How a Woman Can Move Mountains with Words

How To Create an Impact using the 4 "P"s?

Watch how Cat Lainé  from The Business Innovation Factory, is taking us into her story with Purpose,Presence,Passion and of course,Preparation.

 Awesome.

How does she do this?

With the four "P"s:

• Purpose
  
• Presence
• Passion
• Preparation

What is her purpose?

"As Deputy Director of Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG), Lainé has worked to bring renewable electricity and solar hot water to families and agricultural workers in Guatemalan villages, and dry composting latrines to women in the Cap-Haitien marketplace in Haiti. Simple infrastructure projects like these have a dramatic effect on quality of life."

This lady is on a Mission. This alone has the power to move mountains.

How "Present" is she?

In her introduction,she uses a metaphor, tells us the story from the Greek mythology Tantalus.

She calls upon our ancient memories, the myths we may have learned at school.

She's excited about it and even laughs just at the thought of it, before telling us her story. We can only listen, in awe and impatient to know more.

Look at her: she is relaxed, she moves on the stage, makes eye contact, smiles, let her emotions show on her face. She also uses her voice accordingly to the effect she wants to produce. Her intention is clear: she really wants us to get involved and act on it by participation,taking action.

100 % Present and "A-Live", here and now.

She creates a sense of intimacy and closeness with us. She invites us in her space.

What about Passion?

Here is what she says about passion:

"Your dedication to the cause is what gets you through those moments," she says. "What you can't learn is passion. If you have that, it will get you so much farther than a degree."

Let it show, share your inner fire with your audience, and people will listen to you!

Preparation

This natural and casual talk is not improvised.

"With AIDG, Lainé attempts to stretch the goals of a traditional NGO by throwing savvy "business acumen" into the mix. She brings her own scientific background to the table when the group spearheads a new project, but she also knows the value of a good old-fashioned sales pitch."

And she must have prepared for this video, just like Steve Jobs does relentlessly before the release of Apple latest toy.

The result is :

Simplicity and natural.

The essence of an excellent presentation

What about you?

Will you use the 4 "P"s for your next presentation?

Comments

[Peg Rowe]

Marion, this is a wonderful post on so many levels. First, sharing Cat Laine with us. She pulls us in with a story that she weaves throughout the talk. Like you, I appreciate the power of great story telling. I have admiration for story telling, especially when it supports a topic or theme that could be heavy if approached from a strictly fact based approach. We are pulled in and want to know more, we want to know where she's taking us.
This was also a wonderful example of a powerful message delivered in a natural conversational style. I appreciate you highlighting how this talk illustrates the 4 P's.
Lastly, I am excited to see more examples of women who speak well. In the past 2 months I've heard Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright, both were inspiring, powerful, smart, credible, funny and fearless in taking on global issues facing women. They both are clear about the issues they support and unapologetic for their views. I am also inspired by Maya Angelou.

OK, this post is now officially too long!

[robertahill]

Thanks Marion for sharing a "powerful" story using 4 other "P"'s for a powerful presentation. I agree with Tanveer about how Lainé uses lots of her own personal examples in the narrative tale. Ah Ha! There is another "P" here --- Personal.

[Javier Munoz]

Fine tuning your motivation, values, and passion with a well articulated story engages the audience with emotion leaving people with more than just a rational argument.

Emotions make you move and are memorable, facts can be great arguments to make you agree or disagree with the presenter, but ultimately action is of the essence.

Spontaneous charisma results from the alchemy of aligning motivation, values, and passion with your actions.

Play and make it real