Step Up to the Mic.

To All Presenters:

It has been some time since I posted on presentation skills. Oddly, many of the presentations I have been privy to in recent time have not been terrible. Not all rose to performance level, which should be the goal, but all-in-all they have not left me praying for a flock of rabid magpies to descend upon the presenter either.

I do, however, have a lesson to share.

Presenters, please know - simply holding a microphone in your hand does not actually make it work - in fact, the act of turning it on does not make it actually work. To achieve microphone success you must accomplish the aforemention steps and then hold it near, and point it at, your mouth.

Amazing amount of failures occuring around those last points.

For hand-held mics - waving it around a la Harry Potter, using it as a pointer or holding it waaay down by your side renders it all but useless.

For microphones attached to lecturns (which as a performer you shouldn't be using, but I digress) - pointing the microphone mid-chest is not accoustically helpful.

For the clip-on/wireless mics - please, actually clip it on. Otherwise, I promise you are either going to hold it so close to your mouth that you sound like Zeus commanding from on high, or you will be so far from your mouth as to render the tool useless. Worse yet, you will likely vacilate between these two points thus irritating the audience to a degree so extreme as to not be measuerable with modern technology.
Not awesome.

Here's how to fix it.

For handhelds - put your fist against your mouth like your blowing into it. The space your fist takes up is equal to the distance the microphone should be from your mouth at all times. Microphones have varying levels of sensitivity, so consider this more a guideline than a rule.

For lecturns - look down at the microphone and adjust so that you're staring into it like it were a tube. Then look up at your audience, the microphone is now pointed at your mouth.

For clip-on / wireless - stack one fist on top of the other and attach to the bottom of your chin while looking forward. The bottom of your bottom fist is where the mic should get pinned. And be sure this site is free of obstructions which will brush against the mic and disturb your audience.

Simple guides, yours to use.

THE POINT: Your message is meaningless if no one can hear it.

This Stage is Mine

To All Presenters:

Own the stage.

Give it back.

Never underestimate the power of silence.

Don't rush to start speaking after your introduction. Take a few seconds and allow all eyes to fall upon you. Allow the room to hush. In those precious moments know you are the authority in the room and stand quietly, maintain good posture, make eye contact with a few members of the audience and project "command presence". Then speak. The simple passing of time between the introduction and your performance is important as it allows the room to calm and focus, allows you to get comfy with the attention on you and allows you to assume control of the stage.

Silence is important at the end of your performance as well.

Make your final point - to a person. Maintain eye contact - with that person. Then turn to another person, and say "thank you". Then enjoy the applause. Don't run off the stage, take a moment to enjoy the gratifying sensation of a job well done.

If nothing else, hearing this validation makes it easier to step into the spotlight next time.

Own the stage.

Give it back.

That is all.



THE POINT: Own the stage, work the room, deliver your message well and make them remember you.

Show Me Your Hands

To All Presenters:

Bill Clinton has always had a reputation for being a strong public speaker. However, when he was Governor of Arkansas he developed a bad habit where he would repeatedly point at his audience with the index finger of his right hand whilst speaking. Now, as your Mother always told you, it's very rude to point - in fact most cultures have at least one single-hand gesture which is considered offensive. So,when Bill kicked off his presidential campaign his staff new they had to put the kaibash on the future president's favorite nervous tick without throwing off his popular cadence.

The solution? They taught him to curl the offending pointer inwards, and clamp it down with his thumb. This way he was free to gesture towards his audience, sans offensive finger pointing. The aesthetic end result is the now famous Clinton "thumb point" - to see it for yourself view any of his speeches since he left the Governor's mansion. I particularly enjoy the, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" performance.

Body language represents 55%-65% of all communication - so what you say with your hands matters as much, if not more than what you say with your voice. For this reason superfluous gestures will detract measurably from your ability to deliver your message.

Use your hands to accentuate your performance with solid, intentional motions and emphasize main points with deliberate gestures. If using your hands to represent something related to your content remember, you have two hands - hence you can represent two somethings. More than that, and you start to lose the audience. New movements can be uncomfortable at first, practice your gestures when you reherse your perfromance so they are comfortable to you. And if you don't have something for your hands to say - have them say nothing.

Stage actors will typically keep their arms at their sides when their hands are not in use - it is a natural and relaxed position which does not distract the audience.

THE POINT: Your hands are the only prop you will never leave in the car - use them wisely.

PowerPoint 4

To All Presenters:

Effective immediately, all presenters must apply the Kawasaki formula when selecting a point size for text on PowerPoint slides:

A. ) Identify who the oldest person in the room will be . . .

B. ) Divide their age by 2.

The answer is the minimum point size allowed for your presentation.

THE POINT: If I fail your eye test, you fail to deliver your message.

Tear Down This Wall

To All Presenters:
I get it.

You perceive your audience to be a marauding army of angry Mongolians.

