Chapter 8

THE DEMONSTRATOR

MEET THE DEMONSTRATOR

Like the beautiful peacock, you love to put your best qualities on display for an audience. You know what an audience loves to see, and you use that information to dazzle onstage. Demonstrators are known for their hard work in the preparation stage, which leads to flawless delivery. In short, when a Demonstrator steps onstage, you can expect a brilliant show.

If you scored this personality, you already know the importance of high-quality presentation materials paired with careful audience research. You are dedicated to making your message more compelling onstage, using tactics such as movement, gestures, a range of vocal tone, and more. Perhaps you were born with an innate sense that performance is important, or you may have had experience onstage in a different capacity. Either way, Demonstrators value their audience’s time, and they know exactly how to use this time wisely to convey their content.

However, sometimes a beautiful display of feathers and a sassy bird dance are simply not enough to create a long-lasting impression. Demonstrators tend to spend less time working on the impact of their message after the talk is given, instead keeping their focus on delivery. All of their flash occasionally comes with a price: audiences may be too distracted by the show to remember the main points and follow up on calls to action.

As a Demonstrator, you need to work on adding a long-range view to your perspective on what should and shouldn’t be in a presentation. When you offer your audience plenty of actionable next steps, they will know exactly what to do once the presentation is finished. You also may consider using some of the energy during preparation for your talk to develop a unique platform. This could entail creating a Twitter hashtag, a social media page, or a newsletter that keeps audience members informed and engaged long after the talk is finished.

Demonstrators are one of those classic pitchmen personalities: they are loud and attention grabbing, and they make people stop flipping through channels to catch the miracle of their demonstrations. However, Demonstrators need to think far beyond the one-bird show to add extra value for their audience. Let’s dig a little bit deeper into what we mean.

HOW YOU SCORED

So how did you score the Demonstrator? These results were calculated using our four-quadrant algorithm in which anything on the outside corner of the specific quadrant is considered high and anything near the main intersection is considered mid-low (Figure 8.1). Here is a simple rundown of your placement in each quadrant and how we arrived at your profile:

Figure 8.1 The Demonstrator

EXPLORATION

Demonstrators care about how their audience perceives them, so they tend to score in the mid- to high range of Exploration. You most likely are motivated to push yourself in this quadrant because you care about what your audience thinks of you and your message. You like to know all that you can about the people who will attend your talk, and you try to alter your style to match their preferences. If it’s a corporate environment, you are happy to wear a nice jacket. If it’s a more casual space, you might throw in a few more jokes than normal. The only thing Demonstrators should be mindful of is how they can best prepare for the long term, beyond their time onstage (see Durability).

SHARING

Demonstrators score in the high range of the Sharing quadrant. This is because you tend to put on an electric performance, making good use of gestures, vocal tone, and movement to get your message across. You know that audiences won’t pay attention unless they are entertained, and you use this knowledge to your advantage no matter what subject you speak on. This is by far your strongest quadrant, and it even reflects a knack for performance outside of the business realm.

RESPONSE

Because they put a lot of their natural talent and energy into Exploration and Sharing, Demonstrators tend to score in the mid- to low range of the Response quadrant. You might be the kind of presenter who is relieved when a talk is finished, and you feel as if the task has been checked off your list. However, great presenters never stop working when they step offstage. They use networking and other engaging techniques to keep their audiences thinking and talking about their message long after the event is over.

DURABILITY

Similar to the Response quadrant, Demonstrators score low in Durability because their focus may be limited to the event they are speaking at … and not much further beyond that. You may have never considered going global with your message, creating a website, or empowering other presenters to spread the good news. We encourage all presenters who score well in the Sharing quadrant to consider a broader platform: if you have the natural ability, why waste it?

SPOTTING A DEMONSTRATOR IN THE WILD

Meet Christine, who works for a nonprofit organization that raises money for low-income families in her city. Although most of her coworkers don’t know it, she minored in theater at college, and she uses the techniques she learned to become a better speaker.

This has helped her tremendously throughout her career. She uses acting techniques such as changing her vocal tone to add emphasis, and she often rehearses casual speeches late after work in order to seem more natural. Memorizing Shakespeare plays has prepared her to remember important points when she addresses local committees, providing them with statistics that most of her team doesn’t bother to learn. This potent combination has helped her organization raise thousands of dollars, and it has also elevated her from intern to strategist.

The problem that Christine faces is that each time she raises money, it only meets a short-term goal for the organization and the families it supports. She generates the bulk of funding at annual charity events, but the amount raised varies and is unreliable. She does a great job persuading donors to sign a one-time check, but she doesn’t realize that it’s within her power to meet long-term goals and generate regular donations.

This is where Durability comes in. Christine needs to create a platform for her message and cultivate personal relationships with her audience. This can be accomplished by something as simple as an e-mail newsletter that she sends personally, with stories about local families that the organization helps.

Christine has the vibrant energy and ability to convince her audience that they should join her on a long-term journey for the sake of local families, but she is too focused on doing a great job on an event-to-event basis. She needs to grab a hammer, some plywood, and a few nails and extend her stage in all directions. The Internet can become her stage. Networking events can become her stage. In short, anywhere she can add in a few words can become part of a much larger platform that will benefit her cause.

Demonstrators thrive in one-and-done environments, which is why they put so much energy into the short burst of a single presentation. But to become stronger, Christine needs to think bigger. To succeed, she’ll need to stretch her natural ability out to venues beyond committee meetings and events. In the words of her hero Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage.”

