Don’t Give Speeches Convene conversations

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Don’t give speeches: Convene conversations.

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The dominant presentation style is the PowerPoint talk in a traditional presentation, either at a conference or an internal organizational meeting.

The speaker talks for a short time, supported by a PowerPoint presentation, and then a little time is allowed for questions from the audience.

Giving a speech is not about relating information or a point of view so that people go, “Hmm,” and move along.

It’s about igniting exciting conversations that go on long after you’re done talking.

Credit: Jack Welch

In a conversational presentation, however, the dominant style of delivery is the conversational talk, where time is allowed for the audience participants to discuss the topic amongst themselves.

Here the speaker presents for a period and concludes their talk with a question to the participants.

The participants are best seated at small round tables, 4 – 5 people per table, but the format still works well with larger tables and even in lecture halls or banked auditoriums. However, the smaller grouping is more conducive to conversation.

The participants then quietly reflect on the talk for a minute or two individually before discussing the talk and the question in small groups before going into a traditional Q&A. Even in a lecture theater, it is not too difficult for people to form groups of 3 or 4 by turning to their neighbors.

So the presentation breaks down into five parts:

• the talk itself
• a question
• reflection
• conversation
• Q&A

How much time for each? Well, it depends on the context, but the real value is in the conversation.

If you are giving a 40 minutes talk, I would suggest 20 minutes for the talk,  a minute or two for the question, 1 minute for reflection, 15 minutes for conversation, and 5 minutes for Q&A.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.

Credit: Plutarch

This conversational format creates an informal, relaxed atmosphere in which the participants engage with the topic; get to know each other; learn from each other, and build relationships.

One of the attractions of this style of talk for both the speaker and the conference/meeting organizer is that it involves minimal change as, quite simply, just a short period for conversation is inserted between the talk and the Q&A. This time is best taken from the speaker’s talk, or additional time can be allowed by the conference/meeting organizer.

One of the nice things about the conversational presentation is that you can choose to adopt this format. You do not need permission — though it is worth forewarning people apart from that —  just do it.

Conversation at the end of an ASQ Knowledge Sharing Meeting on 5th March 2014 in Dubai after a talk I gave on Conversational Leadership.

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