Have you seen yourself lately on video? If you've
come to a Speak for Success program, I know
that you have.
Videotaping---and most importantly, watching
the video, is critical in order to improve
your presentation delivery. The impact of
seeing yourself doing something that just
plain doesn't work---is all that is typically
needed to make positive changes.
In a recent program, our video reviews were
very revealing. What was striking about these
playbacks was that during the first minute of
each presentation, the presenter spent, at
minimum, 50% of their time disengaged from
the audience by turning around and
looking behind
at the screen on the wall with their
PowerPoint.
These presenters were standing at a podium
with a monitor screen in front of them---but
most of them hardly glanced at it.
In many conference rooms, boardrooms, and
training rooms, the screens that our
PowerPoint presentations are projected upon
are pretty large---often one to two times the
height of the presenter. Unfortunately, the
large screen pulls our attention away from a
speaker---but it shouldn't pull the speaker's
attention away from us!
Presenters who engage and connect with their
audiences usually don't use PowerPoint. But
if they do, they master it so that it doesn't
drain away the attention of the
audience and energy of the presenter. If you
want to know how to do that well, click
here.
Could you be so bold as to go without
PowerPoint?
Motivational speakers, politicians,
ministers, and savvy business
leaders use vocal inflection, rate, volume,
energy, and physical movement to convey
emotion and emphasis. Can you imagine how
boring a political speech would be if the
speaker used PowerPoint?
Political speeches are all about influencing,
motivating, and trying to get people's votes.
Is that very different than trying to sell
an idea at your organization?
Do you have to:
- Get people's buy-in?
- Address their issues and pain points?
- Elicit support?
- Ask others to champion your
ideas/proposals?
- Sing your praises? (Okay, I'm getting
carried away).
Maybe there is something good that we can
learn from politicians.
Try this: Fuggedabout the PowerPoint
when you want to motivate, sell, inspire, and
get buy-in from your audience.
We want and
need to engage in a human connection and we
really don't need technology to do that.
Sometimes it just gets in our way!
