The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters - Lifecycle Performance ...

116 / THE SEVEN STRATEGIES OF MASTER PRESENTERS
Plays are also excellent venues to see the innovative use of props
in action. This is especially true if you have ever had the chance to see
a one-person play. In a one-person play, an actor can play an entire
cast of characters. The actor often changes characters by changing a
hat while at the same time changing his or her voice and position on
the stage. You can also ask your creative friends for their ideas on
how to find and use props and look at how other presenters use props.
In the meantime, we wish you every success in discovering props
to make your presentations more dramatic and impactful as the following
example illustrates. 7
In just a few words you have clarified [the] use of props. Recently I spoke to a
sales team and referred to Client Objections as a can of worms best to be
emptied. At which point I passed around a tin can filled with candy worms.
Each participant took a worm or two!
—Alice Wheaton, Canadian Association of Professional Speakers colleague
Props as Trademarks
Brad: I felt that I was making a great deal of progress in the use of
props when one day I walked into an advanced negotiation
course wearing a neck brace after pulling a muscle. The participants
had all taken the entry level negotiating course with
me. I was surprised and delighted when one of them asked
whether the neck brace was a new prop.
You can become so well-known for your use of props that they
essentially become an unofficial trademark as they have for Master
Presenter Harold Taylor. Harold is known for his dynamic and highly
entertaining seminars on time management. In the center of the stage,
Harold sets up a typical office desk representing the characteristically
unorganized person. He has a table, which corresponds to the
desktop, complete with a telephone, books, and papers piled on every
available space. He then does a 15-minute hilarious routine that illustrates
every time-management mistake in the book. This demonstration,
combined with Harold’s dry sense of humor, gets his
audience going every time—even those who have seen it many times.
As Harold is poking fun at himself, it is impossible for audience
members not to see some of their own errors—especially as Harold is