Episode #67: The Biggest Myth In Presenting

Urban myths usually spring from a scintilla of truth and then morph into something unrecognizable from the original. I am sure Professor Mehrabian is mystified how his original research has been corrupted, to say something he never claimed. We hear these things trotted out by people who actually don’t know what they are talking about. In the presentation’s world there are a large number of these pseudo scientific experts. The “how you look when presenting is the most important thing” idea is one of those cases. Mehrabian found, that only became important, when there was one major factor at play. If that wasn’t the case, then the how you look idea is really important claim is just nonsense.

Before we get into this week’s topic, here is what caught my attention lately.

Japan is getting active in what is called newspace as opposed to established space. The Japan Aerospace Exploration agency (JAXA) has selected Mitsui and Space BD to work on microsatellite deployment. They will be seeking satellite deployment orders from universities and companies domestically and internationally. Ispace Inc plans to head to the moon, launching an unmanned lunar module twice by the end of twenty twenty. Zozotown CEO Yusaku Maizawa has contracted with Space X in the USA to travel around the moon in the first ever private moon flight. Space Walker is planning a manned space journey. It is collaborating with IHI, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the Kyushu Institute of Technology and JAXA to develop a Spaceplane rocket for flight in twenty twenty seven. PD Aerospace is funded by ANA, HIS and others and is seeking to commercialise manned space journeys by twenty twenty four. Astroscale plans to launch the ELSA-d satellite that performs space debris removal around twenty twenty. In other news,seventy percent of grads who joined their companies and three years later moved to another employer, were happy with the change. Why move? Fifty one point five percent pointed to dissatisfaction with work content and forty one percent mentioned unhappiness with the human relations in their workplace. The survey by the Association of Job information Japan noted that twenty nine percent saw their salaries go up ten percent, forty five point six percent saw them go down by ten percent or more when they moved. Of the thirty two percent who moved to a smaller company, seventy percent said they were satisfied with the move. Finally, tourist numbers in October showed that seven hundred and fifteen thousand three hundred tourists came from China, five hundred and seventy one thousand, two hundred from Taiwan and one hundred and sixty nine thousand five hundred from Hong Kong.

This is episode number Sixty Seven and we are talking about The Biggest Myth in Presenting. Professor Albert Mehrabian’s 1967 study of communication concluded that fifty five percent of the presenter’s message was received visually, thirty eight percent from voice tone and only seven percent through the words. As we all know, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing and these numbers have been widely misinterpreted. As a result a number of gurus and pseudo experts have built businesses around emphasising the importance of how we look when we present. So, according to this misplaced logic, how we look accounts for over half of the impression of how we come across, so we must pay careful attention to dress etc.

Professor Mehrabian, nearly 50 years ago, flagged an issue that has reached epidemic proportions today – audience distraction. In his day, he was worried about factors that might compete with the key points we were trying to get across in our presentations. His research showed that this 55 / 38 / 7 split only applied under one very critical condition.

When what we are saying is not congruent with how we are saying it, the audience leaves us. They go off message and get distracted by our dress and appearance in fifty five percent of the cases. Others are no longer listening to what we are saying, but to how we are saying it. So thirty eight percent are focused on how we sound, our voice qualities, our accent, our pronunciation, etc. When we are incongruent between what we are saying and the delivery, only seven percent of the words are actually registering with our audience. That is not much is it.

When we say “incongruent” what do we mean by this? In some societies, family members being interviewed by television reporters after losing loved ones in a tragedy, are smiling while talking to camera. This is a supremely painful moment, yet they are smiling. In these cultures, this is accepted as a polite way to not burden others with their personal, heartfelt grief. This for the rest of us is incongruent. What we would expect to see is a face contorted with sad feelings, tears rolling down cheeks and a voice barely audible and breaking up under the strain. In the same way, a really happy event, greeted with a long, sad face would not be congruent either.

Mehrabian’s work tells us that when we don’t match what we say with how we say it, we lose our audience. It wouldn’t matter how well dressed we were, we wouldn’t be able to maintain attention to what we are saying. No matter how stentorian or lilting, pleasant and professional our speaking voice, the key message is still being lost. The immense value of our content is not absorbed because it is not being heard.

Wooden faces, devoid of expression are precisely the target for Mehrabian’s research results. These are often the experts in their fields who rely on their reputation and authority to carry the day. They are subject heavyweights and their faces are ever serious, never smiling. The problem is they are only able to manage one facial expression throughout their presentation, regardless of the content. That doesn’t work.

Not every sentence in a presentation is of such world shattering seriousness. Consequently, the lack of congruence with what they are saying and how they are saying it kills the communication. Their audience mentally leaves their message. To add to that dilemma, it is so easy to escape the presenter today. Thanks to powerful hand held devices we all have instant on-line access to worlds more interesting than the speaker.

We need to be skilled as speakers to keep everyone’s attention on our messages. We need variety, to have highs and lows in our presentations. Serious and light moments, complex and simple components of the message. Each of these requires a face and voice of its own, that is in synch with the content. Of course we should be dressed appropriately for the occasion, but we need to make our face and voice do the work, not the suit, blouse, tie or shoes.

If the topic is serious, look serious, but also be prepared to ease off the pressure from the constant seriousness. It is exhausting for an audience. They need a break or we will lose them. If we are flippant and light all the time, we will not be providing enough variety for our audience at the other end of the scale. It is the same problem but just coming from the other end of the scale. Telling jokes and repeating witticisms constantly for 40 minutes is not a substitute for a well designed presentation, unless you are a professional comedian and that is your trade.

If we focus on being congruent when we speak, then we will be more successful in getting our message across to our audience. That miserable seven percent number will flip, to become close to one hundred percent absorption of our message and as speakers that is what we want isn’t it.