.jpg)
Platform Chats
Platform Chats
Mastering Communication with Keith Bailey
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, Walt talks with Keith Bailey, Co-Founder of Articulated Intelligence, who you may recognize as the AREMA Annual Conference emcee. He helps people who have great ideas become better communicators. Keith shares strategies for effective communication emphasizing the power of stories. They are the gift we give to the audience. He also provides tips on making your presentation the most impactful for your audience, you are more than your slides. It’s an episode with practical advice, Dad jokes, self-reflection, and the power of the pause, you won’t want to miss it. Remember, your audience is rooting for you.
Keith Bailey can be reached at keith@articulated-intelligence.com.
The thing that everybody has when I came into really focusing on working with business professionals on on presentations and on public speaking is the thing I found very quickly that everybody has is everybody has all the facts, figures, and findings. In fact, we don't need to listen to a speaker because we can find all the facts, figures, and findings. The thing that I realized that was really missing is the stories. And it's it's in in the stories is where the magic really happens. Because the the intention of a speaker is to uh is to educate, it's also to entertain. When we take that stage, it's no longer about us, it's about the audience. Like what are the gifts that we give it that we're giving to the audience? And one of the greatest gifts that you can give to the audience is is that story.
SPEAKER_00You may not know about AREMA at all. This podcast is designed, no pun intended, to change your view of who AREMA is and how AREMA has changed the trajectory of many railway careers over its 100-plus year history. Welcome to Platform Chats with your host, Will Lesser, where he takes a moment to discuss the impacts AREMA has had on the very people who are proud to be called members. Are you ready to roll with Arima?
SPEAKER_02ARE Corporation is a proud supporter of Arima and Platform Chats. If you are looking to take your Railway Structure's career to the next level, or simply start it down the right track, please visit us at ARECorp.com. Please see our brand new job postings on our careers page or on our LinkedIn page.
SPEAKER_03Hey everybody, and welcome back to yet another episode of Platform Chats. Believe it or not, we are in season three, episode five, four, something like that. I'm more of a chronological guy. We're at episode 34 overall. So we've we're in uh year number three here. We have slowly but surely crept our way up the charts of railway industry best podcasts. We're still hovering around nine or ten, depending on the amount of content we get out, uh, which still is hovering around uh one per month, no matter how hard I have tried to get to. Uh, we seem like the cadence of one per month seems to be working working out quite well. Uh big shout out to the current uh Arima president, Mr. Ray Varrell. If you read his article in RTS magazine, he did a great job um highlighting platform chats and the the journey that we have been on to get to where we are today. Um that was actually an unpaid, unsolicited article that he wrote. I did not compensate Ray in any way, shape, or form, but I feel like I should uh because he just made my number one fan list uh by a long shot when you write an article like that. So thank you, Ray, if you're listening. It's it's very much appreciated. Uh today we're gonna take a little turn uh to a little different direction from our usual episodes uh around purely railway industry. We actually have, and I'm lucky to have, uh the MC from last year's Arima National Conference. Mr. Keith Bailey is on today. And believe it or not, he's returning. He did such a good job. Uh, the first time, this will be the first time, I believe, in the history of our conference to have a guy or gal uh come back for a second stint as the MC. Uh, I met Keith at the president's dinner on the first night there and immediately felt uh I had a great reaction to uh to him in the sense I felt like I've known him for 20 years. He just kind of has that vibe. He's very approachable. Um, and he does a lot behind the scenes that I think our listeners have no idea happens um to make the conference go off in a way that is uh without a hitch, and that our presenters feel confident and that our presenters feel um, well, I think confidence is really the best word in how they present their material. So I don't want to take anything well, anything else away here from Keith. Uh that was a long intro, but I'm pretty excited about this one. Keith, welcome to the show. And hey, just give us a second and just tell us about yourself and how you got here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much. Well, that absolute pleasure. I I completely agree with you. It is for as much networking and connecting and speaking as I do, not often is it where I show up in a location where I know next to nobody. Uh, I have there's always a champion, which is nice to have a champion. Uh, in this case, it was uh I believe it was Skip Gaminer, who is part of the uh the leadership team in putting on all these events at uh for for a remote for the conference. And he's like, There's one person I need to introduce you to. There's one person I need to introduce you to. It's like they they knew magically that that you and I needed to connect. And it was wonderful. We just, it's true, like we just stepped into into that easy dialogue and conversation and uh did what I think is really important to focus on is putting the person before the profession. And we come to find out that you and I know so much about each other. Uh we even run within similar circles. We're we both live here in Denver, Colorado. We have