Joel Osteen's Hands Betrayed Him

What do gestures tell us about a public speaker? We learned a lot about Joel Osteen's gestures during his interview about his response to the hurricane. Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on the city of Houston which is the 4th largest city in the country. There was extensive flooding requiring people to be evacuated by rescue workers and helicopters. Thousands of people were in search of shelter and could not return to their homes.

The question people wanted to know was Why didn't Pastor Joel Osteen open Lakewood Church to the people of Houston? The Compaq Center has the capacity to hold 16,285 people. After much criticism on social media, the center accepted hurricane victims on Tuesday.

When Joel was interviewed by CBS TV he explained that he didn't open his center as a shelter because he was not asked by the city. He further explained that the best places for shelter were where there were already resources, supplies, and personnel on the ground. It didn't sound convincing on the surface. But he still could have salvaged his reputation by admitting the mistake and being remorseful. Instead, he pivoted to his message points and gave what seemed to be a presentation. His hands were the giveaway. He used the same wide-sweeping gestures that are part of his signature style when he is on the main stage in front of thousands of people. The CBS interview was directed to three journalists (although it was broadcast to millions of viewers). In media interviews and conversations, people gesture more naturally with their hands closer to their body.

While using wider gestures may be part of the pastor's style, it gave the impression of formality rather than intimacy and sincerity. That is not to say he was dishonest. I'll leave that to the top body language experts. The point is this. To appear sincere, your body language needs to be relaxed and appropriate to the situation. Wide gestures work well in a stadium but seem exaggerated when communicating on a television show or satellite interview. For crisis communication to be effective, it's imperative to plan your delivery as well as your message points.

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Speaking Lessons from Shark Tank

Last month I had the good fortune to hear Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank speak at a networking event. Unlike typical celebrity events, this venue was intimate, allowing contact with Mr O’Leary and even a photo opp. After drinks and hors d’oeuvres, we gathered into a small theater-like room to hear him speak. His speaking approach surprised me and I found it refreshing. Instead of the usual PowerPoint, or main stage podium presentation, Mr O’Leary entered the room in an unassuming manner yet strongly communicated executive presence. After being introduced, he stood next to a leather chair, his only prop a wine glass in hand as he told his story.

He began by telling us about his mother’s influence on how he thinks about his investments today and took us on a journey from his early, hungry years, the “tough love” lessons from his mother, and how he is raising his children based on his own upbringing. He discussed the issue of how to stay grounded after acquiring riches, his decisions and relationships on Shark Tank, his current enterprises, and advice for today’s entrepreneurs. His decisions to do business with partners isn’t contingent on liking them and he was clear about separating personal feelings from business.

Politics was not part of the presentation until the last questioner asked for his opinion on the Presidential election which he answered directly. Ever the salesman, he ended with a call to action. He let the audience know that he owned a vineyard and we could buy his $60 red wine for $10 on QVC.

Mr. O’Leary didn’t miss a beat. He spoke fluently, conversationally, and matter-of-factly, as he wove sage advice through his stories. This was not a speech but a conversation. And the audience loved it!  It was interesting how much of the presentation I retained because he made the message memorable.

What I learned was this: The best public speakers stay true to themselves. Kevin O’Leary has a quiet style but was no less captivating than a Tony Robbins. He told his personal story and made a connection with the audience. By sharing business successes and an inside view of SharkTank, he provided real value to an audience of entrepreneurs. He didn’t waffle when asked a political question. He put a stake in the ground. And of course, he told us how to get a discount on his wine. The audience was captivated. And that’s why he’s called Mr.Wonderful.

Even Celebrities Screw Up Their Presentations

Most public speakers fear that they will bomb when delivering their presentations. That same performance anxiety affects actors and musicians - even seasoned celebrities. Murphy's Law applies to the best of us. It's inevitable that at some point, something will go wrong with your presentation performance. So how do you recover? A few nights ago in Toronto, Billy Joel forgot some lyrics. Watch how he recovers on stage:

Those of us who are not celebrities can learn a thing or two from those who are. We can't all be as direct in our response as Billy Joel was, but we can develop some recovery strategies. Here's a quick tip on how you can plan for that moment when Murphy's Law finds you making a mistake on the platform:

You don't have to be a perfect public speaker. Confidence is about how your recover from a public speaking faux pas. Plan your recovery strategy, implement it with grace, and carry on. Your audience will like you Just the Way You Are.

How have you recovered from a speaking blooper?

