How to give a great presentation
Most of the presentations you’re asked to give in a business setting aim to achieve one of two purposes: (1) to inform or (2) to persuade. In an informative presentation, the audience learns about a new subject or learns something new about a familiar subject. In a persuasive presentation, the speaker attempts to change the audience’s attitudes or behaviours.
Whether your purpose is to inform or to persuade, your presentation will include many of the same elements. It is important that you know your own purpose before you give a presentation or you may give away details you did not intend to or leave a weak impression on your audience. Always assess your goals before the presentation – your presentation will be stronger as a result. The success of your presentation lies in your ability to reach your audience.
If you are presenting to a large group, you’ll need to do more to make all audience members feel involved in your presentation. With a small group, it may be easier to encourage participation. With some audiences, you may need to provide more background/historical information about your topic before you can effectively persuade them of the correctness of your point and if the audience is not inherently motivated to listen to you, then you’ll need to give them reason to listen within the presentation itself.
The space in which you present will impact both you and your audience. Sometimes you have little control over space constraints, but it is important to check it out before you give your presentation in order to make allowances for comfort of the audience and to ensure that they can all see you, no matter where they are sitting.
A study by Albert Mehrabian at UCLA shows that 55 percent of our total message in face-to-face interactions is communicated through body language. A big part of body language is how you dress. As a general rule, you should dress slightly better than your audience. Conservative dress and solid colours are always winners in the business arena.
Your presentation should have an introduction, body and conclusion. The first part of your presentation is called the opening. You use the opening to get the audience’s attention, build (or continue to build) rapport with the audience, introduce your topic, and prepare the audience for the rest of your presentation. The opening should take only a fraction of your total presentation time. For example, if you’re giving a fifteen-minute presentation, you might dedicate two to three minutes to the opening. Your opening should set the tone for the rest of your presentation. First impressions are important. Make sure everybody knows who you are. The audience needs to know who you are and why they should listen to you. Present your credentials and let people know why you’re an expert on this topic. Be careful not to sabotage yourself in your dress or your spoken words.
Seven ways to sabotage a first impression:
1. Sloppy language. Using words like “anyways” or phrases such as, “That’s a whole ‘nother thing”.
2. Lazy language. Using phrases such as “you guys,” “okey dokey,” “no problem.”
3. Verbal fillers. Using “ums” and “ahs”.
4. Hiding your hands. This demonstrates a lack of trust. Keep your hands where people can see them.
5. Being late for the presentation.
6. Throat clearing. The message sent here is that you think you are superior. Not a good first impression.
7. Lack of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm sells. If you’re not enthusiastic and excited, why in the world should your audience get excited about your presentation?
Many people feel that humour is necessary in a presentation. It may be a valuable attention-gaining technique, but use it wisely. The joke you tell should have some relationship to the rest of your presentation or to your audience. Using humour can help arouse interest, allow you to connect with the audience, disarm hostility, show that you don’t take yourself too seriously and make a positive impression. However, if you don’t feel comfortable with humour, then make them think. Two key strategies will help you get your audience thinking: Present facts, figures and expert opinions or invite the audience to participate. Your opening is your promise to the audience about what they’ll get out of your presentation – make sure you promise something you can deliver.
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One way to demonstrate your expertise is to open your presentation with data, exact figures, latest developments, and interesting little-known facts. Provide the audience with some “ah-ha” evidence of a problem or need with which they can relate. Select relevant information that will fascinate or surprise the audience. Try to get the group involved from the beginning by taking an audience poll or holding a mini-brainstorming session.
You have a limited amount of time to address the audience, so you must limit the number of main ideas covered in your presentation. It’s best to stick to two to five main points. You need to provide supporting evidence for each main point, so allow enough time to develop each point in adequate detail. You need to plan your presentational structure and organize the body of your presentation in a way that makes sense for your subject.
