Why do we give a damn about presentations?

Or … what are the things that actually make us pay attention?

In my experience, it’s usually a healthy dose of each of Knowledge, Passion and Human Connection. Often when attending a presentation, be it live or Zoom, one-on-one or a big room, we very quickly make three assessments of the presenter:

1. Does this person seem to really know what they’re talking about, and do they have any new (to me) information to share? Especially on a topic I am already interested in?
2. Do they seem to care about what they’re talking about, and are they excited to bring this information to me? Bonus: Do they seem to authentically live or embody the ideas they’re sharing?
3. Do I feel connected to them in any way, and/or do I feel they have some basic understanding of my experience as a human being?

As a presenter, focusing on of these three buckets will carry you a decently long way, but there are limits. Think about the instructor whose experience you greatly respected but whose classes were a bore because of the dry and uninspired way they delivered their material. Or the dynamic speaker who was moving all over the stage with excitement but didn’t seem to deliver real value once the hype faded away.

On the flip side, we’ve all become suddenly a lot more interested in a subject we previously knew precious little about when the presenter was able to open their personal world to us, show us their passion and give us something new to ponder and process. Think of a great TED talk or documentary you’ve recently watched and learned from.

We all have our favorite speakers and presenters, and when we do make them our favorites, invariably it’s because they have reached us on all three vectors in some way. Being more aware during a presentation of how each of these three areas are resonating with us – and how much of each – is a great tool for analyzing and understanding our own presentations. Which in turn means we can make our own time in front of audiences that much more impactful.

*First of a series of visual representations of business and professional concepts

#starkrelief #visualinformation #betterpresentations