If you’re looking for a TV show to fill up those lazy summer nights, try giving Friday Night Lights a shot. The show, which aired for five seasons from 2006 to 2011, never reached a huge audience, but was critically acclaimed throughout its run. It’s based on the non-fiction book Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, A Dream published in 1990 by H.G. Bissinger, which chronicled the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers from Odessa, Texas. The Dillon Panthers are the fictional high school football team that is focused on throughout the show, which has been lauded for its realistic portrayal of small town life in Middle America. Here are a few lessons in presentation that we can learn from the show.
High Expectation, High Realization
The Panthers’ coach Eric Taylor is new to Dillon in the first season of the show, and he’s under enormous pressure from day 1. As is typical of football in the South, and in Texas in particular, teams are expected to win, and if they aren’t winning, it’s a problem– a big problem. Coach Taylor is a fair, empathetic coach with high expectations for his team. “I expect you boys to execute. I expect you boys to play football,” he proclaims. And the players themselves have huge expectations and huge ambitions. They want to play ball in college. They want to win State. They live and breathe football. They are completely dedicated to achieving the town’s expectations of winning, and they practice accordingly.
Channel the Panthers’ unwavering dedication when crafting and practicing your presentation. Set your expectations high– it doesn’t matter whether that pressure comes from within or from your boss or from your coworkers– and work hard to achieve them. High expectations garner high realizations. Dedicate yourself completely to achieving the formidable goals you set for yourself.
Preserve with Persistence
One of the most emotionally jarring moments in Friday Night Lights occurs in the very first episode when Dillon’s star quarterback Jason Street is injured during a game– an injury that leaves him a paraplegic. We excruciatingly watch during the rest of the season as Jason struggles to adapt to his new condition, a struggle that puts much into perspective. His ability to preserve, as well as the team’s ability to preserve, is inspiring. It’s gritty, emotional, painful and unfathomably difficult, but they continue on.
First and foremost, it’s important to keep things in perspective. When it feels like your nerves are turning mutinous, calm yourself by remembering how there will always be more important things than this presentation. A blunt dose of perspective does wondrous things for ill feelings. However, when you’re struggling and you can’t seem to figure out how to formulate this or that and nothing seems right, preserve. Nothing worthwhile comes easily, so keep on keeping on until your expectations are realized.
Prevail with Passion
The Dillon Panthers’ motto is “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” It’s a pithy little gem, one that works great for sports as well as for most other areas of life, including in our realm of presentations. Keep your eyes open while working on a presentation. Be aware of all the things influencing, effecting, changing and molding your topic and your content. Work with a full heart, and certainly present with one. Passion is infectious. Your audience will be keenly aware of your enthusiasm, or your disdain. If you’re excited about your content, your audience will be too. It’s very clear to the audience how invested you are in a presentation and how excited you are to be there, so go into it with as full a heart as possible. With clear eyes and a full heart you can’t lose during your presentation.
If you’re interested in checking out Friday Night Lights, all five seasons are streaming on Netflix.