Common organizational patterns are:
1. Topical – when several ideas relate to your theme and each distinct idea becomes a main point.
2. Chronological – uses time sequence for a framework.
3. Spatial – organizes material according to physical space.
4. Classification – organizes material by putting things into categories.
5. Problem/Solution – organizes material by describing a problem and then presenting a solution.
6. Cause/Effect – organizes material by describing the cause of a problem and then presenting the effects of the problem.
A good outline includes the main points of your presentation, plus reference to your evidence and should be composed mainly of keywords. You should always practice your speech from your outline. That way it doesn’t sound stilted or memorized.
To create a credible presentation, you must provide supporting materials to back up your claims. Evidence serves to clarify your position or main ideas, prove that your claims are true and creates a lasting and memorable impression. Types of evidence include: facts and figures, statistics, statements by authority, testimony, narratives (stories), definitions and humour.
It is important to separate your main points by using a technique called a transition. Transitions may emphasize the organization of your speech or demonstrate how your ideas relate back to the theme of your presentation. For example, “now that you understand _________, let’s move on to my next point, which is _________.”
When you have covered all your main ideas and don’t have any new ideas to present, you are ready to close. The opening and the conclusion are bookends to the body of your presentation. The goal of the conclusion is to: inform the audience you’re about to close, summarize the main points, leave the audience with something to remember. Whenever possible, as part of your wrap-up, leave your audience with something to do. Giving your audience a call to action in your conclusion accomplishes two main purposes:
(1) It gives your listeners direction regarding what to do with the information you’ve just presented.
(2) it gives your audience incentive to think about your presentation later.
Remember to keep the call to action simple enough to be something your audience can accomplish. For example, “by next Monday I will make 4 calls to potential clients.”
The difference between a good presenter and a great presenter is often “presentational style” or the intangible elements of a presentation including a speaker’s poise, movement, projection of enthusiasm, and comfort in front of a group. Even the most experienced speakers can exhibit ticks and tendencies that interfere with their presentations. Some common problems to look out for as you practice your presentation include:
(1) Verbal fillers – “um”, “uh”, “yeah, so”
(2) Swaying and rocking
(3) Pacing
(4) Hands in pockets
(5) Lip smacking
(6) Fidgeting
The solution to these and other common problems is practice and experience. Nerves are usually the cause of such problems, so the more confident you feel, the less likely you are to engage in such habits. Joining a group such as Toastmasters can help you develop your public speaking skills and make you more confident. With preparation and practice, anyone can give a great presentation. The act of getting up in front of an audience gives you a certain amount of credibility. To be worthy of the audience’s trust, follow a few simple guidelines:
Be truthful
Give credit to your sources
Use current information
Do not rely excessively on appeals to people’s emotions
Show respect for your audience’s intelligence
Information adapted from hp learningcenter.com “planning your presentation”
****************
Yours for a GREAT Presentation!
Fran
For More Info on Presentations Click Here!"
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A Speaker's Greatest Tool
Your greatest tool as a speaker is your voice. Every time you address an audience your mind, your body and your voice act as partners in the task of getting your message across to your listeners. When you speak, your voice is the primary link between you and your listeners – it’s the medium of your message.
The importance of having an effective voice isn’t restricted to public speaking. A good, controlled voice is an asset in every contact with others. Your voice mirrors your personality with a language all its own – a language that people recognize and respond to immediately. A natural voice that projects an image of cordiality, cultivation and authority is a significant tool for personal success. It can help in gaining promotions, making sales, winning the respect of others and improving your social opportunities, as well as in speaking effectively to audiences.
When you speak, your voice reflects your psychological and emotional state of mind. You can’t hope to persuade or influence others – or even get them to listen in a positive way – if your tones are harsh, scolding and unfriendly. Such a voice can repel even when the speaker wishes to attract. The quality of friendliness is a prime requisite for a good speaking voice. It’s largely a matter of habit, as is the unfriendly tone.
If you’ve fallen into the habit of scolding, snarling and speaking in an unpleasant tone, and the effect you seek is to produce the genial, cheerful and gracious tones that characterize a good speaking voice, you may need to do more than simply develop your voice. You may have to reassess your way of looking at yourself, other people and events in general.
