Life After PowerPoint!

Last week I wrote about the first 3 mistakes leaders make when they’re giving a speech: 1) Not Having a Goal, 2) Not Having Anything to Say, and 3) Taking Too Long to Say It. Now I’ll continue with rules 4 through 7.

4. Me, Me, Me, Me, Me

Yes, you want to keep it personal. And yes, it’s fine — preferable, actually — to talk about yourself and your experience. But your speech can’t be about yourself. It’s got to be about the audience. Everything you say, even if it’s a personal story or a pet peeve, should be for the audience’s benefit.

5. Using PowerPoint

In spite of decades of accumulated experience and overwhelming evidence to the contrary, PowerPoint can be used well. But it should only be used to present information — data, charts, graphs, lists, etc. And most of the time at least, you shouldn’t be talking about information. Not if you’re a leader. It’s your job as a leader to shape the way an audience thinks and feels and to inspire them to take action. And the only way to influence and inspire people is to appeal to their imaginations and emotions. And PowerPoint can’t do that.

6. Me, Me, Me, Me, Me (Revisited)

I know I said leaders need a goal for every speech, something they want their listeners to know, feel, or do. But you can’t simply tell them what you want and expect them to hop to it. You have to show them why and how it will benefit them. They are always asking themselves WIIFM? What’s in it for me? Tell them how knowing / feeling / doing what you want them to will help them solve a problem or achieve a goal that’s important to them.

7. Faking It

If you try to be something or someone else in front of an audience, they’ll sniff it out. They’ll smell a fraud and they’ll turn up their noses at you. Be yourself in front of the audience — your best self — because you can’t be anyone else. Let your values, experience, passion, even your sense of humor show through. Imitating someone else – even a masterful speaker – only makes you look pompous or fraudulent. Don’t do it.

What examples do you have of a leader bombing in front of an audience?  I’d love to hear your feedback. Use the comments field below.

Executive Briefing

Thinking about executive presentations — something I do more than most, I was struck by what I experienced at the meeting of a professional association the other week. You know the kind of meeting. A little bit of networking. Something to eat. And a shortish talk.

The networking at this meeting was fine. Smart, successful, and engaging business leaders. The food was OK. (You don’t go to these things expecting great food.) The talk was disappointing.

I have this theory that every speech should be built around one idea. One, single idea. It’s got to be what I call a “Big Idea,” mind you. Something that makes people see things from a different point of view. Something that gives meaning and a sense of urgency to a lot of disparate information. Something that has the potential to change people’s behavior.

Yesterday’s speech had too many ideas. It was what I call a “shotgun speech.” The speaker peppers the audience with ideas—way too many ideas—hoping that one of them will hit some undefined target.

The speaker used PowerPoint, which I really don’t like. (It’s fine for technical presentations, if it’s used well, but not for most other speeches.) For a 45-minute speech, he had over 60 slides, and they were complicated slides, with lots of words and graphics. He also gave us a 20-page workbook, which contained most of the material on the slides and which occupied most of our attention.

It was way too much. Too much information. Too many ideas. Too much of his talking and of our lack of participation. Too little focus.

And the funny thing was, a formula on one of his slides said: Clarity + Simplicity = Success. I wish he had applied that formula to his speech.

What do you think? Do you like speeches that are crammed with information? Or do you prefer ones that are more tightly focused?