Project Management Super - Speaker: Lee Lambert

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending another Lee Lambert presentation. This one was held in Avon, CT. Every workshop that Lee presents is distinguished by his humor, showmanship and exceptional insight into the challenges that project managers face every day. Yesterday's presentation lived up to Lee's high standards and set an enviable example for all presenters to follow.

Some of the presentation techniques that Lee applied are:
1. Opening the workshop with stories and questions from the audience. This immediately grabbed audience attention and got the audience involved.

2. Walked around the audience, among the audience members while presenting. This breaks the fourth wall and disintegrates the "space" that forms between speaker and audience.

3. Great eye-contact with various individuals in the audience.

4. Using specific examples from his vast experience in Project Management to make points.

5. Complimenting the specific people and the larger organization that hosted the event.

6. NOT reading the slides to us. (This alone puts Lee way in front of the "PowerPoint Abuse" pack).

7. Starting the workshop on time after breaks. Lee started talking and telling stories to indicate to the 190 participants it was time to quiet down. This very polite way of communicating beats the often-used technique of telling the audience that it is time to start.

A true professional integrates the components of a profession seamlessly so that the craft looks easy. Lee makes it look easy to present well, and is a true master of the art of public speaking. We have a distinct lack of public speaking exemplars. The reason most people accept poor presentations and don't demand better presentations, is because most people don't know what a good presentation looks like. We are so used to seeing presenters read PowerPoint slides to us, that we accept this poor example. Lee sets the example for other presenters to follow.

Lee touched on issues that project managers like myself and project managers in all large organizations face. We laughed at the proliferation of "standardized templates" that well intentioned but sometimes misguided PMO's enforce with the zeal of a new convert. We laughed with him, and at ourselves at the way we start projects with poorly defined requirements, insufficient resources, and wonder why we get into the mess that many projects get into.

Lee reminded us that we are likely to continue to face current challenges of not having dedicated project teams, but instead will continue to share resources who are working on many projects simultaneously. This makes it hard for teams to form lasting relationships, because "teams" resemble a revolving door more than a group of people working towards a common goal.

If I were asked to coach Lee on PowerPoint use, then the only comments I could offer would be to never apologize for a slide which is "busy". As posted elsewhere on this blog, we should never have slides that don't clearly convey our message. If in doubt, leave it out. Also, to put off the projector (with the "B" button) when telling a story, so that all focus is on the presenter without any distraction.

As a trainer, I know how hard it is to keep an audience engaged for a full-day workshop. Lee is a master trainer, and in his own words " he makes his audience learn without even realizing it".

If you ever get a chance, then attend a workshop with Lee Lambert, even if you are not a project manager. You will learn more in a day about presentation skills from observing Lee Lambert, that you will in a year of attending club meetings at your Toastmasters club.

Ignite Presentation Method

Today I came across a new method of presentation. Fast paced which keeps the audience and presenter moving along, without time for distraction.

The only comment for improvement on this presentation, is to not finish with bullet points as a recap. A photo of Rob happily driving away in the new car would be a stronger closing.

Snake bites

Have you ever heard the saying "If it was a snake, it would have bitten you"? When you are looking for something like a can of beans in the grocery store, and cannot find it then you will probably become frustrated. You may even get hot under the collar while wondering why the store does not keep cans of beans where you are looking. Eventually you will ask a shelf stacker for assistance. When the shelf stacker points out that you are standing in front of the desired can of beans but did not recognize it, your wife may remind you that "if it was a snake, it would have bitten you".

Do you have a gesture or habit while making presentations that you don't see? Do you habitually look at the ceiling while presenting? (I won't even discuss the still-overused habit of reading text-laden slides while you back is turned to the audience).

How do you identify distracting habits and gestures? You are too close to observe these behaviors. You are so close to your habits that if they were snakes, your skin would look like a sieve from the snake bites.

You have options to identify the gestures.

1. Get feedback from trusted audience members. A word of warning -filter feedback that you accept. Some people in your audience want to give you feedback on everything including your choice of your lunch sandwich and their way you raise your children. Ignore these people. Only accept feedback from intelligent beings - preferably other speakers who have more than 3 minutes of experience on the stage.


