12 Resonate
People Are Interesting
A great way to stand out is to be real. Presentations
tend to be stripped of all humanness—despite the fact
that humans make up the entire audience! Many corpo-
rations condition employees to put meaningless words
together, project them on a slide, and talk about them
like an automaton. The cultural norm is for presenters
to hide behind slides as though that’s a form of skilled
communication. Look at the slides to the right. These
are real statements taken from real presentations.
They’re meaningless. Yet these statements were written
to attract and lure customers to products or services.
It’s the wrong bait.
Presenters think they can hide behind a wall of jargon,
but what people are really looking for at a presentation
is some kind of human connection.
By far the most human, transparent, and relational form
of communication takes place when two people share
common beliefs and create a connection based on
beliefs. A presentation is an ideal opportunity for con-
necting because it’s one of the few forms of interaction
in which people are involved with one another in person.
Deep connections are what make a great presentation
stand out. Forming connections is an art, and when it’s
practiced well, the results can be astounding.
Being human and taking risks are the foundation of
creative results. Taking risks shows you’re willing to tap
into something your gut is telling you will work, without
letting your head talk you out of it. That’s creativity
and humanness at its best. Unfortunately, many cultures
stifle risk-taking, and many workplaces constrain
human connectedness.
“Being true to yourself involves showing and sharing
emotion. The spirit that motivates most great storytell-
ers is ‘I want you to feel what I feel,’ and the effective
narrative is designed to make this happen. That’s how
the information is bound to the experience and
rendered unforgettable.”
Peter Guber
1
It’s easier to rattle off jargon and keep communication
emotionally neutral. But easiest doesn’t always mean best.
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Why Resonate? 13
These statements are from real presentations
that have had all the humanness sucked out
of them. It’s easier to hide behind messages
like these instead of tapping into what is
human about us.
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