Semper Paratus - Preparation is the Foundation for Effective Communication

I attended a meeting this week that was a case study in poor communications.  There were eighteen people attending - four of whom flew in for the occasion.  During one agenda item I noted that fourteen of the eighteen attendees were doing email, on their smart phones or surfing the net.  That's almost 80% of the audience not paying attention.

The subject was important enough to be on the agenda but I can hardly blame the audience for tuning out.  The speaker was awful.  She mumbled, she rambled, she looked down at her folder,  and she simply wasn't prepared to sell her ideas.

Ms. Dorothy Sarnoff

When I went through training on presentations (many years ago in the days of Mad Men) at Ogilvy & Mather advertising, the training was conducted by Dorothy Sarnoff.  Dorothy Sarnoff was a Broadway actress, most famous for her starring role as Anna in "The King and I."  I thought it was odd that a Broadway actress would be training advertising executives, but O&M thought otherwise.  The central point that she made was that when you are presenting you are on stage.  She taught us to engage in intra-communications (mentally speaking to yourself) before beginning a presentation by repeating the mantra: "I'm glad I'm here; I know what I know."  If you are glad to be at the presentation, you will look and feel engaged.  The presenter in the dreadful meeting that I just attended looked like she was attending a funeral.  To confirm that "I know what I know" gives the speaker confidence about the presentation and promotes the ability to sell ideas.  Our mumbling presenter at the recent meeting was anything but confident.  Ms. Sarnoff had many other tips, notably on how to project so that everyone in the room could hear the presentation ... and she insisted that we make eye contact with as many in the room as possible.

Another great teacher in my career was a Management Supervisor at Leo Burnett advertising.  He insisted on preparation as the foundation for good communication.  In fact, he insisted that all of his colleagues write out talking points complete with a recommendation whenever we met - even on relatively unimportant subjects.  There was no such thing as dropping in to chat or having a hallway conversation with him.  As a result, meetings were very focused and there was always an outcome.  I so wish that more people prepared for meetings.  The workplace would be so much more productive.

The motto of the US Coast Guard is "Semper Paratus:" always prepared.  It isn't a bad idea for communicators.