ANALYZING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION Research Report

ANALYZING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION Research Report Rob van den Idsert DREAM DISCOVER DO (Seminar) JDE-SCONE.3V-13 Communicatie & Media Design Hogeschool Utrecht January 2016 By: Bas van Geuns 1604934 Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 1

Introduction A seminar. A presentation of around 20 minutes in which I have to talk about a topic which interests me. Presentation. 20 minutes. Those words haunted me after attending the Seminar class. How am I able to pull off a presentation of 20 minutes in front of a full class, when I m already feeling way too stressed if I have to present something for two minutes in front of three people? And how do I come up with a topic that is interesting enough to keep myself motivated, not to forget the audience? For motivation, I searched for interesting news topics, watched and re-watched a lot of documentaries, read some inspiring books, and I started to take a look at lectures on the internet. What surprised me is that many of the topics sticked to my mind. Some even really inspired me to work harder. The documentaries, speeches and lectures gave me hope, because I now felt that there were many topics that keep me busy, and I could definitely talk about one of them. But when asking myself which topic was the most important to me, I could not instantly answer. Most of the things that had come up to me, did not relate to my own personal experience. When I started my broad research on some of the topics, I had to look at sources far away from me; far from my line of work and interest. This made me realize that my decisions on the topics I chose were based on the source that told it to me. Some of the good documentaries convinced me about their story, some lectures gave me insights I hadn t had before, and speeches of great leaders made me believe their story without any questions. So, when I came across Simon Sinek s TEDtalk Why great leaders inspire action (in which he talks about why some people can inspire where others can t), my own findings mentioned above were explained. He explains his own personal findings on how some people can inspire others, all based on a few examples he gives in the lecture. Once again I was motivated by a lecture, but this time I knew that this was the right topic for me to do my research on, and to talk about at my seminar. This topic related to everything I was doing in the past weeks, and on what was still ahead: the twenty minute seminar. At this seminar it would be me who had to inspire my audience. Wouldn t it be useful to be able to convince people in a few minutes? A few minutes that could change your audience s behavior or way of thinking? I want to convince my future boss of my creative idea. I want to convince my client of my product. A good presentation or lecture is able to do that. But what makes a good presentation a good presentation? Are there aspects which I could take as starting point for my next own presentation? To research this, in this report I will analyze the perfect presentation. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 2

Table of contents - The perfect presentation 4 RESEARCH QUESTION How did Simon Sinek s Golden Circle lecture inspire me? 7 Subquestion 1 What storytelling techniques can be related to the story of Simon s lecture? 8 Subquestion 2 What physical aspects of the speaker, such as body language and tone of voice, can be seen when analyzing the lecture? 11 Subquestion 3 What influence do materials, such as the room, camera shots and audio, have on the quality of the video? 12 Conclusion 13 Appendices Sources 14 Reflection 15 Seminar Presentation PDF 16 Words used: 3621 Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 3

ANALYZING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION TED talk: How great leaders inspire action - by Simon Sinek Simon Sinek talks about a simple but powerful model for leaders to inspire their employees. The model starts with a golden circle and the question Why?. The golden circle model that Simon created, shows a pattern in which people sell there products and/or ideas. With this golden circle, Simon gives an explanation for the why. Why some people are masters in inspiring. Why some companies are so successful and influential, and why they have so many ambassadors, believers, and how they reach word of mouth. The golden circle Looking at the circle, according to Simon, most people and companies communicate from the outside in, instead of from the inside out. They communicate from WHAT to WHY. Many even forget the WHY. They start of with WHAT they are doing/making, which every company and organization knows. After this, some continue with HOW they do that. This could for example be a unique selling point (USP), or other value proposition. This is what companies think is what makes them stand out from the competition. But according to Simon, this is not the most important factor to motivate a potential customer. What really motivates people is WHY you do what you do. By WHY I mean what is you purpose, cause or belief? Why does your company exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning?, Simon says. Inspiring leaders and companies all communicate from the inside out. They tell the audience their vision; they share their feeling of hope. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 4

