The Manager of the Conversation
As the manager of the conversation, you can play a variety of roles to increase your skill and effectiveness in front of the audience. They are all mentioned throughout the book and summarized here.
When you are standing up in front of the audience, you are the Manager of the Conversation. I use the word conversation instead of presentation because the word conversation is defined as a two-way flow of communication, whereas presentation is defined as a oneway flow of communication. People remember more of what they do and say than what is said to them. If you want to increase your effectiveness, you want to increase the circulation of communication in the space.
Host or Hostess
When you are the presenter, you are the host or hostess and the participants are your guests. You greet your guests when they enter the room. You make sure they are comfortable and introduce them to other people in the room. You treat your guests with respect and you do nothing to offend them.
Creating a Safe Space
The definition of safe space is an environment that offers protection so that no harm or damage is likely. Remember that the purpose of the mind is survival. The safer you can make the environment, the more the audience will give you access through their firewalls and the more willing they will be to participate in the conversation. You create a psychological safe space by being a master listener, not making fun of or embarrassing people in the room. You also create a physically safe space by making sure the doors are closed and the temperature is comfortable, taping down electrical cords on the floor so people won’t trip, and covering up windows in the door so people cannot see into the room.
Participation
Most IT professionals view presenting as a solo sport rather than a team sport. I recommend viewing it as a team sport and always looking for every opportunity to get the audience involved in the conversation. Audience involvement will build rapport by removing bricks from the firewall, increase effectiveness because people remember more of what they say than what they hear, and finally, give the presenter insight into whether or not the audience is following the conversation.
Build Rapport and Common Ground
You always want to be building rapport and finding common ground with the participants. The greater the rapport, the more comfortable people will feel. The more comfortable they feel, the more open they will be, and the more open they are, the more they will participate in the conversation. The more they participate, the more effective your presentation will be. Here’s the formula for building rapport and dismantling firewalls: increase communication and it will increase rapport. Every time a person communicates, it pulls a brick out of the firewall and the space becomes more open. Always be searching for common ground with the participants. What things do you have in common? For example, do you both like the same music, sport teams, or food? Have you been to the same countries? The more things you have in common, the more comfortable the audience will be with you. Sharing yourself and telling personal stories is an excellent way to put people at ease and promote intimacy in the space.
Gatekeeper for Clarity
One major problem with IT presentations is that the subject matter is abstract, so it’s often difficult for the audience to understand all the terminology and acronyms. Therefore, the presenter needs to ensure that the concepts are clearly presented to the audience. This is analogous to being a foreign language translator. You need to translate the IT concepts so that the audience will understand them.
Rules of Engagement
In the presentation, there may be rules of engagement regarding the use of cell phones or laptops, participation, appropriate conduct, etc. As the manager of the conversation, if an issue comes up, you are the referee and you make the call.
Enrollment
The entire presentation is an enrollment event. At the end of the presentation, you are asking the audience to take the next step in the sales cycle, whether it’s to sign the PO, attend another meeting, have lunch with the VP, or enroll in another seminar. As the manager of the conversation, you are in charge of enrollment.
Tour Guide (Guide: showing someone the way after having been there yourself)
Conducting a presentation is like taking the audience on a guided tour. You have a clear purpose to the tour and several stops along the way. Once you have finished one point, make a clear transition to the next point. In that way, throughout the presentation, everybody knows exactly where they are and there is no confusion.
Shepherd
Just as a shepherd wants a flock of sheep to stay together, as the manager of the conversation, you want all the participants paying attention. If the audience’s attention wanders off, your effectiveness will be reduced. The two key techniques to hold attention are the use of a keep-alive and a powerful WIIIFM (What Is In It For Me) statement.
Cheerleader
You are the cheerleader of the conversation. Your job is to excite the molecules in the bodies of the audience. If the molecules inside your body are not excited, you have little hope of exciting the molecules in the bodies of the audience.
Is this an important conversation to you, or are you just doing your job? It is not very compelling for the audience to watch someone just doing his or her job. Hopefully, the conversation excites you and you can’t wait for the opportunity to share that excitement with the customers.
The problem here is that you do not allow yourself to get excited in the room. You do not allow your body to get excited and you do not allow your voice to get excited. You believe this will be inappropriate so your default position is the monotone, plain vanilla, unassertive, ineffective PowerPoint presentation.
Leader/Alpha Dog
You are the leader of the conversation. You own the room. You move your body with purpose, speak clearly, and hold eye contact with the audience. You control the time and space in the room. You are able to pause and pace your rate of speaking for maximum impact. You are not intimidated by the audience and you are not afraid of silence.
Stay Present in the Space
As the manager of the conversation, you always want to maintain a broadband, present-time connection to the space. You never want to lose that connection by focusing your attention on Data Land. Create space packets and ground your body in the room in order to maintain the present-time connection.
Keep Your Body Relaxed
During the presentation, it is essential to keep your body relaxed. The flow of energy through your body will be easy if the body is relaxed. However, if you lose awareness of your body by drifting into Data Land, your body becomes tighter and the flow of energy diminishes. Think of this energy flow like water in a garden hose. If the hose is crimped, little water will flow. If the hose is not crimped, the water flows easily.
Be a Master Listener
The manager of the conversation not only needs to be a great speaker but a master listener. You cannot be so focused on your data that you can’t hear and re-create the communication of the people in the room. The major problem that stops people from being master listeners is their inability to surrender their point of view momentarily in order to embrace and understand the other person’s point of view fully.
Keeping the Presentation on Purpose
The manager of the conversation is the driver and needs to make sure the presentation is heading in the right direction. During the introduction, you need to articulate the purpose of the conversation clearly to the audience. During the presentation, make sure that communication that is on purpose is reinforced and that communication that is off purpose is sidelined.
Manager of Logistics
As the manager of the conversation, you need to make sure the room has physical integrity, which includes everything from the materials being clearly printed to having them arranged neatly on the tables. It includes making sure the room is cleaned, as well as starting and ending the presentation on time. It means ensuring that all the equipment is functioning properly and that the power cords are taped to the floor so people will not trip on them. You want to minimize anything that may cause a distraction.