How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate!

Chapter 4. The Pantheon of Presentation Gods

I'm familiar with the cynical sports purists who live among us: the know-it-alls who walk around crushing competitive cheerleaders' dreams, emasculating Nascar drivers, and begrudging soccer players their shin guards while applauding the armor plating that ensconces modern football players. The sports they know are the ones that matter.

No sport has been victimized by such so-called "purist" exclusivity than presenting. Yes—presenting. The sheer volume of pit sweat involved in this activity justifies an automatic Olympic event; the hoisting of a speaker challenges the celebrations of any victory in history. If gymnastics' menagerie of confusion, referred to as the "floor," can be a sport, then we presenters certainly deserve a place, too. I'm not asking for prime time major network coverage here, just a berth on a non-double-digits ESPN network.

Though securing ESPN9 or better may be one of the final achievements of the Presentation Revolution, that doesn't mean we can slack off as if our 2012 Olympic hopes are ruined. In the previous chapter, we discussed the value of humility from the stage, a statement that needs to be qualified as follows: You want the audience to think you're humble. Your will to crush the competition (in this case, other speakers, presenters, or companies) represents the furious passion that makes presenting one of the most exciting new sports to watch since little Western kids started rolling old wagon wheels ...