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

The Power of Lifelong Learning / 253
6. Interview the Best Presenters You Can Find
Another proven method to continue the lifelong learning process
of developing and delivering top-notch presentations is to interview
the best presenters you know personally or those you do not know
but would agree to be interviewed. You can select people who are
well-known presenters, such as professional speakers, business leaders,
entrepreneurs, politicians, community leaders, ministers, or advocates,
and simply ask if you can set up a 10- to 15-minute appointment
to gain information and insights. You can use both your time and
theirs more effectively if you do some pre-interview homework. Find
out as much as you can about a specific presenter’s style and/or most
accomplished presentation by preparing high-yield questions regarding
strategies, methods, and techniques that they found effective. Highyield
questions invite the person you are interviewing to share
information at the most meaningful level possible. Examples of highyield
questions are: “What did you learn as you developed and delivered
effective presentations that you would have liked to have known
before you entered into your profession?” and, “What lessons about
developing and delivering effective presentations would you want to
pass on to someone who was entering your line of work?”
Alternatively, you can list three aspects of developing and delivering
effective presentations about which you want to learn more. We
used both approaches in interviewing the Master Presenters who contributed
their stories and expertise to this book. We also learned and
benefited greatly from their experience, and this increased the breadth
and depth of our knowledge to a degree previously unimagined.
EXERCISE
8-2
Being very specific, list three aspects of developing and delivering
effective presentations about which you want to learn
more. Examples of topics are learning how to be more dynamic,
more forceful, more creative, or some other aspect
you want to develop. List up to three topics. Under each
topic, list the names of three people who you could interview
to learn more. Complete one set of interviews, learn all you
can, document and record all that you have learned, and then apply some of
those lessons before going on to the next topic.
Topic(s) Person to Interview Resource(s)