will deliver it in a very eloquent manner.

Nice. So what would you say? What would you say? Don't overcomplicate it. You go get to your natural language quickly. How would you say that? Get it down on paper. You're going to have to internalize it over time. You can't edit what you don't have in front of you. You. It's a process. We're hoping this shortens your process to get you more quickly to unforgettable. Mark Brown, take us home.

Listen, my friends, do yourself a favor. Ask yourself, would I say that? It could be transformational. See you next week.

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