The Music of Words

I recently ran into an acquaintance of yours.  No, really, I did.  I’ll leave you guessing for a couple minutes.  But here are a few clues…

It turns out he was assisting a friend of mine who presented at an event.  And I’ll tell you what, he was in top form!  Do you remember being out with someone who consistently stole your punch line or kept pulling the conversation away from you (even knowing that you’d waited MONTHS for this precious opportunity to talk with her!?  For Pete’s sake!  I mean my knees buckled whenever she walked by!  What the…)  I’m sorry.  I digress…

So this acquaintance of yours - this Glory Sucker – is a living irony.  He makes his living “helping” people with their speaking engagements and, ironically, FAR MORE OFTEN THAN NOT ends up spoiling the whole show.  To be fair, I’ve seen him do great things, which is why he keeps getting the calls, but when he’s off…dang!

He often goes by his initials: PP  You probably know him by his stage name: PowerPoint. 

And he is a Glory Sucker.  But it’s not his fault!  His favorite movie quote is Jessica Rabbit’s famous line: “I’m not bad.  I’m just drawn that way!”

The problem is two fold.  First, (like Jessica) the audience can’t keep their eyes off him and second, we rarely give him the right material to work with!

What do we give him?  We either give him a jumble of concepts and hope that he can make it appear organized or we give him everything we’ve got in hopes that he’ll keep us on track.  And I guess sometimes we give him everything we’ve got IN A JUMBLED HEAP!  Ouch.

Here’s the problem…all things being equal PP has greater stage presence than any speaker out there (Yes, even greater than you!).  Unless his material is VERY CAREFULLY prepared he is going to steal the spotlight.  It’s inevitable.  If a speaker reads from the screen, the speaker has made PP the expert and he is now superfluous.  If PP’s content is haphazardly assembled it’s as if some random person is sporadically jumping on stage and delivering the speaker’s lines.  If stats are thrown up and explained after the fact, any dramatic effect is killed.

So what do we do?

Know this, PP can give a performance worthy of an Oscar.  But the material has to be right and the only Oscar he should ever be up for is Actor in a SUPPORTING Role.  Here’s how…

First, define his character.  PP needs consistency and clarity.

• If PP is there to provide statistical evidence for your position, that’s fine.  Make certain he knows it.  Don’t overwhelm him with data.  Use simple and clear visuals (graphs and charts) that make the audience go “wow.”  If there’s no “wow” don’t do it!
• If he’s there for color, fantastic!  Use him to illustrate your words with images, bold text and tiny quotes.  Give him an occasional leading line, then step back and let the audience read it.  They’ll appreciate your generosity and, when you step back up to take control, will be right there with you.
• He can also be a fantastic partner in humor.  Tell a joke and give him the punch line.  Give him occasional sight gags (humorous photos) you can then narrate.  This is a fantastic role for PP and he enjoys doing it immensely!

Second, get him off stage when he has no lines.  Don’t leave him hanging there while you move on to new territory.  Put up a neutral shot until he returns with something meaningful to contribute.  Otherwise, he’s stuck, unwillingly drawing attention away from you.

Finally, let him take a bow with you at final curtain.  No matter what role he’s played, he is very well suited to summarizing your crucial points.  But keep him in character as much as possible.  If he’s been providing color, make certain that his summary matches the visual style.  If he’s been a jokester, give him something fun to end with.

In the end, understand that PP doesn’t mean to be a glory sucker but he can’t help it if he’s not given the right material.  Use him poorly and he will make an almighty mess of things.  In fact in this case it would be far better not to call on him at all.  But use him well and he’ll generously return the favor, and make you look like a star!

Cheers!
   Robert