Not too many computer experts have a U.S. Navy destroyer named after them. Grace Hopper is the lone example, just as singular and exceptional as she was throughout her life.
Hopper’s achievements are legendary and her 43-year Navy career was filled with awards and promotions — all the more remarkable for a woman in a technical area within a military service that got a late start in recognizing women’s potential.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing commemorates her achievements in a field still dominated by men. It was at their most recent conference in Phoenix when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella answered a question and set off a stink bomb.
He was being interviewed by Maria Klawe, who is the president of Harvey Mudd College and a Microsoft board member. She asked him what advice he would give to women when asking for a raise.
As he explained in an email to all Microsoft employees, “I answered that question completely wrong.” His assessment was absolutely correct.
Without going into the details of the transcript, what he said, in part, was that there was good karma in not asking for a raise and being a person whose value would be eventually recognized. It was not the right thing to say to an audience of women, or a world, who believe that their contributions are systematically undervalued, sometimes even in the best companies.
Shortly after the conference, Nadella attempted to clarify what he meant to say but like all corrections of this type it could not undo the damage. Backtracking statements of any kind do not always make things worse, but rarely improve the situation. The best they can do is to make the mistake easier to forget.
Is there a way to eliminate this kind of gaffe and “oops” words that come out of our mouths? Not entirely, but there are ways to make them less likely to occur.
The first thing you can do is to start using your memory in a stronger, more helpful way. Whether you are dealing with an audience of millions or a single listener like your boss or a colleague, be ready from the start.
If it is a prepared speech, commit your opening line to memory, then say it out loud, as many times as it takes so that you never get it wrong. You might also practice saying it out loud when there are distractions like turning on the TV.
Nailing down that opening line is important because two things happen at that point: you make your first impression; and it is the most likely time for nerves or stage fright to affect you. Once you get rolling, the odds of getting stage fright almost disappear.
You can improve as a speaker, too, if you take that opening line habit and extend it to the bullet points of your speech. Say them out loud so that you not only remember them but also are comfortable with the word sequence.
It is embarrassing to find yourself stumbling over your own speech — which looked good in print but clumsy when you try to say it. Make sure that you haven’t included any words in your speech that you can’t pronounce. That sounds silly, but it happens.
The next most important thing you can do to keep your foot out of your mouth is to know your audience.
Great speakers as far back as Socrates recognized the importance of knowing the interests of your audience and shaping your speech to incorporate them.
Knowing as much as you can about your audience helps you with the last important part of preparation: anticipating the questions. Most presentations, talks and speeches these days have a question-and-answer session afterward and these can be fun…or they can be never-again dreadful.
Anticipating the questions and being prepared to answer them make it a lot more fun.
Start by writing down the questions that seem likely. Draft your answers to them and treat them the same way as your opening line and bullet points: memorize them until you never get them wrong.
Don’t limit your practice to softball questions. Eventually your ability to anticipate the questions will improve and you will become more comfortable with the process.
Being thoroughly prepared and practiced will reduce the chances of brain-freeze and the panic that comes with it. This will mean that you won’t stop thinking during your speech and while answering questions.
And, make no mistake, that is the key to being a good speaker.
James McCusker is a Bothell economist, educator and consultant. He can be reached at otisrep@aol.com.
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