7.2. CONNECTING WITH GENERATION X

If they don't have gray hair but still wear collared shirts, chances are they're members of Generation X. Our age doesn't smell like teen spirit anymore; it smells like mortgages, bald spots, and varicose veins—and we don't like it. Our grunge bands were the hardest rockers since the 70s, and it's hard to see that chip on the shoulder be buffed out by the sands of time.

However, we're starting to run the show. We're in our mid-30s on up, and every time a Baby Boomer retires, one of us gets a corner office. Though we're tech savvy, technology doesn't suffuse every part of our lives. In fact, many of us are trying to find a boundary between work and play; unlike Millennials, we expect a divide.

For the first time in American history we earn, on average, less money than our parents did, which we did before making less money than your parents was cool. There is some definite overlap between Xs and Millennials: The rise of technology more or less defines us; we are confident and idealistic; we're snooty about coffee. But Xs are in a markedly different place in life right now. We now have families, established careers, and retirement goals.

You'll notice that none of the above qualities are very "grungy." Generation X isn't joined at the hip with values and ideals. There's wiggle room here, and despite witnessing the flattening of the world, we still envision ourselves as individuals, whereas Millennials tend to feel like they are parts of various movements. We're far more likely to be motivated by our own world—our job, family, home—than we are the world "out there." This small difference can have an extraordinary impact on the way we perceive presentations. Here are some approaches for connecting with Generation X.

7.2.1. Tell, Don't Sell

Though Xs are certainly capable of finding all the relevant information on a given topic, it's not really what we prefer to do. Despite a familiarity with Google, we'd still like to learn from an expert; call us old-fashioned.

At the same time, we possess the same sort of confidence as our younger compatriots in our ability to learn and interpret data. That confidence engenders a certain resistance to being spoon-fed. If Millennials were raised in two-income households, we are the generation everyone experimented with to see if that would work. We can do things on our own; we just appreciate the help.

In a sense, the presentation strategy for Xs is reversed compared with Millennials: instead of providing an aerial view of ideals augmented with a clear and decisive objective, provide the information that illustrates your point and allow us to come to our own conclusion. Sure, it's just for show: We know you've loaded the deck so that the only logical decision is your product or service. We just don't want you to say it out loud.

7.2.2. The Need for Speed

If the content is right, Xs have the capacity and processing power to move through it quickly. We were raised on MTV and Oliver Stone: you wouldn't think that would predispose a group of individuals to rapid-fire statistics and empirical data, but it does. We understand the issues. We understand our values. What we want from you is a collage of supporting evidence for what you say we should be doing.

Call it arrogance or haste, but in the end it simply is: Reaching Xs is about equipping us with the raw materials. Like Millennials, we expect to do most things ourselves. Unlike Millennials, we were raised by parents who trusted in the nightly news. We're still comfortable getting facts from an authoritative source, but we rarely trust that source enough to take our opinions from it as well. Presenting to Xs is a true service, not a performance: organize your thesis carefully and keep the data extremely relevant. We'll take the entertainment—we're still the fun-loving teenagers of the early 90s in our hearts—but it should never be a leading player in the presentation flow. Keep it light and passing, spending the majority of the time really digging down deep into the evidence; we'll track you every step of the way.

7.2.3. Rage against the Machine

Sure, we all grew up: We cut our grunge hair, ditched the Doc Martens for dress shoes, and put down our Stratocasters to take up leather briefcases. While you can take the X out of the grunge scene, you can't take the grunge out of the X. The social revolution we all stood behind may have cracked and faded, but our tenure as iconoclasts has left an indelible mark on our hearts. Though we're out in the real world now, those streaks of idealism remain. We're still inclined to mistrust corporations and bureaucracy, and we're responsible for informing the small-scale, local sensibilities that the Millennials now embrace.

