Sometimes great presenters seem like magicians. Why are they so engaging? What do they do to make people remember their messages? How do they entice audiences to listen?
Do great presenters put audiences under some spell that the rest of us just can’t access? No, they are only humans, albeit talented ones. Although good presenters do have certain traits in common, looking at a group of them will show you that there is no secret formula to presenting, nor is there a Love Potion #9 geared toward audiences.
Below are four lessons from four exceptionally successful presenters. These examples show how each presenter uses one basic concept to enhance his personal style and make his message more meaningful to his audience.
Seth Godin: Simplicity
Godin is a master of simplicity. His manner of speaking is simple. His stories are simple. Even his humor and visual aids are simple. Simply put, audiences understand and remember Godin’s messages because he presents only the essentials. When appropriate, he uses concrete details, like dollar amounts or numbers, to hammer home points, but he never confuses the audience with streams of data. You can see several good examples of his simple style in the marketing presentation at the link below. At one point, he takes a busy image of pain reliever boxes and reduces it to one blue box. He then uses that box to effectively illustrate his point. You can watch him in action here.
Larry Lessig: Connect the Dots
One reason Lessig’s presentation style is so effective is that he asks the audience to work to make important connections. In a recent presentation, Lessig demonstrates this tactic by refusing to spoon feed the audience everything. Instead of making his point by saying “law X made sense until airplanes came along,” he says, “law X made sense until this technology came along.” While making this statement, he shows the audience a video of airplanes. Encouraging the audience to connect “this technology” with the concept of airplanes makes the message stick. Lessig’s audience is now engaged with the presentation because they have invested a little time and thought into it.
Garr Reynolds: Question & Answer
Reynolds, in a presentation to Google, illustrates the importance of audience involvement. He first manages his audience’s expectations by explaining his presentation’s format and content. Almost immediately, Reynolds peppers his audience with simple questions. He does this to encourage audience participation and to get a feeling of how much the audience knows about the subjects he’s discussing. Getting to know your audience throughout the presentation helps them become more personally involved with you and your messages.
Steve Jobs: All You Need is Love
There are few presenters as charismatic as Steve Jobs. The key to his charm is his genuine enthusiasm for his topics. Jobs loves what he does, and he almost always conveys that passion through his presentations. His introduction to the iPhone is a wonderful example of this fact. In less than four minutes, Jobs understatedly works his audience into a frenzy about a product they haven’t even seen. Although Jobs is a laid-back presenter, his honest enthusiasm is inspirational – so much so that Tina Fey was inspired to parody the iPhone introduction on 30 Rock.