2. Video tape your speech. There is no better way to review your actual performance than watching an unedited video recording of your speech. Here is where you will see the gestures you used, the length of your pauses and how much you referred to your notes. (I find that a video recording of my presentation is always a sobering experience. For example, it feels as if I glance at my notes while making the presentation, but the video tape shows me spending significant time looking at notes and not paying attention to the audience.)


3. Get an expert evaluation of your video tape. I hire Darren LaCroix (the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking) for eCritiques of my speeches. While I may have thought a performance was exceptional, Darren's feedback always helps me to a higher level. Join Edgenet here so that you can also hire Darren as your personal presentations coach.

There you have it. Don't think that because your audience applauded when you left the stage that you gave the best performance that you can give. Your audience may have applauded in appreciation for you leaving the stage.

How do you avoid snake bites on stage? Use one, two or all three of the above options to identify areas of improvements in your presentations. Good luck because as Monk's theme tune says "It's a jungle out there" (on the stage).

Take my advice

Last week I coached a presenter. He attended a public speaking class where he was told to "not use gestures - keep your hands at your sides".

This baloney makes no sense. Which is why this presenter asked me about it. He said it feels uncomfortable to stand still, and normally uses gestures while talking. I advised him to do what feels natural while gesturing on stage. If you normally gesture while speaking off stage, then do what you normally do on the stage as well.

Our goal is to be authentic on the stage. How can you be authentic if you are trying to stand still while presenting? This advice is nonsense.

We need to filter all the advice we receive. It seems to me that speaking coaches dealing out advice outnumber speakers by a factor of ten. What is a speaker to do? We want feedback on our performances, yet cannot take advice without considering the applicability to our style.

Take my advice on this. When someone gives you advice on how to speak, present or gesture - consider if it helps your audience or not. If it makes you feel uncomfortable and you will be focusing on it instead of conveying your message to the audience, then discard the advice.

Challenge your audience

Last night I witnessed intense audience interaction. (I wish I could take the credit for this marvel, but alas it was not I).

Dan Mezick presented to the Southern New England Chapter of Project Management Institute(SNEC-PMI). Just our name - Southern New England Chapter of Project Management Institute, indicates that we believe in structured approaches. Our group could be subtitled "Process, structure and no-surprises R Us"

Dan enlightened us to the current state of Agile methodologies and Scrum in the software development industry. Wow! Scrum-masters are not Project Managers, which is a radically different approach from the traditional Project Manager in Corporate America.

SNEC-PMI has many members from the insurance industries around Hartford, Connecticut. This means our members have matrix organizations, seldom have dedicated portions of time from team members, team members around the globe and work on many different projects concurrently. Subject Matter Experts (SME's) are assigned to projects as needed, and may not be part of a project for very long. This is daily reality for many of our members.

Dan explained that Scrum includes co-located teams, timeboxes, teams self-organize and team stay together for the duration of the time-box. The result is exponential increase in productivity and strong personal relationships between team members.

Srum methodology is controversial because it is so different from what this audience has been trained to do, and what this audience experiences every day. The result - audience asking many questions and many questions leading to more questions. The audience learned a tremendous amount from this presentation which is foreign to many of us. Audience Participation Extraordinaire.

I learned last night that one way to create memorable presentation is to bring topics to an audience which is contrary to their current way of thinking. Challenge the way that your audience does things today. This stimulates interaction which results in a truly memorable presentation.

And truly memorable presentations are your goal as a presenter.

Honestly, Honesty is the best policy

Honesty.

I believe our audiences sense honesty. When you present your material and you are openly and honestly presenting what you believe in then your audience senses that you are relaxed and not covering up or acting.

Today I watched a presenter shared his plan for his department and the goals for 2008. We sensed he was being completely honest from his body gestures and when he occasionally answered a question with "I don't know".

Wow. Instead of trying to know all the answers, in the audience we felt his sincerity and honesty. Everyone in the room was relaxed.

How can you present honestly? Do you perhaps need to change the topics that you present on, so that you can present with honesty? Do you feel that you need to be someone else on stage and your are not the same person onstage and off stage?