Christopher Witt with Dale Fetherling | © 2009, Crown Business

by Lisa Fahoury, CBC

Picture for a minute Martin Luther King, Jr.’s seminal “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. at the height of the U.S. civil rights movement. Would it have resonated as strongly with its audience, and gone down in history as any more important, had King used PowerPoint?

That’s the distinction between speaking to transmit information and speaking to influence and inspire, according to author Christopher Witt in his new book, Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint. And nobody these days should be relying on PowerPoint to inspire anything but a cure for insomnia.

Witt reaches back to ancient Greece and the words of Demosthenes to identify the four core elements of any great speech:

• A great person
• A noteworthy event
• A compelling message
• A masterful delivery

Some speakers settle for two out of the four elements and feel pretty good about themselves, but true leaders want and need to be exceptional — to deliver ideas with the power to change people’s lives. Leaders give people a reason to believe in taking action rather than simply communicating information.

If you’re in a leadership position in your organization, Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint offers some useful guidance on fine-tuning your presentation skills to reflect your role. Using practical examples, Witt illustrates how you are communicating and reinforcing your leadership style — for better or worse — every time you open your mouth.

For example, he contrasts two well-known business leaders — Southwest Airlines co-founder Herb Kelleher and real estate tycoon Donald Trump — with vastly different leadership styles. Both are highly successful, but neither could give the other’s speech with any credibility or integrity.

That’s the first lesson hammered home in this book — be yourself. Though leaders certainly adapt what they say to address the needs of different audiences — shifting emphasis here and there, or substituting different examples where appropriate — that doesn’t mean they change themselves or try to become someone else. For true impact and authenticity, you must match your image to your message and your message to your audience.

Selling yourself and your ideas

Now that you can’t hide behind a PowerPoint, what can you do to add power to your presentation skills? Try these suggestions:

Videotape your next presentation

First, watch it with the volume off. Concentrate on your face and eyes because they communicate almost 80% of how you come across to your audience. Next, watch it again on fast-forward to highlight your movements and gestures, the remaining 20% of your nonverbal communication.

Know your audience

This is a basic but often overlooked requirement for successful communication. If you’re ignorant about small things, like preferred terminology, your audience will quickly question your credibility. “If he doesn’t know the basics, what else doesn’t he know?”

Tell a story

Many high-powered executives dismiss the power of storytelling because they’re afraid to appear too folksy or un-businesslike. Stories give a sense of structure and meaning to what might otherwise seem like disconnected facts. They also sidestep the audience’s calculating, analytical minds and help you connect on an emotional level. Though audiences may comment on your masterful stage presence or use of rhetoric, I can almost guarantee that never once has anyone said, “I love how the speaker used PowerPoint.” Leaders speak for one of three reasons — to identify, to influence, or to inspire. But PowerPoint’s purpose is to transmit information, and that’s precisely why leaders want little to do with it, according to Witt.

In the end, speaking is more art than science. But if you know what you want to accomplish, be prepared, and appeal to your listeners on several levels — emotion and intellect, imagination and values — you’ll never need PowerPoint to lead again.

Certified Business Communicator Lisa Fahoury is chief creative officer at NJ-based Fahoury Ink (www.fahouryink.com). Reach her at (973) 324-2100 and follow her on Twitter: twitter.com/fahouryink.

 

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