Engaging Business Presentations: Beyond Linear
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RazvanEngaging Business Presentations: Beyond Linear
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RazvanA common approach: the linear path
The typical business presentation—whether communicated in a meeting or from a
speaker on stage—often follows a predictable path. It begins with the background
information to frame the topic or the context that led to the work that is being
communicated. This may involve a problem statement that de- scribes the purpose.
Frequently, that’s followed by a recounting of the vari- ous activities undertaken or
methodology employed. This could include the timeline and project scope, meetings
held, experts consulted, data collected, analysis undertaken, and so on. After these
specifics are fully detailed, they are followed by a summary of the lessons learned. The
session ends with find- ings, recommendations, or next steps. Think back to the last
presentation you sat through in a meeting or at a conference. Did it look something
like this?
Typical business presentation linear path
There is nothing wrong with the linear path I’ve described, which is also de- picted in
Figure 4.1—but there’s not anything particularly awesome about it, either. I’ve been
known to describe it as selfish on the part of the communica- tor to organize content in
this manner. When I do so, I am being intentionally provocative to make a point. This is
the approach we tend to default to when we communicate because it mirrors the same
steps, in roughly the same order, as we experienced during the project or process. It’s
chronological. It is logical. It feels familiar. I’ll repeat a sentiment I mentioned early in the
book: it’s easy for me to communicate for myself. But is that framing particularly inspiring
or memorable for others?
You know that the answer is no. You’ve been in the audience, suffering through presentations
like this in the past. A key thing was missing in that instance— you. One failing of the linear
path to explanatory communication is that we are able to follow it perfectly while
simultaneously giving little or no thought to the people to whom we are communicating.
This can yield a resulting com- munication that is ineffective for our audience. That’s a
problem!
Contrast that with story. Stories have a pronounced shape, involving the audience in a
climactic rise and fall. Stories appeal to us on an emotional level. Stories engage. All of
this together renders communications that follow a story structure much more interesting
than the logic-inspired flat line of the linear path. Let’s explore story, beginning with some
discussion of what exactly I mean when I say that word.