| What makes the difference between an average | | | | persona that was basically a sham. He projected a |
| presentation and one that rocks your world? What | | | | larger-than-life image on a curtain that both awed and |
| makes the difference between a memorable speech | | | | scared the folks in the Emerald City. |
| and one that fades into oblivion as soon as the | | | | He thought that in order to lead others, he had to be |
| presenter steps off the stage? The answer sits in four | | | | something he was not. In the end, the curtain was |
| building blocks that are essential for crafting a speech | | | | pulled away and we saw him manipulating an image of |
| into a work of art rather than hum-drum blather. | | | | himself. In truth, by ripping aside the curtain, the wizard |
| Building Block Number One: Add context to your | | | | turned out to be a wise man with keen powers of |
| content. | | | | observation and the "audience" of Dorothy and her |
| Every word we utter, every gesture we make take its | | | | friends ended up listening to him. |
| nuance and meaning from the context of the moment. | | | | What was an incident of fiction is exactly what Pine |
| Consider context to be the background or the stage | | | | and Gilmore, authors of The Authentic Economy, insist |
| setting for what is being spoken. Small wonder that | | | | is the exactly what consumers and employees are |
| Congress recoiled with the Big Three Automakers | | | | looking for: authentic people! We're tired of phony |
| arrived in individual corporate jets to ask for money. | | | | baloneys. We're tired of slick and silly. We're tired of |
| The context made their mode of travel ludicrous. | | | | speakers who act as if they have all the answers and |
| If Astronaut Neil Armstrong had said, "One small step | | | | then behave off stage in a manner totally opposite to |
| for a man; one giant leap for mankind" while standing | | | | their presentation. We are hungry for REAL people. |
| on the 16th hole of Pebble Beach with a #3 wood in | | | | If a presenter can build in personal examples of failure |
| his hand, that statement would have been destined for | | | | and success, or emotional high and lows-as fitting the |
| locker room chatter rather than heard as a defining | | | | topic-the audience also relaxes into a listening mode. |
| moment in placing the U.S. on the moon. Context is | | | | One of the best-and shortest speeches-I ever heard |
| everything. | | | | would have had 300 people up in a standing ovation |
| While this is a rather silly scenario, every speaker | | | | were it not for the fact we were held fast by |
| faces an audience with a background that brings them | | | | seatbelts. |
| together. To connect with an audience, a speaker | | | | United Flight 1180 left Denver for New Orleans. Denver |
| must state the context for the gathering, the context | | | | was snowbound. De-icing was easy. New Orleans --- |
| for the message. If President Obama had failed to | | | | another matter as huge thunderstorms kept rolling in |
| summarize the concern, anger, and frustration of the | | | | from the Gulf of Mexico. Diversion and diversion. All |
| average American as a preamble to his major | | | | the while the pilot kept us updated on our progress. |
| addresses given during the long election process, he | | | | We learned that he had been a pilot in Vietnam. And |
| might very well have never been chosen to lead this | | | | when he finally announced after many futile attempts |
| nation. When a speaker sets the stage by providing a | | | | to land, "I am an old pilot. Not a bold pilot," the cabin |
| context for his words, the audience settles in to listen, | | | | erupted in cheers. He shared what was behind the |
| believing "Ah. He understands what I am going | | | | curtain and in the end, we knew he didn't like the |
| through." | | | | situation any more than we did. |
| Often, the speaker can put into words what the | | | | Building Block Number Four: Practice storytelling instead |
| audience has been experiencing yet is unable-for | | | | of telling. |
| political or personal reasons-to express. In one keynote | | | | "Man cannot live without story any more than he can |
| address, I summarized the anxiety and uncertainty the | | | | live without bread." |
| group faced with an unprecedented spinoff. Being able | | | | - Dr. Warren Bennis |
| to put a humorous twist by way of an analogy also | | | | Since ancient times when humanity gathered around a |
| got the group laughing and nodding. Now, we can get | | | | fire ring, painted on cave walls, marked tombs, or |
| down to business! | | | | wrote on hides and papyrus, we've been enamored |
| Building Block Number Two: Remember facts tell but | | | | by the stories these drawings tell. The drawings |
| emotion sells. | | | | captured what our ear can no longer hear. |
| Statistics, flow charts, and diagrams belong in handouts. | | | | All of human history has, at some point, been |
| What brings data to life is the emotion behind the | | | | summarized through stories that reveal everything |
| information. If Martin Luther King had given his "I have a | | | | from creation mythology to Biblical lessons to exploits |
| dream speech" but recited all the facts and figures | | | | in outer space. |
| behind segregation, the audience would have gone to | | | | We just plain love story. We like detail, action, and |
| sleep. Instead, he painted a picture and portrayed his | | | | words what SHOW us what happens rather than |
| own emotion about seeing races sitting beside each | | | | TELLS us what happens. In coaching executives for |
| other. You saw and felt his intensity. | | | | presentations, our challenge is to constantly ask "what |
| If you think this only belongs in political or religious | | | | story would show this point?" When I want to make a |
| arenas, think again. Rita Davenport, president of one of | | | | point about the potential downfall of knee jerk |
| the most profitable direct sales organizations in the | | | | reactions, I tell the story (and act out) cutting down the |
| world, Arbonne, never addresses her audience in | | | | WRONG fire alarm from the ceiling. I wiped out a |
| terms of dollars and cents. She talks about individuals | | | | perfectly good piece of equipment because I did not |
| and what happened in their lives as a result of having | | | | stop to THINK! |
| their own business. I've watched this petite and very | | | | That story captures the imagination, makes the point, |
| funny woman bring crowds to their feet because she | | | | and becomes memorable because it also shares |
| captured the emotion of success-not the facts. | | | | what's behind the curtain. We've all made the |
| Imagine the buy-in when an executive stands up, | | | | too-fast-dumb move. So now, we also have an |
| relays her story about what it is like to be a female | | | | emotional response as well! |
| executive in an 98% male organization. Facts about | | | | By incorporating these four building blocks into a |
| organizational life? Yes. But also plenty of emotion that | | | | presentation, you'll not only be heard but remembered. |
| captured the attention of everyone at the conference. | | | | This makes you stand out from the herd. And that's no |
| Big stuff. | | | | bull! |
| Building Block Number Three: Share what's behind the | | | | (c) 2009, McDargh Communications. Publication rights |
| curtain. | | | | granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are |
| In The Wizard of Oz, the little wizard created a | | | | reprinted intact and all links are made live. |