I’m not a ‘divine intervention’ type of person; maybe I should be. But three experiences in the past month, all to do with ‘stand-up presentations’ seem to indicate that ‘the Cosmos’ may be directing me to write down a few guidance notes about delivering an effective stand-up presentation. (On the other hand, these cosmic imaginings may indicate that I’m completely delusional…probably.)
Anyway, firstly, out-of-the-blue last week, I received a letter from the UK Prime Minister’s office, 10 Downing Street, thanking me [on behalf of Mrs. May] for a book on presentation skills which I wrote over 10 years ago [Yes really! The book and the letter].
Then secondly last week I sat through a PowerPoint presentation in the City of London in which the speaker spoke really well and passionately and made an otherwise mundane topic really interesting. But halfway through she started accidentally pressing the reverse button on the ‘remote control’ for her slides; she was getting so carried away by her enthusiastic and animated delivery that she was oblivious to this. So while her speech went merrily forward her slides were going steadfastly backward.
I saw what was happening ….but none of the audience noticed!
And finally (thirdly) last month (as an ex-Reuters employee) I attended the 200th Anniversary celebrations of the birth of Baron Julius Reuter, the Victorian founder of the news agency (Now called Thomson Reuters). As part of the celebrations, we were invited to a screening of the 1940 black and white movie “A Dispatch From Reuters” [starring Edward G Robinson]. We all sat through the very dated but enjoyable black and white movie and applauded at the end. Suddenly, as we were leaving the screening room, an embarrassed member of the organising team stood up and announced, “Before you go ladies and gentlemen I must apologise for the fact that we’ve just noticed that a 20-minute slice was missing from the middle of the movie you were just watching”.
We audience members who had enjoyed the show were all surprised because none of the audience had noticed.
So what is really going on when we stand up to ‘present’ in front of a live audience? What do they take in and remember and how does the really successful speaker do it?
Here’s how:
1) The first thing to realise is that your ‘presentation’ is NOT your PowerPoint slide show.
Most speakers just haven’t realised this. So, when they have to ‘present’, the first thing –often the only thing- they prepare is their ‘slides’. They are then shocked (if their presentation is videoed) to see themselves afterward, upon the stage, delivering their presentation but find their eyes riveted, not on their carefully prepared slides, but instead on the speaker (in this case themselves!).
The point is that we humans are social animals and the human brain is never more active than when it is in a social setting; and a presentation is a social setting. And in such a setting it is over 90% focused not so much on what the speaker is consciously trying to communicate but on the unintended information the speaker is leaking through his body language and tone of voice. The slides we put up just can’t compete with this animal instinct; they are overwhelmed.
It is quite well known that in 1967 Professor Albert Mehrabian (UCLA) identified that successful human communication is 55% Body language, 38% Tone, and only 7% Content! …. PROVIDED (and this bit is often omitted) that the tone and body language are congruent with the content. When delivering a lecture or presentation, the textual content of the lecture may be delivered entirely verbally, but the non-verbal cues are very (very) important in conveying the speaker’s attitude towards what they are saying, notably their belief or conviction.
The one-time British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was clearly a brilliant financier however his Body Language and Tone were so awkward that, when he spoke in public, most audience brains dismissed him in the short time it took him to walk from his chair to the speaker’s rostrum. No brain in the room was listening.
Facts are not very good tools for persuading people but your body and voice box certainly are.
The cold hard fact is that YOU are your presentation.
Remedy: The one thing you can do before any presentation is rehearsed 3 or 4 times in front of a video camera (Your phone for example). You may not like what you see…nobody does. But you will pick up your irritating mannerisms and verbal tics and, having seen them, endeavour to correct them before the event. This rehearsal (and more rehearsal) is what made WW2 orators as far apart as Churchill and Hitler such compelling speakers.
And however ‘daunting’ you find this exercise it is well worth doing because 99% of speakers don’t bother to rehearse at all! Which is why 99% of speakers deliver ‘Death by PowerPoint’ to their audiences. You, on the other hand, having read this article, will now have already practiced a number of times ‘out –loud’. And this automatically places in you among a very small minority of persuasive interesting presenters.
