Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - The Goodman ...

with a spiritual message. Kennedy passionately describes the spiritual connection we
all share with the earth, and he concludes by saying that destroying the environment
is tantamount to ripping out pages from the Bible, Talmud, Koran, or any of our most
sacred texts.
Experiential: Interactive exercises are ideal for experiential learners because they
naturally crave a hands-on approach. And Joel Bradshaw believes this approach is
especially valuable when your audience is comprised of adults. “When you get to be a
grown-up, if you are going to go to a training program, the purpose is to change the way
you think or act around certain issues,” says Bradshaw. “But you don’t change behavior
intellectually. You have to learn from the experience.”
Aesthetic: Imagine for a moment that you had to convince a room full of nonprofit
leaders that they would be better served working in a coalition. For most in your
audience, telling a story about a similar group that collaborated successfully would
probably be the best strategy. But for some, genuine understanding might come
from hearing a recording of musicians tuning up – complete with off-key notes and
discordant sounds – followed by a recording of an orchestra beautifully performing
a symphony. Those individuals who hear one difference to understand another are
primarily aesthetic learners – people who literally need sensory stimuli to get a “feel”
for the subject.
As you think about structuring your presentation to appeal to different learning styles,
keep in mind that some audience members will enter a meeting room with a distinct
anti-learning style. The problem here is not necessarily with you or your subject matter.
These individuals are just so deeply entrenched in one way of doing something or of
thinking about their work that they are not ready to consider alternatives. (This can also
apply to individuals who are generally open-minded, but who happen to be carrying heavy
“baggage” from their workplace on the day you see them.)
For full- or part-time “anti-learners,” it helps to change the context in which you present
your ideas – and the more startling the change, the more likely these people are to lay
down their learning shields and start paying attention. When confronted with this
kind of audience, Scott Ward, who trains nonprofits in communications strategy and
campaigning, will play selected clips from the original “King Kong” movie.
“The first thing I want to do,” says Ward, “is separate these people from their biases and
have them look at something in a new and fresh way.” As an example, Ward points to the
activists who come into his workshops believing that their audience is the “general public”
– i.e., a large, undifferentiated mass of people who will respond enthusiastically to the
same message. Rarely is this the case, Ward says, but he recognizes that simply declaring,
“You’re wrong!” will not win any converts.
To help these activists think differently, Ward shows clips in which Carl Denham, the
character who captures Kong, describes his plans to the various audiences he needs to
reach. To the press, Denham spins a romantic tale of “beauty and the beast.” To investors,
he emphasizes all the money his spectacular exhibition will bring in. Denham is such a
shameless hustler that his rants are almost comic, but his tactics are still shrewd – each
pg. 27
“A good speaker is a good
teacher. Otherwise, what
are you doing? You’re just
pontificating. People should
leave smarter and enlightened
about the points you came in
to talk about.”
– Lorraine Monroe
Lorraine Monroe
Leadership Institute