In his book (Sinek, 2009), Start With Why, Simon Sinek describes more into detail about the theory behind his golden circle model. He explains that, by starting of with your motivation of WHY you do what you do, you talk to your audience on an emotional base. Because you re not telling people about a rational product, but an emotional feel or thought, people can be reached on another level. This is also described in the figure below. Sharing your belief on WHY you do what you do (your drive), makes the audience feel safe; They can identify with your senses, without them feeling that you want to sell something. The emotional side of your brain, the limbic brain, deals with feelings and decision-making. This is the part of the brain that either says yes! or no to your product or belief. The other side of the brain, the neocortex, is for rational thought. This is where theoretical terms are applicable to, and where most advertising is aimed at. According to Simon however, this has almost no influence on the limbic brain, and therefore no influence on the decision making. So you can try to convince people by telling them a hundred arguments of why your product or belief is great; If people don t get emotionally attracted, they will say: It just doesn t feel right. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 5

Simon Sinek s TED talk Why great leaders inspire action is the third most watched video on ted.com. The talk is recorded at TEDxPuget Sound in September 2009. The audience in the room were approximately 200 visitors, mainly business owners, on average high educated, and/or in the working class (TED, 2009). The video is eighteen minutes long, just like most other TED talks. The video has over 25 million views on the TED website, and at least ten million views on YouTube, making it one of the most TED talks ever made. After the event, Simon released his book Start With Why in which he tells the same message more detailed. This book has become a bestseller in the corporate branch (Kansas City Star, 2012). The original link to the video: https://www.ted.com/talks/ simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 6

Main question and sub questions How is it possible that this 18 minute video lecture immediately struck me, and why could I still remember every word Simon Sinek said, when I thought back of it later? To get to know more about why Simon s lecture was so successful, I asked myself: How did Simon Sinek s Golden Circle lecture inspire me? To answer this, I divided the question into four subquestions: - What was the direct message of the lecture? (answered on pages 4-6) - What storytelling techniques can be related to the story of Simon s lecture? - What physical aspects of the speaker, such as body language and tone of voice, can be seen when analyzing the lecture? - What influence do materials, such as the room, camera shots and audio, have on the quality of the video? Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 7

Subquestion: What storytelling techniques can be related to the story of the lecture? To me, the lecturer s message is very interesting. But apart from the message that Simon Sinek tells in his lecture, the story he tells has many links to storytelling theories. In this way, Simon made it easy to listen to. It doesn t matter how important or interesting the topic might be, without a good way to tell it, it s not convincing or beautiful at all. Simon s lecture touches quite a lot of storytelling theories, but in this research I will not state that he applied them. All of the theories I explain underneath are my own interpretations on how his story is built up. I can and will not state that he used the terms and theories that I mention, because I simply don t know how he made his presentation work. However, the storyline has many similarities with the theories which I ll mention below. Petal structure In his lecture, Simon uses three main examples to strengthen his story. Simon even starts his lecture with Why is Apple so innovative? ( )Why is it that Martin Luther King let the civil right movement? ( ) Why were the Wright brothers able to figure out controlpowered-man-flight? This usage of examples made me look at theories on how examples can strengthen a story. Simon Sinek uses Apple (computer company), Martin Luther King (orator), and the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers (invention). The three examples don t overlap. Each of them covers a different field, but can all be related to his message: they started with why. This structure is described by the theory of Nested Loops (Lindsay, 2014). By connecting the examples (which seem to have no clear overlap) to the theory or story that is told, creates a sense of epiphany to the audience. It now feels like the theory is everywhere and can be applied to anything, leaving the audience the true importance and weight of the message. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 8

