Why the newsroom matters in the boardroom.

Today's news is delivered with a fractured focus that can completely distract the viewer.   A talking head remains the center of any TV newscast, and he or she usually has a still image over one shoulder to provide a visual clue to the story.  

But that simple set up has erupted into a veritable three ring circus, all designed to stop us from changing the channel.

• A line of text (or sometimes more than one) scrolls across the bottom to offer information on other stories, scores, or stock markets.  
• A bullet list of the next few stories hovers to one side, just in case the current "breaking news" is not of interest to us.  
• A headline and pithy sub-headline offer context to the story if we happen to have the sound muted.  
• A single frame of news footage could be studied for an hour - yet the a new visual assault appears mere seconds later.
  

They do this because, sadly, it works.  Like a car wreck on the highway, we are unable to look away. We, the viewers, have taught them that the only way to hold our attention is to bombard our senses with information.  And it might hold our attention, or at least pause our remote controls, but attention is not comprehension or engagement.  This approach washes over our senses; it doesn't draw us in.  The next time you are watching the news, try to notice if you are spending more attention listening or reading the screen.  Does the presenter become an annoying hum in the background? Do you find yourself turning down the sound to "read the TV" like you would a website?

Go back fifty years and you'd see a presenter, almost always a man, sitting at a desk, holding papers, filling the lens with nothing more than his own gravitas.  And telling the story of the news.  Now you may argue with only 3 channels, they didn't have to worry about keeping eyeballs glued their broadcast.  Yet, if you watch the news from, say, the BBC, you'll see a very simple set-up, more in depth discussions of current events, and you will probably find the stories suck you in.

How does this apply to sales artifacts?  Let's look specifically at presentations.  I would argue that the slides should augment your message, not replace it.  Think of the images-over-the-shoulder on a newscast.  The images - a fire, a politician, a police car - do not tell you the story, but they offer context.  They support the spoken story.  A good slide does that, too.   

You can take the other option - fill the slide with everything you plan to say, plus background information, plus graphics and charts, plus conclusions.  You can choose to make your slide the star of your presentation, and many do.  But is that what you want? 

An audience can either read or listen - we literally cannot do both at once.  We might switch between them very quickly, but one sense must "grab the controls."  Overfill your slides and you are asking the audience to stop listening.  

Your slides are not your presentation; you are the presentation.  The slides should complement your spoken word: offering clarity on complex issues, providing reinforcement for the visual-learners in the group (many people have to *see* something to understand it), and sketching the arc of your story.   Remember that Walter Cronkite and his peers could hold a nation's attention with a desk and a stack of notes.

Start from the story, not the slides.

If you've ridden an airport tram, you may have noticed the automated announcements tend to rephrase and repeat each element of the trip.

"The next stop is Terminal C."

"The train is stopping at Terminal C."

"The doors will now open Terminal C."


The airport does this because they know most of us will (a) miss the first announcement because we were talking or texting, (b) hear but not retain the second, and (c) finally pay attention to the third.  A friend and I named this the reassurance repeat.  And even with three reminders, invariably someone on the train will look up with wide-eyes and ask, "which terminal is this?" as the doors open.

They teach people who work with elderly patients to repeat everything at least three times because it great increases the patients' comprehension.  But the truth is we have a hard hearing things the first time at ANY age.

We need to keep this in mind as we create sales artifacts and craft presentations.  The old saw, "tell 'em what you're gonna say; tell 'em; tell 'em what you told 'em" is excellent advise.  Certainly that means include an agenda and a summary to bookend your presentation, but you can also employ the reassurance repeat at a micro level.

If you are conveying an important concept, express it in text on the slide, illustrate it with a graphic, chart, icon, or photo, and then emphasize it in your spoken presentation.

I have witnessed many presenters assume their audience will "get all the jokes," and they assume that their briliant prose or insightful image can do the work all by itself.  Sometimes presenters think repeating key points will be perceived a "talking down" to the audience, and certainly I'm not suggesting you take a pedantic tone

But think about how many times you've become distracted as an audience member.  A dentist appointment later that afternoon, the message from your teenager's teacher, last nights gme, the cramp in your left big toe..... The world is full of distractions, and as presenters, we have to be prepared to bring our audience back to your agenda again and again.

The reassurance repeat is an effective way to reinforce your message and help your audience follow your conclusions.  

Let's say you agree with my premise, but you're not sure what part of your message you should repeat.  Here's an easy tip: ask yourself "so what?" Literally go through your presentation, either alone or with your team, and challenge each slide.  

For example, imagine a slide that shows the failure rate of your product is consistently better than that of your competitors.  So what?   Well, a lower failure rate means less downtime for your customers.  So what? Less downtime means higher productivity and higher profitability.  Keep asking "so what?" until you find the idea that will matter to your audience then repeat it - on the slide, in handouts, and in your spoken comments.

Don't bemoan the fact that most people are bad listeners; prepare for it.  Find your key ideas, and share them in multiple ways.  The reassurance repeat will increase audience retention and keep them focused on your best ideas.  Shall I repeat that?

I knew a sales person who was completely focused on how to open.  Whether she was planning a presentation, a meeting, or an email, she wanted to grab her audiences attention.  She want to make sure they were on the edge of their seat.  She believed that people only respond to flamboyant, extravagant claims ("Company XYZ earned $2million in one week and you can too").  She like loud - volume, colors, ideas, anything.  

The trouble was, she was trying to sell a service based on expertise and trust. She was trying to show corporate prospects that her firm would add value, but she was behaving like a huckster. 

After a few conversations, I learned she had only recently been moved into a sales role. Further, I realized her entire frame of reference for "marketing" was infomercials and email blasts. In her mind, that's what worked, and that's what marketing was.  

The funny (or sad) thing was that when she was actually working with her clients, she was entirely different.  She conveyed authority and expertise; she challenged their thinking respectfully and profoundly.  She was the elusive "trusted adviser."  

She was greatly valued by her clients, so her company wanted to put her in front of potential clients.  And to everyone's chagrin, she morphed into a frenetic combination of  Ron Popeil, Billy Mays, and Jerry Lewis.  Well, perhaps I exaggerate.  

But her focus on how to OPEN made it unnecessary to consider how to CLOSE.  She never got that far.  She did grab their attention - in the worst possible way.  

What about you? Do you try to grab the audience by the throat or take them by the hand?  Do you get a better response when you shout or when you whisper?  What is the right balance of sizzle and steak?