The Presentation Coach E-Book

Graham G. Davies

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 356

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

You probably hate giving presentations. You probably hate listening to them too. Why? Because most business presentations are too long, too detailed, too boring...and submerged under a blizzard of PowerPoint.

But the single most important presentational tool known to man isn't a slideshow. It's you.

Whether you're speaking to one person across a table, 20 people in a boardroom or 1,000 people in a ballroom, it's all about the words you say and how you say them.

• The Presentation Coach shows you how to use what you've already got to give you clarity, confidence and impact in every speaking challenge you will ever face.
• You'll learn the unique Bare Knuckle 5-step process to effective presenting, and how to apply it to all business speaking, from large-scale presentations to one-to-one client meetings.
• Graham Davies has been coaching high-profile individuals from the worlds of business, politics and entertainment in exactly these techniques for the past 25 years. Now it's your turn.

Praise for The Presentation Coach

"Graham Davies is a brilliantly funny speaker who knows how to inspire and enthuse anyone who sees presenting as a bore, a burden or a source of terror."
Nick Robinson, Political Editor, BBC

"This book really captures Graham's intense and robust sense of coaching. Just like the author, it is amusing, punchy and really comforting to have access to in all presentation situations."
Michel Combes, CEO,Vodafone Europe

"Required reading for anyone who wants their presentations to enthuse rather than euthanize their audience."
Tim Curtis, MD, Northern Europe, Land's End

"Graham is a highly effective presentation coach. He is always honest and gets straight to the point. His book is just as direct and entertaining as he is in person."
Nick Jeffery, CEO, Vodafone Global Enterprise

"I don't know anyone who could wear the label 'the presentation coach' more confidently than Graham."
Daniel Finkelstein, Executive Editor, The Times

"I use Graham's system strictly and religiously in every speech. In fact on almost every important occasion when I need to get a message across.... You will never regret buying and using this book."
George Clarke, MD, Heidelberg UK

"Graham helped me develop my very own presentation style, true to myself, with high impact and focused very much on the audience."
Phil Clarke, CEO Designate, Tesco

"Graham's approach is ruthlessly robust and utterly practical. This book is the next best thing to seeing him in person, and much less of a strain on your budget."
Matthew Wilson, CEO Brit Global Markets

"...Davies's compelling book illuminates all the pitfalls and provides a simple guide to allowing personality into presentations - radical stuff indeed!"
Andy Street, MD, John Lewis

"Whether you are a Prime Minister, chief executive or anyone else who needs make an impact, then you must read this challenging and innovative book by Graham Davies."
Neil Sherlock, Partner, Public Affairs, KPMG

"...I wish Graham had written it 20 years ago..."
Richard Klein, MD, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

"Never again will you commit the crime of Death by Bullet-Point."
Penny Philpot, Group Vice President, Worldwide Partner Services, Oracle

"Graham Davis is a talented gagmeister who shows that the best way of exposing a bad argument is with a good joke."
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

"Reading his book will spur you on to win your own presentational race."
Richard Dunwoody, twice winner of the Grand National

"Graham completely reframed my approach to presenting. His approach works!"
Otto Thoresen, CEO, Aegon UK

"A process that you can use no matter what the situation. I heartily recommend it."
Michael Gove MP

"This book is not a coaching guide for the faint-hearted. Prepare to be beaten into being bloody brilliant!"
Francis Edmonds, broadcaster, author and professional speaker

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

WHY YET ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT PRESENTING?

CHAPTER 1 - THE ESSENTIALS

Why Bare Knuckle?

The Challenge

The Method

The Restrictions

The Result

CHAPTER 2 - KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

The Bare Essentials

A Knockout?

Analyze your audience

The Preparation Pipeline

Action Steps

CHAPTER 3 - MAKE THE STATEMENT

Audiences Today

Creating a Micro-Statement

Creating Material from a Micro-Statement

Testing the Statement

Time limits

Adaptability of the Concept

Blurring

A Listening Device

Action Steps: Making the Statement

CHAPTER 4 - HARDCORE CONTENT

The Micro-Statement Filter

The Factual Filter

The Anti-Filter

Filter Use Summary

From Filtering to Grouping

The Clanger Check

Action Steps

CHAPTER 5 - WRITE IT, READ IT, EDIT

Write it Out

Read it for Sense

Edit for Impact

Structure

Elsinore or Hollywood?