Fundraising Presentations? Father Knows Best

Political candidates spend millions of dollars on advisers, media training, speech coaching, and advertising campaigns. They curry favor with influential movers and shakers to get them to speak on their behalf. But the best political strategy is rarely utilized. Robert F. Kennedy used it. George W. Bush used it. Even Andrew Cuomo used it. A political candidate's best bet is often a public speaker in his or her own backyard. When Robert F. Kennedy's campaign was floundering, he brought in Rose Kennedy who quickly took the mic. Jenna and Barbara Bush both spoke on behalf of their dad, George W. Bush. Andrew Cuomo had his younger daughter speak about his softer side (kids are often the best fundraisers). All three candidates won.

You don't need professional speakers. Have your family speak on your behalf.

Public speaking is not simply about good rhetoric. The messenger is as important as the message. I was reminded of this when I received this fundraising email from a candidate's father. While this is by no means a political endorsement, I do admire and commend the approach and the message. This is more powerful than any other kind of presentation, whether spoken or written. It's all about family.

Diane,

I’m just a few moments away from boarding a plane bound for Uganda. This is the first time my family will set foot in this country since we were expelled in 1972.My daughter, Reshma, can’t be with us today because she’s in New York fighting for people like me, like us.

I came here as a political refugee. I had to change my name from Mukund to Mike, so I could find work. It wasn’t easy for us.

Reshma saw us struggle, and she learned to fight to create better opportunities for families like ours.

Now, Reshma’s opponent has launched the first attack in the Public Advocate campaign. She’s saying that Reshma is out of touch with working people.

Out of touch? Not my daughter.

Reshma is a former Deputy Public Advocate, and the founder of Girls Who Code. Reshma has spent her life fighting to create better opportunities for underserved and disadvantaged people.

She needs your help right now to fight back. Will you help her out?

Sign up now and tell your family, friends, and neighbors that Reshma is committed to fighting for opportunities for all New Yorkers.

If you can’t volunteer, will you please donate $19.72 now to help her out?

Thank you for supporting my daughter.

Best, Mukund Saujani

Les Brown Tells Professional Speakers to Surrender to the Story

Les Brown and Diane

I was the co-chair of the Les Brown mega event sponsored by the NYC chapter of National Speakers Association on February 15th. Les mesmerized 150 audience members as he taught us how to tell transformational stories that change lives.

Les Brown is one of the top celebrity motivational speakers and made a rare appearance for the benefit of local professional speakers.

Les Brown and Marquesa

In the afternoon session, he gave an interview from the stage and spoke about the business of professional speaking. Les warned professional speakers that focusing on back-of-the room sales is the wrong strategy.

"It's impact that drives income," he explained.

People have emotional memory. While content is important, it doesn't move people to action.  When speakers create impact through stories and passion, the audience will want to do business with them. A powerful public speaker creates special moments. The best public speakers create an experience for the audience.

Les revealed that "the power is not on the stage; it's in the seats." He spoke about the rhythm of speaking and advised public speakers to pay more attention to listening than to their speaking.

"Never let what you want to say get in the way of what the audience wants to hear," he stated.

His passionate presentation flowed seamlessly, appearing effortless and spontaneous. But he demonstrated that there is a structure to storytelling and public speaking. Using his storytelling structure of It's Possible, It's Necessary and It's You, he demonstrated how he could use this template for any industry.

He taught a storytelling technique calledpivot and bridge. He then demonstrated the skill using story topics from volunteers in the audience. "Never make a point without telling a story and never tell a story without making a point." But this doesn't give public speakers license to drone on. Les explained, "The best speakers use the fewest words to go the furthest".

Les left the audience of professional speakers, toastmasters, and guests cheering on their feet and wanting more.

"The goal of a speaker is to give the audience a larger vision of themselves", he said. "Surrender to the story and speak from the heart."

The Top Things to Consider When Booking Your Keynote Speaker

Back in September, I wrote about When Celebrity Speakers Fail to Deliver. This post generated interest and was re-posted as an article on the The International Association of Franchisees and Dealers' website. UK-based Business Growth Specialist Andy Gwynn commented that he liked my article and referenced his own list - The Top Things to Consider When Booking Your Keynote Speaker. I think this is an excellent list, so I'm sharing it with you.

How do you know that you have got the right speaker for the job?

1. What experience do they have on the subject that you want them to speak on?

2. Have you seen video testimonials of clients or attendees that have seen and heard them speak?

3. How detailed is their fact find of you when you speak with them?

- Do they ask you about your audience and what message /content/value you want them to deliver in their keynote?

