How Not to Apologize

Rutgers University President Robert Barchi managed to make a bad situation infinitely worse yesterday with his tone-deaf and arrogant news conference addressing his men’s basketball team scandal.

To recap the timeline: in November 2012, the team’s director of player development brought Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti dozens of video clips showing Coach Mike Rice engaging in abusive behavior toward his players during team practices: pushing them, kicking them, throwing basketballs at their heads, yelling homophobic slurs at them. After seeing this, Pernetti and other university officials decided not to terminate Rice, but to fine him and put him on probation. President Barchi says he didn’t bother to watch the video at the time because he relied on the judgment of his administrators and trusted their decision.

Fast-forward to this past Tuesday, April 2. ESPN airs the offending video, the public erupts with shock and disgust, President Barchi finally gets around to viewing the video himself, and Coach Rice resigns the following day, April 3. Two days later on April 5, Barchi holds a news conference to address the issues publicly.

Right from his opening statement, I had the sinking feeling that Barchi was taking the wrong approach. He did apologize, but he said the whole debacle was “a failure of process,” not his own failure. When asked if he had considered resigning, he smiled and flippantly said “I consider resigning every day.” What? His whole tone was somehow too casual and haughty at the same time, as if he wasn’t taking this very serious situation seriously because it was somewhat beneath him.

Rule #1 of media training for crisis management: when bad things happen, address them immediately, take full responsibility, and if an apology is called for (as it certainly was in this case), it should be complete, unequivocal and sincere. No qualifications or weak attempts at humor.

As of this writing, President Barchi still has his job. But he didn’t help himself with his pathetic performance in front of the cameras.

Real Men Wear Makeup

Your words might have the power to change the world, but no one's going to hear them if your face is shinier than a dead mackerel.

The solution: makeup.

If you’re lucky or high-powered enough to get yourself on MSNBC or Fox News, you’re in good hands; professional makeup artists will be there to help you look your best. But in other on-camera situations like smaller-market TV studios or even corporate videoconferences, you’re on your own. Bright lights make even dry skin shimmer.  Noses, foreheads, upper lips, and bald heads are all potential trouble spots. So, a few tips for the cosmetics-phobic:

The first step is to camouflage 5 o'clock shadow. Even if you’ve just shaved, this can still be a problem for men with heavy beards. You also need cover up blemishes, moles, acne scars, and blotchy skin, all more noticeable these days thanks to HD TV. So buy some foundation at the makeup counter and brush it on. Once that’s in place, pat on pressed powder to reduce glare.  An extra dab of powder on the upper lip just before going on air is a good idea.

Be sure to work the foundation and powder down your neck, or you'll end up with what looks like golfer's tan on your chin. President Obama had a little bit of that going on at the State of the Union address when he was mingling with the crowd beforehand. But once he was on the podium, under the TV lights, you couldn't tell he was wearing makeup at all, which is what you want.  Extra tip for the bald or balding: The powder goes on your head too.

You can stop there, but if you want to take it to the next level, work a narrow strip of foundation, a bit lighter than the one you just used, along the middle of your nose to widen your face. Highlight your cheekbones with a bit of blush, and sweep a thin line of eyeliner on your lower lids to make your eyes look bigger. Less is more.

Make sure the products match your skin tone - makeup salespeople in department and specialty stores are usually good at this. And try them on your face, not your hand, which often has a slightly different skin tone. MAC makes a stay-on line of makeup called Studio Fix expressly for on-air occasions.

Needless to say, there are a few other grooming non-negotiables: clipping nose and ear hair (get a friend to help spot these), short, clean nails, and especially if the interview is outside, hairspray. A word about outdoor interviews: natural light is more forgiving than studio lighting. Least desirable is overhead fluorescent lights in a conference room or office.

Most important, don't get caught "doing your face”(or hair) on camera. One of the more unfortunate scenes in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 featured former Paul Wolfowitz spitting on his comb while tape was rolling. It was certainly memorable, but not the way you want to be remembered.

Mirror, Mirror

 

A friend asked me last week whether it's a good idea to practice in front of a mirror before delivering a speech or presentation. The answer to the first half of his question is a definitive yes; one should always try to find time to practice out loud beforehand. It's the single best way to keep nervousness at bay, and it greatly improves pacing and delivery.

