Saturday, October 22, 2005

When speaking in public, it's all in the eyes

When speaking in public, it's all in the eyes
Want to impress? Toss the notes and gaze at every face in the room

By Carmine Gallo
BusinessWeek Online
Updated: 6:47 p.m. ET Oct. 21, 2005

In recent weeks, I've seen at least two high-profile business and
political leaders give what could be the most important talks of their
lives.

In one case, a politician announced her run for high office. In the
other, a commentator issued a stern defense of his record after a
potentially damaging allegation was levied against him.

What did they have in common? They both read from prepared notes or
scripts, a surefire way to lose that all-important emotional
connection to your listeners. In my role as a communications coach,
I've found that failing to maintain eye contact ranks as the No. 1
problem — but also the easiest to fix.

Titans who deliver
If you truly want to capture the hearts and minds of your listeners,
then maintain eye contact during your presentation, talk, or speech.
Great business leaders do. And they do it by not reading.

I've never seen Oracle CEO Larry Ellison read from notes. Ever. I've
never seen Cisco CEO John Chambers read from notes. Ever. I've never
seen Apple CEO Steve Jobs read from notes. Ever.

Nor does former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In 1994, for his
first budget presentation after election, Giuliani worked tirelessly
on what to say about work-rules concessions, productivity gains,
budget cuts, and revenue projections. Complicated stuff.

Look up
He began the preparation in October for a speech in February! Why? So
he could present it from the heart, without notes. "I gave the whole
presentation without a script," Giuliani writes in his book,
"Leadership." "Beginning with that first speech, I've always done
budgets without prepared text. A few years later as my confidence
grew, I began giving my State of the City address the same way."

Giuliani gets it. People associate eye contact with honesty,
trustworthiness, sincerity, confidence — all the traits you strive
toward to make yourself a great business communicator. We like people
who look us in the eye. Venture capitalists tell me that when
entrepreneurs look down during their presentations, the energy drains
from their performance.

Presentations fall flat when you can't see someone's eyes. Donald
Trump thinks so. During one of the now-famous board meetings at the
end of "The Apprentice," a young man named Troy was arguing his case
in front of Trump, pleading with the billionaire not to fire him. I
remember Trump barking at Troy for relying on notes he had written on
a pad. Trump said he hates it when people read from notes. Troy was,
indeed, fired.

Setting boundaries
Trump is like most listeners — they hate to watch speakers read.
Contemporary audiences are won over by presenters who speak from the
heart. Scripts put a wedge between the presenter and the listener,
lessening the impact of the message.

Whether speaking to large groups or one-on-one, eye contact is
critical. But how long should you maintain eye contact? After all,
gazing directly into someone's eyes too long makes the person
uncomfortable. You need to build in natural breaks.

Some studies have suggested that in business, maintaining eye contact
70% to 80% of the time will have the most positive impact. I think
that's fine for one-on-one business interactions, but in group
presentations, you should maintain eye contact 90% to 95% of the time.

Touching everyone
How can you stay focused? Maintain eye contact long enough to register
the color of your listener's eyes. In a group setting, that means
picking out one person and looking at him or her long enough to
register eye color, then moving to another part of the room and doing
the same thing. I recommend breaking up a room into three parts and
spending equal time addressing people in each section.

That's what Fox News Channel contributor Stuart Varney does. "I
constantly move my attention to different parts of the room, from the
extreme right to the center to the extreme left," Varney once told me.
"I look at different parts of the room to draw everyone into the
conversation. I make everyone feel as though I'm talking to them, not
at them. I'm not lecturing, but conversing, as we would be doing at a
dinner party."

Indeed, how would you feel if the person you're speaking to at a
dinner party had her back turned to you or was looking at another
person over your shoulder? It's not very engaging, is it? It's all in
the eyes.

Getting organized
Planning your talk will also help you give more effective eye contact.
Great speakers never fail to devise a plan. They know what they're
going to say, how they're going to say it, and how they're going to
end it.

A conference organizer who has booked the world's most sought-after
business leaders once told me that the best presenters know what
they're going to say, how they're going to start their talk, and how
they're going to end it. Each of those key moments occurs during
direct eye contact with the audience.

If you speak confidently, people will consider you more credible. But
nonverbal cues are just as important as what you say. Studies show
that in courtroom trials, jurors view witnesses who look at the
questioners directly in the eye as more honest and credible.

