Finding Your Muse

Muse:

From Greek mythology - a goddesses of inspiration.

Almost every writer has, at some point, suffered from “writer’s block”.  But what engineers?  We often get “stuck” ...and how come we don’t get a clever name for it?  In fact, our stuck-ed-ness is often pretty significant (dare I say more significant than writer’s block?)

When an engineer gets stuck, many external forces can be at play:  things like the constraints of tight schedules, constraints of other connected systems and even the constraints of the laws of physics.



So how do you break through the block?  Let me offer you a couple of quick ideas for finding your muse...


1. Take a break.  Yeah, I know... you’ve got a schedule. 
If you’ve ever gotten a car stuck, you probably know that spinning your wheels only gets you more stuck.  The same applies to your creative processes.  The time you spend backing up and re-approaching the problem can often result in a faster arrival at the solution. 

Hint: How to take a break with purpose.
What you do on a break is really up to you.   For some people it's exercise.  For others it may be a trip to the coffee machine/shop.  For many people (even famous ones) it's a "power nap".  Regardless of what you do, I'd encourage you with this one principle: if you are going to tune out; tune out with purpose.  Try setting an alarm on your phone or on your watch for a 15 minute break.  This plays a neat trick on your mind.   Typically, when people take a break, all they think about is “how much work that have to get back to” and they worry about not getting back to it in time to finish.  Thus they never really give their mind a break. Knowing that an alarm will bring you back allows you to fully leave.


2. Do a DBR.  Something “different but related”
I always wanted to come up with my own acronym so why not now?  Different-but-related activities can keep you thinking in the right direction, but from a slightly different angle.  A DBR should be something that you look forward to doing – but at the same time stimulates your thinking.

Finding your DBRs:
First you need to identify those things that are related to what you do and then find interesting outlets for those things.  An important note: your DBRs should almost feel like a hobby or a “guilty pleasure” - they should be enjoyable activities with some kind of connection to your work.  Reading a technical journal is not necessarily a DBR (unless you’re a hopeless geek).  On the other hand, playing golf or basketball is probably a stretch in the context of DBR.

Let me use myself as an example: 

I write a lot of software for measurement systems. In addition I’m regularly in front of an audience consulting and teaching.  My DBRs aren’t going to be the same as yours, but for the sake of example, my DBRs are:

• www.Gizmodo.com  As I’m involved in the development of new technologies, I find that learning about other, cool, new technologies can be very inspiring.  99% of the time these technologies aren’t related to what I’m working on but seeing cool, finished products is inspiring.  PG-13 warning: The writing style is edgy and sometimes contains profanity.
• www.Ted.com/Talks  I think every rockstar engineer should spend some time listening to TED talks.  These are 15 minute talks on almost every imaginable topic.  Rockstar engineers don’t just learn about the subject matter, but they also can pick up on some great presentation skills.  I’m often more captivated by the latter (i.e. the presentation styles) than the content.
• www.CodeProject.com  I write software primarily in the C# programming language.  CodeProject provides a constant diet of other clever things that other people are doing in C#.  Their projects aren’t even close to mine, but just seeing their work often gives me a re-charge.
• Various leadership/effectiveness/communication blogs.  Email me if you’d like to know some of them.

3. Talk it out
Now this one may not apply to everybody.  I’m a very verbal thinker so the process of talking to someone is a huge help for me.  This may not apply to everybody.  But for those of you that aren’t verbal thinkers, I’d encourage you to give it a try.

Guidelines for conversation as inspiration:

• Remember that conversation is a gift:
  If another person is willing to give you his or her time – treat it with respect.  They are giving you a part of their lives.  Be thankful, act thankful and tell them that you are thankful.
• Respect the other person’s time and mental state:
  There is a chance that they are in the middle of doing something amazing.  Even if nothing is scheduled on their calendar they may still be “tied up”.  Respect that.
• Respect the other person’s expertise and interests:
  I don’t talk mathematics with some of my friends.  I don’t talk business strategy with other friends. 
• Respect their difference of opinion:
  If you are asking a person for help, DO NOT SHOOT DOWN THEIR IDEAS.  There is no place for defensiveness or negativity when you are the one asking for help.

