frame your story

There’s no way you can give a good talk unless you have something worth talking about. Conceptualizing and framing what you want to say is the most vital part of preparation.

We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey. A successful talk is a little miracle—people see the world differently afterward.

Chris Anderson

"How to Give a Killer Presentation: Lessons from TED," Harvard Business Review. June 2013

negaphobia

The corporate world has a disease that Robert McKee calls “Negaphobia.” It’s the fear of anything that is negative and the potential consequences. Too often, everything needs to be positive, with a smile on the face and not talking about “problems” or “weakness.” If you want to earn trust from your audience, share the problems, struggles and weaknesses that are part of life.

Typically, presentations avoid problems and emphasize the good. This is the best way to lose your credibility. Everything that sugarcoats your point, leave that at home. The audience trusts in honesty and not in perfection anymore.

Joni Galvão

"10 Golden Principles for an Effective Presentation" MARTECHseries. December 2, 2019

someone who gets in trouble

“Get your protagonist up a tree. Throw rocks at him. Then get him down.” — Syd Field

When creating a presentation, you need to understand that the audience expects more than a list of topics with a rhetorical narrative. They expect you to surprise them. They expect you to tell a story. All stories are about someone who gets in trouble. So go deep into the conflicts the audience may confront. Then a resolution or a conclusion can come naturally.

Joni Galvão

"10 Golden Principles for an Effective Presentation" MARTECHseries. December 2, 2019

moved by a desire to touch the audience

When talented people write badly it’s generally for one of two reasons: Either they’re blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove or they’re driven by an emotion they must express. When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They’re moved by a desire to touch the audience.

That means your audience doesn’t want to know about qualities you may think are important. They want to improve their own qualities and to know how you are going to be an ally in transforming their lives and making them stronger protagonists.

Robert McKee

Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. Methuen. 1999. As quoted by Joni Galvão in "10 Golden Principles for an Effective Presentation" MARTECHseries. December 2, 2019

the “prior” thing

The word “priority” entered the English language, via Old French, sometime in the 14th Century. Deriving from the mediaeval Latin word prioritas (“fact or condition of being prior”), the word meant “the most important thing”—the “prior” thing or the thing with precedence.  When it was first coined, the word “priority” had no plural.  You could only have one priority. 

Sometime in the middle of the 20th Century, almost certainly related to the rise of corporate and office culture, the word “priorities” began to appear. Now people began to claim that they had more than one “most important thing.”  They could have three or five or 14 priorities.  A client once shared with me a deck laying out his business’s “Top 30 Strategic Priorities.”  Sadly, if you have 30 priorities, you really have no priorities: no organization can even remember 30 things, never mind focus on them all.

Mark Nevins

"What Are Your Big Rocks?" Forbes. January 21, 2020