Action Steps

CHAPTER 6 - FROM FAMOUS FIRST WORDS …

Beginning

The Spike’s Function

The Ending

Spiking all the way

Final Avoidance List

CHAPTER 7 - NAIL IT ALL DOWN

Why Not Memory Alone?

Notes

Paper Scripts

Auto-Cue

Rubberknecking

CHAPTER 8 - SHOW IT … IF YOU REALLY MUST

The Myth

The Reality

Practical Use

Your Slide Mindset

The Bare Knuckle Slide Commandments

If you really must…

CHAPTER 9 - CONTROL YOURSELF

Control your Nerves

Specific Techniques

Control Your Voice

Control your Body

CHAPTER 10 - CONTROL THE DAY

The Environment

Delivery Sequence

Answering Questions

CHAPTER 11 - CONTROL Q & A

Delivery Guidelines

The FIR Formula

The SSS Formula

The Pause and Spike Formula

And Finally …

CHAPTER 12 - RAISE A SMILE

Careful Selection

Careful Blending

Assertive Delivery

CHAPTER 13 - ADAPT TO AFTER DINNER

Should you actually do it?

The Approach – If You Really Have To

Writing The Damn Thing

Lifesavers

And Finally…

CHAPTER 14 - SHOULD YOU ACCEPT THE INVITATION?

Assess the Invitation

Length

Slides

The Handout Problem

Your Introduction

Music

What slot?

CHAPTER 15 - CHALLENGING BUSINESS SITUATIONS

Introducing Another Speaker

Sitting Down To Present

Team Presentations

Answering Questions….again!

The Last-Minute Request

Presenting To The Board

CHAPTER 16 - CHALLENGING PERSONAL SITUATIONS

Wedding Speeches

Eulogies

Complaining

Getting an Upgrade

KEY BARE KNUCKLE TERMINOLOGY

Acknowledgements

INDEX

“Graham is a highly effective presentation coach. He is always honest and gets straight to the point. His book is just as direct and entertaining as he is in person.”

Nick Jeffer y, CEO, Vodafone Global Enterprise

“I don’t know anyone who could wear the label “the presentation coach” more confidently than Graham.”

Daniel Finkelstein, Executive Editor,The Times

“I use Graham’s system strictly and religiously in every speech. In fact on almost every important occasion when I need to get a message across... You will never regret buying and using this book.”

George Clarke, MD, Heidelberg UK

“Graham helped me develop my very own presentation style, true to myself, with high impact and focused very much on the audience”

Phil Clarke, CEO Designate, Tesco

“Graham’s approach is ruthlessly robust and utterly practical. This book is the next best thing to seeing him in person, and much less of a strain on your budget.”

Matthew Wilson, CEO Brit Global Markets

“The quest for authenticity is now at the heart of the leadership challenge, but why do so many of us find it impossible to be ourselves when presenting? Davies’s compelling book illuminates all the pitfalls and provides a simple guide to allowing personality into presentations – radical stuff indeed!”

Andy Street, MD, John Lewis

“Whether you are a Prime Minister, chief executive or anyone else who needs make an impact, then you must read this challenging and innovative book by Graham Davies.

Neil Sherlock, Partner, Public Affairs, KPMG

“This book really annoys me, because I wish Graham had written it 20 years ago. Then maybe I wouldn’t have had to spend countless hours being tortured by Investment Bankers who think that “presenting” means reading out all the words on all their slides.”

Richard Klein, MD, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

“Never again will you commit the crime of Death by Bullet-Point.”

Penny Philpot, Group Vice President,Worldwide Partner Services, Oracle

“Graham Davies is a talented gagmeister who shows that the best way of exposing a bad argument is with a good joke. ”

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

“Graham completely reframed my approach to presenting. His approach works!”

Otto Thoresen, CEO, Aegon UK

“A process that you can use no matter what the situation. I heartily recommend it.”

Michael Gove MP

“Graham forces you to be absolutely clear on the message you’re trying to get across. He gives you the confidence to feel that it’s you the audience wants to see and hear all the time; rather than them being happy to sneak an occasional glimpse through the undergrowth of your slides.”

Mark Angela, CEO, Pizza Express

“Reading his book will spur you on to win your own presentational race.”

Richard Dunwoody, twice winner of the Grand National

“This book is not a coaching guide for the faint-hearted. Prepare to be beaten into being bloody brilliant!”

Francis Edmonds, broadcaster, author and professional speaker

“In this book Graham shows you a preparation process and the delivery techniques that will give you a professional edge whether you are a speaking veteran or a complete beginner”.

