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It's
been over 36 years since I spoke
at my first credit union chapter
meeting and boy did I bomb! Had
CUNA Mutual found out, I'm sure
my speaking career would have
ended back there in Cut-Bank
Montana. We met in the back of a grocery
store and spoke to 12 credit
union volunteers who thought
they were coming to hear Little
Richard, a popular singer
rumored to be in the area.
You're
right Steve! Public speaking is a
scary proposition. It's scary
because we risk our reputation
each time we step center stage.
It's scary because we all want
to be liked and want to appear
at least that we know something
of value to our audience. I wish
I could tell you that fear of
public speaking gets less
over the years, but it really
doesn't.
I still like to be liked and I
still hope to share something of
value with everyone in the
audience. Fact is, not everyone
is going to like you and your
message, and not
everyone in the audience will
have come to learn.
My best advice
might just be to "be yourself,
be honest, be sincere and share
as much information as you can
in the time allotted. To
learn more about preparation,
setting up the room, using a PA
system, etc., I suggest
you read my white papers on
public speaking posted in your
RM manuals and google the
internet for articles on public
speaking; I keep a file of
the best advice and review it
about once a year. Unfortunately,
you'll always fear not being
liked and be disappointed when
your audiences feels you didn't
meet their expectation.
Fortunately, however, the more
opportunities you have to speak
the more you'll enjoy sharing
your experiences.
Credit Union Risk Managers
want to know what's going
on in other credit unions. They
want to learn about the crooks
operating in their chapter, what
RM controls are working and what
are not, and most of all, what
they can do to avoid being the
next victim on the nightly news.
Attempt to choose your RM topics
and write your own promotion for
your session. Otherwise, you'll
never know your audience'
expectations and that can lead
to failure. Remember my audience
in Cut-Bank came to hear me
sing.
When you're competing with other
RM speakers for an audience,
read their promotions and study
their handouts. It's better to
compliment (add another
perspective to their program)
than compete with their
positions while on stage. I know
a number of tested ways you can
differ and come out on top.
Rich Woldt
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Know who's in your
audience! Or at
least know as much about
who's going to be in
your audience as soon as
possible. This will
position you to focus on
their "primary" RM
interests (usually it's
their reputation), their
jobs (are they on the
frontlines, back-office,
part of the management
team, volunteers, etc.)
and find real life
examples they can
identify with to make
your point.
Pick the forum that will
support your mission!
Anytime we can assemble
an audience might be a
good thing, but if your
mission is to foster RM
retention and
implementation of level
#1 recommendations,
learn to adjust both
delivery and content to
the forum at which
you're asked to speak.
For example, when
speaking at a conference
that involves more than
a chapter, focus on
creating an awareness of
what's going on in the
movement. When
speaking at the local
chapter or credit union
levels focus on what's
going on on the
front-lines and what
they can do to safeguard
themselves and their
credit union.
Prioritize speaking
opportunities and focus
on those that change RM
behavior at the credit
union and chapter
levels. In 2007,
every industry will be
focusing on forming
affective
public-to-private
homeland security
partnerships. I
recommend CUNA Mutual
and credit unions get
involved and provide
these RM focus groups
with both a financial
institution's and
insurance industry
perspective on managing
natural disaster',
terrorist attack',
pandemic' and risks that
threaten the economic
infrastructure of a
community, country or
culture.
Adopt a consistent Risk
Management theme for
2007
presentations,
workshops, and for the
community outreach
project I refer to as RM
fireside chats. Base the
theme on our track
record, i.e. the
historical purpose and
focus of financial
cooperatives and the
insurance industry.
For example,
credit unions are
"people helping people"
financial cooperatives!
Use that to support your
efforts to form
public-to-private
homeland security
partnerships.
I'll bet someone has
contacts at credit
unions in the UK who
serve law enforcement,
fire fighters,
government workers, and
hospitals.
Form an RM outreach
presentation team to ad
credibility to your
presentation.
