10 common presentation tips

As part of my own consulting, as well as mentoring of colleagues and others that I come in contact with, I often give them the following tips on presentations. 

This is sort of a small summary of the one day presenting skills course that I have developed over the past couple of years. I hope it is of use and of interest to you. (And if it is please share it with others)

And yes.. this means you need to revisit that presentation and cut it to ribbons.

1. Drink water about 20 minutes before speaking. It makes you think better. (Fact!) THis is good for interviews, exams and negotiations by the way.

2. Don't just use the bog-standard Power Point Fonts. (Fontstock.net)

3. Use open gestures. Do not point at anybody except with the back of your hands. (Flowing movement) Do not hide behind the flipchart. (Please!!)

4. Images win over text. The presentationis not your teleprompter, it is there for the audience. iStockphoto, Google Images, Flickr and Photobucket are all low cost sources of images. (Careful of copyright)

5. If you must use text then be creative. Don't write everything you know, only the points they need to remember. Don't use ten words when two will do, you can add it later verbally. 

Do use scrolling, don't accentuate every word. Do change sizes, colors, etcetera.

6. Relax - they want you to succeed. (normally)

7. Remember the rule of thirds. Cut your screen into thirds and make sure that you place items in the right places. (For good perspective)

8. Be conversational, be socratic. (Ask questions)

9. State your claim. In your first minute or two make it quite clear that you have the right to be there talking to them about this theme. The more important you are the smaller introduction you need. (Anybody ever ask "who's Elvis?")

You aren't Elvis, so until you are you need to make sure everyone is comfortable spending the money they have spent. 

10. Take questions during the presentation. You dont want to get into the situation where a) you take questions from the most important person in the room but not everyone else, or b) you tell the most important person in the room to shut up.

Not an exhaustive list, but a good starting point for anybody about to present. 

Related Posts

• Game changing presentations with Nancy Duarte - The guru who did Al Gores presentations for a convenient truth. 
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The secret of the keynote

Learn how to ad-lib. This is not performance art, this is an entertaining talk about the relevant business issue that you have been asked to speak on.

1) Have a large set of ad hoc examples, drawings, stories and anecdotes that you can draw on.

2) Have a broad understanding of a lot of subjects, both current and issue specific.

3) Be confident. They want to hear you, you have done this many times.

4) Be in the moment. (A bit more existential.) You need to be able to  understand the "mood" of the crowd. Are you leading them, are you pushing against them, are they receptive, what are their concerns? And so on... this is a developed skill - not a taught thing.

5) Don't use visuals like power point, that is for longer talks, seminars or courses.

6) Have a contrary point of view to the conventional wisdom on the subject.

7) Get an understanding of stories, how they are structured and how to use them to get a valid point across.

8) Preparation is key. Get your facts in order, get your reasoning lined up. Test it, challenge it, try it out on colleagues and deliver it with the confidence that you cannot be challenged.

9) Take questions confidently. If you don't know, or it is something you cannot comment on, so be it. They understand, but do not duck the hard questions and do not be worried about giving a tough answer.

10) Smile... this is supposed to be fun, the world is not going to spin on its end because of your speech - so lighten up and enjoy it.

Memorable presentations and the art of storytelling

The world is filled with free or cheap information these days. You can find statistics on most things that you could want to know. And if you have to pay for it the likelihood is that it won’t cost too much.

This means that facts are becoming devalued. Actually, what I am finding is that people are more likely to question the facts, to question their origins and to look deeper at the intentions of where they came from. And I think that’s a good thing.

So if you are going to do a presentation, then you have two options.

• You can torture them to death with page after page of statistics and facts.

• Or you can put those facts into the context of a story or parable.
  

Stories get remembered; facts get questioned. Stories are entertaining; facts are dull and often unbearable. Stories tap into our emotional instincts; facts tap into our logic centers.

And we don’t just make decisions based on logic. In fact, we are more likely to make decisions based on emotion.

There are several classic story structures. Try this one on for you and see how it goes.

The Beginning: A problem emerges. A company, person or team is faced with insurmountable odds, a nearly indescribable challenge, and certain doom. Some ideas are floated, but they are quickly rejected by naysayers. (The bad guys)

The Journey: Through blood, sweat and tears our hero(s) fight against the unbeatable odds to achieve incredible results; often without acknowledgement or reward. But their determination and clarity of vision allows them to pull through.

The Result: The reward, the successful homecoming after a hard won battle. The implications on a wider scale, and what is going to be required if this is going to continue.

Don’t make it up. Stories shouldn’t be aside from the facts; they are just a great vessel for your fact to have a greater impact.

Want to practice a little bit? Write a mini-saga…

Mini-sagas  are a great idea. They began with the Daily Telegraph in the UK and I learned about them from Dan Pink in his great book A Whole new Mind .

The idea is to try to write a dramatic tale in just 50 words. Not one word more or less, but 50 exactly. Since discovering this it has given me a great mental exercise for how to tell stories.