a lot of things in common, which which uh really helped tie that connection together. And that is is a huge part of my origin story, if you will, is building connections. I had the the wonderful opportunity at the age of eight to move from the Netherlands, most commonly known as Highland, to uh to the United States. And when I say the United States, what I really mean is we move to Kansas, because that is what everybody thinks about when you say you move to the United States. And moving to this country without knowing the language is a very vulnerable position. And I quickly fell into something that is, I think it's just innate within me, which is this intense desire and drive to build relationships. And you have to step out of comfort zones in order to make that happen, especially when you don't speak the language, you know, and and you don't have to speak a language to know if people are making fun of you. That that's something that that really toughened up my my skin. Uh, but the the how did I get to where I am today was actually a seminal moment in the fourth grade that happened is a a teacher by the name of Mrs. Merrick, and she she saw it within me this the this talent and this this drive for speaking, and she highly encouraged me to do it. I remember it was a a book report. She encouraged costumes, and I showed up in the most ridiculous outfit, purple tights, these gold pumpkin-shaped shorts, purple shirt, these huge gold things on my shoulders, hat with a feather in it, and and I was Christopher Columbus in that moment. A Dutch, a very Dutch, toe-headed Christopher Columbus. And I finished giving that speech to a lot of laughter from the other students. In fact, they started laughing the moment they saw me. They were still laughing at me at the end. But she asked me, she's like, Do you want to give this uh speech to the third graders? I was like, Oh my god, yes. She's like do you want to do it to the fifth graders? I'm like, I would I ever. And it was that that moment, right? She took me by the hand and and and showed me the way. And for me, I fell in love with the stage. I fell in love with public speaking, and I've been gravitating around that my entire life. And I finally made the decision back in 2017. I left uh corporate global sales in the cycling industry and uh decided that, you know what, I need to make this my full-time focus and profession is in helping people uh live life well spoken. And here's the reason why, Walton, why I want to help people is that oftentimes the people with the great ideas, and we see this in a remote, and I saw this in so many of the breakout sessions that I sat in, is brilliant, brilliant minds with brilliant ideas that are looking and trying to find a way to get those ideas heard, seen, understood, bought into. And oftentimes those with the great ideas have a really hard time articulating it, putting those words, those thoughts into words into into actionable motion to where the the audience needs, gets and needs exactly what they want. While those who talk pretty that don't have the best of ideas oftentimes get their ideas bought into because they just talk pretty. We help people that have the great ideas become better communicators. And to me, that's that's what I love doing with uh with a REMA and working with the leadership team. Um, you know, Lynn, Beth, Skip, and Stacy are the the four that I primarily work with, has been just a wonderfully incredible journey with them. We just finished a webinar, as a matter of fact, a presentations webinar, which I highly encourage for all the listeners here to go and check out. It was uh it's basically how do you take your document of information, break it down, and deliver it in a uh in a specific, concise, and memorable way. So go go check that out. There'll be a link.
SPEAKER_03So, okay, there's so much to unpack here. I think there's a key fact that you left out in that story is that you moved to Kansas. We met at a Rima. We both are cyclists, uh in our in our off time. Um I think we found out that we went to the same high school. Sean Mission South.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Can you believe that? Yeah, Sean Mich go Raiders.
SPEAKER_03That's are they still the Raiders? I'm wondering if that's still a thing. I know. Uh I think they are. Who knows? But I uh I am, I mean, it doesn't get much more small world than that. I remember we met here at a brewery in Denver because that's what people do here. And uh that came out, and you're like, you said Kansas, and I said where, and then all of a sudden now we're at the same high school. It's like, yeah, anyway, uh small world uh story wrapping that up. That part of the podcast can be officially, we can close that chapter. Moving on, uh, there's an old joke uh when it comes to engineers, and as you know, Arima is a heavily engineering focus, that's the point of the organization. Um and it's not just degreed engineers, but people that work around construction and maintenance and supplying said industry, and uh it's just it it it it's there's a certain stereotype around highly technical people. And the the the joke is how do you know an introverted engineer from an extroverted engineer? An extroverted engineer will look at your shoes when he's talking to you, right? So I've just offended the entire listenership. But as a guy with an engineering degree, I feel like I have a license to do so. But my point is the stuff we're talking about, right, in the conference, and and and I teach for University of Wisconsin Madison as well, and these topics are so dry, right? Like we're talking about stuff that it's even if you've got a guy in the audience that is so in tune with and wants to hear what you have to say, it's so easy to lose him. And it seems like your focus is to help those speakers not lose that guy. Am I why am I off here?