Every one of us will have times where we are stuck and a muse would come in handy.  (Although I’m not sure I’d recognize an “engineer muse” if one walked by.)  So until that happens; take a break, do a DBR or just go find someone to hash it out with. 

Postscript: In case you haven’t guessed, I was stuck this afternoon while writing software and it got me thinking about the whole being stuck thing.  Writing is also a DBR for me.  Instead of writing computer programs in computer language, writing human words in human language is a good break.  So thanks for helping me out today! 

Rock on!

Teacher, teacher...

Teacher, teacher

can you teach me?

- 38 Special (1985)

Let’s take a trip down memory lane shall we?  Think back to when you first got interested in engineering.  Was it when you first took something apart just to see what was inside?  Perhaps when you first got interested in the way bubbles formed in milk carton when you blew in the straw?  Maybe when you first realized that the teeter totter exhibited a mechanical advantage depending on where you and your friend/enemy sat?

Now think about what got you going academically in the direction of engineering.  For me it was a particular high school science teacher followed by a couple of rockstar professors in college.  Those people made things interesting and brought a new view or a new explanation of the physical world that had me in awe.  Some the best were the ones that made science into a “story”.  As the story unfolded, both my knowledge and my interest would grow.

Wake Up!

You’re an engineer!  Snap out of it!  We don’t have time for this stuff… dreaming about milk bubbles and teeter totters. Come on.  We’ve got real work to do… or we?

Unfortunately, the principles of learning and wonderment are lost in the day-to-day tasks of most engineers.  However, true rockstar engineers are able to hold on to this – and more importantly, they are able to communicate it.  Being a teacher is a hallmark of being a rockstar engineer.
Now I’m not saying that you need to become a professor or worse yet force people to listen to you ramble on and on about something that only you are interested in.  I’m saying that being a teacher makes you a valuable team member and can pay huge benefits to your effectiveness.

The highly regarded financial advisor, Dave Ramsey, says that when you hire a consultant – always hire someone that’s a teacher at heart.  Here’s a hint for you… if you are an engineer, you are in many ways a consultant.  A consultant gets paid for sharing and applying knowledge.  An engineer gets paid to apply his or her knowledge.

So here are some quick tips to make you a better teacher.

When in front of the room:

1. Most importantly, get in tune with your audience.  Learn to pick up on their body language.  Some people don’t want to be taught.  So, when in front of them, quickly present the answers and move on.  Other people want to be taught but are afraid to ask for fear of looking stupid.  It’s up to you to take the lead with these people and offer more information.  They are the ones that I love to work with and they will give you a chance to shine as a teacher. 

2. When presenting, seek out the chance to share the “why”, not just the “what”.   People are more willing to buy into something that you present if they understand a bit of what went into it.  By understanding the “why” behind a particular engineering solution, they are already closer to accepting the “what”.  When sharing the why – don’t use big “show off” words.  The smartest guys in the world don’t need to act smart with big words.

3. Finally… don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t ask questions in front of a room that cause people to put themselves down.  Asking the question “is anybody not understanding this?” in front of an audience is the equivalent of asking “who would like to be singled out and called stupid in front of the room?”  Instead, try “should I cover this in a bit more detail?” or “would it help if I explained this a bit more?”  These questions put the ownership on the presenter not the student.  We don’t want to be condescending to an audience, but worse yet we never want to make them feel stupid.

When one-on-one or in a small group:

1. Learn to listen. (This is hard – especially when you get excited about what you are talking about.)  Here’s a trick I use when I sense I’m having trouble listening: repeat the question back. 

2. Learn to draw. (this applies to a large group as well) I know we are engineers not artists, but the ability to make simple sketches to illustrate a point can increase your teacher rating enormously.  In my world of measurement there are several sketches that seem to be useful in many different settings.  I’ve actually spent time practicing the drawing of certain sketches in order to make me better at presenting concepts “on the fly”.  Now these things don’t have to be beautiful – they need to convey a point.  The cool thing is that as the picture develops so does a story; revealing a bit more with each stroke of the pencil or pen – and stories are a great way to teach.

