InVisibleLight

Why You Don’t Like to Give The Same Talk Twice – But You Should, Anyway

22nd May, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments

One of the interesting things about humans is that we’re wired is that our brains crave novelty. In fact, psychological anthropologists think it’s left over from our days as hunter-gatherers. It’s why some of us (ahem) have 10 pairs of black shoes in the closet but remain in the hunt for another pair.

Searching for the next new thing drives our consumer society. It keeps The American Idol franchise strong. We track down the newest restaurants, seek out the best vacation spot and keep our antennae tuned to what Steve Jobs has for us next. New stimuli keeps us entertained, fed, learning new skills, relating to new people and ideas. Novelty is great.

EXCEPT…when you are someone who has to (gets to?) give essentially the same presentation to multiple audiences.

Without even realizing why, you start to “mix things up.” You look for improvements – not a bad thing, per se. It’s just that this little drive toward novelty can make you a poor judge of what constitutes an “improvement.” All too often, changes to stock presentations happen because they are entertaining to the speaker, rather than because they are better for the audience.

If you are someone whose speeches get covered by the press – a politician, say, or Steve Jobs – you will want to make changes simply because your audience is likely to have heard parts of your presentation in some other media, before you even get to speak to them. Even then, staying with consistent Big Idea messaging is powerful.

But most of us don’t have a camera crew trailing us. That means your presentation is likely to be new to every audience, every time. So when you hear yourself going off the reservation with some new embellishment, ask yourself: does this get my audience closer to my change equation or does it just entertain me?

If you are someone who rehearses your presentation then you may also find yourself in the same novelty-seeking boat. By the 4th time you speak the presentation, the urge to change things will start to become visceral.

Whenever your brain kicks you into the hunt for the novel approach:

1) Stop and check in with your Change Equation. Are you headed off track in the hunt for the new? Or are still headed toward your intended change?
2) STICK TO YOUR KEY MESSAGES! Change up the blah blah blah if you want to, but don’t mess with the bones of the presentation. That’s how you deliver your audience to the change.
3) Remember that we don’t care if you have a good time up there. We just care about our experience out here. Seriously, We matter more than you do. The whole THING is novel to us!

And if the urge for change is too strong to ignore, we have it on good authority that a new pair of black shoes will make all the difference. Go shopping instead.