Ironically enough, the biggest challenge faced by scientific and technical presenters is their reluctance to follow the scientifically established principles of communication.

What are those rules?  One of them is that the human mind is drawn to problems, puzzles, and mysteries.

Rather than seeking to capture the attention of the audience by making a case for the puzzling mystery of the topic at hand, most scientific and technical speakers simply begin with their objectives, methods and data.

This may be admirable science in some circles, but it is not effective communication because it fails to provide the context for the content.

Effective communication seeks to gather the attention of an audience by igniting curiosity and emotion, and only when it has done so can it pull the many human minds present in the same direction.

For instance, let’s say a locomotive is backing up to hook onto a long train of railroad cars.  If it fails to connect, it cannot pull the train forward.

A speaker who does not connect with an audience has the same problem:  He cannot pull his listeners forward unless he has somehow gotten his hook into them.

To sink the hook, a scientific or technical speaker must leave the narrow realm of his expertise and put it into broader context.  He must make a case for the importance of the problem he is working on, or for the maddening slipperiness of the always- receding solution he seeks.

This is the skill of the storyteller, the weaver of tales, the painter of pictures that draws us in—deeper and deeper.  This is the skill of the dramatist, whose opening scene makes us want to stay tuned, and whose subsequent scenes keep us asking the question, “Where’s this going?  What’s going to happen? “

A doctor, researcher, or engineer can improve her outcomes by applying the scientifically established principles of communication.

Sims Wyeth is a speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in presentation skills and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

I am a font.  I’m Copperplate31ab.

You’re a font—Southbee Two. 

I am elegant and stately—I live on wedding invitations.

You are playful and informal.  You live beside railroad tracks, and on those rock walls along two-lane roads.  High-school Romeos proclaim their love with you.

I win points for being subtle and intellectual. 

You get points for being real and authentic.

I get points for balance and restraint.

You get points for telling it like it is.

I get penalized for being professorial and aloof. 

You get penalized for being overly simplistic and intemperate.

I can succeed in places that you can’t, and you can win the war of words where I can’t even gain entrance.

I am a font—Copperplate31ab.  I grew up in Hawaii and California.  My father was from Africa, my mother from Kansas. 

You are a font—Southbee Two.  You grew up at Andover and Yale, and maybe a little in the White House.

How come I’m Copperplate? I should be Southbee.

And how did you get to be Southbee? You should be Copperplate.

We should stop trying to be the fonts we want to be, and start being the fonts we are.

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.

How should you start preparing a presentation to senior executives?

Don’t start by digging through your slide library and pulling the old standbys out.

Rather, answer these questions.

1. What is the topic or subject you are reporting on? Be clear with yourself so you can be clear with your audience.
2. Why is your topic important enough to be on the busy agenda of senior level managers?
3. What questions will your audience be asking?  Can you answer them early in your presentation?

Sims Wyeth is a private speech coach in Montclair, NJ specializing in executive speech coaching and public speaking training in order to give accomplished people the knowledge and skill they need to become accomplished speakers. Learn more public speaking tips at www.SimsWyeth.com.