How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate!

4.7. I WANT TO JOIN THE PANTHEON. WHERE DO I SIGN?

Discuss the legends in any field for long enough, and a sinking feeling can settle in. So often the advice seems to be along the lines of, "Go forth, and be awesome—more awesome, in fact, than you have ever been." Clearly, such advice treats success as if it were a red pill and failure a blue pill. Beyond a few comedians whose slacker personas actually serve them better than ambition, I think we'd all be downing the reds, given the choice.

A survey of the greats—Jobs, Gladwell, Lessig, and so on—might make the art of the presentation seem unattainable. None of the greats are genetically predisposed to captivate audiences, though. The best in every field do all the right things so naturally that we forget how much practice it took for them to get there. Roger Federer was training three times a day as early as age six; Tiger Woods, it seems, was handed a putter shortly after the umbilical cord was cut. Superiority is laid one brick at a time, day by day.

We can either be daunted by these geniuses' commitment, or we can be greatly encouraged by realizing that being the best depends almost entirely on the things that we do all day. It's a result of the actions and behaviors over which we have direct, moment-to-moment control. Joining the pantheon of presentation gods will entail both your time and commitment. Like any sport, it will require coaching, both for directing your efforts and for constant feedback. In the following chapters ...