What’s the Difference between a Speech and a Presentation?
We often talk as if speeches and presentations are the same thing. So maybe I’m splitting hairs, but I believe there’s a huge difference.
(I think speeches and presentations are different in the same way that fiction and nonfiction are different. I’d almost be willing to say that a speech is to a presentation as fiction is to nonfiction, but I want to think about that comparison a bit more.)
Similarities
Both speeches and presentations use many of the same skills and techniques. Whether you’re speaking or presenting, you still have to prepare what you’re going to say, establish rapport with your audience, choose your words and use your voice carefully, follow a clear and easily understood outline, gear your remarks to the audience’s knowledge and needs. And many other things.
Differences
A presentation is primarily about information–about conveying or explaining information so that the audience can understand, remember, and use it.
A presentation tends to be informal. Presenters usually speak from notes, not a prepared script. (Inexperienced presenters usually use their PowerPoint slides as their notes, which is why they create more slides than are necessary and put too much information on them.) Presenters often put little thought into what they’re going to wear. They’re often content to show up in what they normally wear to work. (I think they’d be wiser to dress a bit more formally.)
A presentation tends to rely on PowerPoint. Handouts are common. (Printing up your PowerPoint slides using the “handout” format does not turn them into handouts. It’s a bad habit, one of the many bad habits PowerPoint has aided and abetted.)
A presentation has a tight focus. It is practical and down to earth, which doesn’t mean it can’t be exhilerating and eye opening at the same time.
A speech is primarily about a vision–about creating a vision in the audience’s imaginations of what is or of what can be.
A speech tends to be formal. Speakers usually have given a lot of thought and time to preparing a script, not just a general outline. They may read the script (or not), or memorize it word for word (not recommended), or memorize parts of it (as I recommend here.) Speakers often dress very nicely, often in formal business attire.
A speech relies on words and on the speaker’s voice, body, face, and gestures (not on PowerPoint) to create images and emotions in the hearts and minds of the audience.
A speech is evocative, imaginative, and large in scope. It’s concerned more about the big picture than about details, more about the final destination than about each step along the way.
Sims Wyeth makes this distinction, which I agree with: “CEOs and thought leaders give speeches. Managers and technical experts give presentations.”
What do you think? Am I splitting hairs? Are there other distinctions you’d make?
Tags: difference between a speech and a presentation, speech or presentation
September 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
[...] Life After PowerPoint! Speaking for Leaders and Aspiring Leaders Home About Services Book Newsletter Contact « What’s the Difference between a Speech and a Presentation? [...]
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[...] seem to be the only person who differentiates presentations from speeches. (Read “What’s the Difference between a Speech and a Presentation?”). But if you buy into my distinction, I would say that PowerPoint may be effective — when [...]
November 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
[...] presentations tend to communicate more information and, often times, more ideas than speeches. (Here is