This is Your Pilot Speaking II

August 14, 2009 by Jerry

pilot_speaking

In my previous post, you read about the seemingly-unnecessary route announcements that airline pilots make during every flight, and promised you my theory on why it has become standard operating procedure. Here it is:

Somewhere deep in the depths, or up in the highest reaches of the corporate infrastructure of the airlines, or of the FAA, someone, or some group—marketing, public relations, human resources, legal, or all of the above—decided that having the pilots announce the flight route would reassure the passengers that the airline is in complete control.

So it is not just your pilot speaking; it is the pilot speaking on behalf of the entire corporate or governmental infrastructure.

Presentation audiences are very much like airline passengers. Both groups are stuck in their seats for the duration of a fixed period of time, and both are at the mercy of another party to lead the way. Clearly, the airlines, their intrusive announcements notwithstanding, are merciful. Presenters are not.

Picture this: you’ve settled into your audience seat, turned off your computer, your mobile device, your iPod and, with nothing else to do, you start to listen to the presenter. After a moment or two, you say to yourself, “Wait a minute! What does that have to do with the previous slide? How did you get here from there?”

Clearly, the presentation has no logical route. Every slide makes a point completely different from the preceding slide, and the presenter has made no effort whatsoever to link the two slides. In fact, the presenter begins each slide with the same meaningless phrase, “Now I’d like to talk about…”

This is not a problem for presenters because they know the interstitial connections between the slides. It is a major problem for the audience because each slide begins the presentation anew, forcing the audience to work hard to find the logic. If you make it hard for your audience they will make it hard for you.

This disconnectedness in presentations is as universal as route announcements are in air travel. A very simple way to create a clear flight path for your presentation is to bundle all the individual parts of your story within an overarching structure. Make the relationships among all the parts crystal clear. Encompass them in a roadmap.

Become the pilot for your audience. Announce your route and track them through it step-by-step. Make it easy for your audience to follow, and they will make it easy for you. Use an organized structure to keep your audience from slipping off into dreamland. Leave the sleeping to the airlines and the driving to you.

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