That’s the way a Silicon Valley engineer in our training program COULD have started his presentation about the need to standardize. Instead, he took a different route.

“As I was doing some research for this presentation, I read that the city of Baltimore burnt to the ground in 1904. The tragedy is, it didn’t have to.

Firefighters from nearby DC, New York, and Virginia all responded, but weren’t able to help because their hose couplings wouldn’t fit on the Baltimore hydrants – no standard had yet been set. The firefighters helplessly watched as the city burned.

Like Baltimore, our organization will suffer if we don’t standardize our processes.”

A year later, I remember this story and it’s tie to standardization. Considering I see hundreds of presentations, that’s saying something!

It’s so easy to fall in to the rut of starting with, “I’m here to talk to you about [insert topic here]…” or “Thanks so much for being here, I know you’re all busy, so I really appreciate your time.” By the time you’re done with a Lovely-Bunch-of-Words opening like those, guess what? You’ve likely lost your audience. They’re thinking about their next meeting, to-do list, evening’s plans.

Hook them in with a SHARP to grab attention from the very start, and tie it to the point of your presentation. Meaning utilize any one or more of these:

• Stories
• Humor
• Analogies
• References & Quotes
• Pictures & Visuals

Dive right in with something memorable instead of diluting your opener. What’s your story or client example? Can you think of an analogy that will help bring your idea or product to light? Audience members are often very visual, so are there any images you could use to make a strong opening point?

Again, a year later, I remember the engineer’s point about needing to standardize because of the story he told at the beginning. Can your audience remember something as vividly from the presentation you gave.. say, last week?

Please share some of your SHARPs and how you prepare your openers!

As Hans demonstrates, telling a story can deliver your message almost effortlessly through the gatekeeper of the First Brain to the data processor of the New Brain. (More information on First Brain and New Brain is detailed in You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard and a bit in my Compartmentalized Communicating post.)

Bert wrote an excellent post on The Power of Story. It’s spot on. I’d like to add value to it with this complementary post offering a few unique resources, each providing a different perspective on storytelling.

The Moth.  A non-profit organization dedicated to the art of storytelling.  With performances selling out in less than 48 hours with absolutely no advertising other than word of mouth, the demand for storytelling speaks volumes.

“One of the hottest events in town… The Moth is an evening of

unashamedly old-fashioned storytelling…

the performances are enthralling,

funny and moving, with a typical New York intensity.”

- The Times (London)

“The success of The Moth is one example of

the phenomenon of storytelling that is gaining momentum

nationwide. In The Moth’s case, these narrative

sessions are fast becoming an institution.”

- The New York Times

“We celebrate the ability of stories to honor the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection.” – from The Moth’s Mission Statement

Experience Project. The world’s largest living collection of shared experiences, with over 24 experience categories.  Launched in 2007, boasting nearly 3.5 million experiences shared, this is place where individuals share their stories in an anonymous, comfortable and supportive place.  A unique website revealing the human hunger to share and read stories, this website is also a useful tool for communicators to search for stories and ideas from categories such as Education, Entertainment, Politics, Business, Relationships, to name a few.  From confessions to inspirational stories, the Experience Project is an excellent resource for exploring the stories that connect human experience.

Problogger.net: Why Stories are an Effective Communication Tool for Your Blog. This popular blog by Darren Rowse (@problogger) highlights for the blogging community what Decker emphasizes for communicators.  In researching the historical data for his blog, Darren learned that story blog posts were among the most popular over the last five years.  His bullet point list of why stories are valuable for bloggers applies to all communicators, aligned with  Bert’s The Power of Story blog post earlier this year.

• Stories engage the imagination of readers [listeners]
• Stories go beyond facts and theories
• Stories reveal something about yourself as a blogger [communicator] (they’re personal)
• Stories trigger emotions and the senses
• Stories are conversational - they stimulate others to react and tell their stories [to you, to others and in their own communications experiences]
• Stories provide hooks for readers [listeners ] to latch onto your blogging [message] (they’re relatable)
• Stories grab and hold the attention of readers [listeners]
• Stories are memorable – while people don’t always latch onto facts and figures – a good story can be remembered for years
• Stories illustrate your points in ways that can be much more convincing (and convicting) than other types of information

The common thread of these three sites is clear.  People love stories; stories connect them to each other in the most basic human way. Stories are bridges between our humanity and the objective of our presentations. Something so significant should be shared.

Photo credit:  zinkwazi

This came from a client in a recent Platinum Session, referring to the commonly-held belief that engaging emotions is an effort we make only for those presentations intended to motivate and inspire. For this client, he viewed the majority of his presentations as just providing information.

It’s human tendency to compartmentalize. We segment ourselves in all sorts of ways, including ideas about how we should communicate. It seems natural to separate motivational and inspirational focused speeches from data delivery presentations. However, what’s “natural” is not always best. A fragmented mindset can backfire when it comes to communication.

I asked this client a couple of questions:

• Do you ever give a presentation in which you’re not presenting data?
• Do you ever give a presentation in which you have no intention of impacting your audience?

By definition, a presentation intends to make an impact by conveying information. You can’t make an impact if your data doesn’t reach its destination (the receptive minds of your listeners). Though we might categorize presentations into different types, communication – by definition – involves both emotion and information.

The key to successful communicating is realizing that all communication is an opportunity to motivate and inspire, and all communication requires emotional connection to make an impact.

Bert wrote about this in You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard. People buy on emotion and justify with fact. You can’t connect with the mind – the New Brain (Cerebral Cortex) – without first getting past the gatekeeper – the First Brain (Brain Stem and Limbic System). The First Brain is the seat of emotion and emotional response. Data destined for the New Brain travels through the filter of the First Brain. The First Brain is where the human connection (likability, credibility and trust) is measured. Without getting past the First Brain, the information intended to reach the New Brain hits a brick wall. No matter what type of presentation you are giving, if you want to produce results, you need to be human.  You need to incorporate your emotions.  You need to connect with the hearts and minds of your audience.

Hans Rosling is a master at bridging the gap between data delivery and human connection. On his Presentation Zen blog, Garr Reynolds wrote an excellent post detailing how Hans does this. You need only watch a minute or two of Hans in action to understand why he’s so esteemed.

Hans takes data, statistics and trends (information that could easily be a “just presenting data/data dump” presentation) and engages the hearts and minds of his listeners, delivering the data right through the heart and into the mind. Through storytelling, humor and an uncanny ability to perceive and respond to the emotional pulse of his audience, Hans glides right through the First Brain and lands extensive amounts of statistical data into the New Brain, making a memorable impact.

It’s easy to get buried in data and compartmentalize communication into different categories – some requiring emotional connection; others not. But when we do this, we fail to recognize the significance of connecting with our listeners. This is when we need to step back and remind ourselves: Communication without emotion is just data dump. It’s disconnected; it doesn’t effect change; it doesn’t make an impact. The data has no value if it doesn’t reach its destination. Successful communication incorporates the whole self – heart and mind – to connect with others in a basic human way. The human connection is the communications experience – not the data.

Photo credits: Café psicologico