Presentation Advice from Actress Tovah Feldshuh

June 12, 2009 by Jerry

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Rudyard Kipling wrote his classic poem “If…” to commemorate a war hero in the Boer War of 1899 to 1902. The poem, which begins with “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” and ends eight stanzas later with, “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,” is a paean to concentration.

A Wall Street Journal story about rude behavior from audiences at Broadway shows provides a current example in the theater. The story describes the all-too-common discourtesies of mobile phone ringing and loud talking. But the worst incident was at a performance of Irena’s Vow, a Holocaust drama, where a “man walked in late and called up to actress Tovah Feldshuh to halt her monologue until he got settled.” The article reported that the actress complied but that “she doesn’t recall the incident, which she says may be evidence of the Zen attitude she’s cultivated onstage.”

Ms. Feldshuh was in a state many actors achieve or aspire to achieve when they are onstage. Call it Zen, call it The Zone, call it Being in the Moment, call it what you will, the state of total concentration is what makes for great acting. It is the same state I described in an earlier blog about pianist Murray Perahia whose legendary concentration invariably produces magnificent performances.

It is also the state that presenters and speakers would do well to enter, with one important difference. Performers such as Ms. Feldshuh and Mr. Perahia direct their concentration inward; to her character in Ms. Feldshuh’s case, to his music, in Mr. Perahia’s case. To be effective, presenters should direct their concentration outward, to their audiences, and more specifically to individual members of their audiences.

The rationale for this shift strikes at the heart of the most powerful challenge to effective presentations: the fear of failure and its accompanying performance anxiety, all of which is manifested into one insistent, stressful thought, “How am I doing?” This singular focus causes presenters to turn inward, which only serves to heighten their anxiety.

Instead, if presenters were to focus on their audiences to see how they are doing, the presenters would then be able to gauge the effect of their words, and be able to react to what they have observed. If they see their audiences nodding their heads, indicating understanding, presenters can move along; if their audiences appear to be puzzled or unconvinced, then presenters can adjust their content until they get those desirable head nods. Creating these results can not only reduce the presenters’ performance anxiety, it can also provide instant gratification to their audiences, an essential element for success in any presentation.

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