It would be great to make fascinating, motivating presentations that move the audience and inspire action. Like a TED Talk that gets a standing ovation and millions of online views. Often though, work presentations are, shall we say, dry, technical, and a dump of complex information. This is the reality and not every presentation is a TED Talk, I agree, and yet I’ve seen some engaging technical presentations that make me want to jump up and cry “I get it, how can we not implement this!” What I mostly hear from presenters however is apologies and a kind of disclaimer to the audience, such as “Apologies in advance, this is quite dry, technical, it might be a bit hard to follow, there are a lot of slides, information, you may find it a bit boring, I’ve been asked to do this presentation but there is data you could read, I just want to give you some information, I find this stuff interesting but you may not, I don’t find this interesting and I doubt anyone does.” Ok, maybe not all from one presenter and perhaps thought rather than spoken, but you get the point.

Rather than use the content as an excuse to bore and befuddle, the fundamentals presenting still hold true – take the audience on a journey, help them make sense of the information, deliver a clear message that they can do something with and take action from. Not possible with a technical presentation? Au contraire. I’ll use the worlds of acting, literature and, well, the real world, to build my case.

As an actor it is my job to take the words off the page and bring them alive for the audience. To create meaning, understanding, emotion or at least provocation of thought. I don’t read off the script or deliver the words as if I’m reading from the page. I also don’t blame the writer for writing something that is hard to make sense of. (Well, ok sometimes). We study the words, the story, action, characters, themes, physicality, then workshop and rehearse it with help from the director who can view it from the audience’s viewpoint. Let’s take Shakespeare as an example; Complex language that is meant to be performed not read. Done badly it’s still confusing. Performed well, even if you don’t understand every word the dynamics and throughline is clear. You understand what is going on, who is who and how it ends. In the real world, often you get to write the script and what’s stopping you running it by a non-technical audience and see if they get it.

So let’s take this idea of throughline and look at what the literature on the subject has to add. And where better to start that ‘Ted Talks’, by Chris Anderson, Head of TED. He says that you are sharing an idea and even in a business context the goal is to give to the audience and to figure out what the audience needs. And here’s the bit that I like – “There’s a helpful word used to analyse plays, movies and novels; it applies to talks too. It is throughline, the connecting theme that ties together each narrative element. Every talk should have one.” Yes, every talk, even technical ones. He goes on to talk about explaining tough concepts and with TED speakers have only about 20 minutes to explain sophisticated concepts and give the gift of understanding. “You can’t give a powerful idea to the audience unless you learn how to explain. That can only be done step by step, fuelled by curiosity. Each step builds on the what the listener already know. Metaphors and examples are essential to revealing how an idea id pieced together. Beware the curse of knowledge!” So find your throughline, hone your message and build it so that the audience gets it.

So how does this play out in the real world? I have two recent coaching examples that link the theory to real world application. I have one client in the investment services industry who has to present investment reports and results to clients. He is analytical, calls himself “a numbers guy”, has a quiet nature and struggles with what he calls the “salesman” side of this part of the job. For him, the numbers are the numbers, the result is clear and he doesn’t see how you can “dress it up, embellish”. On top of that there are always varying levels of knowledge and understanding amongst his ‘audience’. What we worked on was not a change in delivery to turn him into an excited extravert, but instead, to focus less on the result and more on putting a story around the numbers. Help the audience understand what the numbers mean and what went into achieving the result. Include some detail around the process, what goes into this outcome and what the team did to make decisions and add value for the client. It is fascinating when he tells these stories, which to him are just the things he does every day; it brings him out of himself, makes clear tough concepts and demonstrates the work that goes in and the high level of care involved. The presentation has a human side and a throughline with examples that puts flesh on that spine.

Example two. An engineer presenting a business case for the capital expenditure for a piece of equipment used for waste transfer. Hardly looks inspiring on first glance! And yet this is important, for the business and for her; she believes in it. In the first run through her presentation was structured well, the business case clear, she was credible and delivered without notes. But it lacked something; The importance, commitment, why this matters and why doing nothing is not an option.  As a result, her delivery lacked conviction, it was almost an apology asking for the money. “I’d like to tell you…” Once she was able to paint a picture of that equipment, communicate her belief in her analysis and the importance for the business, she delivered a clear and confident call to action. The transfer of business case information to the audience turned into a business imperative with impacts from continued delay. There was a throughline, a clear message and she owned it.

Technical, complex, or information heavy presentations can and must be engaging. While not a TED Talk, they can inspire action and commitment. So take that data, find a throughline, focus the facts and present a compelling case.