Presenting the King (and other experts!)

Last week, my wife and I went to see The King’s Speech.  It’s a long two hours and by the end you’ve been through the wringer.  Thanks to some great writing and stunning acting you really get to feel how it is for people who can’t communicate like they want to .  In this case it’s because of a stammer.  For others it’s because of fear.

Make no mistake, there’s an utterly debilitating sensation which comes with not being able to tell people what’s going on in your head (believe me, I know) and one of the best bits about my job is that every now and again I work with someone who experiences a real breakthrough.

For most of us though, the problem is not actually physically getting the words out: for most of us, at least for y clients, the problem is more a question of deciding what the key messages are in the first place.  All too often, presenters have what we call the Expert Problem.

What’s the Expert Problem? It’s this: the more you know about a subject – the more of an expert you are – the further you are from your audience and, obviously, the harder it can be to put yourself in their shoes and figure out what your presentation should contain.

Think of is this way – if you’d spent four years of your life, day in day out, working on something. You’d probably be up to your neck in the details, right?  You’d be sweating the small stuff, because that’s where the problems are… or could be, at least. And the more you sweat the details, the more important those details are to you.

To you.

Not to your presentation audience.

Of course, you’ve got to have all those details right.  Just not in your presentation.

Before you start to make your presentation, ask yourself this, really, really simple question: if I was explaining this to a smart, interested, curious child, how would I do it?

You’d not fuss on with details, would you?  No.

Or at least, heaven help your children if you do!  ;)