Professor Robert Winston is a British professor of medicine and science, as well as a member of the British House of Lords, a TV presenter and pioneer in human fertility treatments.
It is as a TV presenter that Professor Winston has become a household name in the United Kingdom, because of his ability to take a very complex subject, science and medicine, and to simplify it through the use of stories.
As presenters we can learn a lot from Professor Winston’s style.
The key element to Professor Winston’s style is to use words and descriptions that everyone would understand. He does not use medical jargon or difficult to pronounce latin words, he uses every day common words such as “the heart”, “the brain”, “the liver”. This is language that is understandable to everybody.
Using jargon in any presentation is bad. Even if you are sure all members of your audience will understand what you are talking about, but you can never be 100% sure. It is far better to avoid jargon altogether and keep the words you use to everyday phrases and expressions.
Professor Winston communicates his message by making data interesting. For example, when talking about the number of people who die in the UK each day, he expresses it by saying “by the end of this programme, 60 people will have died in the United Kingdom” this number is easy to understand and appreciate, and is simple to understand. It is also remarkably memorable.
Taking your presentation subject and turning it into a story with easy to understand examples and data sets, really does make a difference to your presentation. It makes it memorable, and actionable. And that is what you want to achieve.
Professor Winston’s voice is also a strong factor in his speaking style. It is not monotonous and he varies his tone and inflection. He speeds up when he needs to and slows down when pointing out something that is important.
You too need to vary your tone and speed when speaking. It will help you to sound much more natural and much more human. Far better than speaking with one tone – then you just sound like a robot.