Spielberg: [speel-burg] a presentation master who, plucking the masses’ heartstrings as though they were a golden lyre, creates presentations that alter the course of peoples’ lives, of history, and of the very laws of nature itself.
Let me disappoint you: the Spielberg is an ideal that is aspired to; it does not yet exist. All around the world presentation attendees are sitting in firmly padded chairs, breathing manufactured air, and writing with hotel pens as they wait for the Spielberg to appear. The Spielberg, it is said, will change the world: whales will be saved, raises will be given, cubicle walls will crumble to the ground, etc. The Spielberg will motivate us with a perfect blend of humor, substance, and emotional appeal so that, perhaps for the first time, we will be able to walk away from a presentation thinking that we liked that guy.
Of course, the Spielberg can’t take all the credit. The Spielberg will have so many people to thank. His spouse, for lying awake each night for weeks listening to the strained comfort of a speaking voice, the same punch lines, and the same “stage laugh” again and again and again. The Spielberg will like to thank the intern for 63 trips to Starbucks without ever botching an order for a iced-triple-grande-soy-sugar-free-vanilla-light ice-two-raw-sugar-latte, and for collecting facts and figures for the presentation from three uninterested and “busy” intercompany departments, client testimonials, and the Library of Congress. The Spielberg will like to thank Momma and Papa Spielberg, who from an early age placed a great deal of importance on using complete sentences…you get the point.
It will take a village to raise the Spielberg, a village that knows presentations backwards, forwards, and side-to-side. The Spielberg can only come when we are ready for him, and there is so much more to do. For starters, it is hard to imagine the Spielberg ever even dropping by until bullet-point lists are kept in museums like the Smithsonian, right next to papyrus parchments with hieroglyphics on them.
The Takeaway: Great presentations are the outcome of enthusiastic collaborations from experienced teams united in a common purpose (i.e. making great presentations). Revolutionizing an industry starts with the trenchant efforts of every presenter to settle for nothing less than an excellent presentation.