Kaye Adams, broadcaster

“Graham’s coaching has not just massively helped me in every presentational arena, it has had a profoundly positive effect at every level of the Conservative Party, ranging from parliamentary candidates to Cabinet Ministers and even the Leadership itself.”

Mark Field MP

“I have been speaking professionally for years but since being coached by Graham, my performance has reached a new level. If you have to present or speak to groups and the impact you have matters at all, you had better buy this book!”

Shaun Smith, author and professional speaker

“This book is precisely like its author: sometimes crassly confrontational, but always wittily informative.”

Andrew Roberts, broadcaster and author

“The Presentation Coach really packs a punch…. You are left fully focused, fighting fit and forever equipped to out-perform the competition.”

Joanna Hall, TV fitness guru and author

“Rugby and presenting are both strenuous activities carried out in front of a critical audience. I will never ask Graham’s advice about Rugby, but I will always rely on his advice about presenting.”

Rob Andrew

“If you are serious about the way you present yourself or your business, you simply have to read it.

Saira Khan, broadcaster, author and runner-up inThe Apprentice

This edition first published 2010

© 2010 Graham Davies

Registered office

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Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

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Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

9780857080448

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Set in 11.5 on 12.5pt Adobe Caslon Pro-Regular by Aptara

WHY YET ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT PRESENTING?

For the last 20 years, I have combined the roles of professional speaker and presentation consultant, coaching people on how to get their spoken message heard, assimilated and acted upon.

I made my first speech when I was 13. I was not particularly worried about the prospect of appearing in front of an audience because I had already been performing in various English speaking competitions from the age of 10. However, these competitions involved learning poetry, extracts from the Bible or scenes from plays. I did not have to create any of my own words. Suddenly having to be the originator of what was coming out of my mouth was rather scary.

I did not have a fear of speaking. But I did have a fear of preparing to speak.

That childhood experience convinced me of the need for a preparation process that could be relied upon to generate material that worked. I don’t want you to have that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as you sit in front of a blank piece of paper or empty computer screen thinking, “I just don’t know where to start.”

Later, at university, as an audience member at the Cambridge Union Society, I listened to some superb speeches from a wide variety of outstanding speakers, ranging from Enoch Powell to Barry Humphries. Even though I knew that I was often listening to brilliance, it was not unusual to find it hard to remember what they had said the next day – or even a few minutes after they had finished speaking. Many other audience members told me that they had a similar problem.

So, as a way of enhancing my own listening experience, I tried to summarize and crystallize the very best of what guest speakers were saying … while I was listening to them. That way I could remember and pass on their “greatest hits” in conversation with others. At last, I could actually define what was so good about a given speech.

I soon realized that encapsulation of a speech’s best material in a pithy, concise statement also worked as a preparation device as well as a listening device. I gradually worked the concept into the speeches I began to write for myself and other people.

Soon after I left Cambridge, I was speaking 2 or 3 times a week and advising many other people on their speaking activities. I was also doing speeches literally every day in court, working as a barrister. However, I churned out what I had to say without really knowing the most efficient and effective way of doing so.

In 1994, I met Dan Bond and we co-founded the presentation consultancy Straight Talking. His presentational background was in theatre stage management and conference production … somewhat different to the direction from which I entered the game.

We had both already done several years of presentation coaching, but we knew that our advice merely polished the surface of presentations rather than going to the core of them. Therefore, we carried out a great deal of research into the presentation techniques that were prevalent at the time.

We were simultaneously encouraged and disappointed by the fact that we couldn’t really find any author whose advice we really rated. The exception was the first section of a book by Sandy Linver called Speak and Get Results (1991). She advocated a deep understanding of the audience as an essential part of speeding them to accept the presenter’s ‘message’. This really made sense to us, because it was already a core attitude in our own coaching.

She gave this point of audience acceptance a name: ‘Point X’. We prefer the way that we use the somewhat less exotic term, the ‘Result’. But her allusion to a ‘map’ and the audience’s ‘journey’ also struck a chord with our own experience.

However, her concept of the ‘message’ was just not precise and robust enough. We felt that there needed to be a more concrete concept at the very core of presentation preparation. We also did not like her approach to the opening words of a presentation, which encourages you to avoid controversial statements and instead tell them something they already know. When it came to presentation delivery, we were uncomfortable with her emphasis on breathing and voice exercises, as we knew that very few clients ever had the time or inclination to actually do them in the real world.

