Where are the Sparks?

An interesting quote from Walter Isaacson's The Innovators: "There was value to getting together in person rather than just reading each other’s papers: the intense interactions allowed ideas to be kicked into higher orbits and, like electrons, occasionally break loose to spark chain reactions.” Note the value of "getting together in person."

We get together in person for business presentations but are typically focused on maintaining control. We often say we "want this presentation to be informal", but we still want it to be cool, highly controlled, and formalized; like a classic verse play by Racine. We do not want it to be hot and fluid like a modern kitchen drama. If we saw most business presentations on stage, we would want to know, “When is something going to happen? Where are the sparks and chain reactions?"

Think Again

It's easy to dismiss the importance of good presentation skills: "It's my ideas that are important, not how I speak or present myself."

But as Nicholas Carr points out in The Glass Cage: Automation and Us, "The biological processes that constitute "thinking" emerge not just from the neural computations in the skull but from the actions and sensory perceptions of the entire body."

If the actions of your entire body are not distinctive and clear in the presentation, your thinking and ideas will not be clear either.

 

Hacking Presentation Technique applies the principles of live performance to the business presentation. A conceptual framework for how to think about and prepare a presentation, and a method approach to delivering great presentations.

 

Do you know: What needs to happen in a successful business presentation? How you make that happen?

To learn more go to For Companies or For Individuals.