Ep 92 What If You Get Stuck Speaking Behind a Lectern April 1 16

So how do you keep from being stuck behind a lectern when giving a speech?

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public, to the media, at work and in life. Speaking with TJ Walker.

This question comes from Buddy Amorosa. He's one of our regular viewers or Perhaps listeners on LinkedIn as well as YouTube. He writes in TJ what do you do when you've been invited to speak at a local service organization like Kiwanis? At the lectern, there is a low quality stationary microphone. The mic length is too short to walk with the microphone. And in these cases, are you bound to stand behind the lectern? Well, Buddy, I appreciate your concern. Those of you who've heard me speak regularly and been irregulars to this podcast know in general, I recommend that you don't stand behind the lectern because most horrible speakers stand behind the lectern. Audiences associate that with a horrible speaker who's going to stand and read a bunch of notes. No movement, no body language, sometimes leaning or grabbing the lectern. And I just try to do everything I can to not associate myself with the things bad speakers do. But you can't control every situation. I understand that if it's your own convention and you're already spending a lot of money, you can design anything you want. But if you're, for example, a small town politician or civic leader, at the last minute, you get invited to speak at civic events around town at lunchtime, you're not being paid anything. It's just something you pop over and do. You can't put a lot of time and money and effort into it. I do realize that. So a couple of things I want you to think about, Buddy. For starters, you mentioned Kiwanis club. They do a lot of great stuff in communities, whether it's Kiwanis, Rotaries, optimists, my family members. My father was a longtime optimist member. That's actually where I got my public speaking start, at the Optimist Oratorical Contest. So with some Kiwanis clubs, you may only have 20 people. Others you might have 150 people. Let's say you're asked to speak at a Kiwanis club where there's 20 people in a lectern and a bad mic, as you painted the picture of. I would suggest don't get behind the lectern, just don't use the mic. If there are only 20 people in the room, you don't need a microphone. You can just walk around, get close to people. No barrier between you and the audience. Let's say it's a larger group. It's say 50 people. But you're only speaking for three minutes. Let's say you're announcing a charity pancake fundraiser. You're only talking for three minutes. I would simply project my voice to reach 50 people. Now, if it's a larger group, let's say it's 80, 100. The acoustics aren't great. Well, people do need to hear you, so I would definitely use that microphone. Now, you mentioned the microphone isn't long enough to walk around with. Simply pulling the mic out of the mic stand and standing next to the lectern, where you can gesture, move, bend a little, not have the lectern obscuring your body, will make you seem much more comfortable, confident, polished and relaxed. So that is one technique. Now, another solution I want you to think of, this is a little more complex, but let's say you are running for office. You know you're going to be giving five speeches a week for the next year. What I would recommend is take your own portable wireless microphone and speaker. I used to do this for many, many years. Confession. I don't really do it now because I don't do that many speaking opportunities to nonprofit luncheon groups. But you could. It saves your voice, allows you to walk around, get you away from the lectern, and you have higher quality audio. You can buy these portable speaker systems with wireless microphones for just a few hundred dollars on Amazon. And folks, I'm not selling anything, so just check it out. I'm not recommending any particular brand. You don't have to be limited to what that meeting room has at that Hotel 6 or YMCA. You can actually bring your own. I do want you to give thought to it because you may be seeing people meeting people, and it's the first and last time they ever hear you in person. They're forming impressions of you. So don't leave it the chance. Don't do what most people do, which is, well, the person introduced me is standing behind the lectern. So I'll go stand behind the lectern. You don't have to do that. Those of you who are regular viewers and listeners of this program know I do avoid. I do caution people to avoid lecterns. But it's not the end of the world. If you have a great speech, good messages, great stories, you tell it in an interesting way, and you happen to be behind Elektrin, it's okay. It's not the end of the world. Some of the greatest speakers in the world. Certainly great presidents, whether you like Reagan or Clinton, stood behind Elektrin when they spoke most of the time, and they were still able to speak in a very effective way. So don't let it psych you out with many of the tips I give you here. I do believe that it's good advice, but we're talking about quite often the final extra 1% tip. But if you have a great speech, you say it in a compelling, interesting, memorable way, you're still going to be the best speaker at that Kiwanis Club. Maybe in the last year, maybe ever. So don't worry about the lectern or the quality of the mic, but just ask yourself, am I doing what I'm doing because it will genuinely help the audience hear me and see me more. Am I doing it because it's easy for me or it's convenient for me? It's a small room. They don't need the microphone if it's a large room, but the microphone comes out of the stand and you can walk even three feet away from the lectern. Then don't stand behind the lectern. It's the perspective that's so important. Always ask yourself, is what I'm doing absolutely in the best interest of the audience to make them understand me more, pay attention more, be less distracted so they can take away more. If the answer is yes, chances are it's a good thing. If the answer is I'm just doing it because it's easy for me or the last speaker did it, then that is likely to be the wrong solution.

