Some advice from Narnia
Some useful presentation skills advice from one of the world’s best-known fantasy authors…
I often find my coaching and presentation skills inspiration in unusual places, and in this post that motivation comes from a mythical fantasy world beyond that of Lucy’s “Spare Oom”. For today we take some advice from the creator of Mr Tumnus, Aslan, and (of course) the mythical land of Narnia itself; World-famous author Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis.
A global communicator
Lewis died five years before I was born, and I therefore have little evidence that he was a good or great public speaker. That said, we can be certain that he understood the cornerstones of great communication. Indeed his “Chronicles of Narnia” series of children’s books are now more than 70 years old, having racked-up more than 120 million global sales, and have been translated into at least 47 different languages.
The secret of his success?
How did Lewis achieve such extraordinary and wide-spread success? At least part of his winning formula is set out below in his response to a schoolchild for better writing tips way back in 1959.
A key point
Virtually all the above tips apply as equally to presentation preparation as they do to the written word (albeit with some airbrushing of the text to reflect today’s technology), but the one item that really grabbed my attention was item (3):
“You should hear every sentence you write as if it were being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again.”
This simple rule is just so important for today’s business presenters also.
Verbalisation
For the truth is that many presenters draft the wording of their slides with literally no thought as to how that text might sound should the presenter choose (or need) to repeat that exact wording aloud (as many often do). The reality is that text – particularly business focussed references – is often not written to be spoken aloud, much less presented as an engaging and meaningful soundbite to a potentially disinterested audience. Yet this is one difficulty easily overcome.
A quick win
Today’s simple learning point for business presenters is to always take the time to actively rehearse your presentation in advance. So often the simple act of verbalising your presentation will highlight those challenging words or acronyms that may need to change in order to land well with the audience. The same process will also alert the presenter to any phrases that are perhaps more difficult to say than write, providing the presenter with a valuable opportunity for corrective action to ensure a smooth and confident delivery.
The simple truth is that rehearsals are a vital part of presentation delivery, and presenters should always put aside plenty of time for such work and refinements. And whilst time is indeed money, we should nevertheless take the advice of Lewis who once wrote.
“No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice.”
Until next time.
Best regards
Steve