Relating to audiences in another country.

Let's say you have to make a presentation in a foreign land. (And I'm not talking about New York City unless you are a fellow southerner.)  I mean an actual place where the audience may not speak the same language you speak and they don't share the same customs. (OK, that could still be New York City, but I am talking about a place that requires trans-ocean travel and a passport.)  How can you possibly relate to that kind of audience?

Well, I faced that dilemma myself, and here's what I did.  I was to make a series of presentations, including the keynote at a conference in South Africa.  The conference brochure had a basketball theme and used the idea of an unfair advantage as a metaphor for the success of the software that we were all selling.  Now, I was pretty surprised that people in South Africa were big basketball fans, but since I am a Tarheel and was raised on ACC basketball, I figured it was a universally known and loved sport.   I talked to my host and confirmed that yes, people in South Africa did like basketball and they did know Michael Jordan (by the way, he was a freshman at UNC the year I graduated) so I figured I was on pretty solid ground.  I proceeded to change my entire keynote presentation around so that it was based on basketball players.  I compared our software to our competition using different characteristics of basketball players. 

My title slide included the words “game plan” and then launched into a listing of our opponents in the software game.  I was able to find out interesting characteristics of different players and tie those to each of our competitors.  I used Michael Lewis as an example of a player who worked for a bad coach, Gheorghe Muresan represented software that was gangly and uncoordinated and so on.  From there I went on to talk about the importance of having more than just good players, and compared our software to  the winning methods of Dean Smith, who built a great team and had plenty of depth on the bench.  While I did my best to relate the information to software and to keep the connection flowing, it became obvious that my audience did not follow the basketball analogy at all.  In fact, at the conclusion of my presentation, I learned that my attendees thought I was another “arrogant American” who hadn’t taken the time to understand their culture.  I guess including Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo on my list of players wasn’t enough to build a bond.  For me, this was the worst possible outcome because I always try to build rapport with my audience and my trademark style is usually self-deprecating humor.  But it is hard to rely on humor and colloquialisms when you are in a foreign country, so you need to find a different approach. 

Luckily, I was able to make a number of smaller presentations to this same group, and my host explained the communication error. I used the keynote blunder as a conversation starter and was able to turn it into a joke for the rest of the conference.   

My host also made a good point when he said that I would not have been very credible if I had tried to relate the software to say, cricket.   I think he was talking about Jiminy, that Disney cartoon insect but I’m not sure.