Speak to me
One study of bank tellers found that those who used more eye contact
got higher ratings in customer-satisfaction surveys. What could you
accomplish in your professional life if potential customers rated you
highly? It starts with eye contact.

Now it's your turn. I've received some wonderful e-mails from readers
who incorporate these techniques into their own professional
communications. If you have questions, challenges, or success stories
of your own, drop me a line. I just may use your story or question for
a future column. You can reach me through my Web site, or e-mail me
directly. Looking forward to hearing from you!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9763281/

--
Regards,
Sanjeev Narang

***

email: ask {*at*} eConsultant dot com
<a href="http://www.eConsultant.com">www.eConsultant.com</a>

Friday, October 21, 2005

while Heide is away...

I will be on vacation next week, Oct. 24-28.

If you are unable to cover your docent shift while I am away, please notify Carri Campbell (Ccampbell@tacomaartmuseum.org or 253-272-4258 ext.3038). For other issues, please try to wait until I return.

Thanks!

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Thanksgiving schedule

Please let me know if you are unable (or think you might be) to cover your shifts the week before and after Thanksgiving.

 

Please also let me know if you are available to substitute during this time.

 

The museum will be closed on Thanksgiving Day which is Thursday, November 24 this year.

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

FW: Carving update

Here is the latest Carving update, but not the last!

 

I would also like to add that there are 2 female carvers working on the canoes which is obviously something new and non-traditional.

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rock Hushka
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 5:01 PM
To: All Employees;
Visitor Services Group; Visitor Services Leads
Subject: Carving update

 

Good afternoon, this is a reminder that the carving project is moving forward. Yesterday afternoon Phil Red Eagle telephoned with great news. The canoe carvers have secured a location to complete their work at Tacoma’s Working Waterfront Museum on Dock Street (a few blocks north of the museum). This location will allow the public to watch their progress and learn more about the canoe tradition of the Salish. They anticipate a completion date in May. Afterwhich, they will test their new canoes on Puget Sound. James Porter and I will work to help move the logs with the carvers sometime in the next couple of weeks. This process will involve loading the segments of the log currently in our parking lot and moving them down to Dock Street. We’ll forward more detail when we’ve coordinated everyone’s schedule: the two museums, the carvers, and the moving specialists.

 

Additionally, the University of Washington–Tacoma has offered one of their buildings for Shaun and Greg Colfax to complete their work on the Welcome Figure. The building is the tan, unused warehouse is awaiting conversion into a lecture hall this winter. (It’s the building next to Grassis.) The date that they will commence carving will be determined by Shaun and Greg. More soon, I’m sure!

 

If you have any questions, please, don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks.

 

rock

 

Rock Hushka

Curator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258, x3059

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

FW: MBW questions from docents

Here are the answers to some recent docent questions about Margaret Bourke-White.

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

-----Original Message-----
From:
Patricia McDonnell
Sent:
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 6:18 PM
To:
Heide Fernandez-Llamazares
Subject: RE: MBW questions from docents

 

Heidi:

 

The NBS mural no longer exists—good guess on your part! Bourke-White used many different cameras over her career as a photographer. So we can’t really single one out. Because she is well known as a technical innovator, she often tried out different cameras. She was, however, quite committed to large-format cameras and used cameras that would produce transparencies 4/5 and larger.

 

 

Patricia McDonnell

Chief Curator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3060

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Heide Fernandez-Llamazares
Sent:
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 2:54 PM
To: Patricia McDonnell
Subject: FW: MBW questions from docents

 

Hi Patricia,

 

I would like to find answers to some questions that visitors have asked the docents:

 

What type of camera did MBW use? (I think this will be a common question)

 

Does the NBC mural still exist? I think the answer is no?

 

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Heide will be on vacation from Oct. 24 to 28

I will be on vacation next week, Oct. 24-28, in New York City.

If you need anything, please let me know before this Friday. Or, if it is an emergency, contact Carri Campbell (Ccampbell@tacomaartmuseum.org or 253-272-4258 ext.3038) while I am away.

 

Have fun while I am gone, and don’t forget to attend training and the Volunteer Lunch!

