The Presentations Japan Series

By: Dr. Greg Story
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  • Summary

  • Persuasion power is one of the kingpins of business success. We recognise immediately those who have the facility and those who don't. We certainly trust, gravitate toward and follow those with persuasion power. Those who don't have it lack presence and fundamentally disappear from view and become invisible. We have to face the reality, persuasion power is critical for building our careers and businesses. The good thing is we can all master this ability. We can learn how to become persuasive and all we need is the right information, insight and access to the rich experiences of others. If you want to lead or sell then you must have this capability. This is a fact from which there is no escape and there are no excuses.
    Copyright 2022
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Economics Management
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Episodes
  • 412 Expert Tips To Standout As A Panellist In Japan-Engage, Project, Impress

    412 Expert Tips To Standout As A Panellist In Japan-Engage, Project, Impress
    Nov 18 2024
    We see a lot written about public speaking and presenting. Usually it is on the assumption we are the sole speaker or one of a line-up of speakers who wow the audience one after another. Interestingly, a lot of speakers I see these days are often members of expert panels, herded together by the MC and taken through the key points of the topic. I also notice that none of them are much good in this role and almost no wowing is going on ever. The irony is we are on the panel because we are an expert in our field, but no one bothers to inform us how to perform our expert role when being a panellist. Whether we are the solo speaker commanding the audience from behind a podium or prowling around the stage or sitting down in a row of other speakers, the fundamental things which work best don’t change all that much. The key thing I have noticed which is missing most from panellists is projection. When we are standing, we have more access to our body language and to voice projection. We are also elevated in stature too, so we are readily visible to the audience from top to toe. We feel more powerful when standing, and this comes across in how we deliver our talk. When we are seated, we are literally cut off at the knees. We are hunkered down in our chair, sitting low and are physically constrained. It has a deleterious psychological impact as well. This seated position is the format we use all the time for casual chats over coffee. This positioning sets up a mentality that is relaxed and conversational. Nothing wrong with a conversational speaking style, however the associated soft volume we use is the issue. Of course we have been handed mics, but most people are not used to using them and often don’t know how to get the most out of the tech. They usually don’t get a chance to work with the mics, which is something you would get as a single speaker when you are there setting up your laptop, etc., before the event starts. Also, holding a mic means we have tied up one arm, so our gestures are handicapped, compared to when we are standing using a stand mic or a pin mic. In short, we become small on stage and we stay that way throughout. I teach speakers to use their ki (気) or intrinsic energy when speaking to reach all four corners of the venue. Projecting your energy is magnetic with audiences and we can deeply connect with the crowd. Sitting low in a chair makes this energy projection much harder. You really have to be aware of the disadvantage you are at and you need to compensate for it. If you don’t know, then you don’t know and you just become insignificant on stage very quickly. I recommend having a strategy for your panellist presentation. I would strongly recommend you make it your goal to connect with everyone in the audience. We do this one person at a time. What we see speakers doing, though, is looking out at everyone at the same time, at each other and at the MC in particular. They are not thinking of connecting with the audience at all, at the individual level. Use six seconds of contact with each person. Don’t look at the other panellists or the MC – ignore them completely and only spend your time looking at the people in the room. Pick up one person in the audience at random and stare straight into that person’s eyes as you speak to them. At a distance, down the back, the ten people seated around that person all think you are looking at them, so the impact is magnified. When you look out at the audience, break the room up into zones – left, middle, right and then front half and back half. This gives us six zones to work on and we make use of this zone breakdown to engage as many people as we can during our remarks. In a minute we can engage with six people. In three minutes we can engage with eighteen people, and if we pick up the ten people around, then we have one hundred and eighty people engaged. Sit super tall and on the front edge of the chair, so that you are physically thrusting your body language toward the audience. Direct your ki energy to the very back wall of the room when you speak. Make the most of the mic and use a strong voice, without yelling or creating static with the mic, to project your energy to the audience. Hold the mic a little out in front of you and then speak across the top of the mesh. I have seen panellists actually encompass their entire palm completely over the mesh, which totally defeats the efforts of the sound engineers, who have slaved over perfecting the tech. Use the other hand for large gestures. Remember, you are tiny up on the stage and the chair has made you short, so you have to overcompensate for the lack of physicality. Don’t be afraid to go big with your gestures. Way down the back, it still looks small. We want our three arrows coalescing together: (1) one-on-one eye contact for six seconds with specific individuals in the audience, (2) strong energy projection through...
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    12 mins
  • 411 Storytelling in Public Speaking In Japan: Harsh Lessons From The Chamber of Commerce Showdown

