Presentation Skills
Successful Presenting? Just be you.
The Collective Stories learning journey never ends, presentations inspire us, and we constantly seek to learn from other presenters so that we can help our clients to tell best in class Category and Shopper Insight Stories #storiesforgrowth.
At a recent retailer conference three different speakers took to the stage presenting a myriad of category topics. The first speaker was confident, used humour well and engaged the audience. So far so good!
The next speaker bounded onto the stage fresh almost like he had just come from the set of the hottest Ted talk in town (love Ted Talks!). This speaker totally owned the stage, his stance and body language were absolutely mind blowing. Not only did he speak eloquently, he used pause, intonation and pitch perfectly. Everyone in the room leaned in, this was going to be great, everyone wanted to present like this man…until slide one appeared. Oh my.
The deck was brutally boring, the diagrams overly complicated and difficult to read. In just four slides, the speaker had come undone. In trying to be someone else he had neglected the rest of his story.
“I’ve never looked at myself and said that I need to be a certain way to be around a certain sort of people. I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself and I’ve managed to do that. People have to accept that.”
We are all different, we engage and communicate in our own individual way. This is the beauty of being human.
Trying to be like someone else takes away focus and energy from your story, it can also come across as insincere. The story you are telling isn’t the best it can be. It’s great to learn from others but never lose sight of yourself and your content.
Back to the speakers, the next speaker was a more ‘junior’ member of the team, visibly more nervous and self-conscious than the previous speaker. What this speaker lacked in physical presence and perhaps flair he made up for in personality, level of knowledge and execution. It was clear that he had practiced his flow and received feedback. The room was engaged and locked in to the deck.
So, if the first speaker had personality, the second speaker had flair and personality, the third speaker had great content and personality, what do you think the three key components to a successful presentation could be?
Flair, personality, content! Perhaps there is a jazzy acronym to be developed here, I will leave that up to you. It really is as simple as getting the balance right.
Here at Collective Stories we pledge to ensure that the balance of flair, personality and content is correct. We will provide feedback, insight and guidance to your teams, telling stories is who we are, it’s what we do#storiesforgrowth
