The Presentations Japan Series

By: Dr. Greg Story
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  • Summary

  • Persuasion power is one of the kingpins of business success. We recognise immediately those who have the facility and those who don't. We certainly trust, gravitate toward and follow those with persuasion power. Those who don't have it lack presence and fundamentally disappear from view and become invisible. We have to face the reality, persuasion power is critical for building our careers and businesses. The good thing is we can all master this ability. We can learn how to become persuasive and all we need is the right information, insight and access to the rich experiences of others. If you want to lead or sell then you must have this capability. This is a fact from which there is no escape and there are no excuses.
    Copyright 2022
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Economics Management
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Episodes
  • 407 Coffee Chats Do Not Train You For Presenting In Japan

    407 Coffee Chats Do Not Train You For Presenting In Japan
    Oct 14 2024
    As a vigorous networker, constantly in motion, always looking for new clients, I attend a lot of events. Usually there are speakers or panel discussions or sometimes both. In this regard, I probably see over 100 people a year presenting in Japan. One consistent theme across all of these presentations is the lack of understanding of the “ba” (場) when speaking. This “ba” in Japanese means the physical locale or place or occasion, in this context. What I notice is that the speakers are confusing the “ba” as a presenter. They address the audience in the same voice strength, body language projection and gesture application, as they would use if they were sitting together having a chat over coffee with their friend. You might wonder why they would do that when they are there facing an audience of fifty people or more? Why can’t they scale up what they are doing to suit the much larger assembly? Don’t they feel the need to engage the entire audience once they have been given the shot to address the masses? Basically, they have no clue because they have never received any training on presenting. Their only reference point is coffee chats with a friend and they just keep that template for the larger occasion. Now I am sure they have seen someone present professionally, but I feel there must be a mental disconnect between what they are witnessing and how they see themselves. Perhaps even that is too optimistic for Japan, because they may have never seen a professional presentation here because they are so rare. Regardless, if they have ever seen a professional presentation they were just observers rather than students. They didn’t see what was going on as a model. They were just passive audience members observing someone else going through the motions. Once you have been trained, you automatically become a critic and keen observer of what the speaker is doing, because you have a range of relevant reference points to compare against. The combination of panelists and speakers I saw in a recent event had a common theme – no differentiation of the “ba” for this occasion and chatting over coffee with a friend. The voices were quiet. The energy low to non-existent. The body language turned off completely. No passion, no highlights, no take-aways, no persuasion attempted. It was as flat as a pancake. Yet here were a large number of company representatives giving their ideas on a particular subject, without much in the way of real commitment or passion. A number of them were youngish, if late twenties- early thirties counts as youngish. Is that an excuse? I don’t think so. Whatever age they were, no one on that stage had given much thought to what they were doing and what they wanted to achieve. It was obvious that representing their firm well as professionals was not in their minds. And yet here they were – on stage speaking to us in the audience. Just speaking more strongly would have made a big difference. Not yelling. They had microphones so there was no need for yelling but there was a big need to more vocal power and especially hitting key words. It was all a series of monotone deliveries, one after another. There was no passion for their subject or their point of view and that is a death sentence in the persuasion business. No storytelling either. They gave up such a major opportunity to connect with their audience by telling personal stories which would have made the point they were getting at. It was just a lot of talking without much to say really and so very disappointing. Engaging the crowd was not in their minds whatsoever. This makes sense if coffee chats are your only reference point for presenting. One-on-one over coffee you don’t have to project yourself, engage the other person or lift your voice. The average person is just not trained to know what to look for. At the event, I was chatting with a female lawyer about how poor lawyers are as speakers at their own seminars where they are trying to find clients. She had no idea what I was talking about. As it turned out the hosting firm’s senior legal counsel gave a speech at the event and afterwards I referenced it to my lawyer companion, as an example of what the problem is with the way lawyers are trained. She had just seen the same speech, but she couldn’t distinguish what was missing. Like most people she had no clue what to look for. I gave her some examples from the talk and I could see a glimmer of a lightbulb going on inside her mind. A faint glimmer to be sure. The coffee chat “ba” and the stage “ba” are totally different. On stage we have to be more. Bigger, bolder, louder, more energized, more persuasive , more engaging. We have to be “on”, rather than passive and acting like a spectator, when in fact we are the main act.
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    11 mins
  • 406 Should We Lie In Our Presentations In Japan?