That doesn't mean a corporation can't reach Generation X. Indeed, one of the best examples of a company mastering Gen X messaging is Starbucks, a huge corporation that nevertheless continues to enjoy X support in large numbers. We know Starbucks is "the Man," but it's engaged in and promoted a social agenda that we love. From a purely business perspective, one could argue that there are few differences between Starbucks and McDonald's: Both are expanding rapidly, capitalizing on uniformity and ubiquity, and making life difficult for small mom-and-pops stores everywhere. Xs have withdrawn from McDonald's but embraced Starbucks, for one simple reason: Starbucks appears charitable and socially responsible, but McDonald's does not. My generation's dollars can flow anywhere: when presenting to a roomful of Xs, make every effort to deliver pragmatic facts with a social (rather than corporate) vision and you'll be able to lead us wherever you want us to go.

7.2.4. Boom Times

The country's most populous generation ever, Baby Boomers are responsible for nearly every artifact of modern culture for a very simple reason: they have occupied nearly every public office, management position, and teacher's desk for decade after decade. They came of age sandwiched between two defining wars, WWII and Vietnam, and developed an ideology that shaped both themselves and the nation. They saw the ending of FDR's era; capitulated back to a free market, corporate-centered system; and at their height were the driving force behind the money-glamorizing 1980s.

7.2.5. Anchor the Stage

The average Baby Boomer still expects a news anchor to be a journalist. Boomers are not quite sure about the talking head cable news shift that has taken place of late. This is telling: They're looking for substance that's wrapped up in a highly credible source. The more Boomers in your audience, the more you'll be expected to tout personal achievements, qualifications, and a tremendous amount of credibility. In other words, Boomers consider the source to be equal to the information. If you're trustworthy and reliable, what you say will be trustworthy and reliable.

I love presenting to Baby Boomers because of a very simple fact that I believe stems from the way they grew up getting news: Boomers have incredible attention spans. At times, presenting to the technology-saturated younger generations can feel a bit like a slash-and-dash job, as if I'm cutting up information into bite-sized bits of entertainment rather than engaging in true discourse on a given topic. To be fair, I love the challenge of meeting today's generation of innovative idealists, but finding myself in a roomful of Boomers with an hour to spend swimming in the deep end of any topic is intensely refreshing. Perhaps my generation and the one before us will grow into an appreciation of depth over style; but in case we don't, I would advise you to take full advantage of the unique attention a Baby Boomer audience can give you. Stretch yourself: Try to make your content deeper, even more analytical and honest than it usually is. A Boomer talk is vastly stimulating and will do wonders for advancing your ability to peel back the layers of your typical discussions.

7.2.6. College Bound

Thanks to the Boomers, scores of Millennials now grab undergraduate degrees with as much thought as moving from eighth to ninth grade. Baby Boomers were the first generation to seek advancement through education in large figures. More importantly, they were the generation that saw advanced education begin to become accessible to the middle and even lower classes.

Even more importantly, Boomers have incorporated their educations into their careers. Younger generations have had more trouble translating college experience into the workforce, in part due to the effects of globalization and the outsourcing that has made certain collegiate skills replicable and cheap. Your Boomer audience is far more likely to expect an appeal to their training during a presentation, whereas a younger generation will perceive a presentation as an opportunity to learn something brand new. Boomers are at an age of self-actualization and wisdom accumulation; younger generations are still seeking skills and knowledge that will solidify careers and lifestyles. Thus, when speaking to a predominantly older demographic, it would be wise to speak to them as if they already possess a great deal of the requisite training and knowledge—and make it clear that you're merely there to enhance and add to their familiarity with the subject matter.

7.2.7. When Apple Was Macintosh

Boomers have seen technological advancements that were every bit as revolutionary as iPads, Skype, and so on. But they witnessed these advancements as fully formed adults in most cases, and the advancements tended to be more infrastructural and less application-based in their implementation. Boomers worked for corporations that had fully-staffed technology departments that handled all technological matters. Today, securing an entry-level position almost anywhere requires a thorough understanding of modern technology, and IT deals with web sites and interactivity instead of raw processing power.