3. Don’t be afraid to have fun.  Make fun of yourself, make fun of the topic.  Smile – it knocks down barriers to learning.  Remember: teaching is about investing in a person other than yourself; so create an environment or conversation that helps them feel comfortable.  In fact, it makes it more fun for both of you.

Dave Ramsey recommends looking for a teacher-minded-person when hiring someone to help you.  A teacher is a person that helps others learn and thus adds value to them.  If you want to amp up your effectiveness as an engineer, be a teacher for those around you.  It will raise them up and in the process it will further elevate you to rockstar engineer status.

Rock on!

Growing the fan base

Cranky Cal:  “I already solved that problem, but nobody listened to me.”

As I work with engineers that have been at it for a few years, I often hear that kind of statement.  Sometimes it’s of the uglier form:

Angry Al:  “I solved that problem X years ago, but those _____  ______  _____’s wouldn’t listen to me then, so I’m not going to help them now.  That bunch of ______  _______  ______’s can just figure it out for themselves this time!”

Here’s the deal, simply having the answer is no longer good enough in many work environments.  We need to be able to sell our solutions; which ultimately means that we need to sell ourselves.  Let’s take this out of the realm of engineering for a minute and talk about software.  “Apps” are everywhere so let’s ease into this topic by talking about them – instead of ourselves.

Ever since the first cave engineers started writing FORTRAN, software was evaluated based on its ability to function.  This makes sense; we use software to perform some function that we don’t want to take on humanly.  For example, we can use software to compute the first 1,000 prime numbers – a task that we really don’t want to have to perform ourselves.  The software package that can pull this off calculation and provide the results is deemed to be functional. 

However, in today’s world, a new evaluation criterion is emerging - not just for software but for all products.  It’s called “user experience” and it’s becoming a very important factor.  Check out this Fast Company article.  The catch: the greatness of a software package isn’t just based on its ability to function – it’s also based on “how the user feels”.  

We now face evaluation questions such as: Is the software easy to understand?  Is it “friendly”?  Do I feel good using it or do I get frustrated?  Do I feel like I can master it by just looking at it, or do I need to ask for help?  Or, heaven forbid, do I need to look at a manual or book?

As an engineer, you are being evaluated just like that software package.  People don’t really care if you have all of the answers if you are a pain in the butt to deal with.  This great quote has been credited to several authors, politicians and speakers ranging from Theodore Roosevelt to Zig Ziglar to John Maxwell:

People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

So think about this: what kind of experience are you creating for those people that you are supposed to be working with and/or helping? 

Ultimate effectiveness, comes from not only being able to create great things and solve tough problems… it comes from actually having those great things and great solutions put into practice by others.  With that in mind, we need to focus a bit more on how we are selling ourselves.  Yeah that’s right… we engineers need a lesson in sales.

Recently I came across a really great TED talk by Simon Sinek.  If you have a few minutes, take a look at it.  These same principles of leading a great business can also apply to growing a great reputation as an engineer.  Here’s the link:  How Great Leaders Inspire Action.
 
Now Simon is not an engineer, nor was the talk even about being an engineer, but we can still learn a ton.  (Great engineers can learn from anything and anyone, right?)  Check out a few things about the presentation itself and think about his “user experience” or in this case the “audience experience”:

1. There was no PowerPoint.  Simon actually created the content with; get this… an old school marker and a flipchart.  Pretty retro, eh?  But it kept your attention, didn’t it?  Rockstar Engineers are able to present to an audience in a way that keeps their attention.  Often the act of actually “creating something live” rather than packaging it as slides is the best tool for keeping an audience glued to you.

2. The room, the stage and the acoustics were lousy.  He even dealt with a mic change partway through the talk.  But it didn’t matter.  Simon was passionate about his material.  He seemed glad to be able to share it with the audience and the environment took a back seat.  Rockstar Engineers aren’t afraid to show and share.  In fact, they consider a chance to present as a chance to shine.

3. The message was a simple solution.   There wasn’t a presentation of 12 other things that didn’t work.  The language was understandable - he didn't over use a bunch of big multi-syllable "show off" words.  Rockstar Engineers know their audience and know the importance of speaking in an understandable way... using the language of the audience.

