Presentation skills or content? Great businesses need both

Joann Lublin has a great article in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) about how presentation coaching can provide a boost to your career. The author had the chance to sit in on a public workshop put on by improvisational troupe Second City:

I observed Second City's recent session to gain insights into the pluses and minuses of a six-hour program. Its communications division used to offer this $595 public workshop once or twice a year. However, demand is growing so fast that it will be given five times in 2007, says Tom Yorton, Second City president. The unit has also provided customized courses for employees of more than 50 businesses since 2003. "Presentation-skills training has become our most requested offering," he says.

Taught by Second City performers, the Jan. 22 workshop emphasized fun and feedback. Many participants said they came because they felt nervous, spoke too fast or sounded boring during presentations. "Um, I want to get rid of my 'ums,' " one man added.

"Skills, methods, philosophy and ideas we use to create successful scenes on stage ... are the same skills required for successful communications in business," explained Ms. Scott, an actress and director.

Joseph Pine's book, The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage notes how much of business is starting to morph into commercial theater. It's no surprise that skills that were traditionally the domain only of actors are now in demand for business people.

Regular readers will remember that we highlighted a similar article in the New York Times last month. As I meet with leaders of large, multi-million and -billion dollar companies, I continue to be struck by how few have actually had this type of training. And, sad to say, too often it shows.

But becoming better at presenting ideas actually breaks down into two different skills: 1) distilling what you want to say into a clear and understandable message, and 2) then communicating those messages well. Too many presentation skills classes focus only on the latter, while neglecting the need to have a story to tell. Said another way, too many companies want to turn business people into actors while neglecting the script they are forced to use.

Stop and think: how often do you go to the theater, come out, and say, "That was a lousy play, but the actors were great!" If you're like most people, you had the best experiences when both the script and the actors were excellent. Blackfriars trains executives to improve both what they say and how they say it, because we believe you need both to be truly successful. And the last thing any business needs is customers walking out their doors, grumbling that they should have seen something else.

Technorati Tags: Communication, Experience Economy, Presentation coaching, Presentations, Actors, theater