If you are working now on a conference paper, a presentation for sales, or a project report back then re-write it as a tale. This is a story of great problems, actions that were above the call of duty, and results worthy of the effort.

Game changing presentations with Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte is the worlds leading and highest profile expert on building presentations that are game changers.

Head of the Duarte design company, Nancy led the effort for Al Gores An Inconvenient Truth talks, which later led to the movie and an Oscar award.

She helped us with a a few questions for consulting professionals while en route to a presentation at Carnegie Mellon.

CP: Consultants rely on presentations probably more than any other managerial discipline. We are probably among the principle abusers of the medium. So rather than what should they do right, what are a couple of the disastrous errors that they should avoid when building presentations?

ND: Most presenters build their content and slides from their own perspective instead of from the perspective of the audience. It’s easy to reverse the priorities and think that my slides are most important, then me, then the audience.

In reality, that’s exactly backwards. Most important is the audience and what they need, then the presenter and then the slides. Yet so often when it’s time to write a presentation, they sit down and open up PowerPoint. We encourage presenters to step away from the computer and develop an audience needs profile.

Take a walk in their shoes and think through what they need, what their fears are and how they might resist your message.

CP: Your agency produces the best and most creative presentations that I have seen. For many it is a real jolt to see it done like that or that it is even possible in MS Power Point or Apple's Keynote.

Are there some techniques people can apply to help them in creating reasonably good quality and entertaining presentations?

ND: Only have one point on each slide. So often a presenter packs too much into one slide. I’d rather see a presenter clip through a series of slides than sit on the same slide for a long time.

If the diagram or data you need to get across is complicated, have it build and emphasize each point you’re discussing.

CP: I saw a recent run on your Blog about presentation clichés. I thought it was right on the money. What are some of the more common presentation clichés to avoid in particular when pitching to clients or reporting back on value achieved?

ND: Don’t use a target, water droplets or a handshake in front of a globe. Many times these images are used when a more clever and memorable one could be but these cliché’s are the easiest cop-out. Take the famous handshake for example. What’s really being communicated is partnership.

If you brainstorm many types of partnerships you might get a range of things like salt and pepper, Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers, two peas in a pod or an ecosystem. Each of these new metaphors have nuances and subtleties about a partnership that could become a beautiful analogy for the value you bring to the relationship.

It takes a bit more work, but it delivers more meaning.

CP: You run a service industry company, although a little unique. Success is often driven by being able to quickly grab the attention of a prospect or client. What sorts of themes, techniques or tactics should consultants use for building attention demanding presentations?

ND: Don’t start your presentation about you, begin your presentation with content that’s relevant to your audience. So often we take the traditional approach by stating who we are, how big we are, where we are located instead of making observations about who they are and how we can meet their needs.

It’s easy to state facts, figures and logical reasons why they should hire us. Once you’re constructed all that analytical information, step back and determine where you can add stories, intrigue and drama.

Make sure you are the one who determines what kind of mood your audience is in when they leave the room.

CP: I am really impressed by your use of a range of multi media tools, techniques and display mechanisms. Where do you find this stuff? Are their software programs, outside of Keynote and Power Point, that consultants should be investigating?

ND: It seems like PowerPoint and Keynote are dominant but there are some interesting (free) web-based applications that are emerging on the scene too. I would encourage consultants to think beyond just a projector.

It’s very easy to convert a presentation to work on an iPhone, VoIP phone, HTML and Flash. If a presentation is built and expressed well, it can become a viral message that can be embedded into blogs and social networking sites.

Everyone who wants to improve in presentation design and delivery should buy Garr Reynold’s book and subscribe to his site of the same name PresentationZen. Made to Stick is a must-buy book for people developing their corporate stories.

Everything that Seth Godin has written is smart and insightful.

As with all people who have achieved stunning success, Nancy is a very modest person.

Her book Slide:ology is THE must read book for building presentations that really work.



A real guide to shapes, text, and a plethora of design tips, techniques and skills. I think it is a must have reference for any consulting professional or professional speaker.

Another reason why Nancy has become the go-to person for all corporations who want presentations that make a difference. Check out her seminar series  if you are really serious about supercharging your career. 

Thanks Nancy!

One vote at a time

A lot has been made recently about Barack Obamas secret weapon leading up to his election victory. The fact that he was a community organizer and used to calling groups of people to action.

So how do they do that? By putting in the hard miles...

Knocking on doors, interacting with communities, speaking at local events - not just creating local events by speaking, and networking - networking - networking.

Speak to one person, appear to ten, get them to tell their friends and colleagues, appear to ten more... and on and on it goes.

Why do they come? Because when you speak to them, and when they speak to their friends - they think you might have what they are looking for at that point in time.

This is the truth behind community organizing, the truth behind getting out the vote, and the truth behind modern marketing.

Don't be where they are looking be what they are looking for, and when they come - be extra-ordinary.

8 tips for getting the message across

Clear communication is dead simple. Yet it drives conflict, consulting failures, and total confusion. Here's a few small tips for getting the point accross.  

