Planning Presentations

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Respond to the following question with a minimum of a 100 word response.  Think of a company that uses visuals in their communication. How effective is their use of visuals? Could their use of visuals complicate the message they are trying to convey?

Here is the reading Material for this question

Planning Presentations

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Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

  1. Describe how planning your presentations leads to credibility.
  2. Analyze presentation audiences in terms of message benefits, learning styles, and communicator styles.
  3. Organize and gather content for a preview, view, and review.
  4. Develop effective slide presentations.
  5. Use the story line approach to presentations.
  6. Evaluate your presentations for fairness and effectiveness.
Why Does This Matter?

Presentations have many purposes, including promoting a new business or idea, reporting on the status of projects or product performance, helping management and employees stay informed about business policies, or selling a product or service. Presentations give you opportunities to connect deeply with your audiences and convey and control your messages carefully.

Hear Pete Cardon explain why this matters.

bit.ly.com/CardonWhy14

 

LO14.1. Describe how planning your presentations leads to credibility.

Presentations place a spotlight on you and allow you to maintain and even build your credibility. When you clearly know what you’re talking about, audiences judge you as competent. When you show that you are interested in the needs of your audience, they judge you as caring. When you offer your views honestly and transparently, audiences judge you as having character.

Although speaking is a normal part of every day for you, making business presentations is not necessarily automatic or natural. As speech expert Thomas Leech explained, “Developing proficiency in oral communications doesn’t occur automatically. The ability to speak may have come much as did walking and breathing, but speaking well to groups is another matter.”1 As you read this chapter, identify the areas that will help you most in developing your presentation skills. This chapter focuses on planning your content. The next one focuses on delivering that content effectively.

Read the chapter case about Shannon Browne and her plans to revamp a sales presentation. In particular, note what she views as her unique challenges. Throughout the chapter, you’ll see how she attempts to overcome these challenges while crafting her presentation.

Chapter Case: Planning Presentations at Sinosourcing Experts

Who’s Involved

© Take A Pix Media/Getty Images

Shannon Browne

  • Has worked as a sales rep at Sinosourcing Experts for five months
  • Recently graduated with a major in supply chain management and a minor in Chinese

The Situation

Shannon recently accepted a sales rep position at Sinosourcing Experts, which combines her interests in global supply chains and the Chinese culture. Sinosourcing Experts helps small businesses outsource their manufacturing to China. It markets its services in North America and maintains offices in Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. At the Chinese offices, Sinosourcing has nearly 30 employees, including sourcing experts, engineers, and import/export specialists. These employees are the go-betweens in setting up and ensuring quality manufacturing in China for small North American companies.

Shannon’s job is to gain new clients in North America. She spends most of her time giving presentations to small-business owners about how they can move some of their manufacturing to China and save on manufacturing costs. One approach the company uses to gain new clients is to set up small seminars about manufacturing in China. Between 15 and 20 participants attend each seminar at sites around the country. The seminars last three hours and culminate with Shannon’s 45-minute presentation. Typically, she gets one or two new clients at each presentation.

Shannon wants to revamp her presentation to increase her success. In particular, she wants to overcome several basic misconceptions and stereotypes that many seminar participants hold about manufacturing in China, most of which are negative. While many of these seminar participants believe that production costs are lower, they assume that quality suffers and time to market for new products takes too long. Some participants have the impression that moving production to China would involve supporting labor abuses in sweatshop-type factories that violate standard safety practices. Others assume that Chinese management is unsophisticated and ideological (Communist).

Task 1

Prepare the basic content of the presentation to explain the benefits of outsourcing manufacturing while also addressing concerns.

Task 2

Develop slides to supplement the presentation and reinforce the key messages.

Planning the Content of Your Presentation

As you design your presentations and speeches, the AIM planning process will help you, just as it does in the writing process. You’ll analyze your audience to make sure you’re addressing their needs and speaking to them in the way that is most appealing and easy to learn. You’ll develop your ideas by identifying the key facts and conclusions related to your topic. You’ll also construct your message to focus on the key takeaway concepts and to provide supporting points throughout. In this chapter, we do not focus on developing your ideas, since this process is largely similar to that for writing. We instead discuss analyzing your audience and structuring your message, since these processes have some unique features for presentations. Then, we discuss designing electronic slides, since these are commonly included in many professional presentations.

Analyze Your Audience

 

LO14.2. Analyze presentation audiences in terms of message benefits, learning styles, and communicator styles.

Understanding the needs of your audience is one of your first tasks as you develop your presentations. Of course, this is complicated by a variety of factors. Your audiences for presentations may differ in size and makeup, and in some cases, you won’t know who they will be. As you do your homework about the audience, answer the following questions to the degree possible:

How Will Audience Members Benefit from the Product, Service, or Ideas I Am Proposing?

This is the single most important question you can use to guide you as you design your presentation. In particular, focus on benefits that fulfill an unmet need.2

In Shannon’s case, she focuses primarily on how small businesses can reduce production costs by outsourcing some or all of their manufacturing in China. This is an unmet need for many small businesses because they often compete with larger businesses that have the resources and know-how to move productions overseas. Most small businesses, by contrast, lack the resources and know-how to do this successfully.

What do the Audience Members Already Know about My Product, Service, or Ideas?

Find out whatever you can about your audience members’ knowledge level. If people know little about your product, you will need to spend a proportionately higher amount of your presentation time to inform them. Also, try to find out where they have gotten their information or how they have developed their perceptions about the topic. Knowing this allows you to more effectively deal with misinformation.

