Dude, I've got Bird in the car. Wake up!

You are 23 and fast asleep at 7 am on a Wednesday morning in Portland, Oregon. It's 1990. A buddy of yours calls your landline and you struggle to find the receiver and utter, "hello?"

Dude, I'm in your driveway. I've got Bird in the car. Wake up.

Still groggy and feeling the effects of bartending until 2 am the night before, Jeff tells his buddy Smitty:

"You. Do. Not. Have. Larry Bird in the car. I'm going back to sleep."

Click.

Phone rings again. "Jeff, I'm serious. Look out your front window. I've got Bird in the car and we need 1 more guy to play pick up hoops this morning at the MAC (Multnomah Athletic Club). Five on five with the Boston Celtics."

Jeff peers through his front window blinds. His buddy Smitty's 2-door VW Jetta is idling in the driveway. And through the windshield, all he can see is a big beak and 2 knee caps.

Yup, that's Bird. All 6 feet nine inches of him.

Jeff throws on some clothes to ball in and heads out to the car. He squeezes in with Smitty, Bird and Jim Paxson. And proceeds to hear the story of how all this came to be.

The Celtics played the Supersonics on Tuesday night, and then flew to Portland after the game. They were scheduled to play the Trailblazers on Thursday night, so Wednesday was a day off.

• But Larry Bird does not take a day off.

Bird and some of the guys woke up early on Wednesday and decided to try and find a game. One of the Celtics, Jim Paxson, had played for the Trailblazers and told the guys he could find a court. Rounding out the pick-up game were McHale, Parish, DJ, Joe Kleine, Reggie Lewis and Rick Fox.

Paxson called Smitty and asked him to secure the court at the MAC. Smitty rolls up to their hotel just as some of the players were piling into cabs.

• Bird jumps in Smitty's tiny Jetta and says, "Let's go."
• Only they need one more player to "get up and down," (basketball lingo for a full-court game) hence the call to the non-believer, Jeff.

I know, I know, this story is fun and all...but what does it have to do with giving a Strong, Impactful Presentation?

The tie-in with the Sip is pretty obvious.

• Haven't we all had something that we knew to be true. The right answer. The correct path to choose.

And our audience is not convinced by our call to action.

• They are essentially Jeff rolling over in bed and resuming his slumber.

The key is to show rather than tell.

Telling our colleagues (or clients) what to do is rarely the most effective approach.

• But getting them to peer through the blinds and see Larry Bird waiting impatiently can change their tune.

Give your audience a glimpse of the future.

• And help them to see how their job / life / day-to-day will be better with your idea in motion.

Epilogue:

Jeff went on to play hoops with his new-found friends on the Celtics. He even began to talk trash to Larry Bird on the court, to which Bird replied, "You really don't want to be doing that to me."

And against the Blazers the next night, Bird put up 49 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists. Thank you Jeff for giving him some serious run the day before, couldn't have done the triple-double without you.

Special thanks to my brother in-law for sharing the story about Smitty and Jeff, two guys he used to play lunchtime basketball with at the MAC.