WEEKLY LISTENING Pt. 2

Dan Roam: "Show and Tell" | Talks at Google

Dan Roam talks about his book, which is called "Show and tell: How everybody can make extraordinary presentations". He starts with a story about presentations or public speaking and it has four characters in it. 
                                 
Here they are:

• Michael Bay, is Hollywood's loudest director and the story about him is that he was supposed to give a presentation at Consumer Electronic show in La's Vegas. He was supposed to talk about a Sam sung product. When he went on stage, within about 15 seconds the teleprompter breaks and he couldn't continue, he stumbles and apologises and leaves the stage. This was his character in the story of public speaking.

• John Travolta, who is also a very experienced entertainment professional made a horrible mistake while introducing Idina Menzel at the Academy awards. He was supposed to introduce her but he mumbles and forgets her name and said "Adele Dazeem" instead of "Idina Menzel".

• Adele, who won six Grammy awards, who is an incredible entertainer has decided to take a five-year off of performing because the act of going on stage and performing is too stressful for her. 

• Warren Buffet, second wealthiest man on earth decided when he was a kid that he wanted to be a successful business man and for that he needed to get over his biggest fear that was "public speaking". So he took a lot of training, did lots of practise and he understood presenting is as much science as it is art  and it takes practise. 

CEO at Berkshire Hathaway

The other three characters of the story didn't think it this way, this was lacking. Mr Warren took a long time to understand this, but that's the key to success and to public speaking. In a recent study 74% of American would rather die than give a speech. The fear is real but its there for a good reason, use your fear to improve yourself and help yourself to do a good job. 

Its important for our professional and personal success to share our ideas to others. This way you learn about organising your content and understanding the audience and building a clear story. It can be fun to present if we follow some simple rules and they are:

• Tell the truth: we connect with the audience and build interest by telling the truth. 

• Tell with a story: when you start with a story, it gets easier to understand and it gains attention. 

• Tell a story with pictures: the audience gets your idea easily, its a fun way to convey the message and it doesn't get boring. People do not forget what they see.

Dan Roam, in his book "show and tell" explains how everybody can make extraordinary presentations and that by following a few steps and some simple rules public speaking and presentations can actually be fun.