Now let’s switch gears and talk about content of the talk…

The basic message of Simon’s talk is that people will more passionately buy the “why” – far more than they will buy the “what”.   He summarizes it in a great statement:

People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it

I’m going to take some liberties here (hopefully honoring Simon) with this interpretation on a personal level:

Your effectiveness is being based on “who you are”, not just “what you do”.

If you were to draw just two of Simon’s concentric circles and put “Why” in the middle and put “What” on the outside, how would you fill in the details? 
The “why”:
         Why did you become an engineer? 
         Why are you still an engineer? 
The “what”:
         What do you actually do as an engineer? 
         What is your “product”? 
Note: I’m not talking about that widget that you are currently designing and may someday somehow actually end up going down the road in a car.  The real “what” question is based on this:                   
         What is it that people come to me for?

As you consider these questions, you should be formulating a kind of “user experience” in your mind.  Here’s how I answer these questions regarding my career:

First here’s a general summary:  I’m a surface metrologist – I develop surface measurement technologies in terms of hardware, mathematics and software.  (Pretty geeky, eh?)   I initially became an engineer because I enjoyed math and science.  (I was young and didn’t know any better – it sounded like the right thing to do.)  I got into the measurement field and it allowed me to develop as a teacher and a helper.  I get to be the one that goes in and helps people better understand the world that they are working in.  I get to see the “light bulb go on” in people’s minds.  I even get to create tools that keep on helping people even after I’m gone.

Now let’s put it in the “Why/What” context:  My “why” is: I love helping people and I love seeing them respond to my help.  My “what” is: measurement-related consulting and technology.   My “what” is the outward implementation of my “why.” 

Without my “why” it would be hard for me to get up in the morning and go to work.  Without my "why" I could ultimately turn into a cranky Cal or an angry Al.

Here’s the big question – do those around you really get your “why”?  Worse yet, have you ever even considered what your “why” even is?    Knowing and selling your “why” can be an essential part of providing an awesome “user experience” and growing your effectiveness through a great fan base.

Rock on!

A Tribute to a Rockstar Engineer Legend – Steve Jobs

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Steve Jobs - BusinessWeek interview, May 1998

Yesterday, Steve Jobs lost his battle with cancer and the engineering world has lost a living icon. 

As I look at the products, presentations and personality of Steve (pretending that we are on a first name basis), I see one theme shining through:   

SIMPLICITY

That single word holds a great deal of insight for rockstar engineers.  Let’s look at just few areas... and I’ll try to keep it simple.

1.       Keep designs simple: Avoid “Feature/Scope Creep”
It is said that when the original iPod was being designed Steve kept returning the prototypes to the designers saying that it had “too many buttons”.  This may have frustrated the engineers, but it ultimately led to one of the most innovative interfaces of its time: the iconic iPod “wheel” control pad.  (See: iCon - Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business ) When designing, we need to realize that a “really cool addition” to us, may be perceived as “unnecessary clutter” or “added confusion” to our audience.  I really like our toaster - it turns bread into toast.  That's all it does and that's all it needs to do.  Simple.

2.       Keep presentations simple: Avoid “Slides as Documents”
A Steve Jobs presentation has been referred to as a “rockshow”.  This may be due in part to the hype of the passionate Apple fans, but I think it is also due to the way that it is presented.  Check out the slides at the iPhone launch:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uW-E496FXg  If you are in an audience, who’s slides would you rather look at?  Yours or Steve’s?  I know we don’t have a team of graphic designers working our presentations.  But we can learn an important lesson: slides are good for pictures and graphs – not sentences.  Too many people design their presentation slides as if the slides are going to be used as documentation for future use.  Slides aren’t documentation.  Slides are digital wallpaper. 

