Episode #73: The Power Of Belief When Presenting

Watching a grey haired, grizzled veteran of the media making his award acceptance speech talking about the importance of the pursuit of the truth in the media and a High School Senior speaking out about gun control, I was struck by how powerful both speeches were. Many award speeches we see are either hopeless or perfunctory. This one was different. No notes, coherent, well delivered, confident and with a strong message. The High School boy also spoke without notes, in front of a big audience, yet with so much confidence and clarity. The common factor for both was the amount of belief they were communicating in their message.

Now in business, we might be thinking that is all very well for a media representative trying to fight back against a President who lambasts journalists about fake news and disparages their profession. We might think that this young man has survived a life and death experience and so he has that special degree of super commitment. We in business are quite different aren’t we?

Getting fired up over spreadsheets, or quarterly results, or the PR department’s corporate messaging isn’t all that life changing, powerful or exciting.

This is a cop out. If we are delivering a presentation in business, we have a message we wish to convey and the delivery of that message can make or break the success of what we are doing. If we are just reporting numbers, we can see that as a routine function, isolated and puny in impact.

What if we saw our activity against the WHY of what we are doing and connected the numbers back to that. What if we connected it to the lofty goals we have set for ourselves and how these numbers fit into that effort. What if we connected it to the competition out there and how we were doing against them in the market place. We can all take something that seems mundane and find a greater sense of purpose.

If we are presenting on behalf of our firm, we are usually trying to convey a positive message about the company and what we are doing. If we analyze our audience well, we can know how to connect what we want to say with issues that they are interested in and will value. There is no shortage of ways to make a presentation relevant to our audience. The secret is in the planning.

The delivery is the hard part though. Seeing yourself as a soldier on the media front lines, fighting back against the evil afoot is a much more uplifting topic than talking about the firm’s annual marketing plan. The delivery can have the transfer of belief though. Yes, the scope and scale of the drama is different. However, we can seize on the central point we want to get across to our audience and talk about that in a way that resonates we totally believe what we are saying is the best advice for them.

Counter intuitively, start the planning with the talk’s final punch line. What is it you really, earnestly want to communicate, what is your key point? Once you have divined that essence, build the talk around it by offering evidence, examples, vignettes, stories, proof, case studies that back it up.

If you believe what you are saying, then be supremely confident when communicating these points. Send out waves of desire to help your audience do better through what you are conveying. The feeling is totally different to doing a download of data to an audience. This is the mental provision of the buffet and then the audience are on their own to take what they like and have an interest in, with no central compelling narrative, idea, point or message. We don’t want that.

Even if the object of the talk is to inform, the desire should be to provide the most up to date, highest value information and insight about what it means to our audience. If the object is to impress the audience about our company, then the desire is to convert as many of the people in the crowd to become fans, so that we can help them with our solutions. We don’t just want them to like our firm, we want them to buy our wares, speak highly of us and recommends us to all and sundry.

Belief is the most powerful engine with which to power a presentation. Find where you can inject belief into your talk. It must be relevant to the audience, genuine, authentic and heart felt. When you speak with belief you speak with a different voice. Something magical happens to you as a communicator and you and your message will be remembered. And that is what we want isn’t it.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.