But if you’re like most people, the chances are excellent that you can develop the sort of voice that wins favourable attention and reflects the qualities you wish to project. To do so, you must strive to strip away any bad speech habits that may have accumulated over the years. And you must work to build the type of positive habits that will enhance your speaking voice.
Your voice and your face are your “public relations” agents. More than any other factors, they serve to establish an image of you in the minds of others. Your face, body and speech are the interpreters of your mind. They reveal your character – the real you – as nothing else can.
A smile – whether it starts in your face, your disposition or your voice – reacts on the other elements and tends to induce a positive, constructive complex which makes your attitude and appearance attractive and pleasing.
Your best voice can help bring out your best self. Nature has given you a priceless gift in your voice. It is the means by which you can communicate with others – the medium of your message. It also makes possible understanding and camaraderie. By your voice and your words, your influence is made upon those whom your life may touch.
Yours for better speaking
Fran
The importance of having an effective voice isn’t restricted to public speaking. A good, controlled voice is an asset in every contact with others. Your voice mirrors your personality with a language all its own – a language that people recognize and respond to immediately. A natural voice that projects an image of cordiality, cultivation and authority is a significant tool for personal success. It can help in gaining promotions, making sales, winning the respect of others and improving your social opportunities, as well as in speaking effectively to audiences.
When you speak, your voice reflects your psychological and emotional state of mind. You can’t hope to persuade or influence others – or even get them to listen in a positive way – if your tones are harsh, scolding and unfriendly. Such a voice can repel even when the speaker wishes to attract. The quality of friendliness is a prime requisite for a good speaking voice. It’s largely a matter of habit, as is the unfriendly tone.
If you’ve fallen into the habit of scolding, snarling and speaking in an unpleasant tone, and the effect you seek is to produce the genial, cheerful and gracious tones that characterize a good speaking voice, you may need to do more than simply develop your voice. You may have to reassess your way of looking at yourself, other people and events in general.
But if you’re like most people, the chances are excellent that you can develop the sort of voice that wins favourable attention and reflects the qualities you wish to project. To do so, you must strive to strip away any bad speech habits that may have accumulated over the years. And you must work to build the type of positive habits that will enhance your speaking voice.
Your voice and your face are your “public relations” agents. More than any other factors, they serve to establish an image of you in the minds of others. Your face, body and speech are the interpreters of your mind. They reveal your character – the real you – as nothing else can.
A smile – whether it starts in your face, your disposition or your voice – reacts on the other elements and tends to induce a positive, constructive complex which makes your attitude and appearance attractive and pleasing.
Your best voice can help bring out your best self. Nature has given you a priceless gift in your voice. It is the means by which you can communicate with others – the medium of your message. It also makes possible understanding and camaraderie. By your voice and your words, your influence is made upon those whom your life may touch.
Yours for better speaking
Fran
Using Unexpected Openers
Use Unexpected Openers to Capture Audience Interest
By David Green
The informal networking session was over and the 20-odd working speechwriters took their seats in the conference room in eager anticipation of the lunch speaker. It was to be Ted Sorenson, renowned speechwriter and confidante for John F. Kennedy during his White House years.
Sorenson took his place at the podium, smiled kindly at the gathering, and then began: “Thank you so much for having me here today. It is quite an honor to be with you…and that concludes my prepared remarks.”
Now, if you are a god in your industry and have the audience hanging on your every word before you even open your mouth… you can get away with an opening like that. But when it comes to making speeches and presentations, most of us are still mere mortals. And, as the saying goes, you have only one chance to make a first impression. So your opening comments are critical. You have to engage your audience from the get-go.
That’s why so many speakers think they need to start their talk with a story or a joke – to get the audience “on their side.” These opening gambits are what I call “speech props” and they can be extremely useful…in concept. But not if they come from one of those “500 great jokes for public speakers” sourcebooks.
