Have you been to a great meeting lately? Heard any terrific talks? Unless you've recently attended TED, most of you would have to answer no.
In the course of my work over the past 20 years, I have heard hundreds of talks at various events given by executives for Fortune 500 companies and others. Probably 60% were so bad they were difficult to sit through. Of the remaining 40%, about half were reasonably good, and maybe 2% were what you might call great. This is a sad state of affairs.
Speakers fail to make a connection with their audiences. Talks ramble on with no clear purpose. Slides, though often often beautifully designed from a graphic artist’s point of view, are too complex to be understood. Instead of supporting the speaker they draw attention away so that the audience misses what is being said – which means the message is not getting through. The result? Many major corporations are waste large sums of money and thousands of employee hours bringing their top performing people together at conventions, only to bore and confuse them.
I shouldn't complain – my magician clients get hired many times each year to come to these same meetings and conventions. Their sole job: To wake the attendees up between the long, boring talks! If all of the speakers were dynamic, delivering presentations that inspired their audiences, we would be out of work.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Making effective presentations is a skill that can be learned. Executives with the intelligence and personal power to run a company have more than enough of what it takes to become truly inspiring presenters. While public speaking and presentation skills are something that can always be improved, the basics can be mastered in just a few short sessions.
I have seen clients achieve major improvements in
only one or two sessions. It happens again and again. Whether working one
on one or with a group, I find that most people have the ability to make a
quantum leap in the level of their prestentation abilities in a very short
time. My combined experience as speaker, director, designer and producer has
given me the ability to make rapid and highly effective adjustments to the
level at which my clients will perform – for the speech immediately
at hand, and for all their future presentations.
