#43: 11 prezentacyjnych mitów, które trzeba obalić

"Good talkers should be born. You can't learn it." "You should learn how to talk in memory so as not to read a card or a threat from slides, because this is a computer." "You have to take three minutes for each slide." "And you know, you definitely have to start every presentation from a joke." "And in general, that's all not true." "Presenting and talking publicly is a rather polarizing topic. Some people love it, others hate it, for sure it stresses a lot." "So around the topic there are a lot of myths and beliefs that are very often harmful." "Because presenting, or working, ideas and in general your own opinion, is one of the key competences of today's world." "In other words, how to convince someone to something, or even to yourself, if we don't tell them about it well." "So some myths and true statements do not encourage people to try to go on stage or to take public voice." "That's why I thought that I would have fun in such a bunch of myths and false beliefs." "And I think that even if most of them don't believe it, but at least for one reason, you will say, 'It's actually pointless, it's better to do your own thing.'" "Then for me, this episode will fulfill my task." Here is Magda Seńcka, welcome to episode 43 of the presentation on ovations. "A podcast for everyone who wants to effectively sell their ideas and products and make presentations that they would like to watch." "If these are the topics that interest you, subscribe to the podcast, and new episodes will be sent directly to your favorite application." And today about the myths about the presentation of the podcast. Let's start with the one I mentioned at the beginning, because I hear it quite often. "Ah, because you have a trick to it." So myth number one, good speakers have to be born. Whether charisma flows on us like a star in the sky, or you can develop it, I already talked about it in the first episode of this podcast. I recommend it to you, because it is the most popular episode so far. So how is it with this birth? I agree that some people have natural predispositions to talk, let's say. Low voice, red smile, maybe some extravertism, but the statement that someone is born to speak, and someone will never be born, is definitely a rough interpretation. The truth is that, as a majority of things, you can learn all of this. And the brutal truth is that this science is dull and really hard, and we only get to such a master's level for an hour experience. So you just have to want it very much and work even harder. And on the proof, on the support of such a thesis, you can translate a few names of people who did not suspect that they were afraid to perform publicly and had to work very hard to be on this stage. And they admit to this, among others, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, Barack Obama, i.e. someone who is recognized as one of the best political storytellers, he admits to his book "The Land of the Promised" that his beginnings were fatal. People from his staff were broken after each of his senatorial performances. They said that your performance was great, under the condition that the listener was going to be kicked out of Harvard. Because he explained every detail, very intriguingly, he described it as a copy of the regulations, but for a average person, and he was supposed to say that, such an explanation was real. So Obama was inspired by the way Winston Churchill had. On his way, another one of the best storytellers in history. "Churchill, each sermon took for a long time, so long, until it was perfect, because he thought that each performance should be a speech of his life." So, a good speaker has to be born, it's a myth. And the truth is, there is no way for short. And here is Obama immediately, myth number two, the complete opposite of the first one. So that the speaker is not born, but to be a good speaker, you have to have many years of experience. So, yes and no, or otherwise, yes, but, let's take two guests. One is a speaker for ten years and once a quarter talks to some group of guests. Well, let's say, a president at a company conference. The second is presented for three years, but runs after conferences, meetings, discussion panels, and actually, like, two or three times a month is on some stage. Okay, I admit that, for example, colourful, that's all I can do to visualize these two guests. But now, catch, the point is that this decade has to do with intensive practice, with different groups, on different presentations. Because the experience is achieved just by practice. The longer you present, the better you become. Well, and again, there is no way to shorten it, or, as my colleague from work says, there is no free lunch in business, and you have to pay for everything. So, since we are talking about a boring, multi-hour work, myth number three is coming. So, is it enough that I read slides quietly before the meeting? Well, no, it's not enough, because it's not an exercise, it's just a fluffy one. And in general, I could go to another myth here, but I would like to say two reasons why I think so. First, a person can hear and convey words faster than they speak. So, the exercise in your head, quietly, takes much longer than talking about everything in your voice, even if it's through breathing or thinking. And because one of the functions of the exercise is checking how much time it takes to perform, then at the start we are complaining. And at the end, it may turn out that we needed much more time than we thought. And we missed, for example, the question, or in general, the main part. Well, then, of course, very bad. Secondly, the language spoken and written is different. And when we write something on a card, and it looks good on a card, it doesn't mean that when we say it in a voice, it will sound equally good. And by pronouncing it in a voice, we can feel very uncomfortable with our own written words, and we can turn around. So, it's better to try these words in time. I hope I convinced you with these two arguments. If not, then it's not for you, Ratunku, you don't want to make good presentations, this podcast is not just for you. Well, that's it. Myth number four must start with a joke. And now there is such a trend, at the conferences of various masses, people come in and start with anecdotes. The best anecdotes about themselves, then these points fall into the distance, or in front of the speaker, then we show how much we like each other. Well, okay, it can all be cool, but do you have to start with a joke? Well, jokes and comedy in general, and here I repeat, it's a boring job and it's art. It doesn't just fall into your head. At the conference, they make jokes, they try, they test them for a very long time before they get to a form where the room is full of laughter. So if you don't feel confident and the answer to jokes is not your strong side, then don't force yourself into it, because it can be very weak and very uncomfortable. And the presentation can start with a story, but it doesn't necessarily have to be very funny. You can also start performing some data, it can be shocking data, or surprising, it can be surprising comparisons, because, okay, it's true that you have to catch the attention of the listeners in the first seconds, but the joke is not the only way to do it. Myth number five, everyone sees how they get nervous. So for everyone who thinks like that, I have good and bad news. The good thing is that the most common signs of getting nervous, i.e. hands shaking, heart beating, a flat breath, are not visible. The bad thing