1. Tell them what they need to know. Don't tell them everything you know. 

How do you know what they need to know? Listen! 

Ask, clarify, paraphrase, and then answer exactly what they are looking for. 

If there is additional information that can help them, then indicate that. But assess what they need to know for the purpose of this presentation / discussion.

2. Over talking (aka Waffling) is always ego based. Either because you are a show off, or because you are insecure. And it doesn't help in either case!

Don't use ten words where three will do. They won't be impressed, they will be confused or frustrated.

3. If you have a lot of information to relay, don't write it in an email. Walk over, or pick up the phone, and tell them. Discuss the nuances. Emphasise the risks/benefits, and make sure everyone gets it.

Nobody reads the email anyway...

4. Don't say sorry. Ever! Sorry won't fix anything. If you are saying sorry then something has already gone wrong. Try to get to the point where you don't need to say sorry. (Not really getting the message across - more like eliminating the need for the message!)

5. Don't assume, listen. I have taught over 3,000 people in one particular field of reliability engineering and every course somebody asks me something I had never thought of in my life. Try to understand their perspective.

6. Draw. Talk with a pen in your hand. I speak two other languages. When I was learning these I used drawing regularly to indicate concepts, facts and to communicate things I didn't have the words to express verbally.

7. Tell stories. Always tell stories. People have an almost primal reaction to stories. Parrticularly if it references their situation, thoughts and world view. 

8. Just the facts. Ten anecdotes does not data make!! Do not make it up, rely on opinion, use unjustified anecdotes, or baseless statistics. Have the facts at hand in case you need to support what you are saying. 

Into the cold

A couple of years ago I flew to Canada from the UK for a high level assignment with a utilities firm there. Calgary is an extremely cold place, I arrived in the depths of winter - and I'm from the desert!

I thought I was going their to sit with them, look over their work and offer some advice on what / how they could take things to the next level in terms of their asset planning and profitability.

Nope...

When I arrived I was informed that I was to run a three day workshop / training event for the senior management across the organization ona whole range of areas from people management, through to KPI's, right though to Reliability techniques and practices. (Sorry for the language barrier, there is not a gigantic pool of people who actually work in this area)

Oh yeah, and I was told this en-route to the office, where I was to begin the engagement in about half an hour. 

Wonderful... So there is a whole story here about getting the deal right from the beginning...but thats a different post. 

Although this is an extreme case, being caught off guard is not an unusual situation for anybody who spends their time in the consulting field. 

So I stood up, got my two flipcharts set up. (I always "demand" two flip charts) And started to use "the force".

It went incredibly well. Sort of like the first time a practicing guitarist gets to do a live solo - and she nails it!

We covered everything they wanted to, we even covered some of their own issues and projects, we went into implementation, their past failures, and I even got to meet with their CEO due to what we had been discussing previously.

They set their course based on this discussion - and two years later I remain in contact with them on a range of issues. 

But I'm actually going somewhere with this.

None of this would have happened if I was not the master of my domain, with an ability to present, and a skill for facilitation. (None - 0)

So even though I was caught unawares, my training and years of preparation enabled me to turn it to my advantage, preent an interactive couple of days briefing, and solidify my relationships with significant decision makers within that company. 

By the way, they realized they had blown it when I got their, and that there was a severe miscomunnication. So when I was able to "shine" it saved them from considerable embarrassment. 

So the morale of this tale?

Be prepared, and the best way to be prepared is to be good, very good, at what you do and at communicating the value of what you do. Everybody in the field of consulting should be able to present "cold" on any subject within their (very broad) field of knowledge. At any time, to any audience. Period. 

Can you?

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How NOT to present - Classic YouTube Video

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Dan Roam and the drawing idea virus

If you are interested in the latest presentation skills and the buzz around the net, then you will be aware of Dan Roam and his new book The Back of a Napkin.

A post on his blog recently talks about how he was invited to speak to the US Senate on problem solving with visuals.

Can you imagine that? What a fantastic, imaginative and optimistic country the US is. And it shows the massive impact of an idea whose time has come.

Why drawing, and why now? I have really no idea, but it seems to me like a combination of:

1) Increasingly complex issues demanding rapid means of communicating and solving them

2) Any one can do it

3) The author is obviously a thought leader in this narrow theme area

4) Every one has sat through too many sessions of really bad PowerPoint

Either way, his book, his techniques and his images are all over the internet lately. It has inspired me as well I have to add.

Dan is part of a revolution of presentation skills types like Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte. (Whose recent profile in the LA Times was really inspirational.)

Check him out on YouTube on the Authors @ Google channel. (Which is fantastic)

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The worlds best presentation

Over the past few months Slideshare.com has been running a contest to determine the best presentation in the world.

I am ecstatic about the result. It is called thirst and you can see it a little lower on this post.

My wife and I have been supporting Water Aid now for almost a decade. Working across utility companies, and living a lot fo the time in the developing world, has given me a very acute understanding of the damage that lack of clean water can do to a community, a city, and even an entire nation.

