A Keynote? I’d Rather Swim at the Top of a Waterfall

In this series, professionals describe the skills they’re building this year. Read the stories here, then write your own (use #SkillsGap in the body of your post).

I just love reading peoples’ quotes about the fear of public speaking.

Mark Twain said, “There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars.”

There’s this: “The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public,” which is credited to old-time actor George Jessel who also was known as America’s “Toastmaster General.”

And from comedian Jerry Seinfeld: “The number-one fear in life is public speaking, and the number-two fear is death. This means that if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than giving the eulogy.”

So here’s a quote from me: “They’re right!”

I fear speaking in public. It makes my brow sweat and my stomach turn. When a friend showed me a picture of himself in a death-defying swim atop Victoria Falls, the world’s largest waterfall, I told him I would rather do that than give a speech.

Clearly, I consider public speaking among the worst things in life.

And yet, I give speeches. Often, and with audiences ranging from hundreds of people in massive auditoriums to intimate gatherings in classrooms or conference rooms.

No effective CEO can duck the responsibility of addressing customers, employees, investors, or industry. And none can delegate the responsibility. So I find creative ways to compensate for my shortcoming. I ask event organizers if I can do a fireside chat rather than a straight-up speech. If the latter is required, I enhance the talk with fetching art, compelling graphics and lively videos that interest the audience and reduce the pressure on me at the lectern.

Last summer I was invited to speak at ChinaJoy, Asia’s largest gaming conference that attracts 240,000 people to Shanghai. I accepted the challenge because China is an important market for our company. I knew the venue would be huge with a stage spanning the width of the 800-seat auditorium. Two stadium-size video monitors would rise behind the lectern. Multiple TV cameras would be situated throughout the room manned by large crews. Spotlights beaming from the ceiling, wings and back would be blinding. Auxiliary conference rooms with video monitors would be set for another 1,400 people. Complicating matters, a Plexiglas booth in the back of the room would house two people on headsets and microphones to simultaneously translate my English delivery into Mandarin. I knew the whole ordeal could be overwhelming.

Kabam’s head of communications Steve Swasey recommended I avoid giving a speech and instead be the emcee of my own presentation. The strategy was for me to introduce different elements to tell the story. We produced videos featuring interviews with Kabam staff and partner company executives. We ran a Chinese TV news clip about Kabam that localized the presentation. We created stunning visuals and we replicated on-screen game play that I showed throughout the talk. In the end, I spoke for only a few minutes of the quarter-hour presentation but, by introducing and summarizing each element, I delivered the keynote. Many attendees said it was the best speech of the conference. I know it was my best presentation ever. Extensive preparation and hours of rehearsal made the difference.

Few great public speakers are born that way. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s related quote assures me: “All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.”

Winston Churchill is a good example. In his first speech to the British House of Commons at age 29, Churchill froze for three minutes then managed to say only a few words. By the time he was the Prime Minister at age 65, he was considered one of the most effective orators in the world. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and author of The Churchill Factor, says, “The secret of Churchill’s success… was immense preparation. He wasn’t a natural.”

Perhaps the greatest presenter in our generation, the late Steve Jobs, is another example. According to Carmine Gallo, author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Jobs matured as a speaker over more than two decades. Gallo says Jobs was nervous and stiff, grasping the lectern in the mid-1980s, was more relaxed a decade later and became “charismatic” when he launched the iPhone in 2007. “Steve Jobs made public speaking look effortless because he worked at it for many hours over many, many years,” Gallo says.

Immense preparation and consistent work for hours and hours over many years. Got it.

My goal in 2016 is to continue to increase my effectiveness as a public speaker. When I succeed, I might even find some joy in doing it.