BEHIND THE MIKE

Part 4 of 4

In the first three parts of this series, I have mentioned that I use a number of tools to help make presentations both informative and entertaining. I call it “edutainment” and it is critical to the success of every presentation.

People are accustomed to watching television where literally hundreds of images flash across the screen in the course of a few minutes. Delivering a keynote speech should be no different.

Audience members will retain more if they see and hear the message. The singular biggest mistake most speakers commit is using tools like PowerPoint incorrectly.

You already know all the complaints. Too many words on a slide, reading the slides, copy is too small to be seen and every slide looks alike because the speaker committed to a dull PowerPoint matrix.

The title of my new book is “All I Want out of Life is an Unfair Advantage!” The unfair advantage is to make PowerPoint look like no other the audience has ever seen.

No two slides should look similar unless they are progression slides. Limit the words to ten or fewer per slide. There’s no rule against adding another slide to cover the material you want to deliver.

My particular preference is to use personalized backdrops in every slide, some of which could actually include photos of the audience members. Incorporation of video clips is another area that can enhance your speech.

Whether it’s an opening song, incorporation of a tools like a Kazoo Review or a closing Visual Extravaganza that features members of the audience, the entire focus of the presentation is on the audience and making them part of the presentation. Why would you not want that advantage?

Many of the clever tools in the speaker’s tool kit come with an element of risks. What do you do when the lights go out or other calamities occur? You must have a Plan B and Plan C.

I was addressing the Realtors in Orlando at the convention center when I lost all the lights in the room. The only things that remained was the mic was still hot and my visuals could still be seen as they were on a different circuit.

I carry a flashlight as one of the props so I simply turned the light on and aimed it to my face and kept right on speaking. A speaker colleague, Lee Robert (daughter of Cavett Robert) was in that audience. She actually thought it was staged.

I never stage calamities because too many happen on their own. Ed Foreman, Art Linkletter and I were speaking at a convention in the same convention center. Ed and Art kicked it off and I was the cleanup speaker. Art said “Break a leg” as I took the stage.

An hour later, I did just that. I wandered off to a darkened corner of the stage and fell 10 feet, breaking a leg. Art sent me a note the next day… “I didn’t mean it literally.”

Terry Bradshaw preceded me as one of the closing day speakers in Toronto in 1989. I followed and then another colleague, W. Mitchell, closed it out. He tells a powerful story about how his body was burned over 90% in a motorcycle accident. Just as he got that part of the story, the fire alarms in the building went off. You can’t make this stuff up.

The more risks we take on the platform, the greater the chance that something will go wrong. That should never preclude the speaker from trying something new or different.

That’s the reason I attend Toastmasters every week I’m in Florida. You need a place to practice your material, be it a skit that involves audience participation or material you have never delivered. Don’t practice on a paying audience.

Michael Aun, is the author of “All I Want out of Life is An Unfair Advantage” to be released next year