Nintendo President Presentation Signals Gaming Intention

by Blogmaster Posted on May 21, 2013
Satoru Iwata presentation
Satoru Iwata Nintendo presentation

Nintendo President Mr Satoru Iwata is a busy man. He’s busy rejuvenating the Nintendo games giant, taking on new USA chief executive responsibilities, and becoming the “spokesman” for the brand with a new products presentation.

Promoting the brand, in the USA, has been the job of Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of North America’s operations supremo. We’ve noted his presentation style before in an earlier post. But now it seems that new product presentations will be done by the company President.

In contrast to the presenting bluster of Reggie Fils-Aime, Mr Iwata’s presentation style exudes calm confidence. Presenting in English for a Nintendo Direct presentation Mr Iwata gave a favourable impression as his presentation was broadcast worldwide this week.

Presentation Structure and Style

There’s some structure to the presentation that outlines the new Wii U titles due for a Nintendo launch in the coming months. But rather than just list the new titles in his presentation, Mr Iwata outlined one or two new titles before a video played a brief excerpt. Very good. He then repeated this presenting technique as he worked through the other new titles.

Mr Iwata’s presentation provided good explanation and insight into the novel features and enhancements of each new title…you couldn’t really miss the points he was making.

First impressions of Mr Iwata’s presentation style might suggest a woodenness or rigid stance. But that physical stance did become more animated as his presentation got going. He made a few flourishes with his arms as he introduced his new game titles…very much the master of ceremonies.

This proved to be a no-nonsense presentation from the Nintendo President. It was clear, precise and distinct. The presentation exuded high production values…essential if you plan to broadcast worldwide.

His products were clearly of greater importance to his presentation than he, the presenter. We liked that feel.

Now it’s up to the market and the Nintendo distribution channels to give their opinions on the new products.


 

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Research Survey Presents a Problem with Jargon in the Office

by Blogmaster Posted on May 13, 2013
Avoid jargon when presenting
Avoiding management jargon in a presentation

We’ve long promoted the collective avoidance of management jargon in office presentations. But now, it seems that it’s official. Using office jargon or management-speak is nearly guaranteed to upset your work colleagues. That’s a conclusion reached by a new survey of 2,000 office workers in the UK.

The survey, by the Institute of Leadership & Management, considers the annoyances of modern office workers. And not surprisingly it highlights the annoying features of language and office vocabulary.

Survey respondents reported on a variety of office-speak howlers that included:

Thinking outside the box

and,

Going forward

and,

Let’s touch base

The first example originates with an IBM recruitment advert from the 1960s. The second example is management-speak for “next” or “in the future”. It’s apparent that many managers  can no longer refer to the future in their presentations…it’s always “going forward”. Strange. The third example originates with the sport of baseball…or possibly rounders.

The Perils of Jargon in Any Presentation

Anyone who’s been on a PresentPerfect training or coaching session knows how dispiriting management jargon can be to an audience. It saps the spirit and leaves an audience feeling strangely isolated…particularly when there’s no attempt made by the presenter to explain the words.

There are plenty of other annoyances uncovered by researchers into office jargon. But it’s fair to say that their targeting of office jargon taps a rich vein.

Only last year the loans business Wonga, carried out a similar survey into annoying office phrases…many of which creep into office presentations.

The Wonga survey went a little further than other linguistic research. Not content with audiences feeling isolated by jargon, it found that office workers felt embarrassed and awkward when they heard phrases such as:

It’s on my radar

and,

Flagging up

and,

Close of play

Making your audience feel embarrassed can’t be the goal of any business presenter. And losing an audience’s respect is certainly not wanted by any speaker.

But, it seems that there are many managers yet to find out the grisly truth. Use management-speak and office jargon in your presentations at your peril.


 

 

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Lengthy Speeches. Authoritarian Speakers. The Link.

by Blogmaster Posted on April 27, 2013
President Putin takes questions
President Putin’s interactive question and answer session

President Putin doesn’t yet have a reputation for interminably long speeches. Unlike many of his predecessors of course he’s comparatively concise and brief.

Yet his annual call-in television show went on for nearly five hours this week…4 hours 47 minutes–85 questions answered. That’s significantly more than India’s Rahul Gandhi managed after his speech a few weeks ago.

Putin’s was not a marathon speech. But it was an impressive question and answer session. One of the longest we’ve come across.

Lengthy Speeches and Authoritarian Speakers

There’s some relationship between totalitarianism and lengthy speeches. That’s an observed relationship and not one that necessarily stands up to full scientific investigation.

President Putin is democratically elected, irregularities in the voting aside, and the length of his speeches are pretty standard in contrast to his predecessors. Predecessors who weren’t elected with the popular vote. Perhaps his lengthy question and answer session reflects the democracy that underpins his position?

Elsewhere in the world, we’ve looked at the speeches of President Mugabe, the public speaking of Fidel Castro and the speeches of the late Hugo Chavez. Colonel Gaddafi’s speeches were equally notorious. All have or had a propensity for long-winded speeches. And all have or had a whiff of authoritarianism.

Megan Lane of the the BBC News magazine explored this very issue some years ago. Her observations noted that democratically elected leaders today don’t dare to give a lengthy speech…fearing their audience will get bored, restless or just disappear.

In contrast, authoritarian leaders have no such fear. Their audiences won’t want to provide an excuse for the security team to punish them for yawning! Their disappearance might not be voluntary.

That’s another observed assessment that might not stand up to full scrutiny. But it sounds feasible.

Pity then the tired old authoritarian leader whose speeches are a yawn, whose public speaking has lost its edge and whose audiences are no longer worried with hiding their feelings. That’s the situation for Robert Mugabe.

But for the last word on lengthy speeches we have the example of China to fall back on…no stranger to authoritarianism. Chinese state media reported last year that the mayor of Guangzhou has had enough of lengthy speeches–he took a fifty-eight-minute speech to say so.

The Mayor, Wan Qingliang, told a local Party meeting that speeches should last no longer than one hour for key meetings, and half an hour for other meetings.

Perhaps authoritarian speakers can change their public speaking habits after all…but it takes a unilateral decision, no debate and absolutely no dissent. Way to go.


 

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