Master the Art of Presentations (Collection)

Jerry Weissman is the world’s number one corporate presentations coach. His private client list reads like a who’s who of the world’s best companies, including the top brass at Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Intel, Intuit, Netflix, Dolby Labs and many others. Mr. Weissman founded Power Presentations, Ltd. in 1988. One of his earliest efforts was the Cisco Systems IPO road show. Following its successful launch, Don Valentine, of Sequoia Capital, and then chairman of Cisco’s Board of Directors, attributed “at least two to three dollars” of the offering price to Mr. Weissman’s coaching. That endorsement led to more than 500 other IPO road show presentations that have raised hundreds of billions of dollars in the stock market.   Mr. Weissman’s focus widened from coaching IPOs to include public and privately held companies. His techniques have helped another 500 plus firms develop and deliver their mission-critical business presentations.   Mr. Weissman is also the author of three books, the bestselling Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, named by Fortune magazine as one of eight must-reads; The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America’s Top Speaking Coach; and In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions...When it Counts.  

Presentations in Action

 

Introduction     1

 

SECTION I     Content: The Art of Telling Your Story

1          A Lesson from Professor Marvel aka The Wizard of Oz     5

            How to Customize Your Presentation

2          Obama and You     8

            The Most Persuasive Word

3          The “So What?” Syndrome     10

            …and How to Avoid It

4          Beware of Jokes     12

            Dispelling a Common False Belief

5          Presentation Advice from Abraham Lincoln     14

            Clarity, Ownership, and Add Value

6          It Ain't What You Say, It’s How You Say It     16

            Lessons in Structure from Jeffrey Toobin and Andrew Weil, M.D.

7          Presentation Advice from Mark Twain     18

            Brevity Takes Time

8          Presentation Advice from Mike Nichols     20

            How to Find Value in Your Story

9          Show versus Tell in Hollywood     22

            The Wrong and Right Way to Tell a Story in Three Films

10        Slogan Power     24

            Why the US Army's "Be All That You Can Be" Succeeded

11        How Long Is Too Long?     26

            When in Doubt, Leave It out

12        The Elevator Pitch in One Sentence     28

            How to Describe Your Business Succinctly

13        Do You Know the Way to Spanish Bay?     30

            The Correct Way to Practice

14        Getting to “Aha!”     32

            The Magic Moment

15        This Is Your Pilot Speaking     34

            A Lesson in Flow from the Airlines

16        Presentation Advice from the iPhone     36

            Substance and Style in Your Story

17        Presentation Advice from Steve Jobs     38

            The Power of Positive Words

18        Presentation Advice from Novelists I     40

            Begin with the End in Mind, Then Write, Rewrite, and Rewrite

19        Presentation Advice from Novelists II     42

            Storyboard and Verbalize

20        Microsoft Slogans Score a Trifecta     44

            Three Persuasive Techniques

21        Presentation Advice from a Physician     46

            Audience Advocacy

22        Presentation Advice from a Politician     48

            Audience Advocacy

23        Ronald Reagan Meets Lenny Skutnik     50

            The Catalyst of Human Interest Stories

24        Human Interest Stories: A Double Advantage     51

            Two Ways to Use Anecdotes

 

SECTION II    Graphics: The Correct Way to Design PowerPoint Slides

25        The Presentation-as-Document Syndrome     55

            Never the Twain Shall Meet

26        Blame the Penmanship, Not the Pen     57

            Operator versus User Error

27        You Can't Use a Sentence As a Prompt     59

            Less Verbiage Is More Useful

28        Baiting the Salesperson     60

            Selling Is about In-Person Communication

29        PowerPoint and Human Perception     62

            Scientific Support for Graphics Design

30        PowerPoint Template: Combined Picture and Text     64

            The Best Positions for Pictures and Text

31        Shady Characters     67

            The Wrong Way and the Right Way to Build Text

32        “I Can Read It Myself!”     69

            Three Simple Steps to Avoid Reading Slides Verbatim

33        A Case for Case I: Initial Caps or All Caps     71

            Text Design in Presentations

34        A Case for Case II: Serif or Sans     73

            Font Design in Presentations

35        What Color Is Your PowerPoint?     75

            Contrast Counts

36        Presentation Advice from Corona Beer     78

            Peripheral Vision Counts

37        The Cable Crawlers     80

            How Television Animates Text

38        Computer Animation     82

            Three Simple Rules

39        PowerPoint and the Military     84

            Sometimes More Is More

 

