I actually think the 10, 20, 30 rule is horrible. Text is always a bad idea for PowerPoint. Use as many slides as it takes, as long as you have no more than one idea per slide and the idea is expressed visually.

George Carlin especially reminds me of the power of humor, even in presentations.

Now during presentations, I wouldn’t suggest channeling some of Carlin’s material…but it is always good to remember that humor (and being informal) always makes the presenter seem more approachable and human.

I agree with you on this point.

I have personally been throwing around the question in my head of whether the next president needs to be eloquent or not.

In the past there has often been a conception of someone who is eloquent as “slippery:” a true rhetorician in the negative sense. This was usually compared to someone who was a “straight-talker,” someone who “tells it like it is.”

The conclusion I have come to is that this is a false dichotomy used for political purposes.

John McCain is definitely playing up this dichotomy, as did George W. Bush’s first campaign in 2000.

Instead of buying into this false dichotomy, I would say that the audience (in this case the public) of a speech is a fairly good judge of character, whatever style it was given in.

As a public speaking coach / trainer, I present frequently and coach others on their presentations. Hence, I am constantly observing the interplay between presenters and audiences.

I find that most audiences form accurate general impressions of a speaker, though they may not be able to articulate the behaviors and techniques that led them to form that impression. After all, we’ve all spent a good portion of our lives gaging the truthfulness of the people with whom we interact.

In his book, “Strangers to Ourselves,” Timothy Wilson of the University of Virginia notes that the brain can absorb about 11 million pieces of information a second, of which it can process about 40 consciously. The unconscious brain handles the rest.

Our unconscious brains are gathering up thousands of subtle signals from the speakers that we observe regularly and forming general impressions such as, “He’s lying.” or “She’s arrogant.”

I think that this helps to explain Obama’s incredible charisma and his amazing rise to the Democratic nominee: he comes across as human, authentic and competent.

Thanks for the post

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