Matt Eventoff

Technology has changed how we work and often where we work, as we are now all mobile, and always on. Smartphones, net books and tablets have enabled our ability to work faster, cheaper, more efficiently and often more productively. Through social media we are able to meet people we might never have met and develop working relationships we would have been unable to develop years ago.

Technology has penetrated every crevice of the working environment, it has not, and will not, replace the value and importance of face-to-face human interaction. This is often where it gets tricky.

Recently there have been some great articles with lots of terrific points from great sources, including a few I have contributed to in the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes and Entrepreneur, around potential pitfalls to avoid when meshing our new found mobility with face-to-face interaction in the workplace.

While this post is not a definitive guide by any means, but these 11 tips will help to safely navigate the new workplace, and avoid situations that put a lot of people in bad positions each and every day:

#1 Smartphones are not always associated with work – Fairly or unfairly, tablets and iPhones are often associated with activities such as texting and other non-work activities (unlike laptops). Be aware of that when you pull one out in a meeting; so,

#2 Tell us! – Many people (myself included) take notes digitally. If you do pull out a Smartphone or tablet and are going to proceed with notating in a meeting, tell other attendees “I use my iPad to take notes” – this will prevent us from wondering if you are updated Facebook or playing Medal of Honor while discussions of the company’s financial future go on.

#3 Social Media – Many organizations have a social media policy (and every organization should!) That being said, if you have work friends who are also on social media, realize that if you actually are using your Smartphone or iPad to post to Facebook or to tweet while in said meeting, do not assume the content or the time you posted it will remain a secret. Not really earth-shattering, but it happens, to some individual’s detriment, every day.

#4 Laptops – I often present in corporate conference rooms, and often see 8 or more people whip out the laptop to take notes at a medium sized conference table. This is one area where I think tablets are actually more effective – when a conference table is full of laptops and everyone is seated, there are big 13-17″ barriers between colleagues, and between the presenter and the audience.

#5 Set Rules – If it is your meeting, set the rules. Ask people to set their phones to vibrate, or to turn them off. Asking people not to take notes digitally is a stretch, but asking them not to check email while meeting is not.

#6 Discretion – Some things are unavoidable. Important phone calls come in, and there are critical emails we all get. What is avoidable is lack of communication around those. If you are expecting a critical call, tell everyone before the meeting starts so there is no confusion when you excuse yourself.

#7 Email over everything – Constantly checking your smartphone or tablet email client in front of colleagues, clients, or the boss (I’ve seen all 3) sends a message you don’t want to send. Again, if you are awaiting a critical or time sensitive email, let people know. If you think you are multi-tasking while speaking to a colleague and typing away, you are incorrect. Your colleague may never say anything, but you have sent the message that the text or email is more important.

#8 Email Does Not Emote! – Emails are rarely seen as being too soft. Emails have no intonation, no emotion, no tone, no gestures, no facial expressions, no timbre, etc. Remember that – if there is even the slightest chance that your email might be misinterpreted, pick up the phone.

#9 Context – The other place where email often misses the mark, and causes hurt feelings at best and lots of lost productivity at worst, is context. You send a well thought out, well constructed email to a colleague. The response is “fine.” The sender wonders why the curt, short email. The responder feels good about it, as he or she just landed, had 100 emails in the inbox, and wanted to get a response out to everyone. Without context provided, context can often be invented. That never turns out well.

#10 – Remote Team Members – If you have a team where most employees work on sight, and one or two members work remotely, those team members are at a disadvantage. There is a camaraderie that forms just from being around people for many hours every day. Make a real effort to ensure that remote team members are on sight to interact face-to-face at least a few times a year. Videoconferencing does not, and will not, replace that.

# 10 +++ – Attention! – Finally, when someone is talking to you, try not to look at your smartphone. We are all guilty of it, me included, but occasions turn into habits, and habits often surface at very inopportune times. Give the person in front of you your full attention. It matters. People have lost jobs, important jobs, because of this.

Today is a special day in the world of public speaking and communication. Today is the 89th anniversary of the death of William Bourke Cockran, who in my estimation may be one of the greatest speakers of all time.  Who is William Bourke Cockran, and how can I make such a bold statement, having never witnessed him speak, as he passed away well before speeches were recorded on video?

I have been fascinated by the ability of an individual to influence through spoken word since I was a young boy.  I am often asked what orator has had the biggest impact on me,  and my oratorical role model is  Sir Winston Churchill.  And who was Churchill’s oratorical role model?

William  Bourke Cockran, a Congressman from New York City in the early 1900s was described in his day as the greatest orator in the land.  He also served as a role model, and the oratorical role model, for a young Winston Churchill.  It was not just Churchill who held Cockran in such high regard as an orator – it was the vast majority of his peers.  The sad fact is that William Bourke Cockran might be the greatest speaker who no one knows about.  Books are few and far between, with my favorite being Becoming Winston Churchill: The Untold Story of Young Winston and his American Mentor, written by Michael McMenamin and Curt Zoller.   There are not many internet resources dedicated to Cockran, and even his Wikipedia entry is lacking. 

Congressman Cockran was noted for his ability to move colleagues and constituents to support causes or even change positions due his magnificent oratory.  Churchill once wrote to Cockran, about Cockran, “…there are few more fascinating experiences than to watch a great mass of people under the wand of a magician….”

