Developed by the military, these easy to incorporate tactics can very quickly improve your ideas and presentations. Feel free to contact me with questions or a live presentation. - Jamil Buie
Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
The Murder Board - How to improve ideas and bulletproof presentations
1. "What a person does on his own,
without being stimulated by the
thoughts and experiences of others,
is even in the best cases rather
paltry and monotonous."
- Albert Einstein
12. The Result
• Bullet proof ideas
• Exchange panic for execution
• Razor sharp delivery
• Defeat detractors live
Notes de l'éditeur
Rootedin the military as an Officer training tool the technique was adopted by Special Forces class leaders.
The basic tenants are probably something that you practice now but in an unstructured manner.
Recruit people who also make presentations. Why? Because they will be able to relate to the challenge you face, and because of the principle of reciprocity. Tell those you wish to have in your practice session that if they help you now, you’ll help them later (trust me they’ll want to try it). This way the time they spend with you will then not be considered an expenditure; it will be viewed as an investment.
The people you’ve recruited need every bit of information you have collected on your audience—attitudes, prejudices, biases, knowledge of subject, listening style, tendency to interrupt, etc. If the presentation is within your organization, then the people you have recruited will already have deepinsight into the audience, you must elicit this to add to your intelligence data base.
Armed with this intelligence, your Murder Board is now ready to play the parts of key members of your audience. Assign the roles carefully; if a member of the actual audience is an aggressive questioner, pick a person with similar tendencies. You’ll find that participants will enjoy playing other people, and much more realistic, tougher questioning will be the result.
You want to be able to review the results of your Murder Board, and a video will give you a game film of your performance. You will be able to assess how you present, including mannerisms that may be distracting-- gestures, movements, expressions, etc. You’ll also learn where to cut time so you can stay within time limits. Most importantly, you’ll hear your voice as your audience will hear it. Are you speaking with a very monotone delivery? Are you saying “Um” and “youknow?’ This video should expose bad habits, make you even more self-aware and serve as a strong motivator for correction.
Before adjourning the Murder Board, ask for a critique of your performance and knowledge demonstrated of the subject. Review the tape and do the same thing. Keep the video-camera and tape recorder rolling during this session.
When you review the video tape/audio recording of the session, place all the questions asked of you on one side of 3x5 cards, and the answers you gave on the other sides of the cards. Then play a version of flash cards. Select a card at random, read the question, answer it and then turn the card over to see how you originally answered it. Once you have tweaked and improved your answers, place them in a more permanent data base.
You’ll undoubtedly find that questions from the Murder Board elicit vital information needed by your audience. You must include this new information in your presentation. To avoid omitting the original data, place a time limit on your Murder Board that is less than the time you have been allocated for the actual presentation.Take what you’ve learned and apply it to your next rehearsal. At this point you should begin to see confidence creep in.
In order to make this work you need Assholes. Not full time Asshole but part time Assholes. You need someone who can be combative and make you uncomfortable. This is where you can learn to exchange panic for execution. When you know you have a path and a plan that accounts for variables you won’t panic. If you have had a full on melt down and make concessions for it in your new presentation what is there to worry about? You’re on your way to greatness.Questions?Reminders:PracticeRecruit wellTake the critique seriouslyBe brilliant
The result is your F’in awesomeWhen you know you’re awesome you present awesomeWhen you present awesome your ideas are awesome.When your ideas are awesome…you get do to the money dance at the end of your presentation. This my money danceLet me see your money dance!Are you money?Are you money!I SAID ARE YOU MONEY!DISMISSED