Executive Speech Coaching Tips
On Wednesday of this week the University of Colorado Medical school got a $6 million dollar gift from the Gates Family Fund. It was a huge media event and quite a coup for the medical school. I saw a clip on the evening news of the chairman of the department of neurology explaining how this gift would catapult CU to be a force in stem cell research. There was just one problem…He had his back to the audience and to the cameras.
He was reading a PowerPoint slide that looked to be about 12 point type and the slide was loaded with information! Let’s consider a few points about his public presentation.
1. Never turn your back to the audience
2. Do not read slides to your audience-they will start reading ahead of you and besides that I’m pretty damn sure that the audience there was very capable of reading all by themselves.
3. Let’s just assume for the moment that the average age of the audience was 50-distinguished physicians, administrators and some other potential large donors. Take 50 and divide it by two and his PowerPoint type should be 25 point!! Make
it easy for all those distinguished folks to read your slides that hopefully are enhancing and clarifying your presentation.
Last point, at this media event Dr. David Norris was no longer the chairman of the department of neurology-he was the chief evangelist and fund raiser for the University of Colorado Medical school. I saw him acknowledge and graciously thank the Gates family but I did not hear him lay down a challenge for other “Daddy and Mommy War bucks” to meet or beat the gift. What a great opportunity to issue a call to action!
Steve Mertz
Call to Action Friday!
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