Recently I overlooked my MBNA statement. Two things happened that characterise MBNA’s attitude to customers. First, I was unable to use the card for an online purchase (blocked without warning), and when I rang customer services (I use the term in its loosest sense) I discovered that my account was in arrears to the tune of just under £151. I immediately paid in full.

Then I received my MBNA statement showing a fine of £12.00 and interest charged, £2.47. Plus this on the front page (their caps):

YOU HAVE FAILED TO MAKE A MINIMUM PAYMENT

FAILING TO MAKE YOUR MINIMUM PAYMENT CAN MEAN YOU HAVE BROKEN THE TERMS OF THIS CREDIT AGREEMENT AND COULD RESULT IN US TAKING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST YOU. IT COULD LEAD TO YOUR HAVING TO PAY ADDITIONAL COSTS AND MAKE IT MORE DIFFICLUT FOR YOU TO OBTAIN CREDIT IN FUTURE.

When I worked at Reader’s Digest years ago, I re-wrote all their credit control letters to bring their tone in line with the relationships that our marketing efforts were trying to engender.

There seems to be a similar need at MBNA.

Or has the age of courtesy disappeared along with the age of deference? What has been your experience?

Almost all the speeches delivered that day were without purpose. Or, to be more precise, they had little relevance to, or value for, the assembled audience.

This is not intended as a criticism of the speakers, all of whom are at various levels of the learning process. They cannot know unless they are told what a speech is for.

Their speeches were either self-centred or simply linear narratives. For the evaluation contest, for example, a speech was delivered by an invited speaker who told a charming tale of her time in Japan. She told it well, and it was interesting, but it was not a speech.

In simple terms, the purpose of a speech should be to bring about Change — in the thinking, attitude or behaviour of the audience. What passes for speeches most often could better be described as an entertainment, a confession, or a declaration. If the audience thinks, “Why do I need to hear this?” or “How is this relevant to me?” it fails as a speech.

When I am training people in public speaking, I sometimes don a surgical mask and tell them how people in Tokyo may be seen in public places wearing similar masks — not to protect themselves from that city’s infamous smog, but because they have head colds or other infectious ailments. They wear the masks to protect others from their germs.

So my question is this: is your speech for your own benefit, or for the sake of others? Your intention is a good starting place for any speech.

When an athlete or player seeks an advantage other than by skill in the sport itself, that is cheating, whether it be through drugs, pulling on an opponent’s shirt, intimidation or feigning injury. In all its many forms, it derives from a fundamentally dishonest mindset that goes beyond the specific incident itself.

In a recent football match between Chelsea and Barcelona, the Chelsea captain, John Terry, was sent off for kneeing an opponent in the back. When interviewed after the match, Terry claimed he had been defending himself. From whom? From a man who had his back to him?

Not only did he cheat (see above), he also lied. And that tells you all you need to know about his value set.

Drug cheats do that too. When caught, they lie about how the drug came to be in their system, and then about who or what made them take the banned substance, and finally they plead contrition. Finally? Not quite. They want the slate wiped clean so that they can compete again for Olympic glory.

Meanwhile they may have deprived clean athletes of sporting glory.

My concern is about the culture that drives such people to cheat and go on cheating until they are caught. It’s a flawed set of values, a fundamentally dishonest culture.

People with the right set of values just don’t cheat. They don’t pull an opponent’s shirt, don’t feign injury, don’t move their golf ball to a better lie. They don’t steal either. And they don’t avoid such bad behaviour just because they are afraid of being caught. They do so because they are honest.

Honesty has little to do with who might be watching. It’s about the right values, and that derives from the right culture, and possibly education and example in our formative years. It now rests with us to transmit those values to those around us and the next generation.

Now apply that thinking to business. Would you do business with someone who is always trying to outsmart you and steal an unfair advantage? I rest my case.

1. To allow the audience to understand what the speaker is saying – in a flash
2. To convey a favourable impression of the speaker

To achieve the first, you need a Bold headline followed by short bullet points or text (preferably not full sentences) or a picture. That’s all. The slide is there to support but not supplant you, the presenter.
To achieve the latter, you need to understand the secret signals that design and layout convey.
I always think of Westerns as examples of how unspoken messages are conveyed. I remember, in particular, a Western starring Rock Hudson, in which he gave up life as a gunslinger and took up farming. As a gunslinger he wore a sexy, heavy gun belt. As a farmer he wore braces and no belt.

The absence of a belt made him look weak. You sensed that something was missing from his image. That’s the impression I got from the slides that had no headline … and of the presenter as well.
Does it matter? You bet it does! Implicit messages can enhance or diminish the power of the explicit message you are putting across.
Audi (or their ad agency) recognise this in their current TV commercial which shows an ‘ugly duckling’ from their unthinking past to the elegant swan of today. Which would you rather be?

It was a brilliant text, full of clever linguistic jokes, puns and even verbal pictures. But one minute into the speech, the audience’s expectations had been replaced by a sympathetic tolerance, as they disconnected from the speaker and waited politely for him to finish.

What went wrong?