2) The second most important thing is to recognise that you’re probably trying to cover too much stuff.
You will be lucky (very lucky) if you can get your audience to remember just one important point during a 20-30 minute presentation.
If you’re a seasoned presenter I might just stretch that to 2 important points. If you have half a century’s experience you may (just ‘may’) be able to successfully communicate 3 important points. But that’s the limit. Human beings just can’t do better than that.
So if you have been told by your boss (or if you have decided) that your next audience needs to understand 10 things about what you’re up to and you insist in going ahead with this amount of info. then the 30-minute presentation you’re planning is largely a waste of your time.
Sir Winston Churchill said: “You have an important point to make so don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a a tremendous whack.”
And finally the dear old PowerPoint slide. If you insist on using them here’s some advice:
If your slides have more than 30 words on them they become unreadable at the back of most presentation rooms.
If you think Comic Sans SS is a quirky, relaxed, font to use which will amuse and captivate the audience….. you are wrong.
If you sincerely think that using all ‘upper case’ letters when you want the audience to remember an important point ….you are wrong (Upper case is much more difficult to read than a mix of upper and lower case).
If your slides contain a scan of a typical Balance Sheet or P&L statement or anything where the text size is ‘small’ they will be unreadable at the back of most presentation rooms. “Ah ….yes…you probably can’t see that at the back” (Then why did you make the slide???!!)
If your slides are mainly ‘text’ they can be thought of as practically useless anyway- none of the audience would miss them if they weren’t there.
If you must use PowerPoint use it mainly to illustrate your point with pictures, diagrams, and charts. ‘Text’ should be the last thing on your list of persuasive tools
The cold hard fact is that YOU are your presentation.
Remedy: Stop thinking “Slide –show”. Instead, think “visual aid’. What objects can you see around you that would help you get your point across visually? The more unusual the link the more the audience will remember it. It doesn’t have to be ‘a photo’ or ‘a picture’ on a slide. It might be an object you bring into the room. It might be a picture you hand out in a sealed envelope (Intriguing). It might be that you suddenly leave the rostrum and come down into the audience.
This stuff isn’t too frivolous for a formal presentation either.
Nikita Kruheschev the Leader of the USSR in 1960 once surprised everybody in the UN General Assembly whilst making a presentation by taking off his shoe and banging it on the rostrum. (See Youtube). Nobody who was there has ever forgotten it. (Actually he didn’t take off his shoe he actually brought a shoe with him to bang. No impulse decision…he had planned the action for maximum visual effect)
Lastly, when I was employed in the City of London by Reuters I was frequently a speaker at both internal and external events. I was well known for being a reasonable speaker. But in preparation for each event, my boss would always take me aside and warn me in advance that, “THIS time there were to be no ‘gimmicks’…was that clearly understood?”. What was required was: “A straightforward, factual, PowerPoint presentation; in the company format on the company template” This was to be shown to him and approved before the event. (“Yessir!”)
What I actually went away and prepared each time was two presentations: His formally approved one (as outlined above) and the one I was actually going to deliver. Because always (ALWAYS) I was on the agenda for the ‘graveyard’ slot immediately after lunch in London or New York or Hong Kong or somewhere when everyone in the 300-400 strong audience was very sleepy. And always (ALWAYS) he would approach me and say (after the morning’s inevitable, tedious string of Death by PowerPoint presentations) “Listen this is all going rather flat…..The M.D. is furious…..I hope you’ve got something up your sleeve to liven them all up a bit…..you know….mmm??”
Which of course I had.
(This isn’t the whole story about delivering a decent presentation. But if you sincerely want to stand out from the crowd you will find it a great starting point.)
Bob Etherington
“Europe’s Best Sales Trainer” : [Voted by ‘Sales Innovation Expo’ 2015 and 2016, Excel London.]
bob@bobetheringtongroup.com