I just don’t know why.

In the mid 1400s the Ming Dynasty was having trouble with nomadic Mongolian tribes attacking the northern areas of what is now mainland China. To deflect the onslaught Ming emperors built (literally) on an idea conceived over one thousand years earlier by the Qin Dynasty. By adding miles of brick and mortar balustrades to an already established collection of “pounded Earth” embankments and natural defenses (cliffs, rivers, gorges, etc.) they created what we now call the “Great Wall of China”.

The wall was an effective means of preventing attack and providing security for the Chinese heartland.

It was, however an ineffective tool for public speaking.

You must see your audience the same way, as an angry Mongolian hoard, since you too have erected a wall separating yourself from us – the dreaded lectern.

From the Latin root meaning “to read” lecterns were designed to improve a presenter’s eye contact and posture. What seemed like a good idea at the time has evolved into a crutch used by persons who lack the confidence to actively engage their audience. It provides a visual barrier between speaker and spoken to which is unnecessary and contributes directly to the mediocrity inherent in so many presentations today. Furthermore, and let’s be honest here, any part of a presentation which involves the phrase “to read” instead of “to educate,” “to entertain,” or “to perform” is generally a bad thing.

Brothers and sisters, cast off the shackles of this outdated construct and be free to connect with the congregation. Step away from the lectern and engage! For few things are as tiresome as one who stands behind a piece of plywood whilst rambling, hoping their PowerPoint skills will distract the crowd.

Be as the Greek scholars, exposed in the amphitheater engaging their audience in dialogue and discussion, educating and entertaining with every exchange. Don’t place visual barriers between yourself and your audience, better to be open and accessible.

Rest assured, we will all be the better for it.

THE POINT: With this improved and more personal connection your audience is more likely to listen to your message, and you will seem like a stronger speaker who knows what they are doing.

Rehearse . . . Please . . .I'm Begging You

To All Presenters:

Stop winging it.

We can tell.

Seriously.

Don't you people rehearse? Do you think the actor playing King Lear arrived downstage left in the first scene of the second act waving a sword in his right hand by accident? No! He rehearsed. He reviewed. He refined and made incrementally better.

He sought feedback and adjusted his movements, he found the best place for his props and assured they were there before the performance began. He listened to his vocal pitch and modulation and made changes as necessary to provide emphasis and increase understanding.

Why don't you put the same consideration into your presentations? Does your audience deserve less because department attendance at project presentations is compulsory? Let's pretend you began to treat your presentations like performances, with all requisite preparation implied, do you think your future audiences will respond better to your message? Will their follow through on your call to action be superior to any such response in previously recorded history?

As the de facto spokesperson for said audience I say, maybe!

But heckfire, at the very least following your future well prepared, and dare I say it, presumably entertaining presentation I will at a minimum be awake, alert, receptive and of the mind that you are no longer the boring unprepared bozo who just consumed an hour of my life I will never get back.

So on behalf of we -the implied audience -please review, rehearse, make ready in advance and otherwise come with clue lest I lead a swift and mighty rebellion against your poor presentation skills and the forcing of them upon us.

THE POINT: While it may very well be the first time you present this material, it NEVER has to look like it.

PowerPoint 3

To All Presenters:

Clipart = No

Your adherence to this policy is appreciated.

PowerPoint 2

To All Presenters:
Some fear guns.

I fear bullets.

PowerPoint sadly prevents us from making terrible mistakes, and thus users of this crutch can place an infinite number of bullets on a single slide. And if the user isn’t creating their own mini-library of congress they might instead choose to write 30-word bullet points designed to assure any viewer the presenter has done nothing to prepare.

Of even less value than long-winded bullets are the always popular emphasized bullets which guarantee the audience pays close attention to points generally of no interest to anyone other than the presenter.

Do us all a favor – remember the rules of 3 and 7. No more than three bullets to a slide and no more than seven words to a bullet. Keep things simple and concise – and in the name of all that’s holy, keep the emphasis in your voice and off your slides.

THE POINT: PowerPoint does not prevent you from being a bozo - you will have to do that yourself.

PowerPoint 1

To All Presenters:

PowerPoint offers the user a diverse array of tools and resources which empower said user to completely ruin any chance of delivering their message effectively. So often we find ourselves doing something simply because the tool says we can, that we often forget to ask if we should. Fancy backgrounds only an art major could love and copy flying into and out of the screen may have impressed audiences in the early 90’s, but I assure you, your audience has seen it all before.

So, please keep it simple – monochromatic slides never killed anyone, and no audience has ever been wowed by the creativity of their speaker as demonstrated by their selection of master slide. Furthermore, if your presentation looks like it has collected all the spinning "POWs" and "ZAMs" from the old Batman television series, I have to seriously question what you're trying to tell me.

THE POINT: Delivering your message is the reason why you're here. So, don't distract the audience.