Nested Loops Apart from the petal structure theory, Simon seems to use another storytelling principle. Simon starts of with mentioning the three examples (Apple, MLK, Wright Brothers). After this, he starts of with the basics of his theory. He then opens the example of Apple to enter the next level of his theory. This way, the audience will have no difficulty following into the actual massage that Simon wants to tell. After applying his theories to the story of Apple (which he has not yet closed off) he starts another story: Martin Luther King and his civil right movement. He continues to explain why, according to his theory, Martin Luther King was able to gather 250.000 people in one place at one time. Without further answering of this matter, he get into the story of the Wright Brothers. To answer this example he takes the most theoretical part of his speech (starting at 11:00 of the lecture, about the law of diffusion of innovation ). After this he applies the theory to the Wright Brothers, and closes the story. Now Simon comes back to Martin Luther King, mentioning that he had a dream ; not a plan of action. At this point, Simon has told most of his theory, and therefore closes of by mentioning Apple, and again, applying his full theory to his first and final example. He started with Apple, he ended with Apple. The structure Simon Sinek seems to use in his lecture is called Nested Loops, a theory described by Ffion Lindsay (Lindsay, 2014). It is a storytelling technique where three or more narratives are layered within each other. The most important story (or theory/message) is placed in the center of the story. This because this is the core of the message, and needs the most attention from the audience. The stories around it are used to explain the central principal. The story that you begin with at first, will be the last one to finish. The second story you start will be the second to last story you end with, etc. This is a perfect way to show how you came to the subject you are presenting, or showing where you got the wisdom from. For example: A friend of mine told me at school: My grandfather was in London once and he heard Churchill say: A good speech should be like a woman's skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest. My grandfather laughed out loud. After this, my friend and I went back to class. This theory could also be related to the Golden circle model. Start with why you come to your story, and in the middle: telling what the story is about. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 9

Repetition Simon uses a lot of repetition in his lecture. The sentence people don t buy what you do, they buy why you do it is used five times in his speech. He does this to emphasize the importance of his words; almost preaching them. The audience will now remember the exact sentence, which is like having a song stuck in your head. Sub conclusion Simon Sinek might have definitely used storytelling techniques to make his message come across more easily. The use of examples is in this case a very strong way to attract the attention of the audience while you start spreading your message. These techniques can,when applied well (like in this case), activate, motivate and inspire an audience. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 10

What physical aspects of the speaker, such as body language and tone of voice, can be seen when analyzing the lecture? Body language and tone of voice Not just a good message is important when giving a presentation. Very important is to have a proper body language. According to the American psychology professor Albert Merhabian, only 7 percent of a presentation s success could be addressed to the content (Braspenning, 2012). The professor states that 38 percent of the success could be addressed to the voice of the speaker, and 55 percent to the speaker s body language. Whether or not the numbers in the statement above are realistic, body language, appearance and tone of voice are absolutely very important to make the speaker seem trustworthy and fun to listen to. When looking at Simon Sinek we see a couple of things that catch the eye: He speaks in a slow pace. His volume is nice to listen to. He wears easy going clothes. Clothing He doesn t wear a fancy suit: he wears a decent shirt, with a few buttons loose and rolled up sleeves. He s not properly shaven and his hair could have been done better. To be fair, I think this was all Simon s intention. While many theories say that overdressing in presentations isn t possible, Simon knows that his crowd doesn t want a man in a suit, telling them what to do. He prefers talking to them on the same level. The way a friend would tell you something. This can also be noticed when listening to his voice. Simon uses his voice as if he is really keen on telling something for the first time. What he talks about, both feels and listens very easy going. He doesn t use powerful one-liners; doesn t create a status gap between the audience and himself. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 11

What influence do materials, such as the room, camera shots and audio, have on the quality of the video? A major difference between most of the modern day presentations and Simon s lecture is that he does not make use of digital slides. All he uses is a marker and a A2 flip-over, of which he uses just three pieces of paper. No digital slides After researching this, I found that almost all presentations have digital slides. In many corporations, Powerpoint slides are a daily matter. There are tons of different methods on how to make up your slides, but almost no one seems to think of a presentation without a powerpoint-like base. In this way, presenters can hide behind their presentations, or even literally hide behind their laptops. The bullet points help them get through there lecture, as if it was their auto-cue. Because Simon Sinek didn t make use of digital slides, my full attention was with what he was saying. All I saw was his relaxed body language and his quick sketch of his golden circle, and all I could hear was a comforting voice. The video The quality of the video is in line with the appearance and tone of voice that Simon uses. The video is very basic. The use of just a flip-over makes it unnecessary for the camera to use another shot. The full eighteen minutes are filmed with just two camera angles. The microphone breaks while he s speaking. But because Simon is so comfortable telling his story, the switching of the microphones seems like it s a planned action. The tone of voice and the volume of Simon s voice in the lecture is perfect for the room. If the room was larger, and had more than the 200 visitors it had now, the tone of voice might have needed to be changed. Also, the use of the flip-over would not have been sufficient with larger numbers of attending audience. By this we can conclude that Simon was well prepared. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 12

