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Seasoned in-house lawyer and podcast host Sanam Ahmadzadeh Salmani knows how to win over the toughest of crowds – but she hasn’t always found the limelight easy.
When Sanam tells people she’s a lawyer, she’s sometimes met with a raised eyebrow or two. Outgoing and bubbly, her energy and humor is infectious; far from the solemn suit-and-briefcase legal stereotype.
But make no mistake – Sanam is a force to be reckoned with. When she’s not advising as a full-time in-house lawyer for software company Employment Hero, she’s hosting and producing Law Lenz, New Zealand’s go-to employment law podcast and Sanam’s passion project which she single-handedly launched late last year.
Sanam spoke to us about why public speaking is such a critical skill for in-house lawyers, and why so many of us still shy away from it. She also shared her winning tips for becoming a more confident communicator in-house – even if you’re not naturally that way inclined!
There’s no denying it – not all lawyers are born extroverts. In fact, many of us are introverts by nature, most comfortable expressing ourselves through the safety of the written word. And while this is an easy explanation for the aversion that many of us feel towards standing in front of a crowd, Sanam believes it goes deeper than that. “To some extent, it’s an institutionally learned behavior. As lawyers, we’re still expected to present in a certain manner,” she reflects. “Solemn and serious.”
“You can be both the loudest and the smartest person in the room – the two aren’t mutually exclusive!”
However, Sanam says, in the context of the modern in-house department, the reality is that it doesn’t matter how strong your legal insights are if you can’t communicate them in a dynamic way. This is one of the biggest hurdles for lawyers moving in-house from private practice – as our roles shift from black letter law towards delivering strategic advice, we are called upon to synthesize information and offer clear solutions, not lengthy legal jargon.
“Most of us have someone who we report to, whether it’s our GC or reporting partner, and it’s our job to communicate with them in a way that actually lands,” says Sanam. For her, getting this right is the foundation of public speaking – and it’s a skill that none of us can afford to be without.
Growing up in an Indian family, pressure to perform was par for the course throughout Sanam’s childhood. But as an adult, she quickly realized that standing in front of a room full of strangers wasn’t a particularly comfortable experience. “I thought it would come naturally to me like it did when I was young, but that definitely wasn’t the case!”
“I have been in front of the toughest crowds imaginable – audiences who don’t even crack a smile.”
One of Sanam’s first speaking gigs as a lawyer was a challenging affair. She recalls the experience with a degree of horror. “I got up there, chirped ‘Hi everyone!’… and the response was tumbleweed. I realized that I needed to reassess the room – and fast.” She had learned one of the first lessons of public speaking: getting a read on your audience is everything.
Sanam’s advice – with the benefit of hindsight? “Take your audience as they are, not how you wish they were,” she says. Remember, in-house lawyers deal with a wide range of stakeholders, and no matter who you’re speaking to, it’s important not to cling to rigid expectations. “I managed to salvage that gig by riffing on the audience until gradually, people started to loosen up a bit”, she recalls. “Things aren’t always going to land as well for some as they do for others, and that’s OK. If something doesn’t land, reflect and adjust so that things go more smoothly next time.”
Of course, there’s a balance to be struck. Knowing your audience beforehand reduces the chances that you’ll need to pivot. For Sanam, this is where tailoring your content is key. “What sectors are you catering for?” she asks. “Don’t lecture a room full of healthcare professionals on employment law without acknowledging that they have collective agreements!” She also advocates caution when it comes to assuming prior knowledge. “It’s a mistake to take understanding for granted – even just the basics. It’s a surefire way to alienate people.”
As Sanam speaks, a theme emerges: keeping your audience onside is critical to creating a positive speaking experience. To this end, Sanam says, the way you deliver your content is just as important as what you actually say. This is a common pitfall for liability-conscious lawyers: “We tend to feel that we must cover everything in great detail, because we fear that there might be professional consequences for giving incorrect information or missing something out.”
This often leads us to fall back on crutches like busy PowerPoint slides, which are overwhelming and difficult to digest in real time. Sanam’s advice is bold – she recommends cutting any visual cues down to their bare bones, using visuals and humor where appropriate. For her, this achieves two goals at once. “You’ll deliver a super-succinct message whilst prompting people to engage and start considering the nuances of the subject themselves.”
“Don’t be afraid to add your own flair – humor, gifs and memes all have their place, and you can use them without diminishing your message.”
Comfort is another thing that often gets overlooked. Sanam recalls a networking event during which she sat in a crowded, hot and stuffy room for hours on end. “Not once did they give us the chance to get up and move!” Nowadays, she makes a point of checking in with her audience and getting them up and out of their chairs. “Doing this right off the bat can set a completely different tone for the event, and go a long way towards winning people over.”
Sanam’s final piece of advice is that learning to speak in public is a process. Practice makes perfect, and there’s always positive learnings to be taken from even the most painful attempts. Sanam comes across as supremely confident in her webinars – but her challenge at the moment is repeating the same word twice in a row by accident. The only way to fix it, she says, is to rinse and repeat.
“The one thing you cannot do is get demotivated and let your doubt show – just pick yourself up, make a joke of it, and keep going.”
And for in-house lawyers who are still dreading that speaking engagement, her advice is to simply begin with one-on-one. “Start with your reporting partners, your GC. Every time I speak to my Head of Legal, I know my job is to communicate clearly and effectively. There should be no deviations or need for what do you mean by this or that? Once you are confident in your ability to do this, it should translate to a larger audience – you just have more eyes looking at you!”
For some of us, the truth is that public speaking will never be something that we actively pursue. And Sanam is emphatic that that’s ok. “But the better your communication skills, the more you’ll be able to let your authentic self shine through when the time arises – and it’ll become something you know you can handle!”
