Be Clear on Your Purpose: My Conversation with Author Jack Milner
I recently went one on one with Jack Milner, author of Virtual Presentation Mastery. Jack is a communication coach for Fortune 500 speakers and leaders.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here?
Jack: I started life working in comedy as a writer, performer, and director, doing radio, theater, and TV. I then got into comedy producing, and this in turn led me to running comedy improvisation workshops. I did this for a while and then a venue asked me if I could run some stand-up comedy workshops. I told them I didn’t think you could teach stand-up—that you were either funny or you weren’t. When the venue offered to pay me twice my usual rate, I re-evaluated: “Of course, you can teach stand-up!”
I found I could help comics in three ways: firstly, helping them get rid of some of the blocks that get in the way of being a stand-up—like, I’m not hilariously funny, and I’m terrified. There weren’t many other people doing stand-up workshops in the UK in 1997, and it wasn’t long before I was working with TV channels, the National Theatre, English National Opera, etc. This raised my profile and then businesses started getting in touch saying, “That stand-up thing you do… Could you do something similar for our analysts presenting in the city? Can you help make them less boring?”
Businesses saw the link between stand-up / comedy improvisation and business communication before I did. And I’ve been coaching presenters now for over 25 years. The skills used in stand-up and improv writing and directing are incredibly relevant to business communication.
I got into the virtual stuff in 2010. This was the early days of Webex, and I thought that although the technology was pretty good, the way people used and abused the technology was awful. There were loads of trainings on how to use the technology but nothing on how to communicate with it. What I saw from senior leaders and salespeople just didn’t work. Boring, no energy. And then a big media company in the UK, Virgin Media, got in touch and asked me if I’d make some training videos for them. I suggested doing some on virtual presenting and proposed to Webex that I make some films for Virgin Media on how to use their platform. This led to doing some great videos with Webex; their people were brilliant and helpful. The Virgin Media people were also amazing, and it was a wonderful collaborative effort. I learned a lot, and those learnings come through in my book.
What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Jack: When I first started, I was asked to work with some research guys in the city. And I remember running this workshop and then after about an hour one of the analysts in a room of about 30 of them put his hand up and said, “I just want you to know but this is all bullshit.” And he walked out. I was mortally offended, but he was right in many ways. I was essentially teaching some stand-up performance techniques to analysts who do early morning presentations to stockbrokers. I wasn’t being relevant. And that was a massive lesson to me: Whatever you do, you have to make it massively relevant and valuable to the people you’re working with.
Adam: What do you hope readers take away from your new book?
Jack: I would like them to take away confidence in how they can really engage, connect with and inspire their audiences, and I know the book will help them move their virtual presentations from flat, dull, 2D-land to a 3D world, literally standing out from the crowd.
And the truth is, it really doesn’t take much to turn it around—to make virtual presentations confident, authentic, and entertaining and take them to the next level.
Taking away the stuff that blocks you, giving you some tools to build confidence, having fun, and connecting with the most important people in the virtual universe—your audience.
Adam: How can presenters keep virtual audiences fully engaged throughout their presentations?
Jack: Keep it interactive, ask questions during your presentation. These can be rhetorical, closed, or open. But every time you ask the audience a question, you put your presentation back in their world and immediately create a connection. You should do this regularly online. I recommend an interactive element every five minutes.
Another way to keep an audience engaged is through continuously reminders of the value of your communication. Repeatedly answer their “So what?” question—or, why do they need to know?
Adam: What tips do you have on how to insert humor and humanity in our virtual presentations?
Jack: One of the biggest failings of virtual presenters is they don’t even try to use humor. The reasoning goes something like this: “It’s too hard. I can’t tell if they’re laughing because I can’t see or hear them. Therefore, I won’t do it.” The result is dry, dry, dry presentations that kill the audience.
The word “funny” often gets in the way. So, rather than think “funny”— think playful. You are not a comedian. You don’t have to be hilarious. Most laughs in everyday conversation come from a collegiate getting-on-with-each-other burble of chuckles and smiles. They all count. If you think “play,” you can start to garner easy laughs.
The comedy muscle can also be developed like any other. The more you do it, the easier it gets. It’s no different when it comes to adding humor to a business presentation. Once you’ve created your bits of humor, run them past someone you respect and who also crucially shares your sense of humor.
If you’re wary of using humor, aim for gently amusing, enough to raise a titter. You’ll probably surprise yourself, and you won’t kill off your ambition to add humor before you’ve even started. If you get a few gentle smiles, you’re already ahead of the competition. And if you get big laughs? Congratulations, an alternative career in comedy awaits (but be aware it will probably be less well-paying than your current job.)