While it is entirely possible for a Boomer to be extremely proficient with modern technology, as a generation, they're not likely to demand it. A single expert speaking at length on a relevant subject will do just fine; don't spend hours trying to incorporate interactivity and Twitter feeds into your presentation outline. Spend that time building a thoroughly researched, heavily themed argument.

7.2.8. Like Wine and Cheese

Pay attention to the next commercial you see targeted at the 50+ demographic. Aging isn't fading; aging is reinventing. Thanks to advances in modern medicine, Boomers can expect to live several decades beyond retirement. They may be retiring, but they're often doing so to pursue second, legacy-building professional lives. Increasingly more Boomers retire to assume educational, charitable, or religious posts. At the same time, they're likely to take up new or long-forgotten hobbies—sailing, tennis, fly-fishing, and so forth.

Boomers have extremely high expectations for post-retirement. Treating them as if they'll exit the working world at 65 could quite possibly be the worst mistake you could make during a presentation.

Focus instead on legacy and how the skills and information you're delivering has implications far outside of their professional lives. They're big-picture people these days; your content should be, too.

7.2.9. Don't Let World Views Collide

Boomers spent some time in youthful resistance, and they certainly didn't perpetuate the extreme social conservatism of their parents (a breed unto themselves, but, being in retirement, rarely presented to anymore). They didn't cling to their youth the way the generations that followed them have, however. Boomers are as likely to view an appeal to social justice as dubious or misleading when selling a product or service; as far as they are concerned, the two don't mix. Boomers are far more comfortable with compartments, whereas Xs and Millennials increasingly seek an integrated existence across all facets of human life.

Speaking to this older audience can be much less nuanced, and much more to the point, then. Don't worry about pitching your product as anything other than a high-quality product that does exactly what it's supposed to do. Lawn mowers mow lawns; they don't save starving children while doing so. They'll understand that the world is changing, but world-is-flat thinking isn't the reality that governed most of their lives. That's today's reality, and today's Boomers are handing off their responsibilities to the younger generations in greater numbers every day.

7.2.10. The Over-Simplification Trap

Even if you did manage to get an audience that so neatly fit into one of the three generations discussed earlier, you can still get into trouble by assuming uniformity. Despite the times that raised us, we all want to be treated like significant individuals, not cows in a herd. Every chair in the room is filled with a person who will absorb your content and make a decision in response: to either to go along with you or not. Few approaches are more repulsive than cookie-cutter presentations; you need to create an environment that is appealing and accessible to everybody.

Baby Boomers won't be offended if you incorporate mobile interactivity into your presentation; Millennials won't jitter and explode if you pedal on a subject for more than two minutes. Audiences have a way of stepping up to a presenter's expectations. If you approach the presentation scenario with confidence, they're likely to go along.

At the same time, incorporating some of these high-altitude generalizations can help you create that sense of belonging and mutual empathy to move large groups of people to action. Use tact when doing so: A magician never reveals his secrets because it ruins the show, and such is the presenter's task. We have to put our best foot forward and try to make every audience member feel equally loved and appreciated. We can't reveal to them all of the assumptions that lead to our approach. Never presume to "understand" someone, but always seek to. Audiences love the effort but hate the assumption.

You're also going to face a million other variables: extroversion versus introversion; ponderous versus impulsive; had a good morning versus had a bad morning; even tall versus short. The goal of this chapter is not to drive you into hiding behind the projection screen until everyone leaves somewhat awkwardly; it is to get you thinking about your content in terms of audience makeup. If we don't consider the audience, we'll simply organize and deliver our content according to our own likes, dislikes, and preferences. Hopefully, we would already do business with ourselves given the opportunity and wouldn't need such formal convincing.

Start thinking about your audience: Who are they? What motivates them? What is their collective experience with your message, if they have any at all? Practice understanding your audience on a very deep level, and I promise it will take practice. You'll find, over time, that your content takes on a laser-like focus that is far more effective in reaching audiences than anything you've tried up to this point.