Boyle's Law

The old Boyle's Law had to do with traditional chemistry. The new Boyle's Law has to do with a subject near and dear to the heart of this coach - audience chemistry.

When we speak in public, I think we all long to have presence in front of our audience - to really 'own your stage' as the name of this blog suggests. If you are one of the 46 million people who have seen Susan Boyle on You Tube singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables on the TV show Britain's Got Talent, then you saw an object lesson in owning your stage from a woman who was previously known only to the inhabitants of her home town in Scotland. To say that her performance was remarkable is an understatement indeed. It lifted us up like the end of a movie like Rocky or Hoosiers. Many of us erupted like the live audience, cheering for the everywoman we saw on that stage.

So what can we learn from the new Boyle's Law?

First, it's OK to be nervous. Susan appeared nervous backstage but she seemed determined not to let it get to her. She decided to channel her nervousness into performance by proclaiming that she wanted to "rock that audience". Many among us want to make our nervousness and anxiety as public speakers disappear forever. It's a useless effort. We can learn to manage our anxiety and use it to our advantage in front of the audience. I call it 'befriending the butterflies'. A few common sense tips:

• Clear your mind, close your eyes, focus on a single point and breathe


• Visualize yourself taking the stage or the podium and succeeding famously


• Remind yourself that you know what you're doing because you practiced


• Know that the audience wants you to succeed - failure is painful for them too


• Remind yourself of the first sentence you will utter when you get out there


• Remind yourself that no matter what happens you will live to speak another day

Second, it pays to practice. If you think that Susan Boyle took to the stage without knowing how that song would come out, you're dreaming. She had the confidence of a professional knowing she had done the work to prepare and own her material. She had already heard herself sing it and knew what the notes felt like and how she would gesture to the crowd. If you are afraid that practice will make you sound rehearsed, don't worry. The very act of rehearsal makes you sound unrehearsed. The practice gives you confidence to succeed, so put in that effort if you can find the time. If you can't, make the time. It will show on stage.

Third, stand your ground and own your stage. If you saw the video, Susan Boyle had to stand there on TV being ridiculed, laughed at and forced to tell her age to millions. Now I know if she was a lousy singer, we would not be talking about her now. I realize that her talent has a lot to do with her success that night. But her presence was there ahead of her talent. To my mind, she won the day before she had ever sung a note because she had the guts to stand there and hear snickers and laughter directed at her and she didn't flinch. She owned her space and did not relinquish her personal power to the judges or the audience - the magical power of knowing that she belonged there.

There are famous and accomplished people who don't have Susan Boyle's presence. The good news is that they can - if they just would try. The best news about the new Boyle's Law is that all us can stand in front of an audience and look like we belong there. We simply need to befriend our butterflies, practice out loud, and stand our ground in the face of adversity.

Whether singing or speaking, presence counts!

Bravo Susan. You rocked the house!

Postscript to our last post - Larry Summers did it again. On Fox News Sunday (4/26/2009) he appeared again on video feed like the week before on Meet the Press. Chris Wallace never laid a glove on him.

Good show Larry. Keep up the good work!

Beat the Press

Finally, someone in President Obama's administration nailed an appearance on Meet the Press. It was Larry Summers on today's show (April 19, 2009) on NBC. The host, David Gregory, tried to put forth his very best Tim Russert impression, complete with the usual assortment of 'gotcha' quotes and video clips, but he didn't lay a glove on Summers the whole show.

This is surprising since on a previous MTP appearance, Larry Summers had turned in a less than stellar performance back in January when David Gregory seemed to have the physical and adversarial advantage in that interview and Mr. Summers seemed to be in a prevent defense.

Not this time.

Whether it was him making a few key adjustments between MTP appearances, or taking advice from Secretary Geithner's new speech guru, Michael Sheehan, or simply good luck, Mr. Summers clicked on all cylinders and provided an example for all the President's men and women to follow on the Sunday interview shows. He also served as an example for executives of how even mechanical changes can make meaningful improvements in your communication style, especially on TV.

Let the pundits both right and left argue the content. Here's why I think Mr. Summers delivery choices worked so incredibly well.

First, he looked us in the eye. Due to the fact that Mr. Summers was on satellite video hookup from the Americas summit in Trinidad, he was forced to look straight into the camera. He looked through David Gregory and spoke directly to us - the TV audience. It helped him connect with us in a way he wouldn't have been able to if he were sitting in the studio in Washington looking at David Gregory. This was significant since the last time he was on MTP he looked away almost every time he answered a question. If you want to connect, you have to look at people, especially on the tube.

Note: It didn't hurt to have the flowering bush waving in the breeze behind him. For someone who can occasionally come across as a hardass on TV, it was serendipitous set design and softened his image a bit.

Second, he turned around most of David Gregory's 'gotcha' questions into opportunities to further his own message. A case in point was his answer to a fairly tough question about Paul Krugman's 'depression still lurking' editorial in the paper, which Gregory quoted. Summers first stated that he disagrees with Krugman a lot, yet acknowledged Krugman's "we're not out of the woods yet" point and then explained why everything the President is doing and saying makes sense in light of that point. Whether you agree with the logic of his response or not, it was a classic example of not taking the interviewer's bait and staying on your own message.

Third, when he wanted to emphasize a key point in his answer he would shift gears, slow down and punch his words for effect.

Fourth, for the most part he kept a nice level head. Combined with looking into the camera it gives the television audience a nonverbal sense of strength, forthrightness and transparency.

Fifth, because he was only present in David Gregory's TV studio on a video monitor, it neutralized the physical advantage Gregory has in the studio. He actually had to look up a tiny bit to Larry Summers to ask his questions and due to Mr. Summers aplomb in deflecting the hardest of his questions, at times Mr. Gregory seemed like a student trying to 'stump the prof' in an economics class. He tried and tried again but never did any serious damage to his guest.

Sixth, Mr. Summers kept a nice conversational tone throughout versus his more formal tone the last time he was on Meet the Press. He just talked to us and sounded like a reasonable man making reasonable points. He also spoke in 'human tempo' versus Secretary Geithner's 'trader tempo' which helps us keep up with him and lets his words sink in.

Bottom line, if this was a prize fight it would have gone the distance with no knockdowns but Larry Summers would have walked away with a unanimous decision on all the judges scorecards. It was by far and away his best TV performance in my view and underscores how important it is to make good choices when communicating in an adversarial interview setting.