Because you not only have to engage your audience, you have to overcome their expectations so that they don’t write you off before you get to the good stuff in your presentation. Oh yes, the audience thinks they know what to expect from you. They know your title, your company, maybe they’ve seen an abstract – they think they’ve got you pegged.
Power of the Unexpected
So it’s time to counter-program by opening with a story that throws them off balance, that bends their perspective, that makes them look at you with fresh eyes…and listen with fresh ears. This is pure Made-to-Stick 101 – and if that reference doesn’t ring a bell, you might want to check out Chip and Dan Heath’s book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
The Heath brothers offer 6 basic precepts for creating memorable communications, but the one I particularly fancy is Principle 2: Unexpectedness. Here’s their take on why unexpectedness matters:
“How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to get the ideas across? We need to violate people’s expectations. We need to be counterintuitive.”
Okay, fine…so, how do you do that exactly? By following these three basic “rules.”
1) Look outside the box
Get outside your industry. Look for stimuli that aren’t “making the rounds.” Seek provocative thinking. One of the best sources might be the web site of the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference, http://www.ted.com/ Many of the five- to 20-minute talks posted there, videotaped from the conference proceedings, are highly effective at turning your head around and making you see your world differently.
I have a friend who, knowing that I do a lot of work with technology companies, occasionally sends me articles like “The 10 stupidest tech company blunders” with the note “good anecdotes for speeches.” But you’ll often find that the best anecdotes for speeches are the ones that come from out of left field. These tend to engage the audience more as they try to figure out where you are going. For example, in recent speeches and ghosted columns for an art-education association client, I’ve used these topics:
•The doctrine of the Cluetrain Manifesto.
•Bud Clark’s stunning mayoral win in Portland, Oregon in 1984.
•The fact that Minneapolis and St Paul aren’t entirely on opposite banks of the Mississippi.
How could such a hodge-podge of disparate and arcane leads make sense? Well, since the association was going through a major cultural transformation, my client’s first task was to get her membership’s attention. Then she needed to champion her cause – over a period of time – enlisting passionate support, and creating local champions to spread the gospel.
So the Cluetrain Manifesto, which advocates for digital media’s ability to overcome the stranglehold of corporate-speak, introduced the power of authenticity in an individual’s voice. The Minneapolis-St. Paul geographic trivia reference was the intro to a speech she gave in Minneapolis – and was used as an example of how preconceptions based on conventional wisdom can keep us from our goals. Bud Clark’s mayoral win, which I knew about from living in Portland shortly before that election, was a model for harnessing populist fervor to overcome great odds.
Dramatically different leads, but all working on the same wavelength to effectively empower the association’s members to take a more activist role.
2) Let inspiration come to you
Many years ago, when I was working as an advertising copywriter in New York City, I told my boss that the company should just pay me to walk back and forth between the subway station and the office because I got more good ideas during those 30 minutes – when I wasn’t really trying – than in the eight hours a day I spent at my desk. A few months ago, a client told me that she loved getting e-mails from me that start out “I was just out for a walk along the reservoir and I got to thinking…”
The best ideas are like that squiggly dust mote on your eye that you catch a fleeting glance of when you gaze up into a summer sky, but that darts out of sight when you try to look directly at it. The more you expose yourself to influences outside your industry, the more you open yourself up to cross-pollination, which is where creativity is most often born. For instance, I once found the conceptual construct for a speech on complexity vs. simplicity in the midst of watching the movie “Pollock.”
Watching Pollock’s chaotic jumble of splatter painting seemed to represent technological complexity in a very obvious way. Later, for stark contrast, I chose Mark Rothko’s tranquil works, with their blocks of muted color, to represent simplicity. The speech was by the CEO of a networking equipment company to industry analysts and angel investors and, after a brief scene-setting comment about the challenge of developing breakthrough innovation, he got into his true lead:
“So every now and again, I like to look at our challenge from an entirely different frame of reference. It keeps me fresh. And I’m willing to bet that it will make the next 25 minutes more intriguing than maybe you thought they were going to be. I figured I could get away with using Jackson Pollock as my keynote visual, because you’re all eclectic, multi-dimensional people, with diverse interests. If I tried this with an engineering audience, I’d probably lose the entire audience while they scribbled down all the architectural flaws in Pollock’s schematic.