4. Do they send you a comprehensive “speaker booking form” to help them help you get the very best value from booking them?

5. Do they ask about your organization's culture and the overall message or theme of your event?

6. What physical “takeaways” do they offer to give your audience, such as documents, downloads, books, cd’s, DVD’s, etc?

7. How focused on you and your audience are they compared to focusing on their needs, fees, expenses etc?

8. Can you speak with previous clients of theirs?

9. Do they ask you about your event and offer suggestions that might help?

- Like timings, sound and AV specifications, marketing.

10. Do they offer to stay behind after their presentation to interact with your audience or are they just going to “grab their money and run?

11. Do they offer any sort of follow up / contact or support for you or your audience?

12. How confident are you that they will “under promise and over deliver”?

When Celebrity Speakers Fail to Deliver

Last night I was a guest speaker for ABWA. My presentation was Speak Powerfully Sell More: Speak Your Way to More Business. One woman in the audience asked a question about how to handle a celebrity who is hired to speak and doesn't deliver. This woman went on a rant about how many of these celebrities are not good speakers and yet meeting planners continue to hire them. I explained that the reason for that was event planners want to sell tickets. An event will sell out when the keynote speaker is a celebrity.

This made me reflect on my own experience at conferences and I had to agree. I recall one convention where I signed up for the lunch event  for an additional charge. The guest speaker was a well known television personality. And he was late! We had already been served the main course before he cavalierly sauntered on stage in his jeans and pec-enhanced tee shirt. I enjoyed his stories but I couldn't get past his lateness. He never made mention of it. The woman sitting next to me had booked celebrity speakers in a past job and told me that they don't care if they're late. They expect everybody to wait for them.

It seems that some celebrities don't prepare or don't know the audience. One woman media personality gave a presentation about herself and her career path. Who cares? Can you spell BORING? Some celebrity speakers trade on their name and expect to be paid just for showing up.

A number of years ago, I was hired by the National Basketball Association when they launched the NBDL (minor league team). My job was to media train the team presidents and media relations people of these newly formed teams. The media training was well-received. One woman thanked me and said that she had recently been part of the Olympic committee. The committee brought in the "big gun" media trainers who were television anchors. She confided to me that these anchors "Just showed us videos and told us stories. But you showed us how to do it."

Once again, it's all about perceived value. I'm sure I made a fraction of what they paid these anchors. But because of their celebrity status, they were considered excellent media trainers.

So what is the solution? How can meeting planners and speakers bureaus ensure that the celebrity speakers can deliver? They can't.  Some guest speakers have a good reputation for consistently delivering a great keynote speech. Hire them. But let's say you want a particular celebrity for your meeting because you'll sell out your event, but you know the speaker doesn't have very good platform skills?

Don't give the celebrity the keynote speech. Instead, feature them as the main event for an interview on stage. Conduct the interview "Charlie Rose" style. Then hire a professional speaker who can wow the crowd or has strong content. The audience will get exposure to the celebrity or guest, the celebrity's ego will be intact as the main act, and you won't lose your reputation as an event planner.

When it comes to meetings and events, public speaking skills matter. The event is only as good as the speakers. The audience will pay to hear a celebrity, but if he doesn't deliver, they may not come back the next time.

If you book celebrity speakers, I'd love to hear how you ensure that they will deliver on the platform. And what do you do when they disappoint the audience? Would you hire a celebrity speaker the next time? Or would you try a less known presenter or entertainer?

Gifted Speakers are Born, Effective Speakers are Made and Bill Clinton is.....

Bill Clinton is a rock star on the speaking platform and the ultimate spin meister. I tell my audiences that gifted speakers are born. Most public speakers will never reach the level of a Martin Luther King. Not even most professional speakers achieve that height. Some speakers have a special gift-an ability to move the masses, entertain the crowd, speak off the cuff, and sway an audience. And last night at the Democratic Convention, Clinton demonstrated all of it and then some. As I anticipated his speech, I wondered how he was going to excite the crowds when the facts pointed to high unemployment, lower wages, and a general discontent with the economy. Well, it didn't take him long to put a position spin on the situation. How did he do it?

Purpose: Clinton stated clearly and succinctly his intention. "Now, Mr. Mayor, fellow Democrats, we are here to nominate a president... and I’ve got one in mind."