In Shannon’s case, she has found that seminar participants understand little about manufacturing in China. Much of what they know is based on news headlines or short 30-second news stories. Many of their judgments about the Chinese business and political environment come from short sound bites during highly charged political debates. Because many participants have such superficial understanding of manufacturing in China, her company allots three hours for the seminar, hoping to provide a deep understanding. Her culminating 45-minute presentation specifically addresses outsourcing for small businesses.

What Are My Audience Members’ Chief Concerns?

Considering this question is particularly important for presentations. Whereas you can take time to gather your thoughts when responding in writing to someone’s concerns, in presentations and other face-to-face communications you must respond immediately.

Shannon recognizes that most small-business owners have superficial knowledge about manufacturing in China. They’ve often heard about the great cost savings but little else. Many people have stereotypes of sweatshops and unfair labor practices. Similarly, they may think that products made in China are of lower quality. Many seminar participants also hold a negative view of what they perceive as a Communist approach to business. In Shannon’s presentations, she wants to make sure to not only inform but also overcome incorrect stereotypes.

Principles of Audience Analysis

Identify the following:

  • Audience benefits
  • Existing knowledge
  • Concerns
  • Decision makers
  • Appeals
  • Communicator style
  • Learning style

Who Are the Key Decision Makers?

Your presentation is generally intended to draw support from your whole audience. Typically, however, some people in your audience have more impact on your ability to achieve your work objectives than do others. These key decision makers are the ones you want to influence the most.

For internal presentations, think about those individuals who have the most influence and authority to act on your ideas. For presentations to clients, customers, and prospects, think about which individuals are the decision makers for their organizations or who you perceive as the most likely prospects for future business. Focus most of your attention on them.3

Shannon generally finds out about people who have signed up for her presentations before they arrive. She checks their company websites to learn about their businesses and gets a general sense for how well Sinosourcing Experts can meet the needs of their businesses. She typically identifies 5 or 6 out of the 15 to 20 people who attend her seminars who she considers the top prospects. Of course, she maintains flexibility since she doesn’t have complete information.

What Will Appeal to Your Audience?

You can influence your audience by employing a combination of emotional and analytical appeals. Oral communications, especially speeches and presentations, are well suited to strong emotional appeal, as they create bonds between the speaker and the audience and emotional connections with products, services, and ideas. At the same time, your speeches and presentations will include a set of ideas that you want your audience to appreciate analytically. Plan to make both emotional and analytical connections with your audience.

As you’re thinking about emotional and analytical appeals, consider the communicator styles of your audience (see Chapter 2). Sensers will appreciate your ability to stay on point and discuss immediate goals. Emotionally and analytically, they are attracted to action-oriented and results-oriented language and logic.

Feelers will appreciate your ability to discuss business relationships—such as benefits to work teams and colleagues and loyalty to customers and clients. Emotionally, feelers will connect to you with your use of “we” language and other relationship-centered terms. Analytically, feelers will connect with your holistic approach to business benefits. They are attracted to business logic that includes more than just bottom-line measures of performance.

Thinkers will appreciate your ability to provide all of the facts and avoid rushing to judgment about conclusions. Thinkers generally pride themselves on a dispassionate (nonemotional) approach to decision making and may be turned off by what they consider blatant and irrelevant appeals to emotion. However, this in no way implies that emotional appeal is unimportant to thinkers. Thinkers are often emotionally connected to precise language; well-designed and conceptualized charts, models, and other figures; and the ability to handle tough questions.

Intuitors will appreciate your ability to present visionary ideas. Emotionally, they connect to out-of-the-box thinking and emphasis on strategic initiatives. They want to feel a part of something larger than themselves. Analytically, they respond to discussing concepts first and facts last.

Over time, Shannon has found that seminar participants inevitably represent a mix of all the communicator styles. However, she has noticed that her groups of small-business owners contain a high percentage of thinkers and intuitors. The thinkers often have engineering backgrounds and have branched off from a larger company to focus on a manufacturing niche of interest to them. The intuitors are often those who crave freedom, don’t want a boss, and have a vision of creating revolutionary products. Shannon adjusts her presentation to these types of communicators and their backgrounds.

What Is the Learning Style of Your Audience?

As with communicator styles, audience members have different learning styles. Visual learners, who make up about 40 percent of the population, learn best from illustrations and simple diagrams that show relationships and key ideas. They also enjoy gestures and metaphors. Ironically, text-based PowerPoint slides do not appeal to them much. On the other hand, PowerPoint slides rich in images and figures do help visual learners respond to your message. Auditory learners, who also comprise roughly 40 percent of the population, like loud, clear voices and believe emotion is best conveyed through voice. Kinesthetic learners, who make up about 20 percent of the population, need to participate to focus their attention on your message and learn best. They need group activities, hands-on activities, or breaks at least every 20 minutes.4

Shannon ensures that she has content and activities that appeal to each of these types of learners. She presents slides with images and diagrams to appeal to visual learners, speaks with conviction and enthusiasm to appeal to auditory learners, and provides a handout for participants to fill out to appeal to kinesthetic learners.

Components of Presentations

  • Preview (10–15 percent of time)
    • Attention-getter
    • Positioning statement
    • Overview: Takeaway messages
  • View (85–90 percent of time)
    • Takeaway message #1
    • Takeaway message #2
    • Takeaway message #3
  • Review (5 percent of time)
    • Recap
    • Call to action

Develop Your Message

As with written reports, successful presentations rely on well-developed takeaway messages, supporting information, and structure. You’ll get lots of advice during your career about how to deliver a successful presentation. Much of this advice is good because delivery is important. However, developing your content is still the most critical factor in presentation success, so prepare your content before you spend too much time on your delivery.5

Identify a Few Takeaway Messages

Your first task is to identify the two or three key messages you want to convey. Once you’ve developed these key messages, everything in the presentation should lead back to them.6 Particularly for presenting to busy executives, summarize your key takeaway messages at the outset and reemphasize them several times.7

Overall, your presentation will be most effective if you focus on how your key messages relate to the common interests of your audience. At the same time, be cautious about trying to please everyone. Some presenters broaden their messages in an attempt to appeal to everyone in the audience. This approach is risky, however, since broadening the message so much may dilute its impact and power.8

In Shannon’s case, her takeaway messages are relatively simple: Your small business can reduce manufacturing costs, improve quality control, and reduce time to market by manufacturing in China. Shannon makes sure that nearly everything in her presentation leads back to these key messages.

