Glorious Or safe? The build-up to the FA Cup final a little while ago (17th May,2014) described Hull’s run to the final as ‘glorious’. It also described Arsenal as ‘safe but dull’. Now before anyone gets upset, I don’t know anything about football and I don’t know if those are fair descriptions – and (sacriliage for a British male), I don’t care. Sorry, I just don’t “get” football. I didn’t even get swept along by the Word Cup! The point, however, is that ‘safe but dull’ was used as an insult. Should it be? Perhaps it should in sport, where there job of the athletes is to entertain their audience (What? You thought it was about winning things? Naa…. It’s about making money! :) Just ask the people who own the companies who own the sports clubs.)
But what about presentations and speeches? Nope. Safe? Sure – because nothing should go wrong. But dull? Never.
And while I’m talking about sports, last night I had a go back on a trapeze. It’s been a long time since I did it and I think it showed. (Well, okay, I’m 51, of course it showed!) but watching some of the experts I’ve seen over the years made it look a fabulous combination of:
- easy – because they were so very, very good at what they did; and
- difficult – because they were so very very close to the edge of what is physically possible.
Go to the circus and see what I mean… you know the performers are as good as it gets and that they’ve rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed… but you your heart is in your mouth despite that. And now consider your next big presentation. Is it ‘safe’ enough for your audience to be able to relax and ‘enjoy the show’ – that is, concentrate on the content, ignoring the ‘mechanics’ of it.? Is it ‘exciting‘ enough make them feel exhilarated?
The first is to do with the basics – and heaven knows I’ve covered enough of these in previous posts – the latter is to do with you design and delivery… It’s to do with your flair and the number of risks you (appear to) take.
Dr Who’s TARDIS
Or, if you like, try thinking of your presentation like a children’s adventure series (such as the ever-so-fabulous Dr Who). It’s all desperate, edge of your seat stuff as worlds end and the universe is in peril, but you can enjoy it safe in the knowledge that it’s all going to have a happy ending. Your presentation can look like it’s out of control, seat of the pants stuff, so long as everyone knows you’re really in control.
Taking another angle, I was, am and always will be a fan of the work of Robin Williams. (Not all, of it, but lots) A lot of people have spoken about how out of control, improvisational and chaotic he was.
Tosh.
He only looked that way to amateurs. Watch videos of him closely and then ask yourself: “For all the anarchy, for all the apparent chaos, which made it look like fun, was there ever any doubt that he knew his stuff, that he knew what he was doing?”. No. Did it ever look, really look, like he was going to crash-and-burn? No.
If you look carefully you can see it for what it was, someone who was so in control of the basics and the techniques that he could afford to look a little out of control. He gave the audience the perfect balance of safe (in control) but unsafe (apparently making it up).
Be that.
Or go to Disney Land and get on the biggest, baddest roller-coaster you can handle. It feels like it’s out of control, rushing along with no breaks – but deep, deep down you know it’s got safety features built in with double-redundancy.
Let your presentations be like a roller coaster.