Now, I’m a network guy. I look at Jackson Pollock, and I see networks. Specifically, I see today’s wide area networks – the complexity, the layers, the obstacles to flow. Of course, if you know anything about Jackson Pollock as a person, you know that he was a bona-fide tortured soul – which I suspect might eventually describe the engineers in charge of building broadband networks on [complex] SONET-based architecture.
Now, Mark Rothko – he’s my idea of an Ethernet Everywhere guy. There’s a fundamental simplicity here, and a sense of the infinite – infinite space, infinite potential.
3) Practice storytelling
This may seem like splitting hairs, but there really is a difference between storytelling and telling a story. Storytelling is about more than the relating of an anecdote; it’s about the creation of a distinctive, intriguingly listenable voice.
Let me give you an example. I had a technology client who wanted to build a keynote address around the message that his industry needed radical innovation in order to jump start recovery from the 2001 recession. The tepid, incremental, more-bang-for-your-buck product improvements that had dominated the recession period no longer would get the job done.
While the speech was still in incubator mode, I came across an article about building strategic competitive advantage that included a quotation about the noted computer scientist, Alan Kay, with the catchphrase, “Perspective is worth 80 points of IQ.”
This was the resulting presentation lead:
“In March 1975, a new office building was dedicated on Coyote Hill Road in Palo Alto, CA. Now, ordinarily, I wouldn’t much care about the dedication of an office building, and I can’t imagine you would either. Except that this building was the new home to a still-youthful organization called the Palo Alto Research Center, better known as Xerox PARC – and you probably all owe your jobs to what was invented in that building. I know I certainly wouldn’t be standing here before you if Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs hadn’t joined forces there in the mid-‘70s to develop Ethernet technology.
The creations that originated at Xerox PARC are mythic, and their creators are legendary. One of the most legendary of these is a man named Alan Kay, who is responsible for inventing object-oriented programming, the graphical user interface, and the very concept of a personal computer. Alan Kay has one of the most original minds in the technology field – perhaps one of the most original minds, period.
But I come here, not to praise Alan Kay – nor to bury him – but to quote him. Alan Kay once said that perspective was worth 80 points of IQ. In other words, it’s not how smart you are that matters, it’s your ability to see things from different points of view. That’s how innovation happens: by looking at things from a different angle and making connections that no one has made before.”
After my client finished, the conference organizer met him backstage and told him that, unlike the previous day, when a more prominent CEO had some 300 people leave his keynote before he finished because his approach was too “same-old, same-old,” not one person left before he finished.
A good speaker also knows how to leave his audience on a powerful upnote – but that’s a story for another time. So next presentation, look for a way to start that will take your audience by surprise (as long as you can make it relevant to your message). It may make you a little bit nervous – but then, the best communications solutions almost always do.
About the Author:
David Green is principal of UnCommon Knowledge, a speechwriting and strategic communications consultancy in the New York City area. He has written speeches for senior executives at Hewlett-Packard, Mercedes-Benz USA, Advanced Micro Devices, Johnson & Johnson and Extreme Networks, among others – all while being an involved father of 11-year-old twin boys. He’s not sure which activity is the more demanding. For more on David Green, visit www.uncommon-knowledge.com
******************
Check out David's website for his 3 simple rules
By David Green
The informal networking session was over and the 20-odd working speechwriters took their seats in the conference room in eager anticipation of the lunch speaker. It was to be Ted Sorenson, renowned speechwriter and confidante for John F. Kennedy during his White House years.
Sorenson took his place at the podium, smiled kindly at the gathering, and then began: “Thank you so much for having me here today. It is quite an honor to be with you…and that concludes my prepared remarks.”