Structure Your Presentation with a Clear Preview, View, and Review9

Most audience members expect your presentation to include a preview, view, and review (analogous to the introduction, body, and conclusion in written documents). Typically, your preview occupies roughly 10 to 15 percent of your presentation time, your view takes up the vast majority (85 to 90 percent) of your time, and the review takes up the least time (5 percent).

 

LO14.3. Organize and gather content for a preview, view, and review.

Provide a Compelling Preview

The beginnings of your presentations and speeches are critical. Audience members who do not know you well often form quick impressions about you and your message. Even people who know you fairly well generally decide quickly if your message is important to them. Dana LaMon, who lost his sight at the age of four but went on to achieve a highly successful career as a judge and professional speaker, suggests that audiences make up their minds in the first minute or two of the presentation:

As an administrative law judge for 26 years, I have heard and written decisions in about 6,400 cases. My unscientific estimate is that in about 95 percent of them, I knew what I would decide before the hearing was over. After 19 years in Toastmasters and 16 years as a professional speaker, I have learned that the audience, too, will make quick decisions. They will judge a speaker and his or her speech well before the presentation is done. That is why I have come to believe that the most important part of my speech is the opening.10

In other words, during that first few minutes, audience members have their answers to the following questions: Am I going to listen? Am I going to benefit from what is said? Will it be valuable enough to take with me? Am I going to act on what I hear?

The preview should generally include an attention-getter, a positioning statement, and an overview. The preview should accomplish the following: create interest, show benefits, demonstrate value, and encourage action (all related to the four questions in the prior paragraph).

Choose an Effective Attention-Getter

In research among executives, the factors most likely to attract their attention were the following: The message was personalized, it evoked an emotional response, it came from a trustworthy source, and it was concise. In particular, personalized and emotion-evoking attention-getters led executives to pay close attention to presentations more than twice as often.11

Stephen Denning, one of the world’s foremost authorities on leadership communication, spent decades working for the World Bank. While leading World Bank initiatives and meeting leaders throughout the world, he learned that influence in presentations depends heavily on first garnering attention. He explained:

Successful leaders communicate very differently from the traditional, abstract approach to communication. In all kinds of settings, they communicate by following a hidden pattern: first, they get attention. Then they stimulate desire, and only then do they reinforce with reasons.12

The primary goals of attention-getters are to get your audience members emotionally invested in your presentation and engaged in thinking about your ideas. Table 14.1 focuses on seven types of attention-getters that Shannon could use in her presentation: rhetorical questions, vivid examples, dramatic demonstrations, testimonials or quotations, intriguing statistics, unexpected exercises, and challenges. This is not a comprehensive list; however, these strategies are among the most effective.13 Think about how you might use each option in a presentation.

Table 14.1 Types of Effective Attention-Getters

Attention-GetterExample
Rhetorical questionHow many of you have heard for years about the great opportunities to source from and manufacture in China? How many of you have thought it’s too complicated for a business your size to even consider this? In these tough times, when larger competitors have tremendous advantages in product costs, many small-business owners are asking these questions. “China” comes to mind, but you avoid exploring the possibility further because you assume it just won’t work for your small business. Today I’m going to explain how you can do it.
 This attention-getter immediately evokes thinking about personal experiences for audience members. It focuses on an unmet need (getting costs down), and it is positive. It is also concise: it takes roughly 35 seconds to deliver (89 words).
Vivid exampleOne of our more recent clients was a small computer cable manufacturer. To give you a sense of the possibilities of producing in China, I want to quickly paint a picture of the options this small business had to choose from in China.

In the city of Dongguan, about one hour from Hong Kong, there’s a roughly 20-square-mile area with more than 50 computer cable manufacturers. Also in this area, there are roughly 100 suppliers of computer cable parts. Suppliers and manufacturers in many cases even share offices to create a seamless production process. It’s amazing to be on the ground and see the tens of thousands of managers, engineers, and workers in such a small geographic area who are zeroed in on a particular product niche. I’ve not seen this type of concentration of efforts in any other place in the world. You have dozens of manufacturing alternatives within a few minutes’ drive of one another.

By contrast, here in the United States, this small company was 500 miles distant from its competitors and 1,000 miles from its suppliers. It’s no wonder that producing in China can save money on manufacturing costs, and with such proximity to competitors and suppliers, you can get your products to market far faster.

