Ready for an understatement? This past year has been tough. A worldwide pandemic has changed our way of life in the process of taking many. Racial tensions and injustices have been brought to the surface and have, understandably, boiled over. Political issues have hardened and divided us at a time when we need each other the most. But we aren’t a news outlet or a political commentary. So what does what all of this have to do with giving presentations?
It’s this: we need great speakers now more than ever. It is specifically in times like 2020 that we look for voices that stand out and offer help and hope. So today, I want to challenge all you presenters to use what is probably the most common presentation format, problem/solution, to be what the world needs right now.
Problem: Mourn
Part of what we all need is someone to acknowledge that there is a problem. Aside from social connections, the main reason people share social media posts is to help spread awareness of a problem. It’s an effort to prove that harm exists, that something needs to change, that others need to know. Speakers who are addressing a problem aim to do the same things. Here’s an example from Maria B. Dunn’s message, “One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor: The Problem of Noise.”
“The modern-day apartment dweller is faced with a most annoying problem: paper-thin walls and sound-amplifying ceilings. To live with this problem is to live with the invasion of privacy. There is nothing more distracting than to hear your neighbors’ every function. Although the source of the noise cannot be eliminated, the problem can be solved.”
One of the most damaging things we can do as speakers is to skip over the problem, belittle it, or misrepresent it. As we develop our problem/solution messages, we must realize that we need to sit with the losses first. We need to feel the pain, discomfort, injustice. We need to understand the problem fully. Quite frankly, we need to mourn with our audiences. Because mourning is where the move toward justice starts. As we develop messages aimed to move people toward better solutions, we have to remember not to skip over the problem. It is the foundation on which our solutions rest.
Solution: Rally
Within the core of our human being lies something that longs to fix things. Most of us desperately want to be part of making something, anything, better. As speakers, we have the unique position to equip people to help solve things. After we’ve spent some time identifying the problem and mourning what is wrong, it’s time to rally.
This isn’t easy given the current state of things. But it’s the only way we move forward. Any time we stand in front of an audience, no matter what our presentation topic is, we are in the position to instill a little hope that things can be better. And yet, this point in the message is when speakers often make a huge mistake. As they seek to move from mourning to rallying, they make the mistake of moving from specifics to generalities.
Here’s the deal. We are usually driven to mourn because of specific cases or issues. In the problem stage, we talk about specifics. However, when it comes time to solve things, to rally, we just offer general statements meant to be motivational. Imagine if a commander in the army gathered his troops before a big battle only to say, “go out and be awesome!” That simply won’t cut it. We need specifics. We need steps we can take now. Without knowing specifically how to help solve the problem, we just end up with warm fuzzy feelings that lead nowhere and dissipate fast. Check out Professor Virginia Kearney’s 12 ways to solve problems to help you come up with specifics.
We’ve been in a cycle of mourning and rallying for quite a while now. It’s been tough. But as speakers, we can use our words to help address injustices and problems and to help motivate people toward better tomorrows.
At Ethos3, we believe great presentations move people. Ready to get started?
