This light of illumination, which is analogous to watching high-definition television for the first time, captivates an audience. They aren’t able to take their attention off the presenter. They are inspired and appreciative that someone is actually taking the time to consciously encapsulate the thought and project it across the space with the intention that it be absorbed and understood.
My own ability to be in present time in front of an audience was developed through years of practice, the opportunity to teach others, and the inspiration of some brilliant guides who pointed the way.
In my early development back in the ’70s Werner Erhard was a brilliant light in my life. I had unknowingly been protecting myself from being present with the audience, erroneously thinking that if I was fully present I would be psychologically vulnerable, which would lead to rejection. Through Werner’s training I was able to surrender, take a leap of faith into the unknown, and risk what I thought would be total annihilation in front of the audience.
But to my amazement I wasn’t annihilated. Quite the opposite. I discovered a space of awareness or consciousness that I had never tasted before. The space of freedom. Freedom to be myself. Freedom to tell the truth about my experience of life. Freedom from being suppressed by what I thought the audience would think about me. And one of the most wonderful and unexpected gifts I received was the ability to generate compassion for myself and others.
The heart and soul of The Broadband Connection was and continues to be inspired by Eckhart Tolle and his insight into consciousness. His understanding of presence and the ability to clearly deliver that understanding to others through his words and videos is a gift to the world. For example, he makes a simple distinction that there are only two things in this world: space and things in space.
When I hear ideas like these a part of me gets very excited because I may not have the direct experience of what the teacher is talking about but I intuitively sense that it points to a profound truth in consciousness. Then I am blessed with the opportunity to take the idea into training rooms around the world to see if it aids in diminishing the blocks and barriers that stop my students from being in present time and maintaining their own broadband connection to the audience. And over the years a process has emerged that supports students in transforming their ability to be clear, confident, and powerful presenters. They now experience that standing in front of audiences is not something to dread but rather one of the best and most fun parts of their job. Their audiences look at them and exclaim, “Wow, that looks like a superstar!”
With the Warmest of Regards,
Alan
Saudi Arabia
January 2009
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* The term IT stands for Information Technology and is defined as the study, design, development, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications, networks, and computer hardware.
When an IT professional stands up in front of an audience to deliver a presentation, you can refer to him or her as the sender of communication and the audience as the receivers of communication. In IT terminology, the sender would be the source router and the audience would be the destination routers.
Given that there are no wires connecting the presenter to the audience, the presenter is transmitting his or her communication packets and space packets over a wireless local area network.
This chapter is intended to clarify the distinction between communication packets and space packets and how to improve the quality and effectiveness of your delivery as a presenter.
Almost all the packets the IT professional delivers are communication packets and contain only one element—data. In my experience, the vast majority of IT professionals could teasingly be referred to as unconscious, low-intentioned, and ineffective “data dumpers.”
A low-intentioned data dumper is someone who just drops the data in the space with little or no intention that the audience will actually understand it. The data dumper is not present. He or she has not formed a conscious connection with the audience, is not grounded, and has no interest in packaging the data in a manner that leaves a lasting impression with the audience.
In an ideal situation, the communication flow would contain two kinds of packets: communication and space packets.
Communication packets include several components: data, voice (which may contain emotional tone), video, and sometimes mass.*
Although space packets, which can also be referred to in the IP voice world as interframe gaps, contain only space, they are extremely important because they represent the portal through which a broadband, present-time connection is made with the audience.
IT presenters who are striving to present at the highest level of effectiveness should attempt to integrate both communication and space packets into their presentations. However, most IT professionals are so focused on the data that they include few or no space packets in their delivery. As a result, they remain disconnected from both present time and their audience. The benefits of integrating space packets and communication packets into a delivery can be enormous.
Let’s explore the distinction between communication packets and space packets in more detail. The ideal mix of components in a communication packet is 7 percent data, 38 percent voice, and 55 percent video. Voice and video together compose 93 percent of the communication packet.
What is video? Video is the ability to use your body to embody your thoughts.
When you embody the thought with physical expression, the audience not only hears the data but sees the data. It is as if the audience is at the movies watching a professional actor delivering his or her lines. Mimes—who only use their bodies, never their voices, to communicate—are great examples of the outstanding use of video.
You rarely see video components in IT professionals’ delivery. They are so focused on the data that they are unable to create the space even to think about including video in the packet. And yet, video should represent 55 percent of the communication packet because it is a key tool in increasing your effectiveness; in this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Your effectiveness can be measured by how memorable you are in front of an audience.
Here’s an interesting definition of memory: linear, sequential moments of now stored in your internal database. You could say that each moment of now from the beginning to the end of your life is recorded in this linear set of frames. The frame contains several parts: the video picture of the experience, the sound track, the emotions, and even the smells associated with the experience.
When you ask people to remember something, they often first remember the video image. Once they have a picture of that image in their mind’s eye, it increases their probability of also remembering the sound track or data.
Smell is so powerful it can trigger a memory that takes you