The Career Clinic Blog

Do you get nervous before you give a presentation? I do. When the butterflies show up--they feel more like wasps, by the way--I say to myself, “I’m nervous because I care.”

And then I have fun, because talking with people in person--being able to tell which direction to head next based on the expressions on their faces--is fun.

It reminds me of how I used to freeze up before starting a big project. Then I read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. Now I still freeze up, but I don’t freak out about it. I recognize it as part of the deal.

And then I get to work!

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Charisma isn't something you're born with. So says public speaking coach Nick Morgan, who told us on The Career Clinic recently that charisma is focused emotion. Live with passion, communicate that passion, and you'll have the foundation to be a great public speaker.

There's more to it than that, of course, and Nick's devoted a career to studying--and coaching people on--what makes presentations sparkle.

Let's say you're a physical fitness guru and you open a speech by urging the audience to start an exercise program. Nick says the people who work out regularly will think, "I already know that"--and go back to their BlackBerrys. And the people who don't exercise will say, "Ah, I've heard that before"--and go back to their BlackBerrys.

You have to take the audience on a journey of despair, Nick says, before you offer hope. You want people to think of exercise as the difference between life or death, not be bored to death at still another lecture about it.

So tell a story. Involve the audience. Imagine the room filled with your closest friends, who love listening to you.

Oh heck, why don't you just head over to Nick's blog for some great public speaking advice? There's no way I could do justice to that, here.

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So I’m making a presentation, and in walks the guy who got my job after I was fired more than a dozen years ago.

We’d never been introduced, and while I felt mostly relief at the time, it was still a little embarrassing--so I hadn’t exactly sought this person out to make nice. He’d taken another job in a different city a few years after that, and it didn’t occur to me I’d ever see him again.

Now here he was.

“Are you…?” I exclaimed, momentarily forgetting I was giving a presentation. Darrell’s fond of telling me I do better without a script--so at some level I suppose I was thinking, “I’ll give you unscripted!”

The man looked at me like, “What the…?” Which reminds me of a favorite expression from Katie’s childhood: “What did you almost say?” But I digress. It took him a couple of seconds to realize I was me. Then we got acquainted--right there in front of everyone--and you couldn’t have written a better icebreaker.

Part of what we were talking about was how often people look back on getting fired as a gift--it certainly was in my case--so while I’ve never heard the advice to interrupt your presentation to catch up with someone who showed up after you got started, it was the exact right thing to do.

It also gave me a better way to wrap things up than I had planned--teasing people there’s always someone gunning for your job, however I worded it.

I think it’s great to have a plan for your life or your career or your presentation. But only if you’re willing to scrap that plan for something better--like what’s being presented to you.

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I have a dream.

In the dream so many people want to know my secret for eating all day long and not gaining weight that they pay me to speak to them. We have fun. I tell them a few stories they uh, gobble up…and they return home inspired to try an experiment that might change their lives.

I imagine the presentation like one of those TED talks--compelling as it is concise, an idea worth spreading.

That’s the first part of the dream. The second part is when Nick Morgan, a world-class speaking coach, hears about my talk and posts an excerpt on his blog…to show his readers an example of a sparkling, effective presentation.

I’d be much closer to that dream if I could attend this year’s Public Words Speaker Forum. It’s June 11th and 12th at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and if you need another excuse to visit Boston (I already have plenty) (hi Wendy!), this would be mine.

Please tell Nick you found out about the forum from me. Nick was such a fun, informative, gracious guest on The Career Clinic I’ve been on the lookout for an opportunity to spread his word.

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I learned a lot at a recent conference of people in my profession, pillars of the industry. There was an awards luncheon. Darrell and I were standing in the back of the room and off to the side, that's how crowded it was. Someone was giving a presentation. I don't remember who it was or what that person was saying because someone else a few feet away from us, one of the supposed pillars, was talking to one of his fans so loudly it was difficult to hear anything else.

It didn't occur to me to shush him. I mean, I looked at him a couple of times--just doing my part--but I quickly decided that pondering his behavior was as much fun as listening to the presentation.

Until this seminar I might have made it a point to sample the said pillar's program. Now I'll probably go out of my way not to. That won't hurt him any, I realize. But not everyone is untouchable. Some of us get judged by how we treat, say, the wait staff when we think no one else is watching. Job hunters, I'm told, are sometimes rude to receptionists!

Can you imagine?

Actually I can. I've compared notes about my weekend with a college buddy while a professor was talking, I've caught up with a girlfriend during a middle school band concert, and don't even ask how many times I've interrupted someone even when I wasn't hosting a talk show and had to go to commercial.

Never thought that was very tacky until I saw the behavior in someone else.

Now I do.

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You’re giving a presentation and people are taking notes. This is what occurs to you--if you’re like me, that is: “They think what I’m saying is worth remembering.” And then, “Cool.”

So don’t be shy about taking notes during your job interview. The hiring manager will probably be flattered by the attention. Not only that, but as one career consultant pointed out, it’ll help a potential employer imagine you already working there.

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