What did you mean by that...

I have an important presentation coming up soon. Don't get me wrong, it is not about solving our healthcare system issues, I'm not introducing a cure for breast cancer (wish I could have, Mom), or even figuring out how to ensure Social Security will be funded so those little slips of paper I get from the government on how much I will earn when I retire at 75 are worth more than the litter box liner I use them for today.

Nope, my presentation is simply another in a string of thousands I have done in which I have a finite amount of time, a couple of ideas I need to get across to some important folks in our company, and an audience who I am sure are sitting at home right now, or in the office, thinking to themselves "oh god, I can't believe in a week I am going to hear John speak"... Geez, only if I was E.F. Hutton in real life ;o)

I have no dilusions of grandeur that when I speak people lock in on my words like a fighter pilot on his target, just waiting for the right moment to be epiphenized (I made that word up, so don't even go to dictionary.com and try to find it...). However, it is quite different. I do care about my audience and the value of their time, and my goal is always to provide something that will resonate with them and either put them at ease that "things" are covered, or inspire them to action beyond what they were doing when they entered the room. So, how do you bring the right balance of style, content, passion, and inspiration to your presentation.

Easy - plan it out. I am amazed at the number of speakers I have heard who think they have something to say, yet put on the spot they have much to speak about, but they are only taking up other tax payers oxygen and I am sure strip-mining the mental landscape of those around them. I like to think that preparation is not about being "canned" in how you present your info, whether in an elevator, on the car lot with a potential customer, in the meeting room, or any other venue of choice in which your mental garble gets woven into the fabric of getting your point across in a meaningul fashion.

So, learn to "frame it up" (normally I would use the term "f it up" to shorten the phrase, and allow for creative licsensing in how you present, but for now I will keep this once cleaned up a little). Framing is just what you think it is - a framework that, when shared with others, allows them to follow a natural progression of logic and understand your point in a way that is not like putting together a 1000 piece puzzle of similar colored kittens with your grandma (even though I used to love that...). Framing for success is as simple as thinking at the right altitude for your audience at 3 levels: What is important, How are we doing, and What is our priority to improve. Now, listen close men, your wife already does this with you, but you really need to know how to do this with her if you ever want to be successful in staying out of a therapists office because you are simply "misunderstood"...

What is important is where most people get stuck. Human nature likes to jump down to the priorities to improve, and hope everyone listening understands what is important, and how we are doing today... but, that assumption has led to many leaders getting the mental crap kicked out of them with a barrage of questions that could have been answered by framing it right the first time. I have never seen a house where they installed the carpet first, then the plumbing, then the carpenters started the roof, then the frame and drywall... HALT! - you get my point. There is a natural progression to building a house that if not handled correctly and coordinated effectively will lead to overuse of the warranty within the first 3 months.

I know, I know... get to the point, John... The point is, What is important requires thinking, pontificating, mental tennis on the courts of reason, etc., etc., etc. If you know what is important and you can portray that to your audience they are going to feel more comfortable that everything that follows is geared towards that pinnacle idea. To do this, find out what is important (hint - it usually relates to one or more stakeholders - Employees/Customers/Shareholders, and it also usually relates to one of the three parts of your business - Financial/Operational/Relational). Once you frame up a few points of "what's important" you can move on to answering the question of "how are we doing" because now you have the framework so you can put on the siding of performance to expectation.

Framing up how you are doing is not that hard. It can be qualitative or quantitative - even though most quantitative data requires a qualitative discussion (outputs are only measurements of the result of inputs, and numbers are ultimately an output of behaviors of people, the org, the market, etc. - don't over complicate the issue here)... The real test of a good framing incident is when the "how we are doing" does not include anything about what we are going to do next. It is the yellow brick road that leads to the Emerald City of "so what are we going to do about it"...

Priorities to improve. Ahhhhh, finally, we got to where I wanted to start - (this is how most people think - I knew I was going to say this, why waste my time doing the other stuff?). Well, it's pretty simple Skippy, people are smart, they have questions, they think using logic, data, and they need to see the pieces of the puzzle as it goes together so the picture has more meaning. PTI, as I will call it, should always relate back to what's important, and should always be a natural response to how we are doing. Let me share an example before I close this blog out...

It is important that when you read a blog you get some meaning from it that will allow you to either feel good, go take action in life, laugh out loud, or cause you to think in a way you didn't before.

Today I am writing about things I love, that are dear to me, and have some meaningful application to life. I also include content that makes you chuckle, think, and sometimes motivates you to watch mindless You Tube garble just to clean out your mental closet.

My priority to improve is to keep writing, keep sharing, and keep taking feedback to ensure I include meaningful, fun and actionable content for those so daring to read my writing.

That's important, that's how I am doing today, and that is what drives me to be different (and hopefully better tomorrow).

So, go forth and start framing. Frame up your emails, your presentations, your conversations with your kids or spouse or friends or family pet, and see if you get the result of less meaningless questions, and start getting more meaning out of your interaction (or more face licks from the pooch).

See you on the left...