But how could we ensure that the audience never sets one foot off the crucial path towards enlightenment? None of the vast array of manuals in the market provided a truly comprehensive, yet simple, linear process for presentation preparation. Everything that I had experienced at Cambridge and in my own speaking and coaching career up to that point had taught me that creating content had to be approached in a vastly more systematic way.

In this book I show you the rigorous method that Dan and I have created and developed over 15 years. It can help anyone prepare and deliver a presentation. Our distinctive approach includes the use of a Preparation Pipeline that forces you to approach presentation creation in a straight line. It helps you to create a finely honed, memorable and repeatable Micro-Statement to control the writing of material. We show you how to use special filters to turn draft material into final content. We advocate the injection of sharp, ‘sit-up-and listen’ attention-grabbing phrases throughout presentations, from beginning to end.

All this is combined with a skeptically minimalist attitude to PowerPoint (carefully tempered by additional practical suggestions from top-class international professional speaker and Slideware athlete Warren Evans) and carefully calculated advice on the power and horror of humour.

We have honed our Preparation Pipeline through time spent coaching dozens of different companies and hundreds of individuals. Our clients have included IBM, Ford, Bain, KPMG, Deutsche Bank, Tesco and Vodafone … as well as politicians, celebrities and Olympic athletes.

The result is a process that we now call the Bare Knuckle Method. It works for a lot of people in a lot of situations, and it can certainly work for you.

CHAPTER 1

THE ESSENTIALS

You present more often than you think. It does not have to involve you standing up in front of a seated audience … although in business that is the scenario that causes the most anxiety for most people for most of the time. In fact, in the workplace and beyond, you present every time that you attempt to change someone’s viewpoint by using spoken words.

Presenting is an every day activity for everyone. Those that do it well are likely to get to the top of their chosen profession. It is such an important activity that it should not be left to chance. In the 2010 UK General Election, it was the unexpectedly brilliant presentation performance by Nick Clegg in the televised debates that propelled the Liberal Democrats from Oblivion to Government, as well as securing for himself the second most powerful job in the country. The techniques contained in this book can make excellent personal communication a certainty instead of a lottery, whether you are a Prime Minister, product director, preacher or primary school teacher.

This book deals with the wide variety of presentational scenarios. For some people, these situations may occur regularly. For others the invitation to speak may come unexpectedly and demand a huge amount of thought and care in preparation: for instance when asked to give a eulogy. However, I suspect that you are reading this book because you want to improve your performance in the ‘you-in-front-of-more-than-five-people-in-the-audience’ sort of situation. Accordingly, the first six chapters focus on this scenario, which I will from now on call the Formal Presentation. Once you’ve mastered this scenario, you can master any of the other situations that I cover in later chapters.

To help you achieve this success, the Bare Knuckle Method uses a Preparation Pipeline that you can walk through with the maximum of speed and the minimum of angst.

This step-by-step methodology is tried-and-tested and will allow you to get results you will be proud of every time you present. You may not always get a Knockout, but you can always win on points, facing every speaking challenge in the knowledge that Bare Knuckle techniques give you the best possible chance of success.

Why Bare Knuckle?

I use the term because you need to fight constantly for the privilege of your audience’s attention. You are not fighting against the people in front of you….but you are fighting against all the other facts, figures and opinions in their minds at any given moment. For a few minutes, it is your information and attitude that must gain the ascendancy.

The Bare Knuckle Fighter uses a vast range of unconventional combat techniques to get the results he needs, without being bound by a restrictive set of rules. In the same way, the Bare Knuckle Presenter is not confined by the stiff Marquess of Queensbury style of Death by Bullet Point.

This is why the central aspects of my coaching have always embodied a rather driven attitude. This idiosyncratically assertive approach involves asking you to go through a Preparation Pipeline every time you need to speak.

The key characteristic of the Pipeline is that it forces discipline on you without stifling your creativity.

The methodology may not be a total guarantee (I have to leave some of the responsibility with you!), but it will definitely take the pain out of the process and make you a real contender.

The Challenge

You may well dread giving presentations. But always bear in mind that audiences dread listening to them even more. They fear that their time is going to be wasted. They worry that they are going to hear material that they have heard many times before. More than anything else, they worry that they are going to be bored.

So, why bother with a presentation? Why not just send the information by e-mail?

The difference must come from you, the presenter: you must provide the reason why.

In a century where executives frequently receive more than 100 e-mails a day, information on a screen can never be totally compelling. A presentation is real communication, with life and breath and flesh and blood. It is the human element that makes the difference. Only a live presenter can provide information with inspiration and impact. The words are merely ammunition … you must be the weapon.

