Signpost Your Presentation In Japan: Episode #377 The Presentations Japan Series

Signpost Your Presentation In Japan: Episode #377 (Audio here: https://www.dale-carnegie.co.jp/en/library/podcast/377/ ) The Presentations Japan Series

Navigation is critical in presenting.? This is how we keep the audience with us and keep reinforcing our key messages.? Years ago, I attended a speech by a serious VIP.? He had jetted in from the US to visit Japan and made time to give the Chamber of Commerce members the benefits of his insights.? It was a seriously meandering and confusing talk.? I was left befuddled and bemused. Later, speaking with others, I found I wasn’t the only one struggling to understand where he was going with his messaging. What was the impression he left with me – negative, unimpressed, insulted.? He did serious damage to his personal and professional brands that day. ?Here we are years later I and I am still recalling that catastrophe.

Recently, I was asked to provide a review of a new book and because I am always time poor, I thought listening to the audio version would give me more flexibility to work my way through it.? I have narrated my own book on “Japan Sales Mastery”, so I know how tough that recording process is. Interestingly, apart from being reminded how exhausting doing the narration was, I was noting the importance of navigation in that medium.?

I was trying to scan the subject matter to be able to cobble together a review which captured the breadth of the topic and the point of view being offered.? This meant I had to stabilise a lot of information in my mind and draw on that to pull the threads together. Actually, I found it hard to do and had to listen to the audio a second time to get the overview I needed. So much for saving time!

You only have voice on the audio and that is very similar to our presentations.? Of course, we can add visual stimulation through the slide deck and that mechanism also adds great navigation possibilities to keep the listeners with us.? Nevertheless, I was thinking about those occasions where you don’t or can’t use slides and what were the learnings about navigation, when all you have to work with is voice.

This is where signposts come in.? As trainers, we are taught to set up the phases of the training.? For example, if we are going to go into small groups to discuss a point, we don’t just say, “break into three groups”.? We will say, “In a moment, we are going to break into three groups to discuss XYZ”.? The reason for this is we need navigation for the participants during the class. They need to mentally prepare themselves for the pivot from what they have been doing to what is coming in the next phase.

Our presentations are like that too.? We will have certain topics in the speech providing the points we want to make and the evidence to support our position.? Generally, in a forty-minute speech, we will have a limited number of “chapters” for our speech.? We have our overarching key point we want to make and then we back that up with sub-points arranged as chapters and then surround those sub-points with proof.? There are a series of pivots, from one chapter to the next, throughout the talk. We need to make sure we are guiding our audience to come with us, rather than making a pivot and losing them on the turn.

We might bridge from one topic to the next if the theme is related, or we may need to make a sharp turn to a new topic.? Either way, we need to announce it to the audience.? For example, “we have been talking about the economic ramifications of this change in regulation.? Let me now talk about the HR dimensions of these proposed changes”.? The regulatory changes are the common issue and we are slightly elongating the topic to cover another different but related angle, so the transition is easy for our listeners to follow.?

If we are making a major pivot, then we need to set that up.? For example, “we have been talking about the economic ramifications of this change in regulation.? Let me switch gears and talk about a new topic, which we will all have to deal with in the next six months”.? In this way, the audience understands that regulatory issues as a topic is completed and now we are moving to an entirely new subject.? When we warn them that this switch is coming, they mentally adjust their concentration to deal with the new direction.

If we don’t do this, we are changing topics and listeners are left to their own devices to understand if these two topics are related or different and what is the connection between them, if there is a connection. You can see how easily we can confuse the crowd when we pivot subjects.? So, let’s leave some breadcrumbs so the listeners can stay with us, as we move around the topic and make our main points during the talk.?? If we do this, they will be with us at the end, rather than lost and reaching for their mobile phones to find something infinitely more interesting than us.? We can’t have that now, can we!

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story, President Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training

The bestselling author of “Japan Sales Mastery” (the Japanese translation is "The Eigyo" (The営業), “Japan Business Mastery” and "Japan Presentations Mastery" and his new books "How To Stop Wasting Money On Training" and the translation "Toreningu De Okane Wo Muda Ni Suru No Wa Yamemashoo" (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのは止めま

Dr. Greg Story is an international keynote speaker, an executive coach, and a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations.?He leads the Dale Carnegie Franchise in Tokyo which traces its roots straight back to the very establishment of Dale Carnegie in Japan in 1963 by Mr. Frank Mochizuki.

He publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

Has 6 weekly podcasts:

1.?????Mondays -??The Leadership Japan Series,

2.????Tuesdays – The Presentations Japan Series

Every second Tuesday - ビジネス達人の教え

3.????Wednesdays - The Sales Japan Series

4.????Thursdays – The Leadership Japan Series

Also every second Thursday - ビジネスプロポッドキャスト

5.????Fridays - The Japan Business Mastery Show

6.????Saturdays – Japan’s Top Business Interviews

Has 3 weekly TV shows on YouTube:

1.?????Mondays - The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show

Also every Second Thursday - ビジネスプロTV

2.????Fridays – Japan Business Mastery

3.????Saturdays – Japan Top Business Interviews

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development.

Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making, become a 39 year veteran of Japan and run his own company in Tokyo.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate (糸東流) and is currently a 6th Dan.

Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.The self-motivated are inspired.

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