If you read this blog about presentation skills and your signal to noise ratio, you can make more money, save money and time, reduce your uncertainty and anxiety, and look good in the eyes of others.

When I was in college, I drove a truck full of modern art from a New York gallery to a museum in Tennessee.  It was October.  The World Series was on the radio. My team, the Mets, were playing, and the signal was irregular and full of static.

It was raining.  It was dark. I was on a two-lane mountain road. I had to deliver the paintings by morning. The windshield washers could not keep up with the downpour.  The road was twisting and I was fiddling with the radio dial desperately trying to tune in through the static to hear how my Mets were doing.

I was an audience of one in the cab of that rented Hertz truck, fighting to hear the signal through the noise.  And I don’t think I’m reaching too far for a simile to say that our audiences are in a similar position when they listen to our presentations.

Our audiences are on a mission to achieve their business objectives.  The market is dark and unpredictable.  The staff cannot keep up with the constant demands.  Our listeners worry about hitting their numbers, managing the budget, and positioning themselves for a promotion.  Plus, their tummies might be rumbling with hunger, or their kids are home alone and they’re worried.

They try to tune in to what we’re saying, but it’s hard.  We may take too long getting to the point.  They get bored or frustrated. 

We may start talking about ourselves, or our product, or our company, and fail to relate the information to what they care about.

They will have to fight through the noise of our talk to hear the information that they care about.  And they only care about information because they have an emotional interest in what it could mean to them.

Does the information you offer make them more successful at their job?  Is it simple and clear?  Does it solve a problem?  Does it save them time, or help them make more money?  Does it make them feel more secure, or less uncertain?  And could it make them look good in the eyes of others?

These are the signals that most of us want to hear.  Your job as a presenter is to boost your signal to noise ratio. 

Do so, and you will make more money, be more successful, reduce your anxiety, and look good in the eyes of the world.

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.