As my poor abused liver recovers from the bashing it received at the recent IOF convention, I’ve been reflecting on the various presentations I’ve sat through. Both as a speaker and as a member of the audience.

This year more than any other, I’ve been struck by how important the delivery of the message is, how crucial the speaker is to the degree to which the message is accepted. In some cases a presentation of little substance was delivered with such personality that the audience was left buzzing with the profundity of the thesis and brilliance of its progenitor. And the reverse was true too – I saw fascinating insights fall on stony ground due to a lack of personality or a delivery that just rubbed the audience up the wrong way.

But so often in fundraising comms we forget genuine personality. Too many asks come from a faceless, brand-policed corporation, where the only concession to real personality is the token case study. And even this will often fail to deliver the story in their own words.

When we put real personality into our communications, we’ve achieved some starling results. Often with very simple asks, letting the force and the refreshing authenticity of the person delivering it drive the response. Hardly surprising – our audience want to connect with people, with the inspiring individuals that represent a culture or attitude that they’d like to be part of.

So lets take the people that make up the causes we represent out of the case study and put them centre stage, in the limelight where they belong. Let’s face it – they’re the best presenters we’ve got.

Mark Cook