COOK UP A TASTY, NOURISHING & MEMORABLE PRESENTATION

As a member of the World Affairs Council, I entertain many international State Department guests for dinner when they are in Seattle. I love to cook and recently I’ve been noticing how creating a successful presentation can be so much like cooking.  When I cook I begin with a desire for something tasty and nourishing.  If I have invited others to share this meal, I consider their dietary preferences, whether allergies or religious/cultural preferences.  

I first look in my refrigerator to see what is there: meat or fish, cheese, butter, tofu, fresh veggies and fruit, fresh ginger, tamari, and begin to get a sense of where this meal is going.  Then I make my big decisions: what is the main theme of this meal?  What are the accompanying flavors that will make this dish special? I look in my cupboards for additional elements: rice, cornmeal, quinoa, kasha, dried or canned beans, pasta, garlic, olive oil, nuts, herbs and spices.  If I wish to try a new combination of these I research in my cookbooks or online.  Out of lemons?  I am lucky and can go right across the street and buy them and any other missing ingredient I might need at my neighborhood grocery store.  Or, I might go up Highway 99 to the great Pakistani grocery store to buy Halal meat for my Muslim guests.  And then I figure my timing and I’m ready to go!

Putting together a presentation can be just like that.  Know who your audience members are and what their preferences are for you want to make your message accessible.  Then gather all the elements you have at hand or can find easily, and see which of these will be your main message to this audience.  Next, assemble those stories, images and kinesthetic ideas that will clarify, enhance, and entertainingly involve your audience.  Plan your timing and you, too, will be ready to go!  

However, just as when cooking, practice makes a huge difference.  If you try a brand new recipe on your guests without trying it out beforehand, you really do not know how it will turn out.  And when you try a brand new presentation on your audience without practicing, you are also in a danger zone.  So, you must practice, practice, practice.  You can try bits of it out on your friends, colleagues and family - like giving them tastes from your cook pot.  In this way you can find out how clear and appetizing your message is and can do the final seasoning.

Bon Appetit!

Come to our workshop on November 22nd to practice cooking a presentation: Speak with Clarity !  See here for details: 

TELL ME A STORY

Watch how your mind is working here to take this image and turn it into a story. Whether or not your mother or dad read or told you the story of Little Red Riding Hood, this image immediately compels you to try to understand it.  How do you do that?  By making up a story.  The juxtapositioning of these two figures, one threatening and in disguise and the other with wide eyes, causes us to make a story, to create a scenario or a variety of scenarios.

Storytelling is an integral part of public speaking.  The speaker must engage the audience using sensory elements because we are all dependent on our senses  to give credibility to information.  Stories embody all of these elements, making the information real.

By finding and using simple stories (real or imagined), examples, anecdotes, metaphors, and analogies to illustrate each of your points - the information will come alive!  Each point needs a story to illustrate it - either from your own experience, an experience you have read or heard about from others, or a "what if", a story in the future.

Stories and metaphors are wonderful vehicles for your openings and closings.  Use memorable, sensory details to establish a connection with your audience.  A short personal story about something you saw or did this very morning on your way to the presentation site, for instance, can be used to quickly give them a sense of you and your attitudes and perspective, as well as supporting the main message of your whole presentation.  This can then be bridged or verbally connected to your main message. 

Metaphors have a special gift, because of their poetic nature, able to drop into the conscious and unconscious mind simultaneously.   If, for instance, a speaker refers to the community library as a "nest" made up of many kinds of "materials" and a welcoming "home-away-from-home" with "nurturing" librarians, she creates a picture and an experience.  If the speaker actually draws or produces a picture of a nest at the same time, that image will be inscribed in the audiences' memories helping them to recall later. 

Use stories to illustrate your main points.  Little real life anecdotes can give your points credibility.  Share your own experience about the skills, information or ideas you're teaching them.  

Make sure they are filled with the sensory details that communicate a sense of reality.  Instead of saying, "he was angry," you can communicate much, much more by saying, "his skin was flushed and he paced back and forth like a caged tiger, his eyes darting around, looking for a target to pounce on." 

Embody your stories - draw your listeners in. Practice broadly, play with the characters, search for the highs & lows, the pacing and volume. One cautionary note is to make sure that you don't get so carried away with your stories, that they get more focus than your main points.  Stay on course.

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Do you want to increase and deepen your storytelling skills? Come, participate in our STORYTELLING INTENSIVE WORKSOP coming very soon!  Click here for details.

ENJOYING YOUR AUDIENCES
Last evening I visited my 98 year old mother in the Memory Care section of her retirement residence. Weakened with dementia and a painful back, she nevertheless still has a wild spirit, artistic temperament, love of language (English and French) and an outgoing, self-important social nature.


When I walked into the dining room I saw that she was fuming, spitting fire. Knowing she can easily have tantrums and cruelly verbally attack those around her when she is frustrated, I rushed to her side, sitting close beside her to calm her and help her change her attitude. She sputtered that one of the other residents wouldn't talk with her, was just looking at her with no expression on her face, that it was infuriating and that the woman should not be allowed to behave that way.

I talked with her about love, how these people are not capable because of their health condition to respond to her the way she would like them to. That they are very vulnerable and their feelings would be terribly hurt if she is mean to them. I tried to tell her in a way that was not scolding, just informative, that it was important for her to be kind to the people there - all of them. That even if she felt frustrated, picking on her fellow residents was not OK.

She finally got it. She was very apologetic. I could see she was seesawing back and forth emotionally between her anger and her embarrassment and shame. And I knew that she would not remember anything we talked about because of her short term memory loss and the same behavioral dynamic would likely be there again the next day or minute.

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Today I was coaching two separate clients who were both plagued by concern that their audiences were not responsive and it reminded me of my mother's frustration. What do you do when you are sharing your great ideas with your audience and they look like they could not care less?

One way to look at it this: your audience members are individuals who are all in their own dreams - whether affected by dementia or not. They have their own universes, networks, agendas, cares, concerns, wishes, frustrations, lists, etc., and you have absolutely no control over any of it.

What you can do is research and analyze your audience carefully prior to your presentation so that you can tailor your offering to their interests, needs and issues. Create relationships with them, invite them to participate with you, inspire them to share their ideas with each other, empower them to take action, and be inclusive in your language and manner.

But you cannot assume that they will be interested or respond in any way. You must take the responsibility for the relationship, using a combination of your personal enthusiasm in your subject, interest in them and empathy. You can do all the preparation, but unlike my Ma, you do have the ability to let go of any thoughts of control over the outcome.

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If you would like to learn how to create a rewarding relationship with your audience, join us for the last in our Great Women Speakers Program's series workshop: Spontaneous Speaking on May 24th, in Seattle. For more information check here.