I spoke recently with George Chavel, president and CEO of Gaithersburg-based Sodexo North America to get his thoughts on executives’ speeches, for my column in the Washington Business Journal, Speaking to Rise.

What are some of the techniques you use in given a speech or presentation?

GC: One thing I try to do is to illustrate a general point I’m making with a real-life story — something I’ve experienced myself or that I’ve heard about from a colleague. I find if I can relate to a story, I’m more comfortable presenting it, and it is easier for me to connect with an audience.

How do you prepare for a key speech or presentation?

GC: First, I practice, over and over until I’m absolutely comfortable with the timing and the delivery. This is especially important for me because I prefer to use bullet points instead of a word-for-word script. I also make sure to have some of my colleagues — people I can trust to give an honest reaction — listen to the presentation. I’ve even checked with my teenage sons, who I know will tell me what they really think.

How important are speeches and presentations to Sodexo’s communications strategy?

GC:We have a diverse and decentralized work force of 125,000 and 6,000 clients spread over three countries in North America. So we use every communications method and technology. But you can’t operate a service industry without emphasizing face-to-face communication, everything from one-on-one talks with clients to speeches to large groups of employees and suppliers.

Communitelligence’s John Gerstner was nice enough to interview me on BlogTalkRadio about the state of corporate communications, speechwriting v. screenwriting, and other topics. It’s part of the lead- up to Communitelligence’s conference, RETHINKING CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS: Delivering More Value in a Tough Economy,” Washington, DC, September 30 – October 1, 2009. I’m chairing a panel on How Corporate Communicators Must Change.

Listen in, and send me your thoughts and comments.

In April, I did a ‘Quick Q&A’ with Bill Lane, who worked as Jack Welch’s speechwriter for 20 years at General Electric. Asked about  the communication problems of current CEO Jeff Immelt, Lane said, “Jeff’s … an optimist by nature, and sometimes he lets that optimism get the better of him. He predicted that the company earnings were ‘in the bag’; but then it missed. He touted GE’S AAA rating, then saw it downgraded. Those kinds of things kill your credibility.”

Is Immelt still at it?

The AP recently reported, “Jeff Immelt told an industry conference Tuesday that GE has already raised all of the $45 billion in debt that it planned for this year and has pre-funded $7 billion of its 2010 target. Immelt said the state of the capital markets seemed to be improving ‘by the day.’…. “We have plenty of capital,” Immelt said.

GE stockholders have to hope his predictions are better this time.

Let’s face it, GM CEO Fritz Henderson had an impossible task on June 1, turning the shock and gloom about GM’s pending bankruptcy into good news, or at least into a little hope for the future. Still, that’s the kind of thing CEOs get paid the big bucks for. So how did he do?

I’m afraid I have to give his remarks at his New York press conference (and his answers to follow up questions) a C+ at best. He didn’t make things any worse, but he didn’t give listeners much ground for optimism. There were two big problems with his statement.

First, a lot of it was just a litany of phrases that are becoming awfully familiar in this era of businesses trying to convince people they really and truly can turn things around.

Susan C. Rink principal of Rink Strategic Communications, which specializes in effective internal communications to drive employee engagement, shares her thoughts on what a CEO needs to do to communicate with employees during this economic down turn.

JP:What are the most common mistakes you see executives making?

SR:There is a mistake you see a lot in traditional, hierarchical companies where executive counsel has devolved into pandering. These executives base their employee messaging on highly-sanitized feedback, rather than unfiltered comments from their workforce. Smart executives want to hear what their employees are really saying even if the comments are unflattering, so they can address real concerns.

JP:Who is the best messenger for delivering bad news to employees?