Oh Lord, give me time to understand!
Recently, I sat in a high-level congress. With equally high-level, impressive keynote speakers. Whereby impressive can be interpreted in different ways. Most of the speeches were great, exciting and inspiring. But then HE came. He, the "differently impressive speaker". He was quite impressive. Namely, through what felt like 6000 slides in 45 minutes, peppered with at least 300 step diagrams that jumped out at me. From slide one, the numbers, data and facts buzzed past our desperately trying brains to keep up.
This kind of speaker I know. Mostly coming from a scientific background, they are on a mission that is: I have to explain everything, but really everything, that I have in terms of knowledge to my audience. If such a university-scientific specimen appears, there is only one reaction: hide it and the slides, rest mentally and wait for it to end.
Unfortunately, that didn't work here. With this speaker, we were dealing with a hybrid being who unfortunately also thought he was an itinerant preacher. But unfortunately without the Charisma , which usually distinguishes such preachers. He ran up and down the stage like a tiger in a cage. Left – Right. Left – Right. He was almost never turned towards us, the audience. And he spoke staccatoly, at breakneck speed, almost incomprehensibly. And did not breathe. How he survived this performance is still a mystery to me today.
So we in the audience had a real sensory pleasure of overlapping impressions: We heard high-pressure talking, saw a tiger running up and down and behind it 5-layer highly complex diagrams rushed by. In short: It was exhausting and the messages were completely lost. I thought to myself: "There are those who read their slides aloud one-to-one, even better, at least they don't tire the entire organism."
But what's in it behind such stage behavior? Except for the clear drive to carry knowledge outside in a concentrated way. In my opinion, it is fear. The fear of the break. Because, in such a break, a speaker has to turn to his audience, make contact, be completely there. At the moment of the break, no one can hide behind their content. As speakers, we are fully in the spotlight, as a person. Such a pause represents power. But only a few really know how to enjoy this powerful moment. Most prefer to flee back into speaking. After all, it is much easier to shorten the silence and rush to the next slide.
Whenever When we are confronted with such speakers, my recommendation is to give them appreciative but clear feedback on how they come across. Only if we all have the courage to address certain shortcomings directly, the world of speaking can become even better and more beautiful. By the way, at this event, a colleague approached this speaker and told him that you have to and are allowed to breathe during such a presentation. 🙂
With this in mind, breathe!
You
Arno Fischbacher
The author:
Arno Fischbacher is a business voice coach and rhetoric expert, speaker and author. He prepares executives and employees of the top companies in Germany and Austria for negotiations, presentations and media appearances. Fischbacher is the author of several books, past president of the German Speakers Association (GSA) Austria, chairman of the European Network of Voice Experts, stimme.at.
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