What Kids Can Teach You About Presenting Skills

My husband and I have taken on the challenge of teaching the first and second Sunday school class at our church. Going into the volunteer opportunity we really had no idea of what we were getting ourselves into. After four weeks of teaching we are pros at running the class successfully and, coincidentally, I’ve found a lot of this success translates into how I present to my clients day-to-day.

1. Keep it simple, stupid: Trying to teach six- and seven-year-olds lessons can be complicated and daunting. I had to learn quickly that they don’t need to know or memorize the details, they need  the top line story line and moral. Once I thought about it, this is true of most audiences I’m presenting to. If clients want the details behind how to build a branded keyword pay-per-click campaign they will ask. But, for the most part all they really want to know is  how much it will cost, and how is it going to benefit their bottom line.
2. Cater your presentation to your audience. There are a lot of aspects of our lessons I find fascinating that our class just doesn’t think is cool. I’ve learned to focus on aspects of the lessons they care about and resonate with them. For example, when teaching the story of Noah’s Ark, I think the fact that God kept Noah and his family safe from a flood that literally wiped out the entire planet is pretty cool. On the contrary, our first graders just wanted act out their favorite animals, while simultaneously getting their fill of as many animal crackers and gold fish they could fit in their tiny hands. Learn what your audience cares about and speak to that. Leave out the rest!
3. Make presentations interactive. I’ve learned reading a story and talking at my class is just not feasible. They don’t absorb the information and before I know it the boys are playing war and the girls are drawing or singing the theme song to Frozen. Asking them to participate in the class or involving them in the story is what I found to have worked. I’ve also found this is true when presenting to clients: The most successful presentations are often a discussion and collaborative effort with the client, rather than a lecture.
4. Be realistic in what you will cover.  It’s a pretty big deal, and huge accomplishment, if we can keep our first and second graders in their seats for more than five minutes. The only way I’ve found to keep them sitting for 30 minutes is by bribing them with snacks or hint at the promise of playing in the gym before their parents pick them up. A lot of the time is spent asking them to stop standing on their chairs or to get off the floor and back into their seats. Although I rarely have a client I need to ask to get off the floor, I do have clients that disengage from presentations by readying emails, texting, forming a to-do list while in a meeting. This has led me to be realistic about what I can do to hold people’s attention both in person and on a conference call. Three hour conference calls just aren’t productive and generally, no one is engaged.
5. Even six-year-olds like agendas and having expectations set. On the first day of Sunday School, Gavin, one of our students, walked in, introduced himself, sat down, looked around and asked me if he could give feedback on the class. Wow, feedback already and this kid hadn’t been sitting in class for more than two minutes! His feedback was as follows: One, he likes when there is an agenda on the board so he knows what he is doing that day; and two, last year his teachers gave him ice cream every Sunday and let him play on the big kid playground. I was shocked when he said this, but come to think of it I’ve never walked into a client meeting without an agenda and stating the purpose of the meeting to set expectations. We now have an agenda every class that I walk through to kick-off class and keep everyone in the loop on what’s to come. And, in case you’re wondering, I checked my sources and ice cream was not provided every Sunday. Nice try, Gavin!