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Internet_Marketing_and_Public_Speaking_The_Murder_Board_Practice
| Internet Marketing and Public Speaking. The Murder Board Practice
Copyright 2005 Larry Tracy
I recently posted an article titled “Internet Marketing and
Public Speaking: Ten Tips for When the Twain Shall Meet.” One of
the tips concerned a means to practice your sales presentation
with a “Murder Board.” I received several emails requesting a
fuller explanation of this practice method.
I decided to write two explanatory articles, so vital is this
method to improve one’s public speaking, specifically in
preparing a presentation aimed at selling off-line your on-line
product. In this article, I’ll provide an in-depth explanation
of this practice method; in the second, I’ll cover the seven
steps need for a successful Murder Board.
Simply stated, the Murder Board is a realistic simulation of the
actual presentation to be made. Colleagues role-play the
audience, asking the type of questions they believe this
specific group is likely to ask. It is intended to be more
difficult than the actual presentation.
If you want to become an effective and persuasive presenter to
boost your on-line marketing, this realistic practice session is
the most effective shortcut to speaking excellence. It allows
you to make your mistakes when they don't count, increasing the
odds that you will shine when the actual presentation is made.
The Origin of the Murder Board
The term Murder Board has its origins within the U.S. military,
specifically within the extensive training system of the U.S.
Army. When a person has been selected to be an instructor at an
Army school, he or she must go through a demanding instructor
training program.
Graduation and designation as an instructor is dependent not on
a written test, but successful delivery of a 50 minute class
from the curriculum of the school.
The audience for this crucible can be instructors who have gone
through their own Murder Board, and are determined that this
would-be instructor will experience the same frustration and
humiliation they did. They ask tough, realistic, questions, the
type of questions their students are asking.
At the end of the 50 minute class, the aspiring instructor gets
a a thumbs up—meaning he or she can now join this band of
brothers and sisters as an instructor, or a thumbs-down, meaning
another “opportunity” to go through a Murder Board.
Lessons from the Pentagon
This realistic simulation has permeated the military culture. As
an example, when I ran the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA)
briefing team, we had three Murder Boards before the daily
briefing to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The first one was at 5:30 AM, the second at 6:30 AM, the third
in front of two General officers and all the analysists, one
hour later. By the time my briefer or I was standing in front of
the Chairman, those intense sessions had provided the right
answers to virtually any conceivable question the Chairman was
likely to ask.
Why have a Murder Board?
This painstaking practice session has two overriding objectives:
1. Hone delivery skills 2. Anticipate probable questions and
objections so succinct, accurate answers can be developed.
Many presenters, while accepting the need to sharpen delivery
skills, reject the idea of a Murder Board, confident they can
anticipate the difficult questions likely to be asked, and need
not practice in front of others, especially their peers. These
people may actually be displaying a false bravado to mask their
discomfort at speaking in front of a group, perhaps exposing
their lack of skill in the presentation art, and/or their
apprehension at giving a less than sterling performance in front
of their colleaqgues.
They are also very mistaken. I have given more than 3000
presentations, and always find it beneficial to conduct a Murder
Board before an important talk. No matter how hard we try to
think of tough questions that may be asked, a little censor in
our mind generally provides only questions to which we already
have answers. In my executive training workshops, I always
emphasize the importance of a Murder Board, and the practice
presentations made by my clients are set up as Murder Boards to
get them accustomed to this simulation.
I am in good company in believing that we need other minds to
assist us in preparing for a sales or other presentation.. The
man who possessed perhaps the greatest mind of the 20th Century,
Albert Einstein, realized that even he needed help. He once said:
"What a person does on his own, without being stimulated by the
thoughts and experiences of others, is even in the best cases
rather paltry and monotonous."
The Murder Board is the presenter's version of the actor's dress
rehearsal, what lawyers do in preparing a witness to face
cross-examination in a trial, what the flight simulator is to
the pilot.
Just as with the actor, the witness, and the pilot, this
simulation permits the presenter to learn from his/her mistakes,
so that the actual presentation is (1) more responsive to the
informational needs of the audience, (2) answers are developed
for likely questions to be asked, and (3) overall speaking
confidence and competence enhanced.
The Murder Board enables you to visualize the presentation in
advance. Not only is proficiency in speaking increased by such a
meticulous practice, so too is self-confidence. Public speaking
ranks high in the pantheon of phobias because, in large measure,
of the apprehension that one is going to be embarrassed by not
being able to answer questions from the audience.
If you have been able to anticipate questions, then you can
develop answers ahead of time. Think back to when you were in
college or graduate school. Your GPA would probably have been
higher if you could have seen the questions before the final
exams. The Murder Board permits the presenter a look at the
audience's probable "exam questions."
The only obstacle to developing a question-anticipating
simulated presentation is your imagination and willingness to
take hard hits in practice so you can be more effective in the
actual presentation.
About the author:
This article is excerpted from Larry Tracy’s book, The Shortcut
to Persuasive Presentations. Larry, a retired Army colonel, has
been cited in numerous publications as one of the top
presentation skills trainers in the US. His website is at top of
Google for “persuasive presentations. Visit it for FREE tips and
additional articles: http://www.tracy-presentation.com
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