SPEAKER_01No, no, you're you're spot on. And and the the the thing that everybody has when I came into really focusing on working with business professionals on on presentations and on public speaking is the thing I found very quickly that everybody has is everybody has all the facts, figures, and findings. In fact, we don't need to listen to a speaker because we can find all the facts, figures, and findings. The thing that I realized that was really missing is uh is the stories. And it's it's in in the stories is where where the magic really happens. Because the the intention of a speaker is to uh is to educate, it's also to entertain. When we take that stage, is it's no longer about us, it's about the audience. Like what are the gifts that we give it that we're giving to the audience? And one of the greatest gifts that you can give to the audience is is that story. And it's the story is is is why. The facts and the figures are the hows and the what's. And and are you are you uh a fan of Simon Seneck? I I'm actually not familiar. Okay, so Simon Seneck is is is a thought leader, he's uh a professor, uh, he wrote some incredible books. Uh, one of them is Leaders Eat Last. Um, and it's the another thing that he talks about is this thing called the golden circle. And when the center of the golden circle is the why. And um, as you move to the outer rings, you get the how and the what. Well, it's interesting because if you take this circle, think of a bullseye, and you put it uh on a flat surface within within our minds, the why actually lives in the center of our head. It's in an area called the limbic mind. It's where there's no language, there's no words, there's just memories, experiences, and very importantly, how we feel about those memories and experiences. In the neocortex, the outer rim, is where all the the hows and the what's live. And there's there's just logic there. It either makes sense or it does not make sense. When we share a story, we're actually telling that story from our limbic mind. And this is the voodoo that I love about storytelling is the the listener, the person in the audience is listening with their logical mind. So not sorry, not logical mind, they're listening with their with their limbic mind, their emotional mind. So you have the opportunity to actually etch your experience and story into their mind, which is why oftentimes if you're sitting in an audience and you're like, oh my God, I feel like the speaker is talking directly to me, to, to, to my values, to what I believe in, all those things, and it's because they are intentionally bringing a story to highlight those facts and figures, because the story is the why. So one of the really powerful communication techniques that I highly encourage is make a logical statement. In our findings, in our research, what this all shows is and state that finding, and then pivot into and tell the story of why this finding came about, or this fact, this figure, and then come back again and restate the finding or the message and the meaning behind it. And what you've done, this is this is the wild part. It's like it's like a magic trick. You've swung around the hemispheres of the mind. You've it first you've spoken to uh to uh to the neocortex, you've spoken to logic of the person, they may agree or disagree with you. And oftentimes you want that. Sometimes you want them to disagree with you. Like, I don't I don't believe what you say at all. Then you dive into the story behind it, that gets them to see it from your point of view, and then you anchor it back. So now you've swung from the neocortex, you've swung all the way on the hemispheres of the brain to the limbic mind, and then you leave that and you come back to logic again. And and what's wild is that the the further the two are separated, the logic and the story, the greater elasticity is between them, the higher the level of memorability becomes. People will remember the story because it made them feel something.
SPEAKER_03That's uh okay, uh, again, so much to unpack. I'm loving this, by the way. Um what you just said reminded while you were speaking, uh, this came to my mind that there's an old school thing in in giving a presentation. The three T's, right? You tell them what you're gonna tell them, you tell them, and then you tell them what you told them. This is a I I don't know if people still practice that, and I and you may be completely against what I just said. I just remember this from when I was in high school, like that was what you know the the speaking teacher would tell us, right? But what you're talking about is a is a is a more intentional twist on that. Because either way, you're still trying to deliver a point, but you're playing off of emotions almost.
