Over many years of standing in front of strangers and exuding noises from my food intake orifice, I have refined and polished my public speaking skills. I have also gotten good reviews from audience attendees, even from presentations where I did not give away money.
Early in my presentation career, I would get feedback that I was too excited and talked too fast. I gave presentations with too many words on the slides. I also gave presentations with no words on the slides at all.
Over time, I have gotten quite good at public speaking.
At the perceived pinnacle of my craft, there is at least one thing I should do better. I am actually doing it here.
I did not set the table nicely for the presentation.
Questions like: Why are we here? What am I presenting?
Welcome to framing.
Framing in leadership conversations is about how leaders present information, context, and perspective to influence how others understand and respond to a topic or situation.
While I could deliver the nuts and bolts on a subject, I could have answered some early questions better to get everyone into the right mindset and help them reach necessary conclusions.
Framing can help explain the history of a situation so everyone understands how we arrived here. It can also help people make sense of their takeaways. Without good framing, a post-mortem can feel blamey or accusatory. If we frame the conversation as a learning exercise, that can help people understand that we are not looking for blame or trying to beat someone up with a shovel. The goal of the post-mortem is forward-thinking so we can learn and grow.
Framing can help people relate the subject matter of a presentation to company goals or strategy and encourage them to think beyond what immediate outcomes occurred.
Framing can help people rationally consume information that might be troubling or cause anxiety.
The next time you are putting together slides for a presentation, you should ask yourself, “What framing will make this presentation more impactful?”
