I have been looking at various presentation websites. I am impressed and not\u00a0impressed, and I am concerned about the distinction between making a convincing\u00a0argument<\/a> to serious people with serious decisions to make, vs. giving an\u00a0entertaining performance<\/a> to people who need to be entertained.<\/p>\n

Because I accidentally live in New Jersey, my career has been largely in the\u00a0pharmaceutical industry. It is a highly regulated industry because it deals with\u00a0serious issues of human health, and on top of that, the cost of health care is\u00a0becoming a national crisis.<\/p>\n

As a result, I have been involved as a consultant in helping brand teams, scientists,\u00a0and regulatory staff make fact-based arguments to senior decision makers within\u00a0the company, and within the FDA. These presentations require a respectful,\u00a0buttoned-up approach because they deal with cancer, mental illness, diabetes, and\u00a0other causes of human suffering.<\/p>\n

So imagine my surprise when I went to a website populated with performances\u00a0given by \u201cWorld Champions of Public Speaking,\u201d and saw presentations that were\u00a0more like Off-Broadway one-man shows than they were about making serious\u00a0arguments addressing a serious topic.<\/p>\n

I have heard from multiple reliable sources that I am not a stick-in-the-mud. I\u00a0admire theatricality, humor, and the ability to hold an audience, but some of these performances are essentially vaudeville\u2014theatrical presentations that contain a\u00a0point or a lesson.<\/p>\n

They are performed, I suppose, at large-scale business meetings,\u00a0like conventions and National Sales gatherings. But if any Vice President of\u00a0finance, HR, sales or marketing in pharma ever wound himself up and uncorked a\u00a0performance like these World Champions deliver, he\u2019d be escorted to the door by a\u00a0pod of security guards.<\/p>\n

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[ctt title=”When a presentation is done well, it speaks to the audience about what is most important to the audience” coverup=”c1t7Z”]<\/p>\n

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Public speaking<\/a> is a tool. Tools have a purpose. The primary purpose of business\u00a0presentations is to convey information to help an audience to make a decision or a\u00a0prediction. When such a presentation is done well, it speaks to the audience in the\u00a0language of the audience about what is most important to the audience. And it tends\u00a0to be substantive, not silly.<\/p>\n

Scientific presentations have a style of their own. The speaker may occasionally\u00a0display a sense of humor, but the experts in the audience are there for the matter,\u00a0not the manner.<\/p>\n

Yes, the physical clowning of the World Champions of Public Speaking rubbed me\u00a0the wrong way. They were doing some kind of new performance art, which may\u00a0be the next big thing. But I prefer the old kind of Public Speaking Champion–one\u00a0man or woman bringing a new idea into the world and mesmerizing me through the\u00a0magic of their language and the measure of their character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been looking at various presentation websites. I am impressed and not\u00a0impressed, and I am concerned about the distinction between making a convincing\u00a0argument to serious people with serious decisions to make, vs. giving an\u00a0entertaining performance to people who need to be entertained. Because I accidentally live in New Jersey, my career has been largely… Read More »My Kind of Champion Speaker<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[960,336,101],"tags":[17,18,88,618],"yoast_head":"\n