    406 Should We Lie In Our Presentations In Japan?
    Oct 7 2024
    This seems a ridiculous construct – of course we when we are presenting in business we shouldn’t lie. However, look at what is happening in the rest of the world. Kellyanne Conway introduced “alternative facts” into the American political debate to explain lies. Donald Trump rails against the fake media and fake news. It would appear that many people, including leading Republicans, think he lies a lot, and yet half of the American electorate support him. Are we now in a free fall where anything goes? I know this is dangerous territory to wade into, because to paraphrase basketball legend and entrepreneur Michael Jordan, “Republicans also buy sneakers and corporate training”. Donald Trump wrote in the Art Of the Deal that, “I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration – and a very effective form of promotion”. This idea is often linked to German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels quote, “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth”. So when we are presenting, is it allowed to introduce exaggeration? You could answer that question by applying a gauge on the extent of the exaggeration. Is a small exaggeration acceptable or is the line struck such that no exaggerations are allowed? In Japan, at least, I would suggest that no one in business uses any “truthful hyperbole” or “alternative facts”, or exaggeration whatsoever. This whole focus on fake news has created an audience full of cynics and doubters. We all feel it. Every single day, I receive multiple fake emails and messages trying to get me to click on their attachment, or give them information so that they can rob me. These fakes are getting better and better in sophistication. More and more often, I have to contact the firm they are claiming to be from, to check they actually sent me that email or not. Back in the day, you took your chances outside with highwaymen and pirates. Today the modern era equivalents come over the internet through your email provider. As a consequence, we are all highly tuned up on fakery and dirty dealings. As a presenter, if we start exaggerating, our audience will doubt not just that point we are making, they will doubt every subsequent word which comes out of our mouth. They will also warn all of their friends and colleagues to be careful of us, because we cannot be trusted, because we are a bold faced liar. As presenters, recognising that the world is spiralling further and further down, with political discourse peppered with lies, we have to differentiate ourselves or some of this mud will get attached to us as well. The way to do that is to offer proof, evidence, data, statistics, testimonials demonstrations, exhibits etc. If we show a slide with a reference to some data, we need to include the source of that data. Probably 99% of the audience won’t check it, but it doesn’t matter, we have to presume they will all check it and we need our information to be tight. If we make a claim we have to be able to back it up with proof that what we are saying is true. We have to see the audience in front of us as one filled with battle hardened sceptics and supreme doubters and prepare accordingly. We must also realise this is only going to get worse and that the doubt factor will be applied to more and more of what we say. We have to be very, very careful about making statements which stand on their own. An opinion is fine and we have to flag it as exactly that, an opinion. Every other statement needs to be surrounded by provable evidence. The key is in the preparation. We have an important message we want to get across. What are the main points we will make and what proof do we offer to back up our claims. That evidence has to be verifiable and cannot be “alternative facts” or “truthful hyperbole” or subtle exaggeration. Depending on the situation we might distribute some additional documents which nominate the sources for what we are saying to head off any doubt arising in the minds of the listeners. As things degrade further, we can be proactive about it, rather than trusting that people will take what we say at face value. As I mentioned earlier with slides, we definitely have to include the references to any data or claims we are making. “If in doubt leave it out” is always good advice when stitching the presentation together. If I see a slide with a reference to statistics from 2019, I wonder why is the speaker showing such outdated data and why can’t they offer something more credible. Are they cunning, lazy or stupid? Now, both their point and they themselves are firmly placed in my “highly doubtful box”. In Japan, by the way, official government statistics are usually three years out of date. What should be an official, reliable source of information is made dubious by its antiquity. We have to be very careful about claims we make and the proof we offer to back them up....
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    12 mins
  • 405 All Style No Substance Presenting In Japan