Two things: first, it was a written text, not a spoken one. The text that’s written to be read is not the same as the text that’s written to be said.

Secondly, it was a recitation from memory. The speaker spoke AT the audience, not TO them. They sensed it and reacted accordingly.

The language was too clever to be received and understood on the run, at 150 words a minute. Some of the vocabulary was unfamiliar, the sentences were long, and the meaning of some sentences was obscured by subordinate clauses. It’s like telling a story, and breaking off in the middle to give some background material that adds nothing to the story, but gets in the way.

The speaker had written the text, and on the stage he was focused on recalling all 900 words (or thereabouts) in the right order. You could see it in his eyes. That’s one of the biggest dangers of delivering a speech from memory.

The next speaker started by throwing fortune cookies into the audience, which engaged their attention immediately. He then related his message to the message in his own fortune cookie, speaking to the audience in terms that they readily understood and could relate to. So of course he won.

To help you avoid a misconnection with your next speech or presentation, when you are preparing your material just imagine a member of your audience asking you these three questions:

1. What exactly do you want me to understand and remember?
2. Why should I care about that?
3. Why do I need to hear that from you (and not someone else)?

When you are delivering your speech, imagine that same person sitting somewhere near the front, waiting for you to answer those 3 questions.

Author: Phillip Khan-Panni

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of its kind

By Gauger

I found this both an easy read and a most useful refresher. I have been making speeches and presentations for many years but this book gave me a new understanding of the relationship between presenter and audience. It helped me better to understand how audiences listen and was particularly helpful on the use of structure. The book’s own structure made it easy to dip into at will, and there is a useful section at the end to enable the reader to monitor future progress. I recommend it highly.

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best

L. KIng

Like a fine wine, Phillip Khan-Panni improves with age.

As winner of the `UK Business Speaker of the Year’ award for 2011, Phillip continues to demonstrate the practical application of those presentation techniques so eloquently described in several books on public speaking.

In this latest book, all of the normal bases are covered from the perspective of a skilled professional speaker though I was particularly interested in the section on visual aids and specifically Powerpoint which is the source of so many presentation disasters.

Not content with the fashionable `don’t touch with barge-pole’ approach, Philip describes how the sparing use of Powerpoint can significantly enhance a presentation.

He also provides several technical tips intended to improve control of both hardware and software–avoiding, for example, the spectacle of Windows re-booting in the middle of your presentation

If you haven’t read any of Phillip’s previous books on public speaking, this one is an excellent source of his `distilled’ wisdom on the subject–if you are already a PKP fan, this book will bring you up-to-date with relatively recent innovations such as the use of YouTube and other multimedia sources

Like a fine wine, Phillip is best appreciated `little and often’.

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, authoritative and fun

William Cohen

This book manages to be business-like, personal and wise. Mr Khan-Panni tells several stories from his own experience explaining how he managed to win audiences over. He has an impressive pedigree as a speaker, having won national and international competitions. Every chapter has a tip, a checklist or an anecdote which is worth keeping – things like how to ‘prepare’ a speech at the last minute – prepare being the important word.

What I like about it is that it focus on practical business, with frequent references to branding, advertising and sales. I liked the way he turned on its head the usual nonsense about people being more afraid of public speaking than death. All these skills are vital to British businesses if we’re going to get out of the hole we’re in.

Have you read the book yet? You can still get a substantial discount from Amazon UK: http://tiny.cc/hdq1h. But hurry. The price is starting to go up!

As a direct response copywriter, I believe implicitly in testing, so I decided to get my own results.

Recently I posted a blog on Ecademy and titled it “Poison kills the Big Society”. Not bad, I thought … carries the message. But after a couple of days the blog had registered about 240 views and one comment.

I then changed the headline to “What has made this nation so vicious?” The viewing figure rocketed upwards, and this morning stands at 1,221 with 11 additional comments.

What has made the difference?

Two things, in my opinion: first, the original headline invoked a reaction to a specific concept, The Big Society, whereas the second headline prompted an opinion that anyone could have, whether or not they knew what the Big Society meant. Secondly, it asked a question, which invited a response.

The purpose of a headline is to signal a target group and to say, in effect, “Stop! This is for you!” It should be consistent with the body copy and say enough about the story to enable people to respond without reading any further. Ogilvy said that Headlines get five times the readership of the body copy.

My second headline was more universal and invited participation. But there are other reasons why headlines work. I’d be interested to know what you think about the four headlines below – would they make you want to know more?

• They laughed when I sat down at the piano, but when I started to play! -
• Will you only discover the value of AA membership by accident?
• My 9 year old son’s reading & sums were worse than when he was 7
• Cash if you die. Cash if you don’t.

Is it time to refresh the copy on your website, for example?

The first sales team had been drifting along for several years, just tuning up and inflicting their personalities on their prospects. At best they were order takers. The Sales Manager was quite content to drift along with them.

I was seconded from another part of the group, given the title of Field Sales Manager, and told to make a difference in a hurry. The sales training I conducted was based on five key questions.
Within 3 months revenue jumped up 33%.

