Powerful Presentations
July 2007

Whether you’re delivering a proposal or sharing the results of a project, survey or analysis, your presentation is where the rubber meets the road. Getting it right can mean support for your recommendations; getting it wrong can sabotage your career. How can you maximize the impact of your presentations through technology, presentation skills and sales tactics?

Educate or Inform?

At the outset, advises Bob Brown, founder and managing director of Consulting Intelligence in Tampa, FL, you need to decide whether the purpose of your presentation is to educate or inform. “If you’re informing, you will operate at a higher level than if you have to educate and bring people along through a logical train of thought of some kind.”

The Elevator Speech

One technique Brown suggests for helping to focus your presentation on specific outcomes is to consider a possible post-meeting hallway conversation.

After the meeting, suppose one of your attendees were standing in the elevator with a colleague, superior or CEO who asked, “What was that about?” What would you want that attendee to say? You might think of this as the “elevator speech,” says Brown. What are the two or three key points that you’re hoping to leave behind?

Understand Your Audience

The more you know about the group you’ll be presenting to, the better able you’ll be to address their needs, anticipate their concerns and questions, and make points that resonate with this particular group. Knowing your audience is a must, says Marjorie Brody, author of Speaking is an Audience Sport (Brody Communications, 2001).

In situations where you don’t know the audience, she recommends presenters arrive early to get acquainted with audience members and develop a sense of who they are. Understanding what their style is can help. For instance, says Brody, a very technical group of researchers may not show their enthusiasm as overtly as a marketing group would, so you need to be sensitive to more subtle clues so you can adapt your presentation appropriately.

Using Horizontal Logic

Brown recommends a technique called “horizontal logic” to ensure that you’re conveying the right amount of information in a structured and cohesive format. It’s a technique he taught at IBM when he worked in its Business Consulting unit, one that’s still used there. Here’s how it works:

Suppose you were to print out your presentation and tape each page to the wall horizontally. Then you walk by and just read the headlines of each page or slide. As you do this, the message should be consistent and the story coherent. In other words, each heading on your PowerPoint slide should be a high-level summary of the other points contained there, and all headings should work together to tell your story. The idea is that anyone reading just those headings would have a general understanding of what you’re presenting. In fact, based solely on this general understanding, they should still be able to give that elevator speech mentioned above.

One point he stresses is that you should never, under any circumstances, read off the bullet points on your pages. Brown suggests you paraphrase or read a headline, then give an anecdote or illustration consistent with the detail shown under the headline. He adds, “Even though you’re not planning on detailing each item on the slide, you should be prepared to do so if a member of the audience asks a specific question or wants to dive into detail.”

Connecting With the Audience

Picking up on cues from your audience during the presentation is also critical. Presenters should be alert to such signals as enthusiasm, laughter, frequency of questions, and depth of questions and body language. Be prepared to adjust your presentation accordingly based on the verbal and non-verbal cues you receive. An effective presenter is flexible and able to adjust the approach at a moment’s notice to best meet audience needs.

The bottom line is, it’s all about them. Know your audience, know your material, and know the main points you hope they carry away with them when they walk out the door.

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