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

Thursday=10/20=Third Thursday Art Walk ; Final Friday=10/28 Lunch


Hello Fellow Docents,

A gentle reminder that this month's Docent Coffee / Third Thursday
coffee will be at Cutters Point Coffee, 5:00pm + with the same "No
Agenda" and same "No RSVP Required" policy as the last few times !

Day: Third Thursday
Date : 10/20/05
Place : ** Cutters Point Coffee **
Time: 5:00pm +

The museums will be open free and late; the galleries will be open; we
can take the train to the theater district. No agenda is good freedom.

***

If you work downtown or can come for lunch, do join us for Final Friday Lunch.

Day: Final Friday
Date: 10/28/05
Place: India Mahal
Time : 12:00 Noon

India Mahal is at 823 Pacific Ave Tacoma WA 98402-5209 Phone:
(253)-272-5700 - and has a very inexpensive buffet ($6.99 ?!). The
food is good.

No RSVP required ; just show up!

***

Docents in Training, if you are afraid that you won't be able to spot
us, you can easily keep track of the names and faces of the docents in
the Docent Gallery:

http://www.sanjeev.net/tam/docents.html

--
Regards,
Sanjeev Narang

***

email: ask {*at*} eConsultant dot com
<a href="http://www.eConsultant.com">www.eConsultant.com</a>

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

URGENT: Docents Needed: Wednesday, October 26

I still need one docent for the Volunteer Lunch on October 26.

 

On Wednesday, October 26, there will be a Volunteer Lunch for all museum volunteers. As part of that lunch, we would like to offer 2 docent-led tours – one of Margaret Bourke-White from 11:30-12:00, and one of Michael Brophy from 1:30-2:00.

Depending on the number of volunteers who RSVP (and the tour is optional), I will probably need at least 2 docents (one for each tour). We decided to use 2 docents so that you can also participate in the lunch and have a good time.

 

Please reply only if you are available, and I will confirm whether or not you are needed.

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

Reminder: Training on Oct. 19 or Oct. 24

Please make sure that you attend the Touring Workshop on either:

 

Wednesday, October 19 from 6:00-8:00 pm

OR

Monday, October 24 from 10:30am-12:30pm

 

 

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

Reminder: Architecture Walking Tour on Oct.22

 

Architecture Walking Tour:
Tacoma Through a Documentary Camera Lens

Saturday, October 22, 1 pm
Margaret Bourke White’s visual style and fascination with poverty and progress might well be associated with Tacoma in the 1930’s and 40’s. Her unflinching documentary style seems well suited to our city and its streetscape before the coming of the shopping mall and suburbs. Michael Sullivan, University of Washington Tacoma Adjunct Faculty, will lead a walking exploration Tacoma’s architecture and streetscape with a focus on what her lens would have seen in the era of the Depression, World War II and the early prosperity of the late 40’s and 50’s. Cost: members $5, non-members $7.

 

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

 

 

Monday, October 17, 2005

The Torch Is Passed at the House of Luce


Henry R Luce is in the news ....

Started Time in 1923
Started Fortune in 1930
Started Life in 1936
Started Sports Illustrated in 1954
(2000: his company is now called AOL Time Warner)

Henry R Luce Bio at Time:
http://www.time.com/time/mediakit/about/biographies/founders/luce.html

NYTimes Article Today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/business/17time.html?ex=1287201600&en=8e790ca9260e5664&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

The Torch Is Passed at the House of Luce

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

When Norman Pearlstine, the editor in chief of Time Inc., decided
early this summer that Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine,
should testify before a grand jury in the C.I.A. leak case, Mr.
Pearlstine's No. 2, John Huey, was uncharacteristically circumspect
about what he would have done, had he been in his boss's shoes.

A lot of people wanted to know, especially in the magazine's
Washington bureau, which felt hung out to dry by Mr. Pearlstine's
decision. It was a defining moment for Time. And Mr. Huey, as Mr.
Pearlstine's heir apparent, would soon be in the position of making
such decisions himself.

Now he is. Time Inc., a division of Time Warner, the world's largest
media company, is to announce today that Mr. Huey, 57, will succeed
Mr. Pearlstine, 63, on Jan. 1. This makes Mr. Huey the sixth editor in
chief of the storied magazine empire since Henry R. Luce published the
first issue of Time in 1923 (though Mr. Luce did not assume the title
of editor in chief until the 1940's).

