Delivering Complicated or Technical Material

Are you preparing to give a presentation on a complicated topic? Is your job to deliver information that may be too complex or detailed for everyone in your audience?

Many speakers struggle with finding the right mix of words, terminology, and style, but for people invited to speak on particularly technical subjects, it’s especially difficult to decide on the right word usage and tone to use.

Effective presenters know how to translate complex ideas into thoughts that hold the attention of audiences. Based on two recent speakers we saw, we recommend following the lead of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, rather than that of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

America had opportunities to see both of these individuals in the past month. Geithner delivered a much-anticipated speech about the U.S. economic recovery plan (now referred to by media pundits as “The Empty Speech,”) while deGrasse Tyson appeared on Jon Stewart’s "The Daily Show," promoting his new book "The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet."

First, we must note that we’re comparing two VERY different situations: Secretary Geithner, a cabinet member giving a major national policy speech, to Dr. deGrasse Tyson, an author promoting his book on a comedy show. But each speaker is dealing with highly specialized information and a broad audience that is not necessarily expert in the topic they are covering. So we're willing to take that liberty with our material.

On Timothy Geithner

Let’s start with Geithner, delivering a much-anticipated speech that was previewed the night before by President Obama in his first prime time news conference. Much was looked for in this speech, but most of the media noted that he delivered far less than expected.

Geithner performed poorly in many areas:
- He was clearly reading from the Teleprompters, stiffly moving his body only to shift from one prompter to the other.
- In his speech, he used virtually the same tone, volume and speed throughout. Without vocal variety, he gave no sense of what parts of his speech were most important.
- He spoke with his hands at his sides throughout, using only minimal gestures of any kind. He looked uncomfortable, and made his audience uncomfortable as well.
- He used the same facial expression throughout--something that resembled a scowl, as if he was in pain. We know he was trying to look serious, because he was dealing with a serious topic, but his overly sour expression turned people off.
- He needs to understand the difference between “telling” and “selling.” Clearly, he was “telling it.”

Throughout, Secretary Geithner relied on big words and overly complex terminology, such as “comprehensive stress test," "asset-backed loan system,” and “systematized financial regulations” without ever explaining what he meant. The poor body language, monotone and mono-expression, and scowl combined to distance him from his audience in person and on TV.

The speech was widely criticized for offering few specifics about the financial package he proposed. Still, we believe he would have won over more supporters with a more audience-friendly style, even though he was delivering serious news.

On Neil deGrasse Tyso

Geithner’s style contrasts greatly with that of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium and the American Museum of Natural History. Tyson deals with subjects that are also quite complicated: black holes, planetary orbits, astronomy, and cosmic evolution, to name a few. Yet in him, we see exactly how an expert in a technical field becomes a featured speaker, best-selling author and media darling.

In short, he was personable, funny, concise, and HUMAN! The interview with Stewart prompted us to visit YouTube to find more typical presentations that Tyson has given, and we found him to grasp many of the effective speaking techniques that Geithner lacked: he varies tone and volume, uses a variety of facial expressions, explains big ideas by telling stories and anecdotes, and employs big gestures using his whole body.

In the "Daily Show" excerpt, we were particularly impressed with how he handled Stewart’s opening question, about his leadership in demoting Pluto as a planet (“Why have you destroyed Pluto’s life?”), a decision that he said has generated large amounts of "hate mail from third graders.” In quick succession, at the beginning of his interview, Tyson made a number of quick points that demonstrated his expertise, calling Pluto an oddball planet that was smaller than seven moons, composed mostly of ice that would evaporate if it was as close to the Sun as we are, with an orbit that crossed other planetary orbits. There was no question in his mind, and quickly in our minds, that he was an authority on this topic.

For all you presenters out there, keep this in mind: your speaking style conveys your expertise and confidence about the topics you address. So what do you want to be, a Tyson or a Geithner?

Follow these links to watch video of each, and let us know what you think:

Neil deGrasse Tyson on "The Daily Show":
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=216998&title=neil-degrasse-tysonnnTreasury Secretary Timothy Geithner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDbling5y7M