 This example captures the attention of the audience with its vivid, story-based description of the manufacturing options available to a recent client. Many audience members will envision the manufacturing environment in their minds and wonder what comparable options await them in China. This example would take roughly 90 to 95 seconds to deliver (214 words). To keep the audience engaged, Shannon should communicate passion and enthusiasm.
Dramatic demonstration(Holding two computer cables that appear identical) These two computer cables probably look the same to each of you. In fact, one of our recent clients made both of them. This one (holding out the first cable) was manufactured here in the States. It cost about $4 to make. After manufacturing, both cables were inspected and electronically tested. On average, cables like this fail the test 3 percent of the time. This other cable (holding out the second cable) was produced in southern China. It cost about $1.50 to make. Under the same inspection standards, less than 1 percent of these cables that were made in China failed quality tests.
 This attention-getter gives the audience a tangible sense of a reduction in production costs and improvement in quality control. This demonstration is delivered in approximately 40 to 45 seconds (93 words).
Testimonial or quotationMarble Home Makeovers, a small manufacturer of fabricated marble, is a small business that just moved much of its manufacturing to China. Its business manager, Juan Hernandez, recently told me that they increased sales by $3 million last year due to the ability to offer better pricing. In a few moments, I will show you a video of his experience.
 This short statement focuses on the testimonial of a client. It emphasizes a dramatic rise in sales, which appeals to small-business owners emotionally and rationally. It would take just 25 seconds to deliver (60 words). Ideally, a compelling video testimonial will be provided as well.
Intriguing statisticProbably many of you have heard the talk of saving 30, 40, even 60 percent on manufacturing costs in China. Probably fewer of you have heard that time to market for products manufactured in China can be one to three months faster than if you manufactured them in the United States.
 This attention-getter focuses on an exciting statistic for small-business owners (potential savings on production costs of up to 60 percent) and an unexpected one (time to market falling by one to three months). Not only does this meet their needs, it gets audience members thinking about how it’s possible to manufacture at such a distance but get products to market sooner. This concise statement takes roughly 20 seconds to deliver (51 words).
Unexpected exerciseAs we get started, I’d like each of you to get a partner and tell them your three most important goals for manufacturing. Let’s take about two or three minutes and then I’d like you to report on what your partner told you.
 Most people attending a seminar or workshop do not expect to be involved early on. By quickly getting participants talking, you may also get them to open up and relax. In this exercise, they will explicitly talk about their own goals, which will remain on the forefront of their minds as Shannon gets into the presentation. Another benefit for Shannon is she can now adapt her presentation to the needs of the audience more effectively. This is a great approach for kinesthetic learners.
ChallengeToday I’m going to describe the experiences of several small-business owners who have successfully moved all or part of their production to China. In some cases, these small businesses have doubled or even tripled their net income within a few years. As I explain their experiences, think about your small business. Think about the similarities these small businesses have with yours and what this means for your business moving into China. At the same time, think about the unique obstacles your business has.
 This direct challenge to audience members to conceptualize and envision how the content of the presentation applies to their own businesses will help many of them become more engaged and active during the presentation. This is a concise opening at just 30 to 35 seconds (84 words).

People enjoy humor in presentations. Generally, however, avoid opening with jokes. Few people do well when they open with jokes. Communication specialist Nick Morgan explains:

You need to start with something clever enough to catch everyone’s attention, but you’re at your most nervous, and thus it’s hard to shine like you want to. So how to get started? The traditional advice—still followed by many business speakers—is to begin with a joke. ... For everyone except the professional comedian, this is bad counsel indeed. You’re at your worst in terms of nerves. Don’t compound the problem by setting for yourself one of the most difficult public speaking chores of all right off the bat: Delivering a punch line with brilliant comic timing. It’s extremely difficult to do under the best of circumstances—even for seasoned professionals.14

Even if you’re one of the rare breed of people who can consistently pull them off, opening jokes may have unintended consequences. Audience members may remember your jokes more than your key messages, so if you choose a humorous opening, tie it to your key messages.

Starting with an overwhelming set of facts and numbers or telling the story of your company may not be particularly effective either. If you choose to give background on your company, do so concisely, and make sure you connect the story of your company to the needs of your audience.15

Creating a Positioning Statement

A positioning statement frames your message in appealing terms to your audience members and demonstrates clear and valuable benefits to them. The positioning statement should be as concise as possible—ideally one to two sentences. With the attention-getter, you engage and capture interest. With the positioning statement, you demonstrate that your presentation is worth paying close attention to for its entirety.

In Shannon’s case, she selects the following positioning statement: “Today I’m going to discuss how small businesses like yours can easily move some or all of your manufacturing to China to lower production costs and achieve other manufacturing goals. In fact, I’m going to explain how you could have a manufacturing presence in China in as little as one month.” This positioning statement is strong. It speaks directly to the needs of small manufacturers who are seeking lower costs. It also employs positive, upbeat, and client-focused language.

Providing an Overview Statement

The final part of the preview is the overview. Ideally, you can state your overview in one to three sentences in simple, conversational language. Immediately after Shannon makes her positioning statement, she provides an overview: “I’m going to focus on three primary benefits of sourcing and manufacturing in China: The first and most compelling reason is that you can reduce production costs by 40 to 60 percent; the second reason is that you can maintain and even increase the quality of your products; and the final reason is that you can cut time to market for your products by one to three months.” This overview segments the presentation in terms of three key benefits or takeaway messages. These benefits are easy to remember and they are couched in the you-voice to help audience members think about the benefits to their own businesses.

Justify Your Views

The majority of your presentation will be devoted to expressing and supporting your views—your two, three, or four key messages. Recognize that many of your audience members are skeptical. After all, you will likely be asking them to commit to your products, services, or ideas at the expense of their time, money, or other resources. In other words, you are generally asking people to take some type of professional and/or personal risk. Make sure you can back up your main positions with strong support material, including specific cases or examples, stories and illustrations, analogies, statistics and facts, quotations, or your own professional experiences.16

Use support materials in moderation, however. You can easily overwhelm your audience. Furthermore, most audience members prefer certain types of supporting material during presentations. For example, personalized case studies are more likely to influence audience members than statistics. At the same time, avoid any weak evidence, since that will undermine your case, and be prepared with additional support material if audience members request it.17 Furthermore, gain a sense of your audience members’ preferences. For example, thinkers are typically more influenced by quantitative information whereas feelers are typically more influenced by personal experiences.

