Warning to readers: Below is a fairly complex thought process that has really taxed my limited mental resources. But it is an important point and I will try to make as clear as possible.

There is a complex formula at play in just about every presentation that many of us ignore. And often at our peril. When we don’t address this formula, it activates that silent troll that sits in the back of our audience with his or her arms folded and whispers to themselves, “Oh yeah? Prove it.” Or they may even be loudly shouting to themselves, “bullnuggets!”

This formula involves a few elements:

• One. Your established credibility as an expert.
• Two. The assertions you will make in your presentation.
• Three. The resident skeptical attitude of this particular audience.

I have at least a partial solution for this, but first let me more carefully define this formula and the problem.

We’ll do this backward. Please follow…

Imagine an audience of engineers. Folks who deal with numbers and facts and things they can see and prove.

Now the speaker presents to them an idea or theory that is contrary to their normal thinking: “This doesn’t work the way you think. It works this way.”

Whoa there, expert speaker boy.

Their inner skeptic just popped up. Who are you to spout such heresy?

This is the spot where the credentials of the presenter may satisfy the crowd. If the presenter is a known expert with a history of exploring and understanding their world then his or her wild assertion will have credibility.

But if one of those elements is not satisfied – if the audience is too skeptical, if the assertion is too wild or if the expert is too unexpert, then everything falls apart and the audience flat out won’t believe.

So, the credibility of the presenter plus the wilder their assertions, matched against the skeptical tendencies of the audience equals how well the message is received.

(I am searching for a way to make this simple – I don’t know if this is doing it.)

Anyway, here is the result.

Unless you are Einstein, you can’t stand in front of the Harvard physics department and tell them that gravity is a hoax. That audience is filled with skeptics.

But this doesn’t just apply to scientists and engineers and other dyed in the wool skeptics.

Even if you are a local health food store owner presenting to a citizen’s group and suggesting they eat this or that healthy food because it will make their skin soft and smooth…

Even then skeptics lurk in the crowd who will say: “Oh yeah? Prove it.”

Here is a partial solution for dealing with all levels of skeptics: Show your proof.

Einstein may not have needed any, but even a respected scientist must cite legitimate studies in their presentation to back up their claims. He or she will probably cite many of them. Because, in their world, the skeptics in their audience will be constantly saying “Prove it.”

At the other end of the spectrum, the health food store owner may need to only cite one or two legitimate resources. But if they don’t, there will be doubts about the claims that were made.

Sooooo… after this rambling rant here are my three take-aways.

• One. If you are in the business of presenting new ideas to people be ready to prove your personal credentials to qualify yourself.
• Two. Take some time to research and understand the audience’s resident level of skepticism.
• Three. Bolster your claims with valid, believable proof from outside sources. Use as much or as little as necessary.

Then, maybe your insane idea about eating deep fried banana peels will be believed.

Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you. Maybe this guy knows… https://ready2speak.com

Tom

Two quick and fairly obvious observations about controlling the focus of your audience’s attention using PowerPoint.

The first. A while back I was coaching a speaker on his presentation slides. He had, for some reason, a slide showing a large historical marker. The kind that some poor taxpayers get to pay for and place in front of a courthouse to commemorate a long-lost city founder.

This slide had at least a hundred words on it, all of which were faithfully displayed.

I asked, “Are you going to read that to your audience?”

The answer “No. I just want them to see it.”

This now famous incident led to my much-quoted rule of PowerPoint:

IF YOU SHOW IT, THEY WILL TRY TO READ IT.

Said another way: If you put words on the screen, no matter how many, how small or how hard to read, your audience will dutifully try to read them — no matter what your intention.

And the result is they will not be paying attention to you.

So, the audience mind control tip is this: Keep as many words off the screen as possible. Unless your intention is to have them read a long historical plaque (then prepare for the coming naptime).

(Exception: If you are conducting a training event or workshop where long clips of text are necessary, then these word-filled slides may be required. But remember they will still have the same mind-numbing effect. Consider having a workbook or handout to help mitigate.)

Mind control tip number two.

Those who create PowerPoint sooner or later end up creating a list of related items on a single slide. These lists often use bullets or something else to indicate items in a list.

If you project your entire list at one time your audience will read ahead. You may be discussing item number two while they are thinking about the tasty morsel of content you are going to reveal in item number four.

Once again you have lost control of their minds. They are not paying attention to you.

The solution? A build.

