“I think you’ve gotten better than your boss.”
This is the feedback Jeffrey is getting on his presentations now. It was an impossibility three months ago. Jeffrey’s boss is one of the most charismatic executives in the organization. His presentations are eagerly attended and well loved. They put him on the largest stages and give him the biggest audiences, tens of thousands.
When Jeffrey started his coaching three months ago, he knew something was off in the way that he was presenting. He said to me, “If I could be 10% of what my boss is as a presenter, I would feel like I achieved a big goal.”
The problem Jeffrey was having was a “There’s so much to say about this” problem.
When you feel like there’s so much to say, it’s easy to fall into the trap of talking too much. The audience completely disengages.
It goes along with the “The audience really needs to understand all this to get my point” trap.
Jeffrey had very dense slides and talked a tremendous amount of detail. He lost the audience within one minute of speaking. They were politely paying attention, but their minds were already elsewhere. And soon their phones were out as they checked email.
When I told Jeffrey he needs to look at his presentation from his audience’s point of view he didn’t even know how to begin to do that. He said, “But they don’t know anything.” That’s true. But that’s not how to look at it.
He also said, “I need to get them passionate about the subject.”
The mistake he was making was thinking that if he talked about it passionately, it would get everyone else passionate. Not true.
Jeffrey was busy passionately telling executive audiences a lot of stuff they weren’t interested in. It was deadly.
Communicating to an audience is a precision activity. Striking exactly and accurately is what brings the audience to life, what captivates their attention. It is a skill. It’s also Step #1 of crafting a compelling presentation.
Once you have that, the next step is to craft very precise key messages that hit with such precision, one after the other, that you never have the opportunity to lose the audience. They’re swept away and, if you’re really good, they lose track of time.
You’re not telling them “everything”. You’re telling them precisely.
It was hard at first for Jeffrey in the coaching sessions. He said, “My mind has never worked this hard.” It was slow going in the beginning. You can expect it to be when you’re learning something very new, when you’re mastering a complex skill.
I took Jeffrey through a series of step-by-step exercises. He mastered each one, one at a time, and then they all came together. And then it all clicked. And he had it. Naturally and spontaneously, Jeffrey can craft compelling key messages on any topic on the fly. It’s now as natural to him as breathing.
The boss is a little shocked. He is seeing this feedback too. He’s happy, but quite surprised. He’s never had anyone be as good as he is, and certainly not someone junior who just 3 months ago was drowning his audience. He’s happily getting used to it and happy for Jeffrey.
People think that presenting well is a gift that some have and some don’t. The truth is that this is a skill that you can learn. And once you learn it, life is never the same.
Can you imagine speaking to an audience where everything you say resonates? The enthusiasm that you get back from them is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.
That’s what is possible when you’re serious.
Be the cause!