Leaders have to give presentations. Wait, let’s reframe that: Leaders get to make presentations. It’s one of your most important skills.
Weary of samey-samey presentations that are boring even you? Here are three tactics to amp up your next presentation. You probably don’t want to use these tactics all in the same presentation. They’re like strong seasoning, best used in small amounts.
The intentional falsehood
Tell your audience at the start that there is one small falsehood in your presentation. You’ll ask them later in the presentation if they spotted it. It sounds something like this: “My parents always told me to tell the truth. Today, I’m going to tell you many truths, but I have intentionally left in one false statement – not big but I challenge you to spot it. I’ll tell you what it is at the end of the presentation.”
This will trigger most people in your audience to not only study everything you have in your presentation deck, but every statement you make orally. You just activated their whole brain into a game of carefully fact-checking and considering everything.
Suggestion – don’t make the falsehood central to your presentation theme. Everything important they should remember should be true information. Slip something small like “XZY has grown 42% in one month” when the truth is 4.2%. It’s a mistake to slip in a falsehood about a person that might be offensive.
Ask your audience if they’ve spotted the false information, and then reveal. This is not a tactic to use often but is very good at riveting their attention.
Ask them to summarize or teach it
Early on, share with your audience that you’re going to explain something, and then ask them to turn to the person next to them to paraphrase and explain it to them. People listen more carefully and retain more if you ask them to teach someone else the information.
It sounds like this: “I’m going to go over the 4 main points about our focus areas for next quarter. Pay attention because after I explain it, I want you to take turns explaining it to the people next to you. It’s important that you’re able to articulate these.”
Be sure to commend people for trying and succeeding.
Use the “Not” Game to emphasize what you are going to do
Sometimes people benefit from a clear statement of the negative of what you want, or a partial of what you want. Let’s say your group has been handed the challenge of growing revenue 12% in the next 6 months. Put that statement on the screen, and then add “Not” statements to make it clearer. For example:
Grow our revenue 12% in 6 months
Not “Cut costs by 4%”
Not “Grow by 12% in 2 years”
Not “Grow by 5% in 6 months”
Not “Grow our department’s revenue by taking it from other departments”
Defining the Not cases gives clarity about what you expect, and gives you a head start on sorting out the people who have already generated excuses.
Give these presentation twists a try. You’ll have more fun, and your audience will, too. More fun means more memorable and effective.
Great ideas, Glenn. I use all of these in some form or another, particularly when teaching teens. With each new “crew” of kids I mentor, I will usually have some night where I tell in a group talk something completely fabricated. I make it something outrageous, yet they always believe me. If I said it, it must be true. They get excited about the weird / wow factor of what I’ve told them. They get amped up and discuss the ramifications among themselves.
Then I have the reveal: that the whole thing was a lie. The disappointment is tangible. Reactions range from disillusionment to anger. And this is exactly what I want. I then segue into telling them that there are a lot of charismatic, interesting, smart people out there in life who will tell you a lot of things; and you can’t just believe them because you think they’re cool. Do your own research. Ask questions. Always check your facts. Know what you believe – and why.
Of course, this is a different use of the strategy, but nonetheless effective.
With the “NOT” approach, I like having listeners shout out their own “NOT’s” after giving them one example. “So what else DON’T I mean here?” Even if their answers are outrageous, it engages them. And I can typically laugh with those outrageous entries, then steer them back closer to home while still affirming all answers.
All very effective. And you’re right, you can’t use them all the time or they become expected and hence lose their purpose.
These are really good, Glenn. I love the intentional falsehood idea. I’m going to use that and let you know how that goes.
Glenn, I love these.
“Leaders get to make presentations.” This line really hit home. It is an honor to be able to give a presentation. Sadly, I’ve sat through far too many presentations where it felt like the speaker though he or she “had” to be there. Giving a good presentation starts with having the right attitude. Thinking, “I get to give this presentation!” is a good start.
I really like the “not” strategy too. I could see this as being especially useful in driving home a key point. I always enjoy it when I read a post and having something that I can use right away. You pact a lot of very helpful info into this post. Than you Glenn!