The best things in life are often the simplest. Some of the best meals I‘ve ever eaten have been simple一just high quality ingredients presented in an uncomplicated way. However, it can take a chef many years of training and experience to learn that lesson. The same is true in lots of other areas of life, not least art. Look at Pablo Picasso’s famous set of drawing called The Bull from 1945.
The most likely reason for any setbacks and disappointments in your business, role or career is a communication deficiency—or lack of communication skills. If you can’t convey your ideas to others then you won’t be able to reach your true potential. The number one factor holding people back in their lives, especially in business, is poor communication skills. If your business isn’t growing, there’s a communication deficiency. If you’re finding it hard to lead your team, there’s a communication deficiency.
When I start working with clients to help them improve their presentations they often push back and resist change. I encourage business leaders to use a mix of logic and emotion, tell stories, include audience interactions and use eye contact and gestures. A common concern is that the changes I suggest feel ‘fake’ and ‘inauthentic’. People say things like, ‘this is not me’ and ‘I don’t want to act like someone I’m not’.
One of the worst things you can do when sharing examples, stories or case studies in a business presentation is to make them about yourself一instead of the client or the audience. I’ve seen it so many times. I hear phrases like: We’ve been the industry leader since 2010 We have 123 offices in 36 different countries We have 7,500 clients across 80 industries We’re a pioneering company in our field
There’s nothing more boring than a one-way lecture which makes an audience feel like they’re being talked at. Unfortunately, too many business leaders deliver presentations which are more like one-sided lectures. They believe their job is to speak for 30 minutes while others listen. These kinds of presentations, which don’t consider the needs of the audience, are tedious and unsuccessful. How do we do things differently? In this article I’ll explore how to bring the audience into your presentations and make them feel involved.
Data and numbers can be important to a business presentation一but they can be bone dry unless you bring them to life in interesting ways. I often see business leaders struggle to communicate data effectively. When I ask them if they think they’re doing it well they usually say yes. But that’s rarely the case. Too many presenters assume that their data is intrinsically meaningful. “Here’s the data: take it, use it, understand it, remember it.
Do others dismiss your ideas and proposals? Do you struggle with creating and delivering simple, engaging, and persuasive presentations? Have you heard about ‘storytelling’ but you’re not sure how to do it? If so, this is the event you’ve been waiting for! On 6th December 2022 I’m hosting a free, live web class in collaboration with the one and only Carmine Gallo, the bestselling author of Talk Like TED. You’ll learn strategies based on his new book, The Bezos Blueprint.
One of the hardest lessons to learn in communication is the art of keeping things simple. The more we know about something, the easier it is to fall into the trap of making our ideas too complex and too technical. It’s something I see business leaders doing all the time before they learn to improve their presentations. They wrongly assume that the audience will understand something just because they do.