The Dorito Distraction

A few months ago, I graduated from Ty Boyd's Excellence in Speaking course. To say that I loved the class is an understatement. And while I am part of the Ty Boyd team, rest assured that the faculty does not pay me to wax poetic about their classes. It's simply an added bonus that I work for a company whose products I revere (and whose newsletter I produce). As a result of taking the class, I am much more aware of the tools needed to be an effective communicator and I am constantly working to improve my skills. One of the many things I learned in Excellence in Speaking is that few things can affect the effectiveness of your speech like unwanted distractions.

When one of my classmates played with his wedding band throughout his speech, the feedback he received from the group was that the ring was a major distraction. Another speaker shuffled note cards in her hands while addressing the audience, and still another played with her hair while delivering a speech. Tiny movements, but huge distractions. Most of the speakers were completely unaware that they were distracting from their message.

I was thinking about that lesson when I sat down with my son the other day. He had just come home from a full day of basketball camp and inquired about a bag of Doritos he saw in the pantry. Picture, if you will, a small bag of chips, the kind you get with a Subway sandwich when you upgrade to a meal deal. Got the picture? I can snarf down one of those bad boys in about 2 minutes. And that's a conservative estimate. Now, I usually do not have this type of deliciousness on the shelves of my pantry (for the aforementioned reason), but I told my son that he was welcome to it, as long as he sat down and told me about his day. As I listened to his stories, I fixated on his approach to eating a bag of tortilla chips and as a result, I missed about 99% of what he was saying. Which is exactly what I learned in the Excellence in Speaking course; distractions detract from the message.

Here's what I remember: first of all, only one chip leaves the bag at a time. Never, not once, did I see more than one chip in his hand. Each chip is nibbled at least four times, sometimes five or six, before it is completely disappears in his mouth. And, each bite requires at least ten chews before the chip is actually swallowed. While the chip is slowly pecked at, he twists and turns it as if he is in search of the perfect bite; as if, somehow he is solving a puzzle. He keeps his eyes focused on the Dorito while his fingers and lips gradually turn a bright, neon shade of orange. He never speaks with his mouth full, and by "full" I mean with an 1/8th of a piece of Dorito chip, but instead, holds up his orange-stained pointer to indicate that I need to wait for him to swallow before he can elaborate.

The visual of him eating the Dorito is forever burned in my memory. But please, do no ask me if he enjoyed basketball camp, because I don't remember a single word he said.

Molly Hunt and Anne Boyd Moore, my coaches in the Excellence in Speaking course taught me that you cannot possibly prepare for every single distraction, but that you can eliminate those which you can control.

• Is the room set up so that people who come in late or leave early can enter or exit without crossing between you and the audience?
• Is the first row of chairs or tables too close or too far away from you?
• Is everything you need for your audio-visual support there and in working order?
• Handouts ready? Microphone turned on?
• Is the room set up awkwardly, perhaps requiring you to turn your back on some members of the audience in order to face others?
• Is the room too dark, too bright? Too cold, too hot?
• Is there a window behind you offering a distracting view to the audience?

I can hear Anne Boyd Moore's voice in my head, "When you walk in the room where you are presenting, look around. You'll be surprised how many little things you can find to tweak; little things that will make a big difference in your ability to connect with the audience. When you own your territory, you are more comfortable, you are more effective and your audience are more receptive to your message."

I wonder what Anne would say about Doritos?