This presentation is a brilliant way to explain this to the rest of the world, and it is a great slide deck also. Enjoy!

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)

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The Presenting Arts

Here's another slide show from Slideshare.com.  This one is about presenting. It's pretty good - I like it anyway.

I use slideshare a lot for generating ideas about how to go about business, how to put a good presentation together, and just for inspiration generally.

And another one...

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The science of... Webinars!

As you could imagine I get to do a large number of webinars. I use DimDim.com a lot these days as it's free and

I run regular webinars for my clients and members of my mentoring program from Canada to Europe to Australia and through to parts of the Middle East.

Here are some tips that have made them easier and mroe effective for me, feel free to add some if you have other advice.

Stand Up - Don't hunch over your PC, your voice will lack authority and you will lose the rythmn you get when you can flail your arms around and gestate wildly.

Always do a dry run - Just because they can't see you doesn't mean you shouldn't give it your all. Timing, voice intonation and volume, stories, interactivity with the presentation, reveals and application navigation. Whatever you are doing make sure that you are well prepared for it. The absence of an audience looking you in the eye sometimes can put people off.

Take questions on the run - I am a big opponent of "please leave your questions until the end" and webinars are no different. Get people to send you a note, or chat among themselves online, or use the hand raising things, whatever. Each application is filled with great features for immediate feedback.

Get an after the event survey - As with training courses elicit feedback via an after the event survey. Offer prizes or incentives to capture peoples true sentimants. You can always get better...

And most importantly - Have fantastic content.  Eye catching graphics, humorous clips or photos, multimedia clips, whatever you can do. Use your voice and the media to its most powerful effect or you are going to end up as a voice in the background while they check their email and surf the net.

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The Art of Presenting – Part IV

Rule # 2 - The Rule of Attention (cont'd)

Gaining their attention is hard enough. Keeping it is an altogether different story. In Rule #2, the Rule of Attention, we focus on three basic areas. (Adopting the K.I.S.S principle), they are:

1. Use what you have to best effect (Our last post)
   
2. Tell Engaging Stories
3. Use eye catching visuals

it is becoming pretty clear that we can't deal with all the elements of The Art of Presenting here, so take these posts as a general outline of some of the techniques I personally have learned over the years. (Part I, Part II)

Tell Engaging Stories

Okay, so easy enough right? Stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end. This is what everyone tells you right? Garbage! Well, maybe not garbage but there is absolutely no need to stick to the standard format for telling any form of story.

Stories are the tales that people will engage with, so again it is vital that you understand the needs, desires, interests and issues facing your audience. E.g. Senior executives love stories about overcoming great odds, middle managers love stories about making a difference against overwhelming internal resistance and so on.

Every body loves a story about winning, success, and anything that provers to them just how important their role is. Again, none of this is "trickery", if you don't buy into it - then don't say it. People can smell false sincerity a mile off.

Building the story

So how to build a story? Well, against all rules I would suggest that meandering (purposefully) from one subject to another is cool. As long as you find your way back again and it is all part fo the overall message you want to transmit.

Every story has a point right? But it is better if you can tell the tale while making a number of points simultaneously.

Make sure every point reinforces your underlying message. I have a tale that I learned from one of my mentors relating to an asset reliability project that was performed in Peru many years ago. it has all sorts of ups and down in it, some elements of surprise, and several points that get made along the way - and they all work together to make one large point. reinforcing the message all the way through.

This is a technique I learned from my early days selling door to door. (Yes well there was a recession on in my country then okay...) The principle is called tie-downs. And as the story rolls on you continually bring up points, issues, and messages that reinforce your underlying message.

Also, it is fantastic when you can give people an "Ah-Haa!" moment. Some obscure fact about their work, their industry, or their field of expertise that they didn't know - or that they had never heard expressed this way before.

Professionals (from my limited experience) generally buy into things intellectually, as long as it is explained in an entertaining fashion.

That brings us to another point. Stories are great, legends even better, but you don't have to construct a winding tale for your audience to listen to. You can just work through some scenarios to them, using these to tell a tale of sorts, while flushing out the valid points you wish to make.

So some basic guidelines for building a story?

• Understand your message, map it out, map out the road to reach it

• Understand that diversions are okay, as long as they can be used in some fashion to underline your key message, and provide the tie-downs that you need for reinforcement.

• Build in "Ah-Haa!" moments. Either from data, surveys or from your own unique perspectives. (Yes, you do have unique perspectives - you're a unique character after all aren't you?)

• It doesn't have to be a story, a scenario will do if you can do it entertainingly and use it to make the points you wish to.

Telling the Tale

As with everything else use all of the tools at your disposal in terms of your voice, movement, non-visual cues and validations, hand and eye movement, body language and whatever else God gave you to work with.

Humor is great if you can pull it off. I'm not a funny person but after a while working the floor I get to a point where I sync with the audience (most times - terrible when it doesn't happen) and they generally get even my dry sense of humor.

However, if the room will tolerate it, the very best thing you can do to tell a story or drive out an example is to be Socratic.