    405 All Style No Substance Presenting In Japan
    Sep 29 2024
    It was a big affair. The entire Shinsei Bank retail staff were assembled for a series of updates from the Division Heads on what each Division was doing and where they were going. One of my erstwhile lifelong banker colleague Division Head gave his presentation. It was dull, monotone, low energy and not engaging in the least. Unfortunately for him, it was my turn next. By this time, thanks to my previous work as a Senior Trade Commissioner and Consul-General for Australia, I had given hundreds of public speeches, mainly in Japanese, to audiences of all different stripes in Japan. I knew how to give this talk in a way which would be interesting for the audience and in a way in which I could grab their attention. My sharp elbowed colleague instantly recognised there were light years between his miserable efforts and my professionalism. Did he commit to self-improvement, to build the biggest skyscraper in town, to become excellent in public speaking? No. He sought out ways to pull down all the other skyscrapers, so that his could be the tallest instead. He informed all in earshot, except for me of course, that “Greg is all style and no substance”. When this comment was duly reported to me, honestly, I just burst our laughing. Not in an exaggerated thespian, ironic way, but a genuine belly laugh, because the idea was so ridiculous, so preposterous, so revealing about his insecurities. I had given enough public speeches by that time to know it wasn’t just style that was engaging my audiences. What was ironic was that originally I was scouted to leave Austrade and join Shinsei’s Retail Bank, because of a speech I gave to the American Chamber of Commerce here in Tokyo. In fact, that speech changed the direction of my career, although I didn’t realise it at the time. Recently, I was reading an article by Kathryn Brownell in the Financial Times, where she referenced the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon in 1960. Nixon didn’t understand the medium of television as well as Kennedy. Kennedy saw the opportunity to speak directly to voters, rather than just relying on highlighting policy differences. I recall some reports I have come across at different times, which said that those who only listened to the debate, gave it to Nixon, while those who watched, gave it to Kennedy. Nixon certainly made the complaint that the televised debate format brought in a new era where “politicians focused on style over substance”. It was a dividing line between eras and the future belonged to those who mastered the skills needed to be successful with the new medium. Kamala Harris killed Donald Trump in the recent debate and that wasn’t just style and no substance. She was extremely well prepared and brought all guns blazing to what Trump thought was going to be a knife fight. So what about businesspeople presenting here in Tokyo? I recall coaching a Japanese President who forsook the opportunity to do a professional speech, because he felt his vendor audience wouldn’t be ready for it. He knew what to do but chose to not do it. That was highly perplexing to me as his coach, but standing out in Japan is never a popular course of action. He just gave the same old boring monotone performance, because that was the norm for his company and industry. It was painful for me to watch and know what he could have done instead. I saw another local businessperson give a very good performance, as he was a skilled presenter. However, when I sat back and thought about what he was saying, as opposed to just being mesmerised by how he was saying it, I felt there wasn’t much meat in that speech. Before Covid, I saw Shigeru Ishiba, a Liberal Democratic Party hopeful, currently trying to secure the Party Presidency and thereby become Prime Minister, give a talk as part of a panel discussion. He was slumped in his chair, looking bored and his comments were lifeless, monotone and dull. However, when I closed my eyes and listened to what he was actually saying, it had more impact. If he wants to run this country, I hope he has improved as a communicator since then. It is obviously not a choice between style and substance. We need both, and I want to replace the word “style” with “professionalism”, to make the point clearer. Talking crap fluently is no help and neither is being valuable, but not being heard. The big difference between Harris and Trump, I believe, was in their understanding of the occasion and the preparation for it. This is precisely the same for us in business. If we spend all of our time crafting the slide deck and none on the rehearsal, then our talk will not be optimised. Observe any public talks today and even the good speakers face some people in the crowd who have whipped out their phones and are no longer concentrating on what is being said. Having great content, which is ignored by the audience, because we are unskilled and ...
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    13 mins

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