You win some. You lose some. So how do you get more wins?
Success! Success! At a keynote for a lunch in Melbourne recently I got a score of 100%.
I feel delighted and proud. I’m delighted because I ‘got through’ and have hopefully made a positive difference in the lives of 200 people. I’m proud because it is almost an impossible task!
The audience was a group with vastly different views, so to interest and entertain them without upsetting anyone in the room had me breathing a sigh of relief and thinking that luck had certainly been on my side!
Then of course there is the Flipside: In the same week I had someone storm out of a presentation and leave me an abusive note, because she did not think I should mention politicians. For another conference, the organizers pre-warned me not to mention politicians. They then rang back and changed their mind, saying they actually wanted politicians mentioned as an essential part of the presentation. Confusing!?
Then this morning I got a hugely aggressive email berating me for using a picture of Hitler in my presentations. What!!!
It is hard not to be upset. Oh my! You know, I am not a large organization with a big PR structure behind me. Like most of us, I just make my own decisions as I go along. Usually they are pretty informed. (OK, I said ‘usually’)
So, although the 100% is part luck, part preparedness and part me, there are a couple of things to remember. One is that when you stick your head up, like a game of gopher, instead of getting a hammer on the temple, you can get luckier by working at it.
There are key things you can do to keep your audience on side and listening.
1. Insult no one: That’s a joke really, because people get insulted by your just being there sometimes. However you can help yourself by understanding motivational profiles and addressing all the audience’s needs.
For instance, some people are happiest to work towards a reward. For these people you say “if you do this, you will get great results”. On the other hand, some people move away from negative to be motivated to act. For these people you say “if you don’t do this, you will be sorry’.
Sales people are more likely to fit into the first category. Engineers may respond better to the second.
If you don’t know the motivational profile of the group, say both!
There are many motivational profiles on line and Terry McClendon (an American living in Australia who I can recommend for NLP training) has one at: http://www.nlpaustralia.com.au/nlp/LifeSet/
2. Insult everyone: I was talking about a terrible meeting I attended with a group of men who did not have good communication skills. I followed it by saying “and there is one thing worse than a group of men. It a group of . . . . (audience supply the answer ‘women”). . . . hysterical laughter.
3. Make it funny: Seriously, this is a great ploy and, in reality, life’s a game.
Mind you, sometimes you just take the hammer.
And always emerge smiling.