Now, if you are a god in your industry and have the audience hanging on your every word before you even open your mouth… you can get away with an opening like that. But when it comes to making speeches and presentations, most of us are still mere mortals. And, as the saying goes, you have only one chance to make a first impression. So your opening comments are critical. You have to engage your audience from the get-go.
That’s why so many speakers think they need to start their talk with a story or a joke – to get the audience “on their side.” These opening gambits are what I call “speech props” and they can be extremely useful…in concept. But not if they come from one of those “500 great jokes for public speakers” sourcebooks.
Because you not only have to engage your audience, you have to overcome their expectations so that they don’t write you off before you get to the good stuff in your presentation. Oh yes, the audience thinks they know what to expect from you. They know your title, your company, maybe they’ve seen an abstract – they think they’ve got you pegged.
Power of the Unexpected
So it’s time to counter-program by opening with a story that throws them off balance, that bends their perspective, that makes them look at you with fresh eyes…and listen with fresh ears. This is pure Made-to-Stick 101 – and if that reference doesn’t ring a bell, you might want to check out Chip and Dan Heath’s book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
The Heath brothers offer 6 basic precepts for creating memorable communications, but the one I particularly fancy is Principle 2: Unexpectedness. Here’s their take on why unexpectedness matters:
“How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to get the ideas across? We need to violate people’s expectations. We need to be counterintuitive.”
Okay, fine…so, how do you do that exactly? By following these three basic “rules.”
1) Look outside the box
Get outside your industry. Look for stimuli that aren’t “making the rounds.” Seek provocative thinking. One of the best sources might be the web site of the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference, http://www.ted.com/ Many of the five- to 20-minute talks posted there, videotaped from the conference proceedings, are highly effective at turning your head around and making you see your world differently.
I have a friend who, knowing that I do a lot of work with technology companies, occasionally sends me articles like “The 10 stupidest tech company blunders” with the note “good anecdotes for speeches.” But you’ll often find that the best anecdotes for speeches are the ones that come from out of left field. These tend to engage the audience more as they try to figure out where you are going. For example, in recent speeches and ghosted columns for an art-education association client, I’ve used these topics:
•The doctrine of the Cluetrain Manifesto.
•Bud Clark’s stunning mayoral win in Portland, Oregon in 1984.
•The fact that Minneapolis and St Paul aren’t entirely on opposite banks of the Mississippi.
How could such a hodge-podge of disparate and arcane leads make sense? Well, since the association was going through a major cultural transformation, my client’s first task was to get her membership’s attention. Then she needed to champion her cause – over a period of time – enlisting passionate support, and creating local champions to spread the gospel.
So the Cluetrain Manifesto, which advocates for digital media’s ability to overcome the stranglehold of corporate-speak, introduced the power of authenticity in an individual’s voice. The Minneapolis-St. Paul geographic trivia reference was the intro to a speech she gave in Minneapolis – and was used as an example of how preconceptions based on conventional wisdom can keep us from our goals. Bud Clark’s mayoral win, which I knew about from living in Portland shortly before that election, was a model for harnessing populist fervor to overcome great odds.
Dramatically different leads, but all working on the same wavelength to effectively empower the association’s members to take a more activist role.
2) Let inspiration come to you
Many years ago, when I was working as an advertising copywriter in New York City, I told my boss that the company should just pay me to walk back and forth between the subway station and the office because I got more good ideas during those 30 minutes – when I wasn’t really trying – than in the eight hours a day I spent at my desk. A few months ago, a client told me that she loved getting e-mails from me that start out “I was just out for a walk along the reservoir and I got to thinking…”
The best ideas are like that squiggly dust mote on your eye that you catch a fleeting glance of when you gaze up into a summer sky, but that darts out of sight when you try to look directly at it. The more you expose yourself to influences outside your industry, the more you open yourself up to cross-pollination, which is where creativity is most often born. For instance, I once found the conceptual construct for a speech on complexity vs. simplicity in the midst of watching the movie “Pollock.”
