The magic formula for presentations

You might be wondering why Siwon is writing about giving presentations. My answer: Because I can tell you something you might not know yet. If you already know everything and don't have time right now, save yourself five minutes by not reading any further.

If you already know everything but like to pat yourself on the back, then you should definitely read on. It feels good to have your assumptions confirmed. If you're simply curious, then I'm especially looking forward to meeting you and hope I can live up to your expectations.

Since this is a column that necessarily has to make do with limited space, and I've already wasted 641 characters (including spaces) on the introduction, I'll now limit myself to the essentials. Therefore, I'll spare you the details of rhetorical tricks, subtleties of body language, and the technical arsenal of presentation techniques.

My magic formula for a successful presentation is: Talk to your audience simply and clearly about stories that move them and you. Would you have thought it was that easy? But what's truly simple is often the most difficult thing. Let's take a closer look at this magic formula.

First and foremost, it's crucial that you speak with your audience, not at them. Make them part of the story you're telling. Phrases like, "Imagine you're in the following situation..." or "Perhaps you feel the same way I do..." are enough to transform passive listeners into active participants. Questions like, "Have you ever experienced anything similar?", "What would you wish for?", or "What do you think?" turn reserved listeners into active contributors and extroverts into co-presenters. After such prompts, give people time to empathize, reflect, and participate. You can safely assume that you'll jump from one statement to the next too quickly anyway. The greatest art of effective conversation lies in enduring the tension of silence, which allows your listener—or should I say, your conversation partner?—to unleash their imagination and savor moments of insight. When people can follow along, they'll nod encouragingly, express doubts, ask questions, or contribute their own perspectives. This makes lectures engaging entertainment. If they have to mentally race to keep up, they escape into fantasy or nod off out of boredom or exhaustion.

Besides the unspoken gaps that the audience can fill with their own thoughts and feelings, simple and understandable language helps listeners keep up with you. I deliberately choose the combination of simple and understandable because simple word choices don't necessarily lead to understandable sentences. Simple and understandable, however, doesn't mean banal! The words, images, and analogies you use to convey something new or unfamiliar should be familiar to your audience. It's about using language to build bridges, not divides. If your goal is to make others smarter, rather than just appearing smart yourself, you'll simply be better off. When in doubt, always avoid abbreviations and buzzwords, no matter how cool and trendy they may seem.

At this point, I passionately launch an attack against the linguistic confusion and presentation-technology madness we experience daily at conferences, trade fairs, and other events. Why on earth do people give presentations in German with English projections? The main arguments usually given are: the translation is too time-consuming, or, after all, they're operating as a global player. My admittedly somewhat spiteful counter-arguments: anyone who has crammed so much text onto their slides that the translation is too time-consuming hasn't understood the purpose of projection. It's not meant to turn the listener into a passive reader, but rather to complement, reinforce, and support the spoken word with visual impressions. Never force your audience to choose between hearing and seeing, risking that they lose interest in both. Seen in this light, foreign-language keywords in a presentation delivered in the speaker's native language are a tolerable compromise when linguistic boundaries are already blurred. But this gap cannot be closed if the speaker, due to a lack of expertise or uncertainty, is forced to read from a script. The switching between reading and speaking often proves to be a treacherous stumbling block. And that somehow doesn't fit with the image of a global player.

Let's forget words for a moment, because pictures really do speak louder than words. But when they are elaborately animated, created from numerous details that appear, fly in, or spiral in, the viewer, initially astonished and then bewildered, is left speechless. The whole thing is then underscored with an avant-garde soundscape and enhanced by the generous use of the available palette of shapes and colors. Brains that want to engage with the content must first filter out the essentials from this sensory chaos. In the time it takes to create these little action masterpieces, someone could have devised a presentation that is comprehensible even without autistic aptitude.

Before I get carried away any further, let me get to the last part of my magic formula: the interesting, exciting, or entertaining story. Of course, all three qualities can be combined. Life writes the best stories, and we tell our own experiences best. People are very interested in stories because they allow them to broaden their horizons without personal risk. It's no coincidence that gossip, rumors, tragedies, and anecdotes are so popular. They are the best source of information because they connect facts and emotions. In fact, facts only gain their true meaning through emotions. Whatever feelings are involved—be it enthusiasm, conviction, euphoria, fear, anger, joy, or sorrow—it is through these emotions that facts truly impress.

My most important tip: At the beginning of a successful presentation lies the speaker's desire to share the feelings they associate with an experience, a team, a goal, or a task with others. The rest (almost) follows naturally from this motivation. Without this prerequisite, it becomes difficult. If you want to inspire, you only have the choice of choosing a topic that inspires you or discovering what it is about a topic that inspires you. Just like in life, so it is with presentations.

I look forward to your suggestions below. denkanstoss@microconsult.de.

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