A build is simply a series of similar looking slides where each new item on the list is added on a new slide. This results in the first slide having just the title and maybe the first item. Then the second has the title plus item one plus item two. And so on.

You can build this build using multiple slides or, if you feel adventurous, use the animation features in PowerPoint.

In either of these two scenarios above, if you do it right, you are in control of their minds. And you have not lost yours.

Kinda creepy, huh?

Control, we all want control. Control your next presentation here: https://ready2speak.com/course

Tom

Some of us ancient ones might realize that the video camera that all of us carry in our pockets to make riveting talkies of our friends getting sloppy drunk are infinitely better than the most expensive studio cameras just a few years back.

I have an idea that might give those cameras another valuable use — shoot yourself.

If you are serious about becoming a better presenter (and who among us doesn’t want that?) then your handy video camera/phone is a super valuable tool for practice. Use it.

Here are 5 wonderful things (gleaned from my upcoming course) that will happen when you fire up your camera and use it as your practice buddy.

One. You will see things you have not seen before. All the weird gestures, ticks, repetitive phrasing, filler words – all that nasty stuff will be front and center. You never saw it before. Now you cannot unsee it. Which is good. Now you can fix it.

Two. You will hate it. Nobody, even the vainest among us, likes to see themselves on video at first. Too bad. So sad. Do it anyway. It will keep you humble and if you don’t totally give up, it will make you so much better. (Don’t give up.)

Three. You will actually take your practice sessions more seriously. You will practice like you mean it and make it as real as possible.

Four. You will get comfortable with you. After your initial shock at how you look and act and after you have started to clean up a few things you just might not like, you will see that you are not so bad after all. You will find your groove – that place where you are comfortable with who you are, faults and all. That’s a good dose of confidence, baby.

Finally, five. You will become a much better presenter and create much better presentations. Becoming more confident and competent as a presenter is a process. Using video will turbo charge that process.

It is not for the faint of heart. But it might be for you.

Go shoot yourself.

Ready? Aim? https://ready2speak.com

Tom

Short and sweet today.

My very hip friend, Keith Schroeder, is a DJ. He has the cool to be a rock star club DJ, but he works the party space — specifically for kids.

And he knows that there is one thing that he has to do to make sure his parties are a roaring success.

He has to get them up and dancing. Not just the kids, but the parents and, if all goes well, the grandparents.

Dancing early and often. Don’t let them off the floor. That’s his definition of success.

If you are a speaker, there is a definition of your success embedded in that mantra somewhere. Is it involvement? Buy in? Participation? Just keeping them awake?

That’s for you to decide.

For me I like Keith’s definition. When I speak, I want ‘em up dancing.

Learn to dance with your audience: https://ready2speak.com

Tom

The bumper sticker on the car in front:

“You laugh because I am different.

I laugh because you are all the same.”

Nice.

I was a child of scientists. I have a degree in some sort of traditional science. Both my daughters are scientists. Science runs in the fam.

So, my quick rant on evolutionary survival science is this:

We pay attention to “different” because it will kill us (think of a twig snapping in the woods). The “same” doesn’t. It is safe and BORING. We don’t pay attention to same.

As speakers we can use that hard-wired tendency to create interest. Different grabs attention. And we can use it in so many ways.

Different tone – loud versus soft.

Different gestures.

Different delivery – lone presenter versus showing a quick video. Or lone presenter versus an interactive exercise.

And maybe the best way to be different is to have a contrarian point of view.

Many of you on my list know of the great contrarian Alan Weiss. He has actually mellowed a lot since I first started following him. Although I think I am still on his bad side. He has made a wonderful career out of being cranky and contrarian. It is his natural state.

People follow him and send him oodles of money because he has a different take on things. That take is not so off the path that it doesn’t make sense. But it is a different way of looking at the world.

My contrarian view is that as presenters who want to get better, we often focus on stage skills. How we act and look and sound and move. How confident we are. To be sure these are important things. They should be mastered or at least improved.

But I have often thought that all that falls apart when we have a train-wreck of a speech. Unorganized. No through line. Way too much information. And the biggest deficit – little or no quality rehearsal.

My course focuses on that. Create a perfect presentation (for you) and you will become better just by having it in your tool kit. Your confidence will soar. And your skills in front of the room will dramatically improve.

The best carpenter is only as good as his tools. You need better tools. You need a killer speech. So good (and maybe with a little contrarian twist) that they cannot ignore you.

So, don’t be the “same presenter”. Be brave. Be different. https://ready2speak.com/course

Tom