Components of PREP Method

  • Position
  • Reasons
  • Example
  • Position

Executive communication coach Roly Grimshaw observes that the most serious mistake business managers make is to present the evidence (numbers, statistics, facts) first, or only the evidence, and leave out their primary conclusions or central positions.18 A more successful approach is the PREP method, which involves stating your position, providing the reasons, giving an example or providing evidence, and then restating your position.19 Table 14.2 provides an instance of the PREP method from Shannon’s presentation. As you read through this example, think about what Shannon gains from starting and ending with her position.

Table 14.2 The PREP Method

 Sample Statements
Step 1: PositionIt’s challenging for most small businesses to set up manufacturing in China.
Step 2: ReasonsIt’s challenging because of the major barriers of entry: finding and developing relationships with Chinese suppliers and manufacturers, having engineers on the ground to ensure quality production, bearing the costs of facilitating communication, and learning to deal with another business culture.
Step 3: ExampleLet me give you a quick example of clients who we’ve worked with to successfully set up manufacturing in the past year. Their initial efforts to manufacture in China were costly and disappointing.

Ten years ago and prior to our involvement, a marble fabrication company tried to set up manufacturing on their own. They sent a team of three managers to China on a two-week trip to meet potential manufacturers. They spent nearly $20,000 on the first trip and did little but eat meals with several manufacturers.

A year, three more trips, and another $75,000 in travel expenses later, they were still confused about who to partner with. They had met a dizzying array of Chinese business managers and government officials.

They finally settled on one manufacturer to produce a newly designed marble countertop. The first small batch turned out great. Then, they ordered a large batch of countertops worth nearly $300,000. When the shipment arrived, the quality was so poor they could not sell any of them. The Chinese manufacturer refused to reimburse them or remanufacture the order. The company tried to seek legal recourse with no success.

Since they had no one on the ground in China to identify a reliable manufacturer in the first place, monitor quality once production started, nor resolve contract disputes, they ended up losing nearly half a million dollars. They also had unhappy customers at home who did not have products on time.

Step 4: PositionSo, without access to relationships with Chinese manufacturers and suppliers and an on-the-ground presence to monitor operations, small businesses can find it very challenging and costly to set up production in China.

Conclude with an Effective Review

The review comprises a small percentage of your presentation time. However, make sure to have a strong finish—this is the place where you are hoping to gain buy-in on specific actions. First, you will recap your message in just a few sentences. Then, you’ll provide a call to action, where you’ll ask the audience members to make specific commitments. For example, Shannon often ends with the following call to action: “Thank you for attending this seminar. I want to quickly mention how you can get a more specific understanding of the savings you can achieve by producing in China. In your packets, I’ve enclosed a free estimate form. If you can provide some fairly basic information about one of your products, we could have cost estimates and shipping details back to you within a week. The estimate is free. There is no obligation at all to receive an estimate.” This call to action is nonthreatening and is the natural next step for seminar participants to become clients.

Design Appealing Slides

 

LO14.4. Develop effective slide presentations.

Businesspeople frequently use PowerPoint or other electronic slide presentations as visual aids for their presentations (see the Technology Tips feature on page 434 for alternatives to PowerPoint). The reason for doing so is compelling. Good visuals can increase communication effectiveness and persuasiveness by about 50 percent.20 After all, about 75 percent of what people learn comes visually; 12 percent through hearing; and 12 percent through smell, taste, and touch.21

However, poorly designed or poorly selected visuals can actually detract from presentation effectiveness.22 While the use of electronic slides is often effective and nearly ubiquitous for business presentations, take caution. People in the workplace sometimes mock poor electronic slide presentations as suffering death by PowerPoint. Consider some of the comments in Figure 14.1 from business leaders.23

Figure 14.1 Avoiding Death by PowerPoint

I actively despise how people use PowerPoint as a crutch. I think PowerPoint can be a way to cover up sloppy thinking, which makes it hard to differentiate between good ideas and bad ideas. I would much rather have somebody write something longhand, send it in ahead of the meeting and then assume everybody’s read it, and then you start talking, and let them defend it. The question from the beginning of the meeting to the end of the meeting is, “Have we added value: yes or no?” And I would say that if the meeting is mostly the presentation of a deck of PowerPoint slides, you conveyed information, but you didn’t actually add value.

Cristóbal Conde, CEO of SunGard

I prefer that people not go through a slide deck. If you’re working in an area, and you are running a business, you ought to be able to stand up there and tell me about your business without referring to a big slide deck. When you are speaking, people should focus on you and focus on the message. They can’t walk away remembering a whole bunch of different things, so you have to have three or four really key messages that you take them through, and you remind them of what’s important.

James J. Schiro, director at Pepsico

Death by PowerPoint occurs because of the bullet trap. Speakers and presenters often reduce their presentations to series of bullets and thoughts in outline form. As a result, they often bore their audiences and lose connection with their audiences.

