Separating presentation from presenter.
Regular readers will know that I have a weakness for watching presentations. They are, for me, a convergence of so many different things: content, story, performance, design, structure, personality, drama, emotion, etc. that come together in magical ways. At their best they combine brilliant insight and discovery with theatre.
The analogy that I draw most often is to the world of music. In music, you have the song and the performance. Each part is important – perhaps equally important – indeed they often carry separate copyrights as the Prince v Radiohead controversy highlights. Each can shine independently of the other, although a brilliant song can be killed by a bad performance in the same way that brilliant insights can often be masked by an inability to communicate. Each can reveal aspects of the other that had not been seen before. And, each delivers revenue in different ways.
For example, while songwriters in bands may do alright, most of the money comes from live performances. There’s not really that much money in selling CDs which is why lots of artists are quite happy to encourage free downloads because they consider songs marketing for performances. Because songs are also marketing for albums, giving away songs can often also lead to greater sales. Likewise, many artists make a great living never writing anything original. They are simply masters of performing.
You see the same thing happening in the business world. IP or thinking is becoming separated from the performance. Thinkers are giving away their works for free like Seth Godin recently or are releasing their work as they write to solicit feedback like John Grant did. While both are hoping for increased sales through these tactics, it’s also highly likely that they will and have seen increased demand for their speaking as a result. In the same way that songs can be remixed and recombined, a lot of new thinking in business builds upon and steals thinking from others (just realised that Faris may think I think he steals which is not what I’m saying, but as I write this I also realised that Faris might be quite pleased to think that I think he steals). Musicians are using CCmixter and Rifflet to encourage this, business thinkers blog and stick their stuff up on places like slideshare under creative commons to achieve the same ends.
The biggest difference for me is that there are far more thinkers in business than there are performers. The really magical presenters are quite rare and often, they mask sub par thinking and content with amazing performances. But, if we’re to carry the analogy further, is it possible that a new class of profession could arise – the business performer? The business performer would know how to construct a presentation and how to deliver a presentation, but would not necessarily create the thinking or ideas. As the availability of business thinking grows, the business performer might, as in music, eclipse the business thinker in fame and fortune.
Of course this is already happening to some extent. It is unlikely that Steve Jobs or Barack Obama actually wrote or created most of their own presentations, but their delivery ability (among other things) has ensured their places at the top of their respective organisations. However, I wonder if this could be taken even further with specialised presenters who have no other skill than that of being able to deliver amazing presentations.
Gavin posted recently a sign of this coming future that still continues to amaze me. Anil Dash delivering slides he’s never seen in a Powerpoint Karaoke competition. If he ever decides to divorce his performing from his thinking, I’m calling…
Possibly related posts
Tags: performance, powerpoint, presentation
faris Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 11:48 amnice mate!
indeed it is a performative act – and the performance part can be more impactful and important than the content is some ways.
I think you could do this – as long as there were never any questions – only in monologue
fx
[steal this comment
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faris Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 11:58 amalso = anil is amazing and reminds me of something else/.
advertising worked out ages ago that comedy is a good way to deliver messages – people like comedy.
And yet – so few presenters use it. We should present like stand ups.
facu Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 1:30 pmtotally.
stand up should be taught at schools.
observation, engagement, speaking out, sharing… beautiful stuff.
mix it with ppts. kaboom!
cheers.
adrian Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 1:30 pmvery true, the presentations you remember the most are the ones that make you laugh. Perhaps what we really need are warm up comedians (or clowns)? ;D
Gavin Heaton Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 6:09 pmI have worked with such “business performers” in the past. I would write and build the presentation, script the speech and even direct their performances. We would rehearse it over and over.
In these cases, I would not present (or only present a small part) because it was more important that the message come from a particular person. It would have more authority and resonance that way. Interestingly, one of the hardest parts was working humour into the script. What worked for me did not necessarily work for the presenter.
And while it can be very effective, humour is also a risk. It can go horribly wrong. Just be careful
David Esrati Says:
November 17th, 2008 at 8:26 pmLong ago when I was teaching the capstone portfolio course at the University of Dayton- I spent a good bit of time trying to teach graphic design students how to present.
How can you convince a client that you have a great, game changing concept if you can’t present it properly?
Yes, the work should speak for itself- but, there are still questions to answer, research to back up your points, and instilling confidence in your work.
Public speaking is hard for many people- practice makes it better. Many of the best public speakers I know- work with speaking coaches, constantly revising, retraining themselves- to turn into powerhouses.
And- face it- in advertising- one of the reasons we have account executives (bag men- in the terms of old) is because so many creatives have a hard time selling their own work.
I gotta admit tho- I’m with you on Anil- he rocked his presentation.
I think we’ll be sponsoring a battle of the decks here soon. Adrian- you want to come be a judge?
Mike Brown Says:
November 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pmAnil’s performance is engaging and makes you want more (even if the content is full of non sequitors). For presenters and audiences, it doesn’t get much better than that.
A performance such as his requires a comfort in thinking on your feet and the ability to be funny while improvising. From seeing a lot of presenters over the past few years, those skills are, unfortunately, in short supply. There’s magic in achieving the balance between authentically understanding the material and being able to deliver it in a compelling fashion.
For people who don’t have Anil’s innate skills, here are some ideas for what they can do to improve: http://brainzooming.blogspot.com/2008/02/presentation-advice-for-bad-presenters.html
Mike Brown
http://brainzooming.blogspot.com
What’s happening at Telegraph TV « scot devine Says:
December 5th, 2008 at 4:13 am[...] views arepure Daily Mail, but the set-up works bloody well. Some people are simply meant to present, but you couldn’t ask Heffer to present the [...]