Positioning: He introduced  the President by highlighting his background of triumph over tragedy and quickly spoke of  the challenging economy he inherited. Right up front he presented the elephant in the room and established an expectation of a long road toward recovery. He quickly addressed the questions or objections in the minds of the audience.

"I want to nominate a man whose own life has known its fair share of adversity and uncertainty. I want to nominate a man who ran for president to change the course of an already weak economy and then, just six weeks before his election, saw it suffer the biggest collapse since the Great Depression, a man who stopped the slide into depression and put us on the long road to recovery, knowing all the while that no matter -- no matter how many jobs that he saved or created, there’d still be millions more waiting, worried about feeding their own kids, trying to keep their hopes alive."

Personalization: Clinton acknowledged Mrs. Obama by saying "And by the way, after last night, I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama."

Pandering: He acknowledged the Vice-President and the President but gets his plug in for Hillary.

"Joe Biden did a great job with both. Now -- now, he -- President Obama -- President Obama appointed several members of his cabinet, even though they supported Hillary in the primary. Heck, he even appointed Hillary. Now, wait a minute. I am -- I am very proud of her. I am proud of the job she and the national security team have done for America."

 Provoking: As expected he took shots at the opposition, but here he provoked emotion. "I often disagree with Republicans, I actually never learned to hate them the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate our president and a lot of other Democrats."

Passion: True to form, nobody can accuse Bill Clinton of low affect. From his broad, sweeping gestures to his finger pointing, from his direct sustained eye contact, to his powerful and emotional voice, passion is his middle name. It doesn't matter whether the facts are on his side or whether he omits information. People believe him because he's able to stir their emotions and whip up excitement with his strong conviction and confident delivery. He's a natural off the cuff speaker which gives him that folksy speaking quality. This is a public speaker who is never at a loss for words and always goes over his time limit.  (I must confess, I went to bed before the end of his speech).

A true public speaking master, Bill Clinton used all the rhetorical devices without making them sound like techniques. Like him or not, call him a snake oil salesman if you will, Clinton is the poster boy for persuasive presentations.

What Seasoned Speakers Know That You Don't

National Speakers Association convention is where you'll find the top speakers in the world on the main stage. A number of years ago, I attended a convention. One of the keynote speakers gave an inspiring and tear jerking presentation. He spoke about how he and his wife couldn't have children so they adopted a couple of boys. They were brothers who were not well treated and were put up for adoption. He told the audience about how difficult it was to gain their trust and parent them. He recounted all the troubled times. In the end, the little boys flourished and his wife discovered she was pregnant. The speaker then brought the little boys on stage. To say there wasn't a dry eye in the house is an understatement. The tears were streaming down my face. My friend looked over and said, "Are you all right?" I told him "I can't take it." The entire audience was overwhelmed by emotion. This speaker was able to pierce each person's heart and trigger an emotional reaction. It takes skill to tell a story that has so much emotional impact. This is a good thing, isn't it? Well, maybe. But this speaker did the one thing you should never do from the platform...

On Sunday morning I watched Joel Osteen, the motivational speaker and pastor of Lakewood Church. He too, had an emotional story to tell. It was about a country singer.

At a young age this singer, had strayed from his values and started hanging around with the wrong crowd.  He got involved with alcohol and drugs. His name was on billboards everywhere and Joel's mother would notice the singer's name every time they passed the billboard on the road. Although, she had never met him, she would say a prayer for him. This ritual went on for more than a year. Then one day when the country singer was feeling down on his luck, he wandered into the church where Joel's father was the pastor. An usher recognized him and alerted Joel's mother. She immediately got up and embraced him. She told him about all the times she had prayed for him.

After telling this story, Joel pointed to the country singer who was sitting in the front row. As the camera zoomed in on him, you could see the singer wiping away his tears.   It was an emotional crescendo. The audience burst into applause.  And, at that moment, Joel said, "Aw, he's not that good." The audience broke into laughter.

Joel did something the first speaker forgot to do. The first speaker opened us up, raw with emotion, and left us there. It was like a surgeon opening a wound but forgetting to close it back up.   Joel used humor to break the tension. A seasoned speaker can take you on a roller coaster of emotions. You'll experience the exhilaration of the highs and lows. But they will always bring you back to solid ground. And one of the best ways to do this is through humor.

You may be a good storyteller who can open people to their emotions. But do you finish the job by closing them back up? As a speaker, you have the power of the spoken word. Remember you have the emotions of the audience in your hands. Use your power carefully.