    411 Storytelling in Public Speaking In Japan: Harsh Lessons From The Chamber of Commerce Showdown
    Nov 11 2024

    I had two interesting experiences last week. One was watching the aspirants for a top position in a Chamber of Commerce go head-to-head for the votes of the members by giving talks about why they should be elected. I love attending these types of events because as an instructor of public speaking; I know there are always a lot of life and business lessons about to be revealed. They had five minutes each, which is quite long actually.

    With that amount of leeway, there is a tremendous opportunity to use storytelling to reinforce key points and make numbers memorable. Sadly, our ambitious leaders didn’t use these tools at their ready disposal. Telling us about your resume is boring. Telling us what you are going to do is doubtful. Quoting numbers to back up any claims doesn’t really resonate.

    How about a different tack? Why not tell a series of stories which underline your past contributions in human terms and bring ideas to flesh and blood reality? They could have talked about the impact they had through the prism of individuals they touched through their efforts and decisions. Putting flesh on the bones of the activities makes them all the more compelling and relatable. Any initiative has consequences and some outcomes. Tell us what happened to the people affected. How did it improve their lives or business? Were there any concrete gains which flowed from an initiative you took?

    Even in the case of a future decision, there will be impacts and we should take those possibilities and weave in a hypothetical outcome and how it would play out for those benefiting from it. Actually, it hasn’t happened yet, but we take decisions for change on the basis that what we are going to do will bring in something better and different. We can use a fictitious story to describe that future, even if it isn’t reality as yet. We outline a future which hasn’t been delivered yet, but if elected, we will make this story a reality and make it happen.

    Wrapping up numbers in stories is a great way to make sure the achievements we are publicising register in the brains and memories of the audience. We hear the numbers, but we recall stories. If the numbers are woven into the story, we will be able to recall them and therefore they will have greater impact. Every time you are going to nominate numbers, think how can I wrap these in a story which involves people and make the number more real?

    The other missing piece was emphasis on what was being said. Both speakers kept the same volume and power throughout their five minutes. However, not every word or phrase has the same value or impact. Some elements can be highlighted by turning a vocal lamp up to high beam on the keywords. When we hit a word or phrase with power or by employing a secretive audible whisper, we project the power of that content above everything else. This is what makes it stand out.

    I was reminded of this when listening to a classical music piano solo performance. The Japanese pianist was excellent and the pieces of music he chose had their crescendos and lulls as he worked his magic on the keys. Between some of the pieces, he would take the mic and make a few comments about what he was playing and why. What I found interesting was that he was Johnny One Note when he took the mic. He had just been employing crescendos and lulls in his performance with his instrument, but not when he spoke. Every word was given the same treatment and therefore no particular points were highlighted. He didn’t carry forth his magic on the piano to his speaking and didn’t use the same amazing tool for his talk as he employed in his music. For him, they were unrelated.

    The problem is a lack of training in how to do public speaking and a lack of self-awareness. Our pianist didn’t bridge from what he did on the keys of the piano to what he could do with his vocal cords. I would extend the same observation to other musicians who use their vocal cords as their primary instrument–singers–and observe the same phenomenon. During their comments between songs, the singers will employ a flat range in their voice. This is just after just having hit high and low notes in their performance. Like the pianist, they don’t seem to connect the two ideas together.