Do you have a speaking related question for number one USA Today best selling author TJ Walker? For more than 30 years, Walker has been a public speaking coach and media trainer to presidents of Countries, Prime Ministers, CEOs, Nobel Peace Prize winners, professional athletes and Ms. Universes. Send your questions to infoediatrainingworldwide.com or on Twitter J. Walker.

This next comment comes from a regular viewer and listener, Rick Sheraton, who's also a public speaking professor and media training expert in his own right. Rick writes TJ I was watching Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream fame, being interviewed by Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto about the influence of Sanders supporters at Trump rallies. I have met Ben a couple of times and generally agree with his politics, but he gave a classic poor performance. I grabbed my notebook and wrote down some comments. He used too many filler words, sloppy dress, poor eye contact, eyes wandering, disorganized thought process, and he provided the link. And I am going to provide you with the link in the show notes here if you want to see the interview in question. Now, this struck me as interesting for a couple of reasons. Very difficult critiquing people, and most people have a difficult time doing it because they can't separate whether they like that person and the substance of the person from their actual performance skills. And what impressed me about Rick and the sign that he's a real professional is he likes Ben's politics. And not everyone does. And this show isn't about politics. But he was able to say, okay, I like what this person stands for. I like the person's values. But how they communicated it was awful. In my experience, most people have a very difficult time doing that. They say, well, I like this person, therefore they're a good communicator. And if you criticize this person, it just means you're a bad, evil, awful person. Opposing politics, that's a childish way of looking at it. On the other hand, if they don't like someone's politics, they automatically want to say, this person's a horrible communicator. And if you approve of this person's communication skills or you say anything positive, then you're a horrible, awful monster and you endorse everything that person says. That's childish, too. Part of being a good communicator, I believe, is is recognizing good communication skills when you see it, keeping your eye out for good skills to learn from it. Not necessarily to mimic, but to learn. And also looking for things you don't like, things that don't work. Great writers generally read a lot of other writers not because they agree with everyone or love everyone, but they want to get a wide range of styles and perspectives to draw upon. Speakers need to do the same thing. Media communicators need to do the same thing. Now, I did review the clip and I hate to sound like I'm pandering to my audience, but I think Rick is absolutely on target. Ben Cohen did not do a good job. His eyes are floating all over the place. He's stammering. He doesn't seem to be able to get through a single sentence without stammering and losing his train of thought. He kind of lets the host, Neil Cavuto, push him around. He's flailing about. He does look sloppy. And folks, I understand, not everyone has to have a suit and tie and have a corporate image. That's not the Ben and Jerry image. There's a difference between being low key, laid back, and just looking disheveled. And sloppy and I don't think Ben Cohen was on the right side that equation. So that's really the problem there. I would love to hear your perspective again. I've linked to the Ben Cohen Fox interview. You can tell me what you think. What I don't want is your opinion on Ben Cohen's politics. Everyone has opinions on politics and believe me, I do. That's not the focus of the Speaking with TJ Walker show. We're really just here to focus on communication skills, to learn good ones, to analyze and to figure out how to avoid bad skills. Other things going against Ben Cohen. It was a satellite interview. Now whether it was a traditional satellite or Skype video, I don't know. But he was not in the same room or studio with Neil Cavuto and his eyes were floating all over. It's always harder to do that, but it doesn't have to be. And it just was a bit of a chaotic mess. I would be fascinated with your perspective, so please share your perspective on that as well.

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Folks, I do want to thank you today for spending a little time with me. As always, if you have any questions, comments about public speaking or media training, just send them to me. You can post them wherever you're watching or listening to this program. You can email them to me infoediatrainingworldwide.com or just directly to me tjediatrainingworldwide.com and we'll address your concerns, your questions, your comments, your disagreements with me. We hold nothing back right here on this program. As always, may all of your presentations in life be a huge success. See you next time. I hope I see you tomorrow.

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