Make your team more influential and successful in 2008 by improving how they present their ideas. Providing tools, experiences and motivation to communicate more effectively will get more business accomplished. Here are 10 basic things you can do to keep this resolution and help your team.

1. Begin at the beginning:
Better explain each project in the first place. No presentation exists to BE a presentation, they exist to get business done. Always define the audience and objectives in concrete, actionable terms when the project first gets assigned.

2. Tell mom:
Have employees explain ideas, and even whole presentations, to a layperson (a parent, child, spouse…) This works even if, especially if, the laypeople don’t understand the subject. Inability to explain the significance of an idea is a sign of fuzzy thinking. At a minimum have them articulate - to a layperson - who the presentation is for and what needs to be achieved.

3. What not to say:
Presenter writes down “everything they know” about the topic and then sets this aside for as long as practical. Coming back to it fresh, they cross off everything the audience doesn’t HAVE to know. Next, put at least 1/3 of what’s left into another format (email, handout, Q&A) that will do a better job conveying the information in the way it needs to be applied to accomplish the goal.

4. Work it out:
Like good athletes, effective communicators get lots of practice. Sing karaoke, go to toastmasters, volunteer to speak at community events, talk to yourself in the shower. For more frequent practice, apply the “audience + results” framework anytime you have an idea to convey. master the skills you need for effectiveness.

5. If you build it:
Create a space in your work area where presentations can be practiced. Include gear, videocamera, etc.

6. Listen up:
Listening well is CRITICAL to speaking well. Foster listening skills by having your group discuss/report on presentations they see. Share great presentation videos from You Tube or the TED Talks, and look at what works well when presenting. Encourage your team to look for good and bad examples of presentations “in the wild.”

7. Batting practice:
Encourage your team to practice routine mini-presentations in front of each other at least weekly. They’ll establish workable rapport and good habits for when something high stakes comes up and rehearsing with a team really matters. Bonus: team meetings get way more concise and enjoyable when everyone’s conscious of presenting their best.

8. Put your money where their mouth is:
Walk the walk by providing time and resources for team members to improve their communications skills. Invest in training and coaching that gives them tools and support to continue to improve.

9. Read. Share. Read:
Seek out books and blogs about making ideas stick and spread. Tipping Point, Made to Stick and even Dale Carnegie’s classics will stimulate their thinking. Check out our website for more resources.

10. Stick to your guns:
Need help sticking to this resolution? Calculate the cost of the next unproductive meeting or PowerPoint you’re stuck in. A rough cost per participant/per hour is (salary x 1.7)/2000. If you make $75,000, your supervisor is paid $100,000 and 3 of your team at $50,000 each join you for a weekly 2 hour meeting, you’re spending $23,000 a year just on that meeting. Lost opportunities cost you even more.

I’m going back to school and I couldn’t be more psyched.

Here in Boston, the Improv Asylum offers 6 levels of training in Improv. Why not join me and sign up for the next round of classes starting in July? Yeah it’ll be fun, but I’m also “in it” to keep getting better at what I do. Want to increase confidence, think on your feet, read your audience and fellow “presenters” better and of course, practice, practice, practice?

I heartily recommend acting classes, Toastmasters, improv, karaoke (especially if you can’t sing) and any public speaking op you can get, no matter how good you already are. Read all the good ideas you want, to get substantially better you need practice, training and coaching. Penelope Trunk blogs today about the excellent speaker training she just took at TAI Resources. John Wesley of Pick the Brain talks about “brain plasticity” research that monks can literally re-wire their brains through ongoing meditation practice. There is measurably different brain performance between the novice who has “learned” mindfulness but hasn’t done a lot of it and monk who has practiced for years.

Sharpen that axe, baby.

While some accomplished speakers find it sexy to dis Toastmasters, I am finding more and more to love about the group and its doctrines, even when they rub me the wrong way. I think some of the core rules and values are almost beautiful in their mercy and kindness towards the frightened speaking learner/learning speaker. But I digress.

Toastmasters doesn’t just teach speaking. They teach listening too. This is crucial. Give me the most talented speaker in the world, if they cannot listen to my information about who they’ll be addressing they’ll almost surely crash. You just can’t speak well if you refuse to listen well.

Marketing communications, I have always taught, is as much about taking in information as it is putting information out there. In any medium. To be a good speaker, come to understand what the audience will respond to by asking questions and listening for the answers.

This is very active listening, not just taking in what you happen to hear, but making a point of seeking out answers, absorbing them, and taking them seriously enough to be able to speak with impact.