You can either "tell them" or "ask them". If you are telling them, then they may listen, they may take notice, and they may recall what you were burbling about. But if you ask them then an entirely different dynamic starts to take place.

• If you ask then whether they answer you or not, they think about your question... it is an unconscious reflex.
• If you ask ... they answer..
• If you ask and they answer, then they are more likely to think it is "true", because it reflects their own experience, than if you tell them and they just listen passively
• If you ask then then they interact with you... and you begin to build the number 1 sales tool... a relationship!
• In brief, if you ask... then they are far more likely to become engaged in the process.

The goal, ultimately, is to develop sessions and routines where your entire role is to ask the right questions along the right vane. Using their inherent knowledge to reveal the points you wish to reveal to them.

I have integrated Socratic principles into my training, sales presentations, seminars and consulting discussions. (Socratic Conversation) For me, this was a revelation in training techniques and it is something that has undoubtedly improved my fortunes in the consulting game.

Using Engaging Visuals

I far prefer to present without software, I don't mind using a power point slide deck, and do so often, I don't mind presenting a software solution and I can work these into what I do. But people react strongly to me when I present without any back up aids, just me and a flip chart.

I find this is far better for establishing a relationship. When you have slides people are looking at.. yup - the slides. When I don't they are looking at me; giving me a lot of time to catch their eye, speak directly to them and so on.

Visuals Using Flip Charts

Again another area where you can be Socratic. Use the combination of the story and the flip chart to develop an image, asking questions as you go and using this to build the next part of the image. It doesn't have to be anything artistic, but it does have to make sense at the time.

In fact, my writing is shocking, but when I am building the Flip Chart people can understand it directly, and they can refer back to it in related conversations. However, if they (or I) look at it later I am totally at a loss to understand what it could have been about.

So the whole image and questions things builds an interesting dynamic, where people can directly relate to what is being drawn.

Have some standard drawings that you can pull out to illustrate a few of your key topics, moreover, have some routines rehearsed and filed away that you can pull out to discuss key points you regularly need to make. I have seen many videos of Guy Kawasaki talking about The Art of the Start.

he is always interesting, a rock star, and in every tale he has a story about getting Japanese American older ladies to picket a company that sacked him (in an imaginary tale) fantastic stuff, very funny, and he uses variations of it a lot.

Visuals using PowerPoint

Hard one, although you wouldn't think it should be. Too many functions unfortunately. Many of the presentations I have seen end up being a show about "what I learned to do in Power Point this week." Absolute rubbish normally, distracting, not on message and somewhere between boring and annoying. (I would hate to be a client for this reason alone, you have to sit through a multitude of terrible presentations)

This sort of information is all over the web, but here are a few ideas for you:

1. One idea per page
2. Less writing more images
3. Bullets are good sometimes, but keep them very short. (One word is best)
4. Use big fonts
5. Not there to prompt you, nor to tell the story - but to add substance and value
6. Charts are okay - images are great - only if they reinforce your point, or if they generate new areas of discussion
7. Move relatively quickly, unless the slide is a prompt for a Flip chart discussion.

Lots more stuff to write on eye catching visuals, but multi media is always a good tip. Videos in the background, radio messages, in-seminar conference calls, and whatever else. Also the internet. We'll pick those themes up in a the next post on Rule # 3, The Rule of Tools.

This post is bought to you by

Please leave your questions until the end...

When giving a speech, presentation or any other speaking occasion; always take questions during the body of the presentation - not when you finish.

It seems to be the norm to do things the other way around yet it never seems to work out.

When the question is asked the presenter normally has to flick back a couple of slides to get to where the questioner wants to talk about, many people actually forget that they even had a question - or they are just numbed to death by the presenter that they want it all to end.

Also - you have to think about the "big fish". Who's that? Thats the most senior ranking guy in the room. They have a habit of asking questions whenever they want to, and don't really care about the rules you have asked everyone else to abide by.

Then what do you do? ignore them? Tell them to wait and risk offending them? Answer them and send the clear message to everyone else that their questions are less important so they will have to wait.

So, to get around these potentially event ruining scenarios:

• Always take questions during the presentation itself
• Take the time to talk clearly and concisely in answer to every question,
  
• If you don't know the answer then fess up, maybe write it down with their details and get back to them,
• Keep control of the conversation, part of the art of presenting is in maintaining control over the room, so if it starts to wander into subjects off the beaten path, or over your time limits, then try to cut it short politely.
• Make sure you have answered all questions prior to summing up, that way you can refocus everyone on the message and give it an uninterrupted boost at the end

And if all that has gone well then there should be no need to take questions at the end. Allowing you to sit down and exit gracefully.

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Avoiding Death by PowerPoint

In keeping with our regular theme of developing your presentation skills, I found this recently on SLideshare.net. Its a fantastic slide set that gives a heap of great tips about how to avoid boring your audience to death and how to make sure that your presentation keeps their attention, as well as facilitating the knowledge transfer process.

