Bold Move Consulting - Kevin Benson

            On deck: Following President Nancy Hanson’s first-quarter club update on Sept.26, the October luncheon programs will feature election roundtable discussions with candidates for the State Legislature, County Commission, Superior Court judgeships and ballot initiatives.

 

               

            Context is vital because “you are in a persuasive conversation all the time,”

 

            Kevin Benson told those attending the Sept. 19 club luncheon.

 

            Benson, who owns and operates Bold Move Consulting, added that he likes to talk to Rotary Clubs, partly “because you have the best food.”

 

            Benson also is a longtime adjunct instructor at Gonzaga and Whitworth universities, and, equally important, a 20-year veteran of improv comedy.

 

            He offered tips on how to “make your next presentation phenomenal.”  One of the basic problems for public speakers, Benson said, “is fear. You have to be an authentic human being and we want people to like us.  You are not a horrible public speaker; you are just terrified.”

 

            Benson said most people’s brains operate on “fight-or-flight reactions,” which leads to work-around behaviors.

 

            After his daughter, now age 9, fell off her bicycle, Benson said, she refused to get back on, saying “I’m not going to do that again.”  Overcoming the fear of falling, or failing at public speaking, takes concentrated effort, he said.

 

            Benson, who said he works mostly with non-profit agency leaders and entrepreneurs, offered some tips to improve presentation skills.

 

            Presenting information is a transaction, he said, differentiation between “presenting information and telling a story.”

 

            Part of the transaction is engaging the audience by soliciting and accepting their ideas, then building on them.  It takes a lot of “yes, and…once upon a time…then, because of that…and because of that…until finally…”

 

            Using the Disney Co.’s Pixar animated movies as an example, he talked about the “story spines” which shape story telling.

 

 

            So how would club members rate Benson’s talk, on a scale of “useful” to “phenomenal?”

 

 

            Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink

 

 

            Program coordinator: Brad Stark