Ellen Finkelstein, communication specialist

While well-designed electronic slide presentations can dramatically increase audience learning, poorly designed ones can draw intense negative reactions, as evidenced by the quotations in Figure 14.1. Make sure your electronic slide presentations aid rather than detract from your presentation objectives. Consider the following advice as you design your slides:

You Are the Focus of Your Presentation

From the beginning of the design process, resist the urge to make your slides the primary focal point; they are just an aid. Ideally, audience members will focus their eyes on you for the majority of the presentation. Consider the comments of Judith Humphrey, a prominent executive trainer:

Great leaders understand that they are the best visual. They instinctively know that their message will come through best if the audience looks at them and listens to them—with no distractions. Audiences that divide their attention will only be able to partially commit to you. PowerPoint slides are usually a dumbed-down version of the narrative script you are delivering. Visuals rely on bullet points; you speak in full sentences, with illustrations and stories. Slides are dispassionate; your voice and gestures provide passion and emphasis. So in deflecting the audience’s attention away from you to the bullet points, you’re reducing the quality of your material and its impact on the audience.24

Create a Storyboard with Your PowerPoint Slide Titles

Make sure that your presentations tell a story to your audience. To check whether your slides provide a flowing narrative rather than a disjointed set of ideas, line up your slide titles (see Table 14.3). Ask yourself whether the slide titles move naturally through the narrative of your presentation.25

Table 14.3 Setting Up Slide Titles to Help You Make a Smooth, Logical Presentation

SlideTitleStory Line
1Manufacturing in China: How Your Small Business Can Do ItPositive overarching theme in the title slide: You can do this.
2Why China?Attention: shows benefits of manufacturing in China
3What Are the Challenges?Need: shows challenges to small businesses in outsourcing manufacturing
4What Does Sinosourcing Do for Small Companies Like Yours?Solution: shows the benefits that Sinosourcing provides through its services
5Who Works for Sinosourcing?Rationale/Counterpoints: describes who provides these services and why they are qualified; addresses concerns that Chinese managers are not sophisticated
6How Does Sinosourcing Identify Suppliers and Manufacturers?Rationale/Counterpoints: describes process for finding excellent suppliers and manufacturers; addresses concerns about manufacturing quality, labor practices, and safety standards
7What’s the Sinosourcing Process?Rationale/Counterpoints: describes the process for Sinosourcing working with clients; addresses concerns that the process takes too long
8We Want to Partner with YouCall to Action: sets up invitation to get free cost estimate

Shannon chooses to set up most of her titles as questions, which is a strategy that elicits thought and engagement. Collectively, these questions address hallmark issues of stories, such as who? where? why? when? and how? The order of these slides also includes the elements of a classic narrative of persuasion: attention, need and solution, rationale, counterpoints, and call to action (see Chapter 9).

Setting out the titles in this storyboard approach helps you see which slides you really need. A common misperception of electronic slide presentations is that more is better. In fact, using fewer slides can help you tell the story more effectively. As one recruiter in a recent Wall Street Journal study stated, “Students seem to think a better grade is assigned based on the number of slides in a presentation. In real life, you have 10 minutes to present to management. If you can’t get the whole story in that time on two or three slides, you’re dead in your career.”26

In Shannon’s presentation (see Figure 14.2), she uses a total of eight slides—one slide for every five to six minutes of her 45-minute presentation. As a rule, avoid showing more than one slide for every minute to two minutes of a presentation.

Figure 14.2 Less-Effective and More-Effective Slides for Sinosourcing Presentation

© DreamPictures/Blend Images LLC

© Willie B. Thomas
© Photodisc/Getty Images
© Zhang Lianxun/Dreamstime

© Purestock/SuperStock
© Willie B. Thomas

Design Your Slides for Ease of Processing

In relation to speeches and presentations, you have likely heard of the KISS method: Keep it simple, stupid. Creating simple presentations is a good strategy. However, a more overarching and effective strategy is to focus on ease of processing. Your goal is to take your often complex data, relationships, and ideas and illustrate and depict them in easy-to-learn ways. Consider the following approaches to facilitate ease of processing:27

  • Limit the amount of information on any given slide. Readers should be able to grasp the content within 10 to 15 seconds. For text, rarely should you use more than ten words per line and more than five to six lines.
  • Use font sizes that all audience members can read easily. For titles, use at least 24-point fonts; for body text, use at least 18-point fonts.
  • Focus on and highlight key information. Use bold, italics, and other formatting features to make key phrases or key components in figures stand out.
  • Use plenty of white space. White space is effective for borders and between items and text on slides; it provides an uncluttered appearance.
  • Use high-contrast backgrounds and colors. Make sure backgrounds do not obscure text. For dark text, use light backgrounds. For light text, use dark backgrounds.
Technology Tips: Alternatives to Powerpoint

In many work environments, PowerPoint slides have become the standard visual aid for presentations and meetings. Even if you’re great at using them, you might consider other types of visual aids and props to add impact, creativity, or simply variety to your presentations.

© Stockbyte/Getty Images

Try other electronic slide and presentation software. Consider trying Prezi, Google Docs, SlideRocket, 280 Slides, or other software packages to see what you’re most comfortable with. Many presenters find that presentation software such as Prezi does not box them into bullet-point-based, linear presentations and provides more flexibility.

Use smart boards, whiteboards, or chalkboards. The act of writing as you go with keyboards, markers, or chalk may allow you to engage your audience more effectively because you are presenting in the moment, avoiding the structure or order of electronic slides, and getting input from your audience as you go. Furthermore, you may find that drawing objects freehand allows you to depict ideas more accurately and forcefully than you can with the drawing tools in PowerPoint. Still, make sure you avoid spending too much time facing away from the audience.

Experiment with new presentation technologies. Hundreds of new and emerging presentation technologies are social. In other words, they allow you to get information and feedback from your audience and incorporate it into your presentation. By experimenting with these technologies, you’ll learn to tap into the incoming messages while also controlling your message or the conversation.

  • Use compelling images in moderation. One of the basic reasons to use electronic slide presentations in the first place is to display images. You can use these images to convey powerful messages efficiently and with emotional power, especially for the visual learners in your audience. But make sure you are selective. Too many pictures, poor-quality pictures, or off-message pictures may detract from your message.
  • Develop simple charts and diagrams. Charts and diagrams can be particularly helpful for simplifying complex data relationships. Make sure to use charts and figures that the audience can process in a matter of seconds. Otherwise, they have to spend an excessive amount of time trying to understand the chart or diagram and they’re not paying attention to you. In some cases, they may give up and become annoyed.
  • Get professional design help when possible. For high-stakes presentations, consider getting help from public relations or design specialists. If you are part of a large organization, you can often get this help internally. In many cases, well-designed templates may already exist. For smaller organizations, you may need to hire outside help.

