Fire Them Up!

Fire Them Up!  promises to reveal 7 simple secrets to:

1)    Inspire colleagues, customers, and clients.

2)    Sell yourself, your vision, and your values.

3)    Communicate with charisma and confidence.

 

After reading the book, I can truly say that it delivers what it promises.

 

Fire Them Up! is one of those books that makes it hard for the reviewer to write a review and do it justice—every part of the book is extraordinary. However, since I am always looking for ways to improve my presentations, I am going to focus more on “Chapter 4: Paint a Picture—Tell Powerful, Memorable, and Actionable Stories.”

 

Give a Popping Presentation

Did you know that Al Gore’s award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth started out as a PowerPoint presentation? Did you know that a Houston trail lawyer used a simple PowerPoint presentation to convince a jury to award a $253 million settlement against the drug giant Merck? Well, it is true. Thus, don’t underestimate the importance of a well-crafted and well-delivered presentation.

 

In Fire Them UP! Carmine Gallo shares the secrets used by Al Gore, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton to create powerful and persuasive presentations.

 

In order to understand the elements of a good presentation, Carmine takes us back to the ancient Greeks who were the first to discover and study the incredible power of language to inspire and persuade. “The Greek outline for a persuasive speech…has never been significantly improved upon. It is the chief insight the Greeks have to offer that can still significantly strengthen your presentation today, 2,500 years later.” As Carmine explains, the Greek rhetorical structure was made up of five parts: introduction, narrative, argument, refutation, and conclusion. A phenomenal presentation must contain these five parts.

 

Introduction

 

The introduction needs to make an emotional connection with the audience through stories and observations. In his We’re In It Together presentation, Barack Obama begins with a story about a visit by Robert Kennedy to the Mississippi Delta. During this visit, Robert Kennedy meets a hungry and listless child who has suffered so much that his attempts to talk to the child are futile. He then turns to the reporters traveling with him and asks, “How can a country like this allow it?” It’s a question Obama uses to set the stage for his argument about poverty in America. In addition, the story is told by Obama against the backdrop of Weinland Park in Columbus, Ohio—a city struggling with poverty. It’s an excellent example of an introduction that quickly makes an emotional connection with the audience through stories and observations.

 

The Narrative

 

After introducing the audience to your message through emotional stories and observations, “…you must get to the heart of the matter, whether it involves something you want your listeners to do, something you wish to persuade them of, or something you want to tell them about.”

 

Hillary Clinton’s infamous Telephone Ringing at 3A.M. presentation, does an excellent job of illustrating the effective use of this element in a presentation.  The commercial begins with scenes of children sleeping and a phone ringing. Then, the narrator begins with the narrative of the presentation:

 

“It’s 3AM and your children are safe and asleep. But there is a phone in the White House ringing. Something is happening in the world and your vote will decide who answers that phone. Whether it’s someone who already knows the world’s leaders, knows the military. Someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It’s 3AM and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want to answer the phone?”

 

Hillary’s presentation does a superb job of using the narrative element. It asks its listeners to do something—vote for Hillary. It attempts to persuade the audience that voting for Hillary will keep your children safe at night. Lastly, it tells the audience a little bit about Hillary’s experience working with world leaders and the military.

 

It’s a very compelling message that reinforces Hillary’s claim that she has  more experience and knowledge when it comes to working with international leaders and the military.

 

The Argument

 

Once you have introduction your message and presented the heart of your message, you must present the proof for your thesis, or message. In other words, you have to present facts that support your claim–an argument. We can claim we are the best HR manager in the world, and tell everyone that we are, but until we provide the proof that we are, it is just an opinion. 

 

In An Inconvenient Truth, Gore supports his message with graphs, charts, statistics, and facts. For most presenters, this is probably the hardest part of pulling off an inspirational presentation. Let’s face it, for most of us, numbers, charts, and linear lines are boring. Yet, without facts, you will leave your audience wondering if the claims you are making are really true.

 

Facts can be made entertaining. Al Gore makes the graphs and charts in his presentation entertaining by using a mechanical lift to point to points of the graph where there are increases in the levels of CO2 emissions. His actions garner a bit of laughter from his audience. After presenting the facts, the presenter is now ready to move to the fourth part of a good presentation.

 

The Refutation

Another important element of a good presentation is to address objections and counterarguments, and attack with facts and stories that disprove them. In his, Acceptance Speech at the DNC in Denver, Obama uses the refutation  element so well that most people never realize it. Here are a couple of lines from his speech where he refutes the objections of him not being a viable candidate for President. He says, “I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office.  I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington.” He goes on to say, “What the naysayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s about you.” In essence, he knows that he doesn’t fit the typical presidential profile and that’s okay. It isn’t about him, but rather it’s about you (the American people) and the need for change.

 

Later in the speech, he addresses McCain’s comparison to Paris Hilton. He says, “I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks celebrities lead, but this is mine.” In other words, this is Obama’s life and not the life of Paris Hilton. They don’t lead the same life.

 

The Finale

As I was reading Carmine’s explanation of this element of a presentation, I quickly thought about JFK’s Inaugural Address Speech. It’s the speech where he asks, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” It’s a perfect example of what a finale should be. It is powerful, planned, memorized, and memorable. In addition, it makes an appeal for the audience to take action.

 

As I stated at the beginning of this blog, Fire Them Up! , is a difficult book to review, because every word contained in the book is motivational and makes you want to get to work and start using Carmine’s seven simple secrets. It’s written so well that I could write two or three more blogs about it. Thus, you really need to buy Carmine’s book and determine for yourself whether or not it is as good as I am claiming it to be. I guarantee your next presentation will be anything but boring.

 

About Carmine Gallo

Carmine Gallo is the communication’s coach for some of the world’s most admired brands. In addition, he writes the Leadership Communications  column for Businessweek.com. Furthermore, he is an Emmy award-winning journalist for CNN, CBS, CNET, Fox, and Paul Allen’s TechTV.

 

His first book, 10 Simple Secrets of the World’s Greatest Business Communicators, has been translated into more than one dozen languages.

 

If you are interested in contacting Carmine please visit his website.

 

Note: For the sake of space, I didn’t embed the videos highlighted in this post. However, all of them can be viewed on YouTube.