Can you handle the truth? Let’s say you found the truth. The one with the capital T. Would you share it, or keep it to yourself? If you choose to share it, would you sell it through a book, promote it on a billboard or produce a blockbuster movie? Perhaps you would just give it away, hoping everyone sees the truth through your way of living. Since the Truth, with a capital T, is a bit elusive to us all, you might just wonder what you really found. Doubt and disbelief, as well as reassurance and realization, live within and come to life through questions. Whatever truth you have the courage and conviction to share, distilling fact from fiction, speaking as a seeker not a professor, and asking questions worth answering is truly key to handling the presentation.
The ultimate goal of education is to question everything.
What do murder mysteries, scientific discoveries and IQ tests have in common? They all contain questions worth answering. Whether it is “Whodunnit?” “What’s doing it?” or “How well can you do it?” Good questions create a context of curiosity and direction for inquiry. Engage your listeners by starting with questions they may be asking. Answering who are you and why someone should listen is a good place to start. Then, offer the main point of your presentation as a question. Weave in clues which lead towards your conclusions, the best you can. Let your audience discover the truth by finding their answers within your questions, as they find they are the ones who done it.
Believe those who are seeking the truth.
Doubt those who find it.
– Andre Gide
“Let me tell how it is” is one of the worst ways to start a presentation. Even if you know the truth, your presumptiveness will put off listeners and provoke them to prove you wrong. Professing your truth only works with those who already agree with you. And why do you need to remind them of what they already know? Invite your audience on a quest. Tell them what you are seeking. Share where you have looked. Tell them what you have found. Make your quest for truth real to them and they will honor your request, and join you.
Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs
fiction to make it plausible.
– Francis Bacon
Facts, like all truth, require a context to be meaningful. The story behind the fact maybe fictional and the truth may be mythical but it opens up the paths to understanding. Stories engage our emotions and invite our intellect to investigate. However, overly emotional stories end up obscuring the truth. Balancing emotional engagement with intelligent information challenges every story teller. True stories entertain as they explore a moral. A moral is simply the point at which your emotions become intelligent and you know what the story is saying. Understanding the truth of a story means, given the facts, you can imagine how to act.
Answers assume a truth. Questions invite truth. Professors proclaim a truth. Seekers share their search for truth. Rendering fact from fiction reveals a story’s truth, making the mythical meaningful and personal. Once you have a handle on your story, the truth is free for all to seek.