Three years later I was offered a similar challenge, only this time I was Sales Manager and had to d-o-u-b-l-e the revenue in the first year. Out came my five questions again. In the 11 months from February to December, we T-r-i-p-l-e-d the previous year’s revenue.

Of course, there were other ingredients in my sales training, but these five questions created the right approach: the sales people had to ensure that they had the answers on the tip of their tongues before going in to see any prospect.

1. Why am I here? 
2. Why should this person see me? 
3. What can I offer that they cannot get from someone else? 
4. What do I want at the end of this meeting?
5. What’s the least I will settle for?

Think about it. They produced the right sense of purpose and they ensured that prospects’ time was not being wasted.

Most of all, the mindset mattered more than sales techniques, although those are also important. But it’s the change to the mindset that gets the results.

Phillip

However, if you are looking for a quick guide, here are 10 of the most important points to bear in mind and apply.

1. Who are you? You need to know what you bring to the party, and the benefit you can bring to anyone you meet. So develop an Elevator Speech to focus on the one or two benefits you can offer.

2. Your own database. Develop a database of related contacts who would be of interest to one another. For example, if you were creating a database of people who could help with household matters, the list would include a plumber, electrician, builder, etc. The same is true of other areas of business – who would be useful in your chosen area of concern?

3. How others can help you. You must articulate how others can help you, because you will sometimes be asked, ‘What can I do for you’ What help do you need? Think it through NOW, not on the hoof. It will also help to guide your choice of contacts: what kind of people do you need to meet to progress your career/search?

4. Open-ended questions. When you meet someone new, avoid asking questions that produce yes/no answers. Ask open-ended questions, such as ‘What kind of people do you work with?’ which will result in a meaningful conversation.

5. Maintain visibility . If you want to Network, you need to be seen and heard, and that means going to meetings and events where the people you want to meet will also be found. Always prepare something interesting to say in case you are given the opportunity to tell the gathering about yourself and your work.

6. Giving referrals. Develop a discipline for giving referrals. Do not make useless introductions that lead nowhere. Only refer people from your own database or circle if you are confident the connection is a good one. Remember, if you recommend someone as an expert, and your contact is not really that expert, s/he can lose face, and you will lose your credibility as a useful source.

7. Prompt follow-up . If someone refers you and you receive an enquiry (‘I was given your name by a mutual friend ?’) make sure you respond very promptly, otherwise both you and your friend will lose credibility.

8. Formal thanks. When you receive a referral (‘I was given your name by a mutual friend ?’), WRITE your thanks as soon as possible after you have met the contact, and tell your friend how it went. Otherwise your friends will stop recommending you.

9. Following up new contacts . When you meet someone interesting or useful at an event, and exchange cards or other contact information, make sure you follow up promptly, with a reminder of who you are and what you do. Never expect that others will remember you for ever and a day.

10. Be a useful source. At Networking events or other business gatherings, always ask, ‘What do you need – who do you need to meet?’ Above all, do not look for personal gain. Don’t treat each new contact as a possible source of business. If you are helpful to others, you will get all the business and help you need.

Finally, some guidance on mechanics:

* At a networking event, when you make eye contact with someone new, hold that eye contact, smile, offer your hand and introduce yourself.

* Always have business cards and/or a small notebook in which to write the contact details of someone who has no cards.

* When exchanging cards, treat both with respect.

* Write on the cards you receive, where you met and the date (but first ask permission to write on the card, and avoid writing on the card if the other person is Oriental)

* As you part, ask, ‘May I email you’.

Remember, Networking is about sharing and enhancing your common interests, and adding something useful to other people.

O: Outcome or Objective.  Start with the end in view.  What do you want people to do when you have finished?  Write it down.

H: Hook.  Sometimes called the Grabber.  It’s something that you do or say to grab attention at the start, in much the same way as the Headline on a press advertisement.  It says, “Stop! Pay attention, this is for YOU!”

A:  Audience.  Make it directly relevant to the group you are addressing, taking account of their needs, interests and anxieties.  If you have a multi-cultural audience, keep the language simple and try to avoid too much use of metaphor.

M: Message.  It’s not your information that matters, but rather its significance.  Tell them what they should think about what you are saying, and how it will affect them.  Summarise your message in a single sentence that you want people to carry away and remember.  Write it down and make it the focus of your presentation.

I: Interest.  You have their attention, and you are focused on where you want to lead them.  Maintain the flow and keep their attention by relating everything to their interests.  For every fact you put across, answer the “So what?” question.

S: Structure.  It is essential to follow a structure, both to keep yourself on track and to enable your listeners to follow you.  A simple structure, such as Past, Present, Future, will be easy for them to remember and reconstruct your presentation.

A:  Action.  What did you want them to do after hearing you?  Make it clear.  Don’t expect them to work it out for themselves.

D: Delivery.  Pay attention to the way in which you deliver your presentation.  Spend time rehearsing, listen to a recording of your presentation and make sure you are not boring, then make an effort to be heard clearly. Every presentation is a performance, and no one has the right to be boring.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll be worth hearing.