Movies can be a great teaching tool for learning how to build the perfect pres. A good movie has: a gripping story, great performances, a well organized structure. Seeing how a successful film does its magic can lend a lot of insight to your next presentation.
One of the most popular movies in the country offers up great lessons in presenting. The first part of the final chapter of a centuries-sweeping epic, Twilight: Breaking Dawn offers important tips for all presenters whether you’re a vampire a werewolf or just a regular old person.
Evolution
Although the eternal sameness of an immortal vampire’s never ending life doesn’t put us in mind of dynamic changes, a vampire movie franchise has to evolve or die. Just like the books that inspired the films, heartthrob neck-biters and puppy love hijinks can only hold and audience’s interest for so long whether they are in a theater or reading on the couch. Every now and then you’ve got to throw a werewolf into the mix or let the characters grow into young men and women instead of the kids they were at the beginning of the story. Your presentations should undergo a similar change over time. In what ways are your presentations becoming stronger over time? Are you growing as a presenter?
Risk
Every change is a challenge and the key to winning at the game of change is to embrace it and encourage it. Taking control of change can be scary because it always involves coming face-to-face with risk. Of course, this is also what happens when Bella finally marries Edward in the latest Twilight film. No spoilers, but marriage is a huge challenge as it is. Throw a few centuries of living as a dead man in the mix and you can imagine what these two are taking on. Don’t be afraid of taking chances and running risks. That’s the only way you’ll ever become the best speaker you can be.
Leave ’em Hanging
While we want our presentations to be clear, expert talks that satiate our audiences, leaving our message ringing in their ears, there is something we can borrow from show business. It’s not always a bad thing to leave the audience wanting just a little more. The latest Twilight film has been cut down the middle, split into two separate movies, and fans won’t know the conclusion of the story for another year. Of course this just means they’ll line up all over again at twelve dollars a head for the last chapter of this blood-splattered-chick-flick extravaganza. Find a way to make your presentation memorable. End on a high note and leave your listeners clamoring for more.