SPEAKER_01Is that I'm I'm playing neurologically. That yeah. I'm I'm I'm communicating intentionally on a neurological level because you mentioned it yourself, is that even the person who who loves what you're talking about, they're so into it when they're sitting in the audience, getting all this information is difficult for them to for them to consume. The one of the things I talked about in this webinar is that one hour after you're done speaking, the audience is going to uh instantly forget 25% of what you've said. One day, 24 hours later, they'll remember 50% of what you've said. One week later, they will remember 10% of what you said, and it's likely how it is you made them feel. Think about that. 10% one week later. And time, we know like a week goes by. I had a week, I had a birthday a week ago. It felt like yesterday. But here's the thing people are like, oh my God, that's so daunting. It's actually the enlightenment. Think about the 10%. And then intentionally, what are the gifts that you want to give them? What are the three things in a 30-minute presentation? What we have at Arima, what are the three things that the people have to know? And then weave everything through those three things. Because one thing that you and I suffer from, everybody on this podcast suffers from, everybody in the world suffers from, uh, what Dan and Chip Heath, uh, the writers of uh Made to Stick, they speak about this. It's the curse of knowledge. We know it all, we live and breathe it all, we love it all, we're passionate about it, and we believe that everybody should know it all as well. So we try to share everything, but that's not how learning works. You can only consume a tiny bit, you can only consume a tiny bit and a little bit. It's all little bite-sized pieces. So, in your speaking a presentation, it's not about you anymore. It's not about your findings, it's not about you standing on that stage. No, it's about the audience. They want you to win, and the way that you win for the audience is to give them what they need and they want. So you have to figure out what that is. In a 10-minute speech, it's one thing. It's one thing in a 10-minute speech. So 30 minutes, you've got three main ideas that you could share.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. So, okay, and I'm assuming that's linear if it's an hour or no.
SPEAKER_01It's actually it has uh diminishing returns.
SPEAKER_03I wondered. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yep, yep. It it's not, it's not linear. Like if I talk to you for the next three hours, you're gonna remember all these. No, it's actually it's the attention span becomes less. It's also part of the reason, interestingly enough, Walt, uh, why TED talks are no more than 16 minutes?
SPEAKER_03That's actually really that's fascinating. I mean, you know, according to my wife, um a hundred percent of what has been told to me is lost within 60 seconds. Did you know that?
SPEAKER_01That's a I'm sorry, I forgot what you I'm sorry, I forgot what you were saying.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. I'm sorry, what you told me to do what? Um, so okay, so how look let's think about this. I'm gonna try to re-engineer it. Um in a REMA, the majority of our presentations uh in the general session are an hour and in the quote unquote uh uh specific or technical tracks, if you will, like on Tuesday, uh, are 30 minutes. Are you obviously the speakers know that they're speaking at this point? They've received notification from headquarters. Yep. Um, their papers actually just hit my inbox uh poof yesterday. So my team is starting to, you know, specifically for structures, we start to sort through to make sure that it meets the guidelines. And are you giving specific feedback to each speaker? Is there a way speakers reach out to you? What does that look like from now until well, I think the big day is September 15th or 16th, if I remember right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03What does that look like?
SPEAKER_01So the last year, and it's an absolute joy to be back again. It feels it feels like family. Uh, and I think that's something for us to to pivot and perhaps talk about as well is the the people who make this thing happen, people behind the scenes that that bring this kind of a conference together. But last year I I uh I pitched a uh a webinar that is it's 30 days to the conference. And this is it was actually exactly 30 days. These are the things you should be working on over the next 30 days. And then there was a QR code that has a checklist of what are the you know, week by week, this is where I should be in preparation for that presentation. So we did that last year. This year we've we've come back to, in fact, I I delivered it uh this week, Tuesday, so two days ago. And this is on how to take the um the paper that you've written, that you've submitted, that got you the speaking slot. How do you take that and turn into a I focus primarily on the 30-minute presentation? And what I spoke about in this webinar, I highly encourage your listeners to everybody go and watch this and uh do it with a team member. It's best if you build a presentation with two people. Don't make it more than three because there's too many ideas. But what we focus on is we start with what we call the ideation. And in that is we identify who the audience is going to be, because on the Monday and Wednesday tracks, it's general. Audience, which means you need to speak generally. The Tuesday track is target specific to an audience. Well, you can start targeting, you can start talking more specifically to that audience. So understand the audience is one. The second thing you focus on is what is the 10%? What's the north star? This is if if we're going to do all things, we want to make sure we hit upon this thing. We're going to loop everything through it. And then from there, uh the the whole thing is said where I take it to an ideation where you pull main content points out, you pull out potential stories. The third element in this is audience participation. We don't have time to get into that today, but your audience, the more you get them to participate in unique ways, the more vested interest they have in the outcome. So audience participation is huge. And then I spent a really short period of time on the actual deck itself because each one of these things is an entire track on its own or several tracks on their own. So the webinar is great for that. Um outside, Skip Commeaner, Skip Commeaner has put together an incredible program that is the Speaker Ready Room. And it's a place where you can come and look at your deck because you have to submit it in advance. And Skip and I are both there, and and I'm here to help out. So if you've got questions, if you want to have an if you have anything that you need to have in that moment, that speaker ready room, we're there for you. And outside of that, you know, part of part of my commitment to ARIMA is uh is is other duties as assigned. So we've got uh networking thing that we're doing at uh at the conference this year. Uh but if the speakers want to work with me and reach out to me, uh best way to do so is is Keith at articulated-intelligence.com. If you've got questions, ping me. I'm I'm here to help. I'm here to serve.
