|
If you want to
create a successful business, don’t seek wealth. Seek to create
meaning. And if you want to deliver a successful and inspiring
presentation, tell stories, speak with the passion of an evangelist,
and, yes, seek to create meaning.
Those are just a
few of the lessons from a wonderful presentation entitled
"The Art of the Start." The presentation was delivered
recently to a gathering of entrepreneurs by business guru/venture capitalist
Guy Kawasaki.
If you want to view
the speech,
click here. Kawasaki is not politically neutral or
politically correct and
he uses questionable language. So be warned! But the speech is
terrific.
Here are some of
the things that we can learn from Guy’s speech.
Speak with passion:
From the moment Guy starts, you can sense that he cares deeply about
what he’s saying and that he really wants his audience to get
something out of the presentation. Notice how they literally had to
pull him off the stage at the end. We strongly believe that you
should stay within your time limits. But here is a case where
clearly the audience wanted him to stay and he wanted to stay too.
Why? Because they sensed how much he cared.
Support Your Points
with Stories:
His final point is “Don’t Let the Bozos Get You Down”. In support
he tells a wonderful story about himself and how he turned town a
chance to interview for the position of CEO of Yahoo. With stories
like that, you can’t go wrong.
Seek to Create
Meaning:
This is Kawasaki’s first point and he’s referring to how to
create a successful business. He says that Apple succeeded because
they believed first in the ideas that Apple represented. But the
same concept applies to great presentations. The best presentations
are the ones where the speaker is trying desperately to help the
audience in some way. We worked recently with the head of
compliance for a major business. When our coach asked him “How could
you best help the people in your audience?”, the Chief Compliance
Officer responded, “We need to help them define what ‘compliance’
actually is. Right now the industry is struggling with that
question.” He felt that he could answer that question. So the
presentation focused on that issue. And it was a big hit.
At Speechworks we
help our clients learn how to communicate in a way that connects and
persuades. If you’re interested in becoming a great communicator
give us a call at 404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net. |
