The Leader as a Broadcaster!
I worked with a group of senior managers within a major technology company in Nice in France on their webinar skills. One of them particularly needed help because his voice was monotone, his face was expressionless and, worse still, he had a habit of transmitting slides that were boring in their design, and were left on the screen for over 5 minutes - even when he had moved on to other matters.
In these types of situations, leaders need to think of themselves as broadcasters, employing some of the same skills and techniques that a radio DJ might use to keep the listeners attention at a high level. Vocal tricks, tone, emphasis, conveying the right emotions, even moving things on quickly so people don't get bored - all becomes crucial to maintaining great engagement and impact.
The visual content can be paramount as well. Slides need to create and hold attention. More than just conveying information, the slides should contain design elements to attract the eye and raise understanding, maybe quicker than could be done through the verbal dialogue alone. The design needs to take into account screen sizes.
What are attendees using?
Are they watching through a computer with a large screen, or a small laptop, tablet or (who knows) perhaps a smartphone? This leads to all sorts of questions about slide design. What can you realistically get across in a slide if people are looking at it on a tablet or smartphone! TV news broadcasters have known for years that they can't put too much text on a TV screen, so in the same way the 'leader as a broadcaster' will need to carefully consider this and learn from the professionals.
The Leader in The Media!
Some leaders will be hunted down by the press or broadcast media for their comments on certain issues. Just to give one example, I was asked to provide some one to one coaching to the CEO of a major pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Switzerland because he had given a live interview for the financial TV channel 'Bloomberg'. When he saw a recording of the interview after it had been televised he realised he hadn't come across very well. He was hesitant in his answers, some of his answers were too long and off the point, and he had come across as dull and uninteresting. We spent a day working on all of this in preparation for his next interview, which was going to be a couple of weeks later.