In thinking back on some of the training I undertook during my career, one that came to mind was a ‘Masterclass’ on the somewhat dry subject of, ‘What is a Compelling Business case?’
I’ve written and read a few business cases in my time, I’m not sure how compelling any of them were. Still, I believe you are never too old to learn new tricks so I thought I might pick up a ‘nugget’ from the speakers.
I was wrong. One was a professional writer, an honourable profession as such, and a career I would much instead follow than business. While a handy skill, it’s maybe not the primary one needed to understanding business propositions. Another was a technical guru, whose glee became obvious whenever the debate strayed towards technology but was sadly bereft of ideas on the topic of business proposals. To top it off the third was a professional actor. He was there to educate the audience that a compelling business case was one thing, but ‘delivering’ it to your chosen audience was another. The three together managed to take up 6 hours of my life that I will never see again.
At least the actor offered an hour of basic acting technique. I now know one has to be, “in the room” when presenting. Personally, I’ve always found it tricky when giving a presentation from another room. Still, he meant it metaphysically, “if you aren’t, ‘in the room’ then you aren’t, ‘of the room and at one with your audience’. I also now know that one doesn’t present or project, one “casts one’s net over the last row of one’s audience”. Stance too was critical, “what touches the ground is on the ground” ( I never quite got that one).
I also never quite got, “to be seen, you must be seen”, which I think was all about posture. Don’t slouch, move much, frown, smile or wave your arms around – sadly all of which are pretty much my presentation style! There was also, “what is heard, will be heard”. Seems pretty obvious. However, the thrust of the argument was that we should never present in the vernacular as that makes us appear ‘uneducated’. The Queen’s English is the best (which immediately conjured up the scene, “Are you ‘Heppy’ darling”, in ‘Brief Encounter’ – much parodied in, ‘The History Boys’).
The culmination of the actor’s offering was to invite people from the audience onto the stage. There they were asked to walk around greeting each other while acting in turn, ‘being determined’, ‘feeling unsure’ and ‘feeling relaxed’. All good stuff for RADA no doubt, but not very helpful to a business case.
Anyway, I suppose it made a change to regular business routine, and the workshop will live long in the memory, alas sadly not for its intended purpose!
Reflections 