Scaling Up Magazine Scaling Up Magazine April 2018 | Page 29

BILL HOOGTERP SPRING 2018 language, effective hand movements, storytelling and audience involvement. These are described in detail in Your Perfect Presentation: Speak in Front of Any Audience Anytime Anywhere and Never Be Nervous Again. “They’re too long and drain people’s energy. If there is a way to shorten meetings, increase their effectiveness and keep more people motivated and engaged, that’s an investment worth making for most companies.” Surprisingly, Hoogterp believes that everyone has an ability to connect with his or her audience, leading to a flow of energy otherwise known as “charisma.” In his view, most people are not even aware that they have this ability because they have never really developed it enough to find out. “A lot of people are shocked they can do it,” says Hoogterp. “It’s like you discover a room in your house you didn’t know you had. Once you learn how to adjust your personality to the particular audience you face, it just creates a magic flow between the two that is empowering for both.” The bottom line is that when coaching enables hour-long rambling meetings to become 25-minute meetings that keep everyone focused and on point, the difference is reflected right on the bottom line. For executives and people who run business units or sales teams, there is no doubt that being 10 or 20 percent better at public speaking translates directly into revenue. “Every result our clients experience is positive,” says Hoogterp. “The ability to tell stories better, interact better with customers and ultimately sell better make many types of people more effective at their jobs.” Despite the intrinsic value of creating better speakers, there is a much stronger force driving companies to invest in public speaking coaching: money. According to extensive research conducted by Own the Room, the median efficiency of meetings worldwide is only 37 percent—that leaves a lot of room for improvement. “There is a general feeling out there that most meetings are considered a waste of time,” says Hoogterp. From a broader perspective, verbal communication is taking place within the work environment all day long— whether in the form of group meetings, phone calls, one-on-one conversations, or larg e presentations. “Although business communication is happening constantly in companies, most people have really never been trained in how to do this to the company’s best advantage,” he says. “By learning 29 a few techniques, you can make a difference in becoming more concise and increasing retention. That has tremendous value to a business.” Increasingly, companies are recognizing the value of public speaking training and are often sending small client- facing groups to learn these techniques or even just one or two individuals who can come back and train others. In addition, Own the Room’s President and COO Garey De Angelis and new Chief Technology Officer Eddie Leung are leading an effort to build out software that will enable people to train and pick up speaking skills online. Through new-employee trainings, the company has given away thousands of hours of coaching to nonprofit organizations, while Hoogterp and his wife donate their earnings to a foundation to address economic development, women’s issues and other US charities. His greatest career achievements according to his website? Getting to coach his son’s Little League team and teaching his daughter to be the youngest kid to dive off the Verona, New Jersey, community pool’s big diving board. IT'S that’s ONLY DRY Now saying A something. PIECE OF BREAD YET TO SOME IT MEET BILL HOOGTERP MEANS SO MUCH. Bill Hoogterp gave his first commencement speech while still in his 20s. As he built his career in the nonprofit and online world, he developed a niche: tips and tricks for teaching other people to become great speakers. This system evolved to become Own the Room. Before Own The Room, Hoogterp co-founded CMI, the parent company of CafeMedia and CafeMom, and worked with Mountain Lakes International. He has done nonprofit work with Into the Streets, Do Something, and The LEAGUE, as well as America’s largest volunteer network, Points of Light/HandsOn Network. He has delivered Own The Room methodology, leadership training and executive coaching to business executives, celebrities, and athletes on five continents and across numerous sectors.