If you give presentations, be in tune with your roles
By Dan Bobinski
A skilled presenter needs to hyperspace from role to role
depending on what the moment calls for. Although every
presentation and audience is different, my best advice is always
‘know your roles, and prepare, prepare, prepare.’ This
way it’s much easier to stay in tune with our audience and
our presentation will have a lasting, worthwhile impact.
Why do we need to know different roles? Because the
ability to stand up and talk does not a presenter make. Anyone can
talk. It’s connecting with an audience that makes for a
good presentation.
It’s my firm belief that connecting with an audience
requires shifting among different roles, depending on the needs of
the audience at a particular moment. This will be more true
for someone conducting a long-term training program, but it also
has application for the one-time presentation.
I started paying more attention to the roles of a presenter
when I was conducting management and leadership classes for
management teams. Someone had asked me to describe my
role. The first thing that came to mind was that I comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comforted. But the more I thought about
it, the more I realized someone presenting or conducting training
must serve in multiple roles, and some of them at the same
time.
In varying degrees, the following roles can apply to long-term
training, stand-alone workshops, and even speeches:
1. Comforter If we can help those
feeling worn out to identify a “next step” action item
and refocus their vision, we’re acting as a
comforter. People in those situations need a lift –
reassurance that things are going to be okay.
2. Afflicter Sometimes people come to a
class or presentation thinking, “I have nothing to learn
here. I know all I need to know. This is a waste of my
time.” Such people are unwilling (or unable) to examine
the filters through which they see the world. Because the
world’s body of knowledge doubles every few years, people in
these mindsets need to be challenged.
3. Informer The word inform
means to take data and place it into a format (in-form) the learner
can relate to. That involves finding common frames of
reference and demonstrating how the data being presented has value
and usefulness for the learner.
4. Confidant In some workplaces,
politics can be pretty thick. If presenters are outside the
political loop, they’re viewed as safe, so people may
approach a presenter for an ‘offline’ private
conversation. Sometimes they want affirmation. Sometimes they want
advice. Sometimes they just need to vent. Presenters must be able
to handle delicate issues with tact.
5. Counselor Often part and parcel of
being a Confidant is the role of Counselor. As such, need for this
role often emerges during one-on-one discussions after a
presentation. Active listening skills such as paraphrasing lets the
audience member know you’re truly listening. And, a good
counseling technique is asking leading questions that take a person
to deciding on an appropriate “next step.”
6. Entertainer Nobody likes
sitting through dry, rote, uninteresting presentations. It causes
people to check out – at which point they learn nothing.
Being an entertainer does not mean being a court jester. It means
injecting some fun into the subject matter, and also an appropriate
level of humor. The first key in using humor is to recognize it as
a painful situation told playfully. The second key is to be
yourself. Don’t try imitating your favorite comedian. The
third key is to be aware of audience reaction, and adjust
accordingly.
7. Facilitator / Coach The
objective of any training is for those in the audience to learn,
not for the instructor to look like an expert. Encouraging learners
to talk about how they’re applying what you’re
presenting—and then affirming their efforts—gives them
motivation to continue their efforts.
I could go on because there are more roles, but I think you
get the idea. A skilled presenter needs to hyperspace from role to
role as the situation calls for it. To get to that point, a
presenter must first know the responsibilities of each role.
It’s like anything else. If we want to become good at
something, we need to become students of the craft. And conducting
training or giving presentations is most certainly a craft.
Bottom line, don’t give presentations by the seat of
your pants. The best way to serve your audience is to prepare,
prepare, prepare.
Then make sure you’re comfortable inside your own skin,
tune in to your audience, and do your thing.