SPEAKER_03And they can find you on LinkedIn. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_01Yep, yep. Keith, uh Keith MJ Bailey uh on on LinkedIn. And I'll send you the link if you want to put those into the show notes. But you have have have a conversation with me. Ask ask me questions. I've got lots of stuff on uh YouTube as well, as far as like information, how-tos. Yeah. The number one thing, if you want to be a good speaker, if you want to be a good speaker, the number one thing I think you should do, and I say this to everybody that I that I work with, that I come into contact with, say the words out loud. Say them out loud many a times before you stand on that stage and deliver them to an audience. Say the words out loud.
SPEAKER_03So, what are you doing? I know uh in addition to, okay, so obviously you're helping the arena conference, and you how did you how did you find us? And and maybe do talk a little bit about that journey of uh what was your experience like uh last fall, and how would you compare that to similar uh conferences or other conferences? I'd love to hear a third person's perspective on that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's so much in in professional uh the professional words, it's relationships. Relationships open doors, relationships make introductions. It's all about relationships. Uh in fact, even with all the dating apps that are out there, most long-standing relationships come as a result of somebody introducing somebody else or bringing somebody in to create that space of for introduction and that personal time together. And it's the same thing with this. It was actually um the uh uh Inspire Media is the one that runs the entire media package for uh for Arima. The the show caller is a gentleman by the name of Sidney Stoper. Sydney and I worked together at a uh landmark here called the Brown Palace. He was the front desk manager, I was a concierge. And he and I have both, you know, taken taken so many different stages uh since then. And he knew I came into this industry and uh I've just hit the ground running in here. And uh he he's the one who recommended me. And before that, I had done lots of MC gigs, smaller ones. This is my my first really big break, you know, 2,000 people in the audience. It's I love it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it was. I I I actually didn't know that. I mean, you you seemed like a natural, like you've been doing these all the time. Obviously, you have a passion for speaking. I know you are uh you are uh a participant andor I don't know, flag bearer of of Toastmasters. Is that still true?
SPEAKER_01Oh huge, yeah. 10 years, a decade in now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and and I would just say people that are you know hesitant uh or have uh public speaking nerves, is that a good resource still? I mean, it was when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01It it is. It is it's it's the the number one recommendation I have is say the words out loud. And the best place to say the words out loud and to practice it is at a Toastmasters uh uh uh group club. Join a Toastmasters club because what it does is it puts you in a position of being putting yourself in a state of practice, right? If you if you think about it, uh if you're a uh if you love sports, sports analogy works well with this. A professional athlete spends more time scrimmaging, reading the playbook than they ever do play in the actual game. So when game day comes, right, you see that that play they do to you know the the uh the winning touchdown, right? No look, one-handed feet just inside the uh the inbounds line as they catch and and they and they win the Super Bowl. That player, it's not the first time they ran that play. They ran it over and over and over in different ways. So when it when it happens, it looks natural. That that that's the whole thing with it. So Toastmasters is that place that allows you to scrimmage and to practice. That's what it's all about. And and your that because speaking is so difficult because it's so dynamic, it is a physicality, it's your your body's an instrument. And in the beginning, you it's hard to even play the scales.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, I agree. I I absolutely love it. I love to public speak. I have my whole life. I like teaching, I like I like being up front in front of people. For some reason, for me, when I well, number one, I I I get nerves, not gonna lie. You know, before you get on stage, you you feel it in the stomach and whatnot. I think if you didn't, there was an old saying in bike racing that if you line up and you're not nervous and shaking, you should probably hang up your cleats uh because you don't care. Uh maybe that's true or not true with speaking, but for me, as soon as I step out. Oh, go ahead. Do you want to jump in there?
