Six evident skills theatre majors have

At FinCon15 I attended a talk delivered by Stefanie O'Connell, who blogs at The Broke and Beautiful Life, among other activities.  Her talk at FinCon outlined how to become an expert at something without official expertise, and gave as an example how she built a reputation as a finance expert for the millennial age group.

At the beginning of the talk Stefanie briefly mentioned her theatre background.  From her bio page, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts — a school which claims Oliver Stone, Lady Gaga, and Martin Scorsese among its alumni.

Though graduates of a school of that pedigree might fare better than most, theatre majors start out making in the bottom fifth of a pool of 319 major areas of study, according to PayScale.com.

(Of course money isn't everything, but it's not nothing, either.)

Theatre skills are evident, but not necessarily explicit

Apart from that initial mention, she didn't speak much about her theatre experience.

Here's the kicker.  She didn't have to.

The rest of her presentation made it completely evident that she was reaping the benefits of her theatre training in this environment.  She was well-trained already for doing exactly what she was doing:  speaking in front of an audience.

And while theatre — like most other performing arts — is very competitive, a number of important skills that a theatre major learns are highly portable, and all it takes is a quick change of costume to hit the ground running in a new line of work.

Theatre skills are evident, even if they're not explicit.

Six evident advantages of a theatre background

To be fair (and for full disclosure!) I'm not a theatre person.  However, I am an active musician, and a couple of years ago I was active in Toastmasters, which trains in the presentation skills that students of the performing arts learn (among many other things).

(For a well-written take from a theatre major's perspective, check out this post from Tom Vander Well.)

In other words, I know enough to be dangerous, but I also understand that an hour a week (maybe) of getting rid of irritating gesticulations and um's, ahh's, and yaknow's from a four- to six-minute talk doesn't come close to four academic years filled with voice training, dance, lighting, set design, and … oh! … acting.

Even an average theatre major has a huge advantage over many people in front of an audience:

1. Voice projection.

Stefanie's voice carried, yet it wasn't overbearingly loud.  The first step in being understood is being heard, and this was no problem.  A voice that projects is the result of both training and a tuned ear for volume and acoustics.

2. Rehearsal.

In Toastmasters we were encouraged not to rely on notes when giving a talk.  Why?  Because it looks more professional and exudes of preparation.  The audience gets the sense that the speaker treats their time seriously. The more advanced speakers didn't use them at all.

Actors are used to memorizing lines.  Lots of them.  Preparing the delivery of a polished talk is a piece of cake.  Stefanie's talk flowed easily from one subject to the next.

3. Vocal Variety.

I've been accused of going monotone when I'm talking about something very technical, or if I have to think about how to say something.  The problem with single frequencies is that they're very easy to tune out.  This is death for a speaker because their message doesn't get across.

When actors portray a character on stage, they exaggerate to get the effect across to the audience, making an excitable character really really really REEEEALLLY excitable.  Applying this to a regular presentation, then, is dialing down what they do, rather than learning a new skill.  In other words, they don't have to work on not sounding monotone.

4. Enunciation.

Part of my musical activity is church choir.  From this, I learned that proper enunciation is the difference between proclaiming that “Jesus is alive!” and admitting that “Jesus is a lie!”  Though poor enunciation doesn't usually convey the opposite of what's intended, it can work against the message.  Stefanie's enunciation was im-MA-cu-late, so this wasn't an issue.

5. Ability to Improvise.

Performers make mistakes.  They forget their lines, or they start a piece of music in the wrong key.

Or, things happen completely out of their control, like a background track which worked perfectly during a sound check doesn't play during the service.  (I played the accompaniment on piano, and we all managed to get through it.)

Some of my drama club classmates in high school mentioned that they got fairly good at improvising.  One of the leads underestimated the amount of preparation that was required, and the rest of the cast had to work around him when his lines didn't come out.  Most of the audience was none the wiser.  These same skills come in really handy when fielding off-the-wall or even moderately hostile questions, which Stefanie did with ease.

6. Stage Presence.

Stage presence encompasses a lot, but it broad strokes it's simply controlling your performance — whether it's owning the spotlight, or deftly getting out of the way to support someone else's time in the spotlight.

This is something actors absolutely must have.  When I mentioned to Stefanie that she had great stage presence, she said, “Well, I would hope so!” (Not indignantly, of course, but more with a tone of Gosh, if I don't have it by now, I never will!)

A presenter's stage presence keeps you on the edge of your seat either way.  If it's good, you're paying full attention to what they're saying.  If it's bad, you're squirming and itching for the first opportunity to bolt out the door.

The company's most interesting presenter

Tom Vander Well said it nicely:

… any corporate employee can tell you horror stories of having to endure long training sessions or corporate presentations by boring, unprepared, incompetent or just plain awful presenters. From what I’ve experienced, individuals who can stand up confidently in front of a group of people and capably, effectively communicate their message while even being motivating and a little entertaining are among the rarest individuals in the business world. Being a theatre major helped me be one of them. ~Tom Vander Well

Several years ago I worked in a software group that had a couple of theatre guys who also happened to be monster coders.  Their presentations were fantastic.

And I've sat through my share of horrible presentations, too.  It's worse if you can't leave without negative consequences.

A few Toastmasters classes can give enough awareness of presentation skills that you can at least specifically point to good skills or skills that … are wonderful opportunities for improvement.

But even if you can't say why a presentation is great, you can sense a great presentation.

People of influence are bound to sense it, and are bound to take notice of the presenter.