“This scientific study considers the regional impacts due to climate change that can be expected by 2050, if current trends continue. Higher temperatures, changing precipitation, and a rising sea level will create new issues that will require considerable planning and coordination, as well as exacerbate existing stresses. The extent to which these impacts from climate change affect local communities will depend not only on our ability to change current trends and reduce regional emissions, but also on careful planning in the face of the most serious vulnerabilities.”
My first “big presentation” as a new member of the Director’s staff at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography was to a large Southern California law firm whose name was atop a skyscraper in downtown San Diego.
When I arrived at Scripps from the large multi-strategy hedge fund in Chicago, where I led a quantitative research team linking weather to energy trading, I felt a bit like a fish out of water. UCSD recruited me to La Jolla to develop an initiative linking basic science to commercial applications.
Procopio was the audience to my first big presentation on Scripps science. The firm has a well-established reputation in environmental and climate-change practice and was a major Scripps supporter at that time.
I joined Scripps after a decade as a weather communicator. My career included work for television and radio stations around the country, including a series of “special reports” on climate change for WOR-AM Radio in New York City in response to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
I’ve got this!
As I set up for my presentation in the large and comfortable conference room at Procopio’s penthouse office in San Diego’s Financial District, I felt quite confident. Coincidentally, this was the first week for a summer intern working in my office. The Stanford undergraduate was eager to see how public-sector climate change science intersected with a private-sector law practice, so I invited him along to watch the presentation.
It went something like this:
My presentation ran about 43 minutes longer and had 50 additional slides compared to this short introduction video. I won’t torture you with the rest; you’ve seen enough to get the idea.
On the drive back to La Jolla, I asked my nineteen-year-old intern what he thought. I expected he’d be full of praise and figured he’d gush about everything he’d learned during that hour at Procopio.
As a side note, after finishing Stanford, this “kid” went on to get an MBA from Harvard Business School and now, nearly 20 years later, runs his own investment firm after starting several companies himself.
He didn’t hesitate to speak up, and, from the passenger seat of my Honda Civic as we headed north on The Five, he said:
“It was fine, but it could have been a lot better.”
He bluntly told me that I had failed to capture his attention. He told me he had “drifted in and out” as the slides passed. He watched the faces of the lawyers in the room who silently stared out the window as they sipped coffee and munched cookies during that hour in the sky-lounge conference room. He was pretty sure that I had failed to inspire them.
He asked, “Have you ever read Made to Stick?”
It’s easy to give a presentation and fail to inspire…
Have you ever given a presentation that “fell flat” for your audience? Please share your experience with us using the comment button below:
During my last semester of college, I took a public speaking class. For one of the assignments, we had to create a PowerPoint presentation on any topic and deliver it to our teacher and the rest of the class. While the topic was open-ended, as was the creative design of the slides themselves, we were instructed to outline the verbal/written portion of our presentation in accordance to a structure taught to us the week before, and to incorporate certain vocal and visual delivery methods.
I chose to present on Bob Ross, because who doesn't love Bob Ross and know what an absolute joy he is? It was also super fun for me to learn more about his life and his backstory that shaped the person(a) we saw on screen. I worked hard and the presentation appeared to go smooth, despite my nerves. I followed the outline to a T, my slides were well organized and visually appealing, and my voice was clear. I got an almost perfect score. The only notes the teacher had for me was that she was a bit surprised I was not as joyful in my delivery and tone, despite the theme of my presentation being heavily related to the joy I found from Bob Ross and the joy he inspired in other people, as well as my often cheerful demeanor she witnessed in the rest of the class prior. She shared that this lack of joy in my voice and even in my face dampened the technically sound presentation.
I realized that because I was so nervous in presenting and hyper-focused on nailing the outline and organization of my presentation, that I fell out of touch with the spark, and this lack of joy caused the presentation to fall flat, even if it seemed strong in all other areas. From that experience and others that followed, even some in other more professional settings, I have come to realize that being human and honest seems to really stick with people, and helps prevent things from falling flat.
So no matter how many professional methods of speaking or presenting I learn, I always base my approach by asking myself the questions, "What am I doing?", and "What am I trying to say?". The answer to the first is simply to communicate, and the latter depends on what situation I'm in. Then I just tell myself to go ahead and talk to people, and try to be true to myself (which happens to be an embarrassingly passionate, joyful, and honest person who romanticizes everything in life, not just Bob Ross, though Mr. Ross does not really need any more magic from me. I have found that being human and somewhat "normal" or not playing a part often leaves me being able to connect with more people on a genuine level and have more effective forms of communication. So whatever topic I am talking about I just try to calm down, care, and be myself. Even if my presentation is not perfect, I think people remember something because they feel something, and remember me and the tiny little human connection we had.
I never want to let Bob Ross down again. Being himself and unabashedly joyful seemed to really stick with me and a lot of people, and I think it is something to champion.
And with that, I'll turn things over to Bob to conclude. I think these thoughts of his pair well with my story and hopefully can help us all feel a bit braver in not being scared to be ourselves or sticky.