    As speakers, we should always be looking to tell stories to make our points more accessible. We should also tell those stories employing highs and lows in our vocal range to make them more interesting. Nobody else is doing this, so we have an uncontended open field of possibilities right in front of us, ripe for the taking.
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    11 mins
  • 410 Why the First Question Matters - The Role of “Sakura” in Japanese Business Events

    410 Why the First Question Matters - The Role of “Sakura” in Japanese Business Events
    Nov 4 2024
    In Australian politics, they call it a “Dorothy Dixer”. This is when one of your confederates from your own political party ask a ruling Minister a real soft ball question in the parliament during Question Time, to allow for a fully pre-prepared answer. Dorothy Dix was an American newspaper advice columnist who would answer reader’s questions, and some say she sometimes would create her own questions to answer. At political rallies, there has been a similar set up where a stooge or a plant in the audience asks the speaker a pre-arranged question, but tries to make it look spontaneous. At business events, the speaker may have organised a friend to pop a question they want to answer to reduce time for questions they don’t want to answer or to make themselves look awesome. In Japan, these people asking the questions are called “Sakura” and they play the same role. I know this goes on because from time to time I am asked to be a Sakura at a business presentation. I am infamous around town for asking the first question. This happened by accident and now if I don’t ask the first question, people will ask what is wrong with me? Many years ago, I did have a question I wanted answered and before I could register my enquiry, the MC said “no more questions” and I was left suspended high and dry. I realised I could never predict when the last question would make it to prominence, but I could 100% reliably predict when the first question would come up. I also realised that in Japan, at least, there is always a pause when the MC throws the floor open to questions, as many people are reluctant to ask their question immediately. This provides the opportunity to be the first with no competition and the MC is forced to take your question. Sometimes the organisers or the speaker will approach me before things kick-off and ask if I can get things going by asking the first question. They fear that flat, spine decalcifying, stone motherless silence when they call for questions. It seems a damming verdict on the speaker that they were a dull dog, so dull in fact that no one wants to hear one more word from them on this subject. I can only recall one case where I was actually asked to lodge a specific question, so normally they leave that part of the equation to me. I ask questions anyway and unless the question itself is stupid, too self-serving or cringy, and I already know the person asking, I am usually happy to help. The speaker may have a desire to address an area of the subject which they couldn’t get to in the talk and may ask for a question which allows them to talk more about that topic. That would be a reasonable request, because not everyone in the audience may be an expert and be able to fill in the blanks across a broad subject. Should you as the speaker organise a “Sakura” for your talk? I don’t think this is prohibited, but there are a few caveats. You, as the speaker, must be prepared to answer audience questions and the “Sakura” role is not there to provide cover for you from legitimate questions, by stealing the question airtime. The question shouldn’t be a soft ball job either. It should be a question that seeks more information in a serious way. Asking cunning variations on, “why are you so awesome” or “why are you the leading global expert on this subject?”, would be ridiculous choices and the jig is up immediately and everyone involved in the charade looks stupid. In Japan, it is often the case that audiences are shy to ask the first question, but feel emboldened when some other brave “first mover” grips the thistle in their teeth and launches forth. Asking questions in the West has no stigma and indicates an interest in learning more from the speaker. These are all seen as positive attributes. In Japan, asking a question has five inferences: 1. The speaker was stupid and their talk impenetrable, 2. They were a poor communicator and the audience couldn’t follow the point, 3. You the questioner are too stupid to understand what the speaker said, 4. You want hog the limelight for yourself, stand out and try to impress everyone with how smart you think you are, by asking that question, 5. You have a legitimate question and the speaker was so amazing you want to learn more because you are a serious student of this topic. Most of the weight in Japan is on the negative side about asking questions. Therefore, sometimes we may need to get the ball moving with a question to the speaker to give permission to others to ask their secretly held question. Another suitable device is that if there is that deafening silence after questions are called for, to pose and then answer your own question. “A question I am often asked is…”. It has the same effect, gets things moving inviting the next question and you become your own “Sakura”.
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    11 mins

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