Here comes the science

Research over the last 20 years, by Professor Iyengar (https://sheenaiyengar.com/the-art-of-choosing/), shows that overloading people with too many choices (or too much data) reduces engagement in a process, the quality of decisions and ultimately the satisfaction with those decisions.

When we gear presentations to the needs of the listener, the messages do not get lost in the muddle of data overload.

In order to clearly communicate an idea so the audience understands and can take action, remember: Purposeful, Audience Focused Presenting is better.

3. Using PowerPoint the wrong way

The point of a PowerPoint slide is not to cram as many words as possible onto it and then stand up and read it to an audience. The idea of a slide is to help the audience visually understand your ideas and concepts.

PowerPoint is a very powerful visual aid when used correctly. It really is. Unfortunately many presenters do not use it as a visual aid, instead they use it as:

• Their notes
• A crutch
• A substitute for preparation
• The handout (given before, during or after the talk)
• The PowerPoint that gets circulated to the people that weren’t at the talk

I will talk about PowerPoint in more detail later in the book but please know that what you think is helping you could be the reason you are being branded a lacklustre presenter.

4. Using too much industry jargon

The best presenters speak in plain English.

‘Plain English is clear, straightforward expression, using only as many words as are necessary. It is language that avoids obscurity, inflated vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction. It is not baby talk, nor is it a simplified version of the English language. Writers and speakers of plain English let their audience concentrate on the message instead of being distracted by complicated language. They make sure that their audience understands the message easily.’

— Professor Robert Eagleson

I know you don’t want to be seen to ‘dumb things down’ or speak in what you perceive to be baby talk. Dumbing down and baby talk are very different from being clear, concise and understandable. I am not asking you to dumb anything down; I am asking you to speak in a universally understood language rather than your industry dialect. In everyday conversation we speak in plain English using first-degree words. These are words that have only one meaning that everyone can understand. For example ‘road’ is a first-degree word. ‘Infrastructure’ is not.

To be understood you have to stop:

• Using concepts, acronyms and jargon without explanation
• Assuming levels of understanding that are simply not there
• Bombarding the audience with too many numbers with no context for those numbers
• Using ten sentences to say what could be said in two
• Talking about what you are going to talk about instead of just talking about it. You need to get to the point

Facts are, of course, critical but the reality is they take time to penetrate the brain.

A mistake many presenters make is assuming their colleagues, customers or clients understand the everyday jargon they use. In most instances, this is not the case and can result in serious miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Please believe me when I say your audience (internal and external) does not understand your industry language as much as you think or maybe in the way you think. They may have heard the acronym or come across the theory but that does not mean they understand it in the way you do.

Don’t make the mistake of being over-confident in your assumptions about your audience’s level of understanding. There is a very good chance you’re mistaken in assuming understanding that simply isn’t there.

The onus is on you the presenter

The purpose of a presentation is to create understanding.

If you don’t make your facts understandable you are essentially expecting your audience to:

• Take on board a catalogue of data
• Assimilate the data immediately with no real context
• Reach the same conclusion you have reached

(And all of this in 20 minutes.)

The onus is never on the audience, it is always on the speaker to keep the listener engaged and ensure they understand the data.

You must know your audience and how they will interpret what you are saying. Something that is incredibly natural and everyday to you may not be to them. You must speak to your audience in a language they can understand.

You have to step back from your own assumptions. If in doubt start at the beginning and make sure everyone understands.

To ensure engagement throughout and to make sure you are creating understanding you must avoid the four presentation pitfalls (pages 68–70) and always do the following:

• Speak in plain English to explain your messages and concepts.
• Relate your information to how it affects your audience.
• Use real-life examples, stories or analogies to explain your concepts and bring your facts to life.

The power of a picture

A concept is an abstract general idea that could have many meanings. ‘Sustainability’ is a concept. I don’t think anyone actually knows what that word means. Children and adults think in pictures and concrete thoughts rather than general ideas.

We go through years of education and all we are taught is how to memorise data and concepts. Only a very small percentage of teachers take those concepts and make them stick, make us understand and remember them.

Great presenting is about the creation of understanding. Presenting concepts to an audience and assuming they will be able to take the general abstract ideas and understand them as you do is senseless and ultimately ineffective.

You, the presenter, must take the concepts and make them real. You must present them so the audience can touch them, taste them and feel them.

People relate easily (and emotionally) to stories, examples, analogies and case studies. More importantly, people remember them. Our brains are hardwired for story. Story was how cultures were passed from generation to generation. Stories are interesting, easy to listen to and you remember the message. If you have an important message, concept or idea that must be remembered by your audience concentrate on telling a story or finding one concrete example to support your point. Facts are important and can even be critical but they penetrate the brain very slowly – remember learning your times tables or your French verbs.

Stories make facts speak. They give them an emotional context. They make facts digestible and appetising. As well as the facts entering the brain more quickly, in the process you become more human, more approachable and more audience-friendly. The best speakers reach into their bag of stories and examples and this is what brings their presentations to life. This is what connects them to the audience.

I hope I demonstrated the power of story in the opening chapter of this book when I told you about the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy.

Let’s talk about TED

It is very important, before I finish this chapter, to talk about TED Talks as I believe many TED Talks and TED presenters are the benchmark against which today’s presenters measure themselves.

TED is an organisation devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today it covers almost all topics – from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

TED Talks are excellent presentations.

But why and how are each of these talks consistently so engaging, understandable and powerful?

One of the reasons the presentations are so good is because TED’s organisers send all upcoming speakers a stone tablet, engraved with the ‘TED Commandments’.

Speakers must follow these rules.

• Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot out Thy Usual Shtick.
• Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
• Thou Shalt Reveal Thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
• Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
• Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
• Thou Shalt Not Flaunt Thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of Thy Failure as well as Thy Success.
• Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither Thy Company, Thy Goods, Thy Writings, nor Thy Desperate Need for Funding; Lest Thou Be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
• Thou Shalt Remember all the While: Laughter Is Good.
• Thou Shalt Not Read Thy Speech.
• Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them That Follow Thee.

Presenters at TED events follow these commandments and that is why they are so great.

The reason I share these with you is the TED Commandments are the same presentation best practice guidelines you will find in this book.