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{"id":6265,"date":"2007-09-14T16:12:55","date_gmt":"2007-09-14T21:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/simswyeth.com\/Blog\/?p=81"},"modified":"2013-12-11T20:17:11","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T20:17:11","slug":"presention-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simswyeth.com\/20070914-presention-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Presentation Skills: Doing it in the road"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0believe\u00a0one of the best models for presenting skills<\/a><\/strong> is the act of\u00a0giving directions to someone who has stopped\u00a0her car, leaned out the window, and said, “How do I get to Bloomfield Avenue?”<\/p>\n

If you’re\u00a0standing in front of your house,\u00a0and you know how to get to the desired location (your own version of Bloomfield Avenue)\u00a0you immediately envision the\u00a0route\u00a0you would take.\u00a0In the millisecond before you\u00a0speak, your brain flies over the road map in your head, your eyes may very well look in the direction of Bloomfield Avenue, and your arm involuntarily\u00a0will rise up and point in the desired direction.<\/p>\n

But then\u00a0you encounter what Chip and Dan Heath, in their book Made to Stick, call the curse of knowledge<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Your curse is that you know the details of the terrain–the houses, trees, stop signs, traffic patterns, and where the dog is likely to run out and bark at your menacing tires.\u00a0 You are inside the bottle of your own experience whereas\u00a0your listener needs you to read the\u00a0label.<\/p>\n

That’s hard to do from inside the bottle.\u00a0\u00a0 You know the terrain, she needs\u00a0a map abstracted from the terrain.\u00a0\u00a0She needs something simple\u00a0she can remember so\u00a0she can accomplish\u00a0her goal–which is to arrive\u00a0at Bloomfield Avenue.\u00a0 \u00a0If you tell\u00a0her everything you know about the terrain, she’ll get confused and lost.\u00a0 You need to speak to\u00a0her in the simplest way possible (but not too simple)\u00a0so that\u00a0she can extract value from your knowledge.<\/p>\n

As the number of twists and turns–rights and lefts–that you\u00a0pour into her nervous ear\u00a0increases, the value of your\u00a0information decreases, because\u00a0she can’t remember too many turns.\u00a0 When\u00a0she reaches a saturation point,\u00a0she stops listening.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0you are\u00a0attentive to the look in her eyes,\u00a0or her bitten lip,\u00a0 you\u00a0might\u00a0ask her to repeat what you said, to see if\u00a0she understands and remembers.\u00a0 Or you could volunteer to write it down, or draw a picture.\u00a0 Your initiative is necessary because most of the time when people are confused they are too embarrassed to admit it or unwilling to impose on your time even more.<\/p>\n

(I get confused very quickly when listening to directions. I have to repeat them aloud, and even act them out for myself, moving my hands this way and that while I repeat what I’ve heard.)<\/p>\n

Your degree of confidence also plays a big part in the\u00a0value of your directions.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0you don’t seem confident, the listener sitting behind the wheel\u00a0discounts what\u00a0you’re saying, and only pretends to listen out of politeness while thinking to herself, “I’ve got to find another person to ask.\u00a0 This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”<\/p>\n

In fact,\u00a0it’s my experience that when\u00a0I ask people for directions, a lot of them will make something up just so they can\u00a0give the appearance of being an expert on the topography of their\u00a0community (their area of expertise.)\u00a0\u00a0 I know this because if I’m listening to someone and\u00a0don’t think\u00a0he’s\u00a0really confident in what he’s saying, and I drive away to ask another person, inevitably I get a completely different perspective.<\/p>\n

Finally, judging from my own behavior, I believe we prefer to ask for directions from someone who looks well-dressed, which signals to us that he or she is a credible and trustworthy source of information.<\/p>\n

Giving directions to a lost stranger has deep similarities to presenting in business<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Giving directions is helping your listener by\u00a0solving a problem for her, being sure that you give her the right information and no more than she needs,\u00a0\u00a0and giving\u00a0her a chance to ask clarifying questions.<\/p>\n

Sounds like presenting to me!<\/p>\n

Here are the nine take-aways!<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Know your material like the back of your hand.<\/li>\n
  2. Beware the curse of knowledge.\u00a0 It’s hard to read the label from inside the bottle. If you tell them everything, they remember nothing.<\/li>\n
  3. Keep it simple but not too simple.<\/li>\n
  4. Keep it interactive.\u00a0 Keep an eye on them to see if their eyes are glazing over.<\/li>\n
  5. Ask them\u00a0questions\u00a0when you\u00a0see signals.<\/li>\n
  6. Speak with confidence to inspire their confidence in you.<\/li>\n
  7. Allow your body to help you communicate.<\/li>\n
  8. Don’t make\u00a0stuff up.\u00a0 Say, “I don’t know.”\u00a0 Humility is an underrated virtue.<\/li>\n
  9. Dress the part.\u00a0 Look like a trustworthy source of information.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    <\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I\u00a0believe\u00a0one of the best models for presenting skills is the act of\u00a0giving directions to someone who has stopped\u00a0her car, leaned out the window, and said, “How do I get to Bloomfield Avenue?” If you’re\u00a0standing in front of your house,\u00a0and you know how to get to the desired location (your own version of Bloomfield Avenue)\u00a0you immediately… Read More »Presentation Skills: Doing it in the road<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[548,301,18,327,905,77,185],"yoast_head":"\nPresentation Skills: Doing it in the road - M Sims Wyeth LLC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Help with employee development, executive presence, and communication skills. 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