But there are too many presentations. Most of them are too long, whereas the human attention span has never been so short. I strongly believe that very few presentations should ever be longer than 20 minutes, no matter how brilliant the presenter. In fact, some of the most popular business presentations in the world are given at TED conferences (see www.TED.com). They have assembled dozens of the world leading thinkers in virtually every discipline to share their ideas, inventions and interpretations. The main reason that the presentations are so compelling is that they strictly enforce a time limit of 18 minutes.

Knowledge and intellect are useless without the power to communicate. There are certainly more communication tools available than ever before, ranging from PowerPoint to the marker pen. However, the best tool remains you. The main problem you face now is a lack of time: time to prepare and time to deliver.

A presentation is not about building a lifetime relationship. You should treat it like an affair that is short but memorable. It should have some great highlights, but be over quickly.

The prayer of the 21st Century audience is:

‘Let me hear something new that makes listening worth the effort. Please don’t let him make me yawn.’

The mantra of the 21st Century presenter should be:

‘Say it. Support it. Shut it.’

This book shows you how.

The Method

I can summarize the Bare Knuckle content preparation methodology very quickly. It is based on the conviction that every piece of spoken communication should have a Micro-Statement at its core. A Micro-Statement is what you would say to a given audience if you only had 10 seconds in which to say it. It is the shining jewel that you hope will dazzle and persuade them to think and do what you want them to do.

This is the five-step Preparation Pipeline I mentioned earlier that you must hard-wire into your psyche:

1. Know your audience (through thorough analysis)

2. Decide where you want to take them (by getting to understand what they really need to hear)

3. Create a Micro-Statement (which will propel your audience along your chosen path)

4. Support the Micro-Statement (to provide the evidence for the case you are arguing)

5. Spike your beginning and your ending (so that the words with which you started and finished will still be going through their head long after you left the room)

At the start of the next six chapters, you will find a sequence of headings which makes up the detailed sections of the Pipeline, so that you always have a clear idea of exactly where you are in the process.

I am sure that you are looking forward to finding out what a Knockout Result is, but I am going to leave that until the next chapter. You are probably less excited at the prospect of Audience Analysis, because it does sound as if it might be rather … anal. But it does not have to involve a spreadsheet or a tedious computer programme. For the largest conference audiences, you may have rather too much information potentially available from the organizer about every single individual. You cannot hope to cater exhaustively for every audience member.

But when you are talking to three people around a table, personal information is much more desirable for you.

Even audiences at weddings and funerals can be effectively analyzed, so that your speech contains the most compelling material from the life of the groom or the deceased.

Remember that, for the audience, the prevailing atmosphere is one of sickly dread, not just dislike. You need to constantly fight against this negative mindset. But you strike the first effective blow in this struggle when you overcome the overwhelming desire to tell everybody everything.

A presentation that includeseverythingusually achievesnothing.

An audience is only interested in the part of your presentation that makes their lives easier, so brutal editing is a fundamental courtesy. They will always be grateful for the time you have spent cutting out the stuff that they don’t need to hear. If you want to speak for an hour, you could probably start now. If you want to speak for a minute you may need an hour just to edit. Audience Analysis and its role in deciding exactly where the audience should be taken is covered in detail in Chapter 2.

The encapsulation of presentation content in a relevant, concise and compelling sentence dramatically increases a key possibility: that the audience will remember what you want them to remember.

Everything in the presentation must relate back to the Micro-Statement. If a piece of content does not support it, then that material must be summarily culled. The Micro-Statement is both the transport and the guidance mechanism that will take the audience to where you need them to go. It is also the highly valuable gift that you want your audience to take away with them. How to create this legacy will be dealt with in detail in Chapter 3.

Although the Micro-Statement is crucial, it rarely thrives on its own … hence the need to support it.

Just because you have said a particular thing does not mean that the audience will remember it. A presentation should not be a sequence of lists for memorization, like a conveyor belt of prizes in a game show: if they remember three key points that support the message from a 20 minute presentation, then you have done very well indeed. If you are absolutely determined to include 17 key points, then you have a problem: the audience may have stopped listening before you have stopped talking. It is your duty to edit for impact. You will find guidance on structure and editing in Chapters 4 and 5.

Many times I have heard a client utter this heartfelt cry:

‘I’m alright once I get going, but I just don’t know how to start.’