SPEAKER_01No, go for go for your fit. Finish, finish your thought.
SPEAKER_03I just, I, you know, when I step up there and as soon as I come on the stage and the first three to five words come out of my mouth, it's like a zen-like phase. And I just everything goes away. It's kind of like the race starting. And I feel personally, this is just how it works for me. I just feel comfortable. I feel like I'm having a conversation with you right now, one-on-one. I feel no different than I right now than I do in front of, say, a few thousand people. I don't know why. That could be innate. I don't know, or it could be because I've done it for so long, to your point about scrimmaging and practicing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So jump in wherever you want there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh you know, uh Toastmasters is great if you if you want to uh take a dive into improv theater. It's it's from an introvert standpoint. I have seen some of the most incredible things happen. Uh, because I've I've done improv theater for a long time. And there's a lot of introverts who who enter into this. And it's crazy because you're in this room, it's called the green room, and they are most of them are very introverted engineers, if you will. Like they're only looking at their own shoes in that green room. And you can feel the nerves. And as soon as that curtain opens and they step out, they step into a whole nother version of themselves. And they are some of the most incredible improvisers you've ever seen. If you, if you like the show, uh Whose Line Is It Anyway, Colin Mockery, Colin Mockery, huge introvert, massive introvert. Not on that stage, he won't make eye contact with you. He steps on that stage, he turns into that character, which is a character that he has created and developed. As a business professional, you need to develop and work on your speaking character. So you can step into that, just like a bike racing character. You've put in the miles, you've pushed the pedals, you can do this because you've you've practiced it. It's the same thing with public speaking. I had a persona that uh I was having a hard time. I'd slip into this persona on stage and I couldn't find my way out. And it took years for me to work on this. And the the persona, in fact, when I was in corporate sales, they called me the reverend. Because I get on that stage and I can I can deliver a sermon. It was too one-dimensional. So I end up working with a coach to get me out of that. I need I need to be able to create a different, I need to pivot into different personas. But for for speaking, just like way with with you are how you are at work, how you're in the office, how you're with family, all the different stages that we take, we show up as a version of ourselves. And public speaking is you have the opportunity to intentionally create a speaking persona. And for introverts, you can create that persona that is outgoing, storytelling, like some of the funniest people out there are are introverted people because they're so good with their thoughts. Practice.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. So would you say you are a card-carrying introvert?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_03Okay, I didn't think so.
SPEAKER_01No, no. Uh, but but I do get nervous for for speaking. Uh, you know, if you look behind the scenes, if you could see through the the curtains that are back there when I'm not on, I'm walking back and forth and I'm saying the words that I'm gonna be saying as I'm about to get on stage. Like I've I've said those words time and time before, but I'm saying them out loud. I'm hearing myself say them out loud.
SPEAKER_03I witnessed this uh on Wednesday morning before our panel. You were in the back and you were pacing, and you were speaking exactly what you were gonna say before long before you got on the stage. That would have to have been easily a half an hour before showtime. You were you were back there pacing and talking. I don't don't take the word pacing wrong. Uh I don't mean to use that, but but you were walking back and forth and you were talking so that when you get up there, it just looks very natural, even though there is a teleprompter. I don't know if everyone knows that.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Yeah, and that teleprompter is is a whole nother thing to uh it changes the dynamics of stuff.
SPEAKER_03I yes, I struggle. I don't like anything scripted. Uh I know that's probably shocking, but I uh it it gets I think it can be hard for me. It's harder to use a teleprompter than if you say this is what you need to deliver, this is the message you need to deliver, and this is the time frame in which you need to deliver it. I can do that, but when you're reading, talking, looking, right? It's like a third dimension, I feel like. I go ahead and you can expand on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely, which is uh a you're spot on. Writing for reading and writing for speaking are two completely different things. We don't we don't speak the same way as how we write, which is why things sound so robotic and rehearsed when we write out a word-for-word script of all of these and and especially sentences. If you're going to use a teleprompter, get away from sentences, go with with little tiny sound bites, right? Like four, five, six words that you can say in completion, pause at the end, go into the next one. Uh, you know, the I think the strongest speaking skill out there is pausing, slow down, put a pause in there. And because it allows the audience to catch up whatever you're speaking with. Because even like you, you had a statement here a minute ago, I have in my notes. Uh, while you were speaking, it made me think of. Your audience leaves the room. They check out when you're speaking because you're making them think about things. You're you're tickling the limbic mind. When you put pause in there, it creates a break in the pattern that brings people back in again. You'll see people look up whatever they're whatever they're doing. All of a sudden, like, wait, something, something changed. Because we're creatures of of that habit. Pause it also allows them to digest the information that you've given them. So me, the the most important thing is is pausing when you're speaking.
