Presentation Advice from the Saints’ Marques Colston

February 10, 2010 by Jerry 

colston

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory and to Marques Colston, their talented wide receiver. Mr. Colston, who was the Saints’ leading receiver in the game with 7 receptions for 83 yards, is a four-year veteran who helped his team reach the Super Bowl with 70 catches for 1,074 yards over the season.

What makes for a successful wide receiver is a statistic called “Yards After Catch,” or its acronym, “YAC.” It refers to a play in which a receiver catches a pass for a gain of yards and then runs for additional yards. Superior receivers, like Mr. Colston, strive for long YACs. In the 2009 season, his YAC record was 285, a 26.5% increment to his total. The not-so-superior receivers, in their desire to become superior receivers, often take their eyes off the ball and start to run before they catch the ball. They then fail to make the yards or the catch. The play fails.

The analogy to Q&A sessions applies here. All too often, presenters, in their desire to succeed, start to provide an answer before they fully understand the question. If the answer doesn’t match the question, the answer—as well as the entire presentation—fails. The missing link in this equation is listening, a social skill that is rapidly becoming extinct in the 21st Century.

Listening was the subject of a prior blog; but for now, let’s cut to the chase: Always listen before you answer. Do not take a single step into your answer until your hands are clutching the ball, until you fully grasp the true meaning of the question.

In the next blog, we’ll look at another reason behind the success of the New Orleans Saints, and its relevance to presentations.

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Comments

One Response to “Presentation Advice from the Saints’ Marques Colston”

  1. R. L. Howser on February 12th, 2010 3:47 am

    Great point, but you failed to mention that Colston dropped a ball in the first quarter that hit him right in the hands, costing his team a vital first down, because he didn’t look the ball all the way in to his hands.

    It doesn’t invalidate your point, but it just goes to show that even the pros sometimes take their eye off the ball.

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