I thought this was great. Some of his points he makes include:

• One point per slide
• Less text more graphics
• Visual thinking
• Your audience reads faster than you can speak, so in essence your text-filled slides are useless

And heaps of others. Check it out for yourself.

| View | Upload your own

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Easy to adapt benefits graphics for your presentations

As someone who does a lot of presentations I have developed a library of slides that I draw from for different events, seminars, courses or whatever. Saves me a lot of time in building things again and again.

This slide deck (here) contains four easy to adapt conceptual slides related to demonstrating benefits or value, they are part of the deck and I will post some others here in the next couple of days or so.

I hope they help you in your career, please feel free to comment if they prove useful to you. (And please feel free to share them with anyone who might be able to get value from them)

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The Presentation is the Thing!

I am becoming fanatical about the importance of being able to present well.

Before I was pretty confident that this was important, today there is no doubt in my mind. It is probably the number 1 or number 2 skill that any (read "every") consultant should have in their toolkit.

Don't think so? Barack Obama made his debut on the national and global stage during a 17 minute presentation at the Democratic convention when John Kerry was running.

He is now the Democratic nominee and looks like getting a good chance at being the first black president.

Presenting is the thing! No doubt about it.

We have been running the Art of Presenting series here now for a few weeks, and it seems to be getting a lot of attention.

This was a follow up to our successful post on Presenting without Software and is an attempt to convey some of the passion and enthusiasm I have for presenting. (No matter where it is!)

Have a look at some of the leading speakers of our time. Nothing contrived, very conversational, unique viewpoints, detailed research, and casual presentation styles.

• Tom Peters - The Brand is the Talent
• Seth Godin - All Marketers are Liars
• Steve Jobs - 2005 Stanford Address

All consultants MUST (MUST) be good at presenting. Whether it is a round-table discussion, an interview, a pitch to the senior partners, a sales call, a report feedback session or any of the other thousands of forums.

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The Art of Presenting – Part II

If a consultant is going to actually master the Art of Presenting, then in my view the most important rule to understand is the Rule of Presence. (#1) If you are going to have a room enthralled, and if they are going to remember what you tell them, then you need to have a bit of a “wow” factor.

For those of you who are (ahem) cosmetically challenged like myself, then you will be pleased to know that creating a strong presence does not depend on your looks! Its an aura you generate. Check out some of the worlds really good presenters and it becomes obvious. Alan Weiss, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki and Tom Peters.

Lets face it, none of these guys are famous for their looks. (Sorry guys!) But the moment they take the stage, (or screen), you immediately know they are there, and you feel drawn to hear what they are going to say.

Presence is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, and no two performers are the same. For example, I once saw Jerry Adams, the infamous leader of Seinn Fein in Northern Ireland, at a presentation in Manchester in the UK.

As we waited in the room for him to appear suddenly there was a shot of electricity that went through the room. This guy was like an incoming hurricane. He struck the room with a sudden fury that to this day has me amazed.

Another guy I saw speak was Andrew Forrest, an Australian entrepreneur and probably the nations richest person right now. He also hit the room like a hurricane, fierce with facts, perfectly timed phrases and tweaks at the emotions.

Then there's Bill Clinton. A guy I saw speak in Northern Ireland in a stadium. Slow, smooth, and utterly convincing. Some magic is inbuilt I suppose.

So how can the humble consultant even think to parallel great speakers like that? I have found that it is down to a few techniques.

1. Establish your Authority

Okay, so these guys had a lot of inbuilt authority. People know them and they are there to listen to their point of view. You often won't have that advantage.

But from the moment they took the stage something magic occurred. The room, which was our before they got there, suddenly became theirs! Claiming the room for yourself is not easy, but a few pointers can help.

• Start on time – no matter what! Don't wait for anybody. Start exactly when you were paid to start and finish when you were paid to finish. The client expects it, and they should get it. Interrupting the flow for one or two late comers does not help you to claim the room as yours. It also makes it very obvious when they arrive late, and you welcome them into your room!

• Establish your right to be there talking to them! They have been sent to your seminar/course/conference or whatever. Make sure they realize that you are the person with the authority to speak to them about whatever the subject is. Who have you done this with, what are your claims to fame, what have you written, who have you helped? And so on... make it clear. You have something very important to impart to them, and they only have this time right now to listen and learn it.

• Your theme is important! Make sure that they all get this very clearly. What you are hear to tell them is of earth shattering importance. I have a line I tell my students in one of my courses, and I sincerely believe it. I tell them that they are the thin line between industry and disaster. Tends to get their attention; then of course I go on to prove that point to them.

• Set the rules. If you are there for a sales call, then forget it. The rules are their rules. But if you are delivering a one day seminar, a three day course, or a multi week workshop, then you need to make it very clear what acceptable behavior is, and what it is not. Most people in my experience will be okay with this, some won't, but all will get the point that this is your room.

And whatever you do – DO NOT USE ICEBREAKERS! I hate these things, they tend to run a serious learning event into a juvenile get together. Particularly when speakers force me to interact personally with strangers around me. That really stinks.