SPEAKER_03Especially in a world where that 2,000 person audience, they all have some one of uh one of these guys uh in their lap, right? Yep. I I mean it's almost sometimes when you're looking at your phone in church and someone pauses, it's like, uh-oh, should I be doing this right now? Right. Um it just there's like a natural reaction to it. Um now let me take a step back because again, it reminds me of the stages of listening, right? And there's always been a something I try to abide by and I fail miserably, is not thinking about what I'm about to say next while the individual I'm talking to is speaking. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01Like 100%. It's the number one reason we forget people's names on upon first introduction, because we're busy thinking about saying our own name.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01And if you're the first person to say the name, you're likely thinking about how well did I say my name while the other person is introducing themselves.
SPEAKER_03So And that's why to this day I still call you Bob.
SPEAKER_01Carl. You got me on the nod.
SPEAKER_03That just sounds right. Yeah. So it does. Let me all right, uh to kind of put a little, I want to wrap this thing up just a little bit. Um there was an individual, I'm just gonna kind of give a case study because it it falls in line with everything you just said. We have a series of extroverted and introverted engineers that are gonna, they're writing their papers, they're gonna put together their PowerPoints, they know they've got a 30-minute time slide. I worked with an individual who PowerPoint allows you to put notes under each slide, right? I don't use that feature, but he would script every slide, which sadly, when we got in front of a, you know, say we were pitching a product or whatever, he get he would he would fall all over the place because he was he'd lose his place in his own notes. Uh I think people do use that as a crutch. Are you pro-con on those? A couple of let me let me let me phrase the question. One, do you believe that there is a certain number of slides that an individual should stay around or under for a 30-minute presentation? There's the old one per minute rule I've heard. And two, how do you feel about those show notes, or do you view them the same as I do as a that it's a crutch that could actually get you in trouble?
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about slides first. Okay. The PowerPoint, the the real name for it is a visual aid. It is here to help aid visually. You should be able to deliver your entire presentation without a single slide. Because it's it's you are so much more than your presentation deck. So for me, I believe that that less is is more. One thing that I will do, and this builds out my volume of slides, is I uh, as opposed to putting a slide up that has all the information on it, because the audience can do one of two things either listen to you or read the slide. Because multitasking is doing two things poorly at the same time, and your audience will automatically pivot over and start reading whatever's on that slide. So you can bring a slide up with one piece of information on it, because that's the piece you want them all to see. It's the intentionality behind it. Then you can build another piece of information and another piece of information, and and that's that that that's it. Right? Limit the amount of of stuff that you're trying to spill onto them. Because the thing I saw last year, and in all the presentations I sat in, it it never it never came up. But certain slides would have mathematical equations on it. And I understand the purpose behind those. The mathematical equation is there for if somebody wants to do the work and figure out how to do this, it's a training tool. But that's not what the presentation is about. So there's really two decks. There's the deck that has all the data you want somebody to be able to sit down and read and digest and take in. Then there is what you are sharing with them. There's two completely different ones. So, in that, whatever you put up there, the audience is gonna first read. So parse out that that information. And you can I'd my I have big decks because I I do builds, I build one piece of information onto the next, right? Within within that one slide. That's the only reason why. Uh, but still, imagery is best.
SPEAKER_03I'm I'm leaving that last comment alone. I was ready to make a great joke, but we're hey, how about speaking of that? How about humor? Where do you think that does humor have a role in in a in a technical presentation? I try to weave it in because that's just how my mind thinks.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Okay. Yes, because uh what levity brings is actually uh a uh is it's it's a release of of serotonin into the mind of the audience, right? So it makes them feel good, it's funny. It also it's it's memorable. When you make a joke about something, it's it's it's memorable. And it's usually uh there's there's you know another class to go and take, go take a joke writing class, go take that stage, especially if you don't think you're good at it. Go go do that. But in in humor, it's a pivotal piece, but you can't find the funny until you've shared your content with several people and you've you've done some A B testing. Sometimes it'll happen in and on the fly naturally, but most times the the humor is something that has been practiced. But yeah, bring bring humor into it, bring levity because it's heavy stuff, it's heavy information.
