The Art of Communication - Steve Knight

The Rules
Prepared Goals
Command Attention
With Passion
From You

Being prepared
Stage presence
Passion
Being yourself

1) PREPARED GOALS (training)

Know your audience
o Gear presentation to suit your audience. Dont deliver the same
presentation irrespective of who you present to.
Structure & Content
Time and edit
o Aaverage speed is 2.5words per second (150 words per minute). 10
minutes = 1500 words. Practice delivering at this speed. Write your
words and deliver in this timing.
o Dont produce a script. Compose a story (beginning, middle, end).
Rehearse
o Get the script in your head. Convert to bullet points. Deliver your bullet
points
o Good enough memory can do word for word, but dont aim for this
Environment
o Dont accept a substandard environment
Equipment
o Be absolutely sure you are happy with the equipment. Skimping here
will shoot you in the foot.
Know your goals
o Be very clear on what your goals are.
o How do you want people to think when you finish your presentation.
What do you want them to do / think at the end?
2) COMMAND ATTENTION (goalscoring)
Have the confidence to go up the audience and tell them Look at me
Stage presence how do you handle yourself on stage?
o What to do with hands? Dont leave hands by your side (gunslinger).
Military at ease. Hands in front. Hands in pockets? Lean on desks.
Best is to put hands in resting position around waistline. One
hand resting on other upwards.
Feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent
Movement presenation over 5 mins then consider movement. Make sure
any walks are deliberate 4 or 5 paces, walking and talking while facing
audience. Not just 1 or 2 steps (becomes a ballroom shuffle). Short
presentation should stay
Engage Audience all the time dont turn your back. Think of skiing
Voice projection imagine your voice has to carry to back of venue. Even with
mics this is best.
Eye contact keep eye contact with your audience (not floor, screen)
Plant your points many people speak too quick or too fast. Points blur into
one. Divide information into bite size chunks. Take a pause between chunks.
Control.

Interact talk to your audience. Ask them questions. Use terminology they
would understand I am sure many people

3)

WITH PASSION (fans)

Speak from the heart
Believe in yourself
Believe what you are saying
Smile
o Even bad news; a degree of warmth on the face at the right time is
critical
o Stony faces dont engage with the audience

4)

FROM YOU (presenters)

Be yourself
Be strong
Your personality

VIDEOS OF BUSINESS PRESENTATIONS (INSTITUTE OF D)

Presentation 2:
Todd Stitzer good with hands, nice pauses, knows his story, no passion
Steve Ballmer walks around a little. More passionate. Great projections
Douglas McCallum hand in pocket, a little nerdy, not much passion. Not
exffiting
Will Whitehorn - at ease. Super exciting project but not much passion to begin.
Slowly builds. Good projection
Gianni Ciserani nice connection with audience initally. Hands not moving.
Doesnt seem super passionate
Fiona Cannon a lot of hand movement. Speaking very fast with no real breaks.
A lot of information.
Caroline plum (Fresh Minds) research / recruitment for brightest analysts. Good
command, believed in her own business.
UNDERSTANDING THE GAME
Mehrabian MYTH
55% Non Verbak
38% Vocal
7% Verbal words must be factually correct, but 93% of communication relates
to how you deliver it

Your audience will remember the whole picture

Mehrabians work was all about what he called the silent messages how
people communicate implicitly their emotions and attitudes. His big insight
wait for it was that when words and non-verbal messages were in conflict,
people believe the non-verbal every time.
Mehrabian had an experimenter read words to an audience of college students,
single words like love, in different tones and with different expressions. Then,
he asked the audience how it knew what the speaker really meant. Where did
the audience get the clues for the real intent behind the words? He wasnt
asking about the words at all, but rather the speakers intent. When asked that,
the audience responded that it decoded the intent behind the speakers words
from visual clues 55 % of the time, and from tone of voice 38 % of the time.
Only 7 % of the time did the audience go to the actual words.

THE TACTICS
Presenters Code
Stop & Breathe once you reach the stage but before you start. Provides sense
of ownership and recognition that you own the space
Look and Listen
Go!
Before Day
Positive mental picture
(dont worry)
Prepare
Rehearse

Same Day
Warm Up
Shake Out (head to toe)
Breathing (relaxed &
steady)
Voice (jaw exercises /
tongue twisters)

On Stage
Presenters Code
Focus outwards
Engage the audience
Eye contact
Plant your points
Interact

Speech Structure
Six sections to a business presentation
1) Introduction
a. Welcome good morning thank you for coming along
b. Introduce my name is Marcus
c. Intention and Im here to tell you about . Why
d. Duration over the next 10 minutes
e. Questions at end (optional, if you want to avoid being interrupted)
2) Situation
a. What is the current situation 65% of Americans obese by 2020)
3) Problem - "This will be a massive drain on health services. Something must
be done"
a. Describe the problem
b. What if nothing done
4) Solution Government must educate. Informercials. Advertising. we must
take personal control
a. How to solve
b. How things will improve / call to action
5) Summary
6) End
VISUAL AIDS
Content First visuals second
Keep them short, sharp and to the point
If it doesnt add anything leave it out
You lead the visuals slide build (as content arrives)
Focus on the audience (what would help them)
HANDLING QUESTIONS (AGGRESSIVE)
Put as much effort into answering question
Play Devils advocate in understanding a question
What lies beneath What makes you feel this way puts the onus back on
the person to explain themselves
Kiss & Respect KISS & respect. Dont argue.
Engage the audience direct answer to everyone and then come back to
individual at the end
Satisfied Customers confirm if question was answered