Battle Decks: Improving Public Speaking, One Slide Deck at a Time
You’re in the groove at work when your boss messages you, “Be ready to present the Q1 deck at today’s all-hands meeting.” Immediately, you feel a sense of nervousness at the thought of presenting to a room full of people. You are not alone. Many people struggle with public speaking, especially doing it on the fly. My colleague at Storyblocks, Megan Henderson, has experience helping teams improve their public speaking skills with Battle Decks. Megan landed on Battle Decks as a fun, low-stakes way to help her team gain confidence with presenting virtually, while teaching them to avoid filler words such as “um,” “ah,” and “you know.”
Battle Decks, improv training for presenters
So, what is Battle Decks? It’s a bit like Zoom improv training for presenters. The exercise improves participants’ teamwork, communication skills, and boosts trust. To start, find a willing group of six to eight people and divide them into pairs. If Mary and Erik are paired, Mary creates a unique deck of ten slides, plus one “you’re done” slide for Erik and Erik creates one for Mary. The slides can be of anything: pictures of unicorns, baby photos, natural disasters, or bar charts and graphics. Because they are collections of random slides, putting together a deck is fast work. Once the decks are complete, the competition can begin. The challenge is to come up with a coherent presentation for a random deck of slides you have never seen before. In addition to presenting Battle Decks, all participants receive a rubric and are expected to evaluate and give feedback to their peers.
Sample Rubric
- How many filler words does the presenter use (count and type)?
- Did the presenter tell a cohesive and clear story? What was the main take away?
- Did the presenter keep an engaging pace and tone?
- Did the presenter use gestures and facial expressions (nonverbal cues) to help tell the story?
- Were there any distractions as part of the presentation?
Earlier this year, Megan piloted Battle Decks with a group Storyblocks participants. When she introduced the pilot, she set an eight-week schedule with a total of six competitions. The idea was to make the competitions harder each meeting so that participants continued to learn and be challenged. After starting off with fun decks filled with goofy imagery to help participants get comfortable with presenting, there was a pivot to factual business topics. Guest judges also helped keep participants on their toes and the practice introduced others in the company to Battle Decks. I have to say, I was kind of blown away when I served as a guest judge. The presentations included some unusual topics, such as a conspiracy theory about birds, zombie apocalypse, and dinosaurs roaming the Earth. These topics elicited some giggles here and there, but overall, participants deftly crafted clear narratives on the spot while fielding questions from their colleagues.
What participants are saying
It would seem the pilot was a success, but you don’t have to take my word for it. I asked Battle Deck participants to share their feedback. Here’s what they had to say:
Why did you volunteer to participate in the Battle Decks pilot?
It seemed like a good opportunity to practice public speaking in a low-pressure setting. As a remote worker, I also thought it would be a good way to get to know co-workers outside of the typical work projects.
It sounded interesting and possibly fun. I’m generally comfortable doing presentations but with remote work the way we present has changed in many ways, so I wanted to test myself.
What surprised you the most about Battle Decks?
It’s been really funny. The first presentation I was given to speak on was on whether or not the moon landings were faked. My third presentation had to do with whether or not the earth could be considered a sandwich.
I didn’t expect to learn and take away so much from it. From session to session everyone had notable improvements regardless of the level at which they started.
How much I was able to learn from watching other people with their own presentations.
What was the hardest deck or slide you got so far? Why was it so hard? How did you get through the presentation?
The second deck I got on technology. I struggled to get in the zone and find a running theme, so I went through it too quickly. I just pushed through it.
It was a deck of back-to-back absurd questions like “why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway”. The theme was fun and lighthearted but that made it actually more difficult to talk about in a serious manner, also these were questions with no real right answer, so I had to focus on a reason why take on the question was correct. In that moment it occurred to me that this was almost more like theatre, and I had to put on a bit of a show, and it helped me stop thinking about what I was saying in a “thinking manner” but more of a “reading lines”. I’m not sure if it makes a ton of sense but I tricked myself into being comfortable with it.
As a result of presenting a Battle Deck, what was the most useful public speaking feedback you have received from your peers?
To pause and think more before speaking. I tend to just “go for it” too early. So pausing helps to minimize my “filler words”, which I believe are my biggest weaknesses.
Two pieces of feedback stick out to me as useful: Being made aware that I tend to fidget while speaking on zoom, and that I could do more to engage with my audience via things like personal anecdotes.
Would you encourage your friends, enemies, both to join Battle Decks? Why or why not?
I think it’s a fun, easy way to practice and grow your presentation skills as well as get more comfortable in front of an audience.
100% yes! It’s a fun way to get a feel for where your weaknesses are in presenting to others and, frankly, with silly decks (it) becomes an enjoyable bonding experience with others.
I would only encourage my friends — I don’t want my enemies to get ahead! I think it’s a great opportunity for anyone who does it — you’re bound to learn at least one thing.
I 100% would because it’s low pressure, very supportive, and just plain fun! I know that public speaking is a common fear for many people, but if they are willing to push themselves out of their comfort zone, they will for sure get something great out of this!
Battle Decks has proven to be an effective, fun way to boost public speaking confidence and camaraderie at Storyblocks. Interested in joining our team and becoming a part of the next Battle Decks iteration? We are hiring!