The only safe icebreaker I ever use these days is to get everyone to tell me a bit about themselves, their work and their expectations. Then that generates a bit of conversation.

2. Set the expectations

• This didn't begin today. You have been in touch with these people for a while now. Via the marketing materials, pre-event information, questionnaires, feedback sheet sand so forth. So you have had the chance to set their expectations of what to receive during this event. Stick to it.

• Make it clear what you won't tell them. The subject is going to be bigger than what you can cover today, this week, or during this two week workshop. Make it clear what you won't be telling them during the event.

This has the added value of setting you up as the expert who knows more than what they are going to learn. (You are going to have to prove that of course) and also makes sure that half the work of presence is already done. They should at least know what they are going to get, and they are trusting you to deliver it to them. (Woe betide you if you blow it however)

3. Make Connections

How do you treat a room full of people? Every one is different, everyone is an individual... pretty obvious isn't it! You treat everyone as an individual person.

This means you need to be hyper sensitive to whats going on in the room.

The person who is not participating may be the brightest guy in the room but years of being held down has made her bite her tongue.

The most boisterous character in the room may actually be in fear of his job for some reason. Or worse, you may be challenging positions that are long held and hard won in their company. Meet peoples gaze, give them non verbal cues and validation, indicate to them with the back of your wrists. (Don't point! Ever!) Be careful with generalizations and always speak directly to people, not with a sweeping gaze.

Also, remember who you are talking to. If they are middle management, be deferential but be strong in your statements. If they are senior management then it is likely that they didn't get there without earning their stripes in the front lines. (Sometimes they do, but not often I find)

• People issues

• Recruitment issues

• Dealing with internal politics (Getting stuff done!)

• Messaging and internal marketing

• Creating momentum

Always pitch your presentation at the level you are talking to. Middle managers love tactical talks, and love issues that they can relate to directly as causes of sleepless nights for them. Higher levels love to get into the link between day-to-day and more strategic goals. Some of their “words” tend to revolve around:

• Net present value

• Talent development and retention

• Knowledge retention and usefulness

• Profitability and productivity

• Implementation and benefits realization

Lastly, if you really want to build a rapport with your delegates then relax. Easier said than done, but it gets easier with time. Remember that 99.9% of the time they want you to succeed!

• Don't hide behind the flip charts, stand out in the open, use sweeping and inclusive gestures.

• Be conversational, talk with them not at them, and most importantly...

• Be confident. You are the expert after all. Aren't you?

In summary...

I have found that these are the techniques required for rule #1, the Rule of Presence. You need to sweep into the room and when you do they need to realize that you have something important that they need to hear.

1. Establish your authority and credibility (It's your room not theirs)

2. Set the expectations

3. Make connections

The Art of Presenting (Part 1)

I have always enjoyed presenting. I went through a stage in my career where I literally forced myself through a number of emabarrassing situations to force myself to get good at it.

Today, I regularly speak in front of hundreds if not thousands of of people every year. Training, speaking, sales stuff and a heap of conferences. To put it plainly - I love it!

recently I was asked by my own company to start showing others how to present, so I put together a short series fo slides covering some fo the basic rules that I follow when I am presenting.

It wasn't until I started to do that until I realized that there really is an art to doing this. It isn't just something you pick up through humiliating experience - but it is also something that you really can learn.

So this series of posts is going to be a summary of that slide set. You can download the entire thing here if you like. Like any good slide set, the detail is in the speaking, not in the slides.. but hopefully they are useful to you.

The introduction...

“Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them” Dottie Waters

Once I boiled it down presenting seemed to revolve around 4 basic rules. Feel free to challenge these, but in all the presentation I have ever done, these four basic principles have helped me to make just about every one (recently) a success.

The goal here is to give you techniques that can be used generally, not specific icebreakers or anything like that.

The Rules of Presence

If you can't rapidly demonstrate your right to be there in front of them, then the game is lost. This section will look at a range of tips and trick that I use regularly to establish a prescence in front of the people I am speaking to.

In particular, how to establish the fact that you have something that they want to know!

The Rules of Attention

Getting their attention is only part of the deal. Keeping it is another thing entirely. A look at some of the common techniques used to keep them hanging on.

The Rules of Tools

The world is full of technological tools. The unfortunate thing is that when presenters discover them they tend to overuse them dramatically! How to use tools to effect, without getting into death by powerpoint!

The Rules of Credibility

Like anything else the principle rule to making presentations that stick is to have credibility. Make sure that what you say is supported, and that they see your themes as rigorously researched, and truthful.

I will post a blog on each of these issues over the next week or so, I hope it is of use.

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6 Tips for Presenting without Software

I recently read a post on Guy Kawasaki's blog, Ten Questions with Garr Reynolds. The theme of the post was around how to deliver more effective presentations based on his book "Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)".

Looks like a good book and I am thinking of reading it over the next couple of weeks. (Between the other rash of books I need to read) But it really started me thinking, some of the best presentations that I have delivered have actually been without software.

