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WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM
2nd QUARTER 2013
N
ot all presentations are given face-
to-face, in front of a group such as at
a board of directors meeting. If you
don’t like speaking in front of a group,
you may think it is good that the audience
can’t see you; the reality is, there are reasons
it can be good and reasons it isn’t.
One of my clients is a CFOwho gives
quarterly analyst calls. On the positive side,
she can use more notes and reference material
than she could if she were at a podium deliver-
ing her message. It can be extremely helpful to
answer questions from the analysts who are
on the call. This requires good organization so
there isn’t too long a delay between the ques-
tion and the answer. The longer the delay, the
more credibility she’ll lose.
This CFO is on the analyst call along with
the CEO of the company. The beauty here
is they can cue each other to answer the ques-
tion or add a piece of information. All of this
is done without the audience seeing. The pre-
sentation and Q-and-A that follows will be
delivered smoothly, cleanly, and seamlessly.
When communicating with others, there
are three ways our message is given and
received:
1
Body language, which is the most
influential to our audience
2
Tone of voice, the second most influential
3
Words, somewhat influential
This ranking may be a surprise, but think
about it. If the words are conveying a positive
message but the speaker is frowning, head
down, or sounding blunt, the person or
audience will perceive the message based on
the body language and the tone of voice, not
based on the words that are spoken.
With this in mind, you must avoid certain
negative traps. Here’s how:
• You may think that it doesn’t matter
how you look, since no one will see you. The
reality is you still need to look and feel your
best for your voice to convey your message
confidently and appropriately.
• Acknowledge the “tone” of your mes-
sage. Is it good news or bad news? Then,
keep your facial expressions in sync with the
message you’re delivering. It’s very hard to
give good news when you are frowning and
thinking negatively. So if the news is good,
go ahead and smile. It will be perceived in
your tone of voice.
• Your body language will be heard to an
extent also. Your audience will “feel” if you are
not fully engaged in the delivery of your mes-
sage. You have probably had a phone conversa-
tion when you could tell that the person you
were speaking with was doing something else,
like texting or checking emails. You want your
audience to pay attention to you only. But just
as you knew that person was not fully engaged,
your audience will know if you’re not fully
engaged. Keep in mind that a person’s percep-
tion is that person’s reality.
So whether your audience can see you
or not, you want to be presentable and pre-
pared as if you were standing at a podium
or in a board meeting. After all, it is your
presentation and you know what you want
your audience to take away from it. With
preparation and forethought, you can en-
sure that they will hear everything you want
them to hear.
C
MARJORIE E. YUSCHAK, CMA
YM Strategies, Ltd.
Learn more about the author
www.CFOstudio.com/MarjorieYuschak
Sight Unseen
Delivering an address when your audience cannot see you
IF THE NEWS IS GOOD,
GO AHEAD AND SMILE.
IT WILL BE PERCEIVED
IN YOUR TONE.