As I was running my 10k it hit me. Running a race is exactly the same as delivering a great presentation.

A marathon is approx 26.2 miles. For most runners, a marathon is not just 26.2 miles of physical endurance – it means months and months of preparation.Typically, those signing up commit to long periods of meticulous planning, a careful diet and a regimented programme of progressively longer runs

On race day they are then prepared to complete the marathon.

Imagine what would happen if the runner didn’t bother doing the preparation in advance of the 26 miles. Without proper preparation there is a very god chance the runner would double over in pain and exhaustion before they even reached the half way mark.

But that would be crazy wouldn’t it? To run a marathon and have not done any preparation before it.

Every day I see business people turn up to deliver presentations, expecting to perform, having done no preparation in advance.

A presentation is exactly the same as a marathon. Editing your content and rehearsing is like preparing for a marathon and delivering it live to the audience is like running the marathon itself.If you have not gotten to know your audience, structured your messages, rehearsed, rehearsed and rehearsed again then you have not prepared properly.Delivering the presentation to a live audience is race day and you need to be properly prepared to go the distance.

As long as people believe presentations can be delivered effectively without proper preparation in advance then audiences around the world will continue to be subjected to winded, out of breath presenters who entered a race they cannot finish successfully.

Even if by some miracle they do cross the finish line, by the time they do the spectators will have lost all enthusiasm for the race and the runner.

• The Converted
• The Unconvertible
• The Floater

The Converted is someone you have already influenced successfully and is doing, thinking or feeling the things you want.

The Unconvertible can never be influenced no matter what you do. There are people and situations where no matter what you do you are unable to change their position. This could be due to a number of factors including;
1. They may be someone else’s converted
2. They may have had a bad experience with you and have no wish to work with you again
3. There may be a better offer from some other company / person

You cannot convert the unconvertible so do not waste your time or your energy.

Finally there are The Floaters. The floaters are the group open to being influenced and your aim is to turn them into the converted.

The reason they are not converted already is because they have a question, maybe many questions that you have not addressed. The only way to move them from floater to convert is to identify the question they need an answer to (the right question) and address it to the satisfaction of the audience. This is not as easy as it sounds and many times the presenter will identify the wrong questions and fail in the communication.

Let me give you an example;

A company, let’s call them company x called me to work with them recently as they had lost a very big pitch. We examined what happened. Company x assumed the potential client was concerned with price so they focused on this hoping it would influence the floater to become a converted. Company x did have the best offer in terms of price so they were taken aback when they did not win the business.

After contacting the potential client for feedback it turned out cost was not the most important question this floater had but how the staff would cope with a new company taking over with a new scheme. Company x did not address this in any detail at all.
They failed to win the business (convert the floater) because they didn’t answer the most important question for the potential client.

They failed to influence because they were talking about the wrong thing. They were answering the wrong questions.
Influecning is the art of turning the floater into the converted. In order to do this you must know why the floater is still floating .

The reason your presentation didn’t get the result you hoped for is because although you prepared you prepared from a place of self survival rather than ownership.

Self-Survival
Every single human being on this planet that presents is afraid of the same thing, not being enough. Not being smart enough, confident enough or knowledgeable enough.They are afraid of being found out. They are afraid they won’t look like they have done their research or job properly. They are afraid of being asked a question they don’t know the answer to.

This means they approach their presentation in self-survival mode.

Self Survival is about you the presenter surviving the experience of presenting rather than putting the audience first and creating a positive and engaging experience for the them.The Self Survival Approach is when the audience is doing the work for the presenter

If you approach your presentation preparation from a place of self-survival this is typically what you will do;
1. The presenter will gather all their data together
2. The presenter will then deliver the raw data directly to the audience and feel relived their work is done
3. The audience must now take the data, analyse it and figure out how it relates to them.

With this approach both the presenter and the audience is left feeling a little relieved it’s all over but ultimately dissatisfied and frustrated.

Ownership
The only way to be successful in a presentation is to take ownership of the experience you are creating for your audience.
Firstly you have to make a decision to take the focus off you and make your audience number one. You must make them the most important person in the room.