So the question was put to Mr. Huey in an interview last week: Would
he have had Mr. Cooper testify before the grand jury?

Yes, he said, he would have reached the same conclusion as Mr.
Pearlstine but with two caveats: "If I know then everything I know
now," he said, more than three months after the fact, "and if I'm
faced with exactly the same situation and data, then yes, I make the
same decision."

The answer showed, beyond loyalty to Mr. Pearlstine, the degree of
mind meld between the two as they stake out a position unpopular among
many journalists. They have worked together for 17 of the last 25
years, starting at The Wall Street Journal, and Mr. Pearlstine has
been grooming Mr. Huey as his successor since appointing him four
years ago as editorial director.

They have been the Astaire and Rogers of publishing, so in sync as
they swept across the floor of the house of Luce that it was not
always clear who was leading.

"John has been running this magazine group with Norm, so it's hard to
tell where one's point of view ends and the other's begins," said Eric
Pooley, whom the two executives installed earlier this year as
managing editor of Fortune.

As a result, the transfer of power to Mr. Huey will be just the way
Time Inc. likes it - barely perceptible to its 13,500 employees or to
the nearly two of every three American adults who read at least one of
Time Inc.'s 155 magazines every month.

Moreover, the Huey era is likely to bear a strong resemblance to the
11-year Pearlstine era, down to Mr. Huey's grooming of his own
successor who, if the hosannas from the 34th floor of the Time & Life
Building are any indication, is likely to be Martha Nelson, 53, the
managing editor of People magazine.

"I don't think you'll see a lot of change," said Don Logan, chairman
of Time Warner's media and communications group. "It's an orderly
transition that has been planned out and thought out for some time.
And it's not like John is moving into a situation that's broken and
needs to be fixed."

But that is not to say that everything will stay the same. The
challenges facing Mr. Huey, an assertive and opinionated fellow, in an
increasingly competitive and strained financial environment are
different from those that have faced Mr. Pearlstine.

"The bottom-line pressures at Time Inc. are no secret," said Mark
Whitaker, editor of Newsweek, Time magazine's crosstown competitor.
"And they are particularly intense now, given Carl Icahn's involvement
and interest in getting the stock price up," he said, referring to
pressure for corporate revamping by Mr. Icahn, the investor who has
increased his stake in Time Warner.

But "for anybody in this business," Mr. Whitaker said, "the big
challenges are: How do you continue to keep print magazines exciting
and viable while also taking advantage of the Web? How do you attract
younger readers? And what can we do to make the strongest possible
case to the advertising community?

"John is in the same boat with everyone else in trying to figure those
things out."

Mr. Huey, a native Georgian with a slow drawl, seems to be trying not
to make waves as he takes the helm.

"My main vision - and this sounds like I'm more of a marketer than an
editor, but so what? - is making sure the power of the brand stays as
vital as it can," he said in the interview in his office, which he
will soon trade in for Mr. Pearlstine's grand corner lair.

And who will take Mr. Huey's none-too-shabby digs? No one for now, he said.

"I have to spend time sorting out what life is like without Norm," he
said. Besides, he added, Ms. Nelson, whom he called "a creative genius
and a great manager," is "very, very valuable right where she is." But
few doubt that Mr. Huey will sooner or later expand her portfolio to
include more of the lifestyle magazines, Time Inc.'s profit centers,
and put her on a path to become the company's first female editor in
chief.

For years, the publishing division of Time Warner, which is mostly
magazines but includes books, has been immensely profitable.

According to Time Warner's earnings report for the first half of this
year, the division accounted for $2.7 billion of the company's total
revenue of $21.2 billion. This is the smallest amount generated by one
of its five divisions, and yet it generates 10 percent of its
operating income, before depreciation and amortization. The division
consistently makes money, led by the phenomenal financial success of
People magazine, which accounts for about 15 percent of Time Inc.'s
profit.

"If you take People magazine out of Time Inc., we are a rather
ordinary magazine company," Mr. Pearlstine said. "It's what gives us
the superior performance."

But growth at some other magazines has slowed or is flat. Problems
include sluggish advertising, uncertainty over the sources of future
growth and an inability to make headway online. Mr. Huey said that
Time, the flagship publication, for instance, "needs a little pump."

