Digital Coach – For High Stakes Presentations

“People will not usually remember what you say, but they always remember how you made them feel.”

I remember stumbling across this Warren Beatty quote a few years back. To be honest, for the longest time I struggled with attributing something seemingly profound to a Hollywood actor but I guess I got over that. I felt like he had stumbled on something important to presenters.

There’s a big difference between informing the intellect and touching the human heart. And for the most part, the business world seems to move a lot of brain-directed data; quarterly metrics -sales quotas – close rations – year-over-year growth – customer retention. It’s how business measures itself and I get the need for presentations that address those things. But the older I get, the more connecting with the heart of an audience rather than just their heads. matters to me. What we do and how we do it is for a season.  Who we are is for a lifetime and beyond.

When I finish an important presentation, what is my audience feeling? Hope? Empowerment? Personal challenge?  “I can do that!”  The desire to be more?

At the end of some my public speaking engagements I’ll close with a story of a friend, Tim McGarry. He was a great guy and family man I worked with years ago at InFocus. Shortly after I left the company, I heard he had developed inoperable brain cancer.  Although chemo had robbed him of his hair, it never robbed him of his perspective. As a dozen or so of us gathered one evening to be an encouragement to Tim, he caught us all off guard with these words…

“I’m the luckiest man in the world”

Our jaws dropped.  I’m sure he saw that.  But our momentary shock was quickly addressed as he continued…   “It’s not that I’m looking forward to the months ahead, but for right now… at this moment, I know what’s important in my life. My priorities are all perfectly aligned. I want that for all of you here tonight.”

Tim would die less than 6 months later. But he taught us an important lesson that night. One that I remember as I stand in front of a large group. Anyone can make an audience think.  But it is the exceptional presenter who can make them feel.