Secondly you must get to grips with your words and your message. Owning what you say is a vital part to being credible and authentic. If you don’t own what you are saying all you are doing is impersonally reading data.

With the Ownership Approach you are doing the work for the audience. This is how it works;

1. The presenter will gather their data together
2. The presenter will then think about the specific audience they are going to talk to and what they need. They will analyse their own data and prepare tailored messages that are easy to understand.
3. The presenter will then deliver a powerful and impactful talk which the audience can easily digest and comprehend.

With this approach the audience feels like the presenter has climbed inside their head and is giving them what they really need from the talk.

The Ownership Approach ensures a win- win outcome for both the presenter and the audience.

 The course involves 3 distinct phases;

Phase 1: Participants attend a 2 day work shop on presentation skills

Phase 2: There is a 1 day follow up every month for 4 months involving one to one coaching.

Phase 3: Continual access to myself and my colleague on an on-going monthly basis for any specific presentation they are working on

 This is one of the most comprehensive programmes I have been involved in as a trainer. There is substantial investment by the company and a real aspiration to change the presentation culture in this organisation. Everyone on this course presents as part of their job and has been handpicked by a manager to attend.

What is most interesting is the pattern that has emerged over the time I have been doing this work. Without exception participants from each programme fall into one of 3 categories;

1.        The never to be seen againers

2.       There in body

3.      The devoted

The never to be seen againers

They come to the initial course but they don’t prepare or overly engage. They never attend any of the follow ups. They have no desire to be better presenters and are not willing to put any further work into their presentation skills.

No desire + no commitment = no change

There in body

These participants do attend the 2 day course and most (but not all) of the follow ups. They do have a very real desire to be better presenters however they do not actually put in the work that is necessary. They turn up each month with the same development needs and despite being given the tools to up skill they don’t change their own behaviour. They do the same thing each month hoping for a better result.

Desire – commitment = no change

The Devoted

 These are the participants that see the results. They have the magic formula. They want to be better AND they put in the work to achieve it.  They take all feedback on board and they use all the tools consistently till they see the change they want.

Desire + Commitment = Presentation Success

So what is the magic formula?

You have to want to be a great presenter and you have to consistently do the right things over and over again till you reach a level of competence and confidence. It is as simple and as challenging as that.

Desire + Commitment = Presentation Success

Use dancers instead of PowerPoint – That’s science writer John Bohannon’s “modest proposal.” In this choreographed talk from TEDxBrussels he makes his case by example, aided by dancers from Black Label Movement.

Please find the link to his talk below. Do you think this would work in your boardroom?

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_bohannon_dance_vs_powerpoint_a_modest_proposal.html

Many children begin by balancing on their bum, then pulling themselves up to stand at around eight months and take their first independent steps before a year.

At first children walk with their legs wide apart and take rapid short steps to help prevent them toppling. They twist their trunk with each step and hold their arms out in front to help with balance. They strike the ground with their whole foot.

In the second year they learn to stop, bend and twist without falling over. At around 18 months they start to run.

At around two, toddlers can walk faster with longer, slower steps. They can walk upstairs, holding onto the rail, two feet per step.

At about three they are striking the ground with their heel and lifting off from their toe. They are starting to swing their arms alternately.

Children do not develop “straight” legs until about seven years of age.

Despite it actually taking 7 years to reach full competence in terms of their walking, every single step a child takes is celebrated. When a child tries to walk across a room and only manages 2 steps before falling down this is not considered a failure but a huge success, even though the original goal of crossing the room was not reached.  A child is never criticised for falling down but highly praised for trying.

Imagine if you approached your presentations with this attitude. Imagine if every time you presented even if it wasn’t perfect you viewed it as a success. Imagine if you encouraged and applauded yourself the way you would a child if they fell down before they reached their goal.  Imagine if you celebrated and admired yourself and each presentation you did as a step towards victory rather than another failure or example of you not being or feeling good enough

Imagine if the  number one obstacle standing in the way of you being a confident and competent presenter is the way you are treating yourself as you learn this complex skill.

Into three groups

1.  Potential to be world class soloists
2.  Good, but unlikely to succeed professionally
3.  Would become music teachers.

