I’ve been introduced with fanfare, and I’ve been introduced with a kind of shrug in my general direction, as if to say, “Hey Sims. You’re on.”
I like fanfare, pomp and circumstance. But when it’s touting my resume and puffing me up to make me look important, I’m embarrassed. I wonder if I’m going to live up to the inflated expectations being created.
I like speakers who are capable of disguising their preparedness with a cloak of informality and spontaneity.
For instance, I just spoke to a guy who sells software to hospitals. His favorite presentation happened a year ago, when he was alone with the entire C-suite of a major hospital chain—just him, a whiteboard, and the senior execs.
He was drawing pictures, constructing diagrams, and modeling their IT infrastructure on the board, all the while answering questions and learning about their business.
It was a sales call, but it was really a chalk-talk.
This guy is a National Sales Director, so he doesn’t need a PowerPoint deck or a pitch book. His experience gives him the ability to make it look easy. He knows his product, their business, and how to connect with them
A sense of ease is the mark of a pro. Watch Tom Brady or Eli Manning in the midst of battle, and they look like they’re on a stroll with their grandma.
I’m not saying that formality doesn’t have it’s place in presenting. But a sense of ease that puts the audience at ease is also a powerful technique.