Why Presentation Matters

Hugh… nice post.

It’s all about the sell. You can have the best idea in the world, have the biggest ol’ brain on the block but if you can’t articulate; take an audience on a journey with you, it’s meaningless just as you suggest.

If I have a quibble it’s the mention of PowerPoint. 90% of business can’t use it, and it’s certainly nothing to do with presentation skills. Largely it’s case of boiling down the complex into half a dozen bullet points; or a whole heap of exposition that gets read out verbatim; or worse still the audience is expected to read and comprehend whilst the presenter prattles on about something else.

Heck, the millisecond someone gets asked to do a presentation they open up PowerPoint without a moment’s hesitation: and function dictates form/content.

Sorry, a nerve has been hit. I’ve attended presentation skills courses, seen inspiring presentations but neither had anything to do with text transitions – the mass market hallmark of a great presentation.

Those people that you talk of seem to master the oratory with a creative spark, and there’s no toolbar button for that. I’ve looked!

Sorry for moaning.

I took a mandatory speech class in high school. Got a C. Learned very little.

Unfortunately, the most important thing I failed to learn was why the class was worth my time. If the teacher — a perfectly nice, well-intentioned guy — had started there, maybe I would have tried harder. As it was, life taught me long after high school was over.

Hugh –
Students, at least high school students, are already experts in oratory and visual presentation.
They have distilled communication into a highly effective arsenal of highly toxic language and effective hand signals.
“B*#ch” and “F!cking B*#ch” are delivered with such precise accuracy that they don’t fail to shock, in spite of repitition.
Other visual messages are scribed into desks with stealth but remarkable creativity. Most of the marks promote various social clubs otherwise known as gangs. Clever hand signals also are used to identify gang identity.
Teaching for thirty years has taught me to appreciate the skills of my students.
One minor thought concerning your ideas about teaching oratory and learning Powerpoint.
My students can be eager (ave. reading level grade 5 for grades 9-11) but learning requires focus, concentration, and the desire to learn.
The sad fact is:
Just because you teach it, doesn’t mean they learned it.

We seem to constantly be asked to provide new renderings for someone’s PowerPoint (at the 11th hour)…apparently people are anxious about having a small deck. They want to have a BIG deck! A big swinging deck, to impress everyone!

Thanks for your post on an essential and important aspect of leadership.

And I was with you – until you mentioned powerpoint!

Perhaps the missing key is that we fail to appreciate that all those great leaders are good at their presentations because they have mastered their subject, put in their 10,000 Malcolm Gladwell hours, and then have the confidence to stand and speak *as* their subject, not separate from it.

kh

(And, sorry, Hugh, powerpoint is *not* presentation and in my book nothing kills presentations more effectively than powerpoint.)

I enjoyed reading your thoughts and the comments. I learned to to presentations and marketing from my father who gave many presentations in his lifetime with none of the tools of today.
I am of the “baby boom” generation that had none of the tools we have today. Although I have learned technology and use it to my advantage I have to say that if you beleive in yourself, your talent and your gift…the rest comes naturally…with or without powerpoint!