3.       Keep presentations simple: Avoid “Utilizing Enormously Oversized Verbiage Selections” 
        (aka: Avoid “Using Big Words”)
A Steve Jobs presentation has been referred to as a “rockshow”.  This may be due in part to the hype of the passionate Apple fans, but I think it is also due to the way that it is presented.  (How many of you just looked up at #2 wondering if I made a copy-paste error?)  I know, it sounds like I’m repeating myself... I am.  A Jobs presentation is a case study in verbal communication.  Steve uses words that anybody can understand and he’s not afraid to show excitement.  How many times have you used the word "cool" or "awesome" in a presentation?  Big words don’t make you look smarter.  They make you harder to understand and the build a barrier between you and your audience.  Keep your language simple.   Check this out: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

4.       Keep your look simple: Avoid falling into the “Nerd Trap”
Let’s face it.  Most engineers are not the most fashion-minded people in the world.  Some actually seem to be proud of the fact that they are not “slaves to fashion”.  However, your “look” is part of your “brand”.  A person that looks bad and smells bad is a person that willfully builds in barriers in terms of effectiveness.   Does this mean that we all need to run to Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive and spend millions on a wardrobe?  (OK, you are engineers: I’ll give you some help... Fifth Avenue is in New York, Rodeo Drive is in Beverly Hills)  Back to the question, the answer is “No”.  Steve Jobs totally redefined the concept of a CEO’s “look” – and he did it by keeping things simple.  Black shirt.  Blue jeans.  Classic.  Timeless.  Simple. 

Here's a simple conclusion:

Steve Jobs will be remembered for product legacies: the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad.  I think he should be best remembered for keeping things "iSimple".

Rock on.

Rockin' the House

Presenting the “Big Project” to the “Big Guys”...

Charlie was a bit nervous heading into his project review.  He’s spent the last 9 months working on the X17 warranty problem.  (How’s that for a generic-sounding project?)

The X17 was pretty much falling apart as soon as the customer took it out of the box.  What? Still no clue what an X17 is?  That’s ok, it’s totally made up.  There is no such thing. I’m just using it as an example to tell a fictitious story.  A story that repeats itself all too frequently…




Charlie sat nervously at the head of the table in the conference room as the chief engineers and other department giants finally arrived along with a few other engineers from the project.  (The first “big guy” arrived 2 minutes early, but the other two were 5 and 10 minutes late respectively).  He only had an hour and these guys were already cutting into his time!  Charlie didn’t make eye contact as he felt these guys were out of his league.  Fortunately for him, there was WiFi available in the room and so he buried himself in his email – though he really couldn’t concentrate on anything on the screen.  But at least he didn’t have to try to interact with those guys.


Finally, everybody was there and Charlie stood and pulled up the first of the 41 slides that he’d been working on for the last three weeks.  The slide read “X17 Warranty Issues and Strengthening Improvements to Case Moldings”.  Charlie began by saying “OK.  So today I’m going to talk about X17 Warranty Issues and Strengthening Improvements to Case Moldings”.


It went downhill from there.

He said "I have a lot of material to cover so I'll take questions at the end." Charlie’s first 8 slides (and 11 minutes of talking) presented the costs associated with the warranty returns as well as a geographic breakdown of where the issues occurred.  He laid out a pareto indicating which suppliers are associated with more failures than others.  Charlie’s next 29 slides (and 33 minutes of presentation) dealt with details of 7 design options that were considered and discarded.  Some of them were considered only on paper and never built.  Some of them looked like they may have only been considered on the back of a napkin at McDonalds.  Others couldn’t be built and a few others were built, but failed the testing.  Charlie shared spreadsheets full of data indicating the serial numbers of failed tests, the cost data for each failed design as well as statistical analyses of the measured results.  He went into great detail as he discussed the mathematical significance of one factorial study that he performed.  He even used all the right terms like “elastic modulus”, “correlated input factors” and “non-Gaussian statistical behavior”.

Unfortunately, after all of this, Charlie finally presented his solution to the problem.  It was actually a very clever design that wasn’t just stronger, but also saved material and manufacturing costs.  Too bad for Charlie, though.  By then is audience was in some far, far away place as they too had discovered that the room had WiFi and they were totally tuned out.  Others had to leave early in order to get to their next meeting - having never actually seen his really good slides of the proposed solution.

OK, back to the real world…  Here’s an exercise for you.  Pick out everything that was wrong about this story.  Think of it as one of those childhood picture puzzles: find 10 things wrong with this picture.  Here’s a hint – the chief engineers checking their email is not one of them.  At the end of this article I’ll list the ones that I found.  (OK.  It was easy for me to find all 10 since I wrote it.)

