Make them Remember You
The familiar quiet whispering reaches my ears as I enter the lecture hall and I excitedly find a spot to sit and set up. Being at this high-level conference after endless hours of working at home during COVID has me excited, learning and networking again - in real life?!
My laptop is set on the desk, my coffee at the ready, twitter hashtags saved, and so, the presenter begins.
As his mouth opens to say “Today, I will show you the results to our latest study…” I feel a sense of dread and disappointment, compounded by the first slides’ appearance. Densely filled with text, it includes all the mathematical equations this clearly very skilled researcher has used. Next slide, three graphs, tiny writing. Numbers and equations.
Unfortunately, within minutes, I’m lost, unable to decipher the visual riddles on screen. I cling to the hope that the researcher from his podium will be able to guide me to greater understanding…or maybe visuals will solve my confusion.
The language he uses is even more confusing. “We mined the initial subgroup for indications of variants...” and bam…my confusion is cemented. Three more presentations follow in a similar style. After 45 minutes I left, deciding that my time would be better spent working on my day-to-day -disappointed, frustrated and none the wiser to the valuable lessons their work could teach me.
I was struck that this happened before COVID and it’ll likely continue. It’s not just researchers that make this mistake. We know that stories are more likely to stick with an audience than numbers or statistics, but how often do we encounter presentations with no story at all or wonder what we were supposed to learn at the end.
We often forget that even within the same sector, our networks skills, knowledge, experience, ability to engage and, crucially to remember, changes differs. We also can forget who the power belongs to. You, as the presenter/speaker, have all the power, right? Wrong, unfortunately.
We need to do the work for our audience, without them our presentation is for nothing. So, help them to follow you, to know you, to understand you.
So, before you do your next presentation, who is your audience? And what do you want them to know?
If you’re passionate about what you do, about your research, show them in how you present. Consider if your presentation leaves the audience knowing what you want or need them to know.
Often a good way of structuring your presentation is the following:
What is the problem you’re trying to solve?
Why should your audience care?
What are you doing about the problem?
What do you want your audience to do you about your problem?
I will be using this blog over to discuss more ways to ensure you’re memorable and able to change the hearts and minds you need.