The credit union
movement and CUNA
Mutual' common mission
is to create and
maintain economic
opportunities for those
in a common bond or
those within a defined
field of membership. The
credit union mission has
always been to provide
liquidity management
tools and investment
capital to support the
regional economic
infrastructure. CUNA
Mutual's mission has
always been to
underwrite/pool risks
and "indemnify" victims
after a loss.
Highlighting both
missions will underscore
the trust built up over
the years.
At the end of the day,
fear might assemble an
audience, but trust in a
life-long partnership
will be what will make
them listen and respond
to your message.
Click here for a 2007 Power
Point template..
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Note: The 2007 Power Point
template can use as an
outline for any RM presentation,
workshop, or discussion group.
Needless to say, each visual
should be edited and customized
to meet the needs of credit
unons in the UK.
I've organized the template so
it first outlines what we hope
to accomplish, than provides an
up-date on the latest RM
concerns, and finally covers what
in our opinion are RM "best pratices" and recommended RM
controls.
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Additional tips for creating a Power Point
presentations: There are
many helpful tutorials on the
web that include tips for what
to do and not do when creating a
power point presentation. Too
many try to cover up their lack
of information with special
affects. The rules are:
-
the less
distraction the more your
audience will listen to you
and remember what you said.
-
White space
is not all bad. Limit the
number of points per visual.
-
Keep it
short and to the point. Most
visuals should take you at
least two minutes to cover
your points.
-
Your first
visuals should outline what
you plan to accomplish or
your learning objectives.
-
Include
visuals that will stimulate
audience participation but
control your audience so
they don't take over your
presentation.
-
When you're
invited to speak at a
conference, learn not only
who the other speakers are
but read the promotions for
their part of the program.
It's better to compliment
them than to duplicate what
they intend to cover.
-
Most
important, write your own
promotional materials so you
control not only your
subject but the expectations
of your audience.
-
Stick to
CUNA Mutual's perspective on
the subject. By that I mean,
avoid taking the perspective
of the local security
provider or some local
consultant. Remember, you're
not out selling a "brand" of
security but rather you're
promoting "appropriate"
security based on the
exposures to loss and risks
involved.
-
Know your
material and if you're not
sure of the answer, write
down the question and the
cell phone of the person
asking and let them know
you'll have someone get back
to them. This creates a good
opportunity for a follow-up
contact.
-
Research
your subject the week before
your presentation so you
have current examples of
points you want to make.
| I'm an advocate
of CUNA Mutual sponsored
"RM discussions and
Fireside Chats!"
They eliminate
competition for an
audience, allow CM to
control the audience
size and make-up, the
focus of the program,
and the length. There
are bad, good, better,
and best times to hold
RM sessions. For
example, Mondays and
Fridays are bad because
most credit union
employees need Mondays
to set the tone for the
week and Fridays to
finish projects before
the weekend. Mornings
are better than late in
the day because
employees are fresh in
the morning and have
their mind on going home
at the end of the day.
Evenings are best
especially when they are
connected with an
opportunity to
socialize. Dinners or
even luncheons are not
necessary as it's hard
to cater to everyone's
eating preference.
Evening sessions with
coffee, sweets and
veggies is the best. Two
hours sessions are a bit
too short, three hours
of material is just
right to include an open
forum for the last 1/2
hours and freedom to
extend allowing those
who want to leave to
leave. Six hours
requires a major break
in the middle and that
drives up cost for
everyone.
Following is a
template power point
presentations for a two
to three hour RM
discussion or "fireside
chat" on a chapter or
regional level. This
could be done as a
circuit, held at a
sponsoring credit union,
in the evening, with
coffee, donuts, and
veggies, compliments of
CUNA Mutual. Invitations
would go out two weeks
before to include the
following survey to be
completed by those
planning to attend. The
survey positions the
those who attend to self
assess their credit
union during the group
discussion.
Click here to view a
sample survey!