Watching Pollock’s chaotic jumble of splatter painting seemed to represent technological complexity in a very obvious way. Later, for stark contrast, I chose Mark Rothko’s tranquil works, with their blocks of muted color, to represent simplicity. The speech was by the CEO of a networking equipment company to industry analysts and angel investors and, after a brief scene-setting comment about the challenge of developing breakthrough innovation, he got into his true lead:
“So every now and again, I like to look at our challenge from an entirely different frame of reference. It keeps me fresh. And I’m willing to bet that it will make the next 25 minutes more intriguing than maybe you thought they were going to be. I figured I could get away with using Jackson Pollock as my keynote visual, because you’re all eclectic, multi-dimensional people, with diverse interests. If I tried this with an engineering audience, I’d probably lose the entire audience while they scribbled down all the architectural flaws in Pollock’s schematic.
Now, I’m a network guy. I look at Jackson Pollock, and I see networks. Specifically, I see today’s wide area networks – the complexity, the layers, the obstacles to flow. Of course, if you know anything about Jackson Pollock as a person, you know that he was a bona-fide tortured soul – which I suspect might eventually describe the engineers in charge of building broadband networks on [complex] SONET-based architecture.
Now, Mark Rothko – he’s my idea of an Ethernet Everywhere guy. There’s a fundamental simplicity here, and a sense of the infinite – infinite space, infinite potential.
3) Practice storytelling
This may seem like splitting hairs, but there really is a difference between storytelling and telling a story. Storytelling is about more than the relating of an anecdote; it’s about the creation of a distinctive, intriguingly listenable voice.
Let me give you an example. I had a technology client who wanted to build a keynote address around the message that his industry needed radical innovation in order to jump start recovery from the 2001 recession. The tepid, incremental, more-bang-for-your-buck product improvements that had dominated the recession period no longer would get the job done.
While the speech was still in incubator mode, I came across an article about building strategic competitive advantage that included a quotation about the noted computer scientist, Alan Kay, with the catchphrase, “Perspective is worth 80 points of IQ.”
This was the resulting presentation lead:
“In March 1975, a new office building was dedicated on Coyote Hill Road in Palo Alto, CA. Now, ordinarily, I wouldn’t much care about the dedication of an office building, and I can’t imagine you would either. Except that this building was the new home to a still-youthful organization called the Palo Alto Research Center, better known as Xerox PARC – and you probably all owe your jobs to what was invented in that building. I know I certainly wouldn’t be standing here before you if Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs hadn’t joined forces there in the mid-‘70s to develop Ethernet technology.
The creations that originated at Xerox PARC are mythic, and their creators are legendary. One of the most legendary of these is a man named Alan Kay, who is responsible for inventing object-oriented programming, the graphical user interface, and the very concept of a personal computer. Alan Kay has one of the most original minds in the technology field – perhaps one of the most original minds, period.
But I come here, not to praise Alan Kay – nor to bury him – but to quote him. Alan Kay once said that perspective was worth 80 points of IQ. In other words, it’s not how smart you are that matters, it’s your ability to see things from different points of view. That’s how innovation happens: by looking at things from a different angle and making connections that no one has made before.”
After my client finished, the conference organizer met him backstage and told him that, unlike the previous day, when a more prominent CEO had some 300 people leave his keynote before he finished because his approach was too “same-old, same-old,” not one person left before he finished.
A good speaker also knows how to leave his audience on a powerful upnote – but that’s a story for another time. So next presentation, look for a way to start that will take your audience by surprise (as long as you can make it relevant to your message). It may make you a little bit nervous – but then, the best communications solutions almost always do.
About the Author:
David Green is principal of UnCommon Knowledge, a speechwriting and strategic communications consultancy in the New York City area. He has written speeches for senior executives at Hewlett-Packard, Mercedes-Benz USA, Advanced Micro Devices, Johnson & Johnson and Extreme Networks, among others – all while being an involved father of 11-year-old twin boys. He’s not sure which activity is the more demanding. For more on David Green, visit www.uncommon-knowledge.com
******************
Check out David's website for his 3 simple rules
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