Presenting like a Rock Star - Principle #1:  First-First Impressions

First impressions mean everything.  In a meeting you actually get two chances to make a first impression.  Rock stars nail them both.  The first chance to make an impression is when people come into a room.  When the Chief Engineer enters don’t run and hide behind your laptop screen.  As the expression goes: “he puts his pants on one leg at a time” – or maybe more appropriately “he fills his pocket protector one pen at a time”.  In any case, he’s a human being, just like you.  Treat him as such. 

Here’s a little-known social dynamic:  He’s walked into your conference room for your meeting.  Think of it as your living room and you are in the position of “host” – you should be the one to welcome him!

Here are some things to consider when the big guy walks in the room.

1.       You may know him (since he’s “famous” in the department), but there is a very good chance that he may not know you. 
Face it.  You may be a little guy in a big organization.  He’s a busy guy and many not remember you.  He knows that some “Charlie” is presenting some “project” in room 437D. Be a rockstar and take the initiative.  If there is any doubt that he may not know you, step up and introduce yourself.  Here’s a simple way to get there: Make sure that your opening slide has the project title and your name on it.  (It should be showing on the screen as people arrive.)  Then greet him with “Hello (insert chief engineer’s name here), thanks for coming to my presentation today”.  What’s cool about this approach is that you don’t have to go through the awkwardness of recollection.  By all means NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go to a superior with a line like “Hi Jim, remember me?”  Do not EVER put him in a position whereby his credibility or confidence can be damaged.

2.       You’re catching him while he’s “fresh”.  A rockstar will find a way to get him talking.  You’ll have your time to talk later.
If you can show interest in your audience, there is a better chance that they will show interest in you when you need it.  Don’t just think of meeting prep as preparing slides and data.  You need to also think of the “opportunity” that the meeting presents and you need to prepare for the “social” aspect as well.  You are going to be in a room with people that can change your career path.  Plus they are coming into a new room for a new meeting.  This is the prime time to connect.  What are they interested in?  Find out.  What are they working on?  Find out.  Here are some clues for conversation starters.  Can’t choose?  The best ones are ones that you are mutually connected to. 

Have you seen them around town?  A restaurant? An event?

               Hey I saw you at the _____ last week.

Do they wear anything indicative of a college or a sports team? 

                Did you catch the ____ game last week?  How did the ____ do last weekend?

What was the last thing that they communicated to the department?

                How is the ____ program going?

What is the big initiative that the company or department is working on?

                How is the ____ launch going?

Has he been on a trip?

                How was your trip to _____?  What's it like there?

A good friend of mine has been very successful in several management positions.  He has always made it a priority to get to know some basic things about each of him employees.  He remembers their name, wife’s name (if applicable) and at least one other thing about the person (where they live, etc.).  This an amazing tool for him when it comes to conversation.  What’s even more amazing is that, at times, he’s been able to achieve this with more than 200 people reporting to him.  You may not be able to go this far, but having a few notes about your audience will go miles in terms of your ability to rock the room in the coming presentation.

First-First Impression Hint:

When you are working on your presentation and making your notes, also spend some time working on your audience and making some notes about them.

First-First Impression Resources:

Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas and Win Over Any Audience by Stephanie Palmer.  It’s far from an engineering book, but she really does a great job addressing the importance of the social aspects of meetings.  I highly recommend it.

Presenting like a Rock Star - Principle #2:  Making a Second-First Impression

I enjoy the topic of “teaching” and am interested in “what makes a good teacher”.  Several years ago I heard a great teacher talk about how he gets copies of lessons taught by other teachers.  These teachers send them to him – hoping that he will send constructive feedback.  One thing that this teacher said was “I can tell a good teacher in the first 4 minutes”.  I think that the “4 minute” window is a bit too generous today.  It is way too easy to get on WiFi or check your smartphone in today’s conference rooms.

The opening of your presentation is a second chance to make a first impression.

Here’s a simple principle.  To make the best opening – start with what matters… and that’s not necessarily what matters to you.  Start with what matters to the audience!

In the above example, does Charlie really think that the big guys can’t read?  Then why did he read his opening slide to them?  Stupid move on his part.

