My Story: Deliver Your Substance With Style

By Francie Murphy
California Real Estate Journal

When I was studying to be a broadcast journalist, I was asked to fill in at the last minute for the local TV weatherman - I think he was cramming for a final exam. Everything was under control until I dropped the index cards with my forecast - and there was no teleprompter. "!#*!," I exclaimed, scrambling to collect the cards that lay scattered in front of me.

That weather faux paus didn't sink my career, but it did teach me a good lesson: when you are in front of an audience, your words, actions and props must always be in sync. Unfortunately, many real estate professionals miss that mark in speaking at industry conferences and other events.

How many times have you found yourself growing impatient with a poor presentation by a nervous, fumbling speaker? Speaking in front of others is still the No. 1 fear of Americans - more than money problems, high places and bugs. And that fear is magnified by the size of the audience. You know everyone is judging your hair, your clothes, how you stand. I have worked with CEOs, Olympic athletes and politicians unable to utter a complete sentence the minute they get in front of a podium or a TV camera.

Just remember this: you're the expert. That gathering of brokers, bankers, lawyers and consultants really wants to know all about the complex financing structure for your next mixed-use development so you're sure to get their rapt attention. Don't be intimidated by the audience - be empowered by them. Use their focus to energize your remarks.

Get the audience involved with witty comments, sharp graphics and solid data. Give them the unexpected. Forget the overheads and the clip art from the Power Point file. The audience retains more if your presentation is interactive. Be creative. Take a cue from one of the country's biggest homebuilders, who gave a presentation to a room full of accountants on how to survive a market downturn. When the house lights went dim - up on the screen came beautiful images of lions on Africa's Serengeti Plain. Why? Because his theme was survival of the fittest -needless to say he got everyone's attention.

Your remarks should be written for the ear and enhanced by the visuals. Don't bore the audience or confuse them with cluttered charts or too many bar graphs. Several of the executives I have coached for public presentations used to hide behind their graphics, spending a lot of time explaining complicated diagrams. First, you can't hide on stage and second, a complicated slide detracts from your remarks.

Set the right tone before introducing the visual element of your speech - unlike the speaker who launched a 3-D animated tour of a redeveloped downtown by saying, "I've gotten pretty bored by this since I've seen it 2,000 times." That's not the way to get the audience excited about your presentation.

Avoid the urge to be funny unless you have some great comedy writers backing you up. You might end up like the scientist who stood before an august group at a university seminar and proclaimed, "The Internet gives you more bang for your buck than anything - except the atomic bomb."

Check the equipment by showing up a little early. Avoid the fate of one financial guru who froze at the podium when her first slide failed to appear. Always bring along a hard copy of any visual presentation. If the projector malfunctions don't waste the audience's time calling for a technician. Get on with the show!

Give the audience something to remember you by instead of just rushing back to your seat - like the young telecom executive who ended her presentation with, "Well, okay, I guess that's it." She didn't exactly entice the crowd to do business with her firm. Take the approach of one keynote speaker, an impressive scholarly man with several degrees, who presented a thought-provoking opening address, challenging the audience to think ahead, to plan for the future. With most of the audience expecting some profound closing statement, he declared in a serious tone: "I would like to end my remarks today with a quote from that great theologian Yogi Berra who said, 'When you get to a fork in the road - take it!'" It was amusing - and inspiring. Precisely what the speaker intended.

Think you can do a better job than the plethora of speakers showing up time and again at real estate seminars? You may indeed have great things to say, just don't let the message get hopelessly lost in the presentation.

Francie Murphy coaches executives for business presentations and media interviews. She is president of Francie Murphy Associates, P.O. Box 2628, Del Mar, CA 92014, phone (858) 350-5152, email francie@fmassociates.com. Her company website is www.fmassociates.com.

(c) 2001 Daily Journal Corporation. All rights reserved.