When we get called to a podium or in front of a camera, a lot of us experience stress. Fortunately, there’s a way to deal with that. First, let’s understand what stress is. Basically, stress arises from a situation we don’t feel we can cope with. This might be a camera date today, but for hundreds of thousands of years, it was more likely to be coming face to face with a sabre-tooth tiger. This was what nature equipped us to deal with, and so even today, when we feel we can’t cope, the old mechanism kicks in even though sabre-tooth tigers are long gone. The mechanism, once designed to enable fight or flight and nothing else, shuts down all non-essential brain functions.
If you want to influence others, make sure you influence yourself. Make sure you stand behind what you are saying. That, in a nutshell, is the secret behind successful communications. The magic ingredient is concentration, directing your own attention to what matters. In terms of communications, this means that what you are saying is important, just as the audience is. That’s because communication is something of an echo. As you apply concentration and dedication in facing your audience, your audience will return the favour, concentrating on what you say and appreciating it.
Imagine you’re facing a speaking opportunity. Chances are you don’t fancy it. Most of us find speaking before a crowd a little intimidating. One way to deal with this would be to read from a script. But while that will ensure against mistakes, it will also insulate you from your audience. While you read, you can’t be looking at them, and without eye contact there’s no emotional connection. So look your audience in the eye. Better yet, start doing so before you face them. That’s right - visualize your audience as you prepare your speech.
Successful people focus on what’s important, and that’s just as true in communications. Your audience’s concentration will fade as time goes by, so it’s no use trying to get across more than three messages in one take, whether in a standalone statement or in an interview. The upshot is, don’t try too hard. It’s a well-known fact that a lot of times, achieving 80 per cent of a goal will take 20 per cent of your energy, while achieving the other 20 per cent will take the other 80. In other words, a lot of times it simply isn’t worth the trouble to achieve perfection. Excellence will do nicely, so concentrate your efforts. What is really important will take little time to tell, and even less if it’s well prepared. So get working on your key messages.
A statement is something you make to record an opinion or to explain your organization’s position. Classically, a statement will begin with a position, something that might work as a headline. So put things first things first and grab your audience while it’s still listening. After just a few sentences, their attention will decrease, and their minds will wander elsewhere. So get out a positive position fast, and make sure it’s also brief, consistent and credible. Choose a maximum of three convincing arguments to support your main message, then finish by repeating your lead. This is the way to hammer home a point.
Whenever you give an interview, record a statement on camera, when you write a letter to the editor or post a comment on a website, you are doing an important job for your company, because what you are doing is renewing your company’s citizenship. Alright, so you didn’t realize that was what you were doing, but think about it. In the long run, a business can be viable only if the public thinks that what the business is doing is beneficial to society. Otherwise, political pressure will build up, and that can result in the business being forced to close down, if only in extreme cases. Whether or not the public thinks a business is beneficial will be based on facts, but only to a degree.
