Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

May 15, 2009 · Comments

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith presenting at SOBCon09 Want to be part of a secret club? I’m starting it today, and you’re invited. Do me a favor: darken your screen a bit. Put like a spreadsheet or something up on the screen and switch to it if you see someone else coming, or if a nosy coffeeshop person starts looking over at what you’re doing. This is between us, okay?

Presentations are important. They are a gifted opportunity, given to you by someone who hopes that you will educate and equip (and entertain!) the people who have gathered to participate. As such, I treat them as important opportunities, and I invite you to do the same, should you find yourself invited to speak in some form or another with people.

I want you to succeed. It’s my hope that some of what I share with you is useful, that you can pick it up, that you can take some of what I come up with here and run with it yourselves. I call this “giving your ideas handles.”

We’ll do three things with this post: talk about the audience, share with you my most concise advice about presenting, and give you some further resources. Let me know if you need more when I’m done.

Speaking and Presenting

Respect Your Audience

Legendary advertiser David Ogilvy said, “The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife.” He wanted us to treat the recipients of advertisements as important people, and I implore you to do the same to your audience. Here’s what I mean when I say that:

  • Your audience knows more than you’re giving them credit for. Every time.
  • They have come to learn something from you that they can use themselves. Give takeaways.
  • They have sacrificed time. Value their every minute as best you can. Trim your presentation.
  • Your audience wants something new. Stay fresh. They might have seen you last month or on the web.
  • Give them something to DO. Give actionable next steps, such that your presentation leaves them wanting to rush out of the room and do what you recommended. If you can, make it as specific to the audience as possible.
  • Never ever ever ever feel like you have to read your slides to me.

You ARE an Entertainer

If you’re going to command the stage (or a room, or whatever format your presentation takes), own the stage. Be as polished, as precise, as eloquent, as helpful as you can be. Here are some tips that I’ve tried to boil down tightly:

  • Think visually. Slides are not Word documents.
  • Make sure your slides aren’t more interesting than you.
  • Speak louder and slower than you think you should.
  • Dress for attention. If you’re going to own that stage, be vibrant (but tasteful).
  • Speak WITH not TO your audience. Get them “in on it.”
  • More than 7 key points is wasted.
  • Be as passionate as you can be about the topic. If you’re not, why will they care?

Some more advice

Own the Crowd With Better Speaking

Make Better Presentations- The Anatomy of a Good Speech

How to Start Speaking at Events

What else can I help you with?

Photo credit Geoff Livingston

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  • Chris,

    Good Friday morning advice as well. I think many folks forget the entertain aspect of speaking. They treat it like a task instead of a valuable privilege. I would recommend folks check out any of the TED talks and also pick up a copy of Presentation Zen. Both are the best speaking resources for teaching yourself, that I have found.

    Thanks you sharing!

    Kipp
  • It's amazing how many people still get up and read their slides. Often, especially within companies, people use their slides both as a script and and as a transcript for people who weren't there. Neither approach makes for a good presentation.
  • and...provide the WIIFM in the first 60 seconds!
  • Mark
    Very good. I recommend Toastmasters. Great way to become a more practiced speaker for next to nothing. Interesting companions.
  • Nice set of "reminder prompts" about presentation best-practise. I'd add another, right up front - "Should this be a presentation at all?"

    Far too many times, colleagues of mine feel the need to "present" results/research/information to a room full of bored people when a much more appropriate format would be a well-written paper.

    And great shout on "don't read your slides". This can never be said too often. Somehow I've ended up as the "presentation advice" guy at work, and when people send me their slides to look at, I quite often take their entire slide content and paste it into the speaker notes, sending them back their slides with just the headings.
  • Well done Chris. I will be using this post with my high school students to better prepare their presentations. Thank you!
  • Whenever I get nervous before a presentation - I remember something my coach gave me to think about... You are there to give the audience a gift. Call it knowledge, expertise, whatever you want to – but you are there for the audiences benefit. Just take a deep breath and tell them what you know about!
  • Angela
    Thanks Chris! I am putting together a presentation for our executive team on social media, what it is and why they should care. These tips really helped me. You rock!
  • Hey Chris. Nice job. I have a couple tips to add, one from a big-time pro, one from me.

    - Tip from Big Time Pro: Charles Osgood of CBS Radio and CBS Sunday Morning. When he hosts CBS Sunday Morning, don't you feel as if he just comes out of that TV and is talking to "you?" I had the pleasure of spending the day with him, and I asked him a bunch of questions about TV journalism and the like. He told me that when he's "on stage," he pretends he's talking to one person, his Aunt Beverly.