For advice from an expert, read the Communication Q&A with James Robertson on page 438.

Applying the Story Line Approach to Your Presentations

 

LO14.5. Use the story line approach to presentations.

Earlier in this chapter, you learned about the PREP method of providing rich examples to support your positions. You also learned that you should create electronic slides with a story line approach. This section explains how you can apply a story line approach to your entire presentation and enhance your ability to connect with and influence others.

The story line approach is useful for various types of presentations because it allows your listeners to engage on a deeper level emotionally and intellectually. Emotionally, they often feel a bond with you as a speaker. Furthermore, they tend to internalize stories, even developing their own parallel stories that evoke commitment, determination, sympathy, and other emotions. However, stories are far more than emotional tools. Research shows that people remember stories more easily than they do abstract information, and they are more likely to act on what they hear via stories.28

When James E. Rogers, president and CEO of Duke Energy, was asked, “What would you like business schools to teach more of, or less of?” he had this to say:

What I would really teach is how to write, and how to speak and make presentations. I’ve overused this term in this conversation, but it’s the ability to pull the salient facts together and tell a story, so that people feel it, sense it, they’re convinced by it, and want to do something because of it.

My first full-time job, I worked at night as a newspaper reporter, going to school during the day. So, I really started out covering police news, and then federal courts and political news. And I really kind of developed a sense of the importance of trying to find the essence of the story and trying to arrange the facts in some chronology to make sense out of it. In a sense, as a CEO, part of my job is not only to help develop direction but to teach the storytelling. Those early years as a reporter gave me a sense of that in terms of how to tell the story, how to communicate.29

Rogers is not the only business professional who emphasizes storytelling. Jathan Janove, who did extensive HR training about sexual harassment in the early to mid-1990s, described his transition to storytelling for presentations. Penalties to employers and employees had increased substantially, and his job was to explain new laws governing appropriate behavior. As he lectured employees, he found that they often resented the perceived intrusiveness of the new laws and the fear tactics of describing harsh penalties. And they found the lectures boring. Here is what Janove did:

It didn’t take a great leap to realize that this training wasn’t working, so I adopted a new approach, jettisoning scare-you-straight legal points. I substituted stories illustrating types of behaviors employees should avoid and how they unwittingly get themselves in trouble. Something amazing happened: Suddenly, the rooms were full of bright eyes. Discovering that telling stories is an excellent way to train employees about workplace law, I began collecting parables.30

Janove further explained that once he adopted a story-based approach to business training, he became far more influential. Audiences listened more attentively, learned more, and changed their behaviors.

You can use stories in many kinds of business presentations. For example, Sally Herigstad, a CPA and consultant to MSN Money, spoke about using this strategy for delivering financial presentations:

Financial presentations tell a story. You’re not just showing a collection of profit-and-loss statements and balance sheets—you’re telling a story that your audience needs to hear. It may be a story of a new company with promising growth. Or maybe it’s a story about meeting market challenges. Whatever your story is, stick to it: Toss everything that doesn’t help you tell it in a compelling, easy-to-follow way. Tell your story with simplicity and clarity.31

Typically, stories for business connect facts with people and their business goals. Ideally, they are true, factual, and based on real events. In some cases, they may be hypothetical, but listeners still must find them realistic and relevant.32 Generally, stories for business include the following components:33

  • Plot: a business situation that involves challenges or tensions to overcome and a clear beginning and end.
  • Setting: the time, place, characters, and context of the business situation.
  • Resolution: a solution to the challenges or tensions.
  • Moral or lesson: a point to the story.

In Figure 14.3 you’ll find a story Shannon uses for her presentation about outsourcing to China. It contains a plot, a setting, a resolution, and a moral. It speaks directly to a concern nearly all small-business owners have—laying off workers. This story is part of a larger story line that Shannon carries across her entire presentation.

Figure 14.3 Telling Stories to Connect with and Influence Audience Members

Keep in mind that stories should be short. Even when audience members are engaged, their patience is limited. They expect to get the point quickly. Typically, stories should last 30 seconds to one minute. In some cases, a story can last two to three minutes. Use your judgment and pay attention to your audiences. To help you identify how long a story is, time it while you rehearse. Or write it out and estimate how much time it will take to tell. Most people are comfortable with speaking at about 150 to 160 words per minute (this is the pace of most audio books). So, a 75-word story takes roughly 30 seconds, and a 150-word story takes about one minute.

It takes time to gather true stories for your presentations, so be alert for good ones. Remember, the purpose is always to make a point, not to entertain. If the stories have entertainment value, that’s an added bonus.

Reviewing Your Presentations for Fairness and Effectiveness

 

LO14.6. Evaluate your presentations for fairness and effectiveness.

Review your presentations in the same way you review your written communications. In the first place, double-check every aspect of your supplementary materials as well as the technology you will use to ensure that it is perfect and working. Typos on electronic slides can be a glaring display of carelessness. Also, seek feedback from colleagues and clients before and after your presentations. Ask them how they would change the presentation to better meet their needs.

As with all of your communications, ask yourself how fair your business presentations are. Is the content based on facts? Have you granted others access to your real motives and reasoning? Have you been forthright about impacts on audience members and other stakeholders? Have you ensured that you show respect for audience members (see Figure 14.4)?

Figure 14.4 Are Your Presentations FAIR?

