Presentation Tips From The Oscars
I’m not sure if you caught this year’s Academy Awards but the few that I have talked to felt let down. The Oscars is known for being too long, and they have done several things over the last few years to try and speed up the show. Now I have to say that I do enjoy the Oscars, as my original career aspirations were to become a director in the film industry. I guess at heart I have always been a storyteller.
During this year’s Oscars I noticed that the audience seemed very subdued. The applause was polite but it lacked energy! A few times during the night they showed clips from the Academy Awards many years ago and what stood out was the incredible energy, enthusiasm and passion of the crowd. Some of the recipients could hardly be heard over the applause of the audience. In fact one newspaper this week commented on this also saying that the old clips of Oscars only showed us what we were missing.
I do not have all the answers for why the Oscars seemed subdued, but I do have a lot of experience in working with audiences. The funny thing is, every audience has a personality of its own. In fact no two audiences are ever the same. This can make getting up in front of them a nerve racking task for most people. Fortunately, audiences can be influenced. What I mean is that audiences regardless of where they begin, can end up passionate, engaged and energetic by the end of any presentation.
An audience will respond to you as a speaker, and will begin to mirror your energy, passion and enthusiasm. If you ever have to make presentations to staff or to clients remember these things.
People love energy.
I am not talking about crazy over the top; shut this person up, kind of stuff. But we all love a passionate soul. Of course the best way to be energetic is to be passionate about what you are presenting on. This can be challenging if it’s a presentation on budgets, but even then remember that budgets are a part of a larger picture of where you want to go. Passion is hard to fake so before you make your presentation, take a moment to reconnect to why this is important to you and to your listeners.
I used to run a speaker school and it was always fun to watch a young college guy get up front, stumble over his words, and sometimes not even make sense at all, but yet the crowd loved it because he was passionate, genuine, and energetic. Polished, and eloquent can be boring, and can even come across disingenuous. So remember, whenever you have to make a presentation, if you can only be one thing, at least be passionate, and energetic. This alone will help cover over any other speaker sins you may commit and the audience will find you refreshing.