    I thought that tied nicely with your comments. Aunt Beverly is personal. It is someone he knows and respects -- and, presumably, he can only be "real" to her -- never talk with her as if she is, as Ogilvy said, "a moron." You also can't give Aunt Beverly something stamped out. Make it real and relevant in that moment. It shows the power of making sure we work to connect, and focus on our audience. Entertaining is is key, and also not enough if we want a powerful presentation. As you know, this is a connection sport.

    - Tip from me: Think of the resulting Water Cooler conversation -- or the Tweet -- from people in your audience BEFORE you create your first slide or write your first notes in prep for the presentation. Most folks in that room will summarize what you said in one sentence, when asked by a buddy, "Hey was that any good? What did Brogan have to say?" What do you want that one sentence to be? This is your Water Cooler Message ... or Tweet Goal, if you will. Figure out what you want that message to be and be sure you audience hears it from you and that your presentation delivers that message. This exercise will ensure you are clear on what your ideal message is (to move your agenda forward, or help the audience as the case may be), and that your presentation will be focused.

    I love your reminder to give Take Aways!! Presentations shouldn't be Chinese Food, leaving the people feeling great, but empty 30 minutes later. They gave you a podium. Give something back. Make sure they get something out of it and create some sort of action from it. I always try to end my presentation with a few actionable tips that they can do. It also works to tell the audience to write the tips down. It is amazing many will do exactly that.

    Keep up the excellent work! I love your blog.

    Polly Pearson
    VP Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement
    EMC Corp
  • You are the wind beneath my wings. If speakers took a handful of these points and used them, the world would be a better place.
  • Entertainment isn't about words...it's about dynamic images and tying them directly to the audience's emotions. Great advice, although I have pulled this off some places where everyone looks at me like I am crazy and others like I am the second coming. It's an interesting dynamic, but a fun one. How else could you gage your success? I prefer to do mine based off the laughs generated from a David Hasselhoff/Gary Coleman picture :). (Get them laughing...then get them thinking)
  • Chris,
    Whew! Sure glad I'm wearing a vibrant purple top today. ;-) This sure is timely now that my new role includes delivering presentations on a regular basis - they used to be reserved for podcamps and other unconferences - thanks! I'd add know as much about your audience as you can in advance and keep them in mind when preparing your presentation.

    Cheers,
    Eden
  • Great advice, Chris.

    Here's something else: limit talking about yourself! Lately it seems like many speakers I've heard won't shut up about their wife/husband/dog/how much money they make/kids, etc. I don't care about that. I came to learn something to take away to my business!

    Many people think they are wonderful speakers, but the only thing that works is their voice.
  • Nice list, Chris. I'll also add--you cannot change external circumstances, you can only change how you react to them. If you speak enough, things are bound to happen (like when the conference laptop borked when I tried to load my slides at #IMS09 :))

    Plan that these things WILL happen from time to time, and know your material cold. When you have technical problems, your presentation doesn't go bad because the laptop went bad. It went bad because you reacted poorly to the laptop going bad.
  • You handled it well, too. I've seen that before. Howard Lindzon, cofounder of Wallstrip and venture investor, gave a great presentation at an event I was at in Phoenix. His slide deck never loaded. He looked once at the laptop, shrugged, and shut it off. He gave a PERFECT presentation without a single slide, completely unflapped.

    I came away the biggest fan of Howard, and I'm a fan of yours, too.
  • Chris and Tom -

    Thanks Chris for great advice.
    I think presenters are now trying to learn how to deal with people tweeting the presenter while presenting as well as tweeting others during the presentation. This can be a challenge but once you figure it out, you need to go with the flow and use the medium as a tool that benefits all. your thoughts please!
  • What a great reminder and nice list to share. An inspiring way to kick off a Friday morning as I have to start working on a presentation myself. Thanks for sharing Chris!

    Maikel
  • Chris: I was privileged to be in the audience at SOBCon when you presented. Not only is post sound advice, but you clearly practice what you preach. Thanks.
  • JenHarris
    Thanks so much Chris...
    About a year ago I ran across the most amazing presentation on TeacherTube about how to give a PowerPoint presentation...it was FANTASTIC...and for the life of me, I can not find it. Any help from the Peanut Gallery here would be great...thanks in advance!
    The gentleman was a PP pro who used LOTS of slides to get his point across and help you, as the audience member, remember what was going on. It was a "taped" (yea, I am 36) presentation of him talking to a theater style audience.
    Hope someone can help! thanks again
    -jen
    @jenharris09
  • EH
    If everyone presenting would incorporate these points I don't think I would really mind sitting through one again! Presenters need to remember not to present AT their audience but present and connect TO their audience. I went to a lecture where I swear this guy would have presented in the exact same manner to a blank wall as he was to his audience. Pay attention to your audience and their body language, and then adjust they way you are presenting accordingly.
  • I'd add that making sure your slide deck is well 'designed' makes a big difference.