Facts (How factual is your presentation?)
  • Have you presented all the facts correctly?
  • Have you presented information that allows colleagues, customers, and consumers to make informed decisions that are in their best interests?
  • Have you carefully considered various interpretations of your data? Have you assessed the quality of your information?
Access (How accessible or transparent are your motives, reasoning, and information?)
  • Are your motives clear, or will others think you have a hidden agenda? Have you made yourself accessible to others so that they can learn more about your viewpoints?
  • Have you fully disclosed information that colleagues, customers, or consumers should expect to receive?
  • Are you hiding any information to cast your recommendations in a better light or real reasons for making certain claims or recommendations?
Impacts (How does your communication impact stakeholders?)
  • Have you carefully considered how your ideas, products, and services will impact colleagues, customers, and consumers?
  • Have you made recommendations to colleagues, customers, and consumers that are in their best interests?
Respect (How respectful is your presentation?)
  • Does the message offend or pressure in any way? Does it show that your colleagues’ and customers’ needs are important?
  • Would a neutral observer consider your communication respectful?

In Shannon’s case, she evaluates her presentation in each regard. In particular, she has provided claims about savings in manufacturing costs, improving quality control, and decreasing time to market for products. Shannon is comfortable with these claims.

Communication Q&A: Conversations with Current Business Professionals

Pete Cardon: What types of presentations do you give?

James Robertson: In the course of a year I typically give two or three “keynote” presentations at conferences or conventions and many internal presentations on strategy, business plans, or technology directions to people above and below me in the organization. Many of my presentations come in the form of general communication and update meetings to staff teams or working groups where I need to deliver a consistent and accurate message on a topic as their leader.

James Robertson is vice president of Global Data Networks and Information Technology Security at Turner Broadcasting. He has worked at Turner Broadcasting for 15 years and runs a global operations team of over 200 IT professionals.

Courtesy of James Robertson.

PC: How do you prepare for the presentations?

JR: The key to a successful presentation is knowing your audience and practicing your message. Regardless of how big or small the group, make sure you spend plenty of time preparing. I dedicate many hours of practice to making sure that the 20 or 30 minutes I’ll have in front of them comes off without a hitch. The audience is always the wild card, but anticipating their response is important.

PC: In what ways do you see PowerPoint used effectively in the workplace?

JR: Presentations resonate with me more when they convey a simple message. There is an old saying “a picture says a thousand words.” I recently delivered a presentation where I did not have a single word on any of the slides, but the pictures on those slides conveyed the message. Humans are very visual and experiential, and they retain visuals in memory more easily than they do words. While not all presentations are purely visual, the best ones I’ve ever seen, or have given, involved more use of graphics and pictures and less use of words and text.

PC: In what ways do you see PowerPoint used ineffectively in the workplace?

JR: I hate presentations where the slides consist only of words or numbers or very complicated charts I can’t read at a distance or really understand. That’s the ultimate turnoff and will put your audience to sleep in a hurry.

See more of Mr. Robertson’s comments about presentations at the end of the next chapter.

The company has tracked the success of its clients for many years and identifies these claims as valid and accurate. She provides access to her motives: She wants to get new clients for Sinosourcing. She is also clear about impacts—even those that harm others—of outsourcing. For example, she tells seminar participants that outsourcing requires them to lay off employees in their communities (see Figure 14.3). Finally, Shannon is respectful in every way. For example, many of the seminar participants raise concerns based on misperceptions about manufacturing in China. She listens to them respectfully and corrects their misperceptions without sounding judgmental. For additional thoughts on delivering presentations from an experienced professional, read the Communication Q&A with James Robertson.

Chapter Takeaway for Planning Presentations

LO 14.1. Describe how planning your presentations leads to credibility. (pp. 419–420)

Planning presentation content demonstrates your personal credibility.

It shows competence when you demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about.

It shows caring when you provide content that meets the needs of others.

It shows character when you provide honest and transparent content.

LO 14.2. Analyze presentation audiences in terms of message benefits, learning styles, and communicator styles. (pp. 420–423)

Principles of Audience Analysis
Identify the following:
  • Audience benefits
  • Existing knowledge
  • Concerns
  • Decision makers
  • Appeals
  • Communicator style
  • Learning style
Learner Types
  • Visual
  • Auditory
  • Kinesthetic

LO 14.3. Organize and gather content for a preview, view, and review. (pp. 423–427)

AIM Planning Process

Audience Analysis: Identify how the message benefits the audience and make it easy to process.

Idea Development: Identify your presentation goals, key messages, and supporting details.

Message Structuring: Give a preview of your message, justify your views, and end with a review.

Components of Presentations: Preview, View, Review

Types of Attention-Getters: Rhetorical Question, Vivid Example, Dramatic Demonstration, Testimonial or Quotation, Intriguing Statistic, Unexpected Exercise, Challenge

See examples of attention-getters in Table 14.1.

PREP Method: Position, Reasons, Example, Position

See an example of a PREP statement in Table 14.2.

LO 14.4. Develop effective slide presentations. (pp. 427–434)

Principles for Developing Slides
  • Create a storyboard with your PowerPoint slide titles.
  • Design your slides for ease of processing.
  • Limit the amount of information on any given slide.
  • Use font sizes that all audience members can read easily.
  • Focus on and highlight key information.
  • Use plenty of white space.
  • Use high-contrast backgrounds and colors.
  • Use compelling images, charts, and figures.
  • Get professional design help when possible.

See less-effective and more-effective examples of slides in Figure 14.2.

LO 14.5. Use the story line approach to presentations. (pp. 434–437)

Components of Effective Stories for Business
Plot, Setting, Resolution of challenge, Moral

See an example of a story for business in Figure 14.3.

LO 14.6. Evaluate your presentations for fairness and effectiveness. (pp. 437–438)

 

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