Today was the single most tedious, exhausting, and important day here on the road. We spent eight hours sequestered in the ballroom, which was set up for General Session, doing live run-throughs of all our presentations.
Today was the day we put all the pieces together, figuring out the transitions between video intros, spoken dialogue, video bumpers, walk-ons, and presentations with Powerpoint. Talk about a logistical challenge! I have huge respect for LeAnn, our producer, and her ability to juggle everything and everyone and keep it all running smoothly.
(This is the stage, or at least the side view of it. All the presenters enter from backstage, through the curtain, and up that set of stairs behind the on-stage monitor. The two "news anchors" are on-stage at the lucite table, seated at the bar stools, for most of the session. Flanking the stage on both sides are huge screens that display our videos and graphics.)
My presentations went smoothly, and I was pleased with my rehearsal. It’s been a year since I’ve used a teleprompter, and it takes me a little while to get used to using one again. It was nice to have today to get back in the saddle, so to speak, and get a feel for physical placement of the monitors.
I also found it to be eye-opening, as a student of speaking, to watch others use the monitors. I have come to realize that getting good with a teleprompter is a skill any business professional who speaks on a regular basis really should learn to add to their arsenal. Most people think, instinctively, that it doesn’t require practice. “After all, my entire script will be on the screen – all I have to do is read it.” There’s a very human tendency to prepare less when you know you have a Teleprompter to rely on.
But I’ve discovered you actually need to prepare more when the prompters will be there. After all, they’re called “prompters” for a reason – not “readers”. You should know 80-90% of your script, and have it ingrained in your mind, regardless of the Teleprompters. They’re just there to keep you on track, keep you from going off-script, and literally prompt you for what comes next.
For those of you who haven’t ever seen a teleprompter set-up: we’re on a raised stage, about a foot and a half off the ground … enough that it requires two steps to get up to it. In front of the stage, on the floor, are three large monitors: one in the center, one angled on the left, and one angled on the right.
The center monitor is known as our “confidence monitor”, and it displays our PowerPoint presentation. It just shows us what’s up on the giant screens to each side of the stage, so we can have confidence that the production guys behind the stage are at the right point in the presentation as they drive it for us. (That’s right – they’re the ones advancing the screens this year. Yet another moving part to coordinate!)
The monitors on the left and right are the Teleprompters. Now, the idea is that as you look at the audience to one side and then the other, you can drop your eyes briefly to the monitor, get your next line, and return your eyes to the audience, without being obvious about it. When you know your script, and you gain some skill with the monitors, it’s possible to do it very smoothly, so that only people in the front row who are watching your eyes can even tell what you’re doing.
But today, I watched a lot of people playing the “ping pong” game. They were jerking their heads from one monitor to the other, like they felt they needed to “work the audience”, one side and the other, and it came across as very mechanical. They were also dropping their entire head to read the prompter, rather than just their eyes. It’s the dip of the chin that will give you away.
It’s all a matter of practice, and gaining comfort with it … but for my speaking friends out there, if you ever find yourself having to use one of these devices, here’s my advice for you:
Know your material. Don’t allow yourself to fall into the trap of believing the Teleprompter is license to get out of learning your speech. If you do, it will be obvious you are reading, rather than delivering, and you will regret it.
Stand upstage, rather than down. This is counter-intuitive for me, since I much prefer getting close to my audience, and I like to stand as close to the edge of the stage as I can without being in danger of falling off. But when you stand close to the edge, the Teleprompters are very much below you, and you will have to drop your head to see the screen. Standing further up-stage makes it easier to see the screen from a natural head position.
Don’t drop your chin. This is the one thing you can do when using a prompter that is a dead give-away that you’re using it. Focus on keeping your chin up, holding your head up high, and just drop your eyes to the monitor. It will feel weird at first, but trust me … it looks a lot better. If you drop your chin, you will break your connection with the audience.
Know your material. Did I say this one already? Well, it bears repeating. The whole point of a Teleprompter is to use it to prompt you, to keep you from getting off-track, and to help you stay on-time when presentations have to be tightly scripted, especially for highly-orchestrated and coordinated corporate events. Read your script over and over and over and over again … practice it ahead of time … don’t worry about committing it to memory – it will worm its way in just as a function of all that practice – and when you get up there to deliver it, the Teleprompter will be there to prompt you. Which is exactly what it’s for.
Last year, when they announced we’d all have to script our presentations for the first time, and that use of the Teleprompter was going to be compulsory, I was more than a little miffed. “A truly professional speaker,” I mused, “doesn’t need the crutch of a Teleprompter.” Boy, was I arrogant! Using one of these well takes a degree of skill that only comes from practice, and in corporate America, it’s a skill well worth having.
The other thing I had an opportunity to do today, that I now don’t have to worry about doing tomorrow, is that I was able to walk the entire stage … in heels.
One of the pieces of advice Jim gives to people who are competing in Toastmasters speech contests is that they should get there early and walk the stage. This serves to increase their confidence as well as to alert them to any potential issues with the stage itself. For these same reasons, I make it a habit to walk every single stage before I step up to speak… and I walk it in my heels.
You see, these hotels use risers to assemble their stages, and they’re notoriously uneven. I’ve seen one panel to another have enough of a height difference that it could trip you, if you weren’t aware of it. I’ve been on stages where there were gaps between the risers large enough for my heel to slip through. And I’ve been on far too many of them that rock and squeak as you step on one corner or another of a particular riser.
So it’s part of my pre-meeting routine to slip into the ballroom early, once I’m dressed to speak, and walk the stage in my heels. Because the stage feels different in 4” heels than it does in flat shoes … trust me on that one. I looked a little silly today, seeing as how I was dressed in casual-wear for rehearsal, but I slipped off my ballet flats and strapped on my black heels every time I got up there to speak. And now I feel pretty good about getting up there tomorrow.
(Yeah, imagine me, in this, with those black heels ... ridiculous!)
The only other thing I need to test is the stairs with my skirt. Because I’ve had that happen, too … show up wearing a skirted suit, with a slim-fit skirt, and go to climb up the stairs on those 4” heels, only to discover the stairs are too steep (or the skirt is too slim) and it requires stepping up at an angle. So when I go in at 1p to get wired with my mic and to do my final sound check, I’ll run through my fully-costumed entrance and exit.
After that … it’s all good. Or I hope it will be. I’m more than a bit nervous about tomorrow, seeing as how our new CEO will be present for the meeting. I want to knock it out of the park, total home run, and all those other sports analogies … so while many of the guys headed out for an evening on the strip, I grabbed an early dinner and came back to my room. I’m planning on hitting the sack early, and I’m praying for a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow’s going to be the big one. Here’s hoping I have good news to report tomorrow night!
Recent Comments