It’s Called Presenting, Not Talking Out Loud Page 4
doing this. You don’t want to be perceived as a
“cookie cutter” or “plain vanil a” speaker. Plan wel
but leave in a little “wiggle room.” It is
understandable if in your line of work you mainly
deliver tel /sel presentations that are generally
straightforward. Add your own flair and dynamic,
though, and make something that might be boring a
little less boring. If you plan wel but are perceived as “militant” about it, you’l quickly gain the
reputation being a boring and rigid presenter.
We all know what happens when you grab a handful
of sand too tightly. It slides through your fingers. If
you hold it too loosely, it falls from the sides of your
hands. Hold it just right, with a little firmness, and
most of the sand can stay in your hand.
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LEVEL OF DETAILS
The most important thing here is to make sure you
don’t confuse detail with simplification. To the
extent you can, be sure to simplify when and where
it makes sense. Simplification is universally good,
since it means you’re making your content easy to
digest.
The amount of details you provide partly has to do
with your depth of knowledge of the subject. And as
you hopeful y guessed by now, after reading
everything I said about audiences – it’s also about
your audience.
When I took business communications during my
MBA studies, the instructor mentioned that
good/the best presenters have a strong command of
details. That’s good advice, but I’ve changed my
opinion about that advice over the years. It doesn’t
necessarily mean that you need to share all of the
details. Keep that in mind.
Knowing the amount of details to provide can be
tricky but understanding your audience and your
objective should make this a lot less daunting. I
touched on this above with the example on heart
surgeons but let’s expand a bit more.
We have a tendency, especially when we’re
passionate about our subject, to give far too much
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detail than necessary. It’s a natural inclination, and I think we do it for the fol owing reasons:
1. We’re presenting to a group of superiors and we
feel that we are proving our value by showcasing
our command of the details.
Most of us, myself included, have been in this
situation. Have some faith in your superiors and
don’t overcompensate. They themselves were once
in your position, but even if they weren’t, they trust
you. Don’t waste their time. If they need more
detail, they wil ask.
2. We think we need to demonstrate how we
reached a conclusion.
This is different than connecting the dots, as I
mentioned with the previous heart surgeon example.
Here, we feel as though we need to justify our
conclusions, approach, recommendations, etc. by
offering the logic or sequence of events that got us
there. You don’t always need to. In business, we
primarily care about results!
3. We assume that since we care so much about the
subject matter, our audience also does.
This is a classic mistake. Sorry to say this, but even
people who are interested in the presentation simply
may not care as much about the subject as we do. I
know this can be a bit disconcerting because we
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want people to care. But it’s better that this come from me rather than being unsuccessful with your
presentation and then really being upset.
4. We are barking up the wrong tree.
This is mainly a function of having the right message
but delivering it to the wrong audience. You may
have heard the saying, “you’re preaching to the
choir.” This is similar, in the sense that you’re giving
excessive details to people who don’t need them.
So how do we know what is the right amount of
details?
My best advice is think about when you should stop.
In other words, consider when you’ve made your
point to your particular audience. At what point do
you no longer need to share additional information
to support each major idea? Stop there. Another
way to approach this is to ask yourself, “at what
point does the amount of detail I share stop adding
value to the audience?”
Providing too many details can have the reverse
effect of what you hoped for. I have a lot of respect
for R&D people and have worked with them and
other technical people throughout my career. But
sometimes technical people make the mistake of
offering too much detail to non-technical audiences.
In those cases, it’s not only that the amount of
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details offered is unnecessary, but there’s a good chance the audience, often merchants and
marketing people, won’t understand it. So be
mindful of this.
Think for a moment about a recent vacation you
went on. You’ve returned and are tel ing your
friends and co-workers about your trip. You may
give certain friends more detail than co-workers, but
you’l stil leave out the things that have no bearing
on anything, right?
Having a time limit for your presentation can also
help keep you guided.
Here’s an example:
You’re doing a presentation to a general audience on
the 4-stroke engine, commonly known as the
gasoline-powered engine. This engine, created and
patented by Karl Benz in 1886, is stil used in most
cars today. A four-stroke, or four-cycle, engine is
an internal combustion (IC) engine in which
the piston completes four separate strokes while
turning the crankshaft.