How about this new and improved opening:

“It’s no secret that the X17 has been causing us serious problems and I’ve been working hard on this for the past several months.  I’m pretty excited today as I think I have a solution that not only is strong enough but uses less material and is also less costly to manufacture. Let’s check it out…”

This opening totally changes the tone and flow of the meeting!  In fact these three sentences cover everything that needs to be said or will be said in the hour to come.  In fact, the audience can get up and leave early (as they often do) and they will still have gotten “the main point”.

Here’s what a great opening does:

1.       “It’s no secret that the X17 has been causing us serious problems“

It establishes “where we are”.  There is no point in going into history if everybody knows it.  In fact, reviewing history is a painful waste of time.  You may have 8 slides on the warranty history, but please don’t force them on the audience unless they ask for it.

2.       “I’ve been working hard on this for the past several months.”

Let them know where you are coming from and your role.  Audience members need to know who you are and why you are presenting this.  Be able to answer their question of “why am I taking my time to listen to this guy?”  You definitely don’t want to go too far here and you don’t want to forget mentioning your team members at some point.  But, this is your chance to establish “who you are relative to the project”.

3.       “I’m pretty excited today…”

Listen very closely to these next 6 words… IT IS OK TO BE EXCITED.  Got it?  Now repeat after me: “IT IS OK TO BE EXCITED.”  Good.  Now don’t forget it.  Here’s the deal.  You’re an engineer.  Chances are good that your audience in this setting is made up of engineer-types.  These are people that are genetically designed such that they get excited about cool solutions to technical problems.  So why not show some excitement?  It will go miles toward building a positive dynamic in the room.  Here’s an absolute must-read book:  The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo.  Get it.  Read it.  Live it.

4.       “…as I think I have a solution that not only is strong enough but uses less material and is also less costly to manufacture”

You know where you want to take the meeting.  Tease it!  Have you ever watched a show where they set up something incredibly interesting only to cut to a commercial?  If you haven’t experienced this, you need more than this blog to help you.  This concept is called “teasing”.  You give away just a little information to whet the appetite of your audience.  This is way to keep an audience from checking their email and/or smartphones.  One caution: overuse of teasers will absolutely destroy your audience.  Use this craftily and you will be a rockstar.  Overuse this approach and your jerk-icty (see the last posting) ratings will increase significantly.

5.       “Let’s check it out…

Here’s a huge, important point: dive into the solution!  Your audience doesn’t care that much about all of the work that you’ve done.  They care about solving the problem.  Thomas Edison said, “If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”  However, here’s a clue for you.  You’re not Thomas Edison and even if you were, this isn’t the time to talk about all of the things that didn’t work.  This is the time to sell your solution – which will ultimately “sell” you and raise your rockstar quotient.  You’ve still got your 29 slides (I never said to delete them) in case someone asks questions about various options that may be worth considering.  I know that you want to show that you worked hard.  Unfortunately for you, your management doesn't care that much about how hard your worked.  They care about results.

That’s a killer opening… but what about slides?  Here’s a recommendation: slides are great for pictures and picture-like content (e.g. graphs).  They are lousy for text.  If you put text on a slide people must use their eyes to process a written words while using their ears to process your spoken words.  Not a good combination.

So try this opening slide scheme:

(Slide) Photo of a broken part
“It’s no secret that the X17 has been causing us serious problems and I’ve been working hard on this for the past several months.  I’m pretty excited today as I think I have a solution…”

(Slide) Photo of the new part
“…that not only is strong enough but uses less material and is also less costly to manufacture. Let’s check it out…”

After the opening… get on with selling the solution.  Maintain the energy and don’t waste time on things that don’t matter.  Wait!  Did you catch that word in the first sentence?  To some people “selling” is a bad thing.  But that is exactly what we as engineers need to do in this setting.  We have a product (our solution.) We have buyers (those that are evaluating the solution.) And we need to “sell” it.  Present your ideas as such!

You’re probably thinking: “But Mark!  I’ve got an hour and I’ve got all these slides.  I want to show them how good and thorough of an engineer that I am.”

