# 215: Annoying Your Audience
Story behind the Passage
Today I became the witness — or rather victim — of an online awards ceremony. It was actually quite a prestigious award in the field of science and technology studies. The two guys who did the livestream ceremony, however, do not deserve an award. It was horrible. I know this sounds really bad but this is what it felt like. It looked as if the two had never done any media training or any kind of “how do I speak in a way that moves the audience” kind of thing. Yes, I know Covid is not funny and it feels awkward to be sitting in a studio, talking to some invisible audience. But, helo, my guess is that the performance of these two men would not have looked much different if the event had taken place in a real auditorium with people.
I know, I am making myself unpopular here with my overly critical comments and I will for sure never get any medal from them after saying it but I am myself wondering why this pissed me off so much. Maybe it was the entire combination. It was just the stereotypical “old-fashioned” setup of mid-50-year olds who were super nervous, obviously cared about looking good and relaxed, and ended up totally screwing up. To make this very clear: I am not opposed to two mid-50 or older people moderating an event together. I am very sure there is a good reason why exactly these two ran the event. I was just so disappointed by the fact that they were so stereotypically not innovative in what they were doing.
In other words: They did not walk the talk!
What I mean by that is that the award was about projects in the field of science, technology, and innovation. So, in this context, you might think that people are somehow progressive with whatever they do. But they did the opposite. And it got even more horrible when some journalist gave a laudation. The way he did that could hardly have been more boring and less “captivating.” Again, I am not only talking about what he said but also about how he said it. Hands in his pants, reading from a piece of paper. Ending with the quote…. Oh, no, I am not going to repeat it here, it will ruin the post!
So, I guess that explains why I had to pick something by Jerry Weissman. Weissman is a famous storytelling expert in Silicon Valley — one of the classy type. But he actually does walk the talk. I had not known about Weissman until one of my earliest clients mentioned him. And when I watched what he does an read up on his achievements, I very much liked what I saw. As you might know from previous posts, when it comes to speaking, my communication hero is Sammy Molcho. But that mostly refers to body language, of course. Weissman is really good when it comes to crafting a story, thinking about dramaturgy, and using just as little fancy additional media means as necessary to be “effective.” All this is something that the speaker or hosts of the award ceremony today could have benefited immensely from…
My Learnings
“The good presenter grabs their minds at the beginning of the presentation; navigates them through all the various parts, themes, and ideas, never letting go; and then deposits them at the call to action.” The ending of this statement sounds very much business-like. The “call to action” is something that people associate with sales, i.e., closing the deal — “sign up” or “order here”… I just want to transfer the concept to the general sphere of putting together engaging talks or presentations and in the case of today, the call for action — as in any context in which a person is talking to an audience — would have been: Please continue listening!
Well, I did not…
“If they are subjected to a presentation whose point is unclear, they will be resistant to responding to the call to action.” That one I disagree with. I think, “definite points” are overrated. I tend to confuse people all the time. But that is a trademark that sticks. No one is forced to listen. And there is one tiny difference: people who annoy their audience with the lack of presentation skills and alpha-male body language send the signal “I am good and I never even waste one second thinking it might be otherwise.” I usually try to send the signal: “I talk the way I think but I care about you following me and learning something. And if you do not — please ask.”
Reflection Questions
1) What was the best presentation/talk you ever delivered? What made it so exceptional?
2) Do you ever tell people who do not do a good job when presenting and you are in the audience?
3) Do you think that captivating audiences can be learned or is it a gift that you have to be born with?