Don't get me wrong, I am a dedicated PowerPoint user, all my courses, seminars and presentations generally involve some element of PowerPoint slides in them. But I have also been on the receiving end of several presentations that could only be described as "death by PowerPoint". So I think it is wise, as well as good practice, for every consultant to be versatile enough to deliver a presentation "cold" without any software at all.

it is ...good practice, for every consultant to be versatile enough to deliver a presentation "cold" without any software at all

So here are my top ten tips for delivering presentations without software, feel free to add to them if you think I have missed something.

1. Don't rush!

It is always tempting to tell them everything you want to tell them within the first five minutes of starting. Particularly if you don't have a visual aid to slow you down.

Resist the temptation - show a little restraint. Your points need to be built up, and laid out in a manner that will ensure they are understood. Also, don't try to fit everything you could possibly do into a one hour slot, just build the key issues up.

2. Have a routine

If you are going to go without a net then you need to make sure you know what you are going to say. In the early stages try to have a rough outline of what you are going to run through. Have your strap-lines well rehearsed, sound-bites, emphasis points, sequences and transitions are all a key part of delivering a smooth and coherent message.

Map out your presentation before hand, make sure you have the customary beginning - middle and end, and make sure you reveal the right points, with the right emphasis, at the right time.

Big tip - commit it to memory in the beginning. After a while your goal is to have a range of "routines" that you can pull from your memory depending on the situation. I have a vast number of these that I have built up over the years related to the areas I consult on personally.

I once arrived at a site in Canada (from the UK at the time) only to find that I was expected to deliver a three day course. I had nothing prepared, the client was paying good money for this engagement, and I had not bought a lot of my normal training materials with me. (Aargghhh!)

The results? A three day stand up routine with flip charts and the white board... a resounding success and I still provide advice to these professionals today. (Now from the Middle East)

3. Use Graphics

Even with PowerPoint graphics are an essential element to the transferral of knowledge. They tie in with peoples ability to learn visually and to perceive things without words. They also do a darn sight better at relaying a message than two pages filled with hard to read text.

So, if you don't have software what can you do?

Flip charts are a fantastic prop to work with. In my view even better than PowerPoint in some aspects. Why? Because they provide you with a level of interaction with the audience that software does not, and you can easily flip between them to discuss previous points etc.

So have a few illustrations ready to go, develop routines to allow you to build them over time, revealing key points along the way, and try to build them to provide a prop for discussions with your audience.

4. Be Socratic

You can either "tell them" or "ask them". If you are telling them, then they may listen, they may take notice, and they may recall what you were burbling about. But if you ask them then an entirely different dynamic starts to take place.

• If you ask then whether they answer you or not, they think about your question... it is an unconscious reflex.
• If you ask ... they answer..
• If you ask and they answer, then they are more likely to think it is "true", because it reflects their own experience, than if you tell them and they just listen passively
• If you ask then then they interact with you... and you begin to build the number 1 sales tool... a relationship!
• In brief, if you ask... then they are far more likely to become engaged in the process.

The goal, ultimately, is to develop sessions and routines where your entire role is to ask the right questions along the right vane. Using their inherent knowledge to reveal the points you wish to reveal to them.

if you ask... then they are far more likely to become engaged in the process.

I have integrated Socratic principles into my training, sales presentations, seminars and consulting discussions. (Socratic Conversation) For me, this was a revelation in training techniques and it is something that has undoubtedly improved my fortunes in the consulting game.

5. Tell Stories

There is something almost primal about the power of storytelling to make a point, relay a message, or to transfer knowledge. Storytelling, when well done, allows you to present facts to back up your case, provides you with an opening to establish the relationship with the client, and gives you some borrowed credibility (from the originator of the story) to make a specific point with some authority.

Stories build over time, I have been able to gather together lots of stories from my own experiences and those that have been shared with me by clients. All good stuff, all great for making very exact points, and they are also all generally very inspiring tales about the potential of human beings to achieve great things.

6. Make Connections

When you don't use a presentation another dynamic starts to take place. Instead of looking wearily at a screen on the wall, people start to look directly at you! So things change right? You now have a direct opening to create a relationship. (Which is always part of the goal of any presentation - sales or not.)

• Use your voice! Soft speaking draws people in, changes in volume emphasizes points, load speaking creates urgency, fast talking creates an illusion of depth (sometimes - Tom Peters style)
• Move! Controlled and contrived movement draws attention. Set out your routines to be done with two flip charts, u-shaped tables allow you to get close to everyone in the room ... and so on. Speak to them, not at them!
  
• Eye contact! Look at them in the eye, make your points seriously, non verbal cues like nodding agreement, or shaking your head in complicit disagreement (with their issues like "management doesn't listen" etc)
  

I am sure there are a lot more useful tips and techniques. These are just a sampling of some of them that I use a lot. if you can deliver stuff without software, then it adds to your credibility as a professional consultant, and as a subject matter expert with deep knowledge.

Also there seems to be another dynamic happening when you talk, particularly Socratically. The believability factor, for reasons I don't quite understand, seems to go up markedly!