I spent time with two tools embedded into Microsoft products that use AI to see if I could improve my delivery and presentation skills. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use the tools and wanted to share my reflections.
Microsoft Teams: Speaker Coach
How it works: When you turn on Speaker Coach, it provides real time feedback and a summary analysis of your speech. When you are in a Teams Meeting, you can turn on Speaker Coach by going to “More Actions > Language & Speech.” During your meeting you may see messages pop up based on your pace. When the meeting concludes, you’ll see a Speaker Coach report in your Teams Feed.
What I like: Speaker Coach helped me to realize my bad habit of saying ‘you know.’. For the first few weeks I used the tool, I couldn’t even hear myself saying it, but now I can hear it. Apologies to my team who has had to endure this annoying habit, but thanks to Speaker Coach, I am actively working on it! I left Speaker Coach on which means I’m continuously getting reports, and what I like is that I get feedback in the flow of work. I don’t always have time to check reports, but when I have time, it allows for a quick reflection in the moment.
What could be improved: The feedback report is very limited and focuses on filler words. It’s a start, and my guess is that the tool will become more sophisticated.
Learn more about Speaker Coach here.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Rehearse with a Coach
How it works: You open your presentation and act as if you are presenting to an audience. As you speak, the tool captures your audio and analyzes it. You’ll see some on screen guidance as you speak (you can turn it off if distracting), and when you finish, you get a report with feedback on your pace, fluency, and overall speaking quality. To turn it on go to the Slide Show tab > Rehearse with a Coach and click Start Presenting.
What I like: Sometimes I rehearse a presentation to verify the timing of my content. Using this feature in PowerPoint allows you to not only get the timing right, but also work on your pace, language, and pitch. The tool has helped me to focus on getting the right tonal variety when I speak.
What could be improved: After you close a report, it disappears so you can’t see if you are improving from one practice session the next unless you take a screen shot. This is likely due to privacy concerns, so I get it.
Learn more about Rehearse with a Coach here.
While neither of these tools can replace working with a real coach, they are both great tools to help refine your delivery style and improve vocal quality. Plus they are simple to use and provide instant gratification.
Have you tried either tool? What did you learn? I’m curious to know/if how the tools work for non-native English speakers.
The flexibility of a virtual classroom means that a speaker with specialized expertise is a click away – a far cry from the logistical challenges associated with in-person training. So, when you are designing a virtual session, think creatively about how you may want to incorporate external experts intentionally and aligned to the needs of a learning group.
I’m always excited when a new book on virtual training is published because there is so much to explore on this topic and new ideas to discover. Diana Howles’s new book, Next Level Virtual Training – Advance Your Facilitation (ATD Press 2022) is well researched and includes dozens of learning principles and theories, all presented with virtual training lens. She offers refreshing look at the topic of virtual facilitation by structuring the book’s content around eight virtual trainer capabilities:
Ask a person who attended an in-person training and most likely s/he will comment that one benefit of attending learning events is the opportunity to learn from and network with peers and trainers. Networking happens more naturally in a face-to-face setting as participants mingle during coffee breaks or after a course concludes.
Why is it sometimes so difficult to get participants engaged in a web conference? Well, one obvious reason is that it’s a different environment for participants. Just as facilitators need to get used to facilitating in a live virtual environment, so do participants. We’ve all grown up learning in a traditional classroom environment where the social norms and etiquette are understood. We know the cues to raise our hand to get the facilitator’s attention, when to jump in with a question, and other typically ways of interacting.
I’m in Bogota, Colombia this week, observing a day long face-to-face delivery of a business writing course for English speakers to convert to a global virtual delivery. The virtual delivery of this course will be piloted with several countries in the Middle East.