Insights

Presenting information, insights, strategies and problems and possible solutions in meetings with individuals, groups or an entire auditorium is an essential business skill.

Some of us love presenting, others dread it. Some presentations can be critically important to us, for example when they are part of a selection process for a job we’ve applied for. Presentations can be formal in style and setting, and some more casual as colleagues cluster together to update each other on recent activities.

When we’re working in a Thinking Environment our sole purpose is to generate the finest independent thinking possible for us and for our audience. To do this we presence a set of behaviours, known as the Ten Components, that enable others to “think for themselves with rigour, imagination, courage and grace.”

So when we’re presenting in a Thinking Environment we treat our audience, large or small as independent thinkers, providing them with exquisite generative attention and connecting with them through steady and constant eye contact, encouraging them to do their finest independent thinking.

We treat our audience as equals, so we prepare our words carefully and include appreciation of our audience’s qualities and expertise. Our calm, relaxed composure and the curated physical space aroundus will speak to our audience, telling them “You matter” and enable them to feel completely at ease.

Whatever we’ve planned to follow on from our presentation, perhaps questions, or some of the Thinking Environment’s other applications (for example, Rounds, Open Discussion or The Council) we show our audience we value difference, championing diversity of identity and thought. When we present in this way our meetings generate amazing outcomes, that are creative, innovative and collaborative.

It’s probably worth mentioning that presentations in a Thinking Environment are not about convincing others, but helping our audience to understand our point of view and igniting their own independent thinking. 

Slides, too, can come between the presenter and the audience so we recommend using them sparingly and switch them off when you’re not referring to them.

Most of our presentations at the moment are on virtual platforms such as Zoom, Teams and Google Meet and it can take a little more preparation to connect with the audience and provide Generative Attention.

Here are some tips you may find helpful:

• Position your camera so that your head and shoulders and your neat and tidy background fill the screen, square on. Don’t sit behind a big table or desk with the camera at the other side so that your head looks small in the frame of the screen.
• Look into the camera rather than at the thumbnail screens of your audience. When presenting to a physical audience we connect by letting our gaze rest on different people or different parts of the room whilst we’re speaking, but if we look at the thumbnails in a virtual meeting it appears as if we’re looking away. A small post-it note stuck next to the camera on your screen can remind you to keep looking into the camera.
• Send out suggestions to your audience before the presentation to have the things to hand that will make them comfortable (water, sweater, etc)
• If you’re going to screen share and show slides, remember to stop the screen share when you’re not referring to the slide. The connection and Generative Attention comes from you, so slides can get in the way. One option on Zoom is to explain to your audience how to split the screen by clicking on speaker view and dragging the line between the slide view and the speaker view to the middle of the screen.
• If you have a small group and you’re going to include Rounds or other Thinking Environment applications, it’s helpful to send out a virtual table seating plan in advance or have a slide ready to show so that the thinking flows easily around your group without prompts.

For more information on presenting in a Thinking Environment, contact Kate or Sara on hello@thebusinessofthinking.co.uk or on Twitter @BizofThinking and if you can, take a read of Nancy Kline's latest books ‘More Time to Think’ and ‘The Promise that Changes Everything – I Won’t Interrupt You.’