You’re leading your next business meeting in English. You’re both excited
and nervous.
“I want to wow my audience”.
Which means:
➤ My grammar must be mistake-free.
➤ I must use sophisticated language to demonstrate how professional I am.
➤ I need to include some complex sentence structures to impress my audience.
➤ I should include the latest buzzwords.
➤ I must have the answers at my fingertips and respond without pausing. That
way it will highlight my expertise.
In other words, you want to give a flawless (perfect)
performance at that business meeting.
So, how do you go about preparing for this performance, sorry, meeting?
Well, here’s your dilemma.
Unlike a pianist who has set pieces they’ll be performing and can practise
them in advance, you’re not too sure how you’re going to
practise for this meeting.
In theory, you could:
➤ Dust down that English grammar book you have and work through some exercises.
➤ Check Google Translate for the vocabulary you want to use.
➤ Look up the latest buzzwords and try to remember to incorporate them at
the meeting.
➤ Practise writing some complex sentences and verbalising them.
In practice, you do none of
the above.
Instead, you slowly get more and more stressed out about
this impending meeting.
➤ What if I don’t sound good because of my accent?
➤ What if I make grammar mistakes?
➤ What if I can’t answer the questions quickly enough?
➤ What if I can’t think of the right words?
➤ What if they realise I am not good enough?
By the time, the meeting is due to start you’re a nervous wreck wondering how on earth you’re going to get
through it in one piece.
Pssst…
What if I told you that you could avoid all that stress without resorting
to perfect grammar and complex sentence structures or sophisticated vocabulary?
How?
By refocusing your attention on what or, more importantly, who matters.
Your audience.
Newsflash: In seeking to perform (speak) perfectly, you’ve completely
forgotten your audience!
In focusing on yourself, your audience has become invisible to
you.
You’ve completely forgotten about the purpose of the meeting – to communicate with
them.
In wanting to perform for (read speak at) them, you’ve forgotten:
➤ To consider what your audience needs from you >> to be a helpful
resource or a ‘soliloquizing
authority ’?
➤ Who your audience is >>experts or non-experts of your sector?
>> international or monolingual English speakers?
➤ What their level of English proficiency is >> will they understand
the language you want to use? >> do they NEED that language to do their
jobs?
➤ To think if using buzzwords would make your message any clearer or simply
confuse your audience >> is using buzzwords truly going to help your
audience or are they there simply to boost your ego?
Beam that spotlight away from you and your stress levels fall
The moment you focus on your audience, your stress levels fall because the
spotlight is no longer on you producing grammar-perfect sentences,
sophisticated vocabulary or flawless pronunciation.
The spotlight is no longer on how well you’re performing (speaking), but on
how well your audience is responding to you.
And this requires you to watch, ask questions and listen. In other
words, communicate.
What a relief!
This is how you can wow your audience without stressing over your English.
Before the meeting
➤ Think about the purpose of your meeting >> is it to
get an agreement on a proposal, project deadline >> is it to persuade
your colleagues/clients about the merits of a board decision >> is it to
motivate your team >> is it to encourage your team to adopt a new way of
thinking?
➤ Consider what information your audience needs to fulfil your
objective >> do they need facts and figures >> do they
need a backstory? >> do they need your support?
➤ Think about who your audience is >> are they
international speakers or monolingual speakers of English >> what’s their
level of English proficiency?
➤ How should the information they need be delivered >>
does it need clear and plain English? >> would buzzwords and jargon be
appropriate? >> would non-complex sentence structures be appreciated?
>> should the stories you tell them be in the English they understand?
During the meeting
➤ Observe your audience >> watch their body language
>> are they following what you’re saying? >> do they look confused?
>> do they look interested? >> are they asking questions?
➤ Ask checking questions >> if they look confused or
you want to ensure they’ve understood the point, ask them a checking question
like “do you think my suggestion could work with your team in Dubai?”
>>from their response, you’ll soon know if they understood you
or not and address the issue if needed. >> maybe you need to adjust your
language >> say the same thing another way (paraphrase).
➤ Engage with your audience >> invite their
opinion>> don’t just say “what does everyone think?” >>
select someone and ask them “Gerard, you’ve done some work on this
before, I’d love to know what you think.”>> invite others to
contribute after Gerard has spoken.
➤ Ask questions and listen to their answers >> listen
to understand NOT to reply >> if you’re there as a resource, you
listening more than speaking will be essential.
After the meeting
➤ Reflect >> take 10 -15 minutes to go over the
meeting >> make notes.
➤ Did you achieve your objective?
If yes, how do you think you achieved it? >> what worked?
>> was your audience responsive? >> how so? >> asking
questions? >> responding to your questions? >> appreciating the
time you gave them?
If no, why do you think you didn’t? >> what happened?
>> was it your language? >> did you not ask enough questions?
>>did you rush through the meeting?>> how would you do things
differently next time?
Remember that as leader of the business meeting, your main purpose
is to steer and inspire your audience to action.
To do that you need to communicate with your audience,
not perform for it.