YOUR NATURAL HABITAT

You are probably already aware of where you perform best: center stage with the brightest spotlight possible. Because you are comfortable onstage no matter what the message or circumstance may be, our best recommendation is that you continue being your most authentic self and try not to let another presenter step on your toes.

Being comfortable in front of others doesn’t come without a cost. The reason Demonstrators are successful under those hot spotlights is that they work so hard on preparation. Resist the temptation to cut back your rehearsal time or just wing it when you are going to deliver a familiar subject. Your dedication is your secret sauce; without it, you’re serving up cold, plain oatmeal.

BRAWN (STRENGTHS)

Entertaining

Prepared

Unique

You excel at thorough preparation, especially for delivery. This usually includes rehearsing out loud, working on your script, and practicing a few stories that flow naturally into your talk. This preparation pays off by making you fascinating to watch and different from many other presenters who tend to fumble and “um” their way through a presentation.

For some presenters, poor rehearsal can lead them to stumble. Perhaps they’re trying to deliver too many memorized points, or maybe their structure is too strict. Demonstrators have a keen sense of what they need to work on, so they don’t waste time worrying about the order of their key messages or which opening quotes they should memorize. This natural ability to self-evaluate enables them to spend preparation time wisely, and it adds that bit of sparkle to delivery.

TRAPS (WEAKNESSES)

Breezy

Unactionable

Short term

Since Demonstrators put so much effort into their performance onstage, their message can sometimes suffer from being so light that they float away. Audiences will enjoy a flashy performance, but they won’t remember the important details if serious weight is not applied to the message. Always include a call to action that the audience can tackle once you finish speaking, and ensure that the audience members are clear about what exactly that entails.

Take this a step further, and think long term. Don’t just send them to a website one time. Ask them to download an app that they can interact with daily. Don’t meekly offer your contact information. Sign them up for your digital newsletter the second they walk through the door. Too often, Demonstrators let a perfectly good message go to waste with a short-term mindset.

YOUR NATURAL ALLY

Want to work on Response and Durability? Connect with Advocators (Chapter 3) to improve your skills.

YOUR PREY

Demonstrators appeal to those who expect to be entertained, moved, and amused. They even have the ability to convince a few data-driven types to crack a smile during their talk. Many other profiles who enjoy the act of delivering a presentation, such as Performers and Educators, will be able to see and appreciate the hard work you did to prepare.

YOUR PREDATORS

Any personalies that expect to have their lives changed by your talk, such as Liberators or Curators, will be disappointed if you don’t provide enough meat for them to gnaw on. Try to see it from your audience’s perspective, and answer their question: “What’s in it for me?” Your predators may also feel frustrated if you finish the presentation without giving them time for questions, networking, and other interactions. Just remember that for most audience members, a presentation doesn’t end when you stop talking.

FIVE DOS AND DON’TS

DOS

1.   As you prepare for your speech, ask yourself, “How can I affect my audience in a long-term way?” Keep this answer in mind as you add value to your content and thereby increase the overall value to your audience.

2.   Try a group activity in your next talk. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to get your audience excited about the message in a more personal way. Challenge them to reveal something to their neighbors, sketch a relevant doodle, or even share a short personal experience that ties back to your main points.

3.   Always land the plane of your argument by providing the audience with two things: a recap of the points you covered and a call to action that tells them what you would like them to do after they leave the room.

4.   Measure the impact of your delivery by using audience polls or surveys, or asking a friend to ascertain whether you provided a strong answer to the question, “What’s in it for me?”

5.   The presentation doesn’t have to end when your speech is over. Make time for Q&A, networking, mingling, and other interactive activities to win over your audience even further.

DON’TS

1.   Don’t get lazy about your prep work. It’s one of your strongest assets, and it sets you apart from the competition. Even if you’re feeling comfortable with your skill set, you can always be better.

2.   Don’t be forgettable! Decide in the preparation phase which of your points are most important and then use design or delivery to emphasize them, repeating those points at least twice during your talk.

3.   Don’t spend your preparation time exclusively focused on delivery. Your message can and should live beyond the event itself. The question you should ask is, “How can I get it there?”

4.   Don’t limit the size of your audience. You are a memorable presenter and have the ability to create large-scale change with a huge audience and an online platform.

5.   Don’t underestimate your ability to persuade an audience and change minds. If you’re entertaining a group but leaving them without a decision or a new piece of information, what is the point of all that hard work?

THE IDEAL DEMONSTRATOR

There is no such thing as a bad persona. There are only areas to improve on within your range of strengths and weaknesses. With that in mind, what do ideal Demonstrators look like?

1.   They create long-term goals to help benefit both their audience and their message.

2.   They mingle with their audience when the talk is finished, tying up loose ends and answering questions with the same cheerful energy they had during their talk.

3.   They seek fresh, creative ways to make their message more durable in the future. This can include a guerrilla marketing strategy, such as starting a catchy hashtag on social media for their concept.

What happens when Christine, our theater-loving Demonstrator, improves her skills and becomes the best version of herself?

1.   She develops a new plan to engage donors over the course of an entire year through marketing tactics based on her committee messages.

2.   She continues to work on her performance onstage, but she is also mindful to keep this high energy going while offstage.

3.   She makes sure that her audience is empowered to act, and she is very clear on how they can continue to be involved with the charity even without providing financial support.

With peacock grace, Demonstrators don’t have to worry about flopping onstage. They have fully preened and prepared beforehand to deliver a message they know will sound good. The real challenge begins when the demonstration is over: How can you work on giving your message longevity? How can you make the message a part of your life and your audience’s lives in the long term? With a little bit more vision and just slightly more work than you already put into Exploration, you can become the best bird in the flock.