SPEAKER_03There was a presentation, so I was uh I was moderating, I think it was the afternoon of the Tuesday session because uh I was I was uh relieving the gentleman that was uh doing that job for he had a meeting to go to or something. Anyway, I remember sitting there and I think there were five or six presentations, and there's one that I remember, I don't even remember what the presentation was about, but the speaker got up there and and it was you know mid-afternoon, it's people are tired, it's it's been a long day. He starts off with a dad joke. And I just remember, and and I'm now here I am telling you, I remember that guy doing a dad joke. I have no idea. I saw probably 10 presentations that day. I don't remember what they were all about. I don't even know which one was my favorite, but I do remember a speaker who did a dad joke, right? And so all of a sudden it was different enough. Uh, it was it was clean and funny, but it was different enough that it got my attention. And I watched the audience respond, right? They looked up to your point of pause earlier. Of they were looking down at whatever the next presentation's gonna be, or where's the lunch or happy hour, right? And they looked up. So well, I you know what? What other we can just finish this thing out? I'll give you the last word, advice. I mean, you've given a lot of wonderfully free advice uh on this podcast, and you've already offered yourself and your services up. Yeah. Um, do we miss anything?
SPEAKER_01You know, we're we're we're bordering on the uh the curse of knowledge, right? How how much how much more information because we can we can go on all day long. I I'm passionate about this. So I'm actually gonna come back to uh to to to tying it together. One week later, the audience is gonna remember how it is that you made them feel. It's the 10%. What do you want that 10% to be? Be very intentional with the facts, figures, and findings that you share. Have a story, and a story can be a personal story. Like our team worked on this, we thought this, we had this conflict, these things happened, and as a result, we came up with this information. Give that gift to your audience because it's gonna be like the dad jokes. It's it make it makes it funny. Engage your audience, get them to participate, whether it's raising hands or asking questions, and then on your visual, you are more than your presentation deck. You are the presentation. The audience wants you to win, they're rooting for you. All you have to do is be intentional what you share with them, knowing that one week later, they're gonna remember 10%, and it's likely gonna be how you made them feel.
SPEAKER_03I don't think there's a better way to end it. So, and and I couldn't agree more. I do the one last note, you said something in a presentation and an audience uh interaction like Arima, I think speakers often forget that the audience is a bunch of them, and they do want to hear what you have to say. You are up there for a reason, you competed with most of those people in that audience for that time slot, and you were selected. We want to hear what you have to say, and I think that is a key takeaway that don't be nervous. We want you to get up there and yeah, we're rooting for you. I loved that. We're rooting for it.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'll be rooting for you, and I can't wait to see it.
SPEAKER_01Which for all those for all those who did not get a chance to to get into it this time. Know what the speaker is going through up there. You'd feel the same way. As an audience participant, sit there, smile, make eye contact, be engaged, clap, give to the speaker. Give that that empathy. Because as a speaker, we know that we look out on an audience of resting listening faces. And that's a very difficult thing for the speaker, which is why I think public speaking is so difficult. Because it's all these eyes looking at you. That's not normal for us, right? We hunt by sight. It feels like you're being hunted when you stand up there. So as an audience participant, smile at the people that are on stage, nod your head, engage when they ask you to raise your hand, raise your hand, clap, all those things. Give back. Because someday, someday, you as the audience, it could not could be, it should be you because you, as the audience member, have great ideas that we all need to hear. So, as an audience member, pay it forward, give, give back to the speaker.
SPEAKER_03Oh, perfect. Uh, that's a yeah, that is a great point we didn't even hit on, and and it's just audience participation. So thank you for yeah, thank you for saying that. And I'm looking forward to seeing you in Louisville. Louisville. We have to start, you and I have to start getting ready to how to say that.
SPEAKER_01Louisville.
SPEAKER_03Because I think we will be sharing the stage, I know for a fact, uh, on Monday morning. And then as the as the uh show goes on, I'll be around to help you out wherever I can, and and uh I'll be out there rooting for you. So uh thank you, Keith, and thanks for taking some time to meet with us. And yeah, I'll see you in uh Louisville.
SPEAKER_01Louisville, Kentucky. All right, thanks, buddy. Thanks.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for rolling with Arima on today's episode of Platform Chats. For further information about Arima, please visit arema.org or contact us at info at arema.org.
