Speech or Presentation....A tale of two minds
This is the second in the five part "What is Fusion?" series (for people who already know about Fusion...)
Today let's focus on the two wildly different mindsets that you might employ to solve two different communication assignments: the Speech and the Presentation.
"What's the big deal?" you say, "Speech, Presentation - what's the difference? It's just semantics. "
Well, No - actually - they're not the same. They are siblings. Though they share the same roots, they occupy opposite wings of the house of communication. While speeches and presentations are radically different, unfortunately many people facing a presentation reflexively reach for their speechwriting tools.
SPEECH VS. PRESENTATION
SPEECHES are formal, scripted - given to high flown rhetoric and phrasemaking. Big audiences - sometimes loud. Big fees. Rooted in Oratory and Oxford style debating. Speeches are written. People often dress up to make speeches, rehearse heavily and may require teleprompters. Speakers tend to stay in place. No room for mistakes or slip ups. Speeches are designed to be reprinted, quoted and ultimately aim to be republished now and forever - hence the careful attention to wordsmithing and turning out quotable phrases and sound bites. Press corps, hold your questions until the end... (I can't remember the last time the press attended one of my presentations... or was invited.) Speeches inform, entertain or lay a political foundation. Speeches are solid - unchanging. A speech is meant to incite and inspire. It has its eye on history. It's more public. It's a form of self-expression for a unique point of view. We want to know what this person thinks! We may decide to elect them, or elevate them to a post.
PRESENTATIONS are more private and have smaller audiences. Nobody dresses up or pays a fee to attend. They are often unscripted - there probably won't be an anxious press corps asking for the transcript. They also employ visual aids, props and demonstrations. The speaker has more latitude for movement around the room, to stand or sit as desired, to entertain questions, to ask them of the audience - to engender live discussions and interplay. Presentations are constructed. They usually have a business purpose - focus on a business outcome - a tangible result or next step. They happen at the drop of a hat, tend to be more extemporaneous or even impromptu and are not recorded or filed. And, they fade away as the listeners leave the room. Presentations are practical and have limited shelf life. Presenters are not running for office, though they might be angling for promotion.
There's a difference, see. And in the difference is the reason we employ different methods, minds and tools for their creation.
TEXT VS. BULLETS
Speeches are written and take the form of text on a page. Presentations on the other hand are constructed/composed and take the form of bullet points in boxes - to allow the speaker to improvise in the moment and flow with the audience's questions and concerns. Speeches rely on wordsmithing tools to write, edit, smooth and nuance the content to obtain the desired public effect and response. Speechwriting tends to be linear - laborious, even rigid, as the writer strings together words, punctuation, sentences and paragraphs to make a coherent result.
Presentations don't have scripts; they have notes, plans, formats, flow charts, diagrams. Presentations are fluid. And because they are not linear, can avail themselves of our more creative, intuitive, holographic ways of thinking. Think bullets instead of paragraphs. Notes/bullets mean freedom. This freedom is demonstrated in the "Ready, Set, Go! " boxes. You can deliver a little differently next time as the audience and the situation require. You are extemporizing, not reading - so you have freedom to look at your audience and really connect. Reading a script well is tough enough to defeat presidents - don't write a script for a presentation.
USING THE RIGHT TOOL
What's the Point? You wouldn't use a screwdriver to cook a meatloaf - well, some of us might...
But the right tool is everything. Many clients persist in clinging to their familiar linear mind and tools - text, sentences, paragraphs and writing to move forward word by word....often asking for software that makes the words smaller in the boxes. In effect - reaching for the screwdriver - when what's really needed is to let go and free the intuitive compositional mind to think about the big picture. We don't care which side of the brain you use, but chuck the speech tools and let your extemporaneous genius fly.
"Ready, Set, Go!" is a tool for rapid composition - not for speeches as literature - but for powerful extemporaneous presentations. (It's not a bad first step for a speech, either.)
Step away from the text - and embrace the boxes!
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