Business presenters are being misled by comedians – apparent spontaneity usually comes down to careful scripting

One of the biggest ways that people let themselves down when giving a presentation is so simple that I actually find it difficult to say out loud: they don’t really know what they are going to say.

People come up to me having made a presentation or given a speech, asking: “How did I do?” The sheepish way in which they often ask betrays the fact that they already know the answer, which is invariably: “You didn’t really know what you were going to say, did you?” At which point they protest about how busy they have been, how they only got a chance to look through it on the train etc. I don’t usually need to follow through, but if I did the blunt version would be: “So how can you expect to be any good?”

Part of the problem these days is that we are all exposed to a fair of stand up comedy and the best performers are very good at giving the impression they are simply chatting with the audience and making much of it up as they go along. I urge those I am coaching that this is simply not the case. “Go and see any comedian for a second, third or fourth night,” I tell them, “and you will find it remarkably similar, right down to apparent mistakes and interruptions. If they adlib, they do so because they have a solid structure for their act; they know that if they step out of that structure and it doesn’t work, they can get back into it very quickly. Indeed, having that safety net there frees them to exploit an opportunity for an adlib should it arise.”

Recently, however, I saw an absolute masterclass in the principle of appearing to make it all up on the spot, when Alan Davies came to try out new material at a little pub close to where I live. He was so convincing with his casual, chatty approach that even I started to think that perhaps he might be an exception to the rule that I so strongly espouse.

When I got home I started thinking more objectively about what I had just seen. Davies spent the first ten minutes talking hilariously about the pub and the neighbourhood. Surely that can’t have been planned?  On reflection I am pretty sure it was, for two admirable reasons. First he would have thought: Where am I going tonight? A: Peckham. Right, I can use some of my ‘South of the River’ material. That will juxtapose nicely with all my usual jokes about the pretentious coffee bars in my neck of the woods. Next, what sort of pub is it? A: ‘London’s first co-operatively owned pub’. So it’s probably a bit ‘rough and ready’, if not actually run down. Great, I can use my old material about Health & Safety inspectors and gangsters in the car parks. How can I make that topical? A: Quip about this being what Brexit is all about – getting back to proper old fashioned pubs.

We all loved it because it was very funny, but also – and here comes the second reason it was so good – it was all about us. He engaged us and got us to like him immediately by focusing on our favourite subject, which is always the same for any audience: ourselves.

As I always say, the priority for anyone with a message to communicate – be they a business presenter or a comedian - is to think first and foremost about your audience – who they are, what they know, what they are thinking. Only then should you start polishing your message in the light of all that information.

As for truly knowing what you are going to say, Derren Brown’s early advice to magicians included this little gem: The key to achieving good spontaneity is very good scripting. It’s not about killing spontaneity, it’s about setting the framework as best as it can be, to allow you to have the confidence to move into other areas.

How effective could my business presentations be if I were able to read minds like Derren Brown?

Of all the questions I am asked when applying the Rules of Magic to business presentation skills, “Can you use mindreading techniques to win people over?” is the one that crops up most consistently.

The short answer is ‘yes’, but it’s a very qualified yes because the secret behind most ‘mindreading’ is blatant, and often quite simple, trickery. No one really likes to hear that, so they persist with: “But what about the stuff Derren Brown does?” Again, mostly trickery, with elements of psychology mixed in, but this does lead to where we can have a more constructive conversation on the subject of Cold Reading.

Essentially, Cold Reading is about truly observing – rather than just seeing – everything around you and putting that information to good use. Sherlock Holmes is the best known exponent of this technique and would famously chastise Watson with: “You see, but you do not observe,” before drawing all kinds of conclusions about a person based on the way they dress, the scuff on their shoes, the hint of a scent and a study of their gait.

I recently found myself in the perfect position to point to the benefits of some ultra-simple Cold Reading when I helped a Korean start-up business with their investor pitch. They had a whole new hi-tech take on personal identification for online security and they were pointing to the potential for their product in different parts of the world. They displayed a global map that was divided into percentages, with higher scores featuring in the West than the East. When they finished I confessed I had failed to understand this part – what did the percentages represent?