    I'm a big fan of "Speak WITH not TO your audience. Get them “in on it.” " ... but this is challenging to do - at least it can be for me. I'd LOVE to hear some practical examples - "Give me some takeaways" Chris! :)

    As I'm thinking about it, presenting is a lot like blogging, right. You could easily apply each of your bullets to Blogging.

    http://twitter.com/franswaa
  • One of the best ways to connect with an audience is to know enough about some of them to cite at least 3 - by name - as specific examples of points you are making in your speech. Describe their example, then make your point, then say their name.

    As a former WSJ reporter who's been speaking full-time for 8 years I've been thrilled to see a greater variety of people emerging as paid speakers - being fully who they are + demonstrating their expertise...

    AND involving the audience is captivating ways to experience the topic together, growing closer, leaving the room ready to explore some more with each other - on that topic
  • One simple change gets a dramatic effect: remove all the 'me' and 'I' language from your talk and replace with 'you' (or similar audience reference).

    p.s. - no success with either Disqus or Facebook Connect login (registered user for both)
  • Great tips. It's a basic life skill that most never master.

    I always loved the anecdote from James Brady, former Whitehouse Press Secretary, about presenting. He said (of course I'm paraphrasing) never get upset if someone in your audience looks at his watch. But if he starts shaking it because he thinks it's broken, you better wrap things up.
  • vincestev
    There's some great advice in this blog post. Very useful indeed Chris. Rgds from Vince in London
  • Great advice. When a speaker is literally reading the slides, I believe it makes them not credible or worthy of seeing speak. I wonder do they really know the information they are speaking on? Did they throw it together the night before and are speaking because they committed to it and just want to get it over with? There is no excitement to the material; no engaging the crowd - just a blank stare with lips moving.

    Speaking for some can be difficult. I tell people to prepare the material they want to speak on, call friends and practice in front of them. If that is not an option, practice in front of the mirror.
  • GREAT Post, Chris!

    I cannot tell you how much I *truly appreciate* how much that you noted the fact that, as a speaker, you are the entertainer. Unlike an actor, who has to help the audience suspend reality and get captivated into the action of the scenes and the play, as a presenter, you have to help the audience get captivated with you and your presentation.

    I can't tell you how many presentations I've been thru when it was nothing but a snorefest. And I can honestly tell you that *every* presentation that was memorable had some level of entertainment - be it thru the presenter's
    * passion
    * sense of humor
    * level of engagement
    * light show

    If you want to be memorable, you've gotta be entertaining.
  • Chris,

    Right on brother. I think you hit the nail right on the head. This post is basically the "Secrets of Presenting in 90 Seconds." The most underutilized secret you mentioned was giving takeaways. People need to remember that their presentation is NOT the takeaway. Those are your visuals that support your message. A takeaway is something very different. It can be as simple as a word document. Something they can read and refer back to, weeks, months, even years after you've given your presentation.
  • Great post, Chris. Sometimes the urge to drone on just because you have the conch is just too irresistible. :D

    I'll definitely refer back to this post for my next presentation.
  • Great advice. I gave my first speech a few weeks ago and it was nerve racking. I was told I did well but I wasn't so sure. I did get a screenshot add on for my firefox so I can try and make things more interesting. I am very green but I hope to learn more and be active in this social media community and hopefully land a job. If not I will be giving more presentations and trying to teach someone about this kind of marketing.
  • Thank you Chris Brogan! Coming up next week I give my first talk on how to use some of these tool on the Internet to an audience of architects and engineers. Your post is timely for me and I appreciate it.

    Having worked for a Fortune 100 company for five years I felt like many of my presentations fit a very defined MOLD for what defined a "stellar" presentation. What I've begin to realize in the last year is that my real voice was masked by the guise of powerpoint, a decent suit, and lots of hand motions. What the hell I was doing? I think it's time I started to tell stories about who I am, why what I'm talking about is important to me, and quickly explain how it's relevant to my audience.

    I definitely agree that trimming the preso is good because I'm sure that part of the reason folks are there is to ask some questions and Q&A can definitely open doors to new worlds.

    Would love some feedback from you or my readers on my comment.

    What's the best presentation you ever did/saw?
  • Hi Chris, Love most of the points you've made, but I don't agree that most presenters need to speak slower. When people who naturally speak fast, try and slow down it often means that they lose their natural energy and can become boring to listen to.

