Tom Peters
is an acclaimed presenter and he has generously shared online a draft copy of a
book he is writing on this subject. I
found it a great read, full of practical advice and an overriding philosophy which
will change the way I present. The biggies for me were (i) Consider a presentation as an intimate conversation, not a speech; (ii) Tell a story based on vignettes not a data dump, and (iii) Use PowerPoint like personal notes.
I have
made notes for myself and included
them here as an FYI (a lot are direct quotes but some are overlayed with my
interpretations, so please read the book for full context, and many other salient
points).
The One Big Secret: Consider a presentation as an intimate conversation, not a “speech”.
- The Goal Is NOT to Give a Great Presentation. The Goal is to Connect
- An effective speech to 1,000 people is 1,000 intimate, 1-on-1 conversations!
- If I’m talking to one-guy-at-a-time with good body language on both of our parts, I’m getting through to all 1,500 people. If I’m talking to “everyone,” from behind a podium, I’m getting to no one!
Be a storyteller.
- NOT “STORIES,” BUT “VIGNETTES.” None go for more than 30-45 seconds.
- A speech, long or short, to an audience of 1 or 1,001, will only grab the recipient if there’s a powerful/compelling story-with-a-plot unspooling—our brain reacts to stories.
- Stories are as important as hooks to techies and economists as to an audience of poets.
- Great data are imperative, but primarily you must play to emotion.
- Emotion is the sticky stuff. A good story can and invariably does overwhelm good data.
- A good story connects—if it connects—emotionally.
Use of PowerPoint. Death by PowerPoint or dead without PowerPoint? There are a dozen ways to misuse PowerPoint. But I, for one, would be dead without it.
- My slides are my notecards.
- They have (very!) limited stuff on them—in big, boldface type.
- Slides with quotes provide 98% of my credibility—it’s not me yelling at you about an “obvious” point!
- I can read a Churchill quote that’s to the point. That’s one thing. But when the Churchill quote is on the Big Screen—it’s a remarkably different story.
There must be “surprise”
- … some key facts that are not commonly known/are counter-intuitive (no reason to do the presentation in the first place if there are no Surprises)
- Sell Novelty yet “fit” with “core values”
The goal is to appear persuasive—not “the smartest guy in the room.”
- I assume I personally have ZERO credibility except as a mouthpiece—I “channel” the likes of the experts.
- I am just the medium, the reader and not trying to push my point of view but that of the superstars the speaker has de facto invited to join her or him on stage.
- Be “in command” but don’t “show off” (if you’re brilliant they’ll figure it out for themselves)
Make it clear you’re dealing in hypotheses, NOT Certainties.
- I always make it clear as can be that there are alternative hypotheses available
- I’m simply asserting an important hypothesis - contrary views are totally legit.
Know the data from memory and adjust as necessary
- Be hyper-attentive to the likes of Body Language make adjustment after adjustment in the face of real-time body-language feedback!
- Upon occasion, you may have to throw the whole damn outline away nine minutes into an hour-long presentation!
Rehearse your ass off.
- Really really really work your ass off!
- It’s said that Churchill spent an hour on every minute of a speech.
- That’s chickenfeed compared to Steve Jobs.
FORGET that crap about starting out by “telling ’em what you’re going to tell them”
- First, they’ve got to get to know you, and you ... MUST ... befriend them. PERIOD.
- Even in a 30-minute speech, you must spend non-trivial time establishing yourself as a person. So despite the short speech and load of content, I spend 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 (yes, 5 out of 30) minutes making friends, establishing myself, making connections.
Summarize from time to time—make it clear that we’re on an adventure together.
- As the story emerges, pause now and again, and remind the audience where we are on the road to discovery.
- There are perhaps a half-dozen or 10 of those key (“teaching point”) vignettes. As you move through the entire 90 minutes, you need to keep reminding the audience of the earlier story/stories of particular note. You want to make three or four of those stories/vignettes stick like Velcro.
Conclude ... NOTHING.
- The conclusions ... EMERGE. I’m not the one who reaches a conclusion.
- The audience reaches the conclusion via the stories I’ve told and the data I’ll present
ASK FOR/“CLOSE” THE SALE!
- You must ask for the sale—be a closer.
- Remind them in a few places of the key point you’re covering. Ask them rhetorically if you are making progress.
Selected few other considerations
- EYE CONTACT!!!!!!!
- A Presentation is an Act. You are an actor.
- Energy! Enthusiasm!
- The slide—every slide—must be exquisitely readable from the very back of the room!
- Tone of voice! “Research indicates the pitch, volume and pace of your voice affect what people think you said about five times as much as the actual words you used.”
- Keep the room lights (way) up! I cannot have my one thousand 1-on-1 “conversations” with the audience with the lights low. I gotta see the whites of their eyes, It’s a conversation.
“In classical times when
Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when
Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, ‘Let us march.’” Adlai
Stevenson, via Tom Peters.
