Preface
About fifteen years ago, in the middle of a keynote address before approximately 3,500 people, I asked for two volunteers to join me on stage to demonstrate the principles of presence. I’d never tried the experiment before in front of such a large group, and frankly, I was a little nervous. What if nobody volunteered? What if the volunteers were so timid that I couldn’t help them? What if they were already so strong that I couldn’t think of any coaching tips to increase their impact?
The first volunteer steps up on the stage, takes the handheld microphone, introduces herself, and overviews a key project she’s working on. After thirty seconds, I call out, “Stop!” then I pull her aside privately for sixty seconds and give her a couple of coaching tips. She returns to center stage and repeats her introduction.
After the “before” and “after” demonstration, I ask people in the audience to go to the microphones in the aisles and call out the difference in the speaker’s impact. They call out adjectives I expect, “More confident.” “More engaging.” “More commanding.” “More authoritative. More credible.” All adjectives I expect, so I’m pleased. Yet I had used none of those words in coaching her.
“Did I tell you to be or do any of that?” I ask the volunteer.
“No,” she chuckles, obviously pleased with her performance and feedback.
I ask for a second volunteer. Four or five people raise their hands, and I again select someone to join me on stage. As soon as he starts down the aisle toward me, I panic. His gait is halting, and he looks very stiff. Uh-ooooh, I’m in trouble. When he takes the microphone, his voice sounds like a twelve-year-old. Again, thirty seconds into it, I yell, “Stop.” Same routine—sixty seconds of coaching tips.
He does version two. The crowd goes wild with applause and whistling. It’s like he turns into a rock star. He keeps performing.
“Plant.” “Plant!” “He’s a plant!”
It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what several audience members were chanting. The change was so miraculous that they thought I had planted that volunteer in the group and that he was playacting his transformation. When I finally got the handheld mic back from him, both he and I assured the crowd that this was the first time we’d met. We finished the experiment, and I thanked both volunteers and wrapped up my program.
Afterward, the volunteers waited until the crowd around the stage dispersed, and then they thanked me again. Both volunteers reported to me that several people from the audience had come up to them after the program to ask privately once again for their assurance that they were not “plants” and that the changes they’d made on stage were really just a result of doing only two or three physical things that I’d coached them to do in the sixty-second conference on stage.
The response to that demonstration was so dramatic that I began to include it in every talk I made on the topic of presence and personal credibility. It soon became my most requested speaking topic. Calls to our office typically started with, “I was in an audience where Dianna had volunteers come up on stage …”
But despite that positive reaction to the speech and even though I’ve written many books touching other aspects of communication, I continued to nix the idea of a book on this topic because I considered “presence” something that you have to see rather than just read about. Yet, in the intervening years since that first onstage demonstration, question after question has come up from coaching clients that has led me to decide differently.
Maybe I can, after all, put the essence of presence on a page. This book is that effort, and you can decide if I’ve been successful.
If you’ve picked up this book, you probably fit my definition of a leader or an aspiring leader. Leaders never limit themselves by titles. You’ll find them in all walks of life: CEOs and sales professionals, first-level supervisors and department heads, volunteers serving nonprofits, soldiers serving their country, homeowners organizing their communities, parents coaching youth teams. Anyone with a mission becomes a leader by persuading others to follow in achieving an important goal.
The book’s purpose is to make the concept of personal presence concrete and thereby “doable.” Of course, you can never measure presence in the same sense that you can measure, say, someone’s heart rate or their running speed.
But consider for a moment how we measure a singer’s ability. The long-running popular TV show American Idol comes to mind. Who’s the best singer-performer of the season? Granted, these ratings are based on subjective opinions of the judges and the viewers—to a degree. But there are concrete assessments involved at some point as well. Contestants have to demonstrate some level of competence or they get booted off the show—many before the season even starts. They either can or can’t sing on key. They have a definite vocal range—one that the judges assess to be adequate or inadequate for the competition. They can or can’t keep a beat. Then beyond the baseline of those competencies in music, subjectivity comes into play.
The same holds true for presence. This book aims to capture these core concepts about presence. Beyond these, what you see and hear comes down to others’ perception of our presence. The book will also delve into the subjective realm—what affects others subjective perceptions about your presence and credibility.
The book falls easily into four parts:
“Part 1: How You Look” contains five chapters having to do with the physical aspects of presence: appearance, body language, dress, walk, your surroundings.
“Part 2: How You Talk” includes five chapters on voice quality, word choices, and your ability to carry on engaging and meaningful conversations.
“Part 3: How You Think” covers how you process your thoughts and information and express those thoughts to others: your ability to sort the significant from the trivial, to summarize succinctly, and to respond to questions under pressure. This section also addresses the difference between strategic thinking and tactical thinking. Finally, you’ll find a chapter on controlling your reactions and expressing emotions appropriately.
“Part 4: How to Act” deals with attitude and character traits that come across in your communication style—attitudes, habits, and behaviors that either support or diminish a powerful presence and your resulting credibility.
As I mentioned earlier, the goal is to help you increase your presence, so I’ve tried to be as specific as possible with tips, techniques, and anecdotes to make the principles understandable and practical. Please note, however, that although the anecdotes are factual, I’ve changed the names in each to protect identities.
If you’re reading this book, chances are you already understand the power of presence to:
• Persuade others as you state opinions and answer questions.
• Position yourself as a thought leader when you champion a cause or a change.
• Communicate issues clearly in ways that engage others both intellectually and emotionally.
• Win others’ trust by demonstrating your integrity and goodwill.
• Win contracts or promotions and generally get ahead in your career.
But your organization will benefit as well. The stronger your presence as their spokesperson, the better your chances to represent them well, to champion their cause, sell their product or service, generate goodwill, demonstrate integrity and win trust for their purposes.
To further increase your awareness of your own presence, I’ve created The Personal Presence Self-Assessment (available from Berrett-Koehler Publishers at www.bkconnection.com/personal presence-sa) to help you assess yourself in four key areas covered in the book. Take the self-assessment either before you read the book to guide you on where to focus first in the book or afterward when you’re putting together your individual and organizational action plan.
As I wrap up here, I want to thank the team at Berrett-Koehler for all their efforts along the way in shepherding this book from idea to bookshelf to you. Specifically, appreciation goes to Steve Piersanti, editor-in-chief, who “got it” right from the beginning and understood how this book could be different from the bazillion others on communication, presentation skills, and interpersonal skills. Thanks also to David Marshall, Kristen Frantz, Marina Cook, Michael Crowley, Zoe Mackey, Katie Sheehan, Cynthia Shannon, Johanna Vondeling, Maria aguilo, Catherine Lengronne, Dianne Platner, rick Wilson, Bonnie Kaufman, Jeevan sivasubramanian, and neal Maillet.
Also, once again thanks to our Booher team of consultants who generate rave reviews in the marketplace. They continually accept new client challenges, develop strategies, and deliver results that help us fine-tune best practices in the many facets of personal and organizational communication.
Special thanks as well to Kari Gates and Polly Fuhrman for assistance with research and manuscript preparation.
Finally, my gratitude goes to literally thousands of you as clients who have provided us the opportunity to work with you on the strategies in this book, hear your feedback, see the results, and feel the satisfaction of your success. A heartfelt thanks!