    But with a fast speaker, the audience does need more time to process what the speaker is saying.

    Instead of speaking slower, use "chunking". Chunking is talking in chunks of words. Talk at your normal pace, but in small chunks with silence in between the chunks. You’ll be able to speak at your normal speed, which means you’ll be your natural and energetic self. And you’ll also give yourself time to think, and your audience time to process.

    Olivia
  • JeffHurt
    Nice advice. Having hired more than 2,500 speakers in the past ten years here's my overview.

    As Steve said you need to provide WIIFM and I'll add DIMTY [Do I Matter To You] in the first 60 seconds to 2 minutes or you've lost me. Your presentation is about the audience, the learner, the attendee, not you the speaker, the presenter. The best speakers have learned to focus on their audience and become "The Guide On The Side, Not The Sage On The Stage."

    I boil it all down to two main ingredients that you must have: Delivery and Content, with delivery being the most important thing. Everything else falls under those two categories. You can have poor delivery with great content, and you'll fail. You can have great delivery with poor content, and you'll succeed—but not be great. When you have great delivery and great content, (3-5 main points only, anything over five main points and you've lost the audience), then you have the winning combination and you’ll probably be asked to return and speak again.
  • Speaking is the best opportunity to build your personal brand because you can deliver a complete commuication and build powerful emotional connections with your audience. And if you delivering a presentation, remember to transfer those real-world personal branding activities into virtual ones: post video clips to YouTube, post your slides to SlideRocket, tweet about your upcoming presentation, list the event on your website, etc. This turns one powerful activitiy into many! I always say be lazy, it's good for your brand.

    Thanks Chris for this gem!

    Best.
    William Arruda
    www.williamarruda.com
  • I love how your advice is always so transferable across situations. I walked into a meeting a few hours after reading this post and at the end of the meeting my client said “Great meeting, you gave me three things I can’t wait to put on my to-do list” and I thought to myself, “Ahhh, Chris, you’ve done it again.” Thank you, kindly. :)
  • Chris - great tips as always from you and your community.

    A couple of other things try to remember to do:

    - make sure that I customise the content to be highly relevant to the audience with the case studies I use

    - try to be around before and after my session - to connect with people and answer their questions

    - get out from behind the lectern!

    I also find that speaking is a great way to build your reputation - the opportunity to connect with people and them experience you first hand is a great business development practice.

    I have also found that using social media platforms is a great way to enhance your skills as a speaker - so look out for podcast interviews or opportunities to do interviews with online video.

    One online video interview I did with someone just a week ago and then sharing it with my network has resulted in that person attracting new clients, business partnerships and traditional medai coverage in just a matter of days.
  • Excellent tips, Chris! Thanks for sharing. I'd like to add another (to the potpourri of ideas in the comments above mine): To paraphrase former Magellan financial wizard Peter Lynch and his sage advice on stock picking, use verbiage in presentations that a 7-year-old child can understand. If the child can't, don't use it. Your topic and audience are second to the language you speak, so speak simply.
  • "You are an entertainer". So true. If you need evidence of how important the human factor, the entertaining delivery, the animation and inspiration from the speaker is, just look through almost any slide presentation on slideshare.net. There are a lot of pretty slides and many of them imply that they were probably part of a really interesting presentation, but they all just lie flat on the screen, trapped in two dimensions. Thanks for the good advice and reminders Chris.
  • Chris,
    I couldn't stop thinking about this. You were the inspiration for my blog post, I Want to Be a Public Speaker (http://bizzantik.com/?p=94).

    Thanks for all you do.
  • 3Sixty
    Cool. Thanks. Doing my first talk tomorrow and it's nice to have a check list that lines up with what I am hoping.
  • Chris,

    Good tips.

    In terms of being an entertainer, I would add: MOVE! At key points, change your position on the stage. If the venue permits, get OFF the stage and move around the audience a bit. That kind of interaction brings you closer to the audience and promotes an atmosphere of real attention-paying.

    George
  • As the director for a community theater group, let me also add the following show biz items:

    1. Write a script or at least an outline. You don't have to memorize it and repeat it word for word, but you should know what you want to talk about.
    2. Rehearse. Practice makes perfect. Try video taping yourself and then watch it afterwards. This will let you spot lots of things you'll want to correct.
    3. No happy feet. Move with purpose. Don't let nervous energy make you bounce around on stage.
    4. Don't say Ummm or any of the other noises we make when we are thinking.
    5. Smile. Look pleasant.

    Great post!
  • amazing post ... your suggestion to consider presentations and talks a means of entertainment remind me of the famous quote from Marshall McLuhan 'Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either.'
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