I’ve become something of a Robert Peston devotee in the midst of the current turmoil. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/ I was interested by his comments on perception (see above link) in the midst of the current febrile atmosphere.
If you think the world’s financial system is built on anything more concrete I can only presume you have just returned from a holiday on another planet. Was it nice?
From a presentation skills point of view it is interesting to note the favoured tone in such times. Anything other than calm and low is asking for trouble.
Vocal quality and the ability to control tone are massively important skills that can be developed once they are understood. That’s where we come in.
MG
http://www.skillpresentations.com
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Obama McCain, presentation wars
The first idea for this blog was a comparison between the styles of the presidential candidates, from a strictly apolitical, technical point of view drawing lessons from the presentations we are seeing regularly on TV.
From a business point of view of course there are limited opportunities to speak to an adoring crowd eager to applaud every second word. It was intriguing to watch Obama evidently trying to calm the crowd in order to finish his sentence, though this could also be read as a chance for him to look in charge whilst drawing attention to the hysteria surrounding him.
The applause and hysteria also makes it difficult to truly assess the candidates but it is clear that Obama is a gifted orator, McCain is less gifted in this area.
However that presents the difficulty of separating performance from the person making the presentation. After all there can be a thin line between oratory and acting and in business presentation it is essential that we speak with our own voice when presenting so that our audience feels we can be trusted.
The same challenge holds true for McCain and Obama who have to present on massive stages with conflicting demands.
Slick orator or trusted uncle seems to be the choice.
From a business point of view of course there are limited opportunities to speak to an adoring crowd eager to applaud every second word. It was intriguing to watch Obama evidently trying to calm the crowd in order to finish his sentence, though this could also be read as a chance for him to look in charge whilst drawing attention to the hysteria surrounding him.
The applause and hysteria also makes it difficult to truly assess the candidates but it is clear that Obama is a gifted orator, McCain is less gifted in this area.
However that presents the difficulty of separating performance from the person making the presentation. After all there can be a thin line between oratory and acting and in business presentation it is essential that we speak with our own voice when presenting so that our audience feels we can be trusted.
The same challenge holds true for McCain and Obama who have to present on massive stages with conflicting demands.
Slick orator or trusted uncle seems to be the choice.
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