It’s officially summer, y’all. The hot, long days are here to stay. Barbecues and happy hours now highlight our nights, and our weekends include copious amounts of time lazing poolside. One movie that has always seemed to embody the carefree, irresponsible mood of summertime best is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If you haven’t seen it, crawl out of that hole you’ve been living in, go find it and watch it. Seriously. In honor of the best season of the year, here are some presentation lessons we can learn from Ferris Bueller himself.
Go Big or Go Home
The thing we love most about Ferris is his rebellious, stick-it-to-the-man attitude toward people in charge. Everyone knows the feeling of desperately wanting to play hooky, desperately wanting to blow off all our responsibilities and instead, spend the day with our friends at a baseball game. In short, Ferris did it up big when he got the chance.
It’s this kind of ‘go big or go home’ attitude that we should embrace as presenters. Make your presentation epic! Present your audience with something that they won’t forget the second they leave the room. Channel Ferris’s ‘you only live once’ attitude when working on your next presentation. Go big or go home. Don’t allow for middle ground.
Fake It ‘Till You Make It
One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when Ferris pretends he’s Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago, to get a table at an upscale restaurant. This being the carefree days of the ‘80s– days that were uncomplicated by nuisances such as cell phones and Google– Ferris pulls it off. We don’t condone impersonating others to get what you want here at Ethos3, but we do like the idea of faking it until you make it.
You may be more nervous than you’ve ever been before going onstage to deliver a big presentation, but you’ve got to get in your head and change your attitude. It doesn’t matter whether that means faking it or truly convincing yourself because at the beginning they’re one in the same. Keep faking it until your attitude changes. Tell yourself you’re the most confident person in the room, and keep telling yourself that until you truly feel confident.
Pursue Happiness
Ben Stein, who played the monotone teacher spouting off “Bueller… Bueller…” says of the movie: “I think [director John Hughes] was writing about a human need… the need to be free, and to pursue happiness…” Indeed, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a love letter to the sentiment of ‘do what you love’ and ‘you only live once.’ The entire movie is about Ferris’s pursuit of happiness, and that pursuit is infectious. The movie incites you to do what you love no matter the obstacles standing in your way.
The next time you are preparing to present, remember that your attitude is infectious. Optimism and happiness are contagious. We feel good as viewers because we see Ferris feeling good. The same idea translates to a presentation. Your audience will feel good if you feel good. Be cheerful and excited so those feelings transfer to your audience.