Imagine that a presentation is like your steamiest love affair. The moment when it began should be unforgettable. I am sure that you didn’t waste any time with pleasantries like

‘It really is a great pleasure to meet someone as attractive as you, and I look forward to the opportunity of getting to know you better, but before we start, let me show you this organizational chart so that you can see where I fit into the Davies family….’

Or maybe you did and you still find the Internet a more forgiving place to conduct romance. Nobody has time for fluffy pleasantries.

How to Spike the beginning and end of your brief encounter with the audience is passionately described in Chapter 6.

The Preparation Pipeline described in the first seven chapters is the paramount source of comfort that you will find in this book. I urge you to get into the habit of using it to decide on what to say in every speaking situation. It is vital that you absorb the concepts in the Preparation Pipeline so at the end of Chapters 2 to 5, you will find a list of Action Steps which summarize how to use the Pipeline to create your Core Content.

When you learned how to drive, the sequence of steps in a hill start probably seemed awkward at first. But now it is a manoeuvre that you can do almost sub-consciously. In the same way, the first few occasions that you walk through the pipeline, it may feel a bit awkward … but the way will become smoother and more lubricated each time, so that it eventually becomes an automatic thought sequence whenever it needs to be.

Chapters 8 to 10 deal with both the high-tech and low tech tools that can be used to back up the gorgeous content you have forged. Very few ‘normal’ people have the inclination or ability to be actors. Attempting to learn content as if it were the script of a play is as unrealistic as it is frightening. But it is still necessary to keep your words on track somehow. Chapter 7 discusses the merits and methods surrounding notes, paper scripts and teleprompters.

Chapter 8 asks you to make a seismic shift in thinking. I want you to accept this piece of corporate heresy:

‘It is possible – and often highly desirable – to make a compelling formal business presentation without using PowerPoint.’

I have made this statement many times in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies. It is often greeted with the same angry stare that the Vatican must have given to the first chap who told them that the world is round.

The idea that a presentation should be carefully and powerfully phrased right from the outset goes against most mainstream practice. Traditionally (i.e. over the last five years), when an executive is asked to make a presentation, his first reaction is to reach for his laptop and turn up the PowerPoint to warp factor 10. The ‘presentation’ becomes a numbered sequence of slides, which form a corporate collage of bullets, numbers and charts. He feels no need to prepare what he is actually going to say because he thinks that he will be magically guided by what is on the screen. He can ‘talk to the slides’ like a digital Dr Doolittle.

The purpose of Chapter 8 is to give you a supremely practical methodology and show you how to adapt it to get the result you need … even when you are using PowerPoint.

Chapters 9 and 10 are based on the viewpoint that your delivery skills must be as sharp as your editing. There is no point in spending millions of dollars on the development of state-of-the-art skis if they are only going to be worn by Eddie the Eagle. I totally disagree with the view expressed by Jerry Weissman in Presenting to Win (2003):

‘When the story is right, the delivery itself tends to fall into place, almost magically so.’

This is a very dangerous attitude, which runs the risk of wasting all the hard work put into getting the content right. Many times we have seen excellent content delivered very badly indeed, thus losing most of its value. Preparation and delivery should not be seen as different disciplines. They are as inextricably linked as Turnover and Profit … or Plague and Pestilence.

Chapter 9 is about controlling your nerves and honing your delivery skills. Nerves can be a good thing: a natural survival response that sharpens the senses. But for some people they are a horrible barrier to effective performance. Every presenter should seek to control nerves rather than eradicate them. They can be ruthlessly channelled so that they force you to prepare properly and concentrate on the real needs of the audience. Negative anxiety can become positive anticipation

This chapter also shows you how to maximize control over your body and your voice in a way that accelerates you into the presentational fast lane. I will encourage you to have a Bare Knuckle attitude to delivery, which means always getting to the point as directly as possible.

Chapters 10 and 11 show you how to adapt your delivery skills to the demands of the day itself. It is also about controlling the environment in which that delivery is going to take place. This involves knowing what to look for, what to ask for, and what to insist on. And I show how to make the relationship between presenter, audience, projector, screen and microphone as effective as possible.

A monster that lurks in the minds of many presenters is the thought of having to answer questions in front of an audience. Bleak horror is only justified when you don’t possess the right combination of strategic attitude and tactical practicality that awaits you in Chapter 11, without once mentioning bankruptcy proceedings in the USA.

A smiling audience is a receptive audience. However, the creation of laughter is an exact science that requires the use of precise formulae. When used incorrectly, humour can have disastrous effects. Chapter 12 lets you skip through this anti-personnel minefield.