Here’s what I have to say about that:  To be a rockstar engineer you need to realize chief engineers want to get one thing from this setting – and it’s a big multi-syllable word: trustworthiness.  OK let’s just simplify it to: TRUST.  Your job in this meeting is to help them grow to trust you and trust your solution.

Now to really mess with your head…

Instead of preparing 60 minutes of presentation as Charlie did above.  How about using the killer opening, then spending 15 minutes presenting the solution – allowing for interruptions and questions as you go?  By the way, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not ever say: “I’ll take questions at the end.”  This is a complete show stopper for people who are sequential learners like I am.  If I have a question, I need an answer before I can move on.  If I can’t get an answer to a question I will tune out fast.

After your 15 minutes (which will hopefully stretch to 30 since your audience is warmed up and conversational) you will not have about 20 minutes in which you can now show leadership in the room and circle back with a phrase like: “I do have field data regarding warranty costs and locations if anybody would like to see it”.  Or “I do have the test data for the other possible solutions” if you are interested.

Now here’s one that will totally kill you…

End early.  Yeah, that’s right I said it.  “End early”.  Yeah, I know that this may be your only chance to “show off” in front of these guys and I know that you don’t want to waste a minute of it.  But do it.  End early.  If you sense that you are losing your room, end early.  If you see the clock approaching the end time, end early.  Don’t wait for the audience – you should maintain your position of control and you should be the one that ends the meeting.  Don’t let the meeting dissolve away with people drifting out as meetings often do.  You can be a rockstar and maintain your role as host – and you can be the one to end the meeting.  Try this: “I appreciate your time and discussion today.  So with that we will wrap things up.  If any of you would like to stick around.  I’d be happy to talk more.”  That’s the stuff of rockstar-engineer legends.

Second-First Impression Hint:

When you are presenting to those that are over you – you should realize that they are interested in one thing: TRUST.  Don’t waste their time on things that they already know or things that don’t solve the problem.

Second-First Impression Resources:

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo.  Some really good inspiration regarding “not holding back your excitement” and some great tips on slides and “flow”.

The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint by Edward Tufte.  It’s just a few pages, but incredibly powerful stuff.  It is worth reading just for the discussion of space shuttle disaster and the way that the information surrounding this event was presented.

Finally, here's the list of everything that Charlie did wrong (Maybe you can come up with some of your own too!).

1. He buried himself in his laptop before the meeting.  His laptop should be displaying the title slide of his presentation (with his name on it.)

2. Didn't "work the crowd" prior to the meeting.  This is a huge opportunity that was lost.

3. He read his slide to the audience.  Don't do this.  Your audience can read.  Don't treat them like they can't.

4. He told the audience that he would take questions at the end.  This is basically saying "shut up until I'm done.  I don't want to hear from you."

5. He spent too much time on the problem.  Trust me.  Management knows the problems.  In fact they probably know more about the problems than you do.  Don't waste their time telling them things that they already know.  Worse yet, don't waste their time telling them things that they may know more about than you do.

6. He spent way too much time talking about alternatives.  Alternatives can go in an appendix of a report.  Alternatives can be presented if someone in the audience asks for them.  You can say "I have looked at several alternatives and am willing to discuss them, but I want to be respectful of your time."

7. He spent way too little time on his solution.  This should have been the focus and it should have been up front.

8. He used big, fancy words that his audience didn't need.  When I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation I was constantly being told to use bigger words.  When I arrived in industry, I was told that I tended to "talk over people's heads".  Since I've always been interested in effective communication, this really hit me hard.  Think about it this way: two or three small words are far more effective than one big important word.  Two or three small sentences are far more effective than one big, long sentence.  Your audience is working hard to digest and understand your solution. Don't make it harder on them by forcing them to translate words that they don't normally use.  This does not impress them.

9. Charlie lost the room.  Great presenters treat presentations as a two-way conversation.  They pay attention to body language and the "interest" of the room and they do everything that they can to re-engage people that may be slipping away.

10. Some of his audience missed the most important material.  By "saving the best for last", Charlie effectively "hid" his best material from some of the audience.

So let's get plugged in,
...turn on the hazer,
...flip open the dry ice,
...crank up the spotlights...
...and totally rock your next project presentation!