Connecting Always Requires Energy

Chapter 4 of Dr. John Maxwell's new book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect is now available on his blog. Catch it before it's too late. After reading thru the chapter, I've posted this comment on the blog.

They Get Out Of It What You Put In

It was my very first time to do a presentation for a group of IT professionals in Ottawa, Canada and I have decided to apply what I have learned from the previous presentations I did - PowerPoint slides were well thought out taking me at least 3 weeks to complete, writing a thorough story line as part of the delivery, and incorporating all of that to drive home the message. Add to that the methodology and delivery - burning with passion and excitement that the audience was always anticipating what I'm about to say. After the presentation, one person approached me and said, "I think you have raised the bar for delivering technical presentations." Not only did they learn so much from the presentation but they have appreciated the effort that went into it. One presenter even attempted to imitate what I have done and commented that he now understands the amount of work needed to come up with a great presentation. From preparation to delivery to evaluation - it takes a tremendous amount of energy.

Connecting Requires Selflessness . . . Give

A common pitfall for every speaker and presenter is the "know it all" attitude who feels that what he has to say is of utmost importance and that everybody should listen. I also fall prey into that - I guess we all do. What's worse is that I see a lot of presenters simply do it to get recognized, be admired and feed off the ego that he knows a lot better than anybody else.

I was reminded of having the attitude of giving and humility whenever doing presentations or conducting a speech. The audience will really feel the sincerity and will shift into "receiving mode," willing to accept whatever the speaker has to give. The goal is always to "put the audience first." That in itself is a sign of humility.

Connecting Goes Beyond Words

I have been out of the blogosphere for quite some time due to a lot of work but I guess my Twitter updates have complemented the lack of blog posts. I'm thankful I did Twitter two months ago

Since I have been following Dr. John Maxwell on Twitter, I saw this post about the new book he's working on entitled Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. The chapters are being offered on his blog for a few days and then taken down being replaced with a summary of the chapter. I'm just not checking on my Twitter and blog regularly that I missed the first two chapters. At least I managed to catch the third chapter. I've posted a comment on the blog and it's what the content of this blog post is all about.

"This is my first encounter with the chapters for the book and all I can say is that this has hit a home run. Having been invited to do technical presentations for Microsoft technologies both locally and globally, I know what it means to sit in a presentation with boring PowerPoint slides, bullet points that can kill and listen to a speaker that probably memorized the transcript of the presentation. I have been guilty of doing this myself as I initially thought that this was the way to do technical presentations. Ever since I have learned about the art of delivering presentations, I have committed myself to continuous development on the subject – from creating great PowerPoint slides to delivering the presentation (special mention to great books like Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds, slide:ology by Nancy Duarte and Working the Room by Nick Morgan).

From experience, I have learned that enthusiasm, emotional and visual connection when delivering a presentation is what makes people want to stay and listen more – even for a highly technical and boring presentation. The reason I get invited to do presentations was not because of the level of content I provide other (other speakers are smarter and have more technical knowledge than I do) but because I was able to connect to the audience, understand what they feel and provide a solution using the technologies I am presenting. It’s hard to be an expert in just one aspect of technology especially when it keeps evolving and this is what I have learned when delivering presentations. It’s hard to be an expert at what you will present on. But what makes you as one when you deliver your presentation is the passion and enthusiasm that come with it during the preparation and delivery. Anybody can deliver presentations on just about any topic they may or may not be expert on. The only difference in making it an effective one is to put yourself in the listener’s shoes, feel what they feel and develop and deliver a presentation based on that.

Bottom line:It’s all about the listener when we communicate."