Chapter 13 is about the high wire act of the presentation circus. An After Dinner Speech can be the most deliciously entertaining way to end a meal. It can also be the most appalling torture. Heavily interwoven with stories about my own post-prandial triumphs and disasters, this chapter identifies how to make the experience enjoyable for everyone in the room.

Whether you have been asked, volunteered or required to speak, you must be sure that it is the most appropriate thing to do. Chapter 14 contains the criteria by which you should make the decision. Not speaking at all may be the correct choice if you have identified a more effective alternative.

The Restrictions

The Spoken Word has dominated my working life, but I am acutely aware of its limitations. A presentation may enlighten, persuade and entertain, but it can never cover the whole topic. A presentation with exhaustive detail becomes a lecture to an exhausted audience. A lecture is designed to cater for the needs of a studious group of people. Even the smallest detail might make the difference between passing and failing an exam, so the academic audience does its best to write down nearly every word that the lecturer says.

However, I guarantee that no audience member in the entire history of public speaking has ever made a verbatim note of what has been said in a business presentation.

What’s the difference between a Bare Knuckle Presenter and a lecturer?

About 300 grand a year.

Technology both encourages and caters for the microscopic 21st Century attention span. If you are watching television, you know that you can instantly go to another channel if you get bored. Even if you are watching a DVD, your finger will be quivering over the Fast Forward button if the story gets bogged down. When you are surfing the net, if a site takes more than 10 seconds to download, you will probably go elsewhere. Corporate audiences are similarly impatient.

Bare Knuckle presenters must seek to find an exquisite blend of brevity, clarity and impact...or else their presentations will become victims of the 21st Century One-Click-And-I’m-Out-Of-Here mindset.

My own fundamental mindset is that:

A presentation is any spoken communication designed to change someone’s point of view.

The key word is ‘change’. All effective presentations include an element of challenge to the status quo ante. A presentation should never consist of a sequence of words that merely act as a reminder of what the audience already knows: reminders are never compelling. The definition above uses the word ‘someone’ instead of ‘audience’, because many common presentational scenarios involve speaking to just one person (e.g. phone calls).

For a presentation to be a worthwhile experience for both presenter and audience, there must be an overwhelming reason for those words to be said. If you just want to remind someone, don’t make a presentation. Send an e-mail instead.

In this book, the words ‘speech’ and ‘presentation’ are synonymous, although we accept that the two words are sometimes used to describe widely differing scenarios.

David Cameron addressing the Conservative Party conference would be giving a speech. A finance director introducing his cost-cutting initiatives to the chief executive would be giving a presentation.

In fact, these two situations are at opposite ends of the same communication continuum. There are many techniques that are equally vital for both scenarios. You must decide which techniques are needed for your audience at that time

You will never see Cameron using PowerPoint (hallelujah). Your finance director’s presentation will never be preceded by a warm-up from William Hague (again hallelujah).

But the word ‘Presentation’ does have a particular implication for many listeners: for them, the word implies that the speaker is going to provide something for the audience to look at. I accept that this is corporate reality, despite my earlier assault on PowerPoint. But whatever is shown, it must be used sparingly and created with care if it is to have any impact.

Here are some typical requests for presentations in a business context:

‘I’d like you to get the team fired up to beat their target.’

‘Can you bring us up to speed on your project?’

‘Tell us some more about your company.’

‘Can you present our product to an interested prospect?’

‘Please give us the findings of your research.’

There are countless other scenarios that involve presentation, including:

• complaining about service;

• answering questions under pressure;

• being part of a panel discussion;

• media interviews;

• team pitches;

• delivering a eulogy;

• introducing another speaker;

• telephone conferences;

• wedding speeches.

All of these should still involve selective use of the Bare Knuckle method, and are dealt with in Chapters 15 and 16.

The Result

Every single presentation situation involves the transfer of information. Audiences can vary in size from 1 to 1000. Environments vary from boardrooms to ballrooms. But the same fundamental principle still applies: a presentation should be designed to change an audience’s point of view and, ideally, get them to take an action as a result of this change.

If information is being presented, the audience must be told what to do with it.

It would be much easier just to ‘brain-dump’ the information, with this being the prevailing mind-set:

‘I’ve told them absolutely everything. It may have taken nearly three hours … but I’ve done my job.’

Information on its own is rarely enough. If any change is to take place there must be ideas, enthusiasm and attitude.