Look at the difference between the original and
condensed version.
The four separate strokes are termed (original
version from Wikipedia):
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ORIGINAL: 1.Intake: also known as induction or
suction. This stroke of the piston begins at top dead
center (T.D.C.) and ends at bottom dead center
(B.D.C.). In this stroke, the intake valve must be in the
open position while the piston pulls an air-fuel mixture
into the cylinder by producing vacuum pressure into
the cylinder through its downward motion. The piston
is moving down as air is being sucked in by the
downward motion against the piston.
CONDENSED: 1.Intake: This stroke of the piston begins
at the top and ends at the bottom. The piston is
moving down as air is being sucked in.
ORIGINAL: 2.Compression: This stroke begins at B.D.C,
or just at the end of the suction stroke, and ends at
T.D.C. In this stroke, the piston compresses the air-fuel
mixture in preparation for ignition during the power
stroke (below). Both the intake and exhaust valves are
closed during this stage.
CONDENSED: 2.Compression: The piston compresses
the air-fuel mixtur
e in preparation for ignition. Both
the intake and exhaust valves are closed.
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ORIGINAL: 3.Combustion: also known as power or ignition This is the start of the second revolution of the four-stroke
cycle. At this point the crankshaft has completed a full 360-
degree revolution. While the piston is at T.D.C. (the end of the compression stroke) the compressed air-fuel mixture is
ignited by a spark plug (in a gasoline engine) or by heat
generated by high compression (diesel engines), forceful y
returning the piston to B.D.C. This stroke produces
mechanical work from the engine to turn the crankshaft.
CONDENSED: 3.Combustion: also known as ignition. The
compressed air-fuel mixture is ignited by a spark plug (in a
gasoline engine) or by heat generated by high compression
(diesel engines).
ORIGINAL: 4.Exhaust: also known as outlet. During
the exhaust stroke, the piston once again returns from B.D.C. to T.D.C. while the exhaust valve is open. This action
expels the spent air-fuel mixture through the exhaust valve.
CONDENSED: 4.Exhaust: During the exhaust stroke, the piston once again returns from the bottom to the top while
the exhaust valve is open. This action expels the spent air-
fuel mixture through the exhaust valve.
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Hopeful y you notice that in the condensed version, the nature of the information hasn’t changed. I just
reduced the amount of information.
Another red flag that you might be offering too much
detail is if your presentation’s topic fundamentally
changes at some point during your delivery –
literally.
I once observed a presentation that had a lot of great
elements to it in the beginning but quickly derailed.
The topic was on immigration and the presentation
started out very strong. The presenter began by
discussing the crisis in Syria – but soon enough the
presentation shifted from immigration to the Syrian
war.
It wasn’t intentional, but the entire presentation
changed because the presenter got wrapped up in
too many details on the war.
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CHAPTER SIX | OWNING YOUR
CONTENT
I’ve probably seen thousands of presentations over
the years given by industry col eagues and my own
students. One thing I would immediately notice is
whether the presenters truly owned their content.
When I say owning content I don’t mean
memorization. In almost all cases, memorization is
the opposite of ownership.
Ownership has to do with being comfortable with
the content to the extent that you understand it.
That doesn’t mean you need to be an expert on the
entire subject. But it does mean that you need to be
an “expert” as far as the content of the presentation
is concerned.
However, while this may seem contradictory, if you
truly don’t understand all aspects of your content,
sometimes the perception of owning your content
can be just as good or good enough. I’m not
encouraging you to not learn your content, but I’m
being realistic. I’m sure you’ve heard this before –
perception is reality.
When you own your content, you speak to it with
confidence. People command the room when they
own their content, and this directly correlates with
your confidence.
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I’ve seen introverts turn into extroverts when they deliver an excel ent speech and own their content. I
once had an introverted student who needed some
improvement. He did an exceptional job on the final
presentation of the semester. It came alive. He gave
a presentation on day trading and shared that he
was a day trader. He owned his content. He had a
command of the ideas and words coming out of his
mouth. He had a great time presenting, and his
confidence was at an all-time high.