Then, and only then, did they explain that until quite recently people in Eastern cultures tended to use a stamp impression to identify themselves rather than a signature. Then someone else chipped in: “It’s a bit like the signet rings that British people used for stamping sealing wax on important documents.”  “Like this,” I replied, showing my own signet ring bearing my family’s ancient crest and motto.” Just as I had very little knowledge of Eastern practices, my client had never seen the Western equivalent and in my explanation I had to avoid getting too bogged down in the complexities of Royal Charters and the Norman invasion.

What came out of this, however, were at least two very useful little nuggets for future versions of the pitch. First, actively use – and maybe even make a feature of – the cultural differences between stamps and signatures. It may seem peripheral to your ‘big sell’ but it’s all good story material with the potential to interest and intrigue your audience. 

Second, do a little ‘Cold Reading’ before you get started, especially in a room full of Brits in the City of London. Scan the room to see who has a signet ring, probably on the pinky finger of their left hand. Then you can get individuals actively involved in your storytelling. It builds a bridge between the two different cultures, together with empathy between yourself and your audience.

Show business people other than magicians will be familiar with this process, without necessarily regarding it as ‘Cold Reading’. “Who’s in tonight?” they will ask the theatre manager, keen to know of any particular coach groups with special interests, regionalities or special interests they can bounce off. As for magicians and their trickery, that inevitably has to remain shrouded in secrecy but, while much of it is surprisingly simple, technology has undoubtedly helped. Indeed, in the early days of the internet many mindreaders made a specialty of picking a supposedly random audience member and telling them intricate details of their schooldays – all plucked supposedly direct form their minds. Those mindreaders continue to this day to curse the demise of Friends Reunited!

Derren Brown’s wise words on constructing a presentation – and how not to learn from the likes of Billy Connolly and Eddie Izzard

If I had to pinpoint one simple ‘secret’ to successful presentation it would be this: Know what you are going to say. 

The trouble is that I could never suggest such a thing – because it appears far too obvious! The fact is, though, that this is the most common way in which people let themselves down when giving a presentation.

I am frequently asked by friends and acquaintances for my opinion of a speech or presentation they have just made.  All too often you can sense they feel disappointed in themselves and my truthful answer is: “You didn’t really know what you were going to say, did you?”.  Their response is usually along the lines of: “No, I’ve been so bus; I didn’t have time to rehearse; I had a look through on the train; etc etc”.  Unless you get really lucky, such lack of preparation – and proper construction - will always show. 

Part of the problem for ill-prepared speakers is that they see top rated stand up

comedians who work in a long form, conversational style – people like Billy Connolly,

Eddie Izzard and Robin Williams - and it appears they are making it up as they go.  In reality, if you go to see any of these people on the second, third or fourth night you will invariably find that the content is remarkably similar, right down to apparent mistakes and interruptions.  If they do ad lib it is a) because they are geniuses at what they do and b) because they have a well defined structure around which to work.  If they see the opportunity for an ad lib – and experienced comedians often have a ‘bank’ of apparent ad libs on which to draw – it is because they know they can risk stepping out of their planned structure because they can easily get back into it.  Furthermore, the planning and plotting that goes into the structure introduces the pacing, the points of emphasis and the subtle cues that make all the difference to the end result.

So should you work from a script?  The short answer is ‘yes’.  I take inspiration from the best magicians and I was privileged to attend the first lecture given to magicians by Derren Brown.  In those pre-TV days he wrote two books of performance advice for magicians.  Again, I am lucky enough to have rare, signed first editions.  Here is what he had to say about scripting:

The key to achieving good spontaneity is very good scripting. The point of scripting is that you know you can go out on a day that you’ve got a terrible cold and you’re feeling terrible, and do your best show.  And on a good day you go out and you do that show, and a hundred adlibs occur to you, they’re great and they form part of the show the next time, they get added to the script. It’s not about killing spontaneity, it’s about setting the framework as best as it can be, to allow you to have the confidence to move into other areas.

                                                                       

The trick, therefore, is to start by planning and plotting your words in fairly fine detail.  Then – practice until you are so familiar and comfortable with the words that they come over as completely natural.  The fact is that if you want your presentation to seem informal and ‘off the cuff’ – while being truly engaging and effective – you need to fake it.  So it needs more preparation time, not less! 

Extracted and adapted from Nick Fitzherbert's book Presentation Magic