Thank you! - Tess :)
“The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it. Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe.” (Bob Ross)
“No pressure. Just relax and watch it happen.” (Bob Ross)
“I think there’s an artist hidden at the bottom of every single one of us.” (Bob Ross)
“Didn’t you know you had that much power? You can move mountains. You can do anything.” (Bob Ross)
“Just let go — and fall like a little waterfall.” (Bob Ross)
After college, I accompanied my boss to a client meeting where he planned to pitch our services. I'd worked tirelessly for days helping prepare the pitch, contributing significantly to the entire presentation, so I thought I knew the material inside and out ... especially Section 3. While riding in a taxi to see the client, my boss turned to me and said, “I want you to discuss Section 3 in the pitch.” I was absolutely terrified and frantically started reviewing the material and what I would say in my mind. When we reached the point in the meeting where I was supposed to speak, my mind went completely blank. The words were on the page right before my eyes, but their meaning escaped me. When I finally gathered my thoughts and began speaking, I was startled by the sound of my own voice. It felt alien, as if someone else were speaking. All eyes in the room swiveled toward me, and I felt their gazes pierce me like needles. The experience was mortifying. I knew the material cold, but I hadn't practiced delivering it aloud. From that day forward, I've made it a practice to rehearse every presentation out loud, ensuring I'm not just familiar with the content, but also comfortable with its delivery.
During my last semester of college, I took a public speaking class. For one of the assignments, we had to create a PowerPoint presentation on any topic and deliver it to our teacher and the rest of the class. While the topic was open-ended, as was the creative design of the slides themselves, we were instructed to outline the verbal/written portion of our presentation in accordance to a structure taught to us the week before, and to incorporate certain vocal and visual delivery methods.
I chose to present on Bob Ross, because who doesn't love Bob Ross and know what an absolute joy he is? It was also super fun for me to learn more about his life and his backstory that shaped the person(a) we saw on screen. I worked hard and the presentation appeared to go smooth, despite my nerves. I followed the outline to a T, my slides were well organized and visually appealing, and my voice was clear. I got an almost perfect score. The only notes the teacher had for me was that she was a bit surprised I was not as joyful in my delivery and tone, despite the theme of my presentation being heavily related to the joy I found from Bob Ross and the joy he inspired in other people, as well as my often cheerful demeanor she witnessed in the rest of the class prior. She shared that this lack of joy in my voice and even in my face dampened the technically sound presentation.
I realized that because I was so nervous in presenting and hyper-focused on nailing the outline and organization of my presentation, that I fell out of touch with the spark, and this lack of joy caused the presentation to fall flat, even if it seemed strong in all other areas. From that experience and others that followed, even some in other more professional settings, I have come to realize that being human and honest seems to really stick with people, and helps prevent things from falling flat.
So no matter how many professional methods of speaking or presenting I learn, I always base my approach by asking myself the questions, "What am I doing?", and "What am I trying to say?". The answer to the first is simply to communicate, and the latter depends on what situation I'm in. Then I just tell myself to go ahead and talk to people, and try to be true to myself (which happens to be an embarrassingly passionate, joyful, and honest person who romanticizes everything in life, not just Bob Ross, though Mr. Ross does not really need any more magic from me. I have found that being human and somewhat "normal" or not playing a part often leaves me being able to connect with more people on a genuine level and have more effective forms of communication. So whatever topic I am talking about I just try to calm down, care, and be myself. Even if my presentation is not perfect, I think people remember something because they feel something, and remember me and the tiny little human connection we had.
I never want to let Bob Ross down again. Being himself and unabashedly joyful seemed to really stick with me and a lot of people, and I think it is something to champion.
And with that, I'll turn things over to Bob to conclude. I think these thoughts of his pair well with my story and hopefully can help us all feel a bit braver in not being scared to be ourselves or sticky.
Thank you! - Tess :)
“The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it. Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe.” (Bob Ross)
“No pressure. Just relax and watch it happen.” (Bob Ross)
“I think there’s an artist hidden at the bottom of every single one of us.” (Bob Ross)
“Didn’t you know you had that much power? You can move mountains. You can do anything.” (Bob Ross)
“Just let go — and fall like a little waterfall.” (Bob Ross)
After college, I accompanied my boss to a client meeting where he planned to pitch our services. I'd worked tirelessly for days helping prepare the pitch, contributing significantly to the entire presentation, so I thought I knew the material inside and out ... especially Section 3. While riding in a taxi to see the client, my boss turned to me and said, “I want you to discuss Section 3 in the pitch.” I was absolutely terrified and frantically started reviewing the material and what I would say in my mind. When we reached the point in the meeting where I was supposed to speak, my mind went completely blank. The words were on the page right before my eyes, but their meaning escaped me. When I finally gathered my thoughts and began speaking, I was startled by the sound of my own voice. It felt alien, as if someone else were speaking. All eyes in the room swiveled toward me, and I felt their gazes pierce me like needles. The experience was mortifying. I knew the material cold, but I hadn't practiced delivering it aloud. From that day forward, I've made it a practice to rehearse every presentation out loud, ensuring I'm not just familiar with the content, but also comfortable with its delivery.