Richard Greenfield of Fulcrum Global Partners, a publishing industry
analyst, said that Time Inc. "is a good solid business today and has
had reasonable growth over a very long period of time, but the average
12- or 21-year-old isn't picking up magazines." In addition, he said,
the company's print division was hampered by its online division, AOL,
which features news generated by media outlets besides Time Inc.

"How do you make Time magazine into a killer brand online if you are
offering these other brands?" Mr. Greenfield asked. "Magazines like
People and InStyle may have a very long life, given that it's hard to
replicate that experience online. But for the less female-skewing,
less fashion and less gossipy publications, we're increasingly
concerned about where they are going. With news, people don't want to
read it a week late."

Mr. Logan said he expected profit to be up again this year but the
company was nonetheless in a "difficult" period. As a result, he said,
he expected tighter cost efficiencies and fewer new magazines. Time
Inc. has essentially had a hiring freeze for the last four years. Mr.
Huey said the slowed growth in company profit was already forcing him
to think about job cuts. "It's premature for me to say how it comes
out, but it's in the air," he added.

He also said advertisers had become more aggressive about trying to
get lower rates and embed their products in magazines in ways that did
not immediately identify them as ads. "The pressure is extraordinary,"
he said. But, he added, "We have to be open to some of these kinds of
things."

In newsmagazines that are trying to present "the unvarnished truth,"
Mr. Huey said, he "would never consider such a thing." But in others,
"we would work to figure out if the consumer would be comfortable and
if it didn't denigrate our brand of journalism."

Ann S. Moore, chairwoman and chief executive of Time Inc., said Mr.
Huey's main task would be to pick the editors to run the magazines.
His real test, she said, "is who's his team." She said she did not
anticipate immediate turnover at the major publications; most of those
editors are relatively new. But, she said, "there are magazines that
need reinventing and redesigning, and there will be turnover."

Replacing editors is a sore subject for Mr. Huey, who fired four of
his shortly after becoming editorial director in 2001, a messy period
chronicled in an unflattering article in GQ.

Mr. Pearlstine said many of those decisions were his, although Mr.
Huey was blamed. While Mr. Huey disputes many details in that article
and acknowledges that he can be blunt and sarcastic, he said he had
learned to "modify" his behavior. "The further up you get in an
organization like this," he said, "the more weight people put on your
words."

For all of the symbiosis between Mr. Pearlstine and Mr. Huey, there
are differences.

Mr. Pearlstine is something of an international jet-setter; Mr. Huey
has avoided what he calls the media swirl. Mr. Huey's family lives in
South Carolina, to which he commutes regularly. Since his use of
company planes for that purpose was criticized, he now takes
commercial flights.

Mr. Pearlstine said they also had different instincts. "I have that
newspaper instinct that says you put your most important story on the
cover," he said. "John has the instinct that the cover is a marketing
document."

And while they emerged on the same side in the Cooper case, they
arrived in different ways. Mr. Pearlstine, who was trained as a
lawyer, said the decision was the most difficult he faced in more than
three decades in journalism. He pored over case law and buttonholed
academics, he said, before concluding essentially that no one is above
the law.

Mr. Huey is more of a gut-level pragmatist. "I was never the
intellectual champion of the decision in the way he was," Mr. Huey
said of Mr. Pearlstine, "because I'm not a lawyer and I'm not an
intellectual. But I'm not an idiot either."

He said he would have done what Mr. Pearlstine did because he learned
in the last three months that Mr. Pearlstine's decision "did not
destroy the credibility of Time magazine," as some had feared.

Moreover, he said, "if you look at how the opposite decision is
playing out," referring to the decision by Judith Miller, a reporter
for The New York Times, to go to jail rather than testify in the case,
only to emerge from jail 85 days later to testify, "I'm not sure what
that proves. What are the lessons from that?"

A notable difference between the two is that Mr. Huey loves being a
hands-on editor. "I was a guy who liked to write headlines and picture
captions and move things around and choose covers," he said. "There
was a tradition in the old days when the editor in chief would edit a
magazine for a couple of cycles. Norm never did that, and as to
whether I would ever revive that tradition, I don't know. But I
certainly would be comfortable doing that. I like editing magazines.
It would be fun to get back in the car and ride around the track a
couple of times."

--
Regards,
Sanjeev Narang

***

email: ask {*at*} eConsultant dot com
<a href="http://www.eConsultant.com">www.eConsultant.com</a>