Finding information might be difficult, but there are clear lessons that young Churchill and many other leaders took away from Cockran.  Here are a few,  some taken from books, comments from Cockran’s congressional colleagues, and my choice as the the best essay about his public speaking strengths, written by Professor Brian Leggett:

1. Rhythm – Every speech should have a rhythm, although most don’t.  Cockran was known for his rhythmic speeches, and many noticed, including Churchill;

2. Presence – Cockran knew the power of presence and using both his body, gestures and his voice to captivate and move (so can you – no matter your body type, height, weight, voice, you can use your best qualities to your advantage, and EVERYBODY has natural strengths – it is just a matter of finding them;)

3. Conversational language – Every presentation is a conversation, verbally and non-verbally;

4. Power of Delivery;

5. Subject Matter Expertise - Cockran was known not only for his oratorical skill, but for his mastery of the subject upon which he spoke;

Congressman Charles O’Brien (D-NJ), at Cockran’s Memorial Service:

“Much has been said and written about his ability as an orator. For ages to come his will be the standard upon which men of similar genius will be judged.  In all history of the world, no man has surpassed and few have equaled him.”

What do Lincoln, Kennedy and Churchill  have to do with communicating in 2012?  Everything!

We are a little over three weeks into 2012, with myriad communication disasters, from major crisis communication errors to communication errors that have directly resulted in a crisis. 

Why?

Failure to remember the ABC’s of effective communication.

I am excited to announce that I have written a manifesto, published today by ChangeThis,  entitled “It Really Is As Simple As ABC: What Leaders Can Learn From Masterful Orators of The Past.” 

Change This, owned and operated by business book giant 800-CEO-Read and led by Dylan Schleicher, is changing the way business ideas are exchanged, and I am excited to join authors and thought leaders such as Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Tom Peters,  Seth Godin , Guy Kawasaki, and many others on this platform.

The manifesto is available for free, can be dowloaded here,  and is a quick read with implementable communication lessons for everyone.  It contains fundamental communication principles that can benefit anyone, whether a CEO commenting publicly or a call center employee answering a customer. 

If you have trouble accessing the document, please let me know and I will forward it to you.  Please forward it on to anyone who may benefit from it, and I would appreciate any feedback or commentary.  Thank you.

Having worked with technical  professionals (engineering communication) ranging from top IT executives to Ivy League scientists to internationally ranked engineers,  I fancy myself a cocktail party technologist – I understand enough about a wide spectrum of technical disciplines to discuss them for a minute or two, but can barely hook  up Wi-Fi in my own house.

The reality is that there are a lot of people like me in every organization, and engineers rarely work in a vacuum – there are other divisions and departments to interface with, and key business decisions are often based around communication – can  an engineer make his or her client, often a finance professional, understand why a change is necessary?

There are a few tips every engineer can utilize to make communication with divisions, departments, clients and myriad others much easier. 

1. Pronouns – I have been to hundreds of technical presentations in the past, and when hearing men present I often hear the same generic gender-specific pronoun usage – He, him, his, himself, etc. – and as you can see, more often than not it has been specific to males.  Alienating any segment of your audience is never a good idea.

2. Acronyms – My rule on this is simple, unless you are CERTAIN everyone watching you present, reading your email or receiving your document knows exactly what an acronym stands for – don’t use it!  Spell it out instead.  I cannot state this emphatically enough – I have witnessed countless instances when folks in one division of a particular discipline, whether  IT or molecular biology, do not know what an acronym used in another division in that same discipline stands for.  Assume your audience does not know and spell it out – the last thing you want is to be five minutes into your presentation and the audience trying to figure out what the first acronym stood for. (By the way, if you look closely, the first letter of these tips is an acronym as well, but the acronym is not stated!)

3. Information – Key message right away.  Especially when talking to an audience that is not made up of engineers, make sure to lay the groundwork for what we are going to be listening to, so that we can follow and understand.  If you are waiting to the middle or end to unleash your message, chances are the audience may not be there with you as following complex technical information is not easy for everyone.

4. Relate – People often understand concepts and ideas related to their own experiences.  If explaining an engineering concept, relate it to something the audience already understands.  Analogies, metaphors, contrasts all work, as do personal stories.  I often ask professionals to explain a concept to me as if they were addressing an eighth grade class – I find this exercise works well to help a professional prepare a presentation to an audience not well versed in engineering concepts - this often generates stories and analogies that would otherwise have remained undiscovered.

This is the second in an ongoing series.  If you teach engineering and have an interest in a lecture on this topic, please contact me here.

Whether taking a company public, introducing a new product to market, delivering a new lecture or simply leading a team meeting, the conclusion is crucial to the success of any presentation.  It is the final impression to you will leave your audience with.  Last week we went over three ways to effectively end a speech. So what are other effective ways to close a speech or presentation?  Here are three more  of my favorites:

1. Vision - Illustrate a vision of what your call to action will result in.  Dr. Martin Luther King illustrated this with the final words of his epic “I Have a Dream” speech:

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

2. (Very) Short Story/Anecdote - Based on the principle of show, don’t tell:  Use a very brief story or anecdote to drive a message.  I had a Major League Baseball player as a client, and he very effectively told the following (abridged) story to end a presentation about teamwork: 

So Coach entered the locker-room after a pretty tough game where a number of us had standout performances and the result was….a big loss.  One of our players went four for four – Coach called him by his last name, Smith, asked him to come up front, and then asked him to stand with the back of his uniform facing the rest of the players.  .  Then he asked a kid who had just been called up from the minors, Jones, to do the same thing.  He then said “Smith, Jones I want you to turn around.”  When they did, he pointed to the front of the uniform and reminded us all – “You play for the name on the front of the jersey (the team) not the name on the back (your own).”

3. Contrast – One of my favorites, and is even more effective when tied directly in to the call to action.  “We can have____, or we can have ______.  The choice is ours, and is based entirely on the decision we each individually make today.  _____.  Or _____. ( I know I’m choosing _____.)”

If you missed Part I., please find it here.

These are just a few examples – there are a number of effective endings (challenges,  and techniques to set up those endings that I will go over in future posts.  If you are working on a presentation and need help with an ending, contact me here.