Our Principles Of Presenting

Thirty years all wrapped up in a neat little numbered list

You've always been drawn to the Amazon leadership principles. You can't remember the first time you saw them, but you've been quoting them ever since you did. You know people who work there, hell, you're even married to an Amazonian, and you know that they take their principles seriously. You have your own rules and principles when it comes to presenting. You've never written or published them, but you share them with the people you work with, and they could be the principles for people who take keynote speaking, pitching and presenting seriously.

What if you wrote them down, you think to yourself, would anybody use them? Would they make to world a happier, safer and more exciting place for audiences? What if we, the keynote-speaker-business-pitching-town-hall-presenting community, had them?

So you grab a pen and write them down - our principles for presenting.

1. Audience obsession.

We're obsessed with the audience. Our presentations embrace the audience's point of view. Empathy is our secret weapon. We demand that every word, every sentence and every slide provides value -not for us but for the audience. We understand that we are the least important person in the room.

2. Impact is a thing we bring.

We're obsessed with positively impacting the lives of our audiences. Every minute of our presentation is geared towards providing our audiences with the tools and knowledge they need to grow and improve. Creating impact is our responsibility.

3. Curiosity inside and out.

We're obsessed with relevant stories. Whether they're internal stories about our businesses, organisations, business sectors or tales from a broader, external context, we find the stories our audiences need to hear. 

4. Demand the best. 

We respect the audience's time and attention by putting in the work. We respect the process. We demand the best of ourselves and everyone and everything involved in the presentation. No excuses. 

5. We get to the point.

We start as close to the end as possible. 

6. Aim to win but prepared to fail.

We understand that every presentation is a risk. We embrace this risk. It excites us and drives our ambition to give the best performance possible. We push the boundaries: we aim to excite, delight, provoke, entertain and inform and strive to win without fear. 

7. We practice.

We embrace practising. We owe it to our audiences, and we owe it to ourselves. So we make time for it. Through practice, we can become stronger, more confident presenters. Practice is our competitive advantage. We win more and fail less when we practice. 

8. We thrive.

We don't survive on stage. We thrive in the spotlight. 

9. Be the performance version of you. 

We find the performance version of ourselves. We don't hide ourselves; we show ourselves. We embrace our flaws and our dialects and use them to our advantage. Authenticity isn't a defect. It's a superpower. We're not impostors. We're presenters.

 

You put your pen down.

There they are - nine principles that sum up thirty years of experience! Blimey. When a presentation fails, when a speaker stumbles, one or more of these principles have been broken. Yes, there they are - written but not final. Not carved in stone. The result of thousands of pitches, speeches, presentations, conferences and meetings all wrapped up in a neat little numbered list. 

Will the list change? Certainly. Have you forgotten something? Maybe. Will these principles save the world? No, probably not, but they may improve life at the next conference, pitch or meeting.

And that’s a good thing.

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The Speakery Survey

I’m currently running a survey about presentation skills. You can find it here. It only takes a couple of minutes to fill out. I’ll be posting the results of the survey during May 2023 here in the newsletter.

Many thanks for reading. Until next time!

Much love,

Marcus.