Written by: Jan Bailey, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
If you’re a professional, statistically the odds are good that you’ll be expected to present in front of other people – maybe the executive, a board or your team. What’s also clear, is that if you’re an effective presenter, it will be good for your career progression. But what’s a bit unclear is why many professionals decide those presentations should be boring.
How boring should a presentation be?
Let’s back up a bit. I’m a communication trainer specializing in public speaking and presentation skills and I work with all manner of professionals to improve their ability to communicate effectively. These people are highly trained, highly skilled and often highly specialized. Interestingly, they all consider themselves professionals and they have very clear ideas about how that title impacts and determines the way they should, can and do present in front of other people.
Also interesting is, often those presentations are dry, overly complicated and yes, boring.
Naturally, because I was hearing this so frequently, I decided the definition of professional must include something about personality, tone or style, so I looked it up.
It turns out, a professional is a person who has had specialized training or education, works within a profession and/or has a particular skill set. If you aren’t comfortable with this definition, here’s the Webster dictionary version.
Should a professional presenting information be dull?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there is nothing in this, or any other written definition of professional that includes: “tends toward dry, dull and boring when presenting their expertise to others.” No-where.
Yet, without fail, when I suggest to my clients they might like to smile, share a laugh, or express their passion for the information they intend to present, I’m told – that’s not professional. So, I must conclude that somewhere in the list of character traits or attributes that make up the definition of professional is… boring, dry, humorless or dull.
Huh. It’s perplexing, isn’t it?
Let me tell you a public speaking story about an engineer I once worked with.
Let’s call him Dan.
Dan was part of a group I was working with to develop short, idea generating talks to present to the executive as an innovation initiative. This was a great idea made even better because they hired me to help these professionals develop their speaking skills and deliver interesting talks. Our time together included exercises to find individual stage presence, improv practice to spark creativity and education sessions to build the flow of a great speech. All through the training, we laughed together as these professionals learned and built their confidence and moved toward the stage. When rehearsals began, I watched Dan on stage in front of an empty auditorium and I was amazed. Gone was the dynamic and energetic young man I had worked with, gone was the contagious smile and gone was the good sense humour and positive attitude. There on the stage, standing absolutely frozen with his arms glued to his sides, was Dan ‘the professional’.
I watched this a couple of times till it was clear it wasn’t going to change. “Dan” I said, standing beside him on stage, “it must be really hard to stand so still for the full 10 minutes of your talk…”
Dan let out a big breath, slumped his shoulders, dropped his head to his chest and said, “oh Jan, it’s SO hard.”
“So why do you do it?” I asked. It seemed like the obvious question.
“Because that’s what engineers do”, was his immediate response.
Well, isn’t that interesting.
Dan isn’t alone in this unusual attitude, and engineers are certainly not the only profession who seem to have strict unwritten rules of public speaking or presenting in front of others. It is time to challenge those ‘rules’ though – I guarantee we’ll all be happier for it.
Who taught you the public speaking rules of your profession?
A mentor?
Unwritten rules of the office?
Learned by watching other boring presenters?
A University Professor?
Your parents?
Because I know you’re curious, Dan was told by an influential mentor that engineers should stand perfectly still and allow the facts to speak for themselves. Seriously? What I can tell you is that most people in the audience would have nodded off or found something far more interesting to do on their phone before Dan’s facts even found their way out of his mouth.
Your first goal of speaking in front of any audience must be engagement; there are many parts to this, but you must connect with your audience and capture their interest if you hope to influence them in any way. I’m not suggesting you tell jokes and juggle while you’re speaking, but even a smile goes a long way in ANY presentation. Boring, dull, or dry do not accomplish this first goal of engagement.
The benefits of being you when speaking in front of others
Speaking to an audience is stressful enough without having to act like ‘a professional’
It’s easier to remember what you’re saying when it’s your natural, professional language
People learn more easily from people they like and being yourself automatically makes you more likeable.
For the record, with a fair bit of coaching and encouragement, Dan was able to relax on stage and step back into his personality. He used some natural gestures, smiled on occasion and was generally well received. Most important in all of this was Dan realized that by embracing his own professional personality and style, he didn’t have to dread presentations; they started to flow and feel natural.
If your goal, as a professional, is to move up the corporate ladder, have an impact on your organization or influence your industry, you will inevitably need to speak in front of others. Period. Knowing that, spend a little time considering how you’d like to be perceived in your workplace and on whatever ‘stage’ you speak from. You are a great number of things: you’re kind, you’re funny, you’re curious, you’re interested, you’re a parent, a sister, a son, a boss and you are also a professional. Professional is not all you are, it’s a part of your whole and so all the things that make you ‘you’ are also part of you as a professional. Embrace that well rounded, dynamic professional that others can relate to – it’s who you are. And nowhere, in that definition of you, is the word boring.
Jan Bailey, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jan Bailey is a seasoned communication and public speaking trainer specializing in leadership presence, clear communication and confident presenting. Fascinated by the reluctance most people have around speaking up, speaking out and speaking in front of others, Jan set out to change the way people think about public speaking and presenting. More laughter and less lecture, more personality and less powerpoint and a whole lot more confidence means professionals at all levels are more effective communicators. A dynamic speaker, an engaging facilitator and an insightful coach, Jan genuinely believes in the power of effective communication to change lives; personally and professionally.
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