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You can tell if someone is passionate about their presentation topic.
I am not talking about fake, over the top, and exaggerated passion.
I am talking about genuine passion for the topic.
Passion is infectious, engaging, and influential.
It is an essential ingredient to a set of good presentation skills!
If you don’t have it you will lose a big edge when you present. I work with many founders in the Bay Area (from seed all the way to IPO roadshow) and I know that sometimes the x-factor investors are looking for is passion. This applies in the boardroom, in sales meetings, and even in technical presentations.
The good news is that you can cultivate passion. All you have to do is use the passion formula and walk through it for any topic you have.
Passion (for topic) = Interest X Belief X Values
Passion = Interest times belief, times Values.
Case Study: How to have passion even if you think your topic is boring.
One day as I was prepping a client for a conference presentation, he put his hand on his head and said that his topic is too boring for him to be passionate about it. I hear this all the time, and I don’t believe it.
He was working on a chip for simulating shadows in video games (Senior Engineer at a big semi conductor company). To him, that seemed boring and overly technical – for me it was fascinating. So I had to bring that passion out of him.
We applied the formula. He seemed to me that he really believed in the product. He said that this product is revolutionizing the video game industry. And it will play a huge role in the virtual reality technology coming out in the near future.
The product seemed to match his values in the world and workplace. He valued contributing to something big and the product did that for sure.
What he lacked was interest.
He worked in the industry for 15 years on similar projects and he was getting a little bored of it. He was projecting this boredom on his audience. We all do this.
Knowing this, all we had to do is re-engage his interest. In this specific case, we connected the shadow simulation to the painting technique of Leonardo De Vinci, and Michael Angelo (which is one of his interests).
After this connection, his interest peaked and his passion and creativity unleashed.
His presentation was very well received at the conference. Most importantly one of his coworkers who did not want to work on the project before approached him and asked how come he always gets the most interesting projects?
Funny how perceptions change when you add passion as an ingredient in your presentation. What will adding more passion do to your presentations do?
Winning formula of passion
Passion (for topic) = Interest X Belief X Values
Interest
We all lose interest if we do the same thing over and over for years. This is a natural process. However, it’s our responsibility to figure out ways to rekindle the passion for what we do.
We can do it by connecting what we do with something else we feel passion for.
My client connecting shadow simulation technology with Renaissance paintings technique is an example of this.
Another way is to dig deeper into your topic and find new angles and new approaches that you did not find before. Feeling bored is created by time, feeling interested is created by will. So it’s your responsibility to rekindle your interest in your topic ☺
Belief
We are constantly selling something in life. We are selling ideas, projects, products, services, etc.
If you don’t believe in your ideas, products or projects then there is no way you will be able to sell them and there is no way you will be able to be passionate about them.
Either you have to build your belief in what you’re presenting on or find something else to present on. Both ways are easy.
Values
What is important to you in life? What is important for you in the work place? A lot of times people don’t feel happy or content in life and work because they don’t know their values.
Values are your code, or rules to feel happy and fulfilled. If what you do fulfills your values, then you feel happy. If they don’t you don’t feel happy.
If you value health, then you will not be happy presenting in a pro-smoking campaign.
So to figure out if what you’re presenting matches your values.=, you have to find out what your values are. Especially what are your values at work? I wrote a book years ago that details the process and it’s called Self-Leadership Guide. Selling at Amazon for $17.00. If you want a copy just let me know and I will send you a signed one for free (all you have to do is pay $6 for shipping and handling; email me at peter@magneticspeaking.com if interested)
