Public speaking is famously our greatest fear, ahead of death and disease. As Jerry Seinfeld quipped, “The average person at a funeral would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.” Leave it to a stand up comic to present the information so well.
So many people can probably relate to this oft-quoted “joke” from the comedian, who, by the way, always seems to be in control and at ease in front of large audiences. In reality, even Jerry Seinfeld admits to getting nervous before his sets.
As the lecture notes, many other stand-up comedians grapple with the same uneasiness, but have also found ways to adapt: “They address the stage fright situation more directly than anyone else. Standing in front of a brick wall with no status or degree, no magic trick, soprano voice or instrument of any kind, the comic is on stage with little more than his or her insecurities to promote the very thing the rest of us are so terrified will occur – laughter. Maybe that is why the best of them are so good at expressing ideas.”
Which brings me to the person making the “elevator pitch.” Like the comedian, when you’re on, you’re on! No notes. No props. No sidekicks. Only your words. And hopefully no one here will be laughing at your ideas – unless, of course, they’re supposed to be funny.
Edward R. Tufte believes in the sentence above everything else in longer presentations, too. And he suggests that many people use software like Power Point as a crutch, “to make the presenter feel better about his or her material (or lack thereof) when facing stage fright.”
He may be right in some instances. But I’ve also watched plenty of Power Point presentations that provide good supplemental information that support the speaker. The presentations help the audience better understand the material, while also breaking up the monotony of the overall presentation. People like visuals and will remember graphs and charts, so long as they are pertinent and extraordinary.
The trick, I suppose, is to find the right balance.
No comments:
Post a Comment