To position these components appropriately, you must take into account how your audience feels, and seek to reposition their feelings relative to the material they are hearing. Hanging information on an emotional hook will significantly improve retention: the audience will remember the way that you made them feel long after they have forgotten the facts you have given them.

Unlike the vast majority of presentation books, this one will show you a precise, adaptable, audience-focused preparation process, as well as how to deliver the material created by that process. It is a process that can be used even when the time available is extremely limited. Presentations are not like Ancient Rome: they can be built in a day. Or an hour. Or even five minutes … if the time is used with discipline.

I will show you how important it is to choose the right words long before you say them to the audience. Fantastic slides will not make your presentation stand out. Fantastic words will because so few presenters bother to think carefully about their words before they actually present them. You will discover that your vocal chords can work unaccompanied by the clicking of a mouse.

Incidentally, I also dislike the idea of telling a ‘story’. This is what Arthur Andersen, Enron and Lehman Brothers used to do. It is what Bill Clinton was so good at. The word has an unintentional whiff of embellishment and inaccuracy. I hope that none of your audiences think that you are merely telling them a story.

There is no fictional story-telling in this book. I only give you what you need. And not a word more. No waffle, no chitchat, no platitudes.

There are many presentational habits that are so prevalent that they have become accepted orthodoxy. Sadly, these same habits are actually encouraged by many of the other books on the subject. Throw those books away now. OK, not all of them. I will refer to the tiny minority that include credible techniques. But I will not hesitate to attack outmoded, clichéd nonsense. If you wanted a book that is humbly deferential to its competitors, then you have wasted your money.

This jack-booted approach is absolutely necessary:

‘Few new truths have ever won their way against the resistance of established ideas save by being overstated.’

Isaiah Berlin

Many presentation coaches will hate this book. A few will fall in love with it. I hope you do too.

CHAPTER 2

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

A more comprehensive title for this chapter could be ‘Know your Audience … and where you are going to take them’. This is because all presentations are about leadership. An effective presentation leads the audience from where they began, to where you would really like them to be. You should not be trying to have a pleasant chat: you must be compelling, vigorous and firmly focused on where your words will take them.

Remember, the opportunity to present is an enormous privilege. The audience has invested their most irreplaceable asset: their time. They have also consented to you being the only person in the room who is talking. They will quickly withdraw that consent if they feel that their time is being wasted. This means you must, at all times, fight to keep their attention, while ensuring that your time in front of them is as potent as possible.

You are definitely not looking for the lowest common denominator. This is a phrase that suggests you will come up with shoddy, off-the-shelf remarks. What you need to find is the Highest Common Denominators. These are the cleverest and most sophisticated factors you can possibly rely on while continuing to win over the majority of the audience. This is the sort of information that allows you to make your eventual words a high-quality, classily bespoke product.

To get the best result, you must be very selfish about the result that you want to achieve. But the most effective selfishness is that which is combined with sensitivity: sensitivity to the needs of the audience. You cannot be audience driven: this implies too much loss of control. But you must use your control to become audience focused.

My experience with dozens of FTSE 100 companies over the last 15 years has taught me that there is a desperate need for more audience focus. Only rarely is there an overlap between what the presenter wants to say and what the audience needs to hear.

It is only when the audience is certain that the presenter has focused on what they need, that they will be able to focus on what thepresenterneeds.

To give you some insight into what a presenter should be sensitive to, here is a list of 10 things you will never hear an audience member say:

‘That presentation should have been much longer.’

‘His message was far too easy to understand.’

‘I needed to see 10 more slides.’

‘Why can’t they get more words on each slide?’

‘Oh how I ache for more numbers and statistics!’

‘I think they should have packed a few more presentations into the conference.’

‘He seemed too well prepared.’

‘His enthusiasm really put me off.’

‘My time is not really important.’

‘He made the subject too enjoyable.’

It’s enough to make anyone feel deflated. So, when you are sitting in front of a blank computer screen, feeling daunted by the task ahead, where can you find the necessary presentational stimulus?

There is no one single source of speaking strength, but a fundamental ingredient is a grasp of where the presentational route begins and ends.

This may sound very straightforward; surely no one would go to all the effort of making a presentation, without being certain of what they wanted to get out of it? Sadly, the answer to that question is: oh yes they would!

The Bare Essentials

Before you do anything else, ask yourself a simple question:

‘Why am I making this a presentation?’

The answer should be:

‘Because I need to create a result that is best achieved by communicating face-to-face.’