is that if someone holds their voice or shake their hand, then it can actually be noticed. But the problem is lost, because, again, the more you practice, the more confident you are, the more often you present, the less you are connected with the next performances, so there is nothing to be afraid of. Deterioration will always be there, although small, but it cannot completely disappear, especially before such meetings, on which you particularly depend when the score is very high. But instead of stressing out that you will be stressed, it is better to practice the material, be sure of it, learn to control your emotions, or use this adrenaline for mobilization, increasing the energy of speech, because that is very important. Myth number six, special dedication, not to mention dedicated, for all perfectionists, i.e. I have to throw them all on my knees. Well, you don't have to, and being completely honest, you can't even do it. There will always be someone who doesn't like what you say or how you say it, because that's just how it is. Anyway, focusing on winning, being the best, putting all your performances in place, doesn't just need to boost your energy, so it makes no sense to put pressure on yourself. Well, let's talk about it. No good actor, maybe besides DiCaprio, doesn't start to play in the film, saying "I have to get Oscar for this." They just go and play as best they can, and do the same thing. Focus on your performance, bringing something valuable to the life of the listener, to learn something, to learn something, to bring them from point A to point B. Here, who listened to the episode about building a presentation, knows what it's about. In short, the listeners have some sentences about what you're saying, and your presentation makes them fill up their opinions about something, or change it, or they can still do something about it. So, don't try to be perfect and put pressure on everyone, focus on reaching out to the listener and leaving them with the feeling that they spent a very good time with you. If my topic is difficult and theoretical, then the presentation will be boring and nothing can be done about it. So, if you think so, then that's what it will be, because that's how self-fulfilling works. And fill up, because you focus on the boring topic, on the boring talk, and you don't grow out of yourself in any creative way. Well, why? Because that's how boring it will be. And the truth is that you can also talk about theoretical and dry topics, and how you can kill a super-fascinating topic. Besides, for everyone who is interested, there is something else. It's not up to you to judge whether the emotional life behind the stone is interesting or not. And of course, some topics may require more creative approach than others, in order to get out of it. But take this challenge and think about it. How can you help your audience by saying what you're saying? How can you not have a problem in this topic? What's the problem? Try to interact with them, engage your audience, ask them questions, play with attractive, rich content, some visualizations, so definitions from Wikipedia are not that interesting. And of course, talk with energy and enthusiasm. Because remember, if the presentation was boring, it's not a topic I'm talking about, but a presentation, not from the saddest part of today's episode. Myth 8 - You have to have slides. This myth, especially in the body world, is very good. A person hears, you present this topic on a meeting and thinks "powerpoint". When I hear how the salesman speaks to the client, "I've got a few slides here, would you like to show them to me?" Then I immediately feel weak. Showing slides is not the essence of a meeting. I won't be developing this topic today, because this is the whole episode. When it's time to have slides, when not. Today I would like to leave you with the fact that slides are visual. Like Flipchart. Like photos, like requisites. And they are not the presentation itself. There is no sign of equality, the presentation is not the same as slides. There is a lot of meetings where the presentation of slides is broken. For example, if the meeting is informal and we want to have a small distance, slides will build it. Or if the meeting is very formal, there should be some negotiations, some laudation, then slides will break this moment. If the topic is very short, maybe it's also not worth connecting. Or if the topic is very sensitive and we want to hear how others pick it up and we continue listening and not talking, we should also not display bullet points lists. Myth 9. Once again we will come back to the topic of exercises. I have to practice for so long until I remember the whole speech and I will tell you from memory. And then I won't read the cards or slides. So this strategy is very risky. As long as it is not a recital contest or a casting on a role as a love, do not learn the text by memory. Learn to understand the topic and read the text, but do not recite it. Because the people who listen want a living, full energy of a person who enters with them in an interaction, and not the audio creator. So by learning by memory, you risk at least two weak situations, two weak effects. The first is that you will get into contact with the listeners, because focus on telling everything, you will be monotonous. And as an audio creator, you will tell what you have to say and you will finish. The second risk is that you will fall asleep when you forget what was next. Or when someone beats you with a rhythm, for example, I will tell you what's in this slide for a moment, and you can no longer know where you ended up at this moment. So do not remember everything, understand the topic, know how to talk about it, know how to discuss and answer questions about it. Myth #10. Never, but never read it from the slides. And again, ok, reading what is on the slides is the most boring presentation in the world. It is known. If you do so, you will waste time on everything, because you could send an e-mail and not talk to people or yourself. But, but, there are certain exceptions. There is such a technique of paying attention to something important, something complicated, something that requires being precise, appropriate. For example, you tell a topic, you explain a quote, or a statistic, or some important definition. Stop, read it together with listeners, and take a break. This is very powerful and will emphasize this original message. Stop the listener and do not pay attention to those who are more obedient than the listeners, and in normal circumstances they would not pay attention to reading what you are talking about. But as I said, this is an exception and this is such a technique. Because reading the whole presentation from the slides is bad for you. And finally, as a myth #11, it will be a myth from the listeners, which sounds... I have a separate attention. Well, you don't have, sorry, there are no such people. If you write an e-mail during the presentation, then you don't listen. If you scroll on Instagram or do shopping on Allegro, then you don't listen. Your brain does not convey words in different formats. If you hear a word and see a word, it will not reach you. Because most people in the audience, if they watch the videos on Instagram, then they don't listen to the performance. So I have to say, I have a separate attention. It is very brave and the one who says so ignores the person who presents. And it's very ugly. That's all for today. I'm curious if you were surprised or you thought differently. Was it obvious for you? I invite you to the next episodes. Bye!