But I don't recommend the mirror part. It's distracting. Kind of like steering with a tiller for the first time - it looks and feels "backwards," and you're bound to be self-conscious.

Better to grab a video camera or your smartphone and record yourself. If you don't have a tripod, just balance the recording device on a stack of books or lean it on a shelf. This way, you can concentrate on your delivery and visualize the environment and the audience. Deliver your entire presentation if you have time, then play it back and take notes. Are you gesturing in a strong but non-distracting way? Are you emphasizing key words? Are making steady eye contact with the (imaginary) audience, or are you looking down at your notes too much? Try to practice and review the entire thing at least three times before you do it for real. There's nothing like seeing what the audience will see before they see it.

Fear Not, Introverts

Comfortable in a crowd, their very oxygen coming from contact with others, most extroverts enjoy public speaking a whole lot more than their introverted peers. At least that’s been my impression from 15 years of media training and speech coaching. But are they necessarily better at it? Not always.

I’ve seen supremely self-confident men and women swagger up to a podium full of bravado but lacking in preparation, only to completely bomb. They try to wing it, and find they’ve run out of material in 30 seconds. I’ve also seen shy people take the time to prepare and practice, and then deliver moving, funny, impactful messages in a way that influences audiences and advances their own agendas.

An introvert herself, Susan Cain, author of "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking," offers excellent strategies for introverts in the extrovert-friendly cultures of Harvard Business School and Wall Street. And the #1 tip she offers in her section titled “Public Speaking for Introverts” at the back of the book is: Preparation is key.

And she's right. Yes, there are some exceptional people who can speak beautifully on a moment's notice and without notes for 15 minutes.  But for most of us that leads to certain disaster. So to all you introverts who’d rather walk barefoot on broken glass than stand and speak in front of a room full of people, consider these tips:

1. Take the time to prepare.  As far in advance of your presentation as possible, write out the storyline. Give it a powerful opening. Tell the audience why they should care. Back up your main points with interesting storytelling and elegantly simple visuals, avoiding "death by PowerPoint." Ask your audience for their support. End on a memorable closing note.  And then:

2. Practice out loud. Repeatedly. Some people fear speaking in public so much that they can't even bear to practice; they think "I'll just go up there and if I don't hyperventilate and pass out, at least I'll get through it." Bad idea. Yes, I can hear you saying it’s impossible to find time in your crazy schedule to do this, but simple out-loud practice is the best way to  overcome your shyness. Go into a room and shut the door. Stand and deliver the presentation with passion. If you do this several times, the information will become second nature to you, and you won’t suffer the anxiety that comes with not being quite sure where you’re headed.

 3. Breathe. I make a habit of performing the following breathing exercise just before I deliver a presentation: Inhale to a count of five. Exhale to a count of 10. Do 15 reps of this and it will have a calming effect.

 4. Visualize.  Do as pro athletes do. Play a little movie in your brain of yourself succeeding at the task you’re about to perform. If you’re at the foul line in the NBA finals, you would envision the ball going nothing-but-net before you take the shot. If you’re about to be introduced before your speech at a conference, close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself striding onto the stage with confidence and delivering a performance that makes you and your agenda look good. In a sense, you’ve “already been there” once you do this, and thus the fear of the unknown is minimized.

5. They like you. They really like you. Remember that, in most situations, the audience wants you to succeed. It’s boring and awkward to watch someone dying up there on the stage, so draw strength from the knowledge that the audience is genuinely hoping that you’ll entertain and inform. And if you happen to spot audience members who are yawning, rolling their eyes, or texting, to heck with ‘em. Make eye contact with someone who’s smiling or nodding her head in agreement. Instant confidence booster.

And by the way, these tips work for extroverts as well. You may not lack for self-confidence, but you'll always deliver a much better presentation if you do some homework beforehand.

Daniel Day-Lewis: He Can Act, and He Can Give a Speech Too

Last night's Oscar acceptance speeches were the usual mixed bag of good, bad and atrocious, but one presenter really stood out as a role model for all of us in business and government: Daniel Day-Lewis. Not only is DD-L the only actor in history to take home the Best Actor Oscar three times - he also knows how to give a succinct, funny, gracious speech. Oratorio's Bill Connor was interviewed for this by Fox Business News today - see the link here.