One of my best friends, who I’ve known since
elementary school, is the most confident person I’ve
ever met. He’s a former high school and col ege
track star and is currently an actor and high school
teacher. Wil he ever become the next Al Pacino or
Matt Damon? It’s likely that wil never happen. But
no matter what he does, act or teach, his confidence
is his greatest asset. It’s not BS; it lives within the
core of his chest and pours out in whatever he does.
Everyone sees it.
OWNERSHIP VS. MEMORIZATION
Ownership doesn’t mean memorization. If you truly
feel the need to memorize, and you can do it without
coming across as robotic, go for it. Steve Jobs did
this, for the most part, when he delivered his famed
Apple Keynotes throughout the years. But I can tel
you, as a marketing and innovation guy, Jobs was the
exception in many ways. Most of us are not like him.
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There’s one other exception—actors and performers.
However, they are trained on how to come across as
natural. It’s part of their craft and is expected of
them. That’s why they call it acting.
But most of us, including myself, are mere mortals. If
you try to memorize you’l most likely come across as
robotic. Believe me when I tel you that your
audience wil be able tel . Your eyes wil have a blank
stare, and you’l have an unnatural look on your face
as if you’re processing data. Why? Wel , because you
are.
The other problem with memorization is that if you
miss a word, that may completely ruin your
presentation. One missed word can generally throw
everything out of sequence. So don’t work so hard if
you don’t have to. Or, work hard towards other
aspects of your presentation. Actors need to
memorize their scripts. You and I do not.
In the next chapter, we’l discuss ways that wil
complement how to own your content and come
across as authentic.
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CHAPTER SEVEN | YOUR STYLE
This chapter is devoted to the
qualities/characteristics that wil ultimately make
you the type of presenter want to be. While there
isn’t only one right way to present, these guidelines
wil help become effective in shaping your unique
style.
PERSONALITY
Your genuine personality wil also be reflective of
your presentations. You can’t escape it, and there is
no need to. Be comfortable in your own skin.
Presenting takes practice in terms of strategy and
execution, but you also want to make sure that you
are yourself when you present. Whatever your
personality is, make it work for you, so you can
engage with your audience.
If you’re a funny person, great! Run with it. Tel a
joke in the beginning, during or at the end of your
presentation.
I’m not a funny person. I just don’t have that quality,
but I do have others. On occasion when I am funny,
I’m funny by accident. At least that�
�s what my friends
would say. So, I avoid trying to be funny whenever I
present or teach. I’d be a big failure otherwise.
Sometimes I can be funny by being self-deprecating
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(which I love doing) and that may apply to you too.
But I focus on my personality traits instead; being
sincere and a straight shooter.
So, I don’t believe in the advice that many
communications books offer – be funny or tel a joke
in your presentations. How can you be funny if
you’re not funny? You can’t.
Funny people are born, not made, for the most part.
You know all of those comedians that you have never
heard of that you’ve also never seen on Saturday
Night Live and for some reason you keep missing
their HBO comedy specials? Oh, that’s right, because
those were the comedians that failed because they
weren’t funny. You can go to business school,
medical school, dental school, bartender school,
cosmetology school, and you can even go for improv
lessons, etc. But last time I checked, there isn’t a
“Funny School.”
Whether you’re funny, serious, or sincere – just
make sure you’re authentic. When you’re trying to
be something you’re not, your audience wil notice.
In fact, strangers wil be able to detect this even
faster and more intuitively than your friends and co-
workers. It’s a law of nature.
BODY LANGUAGE
Many books on communications wil offer a
significant amount of techniques when it comes to
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body language. For example, some presentation
coaches wil tel you to never place your hands in
your pockets. Others say it’s fine. Some books offer
advice on your shoulders being parallel to your feet.
The list goes on. While I respect some of the advice,
I don’t use all of it and have never quite believed in
them too much. Many of those tid-bits of advice just seem so technical. Furthermore, they are not
necessary for a successful presentation.
Nonetheless, and not to sound like a hypocrite, I am
providing the most important things I’ve learned
over the years.
Body language is indeed incredibly important. But