4 Game-changers for Presentations

All the worldis a stage ... and most of us are desperately unrehearsed

PRESENTINGto humans in the offline world A deep-dive session at dotconf 2011 with Rowan Manahan (@PresenterMentor)

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Good presentation, great presentation, is all about deferred grati9ication.

And humans aren’t very good at deferred grati9ication – because, for 99.9999% of our evolution, we haven’t needed to be.

When it comes to presentations, this lack of ability to defer grati9ication is most obvious in four areas. Most presenters and presentations are:

(Starting with the biggest one)They are underrehearsed or (more typically)completely unrehearsed

They are unfocused – rambling, incoherent,& overcrowded with info

They don’t use theavailable technology

They don’t look like theyare in charge of the room

“All the world’s a stageand most of us aredesperatelyunrehearsed (Sean O’Casey)

On the subject of rehearsal, here is the sum-‐total of my 20+ years’ experience:

Professionals rehearse, amateurs do not.

Professionals rehearse, amateurs do not. Any questions?

FAQSo how much time should I spend on rehearsal?

“100 hours in the garage for every hour you will spend on stage” (John Lennon)

100 : 1

FAQBut we are sooooo busy around here! That’s way too much time ...

FAQYou’re right, it is way too much time – unless the presentation has the potential to transform your business. But we are sooooo busy around here! That’s way too much time ...

I wonder how much time Steve Jobs spent getting the iPhone launch preso that good?

How much time would you spend getting ready for a pitch preso? What if losing that pitch meant your business would collapse?

Rehearsal should be proportionate toREWARD

FAQ Yeah, rehearsal is great, but I don’t want to end up sounding too stale ...

FAQ I’m sure you’re right. I’m sure all the actors, musicians, thinkers, politicians and comedians who pour weeks and months of their lives into rehearsing ... Yeah, rehearsal is great, but I don’t want to end up sounding too stale ...

I’m sure they all sound stale as a result ...

So how about ensuring that your opener is memorable? Rehearse it, say, 10 times. Opener X 10

And your closer, your call-‐to-‐action. How about if you rehearsed that 20 times? Closer X 20

Primacy RecencyAttention Time

Primacy Recency Because audiences tend to Attention remember the 9irst thing you say and the last thing you say. Make sure both of those things are worth hearing. Time

I guess how much you rehearse can depend on how smart and well-‐informed about your subject you are.

I havent heard the president statethat were at war. Thats why I too am not knowing – do we use theterm intervention? Do we use war? Do we use squirmish?

If God had not intended for usto eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?

If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?That line, by the way, is from her book. Someone proofread that remark.

The comedian Jeff Foxworthy talks about how a long applause break could have ruined his chances during his 9irst appearance on network television.

I’m smiling and I’m going into Joke #4; but my mind is 3 minutes ahead, thinking about how I’m going to cut my set back down to exactly 6 minutes.

So when I say rehearse, I mean REHEARSE! Rehearsal does not mean 9iddling with your slides. You ‘lock’ your slides in advance of your preso and then you start rehearsing. Actors are not rewriting lines in Macbeth during rehearsal – they are imbuing the text with emotion, with meaning, with relevance. REHEARSE! March up and down in your pyjamas every night for a while. If you think it’s worth presenting, then believe me when I tell you, it’s worth rehearsing ...

I still remember when ‘Slide Sorter’ meant spreading your slides out on a big table and sorting them into piles.

SELF-VITAL NICE INDULGENT TO HAVE CRAP See if you can guess which was always the biggest pile?

SELF-VITAL NICE INDULGENT TO HAVE CRAP

I recommend taking three bites of the cherry when you are deciding what to include and what to omit from a presentation. 1. START AT THE END. When you are 9inished presenting, what do you want your audience to say?

I understand. Im buying. Im investing. Youre appointed.Approved. Now go and do it.

Clarity of purpose, clarity of intention, makes the process of distilling your message a whole lot easier.

2.HUMANS ARE VERY SELF-CENTRED.What are your audience interested in?

Level of Meinterest Everybody else on the planet Subject Matter

Therefore, your audience’s internal dialogue is fairly easy to predict. What’s in it for Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?Does your preso re9lect that understanding?

3.HUMANS DON’T RESPOND WELL TO FACTS. We like to think that we do, but we don’t.

What medium piques our interest, holds our attention and makes us feel safe, secure and clever?

“Communication isthe transfer ofemotion (Seth Godin)

“Communication isthe transfer ofemotion What medium allows for the “transfer of emotion?” (Seth Godin)

There has to be a STORYFind your story and re9ine it until you have found the best way to tell it.

