Saturday night a bunch of us were hanging out in the beautiful Peabody hotel lobby after a full day of attending, presenting, socializing, and networking at the IA Summit in Memphis. A new friend, Kristi, said “I felt sorry for our presenter. Her talk was good, but we kept hearing all this laughter coming through the wall from Jared’s talk next door. It sounded great.”
I was in Jared’s talk (Jared Spool), and Kristi was right – it was great. He had a story, overarching themes, main points, compelling examples and well-designed slides. He kept it simple and well paced; easy to take it in. He was animated, funny and entertaining.
It’s easy to walk out of a session like that and say, “Wow. Great presentation. So entertaining and interesting - he’s a natural.”
It’s not natural - it’s work
Right after his session, Jared and I talked about his presentation, which turned into a conversation about what worked well and how he prepared. He didn’t just get up there and turn on his charm. He worked at it. He planned. He prepped. And I’m not talking about just a few hours or a couple days. Some of his examples had been milling about in his mind for months.
Even the seasoned pros have to work at it
Jared is an experienced presenter. I first saw him present years ago at a BayChi meeting at the Palo Alto Research Center. He was great then, too. He’s been presenting for years. So, even though he’s been doing this for years he still has to work at it. He still has to prep.
Developing Social Capital is just like developing a great presentation
Did all that prep make Jared look less natural? No way. Just the opposite – he looked calm, in the moment, and comfortable. It’s the same with developing Social Capital. For example, when you prep for a business lunch you’re more calm, in the moment, and comfortable. The same applies for other classic Social Capital-developing situations: networking events, golf, job interviews, etc.
Jared was having a good time. At least that’s what it looked like. He smiled, laughed, cracked jokes, and got excited about his topic. It’s the same when you prep well for a business lunch. You’ve checked out the location. You know what to do. You’ve anticipated a number of issues that could come up. And so on. Having these things in order before you arrive to the restaurant allows you to relax and have a good time.
Thanks to Jared, we—his audience—had a good time. You probably get where I’m going with this; at a business lunch, when you’re prepared it’s much easier for your guests to have a good time. It’s that simple. It’s like hosting a party - the more prepared you are, the more likely your guests will have a good time.
Jared gave us the sense that he can take care of things; that he’s competent. Next time you’re taking a prospective employer out to lunch, you’ve got an opportunity to do the same thing – it’s an opportunity show him or her that you can take of things; that you’re competent.
That can only help.
23. March 2009 by Craig Peters
Featured, Uncategorized