Click here to view the
sample power point
presentation! |
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Plastic card losses and claims
pose an interesting RM
challenge. I
recommend you google "chip and
pin" sites to learn as much as
you can before going center
stage. For example
click here or go to...http://www.chipandpin.co.uk/consumer/
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Plastic card transaction
authorization technology...
click here or go to
R&D chapter II. |
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A pandemic could shut down the
economy of a
community or country. I'm a
member of this pandemic R&D
team.
Click here for power point
presentations and other training
support materials...
http://www.chpra.wisc.edu/pandemic06.php |
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International fraud tied to
banks...click
here or on..
http://www.bloggernews.net/12785 |
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Rich Woldt -
CUNA
Mutual
RM Special Operations |
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Thank You Steve: You're right!
Public speaking ranks sixth on
most surveys of our most common fears. It ranks
ahead of drowning and having a
car accident.
To
be honest, I still have the same
level of fear about public
speaking that I had when I
started over 36 years ago. In
some respect more because there
now is an expectation that I
should know something more than
I did 36 years ago.
My
fear increases when the person
introducing me exaggerates my
either what I've done or what
I'm there to do. That's why I
like them to say, "Here's Rich"
and let me tell them about
myself and what I'm there to
accomplish.
Enough about fear. Let me offer
some suggestions that might help
you be the "star"
performer you know you can be.
This page contains my best
advice....
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This
year's workbook has six
chapters. In
Chapter I,
we survey CUNA Mutual and Credit
Union Risk Managers to "benchmark"
our 2006 RM programs and
projects. In
Chapter
II, we
retrain and introduce
alternative RM research and
development (R&D)
strategies for 2007. In
Chapter
III, we
update RMA data sheets
and review written reports to
ensure we're supporting CM
underwriting and claims
personnel and our
recommendations are being
implemented at the credit union
level.
Chapter
IV, we
refresh our RM workshops and
presentations and plan for a
series of 2007 RM discussions
and fireside chats with our
Credit Union Risk Managers. In
Chapter V,
we take advanced
training in CUNA Mutual's
Unified Incident Command and
Control System. This system
adopts the "Incident Command
System (ICS) and National
Incident Management System
(NIMS) required teaching for law
enforcement, fire fighters, and
emergency governments to the
credit union movement. |
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Use
the interactive table of
contents to access sample power
point presentations, handout
materials, and research links
you can use to customize RM
presentations, workshops and
discussion sessions for the UK
credit union movement: |
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A link to Chapter II where you
can do risk and region specific
RM research... |
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A link to handout for credit
union first responders... |
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A link to handouts for credit
union, sponsor, and member
evacuees... |
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A link to handouts for credit
union, sponsor, and member'
victims... |
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A link to a power point
presentation given to university
insurance and RM students... |
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Note:
I'll go over the 2006' RM
presentations specific to
plastic card fraud, internal
controls, and embezzlement, and
offer suggestions to refresh the
recommended RM controls. Refer
to chapter II for new RM methods
involving reverse tracing of
scam indicators, and RM methods
involving transaction
authentication.
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Steve
Finnigan - CUNA Mutual Risk
Manager |
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Most
people consider public speaking
a rather frightening experience.
Therefore, I've asked Rich Woldt
to share his thoughts and offer
some suggestions we might
consider as we update our RM
presentations and workshops for
2007.
There are many risk specific
power point presentations being
posted on the internet. Many of
these come from authors who are
working on government grants
dealing with community threats
such as natural disasters,
terrorist attacks, and
pandemics.
Katrina proved that any
community threat drives up
credit union losses to include
burglary, robbery, fraud, scams,
liability, embezzlement, etc.
Anytime there is a mass
evacuation, we can expect our
P&C claims to increase.
Refer to Chapter III for more
help when putting together your
power point presentations.
I've
asked Rich Woldt to share his
perspective RM presentations,
workshops, and discussion
groups.
Steve
Finnigan |
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