Toyoda

Part of it is that my English is far from great.

Tomikawa

Does that help?

Toyoda

It certainly does.

Tomikawa

How does that work?

Toyoda

If your English is super fluent and easy to listen to, it doesn’t stick in the mind. Even when I listen to myself, I can tell that my English is slow and halting, but people say it’s charming. I don’t mean to harp on about myself… but it’s neither Japanese English nor American English.

Tomikawa

It’s Akio English.

Toyoda

I sound like a five-year-old boy with the vocabulary to match. You’ll notice I don’t use difficult words, partly because I can’t pronounce them. All I have left to rely on is feeling.

Tomikawa

I see.

Toyoda

We only do one rehearsal.

Tomikawa

But even that rehearsal is just to check stage positions and camerawork, not to practice your bit.

Toyoda

I can’t deliver my speech with feeling unless I have an audience.

Tomikawa

That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you about. I recently put out a book on the topic of “conveying your message,” so that caught my attention.

You certainly got your message across, and what’s incredible is that you fully convey your emotion—not the words. That’s what I wanted to ask about.

As you mentioned, the rehearsal was completely different from the main event, but I thought you were also great in rehearsal.

But had you just done the same thing again, it would have simply gone down as another great speech. I don’t think it had that extra emotional element that made it exceptional.

Where does that difference come from between rehearsal and the main event?

Toyoda

It comes down to having an audience.

Tomikawa

Is that all?

Toyoda

That’s it.

Tomikawa

But you also cut out the video clip that you used in rehearsal, right? The actual speech was more direct and more engaging.

Toyoda

The content completely changed.

Tomikawa

It sure did.

Toyoda

You can’t get a clear idea until you stand on stage for rehearsal.

Tomikawa

All while checking your position.

Toyoda

Saying it out loud makes you realize “this part is too long,” for example. Even though there’s no audience, I pick up on places where people might get bored and want to leave and try to simplify those.

When you have a set time of 15 or 20 minutes, you have to figure out where to put the peaks and how many.

Having listened to countless different speeches, I often find that they run out of steam by the end.

How do you make use of those peaks? If they don’t relate to each other, people will feel lost.

This time, I also covered a range of topics, from the Olympics to products, but I feel that tying all those threads together at the end is a speaking skill that I have personally developed.

The same goes for this podcast.

Tomikawa

That’s true.

Toyoda

This really is totally unscripted, just like we’re having a regular chat over tea.

Tomikawa

Still, people assume we go over the details ahead of time.

Toyoda

But we really don’t.

Tomikawa

I was just thinking that while you might put together a 20-minute speech, you can change up the pace to give yourself more leeway in parts.

Hearing the way you speak, you tend to ad-lib like that, don’t you?

Toyoda

I’ve been told I have good timing. But when you take those pauses, you can hear people talking, or the applause keeps going.

Most speakers feel they just have to push on and get through the prepared script, but because I feel a strong need to convey and be understood, I stay quiet during applause.

In those moments, I don’t just hear clapping. I hear a message.

There are some countries, though I won’t name them, where it’s very obvious when people aren’t listening.

Tomikawa

More reserved places.

Toyoda

But when everyone engages with me, showing interest and wanting to hear what I have to say, I think it’s common courtesy for me to respond to their actions and words.

The only thing is that it’s harder to be spontaneous in English than in Japanese.

Tomikawa

Even in English, you were quick to ad-lib.

Toyoda

I think that was probably as good as it gets.

When tackling more complex discussions, I have an interpreter, and they point out, “This is how this would sound in English, but I think this is what you’re trying to say, so let’s change the English like this.”

Tomikawa

Interpreters are amazing.

Since many Toyota Times listeners have opportunities to make presentations, I brought this up hoping they could get some tips from Akio, but most of these aspects are unique to you.

Do you have any advice for those who make presentations?

Toyoda

Don’t try to show off.

Tomikawa

Don’t get carried away with your words?

Toyoda

More than that, don’t try to make yourself look good. Instead, I think it’s about doing what you can to make people understand your emotions and message.

That, and don’t try to make it perfect.

Tomikawa

That’s a good point.

Toyoda

If you aim for perfection in another language, you’re sure to end up reading.

Tomikawa

Then, you can’t ad-lib or respond to the audience.

Toyoda

Rather, you want to convey your feelings, even if you make mistakes.

You need to be open about the fact that you’re not speaking in your native language and have people accept that and not care.

Tomikawa

Right. I want to share just one more thing that you mentioned: when addressing a large crowd, you try to speak to each individual, while one-on-one, you make a conscious effort to reach everyone in the room.

Toyoda

Addressing five people is a bit different from 5,000, but the basics are the same:

Don’t show off. Don’t try for perfection. Speak honestly. I think these elements remain the same.