CONCLUSION How did Simon Sinek s Golden circle lecture inspire me? Simon Sinek used different aspects to create a perfect presentation. His message is a very strong one. The golden circle principle has never been formulated in the same way before. His message might come from psychological studies, but he used this information for a market where it was not yet known before: the corporate business. The way he implements his model to a story who anyone can identify with (by using great examples) makes it easy to listen to for the whole crowd, including me, Apart from the message: The proper use of the examples is what, in my opinion, made the presentation so memorable and inspiring. Simon uses storytelling techniques to emphasize what he wants to emphasize, making theory come to live by using nested loops. His use of repetition makes it somehow feel like a great speech, while on the other hand his selection of words could reach a ten year old. This balance makes the story so strong. Simon s appearance and confidence make him very trustworthy. By not taking a high status, but by talking and dressing in a way that a friend could do, his message doesn t feel like a business talk. He practices what he preaches: Convince people by their emotions (his belief of a good story that he wants to share), rather than by just facts and figures (graphs, fancy suit). He doesn t show off. The not showing off part can also be seen when looking at his presentation style: not using shiny and factual digital slides. By not having any distraction of a large screen behind him, Simon made all the attention focus on the message. My main conclusion is that to make his lecture so inspiring, Simon Sinek took the time to prepare every aspect of presenting. He knew exactly what his crowd would be like, what age, how many of them and he knew the size of the room in which he gave his lecture. He knew what he wanted to tell, and in which ways he wanted to tell it. He prepared his storyline well. He knew when to repeat a sentence, and when to keep silent. Simon Sinek is a great orator. He knows why he does what he does. And he inspired me by it Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 13

SOURCES Braspenning, M. & Aan de Stege, J. (2012) Presenteren. Amsterdam: Bertram + de Leeuw Uitgevers Kansas City Star (2012) Top 25 of what corporate America reads. Retrieved from: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/12/3367269/top-25-what-corporate-america.html Lindsay, F (2014). The seven pillars of Storytelling. [E-Book] Retrieved from: http:// www.sparkol.com/books/the-seven-pillars-of-storytelling/ MacArthur, B. (1992). The Penguin book of twentieth-century speeches. [Book] London: Penguin Group Sinek, S. (2009) Start With Why. [Book] London: Portfolio Penguin. TED (2014). TEDxPugetSound. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/72 Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 14

Reflection The seminar was in my opinion very useful. By doing this research I came to new insights about presentations, and how I could give one. I did my own mini lecture via the insights and conclusions that came out of this research report. I wanted to become better in presenting, and how better to do that than diving in deep. Looking back, this was the longest presentation I have ever done, and the very first time at which I used nothing else than just a flip-over and marker. Normally I always use a shiny Keynote presentation with special effects and lots of video and impressing pictures. I think I can combine those two in the future: Make a good presentation based on good storytelling, good appearance and good tone of voice in combination with a strong video and other visuals, so that the audience can be blown away. But I will never again hide behind my presentation. At the start it was very hard for me to focus on a topic. Many topics were interesting to me, but I wasn t able to make a concrete research question which I could answer in the given time (6 weeks). It took me a long time and a lot of effort to finally come up with the final main question. With feedback from Rob van den Idsert I finally managed to formulate the main question, as well as the sub questions. Also hard for me was the research itself. Because I read a lot of books (which i m not really used to) I had to document every time I read something interesting. I collected the knowledge and applied it to my research report, but I could not find back all of the exact sources. This is a good learning point for a next time: to work more structured. After all, I think I ve really improved doing research by making a suitable research question which can be answered in a given time schedule. Also, I ve tried to put my research insights into my presentation. From now on, my presentations will definitely not look as they did before this course. Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 15

Seminar presentation as PDF I did not make use of digital slides. The only thing I showed on the projector were two short clips to emphasize my message. Underneath you will find stills of the two clips, as well as links to the online versions of them. Slide 1: Summary of Simon s lecture https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action#t-237055 Slide 2: Sony Bravia commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zorv-5vh1a Bas van Geuns Research Report Seminar 16