#ruletheroom

Bizsnack sits down with our newest presentation instructor Jason Teteak.

by Mark Monaco

One of the defining characteristics of Bizsnack as an eLearning company is how much we focus on our instructors. This week we had a chance to catch up with Jason Teteak, best-selling author and presentation coach, and talk to him about his courses and why he teamed up with Bizsnack.

A little background on him: Jason is a private coach and a consultant whose clientele includes elite institutions, universities, and top corporate executives. In twenty years of working as a presenter and coach, Jason has trained thousands professionals, given keynote presentations including a TED Talk on “How to Give a TED Talk Everywhere You Go.”, and his new book, Rule The Room, was recently published in the summer of 2013.

He has developed more than fifty presentation and communication training programs ranging in length from one hour to three days, that serve as the basis for this unique, practical, and comprehensive courses.

How long have you been in the presentation game and what got you started?

I’ve been teaching presentation skills for about 20 years. I started because I realized that  audiences are in pain and presenters don’t know it. The reason why these presenters are inadvertently torturing their audiences is because they have something called the “Curse of Knowledge.”  What this means is that a person knows their content so well they have a hard time simplifying it enough to make it understandable to a large audience.

It’s my job to help break that curse so people are able to communicate more effectively and leave their audience with more in depth knowledge.. Learning truly happens through a change in attitude and this change can’t happen if someone is confused about what is being presented to them.

There are some great presenters in the world today. What do you think makes them stand out?  

In researching for my book “Rule the Room” and for my Ted Talk titled: “How to Give a TED Talk Everywhere You Go.” I analyzed and broke down the 10 most popular Ted Talks of all time and started to pinpoint what made a presenter great. There are 4 unique presenting styles;

The Fascinator: This is someone who endears with their wisdom, enjoys getting others to perform, and enjoys sharing trivia. The best example of this is Daniel Pink. He uses his great wisdom and trivia to keep his audience engaged throughout any presentation he is giving.

The Inspirer: This is someone who endears with their spirit, reads people easily, and enjoys sharing stories. The best example of an Inspirer is Steve Jobs. He was able to weave these great stories that helped people become vested in what he was talking about.

The Performer: This is someone who endears by entertaining, they can get others to laugh, and are great at relating to an entire audience. A prime example of a performer is Tony Robbins. He does a great job of keeping his energy high and helping his audiences feel good about what they’re hearing.

The Energizer: An Energizer endears with their courage, they enjoy pumping up a crowd, and they are fond of puns. A great example of this is Sir Ken Robinson, he has the most popular Ted Talk of all time and in it he uses puns and challenges to engage his audience and keep them in the moment with him.

I cover these in depth in my course, “Presentation Skills that Get the “Wow” Factor” and point them to an online tool to find out what they’re personality styles are. The more in tune you are with your style the more you can work on refining your strengths and using them more effectively.

Which historical presenter do you most identify with?

I would say that I identify with Socrates. He was able to get the audience to sell themselves rather than to sell it to them directly. What I mean by this is he used a great questioning technique in order to allow his audience to come to their own conclusions, as opposed to telling them what to think.

Aside from his groundbreaking method of reasoning he also tended to give talks within amphitheaters that had him at the same height or lower than his audience. He showed incredible humility in doing so and was out to project the fact that he wasn’t an expert but, merely a man much like his audience. Also the area of Athens where he did much of his speaking is very beautiful, it must have been inspiring.

What types of professionals do you find really need or want to get better at presenting?

Everyone has problems with presenting. Funny enough the people who are usually looking to get better are those who are already good. There is a Japanese concept of constant improvement and its the people that subscribe to this way of thinking are the ones who turn into truly great presenters.

The techniques that I offer in my courses have all been developed by myself so it’s a more unique approach to presenting. I made sure to not read any presentation books before I sat down the write “Rule the Room” since I wanted my original ideas to not be influenced by others. Surprisingly, the people who often need the most help don’t ask for it, they believe that they’re great presenters but, really can’t read their audience. This attitude leaves everyone in the room suffering since there is a disconnect between the audience and the content.

What advice do you have for someone who is about to give their first major presentation?

There are 3 simple things that every presenter should know which I outline in my course Presentation Skills that Get the “Wow” Factor:

1. Its not about you its about the audience. It doesn’t matter if you’re nervous it matters if you show it. it doesn’t matter if you don’t feel confident, it matters if you show it. You present to bring something to your audience, you should keep that in mind every time.

2. People don’t laugh because something is funny, they laugh because they feel good. They need to feel safe with you. The progression of entertaining an audience is pretty straightforward, first they feel safe with you, then they feel good about what you’re saying, and then they are able to laugh and enjoy what you’re saying. Sincerity is one of the best ways to project this attitude and foster safety in your audience.

3. Your audience is not motivated by what you have to say until they first know why they want it. People need to know why they want something up front but, many presenters forget to do this. This is the biggest pull that a speaker can use with their audience. I use a simple exercise to figure out what it is that I am offering my audience. First I write down all the main points of my presentation and then I assess them as to whether or not they are adding 3 main concepts: Happiness, Success, Freedom. If you can make sure that you are hitting these touch points with your audience they will be much more vested in what you have to say.

What drew you to teach a course on Bizsnack?

Although there are many e-learning sites out there, Bizsnack is unique in that they focus entirely on courses for business professionals. They were also the first to proactively get to know me and my expertise and are working hard to build my brand along with their own. They really value their instructors and learners. Bizsnack recognizes that you need to know a person in order to be able to market their products. Their high touch approach is refreshing in the industry.