Basebolf: What Presentations Are Really About

WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS GOING ON when you gave your last presentation? A logical exchange of information, informed discourse, and perhaps a mutual agreement to move forward on your particular idea? How civil :-)
        You know what was REALLY going on? A game of “Basebolf” between you and your audience. Haven’t heard of it? That’s ’cause I made up the name — but the game was going on even in the absence of a name.
        Basebolf is a combination of baseball and golf. Your audience is doing the baseball part, while you’re doing the golf part — and if you played your part of it well, then the game was probably a huge success for both you and your audience.
        On the other hand . . . if you handled the golf part like most duffers [golfing term for average player], then the baseball part was a lot more challenging for your audience, who were again left to contend with another bad pitch.
       Confused? Good! That’s just the way Basebolf is in real life. So let’s break it down.

The Baseball Part (Them)

Your audience is NOT, repeat NOT sitting there placidly, hands folded, expectantly awaiting your pearls of wisdom. They’ve all seen too many presentations, and too many bad presentations, to have any excitement about what’s to come (unless your name is Steve Jobs or Guy Kawasaki)(in which case, call me!).
        INSTEAD, they’re like baseball catchers, hoping to receive something useful from what you’re going to say — but, fearing the worst, are wearing a heavy mask and thick padding. They’ll listen, warily, but they’ll walk away, spitting in the dirt, if you throw screw balls or limp excuses for fastballs.

The Golf Part (You)

It’s very easy to get caught up in all the mechanics of doing a presentation and miss the greater objective of what we’re trying to achieve. Just like a golfer can get too absorbed in the latest tips and tricks for refining their game, so too can presenters get overly distracted by things like “gesture this way” or “pause for effect” or “imagine they’re naked”. OR golfer and presenter can get complacent and feel that winging it will work just fine (which it rarely does).
        I’m not saying that working on one’s “game” is worthless, for golfers or presenters. In fact, practice is critical to consistent success. But it’s the inner game that one should really focus on. For golfers, that means quieting all the gimmicks and distracting thoughts, visualizing your shot, and then letting your body do the rest.
        For presenters, that means making a genuine connection with your audience, giving them something of value right from the start, and making it easy for them to say “Yes”.
        If you do that — if you get your audience excited or intrigued about what’s in it for them — then your technique is of little concern. Some bizarre golf swings have won major championships (e.g. Jim Furyk, Lee Trevino, or Arnold Palmer), and I guarantee your audience will not notice your mechanics as a presenter if you’ve made an authentic connection with them. They’ll just be engaged in a really compelling conversation, which is what the best presentations always are.

<added note, 1/18/07>
I've since found there IS a game called Basebolf — or atleast you can find a few entries if you Google it. I don’t think you’ll see it on ESPN for a while, though, and I certainly hadn’t heard of it when I had my flash about the business application of this, ahem, game.