The prediction business is always fun. We nominate our plans so that God can laugh, according to the old Yiddish proverb. Nevertheless, we need to make some plans don’t we. The Gregorian calendar beginning of the year is as good a time as any to think “start”. The last two years has seen the entire speaking business metamorphise into an online venture for the most part. Standing in front of a crowd is now somewhat of a distant memory for most of us. Internal meetings have gone the same way and we chime in from home on what is happening with the results so far this month or quarter or whatever.
The world seems to have sunk into the abyss of the ordinary, when it comes to persuasion power. Meetings have moved from the usual insomnia inducing exercises in the physical meeting room to the online room, but faithfully retaining the insomnia inducing capability. The best part of this has been the boredom of listening to colleagues drone on, is leavened by just turning your camera off and doing other more interesting stuff in the background, without drawing any boss wrath. Of course, our colleagues are doing the same thing to us too, when it is our turn to speak.
Online webinars have also sunk to the bottom of the ocean, where the crush of the weight of the water saps any life from the talks. People are so amazingly adaptable. They have learnt how to move their usual boring delivery online and without any apology. Once upon time the speaker would only be impinging on the time and patience of a small crowd of people, but with the wonders of Webex, Zoom, Teams, etc., the tech has created a weapon of mass destruction.
Is this your plan for 2022? Are you writing in your organizer, “I can’t wait to bore people to death again this year”? I doubt that would be the case, but I also doubt that among the many goals being set for this year, becoming a master of persuasion is in there. How could that be the case? The complexities of communication have only gone up with the advances in society and business.
We operate in the Age of Distraction and the Era of Cynicism. Social media armed mobile phones have allowed us to spend every second of our downtime endlessly scrolling for something more interesting. Our concentration spans are being measured in nanoseconds today. We have become the most distracted generation in global history. How can we gain persuasion power in this tech induced mess?
Our other problem is no one wants to believe anything they hear anymore, as everyone is more anxious about falling victim to fake news. It isn’t much respite from the pressures on modern communication to know that even if we are getting our message listened to, a lot of people are doubting anything we say. Science itself is in doubt and now “alternative facts” is a thing. Where will all of this end and what does it mean for us as presenters, persuaders and advocates?
There are some sure bets, some certainties that we can rely on though. These include the fact that the majority of people in business will remain hopeless communicators and persuaders. They won’t analyse the current reality for opportunities to stand out, to break through the noise and get their messages heard and believed. They won’t understand that while what we say is important, how we say it is more important to being effective as a presenter. The ability to wield language and to wield its delivery are potent tools for success in business. If everyone was well versed in being persuasive, our task would become more onerous and competitive very quickly. Well, that isn’t going to happen, because our colleagues and competitors will just wander into 2022 and repeat the same mistakes they made in 2021.
Let’s add “I will become a master of persuasion” to our list of things to be achieved this year. Standing above the hoi polloi isn’t easy, but this is one area where we can seize the advantage. If we haven’t studied this art of public speaking, let’s commit to doing that. If we haven’t taken the training, then let’s get that into our schedules for this year. The great unwashed will do nothing, so let’s take action and differentiate ourselves from those who are either ignorant or lazy or both. Persuaders of the world, arise in 2022 and seize the opportunity to polish our craft and take success into our own hands.