Adam: How do you keep your energy levels up when you get no response from your audience?
Jack: There’s several things, Adam. Firstly, be clear on your purpose. If you have a clear purpose in your communication, so that what you say matters to your audience, then it’s much easier to have energy.
Try to present standing up. It’s easier to present with energy and passion. You can move around and there is more oomph in your delivery. Also, a lot of the usual authority signals you have when presenting face-to-face are lost when presenting online. Standing gives you back some of this authority.
If you’re worried about “tumbleweed” silences, simply answer your own questions. It’s one of the techniques used by radio talk show hosts. A typical radio presenter will continually ask the listeners questions, knowing that they’re not going to get many answers. They then answer the questions themselves, and these answers are often questions in themselves.
Example: “Should we increase the congestion charge? Experts say we must, but can we afford it? And should we have one at all?”
Adam: What should presenters understand as the key differences between virtual and in-person presentations?
Jack: The biggest differences are:
Your online audience has more distractions than in a typical in-person presentation, so when you’re sharing your vital strategy for next year, your listeners are likely doing online searches or checking email, rather than listen to you.
It’s difficult to gauge audience reactions during a virtual presentation so it can feel sometimes as if you’re “presenting blind.”
You can’t interact with your audience in a physical way, such as through gestures or body language.
How do you drive audience engagement with online presentations?
Jack: Make your material super relevant to your audience, even more than you would face to face. Get your audience to be actively engaged as soon as possible and as often as possible. The moment you ask a question, they can’t help but be pulled in. The moment you ask them to do something, and they do it, then they will automatically be engaged. The moment that request is relevant to their wants and needs—well, you’ve got them.
You also need to encourage your audience to turn off distractions. The best time to request this is ideally before you present and try as much as possible to make this request as a benefit to them. As in, “If you close your windows, you’ll have a better WiFi connection. Or, “If you close your email, you’ll find it easier to concentrate and the emails you send later will be better as well.
Your delivery is also important, of course. Be energetic, passionate, and conversational, and your message will massively improve your audience engagement.
Adam: How can anyone become a more effective communicator?
Jack: Present with more passion.
Years ago, I was an advisor on an ITV comedy reality show, “Stand Up Great Britain.” My job was to work with newer comics and get them up to a certain performance standard, so they didn’t burn and die on live TV. In those days, that was considered a bad thing.
I was told I would get an hour with each comic to work on his or her act to get it up to a certain standard. The reality was, I was given five minutes to work with each comic in a dark corridor just before they went on stage.
The first comic was understandably terrified. I asked him to go through his first line. It was all over the place. For want of anything better to say, I asked him to say his first line again, but this time with passion. Suddenly a load of things worked. He was clear, confident, and funny. I just said, “Do the rest of your act like that…” and then, he was on. And it went pretty well.
The next comic came up. Same problem. Same result. It became like a conveyor belt. “Do your first line. Now do it again with passion.”
The truth is something big happens when you present with passion.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to anyone presenting virtually?
Jack: Be succinct. Be clear on your purpose and get to the point. Your audience is time-poor and wants to spend as little time in front of a screen as possible.
Find ways to interact. Get your audience members actively participating.
Know your tech, and ensure it’s working before you present. If you’re unfamiliar with a platform or app then practice it before you present. Sounds obvious but it’s amazing how most people don’t do this. And if you’re presenting virtually, check your audio. Poor audio is probably the biggest technical issue with online.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to anyone presenting in person?
Jack: Tell stories—this is key. Stories draw your audience in and resonate.
Use body language. Also, I personally find it much easier to be funny with an in-person presentation. As I’ve said, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use humor within a virtual presentation, but it is generally much easier to use humor when presenting in-person.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Jack: Some of the best advice has come from my clients. But one that immediately comes to mind is one from my father. I was in a play, and I thought I was very funny in rehearsals, but when the show opened, I didn’t get the laughs. My dad was an actor, and I asked him what to do, and he just said, “Never worry for laughs. Just play the truth of the scene, and the laughs will come.” He was dead right. That goes for presenting as well. Sometimes, we can try too hard in virtual because you can’t see the audience. Don’t worry. Rein it in a bit and just share your truth.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Jack: I want anyone reading this to know that anyone, no matter how shy, can speak well in front of others. And it’s so important. At a certain high level in business most people are similar in their skill sets. What differentiates them is their ability to communicate. All managers need this skill to communicate their ideas to colleagues concretely. The great thing is that everyone has the capacity to present well.
Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.
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