Just the facts E=mc2 ma’am.

Just the facts E=mc2 ma’am. Facts are Logic isnot enough not enough

No-‐one should smoke, drink, eat junk food or drink 9izzy drinks.

But we do; because facts and logic alone are not really effective persuaders. So, no matter how technical, how apparently dry, your core information might be; Qind your story and tell that to your audience as you share your facts.

“People will forget what yousaid, will forget what youdid, but they will neverforget how youmade them feel. (Maya Angelou)

Professionals masterall the available tools.

Smart guy. Great speaker. But guess what ... ?

He’s not making it up as he goes along ...

Smart guy. Great speaker. But guess what ... ?

He’s not making it up as he goes along either ...

The tools that enable you to do this are built into your presentation softwareThey will make your life immeasurably easier

Here’s a slide from a presentation on pitching

And here is the verbiage that goes with it: “There’s quite a difference between a pitch in which there is zero for second place and a pro tennis player who suffers the indignity, the anguish, of losing a grand slam 9inal.Maria still gets to pocket a fat cheque for second place, she holds on to her sponsorship deal with Nike, and she’s back out at the next ATP tournament a few days later – you have no such consolations when you are just beaten out in a pitch for a piece of business. You get precisely nothing for second place.”

That’s a whole lot of words to remember, so most people build slides that look like this ...

Pitching is Binary!• Pitching: • Win or Lose - no middle ground • No points for second place• Pro tennis player: • Big prize money • Sponsorship continues • Next tournament

Pitching is Binary!Wordy – even if you introduce the bullets • Pitching:sequentially. • Win or Lose t-he image lgroundlike an Unbalanced – no middle ooks • No points and loses place of its impact afterthought for second much • Pro tennis player:because it’s so small. • Big – this is an SelQish prize money AutoCue slide for the • Sponsorship continuespresenter’s bene9it, not for the audience’s. • Next tournament

Alternative – your audience sees a powerful image

And you see this:

All the important elements on your prompt screen, including your speaker’s notes If a top-‐notch tennis player loses a match in a grand-‐slam tournament ... (a) she s9ll gets a sizeable paycheque ... (b) she doesn’t lose her sponsorship deal with Nike So it’s painful, it’s unpleasant, but it’s not the end of the world ...

FAQHow do I avoid showing what’s “under the hood” if I have to skip slides or move to another app during a demo?

Good question, because it is amazing how often you see a speaker frantically scrabbling around trying to 9ind something in the middle of a presentation ...

Use the ‘Extended Desktop’ setup and turn off display mirroring – that way you can use your Presenter View

Use the second monitor (in this case a projector) for your slides and the laptop monitor for your Presenter View.

Change the second monitor’s desktop to white

That way, any time you ‘escape’ from Slideshow view, all your audience sees is a blank white screen – zero clutter.

When you are delivering your preso, you must look like you know what you’re doing

Wherever possible, get in touch with your inner diva and use your own kit

Check the room and the equipment well in advance of your talk. The night before a major conference in 2010, I should have seen this.

Instead I saw this.It took 2 technicians over 90 minutes to 9ix.

“Excuse me? ... What doyou mean? ... But I sentthem to you two weeks ago! (Presenter at a tech conference, London, March 2011)

“Excuse me? ... What doyou mean? ... But I sentthem to you two weeks ago! Don’t be this guy – who never checked that his slides were loaded on the day of the conference and the organisers just assumed he was going to talk without slides ... (Presenter at a tech conference, London, March 2011)

Get a zapper so you don’t have to keep bending over. Use it discreetly; don’t draw attention to animations and transitions.

Bring your own cables and extensions

VGA adaptors are particularly useful

And if you want to be the best presenter in the world, 9inish your talk early.

Oh, and one more thing ...

I reckon Steve Jobs robbed that line from Colombo

They say you should never say “Never”, which presumably means you should avoid saying “Always” too. Nevertheless ...

Who are these people?What do I want to happen?What’s my core idea (20 words)?What are my 3 supporting points?Will that convince them?Why? When you’ve decided what you want to say, always ask Why not? yourself these questions

When you’ve 9inished creating your slides, always look at each one and ask yourself this question WHO is this slide for?

“If you wish to persuade me,you must think mythoughts, feel myfeelings, and speakmy words. Always remember what Cicero said about persuading people (Marcus Tulius Cicero)

And when it comes to presenting, never go for the easy-‐way-‐out, instant grati9ication.

Rehearse!

Find your story

Master your technology

Take charge of the room

@PresenterMentor

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4 Game-changers for Presentations

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