 The same question was asked to each violinist, “Over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?” 

 Everyone started playing the violin about the same age, around five years old. The first few years of practice the average time was about two or three hours a week.

 At age eight, the amount of practice changed for those who later became the best.

 They would practice six hours a week. The number of hours increased as they got older till by the age of twenty they practiced on purpose to get better over thirty hours a week. 

1. These elite performers had each accumulated ten thousand hours of practice.
2. The good violin students had totaled eight thousand hours
3.  The future music teachers had totaled only four thousand hours. 

 The same study was done comparing amateur pianists with professional pianists. The amateurs never practiced more than about three hours a week during childhood and by the age of twenty had totaled two thousand hours. The professionals increased their practice over time until by the age of 20; they had reached ten thousand hours.

  In Ericcson’s study there were no “naturals”, musicians who effortlessly floated to the top while practicing less than others. Also, there were no “grinds”, people who

worked harder than everyone else, yet didn’t have what it takes to make it to the top.

 The research suggests that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, what distinguishes one performer form another is how hard he or she works. That’s it.

 The people at the top don’t work harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.

 All too often when I run a course I meet individuals who assert to me that presenting is a talent or a gift rather than a skill like playing the violin or piano. You either have it or you don’t so there any need to work at it. These individuals believe the great speakers of our time just stand up and speak off the cuff dismissing the years of dedication, priority and preparation that has been put in.  I assure them if they were really speaking off the cuff they would certainly not be hailed as the great speakers of our time but rambling, unprepared generalist with no message or impact.  Great presenters are like great musicians, they work much,much harder and that is why they are the best.

Here is his story told by him …..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

I ask this question on a daily basis and I always get the same answer. “No, I don’t like text heavy slides as an audience member.”

A recent survey has not only confirmed this finding but has gone one step further concluding  we would rather do a multitude of mundane or self sacrificing activities rather than sit through a presentation with  text heavy slides.

• 24% of people would rather forgo a night of sex
• 21% would rather do their taxes
• 20% would rather go to the dentist
• 18% would rather work on Saturdays

 According to the survey carried out by SideRocket the top frustration and guaranteed way to turn an audience off is by having slides with too much text.

These types of presentations have put 24% of people to sleep and 30% of an audience have actually snook out of the room during the talk.  

So, if you know as an audience you don’t like watching presentations with slides full of text why do so many presenters do it?

Here are the top 3 reasons;

1. The slides are prepared first; in preparing their presentation, most presenters open their laptop and start typing their slides believing this is a good place to start. The truth is this is fundamentally destroying your chance of being an effective communicator before you have even begun.
2. There is no difference in the handout and the slides; Presenters will regularly prepare a handout and use this as the slides also.  In reality they have 2 completely different purposes and visual slides need to be prepared separately.
3. Lack of preparation; Many presenters feel they need every single word they are going to speak on a slide in case they lose their way because they are not prepared enough to speak to the audience.

Communication and leadership training for students is vital. The reality is engineers don’t just deal with machines and models, accountants don’t just deal with numbers and solicitors don’t just deal with legislation. They need to interact with their co-workers, subordinates and managers as well as industry groups and regulatory agencies. They need to know how to lead, communicate and work with others.

When I moved from media into business one of my most shocking discoveries was the lack of practical Presentation Skills training in universities.

 I went to meet with a leading stock broking company last week and they told me they require there students to present to get on their graduate programme. This is becoming more and more common.

In a situation where all students are matched in grades it is their communication skills that will give them the edge. Simple things like having a clear message and being prepared properly can mean the difference between getting a job or not.

However to achieve a situation where students are getting a rounded education and the vital soft skills they require the college and all the  lecturers must get on board and be on the same page.

 I recently worked with a 3^rd year business student who told me she gets completely contradicting advice on presenting from her lecturers. However, even though this student feels some of the advice is wrong she presents in whatever manner the lecturer wants so as not to risk her grade. This leaves the student very confused and with bad habits.

The irony is the better the student, the better the chance of a job and the better the reputation of the college and lecturers. It is a win – win for everyone.