The Purpose and Power of a Live Presentation
Have you ever sat in the audience of a live presentation, looking at the back of the speaker’s head as they read the PowerPoint presentation behind them? You likely asked yourself, “Why am I sitting here listening to this? They could just have sent a document to read."
One of the underlying reasons for a poor presentation is that the speaker isn’t 100% certain what they want to achieve with the presentation. If you were to ask them why they’re doing it, they’d likely say, “Well…that’s what we’re expected to do.”
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Not having a clear purpose for giving a live presentation prevents them from taking advantage of its unique power. And boy can it be powerful!
In this Insight, I’ll discuss two important topics:
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Let the show begin!​
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The Purpose of a Live Presentation
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Before digital technology became commonplace at work, there were multiple reasons for giving a live presentation: to inform, celebrate or praise, teach, or persuade your audience to take action.
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However, with all the communication channels available today (e.g. text chat, email, collaboration apps, intranet, live video, produced or pre-recorded video, face-to-face interaction, etc.), you need to be more tactful in selecting the channel that best matches your purpose at a particular moment in time.
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Since many other channels and forums are more optimal for informing, brainstorming, aligning, and planning, a live presentation should be chosen for the purpose of engaging people in a way that moves them to take immediate action as part of a larger change journey.
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How a presentation fits into a larger change journey
The action that your audience takes directly after your presentation is crucial to sparking momentum in a larger journey of change
The Power of Stagecraft
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What exactly is it that can happen in a live presentation that can’t happen in a written document, text channel, or pre-recorded video?
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You can feel a unique energy and emotion in the room when a group of people gather together, especially when it’s in person. When you add to this the magic of storytelling, sensorial stimuli (see below), and interaction, you can create a powerful synergy that moves people to take action.
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While the potential power of a live presentation is enormous, it requires an understanding of “stagecraft”: the use of a stage to maximal effect.
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A "stage" is a metaphor that applies to any space where the audience's attention is focused on a single person or group of people.
The art of stagecraft is endless, but let’s take a look at three core elements that can be easily applied to live presentations at work: variation, activate the senses, and interaction.
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Variation
Just like a well-produced film or a well-composed song, a powerful live presentation doesn’t have the same tempo or energy all the way through; the audience should feel variation throughout your delivery. This variation impacts the emotional experience of your audience
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You can—and should—already create variation when designing the content of your presentation. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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Variation can come from many other elements in your delivery, such as the different tempo, volume, movement, and all the other ways in which you activate the senses of your audience throughout your presentation.
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Play around when rehearsing
Activate the Senses
The cerebral nature of work life leads many of us to forget that each member of our audience is much more than a brain. They have a whole body, with various senses that affect them emotionally, energetically, as well as intellectually.
However, most presenters don’t take advantage of all the ways in which they can use to engage their audience’s senses. Instead, they default to speech (audio) and a ppt presentation (visual). Some people think about their body language (visual) as well.
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Don’t get me wrong; the use of speech and visuals are extremely important for engaging your audience, but most presenters don’t take full advantage of all the senses, audio, visual, smell, taste, touch, spatial dynamics, movement.
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There’s a whole sensorial world to activate in order to reinforce and enhance your message.​
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A world of senses
Rather than delivering a monologue, find moments in your presentation to interact with your audience.
Interaction
When an audience sits to watch a live presentation, their bodies go into a passive physiological state. As a result, it’s easier for them to focus and take in more complex information—which is great. However, this passive state makes it harder from them to take action,5 which is a big problem if the goal of your presentation is to get people to do something differently in the way they work.
So, rather than delivering a monologue, find moments in your presentation to interact with your audience. This will create a dynamic in the room (in-person or digital) that activates your audience’s minds and bodies more fully, priming them to make a decision and/or take action.
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Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to interact with them: asking them questions and listening to their answers to create a conversation, giving them simple tasks to do during your presentation (e.g. write something down, speak with the person sitting next to them, etc.) and scheduling time for Q&A are just a few.
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The Question and Answer session (Q&A) after your presentation is an incredible opportunity to provide more detailed information to your audience and showcase your depth of knowledge. This can have a lasting impact on your audience.
While it’s very important to design a structured message to your audience, it’s often the interactive moments that make a lasting impact on them.
Interaction calms your nerves
conclusion
A live presentation is a unique opportunity to move your audience to take action. In order to take full advantage of this opportunity, you need to harness the power of stagecraft.
This means once you’ve framed your idea and designed your presentation, you need to have variation, activate the senses, and interact with your audience.
This kind of magical experience cannot be achieved through an e-mail or recorded video; it can only happen live, between people.
Reflection Questions
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On what occasions do people make live presentations where you work? Why do you think they choose a live presentation instead of sending an e-mail, writing a business case or recording a video?
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Who do you see as a role model in terms of how they present to a live audience? What do they do in terms of stagecraft (e.g. variation, activating the senses, interaction)?
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When have you delivered a presentation that you were proud of? What was it about your delivery that made you feel proud?
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CHallenge
Yourself
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If you normally deliver presentations using only a PowerPoint, take some time to identify how you could activate your audience's senses so that you increase the likelihood of moving them to take action.
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Find a room where you can practice by yourself and take 15 minutes to play around (don't focus on quality): deliver a presentation (new or old) in several different ways (see play around when rehearsing for ideas). If you have a colleague who you work closely with and have a trusting relationship, do this exercise together. Have fun. Don't judge.
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If you don't normally ask your audience questions during your live presentations, make a list of 2-3 questions that you could ask at the beginning of your next presentation.
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References
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Howard Gardner – Multiple Intelligences
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D. Markova & A. McArthur – Collaborative Intelligence
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G. Ritzer & J. Stepnisky – Sociological Theory
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Anna Young et al. – "Home Indoor Air Quality and Cognitive Function,"NIH National Library of Medicine
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Annie Murphy Paul – The Extended Mind
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Daniel Gilbert – Stumbling on Happiness
