The Successful Global Presenter

The Successful Global Presenter

In today’s global economy, all companies, from Fortune 100 powerhouses to small businesses, look internationally for opportunities to grow.  With so much at stake, presenters who represent these companies often feel tremendous pressure to succeed. 

Unfortunately, many of these presenters use approaches that work in their home country but aren’t effective when they speak to audiences from different cultures.  They may be experts on their products and services, but know little about the culture of the people in the audience. This often leads to cultural miscommunication, which costs companies millions of dollars in lost sales, project delays and damaged business relationships.    Now more than ever, presenters who operate on the global stage need to understand the impact of cultural differences on how they communicate. 

The Power of Cultural Agility

Successful global presenters demonstrate what I call “cultural agility.”  They understand the mindsets and expectations that people in different cultures have about communication, relationships, conflict and other aspects of conducting business.  And they know how to use this knowledge to adjust their presentation content and approach to fit their audience.

If you’re someone who currently presents to international audiences, or anticipates that you will in the future, you certainly don’t have to create a new presentation for every culture, but you can take specific steps to increase your chances of communicating successfully.  The following steps will help you improve your cultural agility while increasing the impact of your presentations:

1.     Use examples, case studies and scenarios that are relevant to the geographic and cultural region of your audience.  Sharing a case study about a U.S. company’s success may not be relevant to or credible with an audience in Germany.    Examples and scenarios work best when the market and economic factors affecting each country are similar, and when the message (“Listen to the customer”, “Focus on your strength”) is easily understood.  Clearly explain the point you are trying to make.  Don’t assume they understand.

2.     Use analogies, metaphors and themes that are specific to that culture or that have a broad cultural appeal.    If you want to use a sports analogy in India, cricket is more relevant than baseball.  If you have a mix of cultures in your audience, think of broader themes that everyone can relate to.  I recently worked with an executive on a speech for his global sales force.   We created a navigation theme to describe the challenging economic environment.   The overall market conditions were “rough seas”.   Each sales office was a “ship and crew” serving different “ports” or customers.  Everyone understood the analogy and they were on board with his plan.

3.     Use pictures that are representative of the geographic region of the audience or that show a multi-cultural perspective.   It may seem like a small detail to you, but audiences appreciate it when the faces, buildings, landscapes and other images shown in your presentation look familiar to them.  You can find multi-cultural images on web sites such as istockphoto, flickr and fotolia.

4.     Whenever possible, provide your content to the audience in advance.  It gives them time to review your content prior to the presentation, which is important if there are complex concepts that may be difficult to understand.  They can also give you feedback on how to communicate your ideas more effectively, even before your formal presentation.

And finally, if you can, contact someone from your audience’s culture or someone who has presented in that culture before.  They can help you with the steps listed above.  This could be a friend, co-worker, the person who asked you to present or even someone who will be in the audience for your presentation.    Ask them what you need to do to be successful presenting in their culture.

When it comes to presenting on the global stage, cultural agility matters.  If you take the time to tailor your content to the culture of your audience, you’ll reap the rewards of clear communication and positive business relationships far into the future.

Dave Underhill, president of Underhill Training and Development, is an industry leader in the field of global presentation training and coaching. Clients such as Microsoft and Intel call on Dave to help executives and their teams deliver compelling presentations on the global stage. 

When it comes to global presentations, Dave’s clients think of him as the Culture Coach, helping them tailor their messages and delivery to international audiences.  By developing their “cultural agility” they communicate effectively anytime, anywhere. 

For more information, contact him at 800-727-3870 or daveu@underhilltraining.com.