Stating the Obvious

Stating the Obvious        

         Often when speaking it becomes necessary to State the Obvious.

If it is so obvious why does the speaker need to present it?

OBVIOUS to you is not OBVIOUS to the audience.

It is the speakers job to let the cat out of the hat and assist the audience in seeing, hearing and feeling the obvious.

Changes are challenging. New information or new ways of seeing, hearing or feeling old information can be difficult to fathom. Concepts may hold multiple meanings.  For example FEAR of NOTHING can also yield NOTHING to FEAR.   

The obvious could have been glassed over into an invisible habit.  

It can become the invisible elephant in the room, invisible to the audience, but there still is an elephant in the room.

         When the emperor is naked, he is naked. Pretense will not change his nudity. Nor will pointing fingers get him dressed.

Ignoring the obvious is sometimes known as ignorance.

         Those obvious points need to be considered in relationship to the presentation. They often act as a foundation, the basics needed to build a unique selling propositions, to juxtapose new meaning, to boldly go where no has gone before.

         Stating the obvious is not a time to insult the audience’s intelligence. It is time to be subtle, speak slowly and combine intent to share the epiphany in the moment. It can be a great surprise that takes your presentation “off the charts.”

         Add your body language, gestures and facial expressions to create an elegant wordless moment that expresses and accents the obvious like an ‘AHA’ or even a humorous Homer Simpson ‘DUH’.

The obvious can be quite surprising.                                                  

Exercise: What are examples of the obvious? Multiple meanings?  Invisible habits?

Beyond turn off phones, where the rest rooms are, and when’s the break what are the obvious that needs to be presented?