SECTION III   Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

40        The Art of Conversation     89

            Eye Contact and Interaction Start at Infancy

41        Presentation Advice from Edward R Murrow     91

            The "Person-to-Person" Role Model

42        Nonverbal Communication     93

            Look Them in the Eye

43        Presentation Advice from Pianist Murray Perahia     95

            Concentration Creates Control

44        Presentation Advice from Actress Tova Feldshuh     97

            Concentration Creates Communication

45        Presentation Advice from Michael Phelps and Dara Torres     99

            How to Control Stress under Pressure

46        Presentation Advice from Frank Sinatra     101

            The Art of Phrasing

47        Presentation Advice from Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa     103

            The Importance of Breathing

48        The One-Eyed Man     105

            Necessity Is the Mother of Invention

49        Bill Clinton's Talking to Me!     106

            The Power of Group Dynamics

50        Liddy Dole and Person-to-Person    108

            From Law School to the Republican National Convention

51        Fast Talking     109

            Fun or Maddening

52        Presentation Advice from Titian     111

            Position, Position, Position

53        Presentation Advice from Musicians and Athletes     113

            The Value of Effortlessness

54        Presentation Advice from Vin Scully     115

            From Reagan to Barber to Scully

55        “Ya’ Either Got It, or Ya’ Ain’t!”     116

            The Fear of Public Speaking Is Universal

56        How to Eliminate the Fig Leaf     118

            A Presentation Lesson from the Military

57        Unwords     120

            Even Barack Obama Says Them

58        To Slip or Not to Slip     122

            Been There, Done That

59        The Free Throw     124

            A Presentation Lesson from Basketball

60        10 Tips for 30 Seconds     126

            Help for Job Seekers

61        You Are What You Eat     127

            10 Tips about Food and Drink in Presentations

 

SECTION IV   Q&A: Handling Tough Questions

62        Speed Kills in Q&A     131

            The Vanishing Art of Listening

63        A Lesson in Listening from Barack Obama     133

            How to Handle Multiple Questions

64        If I Could Tell Jon Stewart...     135

            Talk Shows Include Listening

65        What Keeps You Up at Night?     136

            How to Handle the Most Frequently Asked Questions

66        Spin versus Topspin     138

            The Political World versus the Business World

67        When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?     140

            How to Handle False Assumption Questions

68        Madoff and Cramer Plead Guilty     142

            How to Respond When Guilty as Charged

69        Tell Me the Time, Not How to Build a Clock     144

            Keep Your Answers Short

70        Presentation Advice from Jerry Rice     146

            Grasp the Question before You Answer

71        Politicians and Spin     147

            Putting Lipstick on a Pig

72        Murder Boards     149

            How Elena Kagan Prepared for Tough Questions

73        Ms. Kagan Regrets     151

            Non-Answers to Tough Questions

 

SECTION V    Integration: Putting it All Together

74        The Elephant     155

            The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts

75        Presentation Graphics Meet Linguistics     156

            Symmetry in Graphics Design

76        One Presentation, Multiple Audiences     158

            12 Presenters, 12 Stories, 1 Set of Slides

77        The Art and Science of Oprah Winfrey     160

            The Secrets of Oprah Winfrey’s Appeal

78        Right or Left     164

            The Deep Roots of Human Preferences

79        Graphics Synchronization     168

            The Missing Link

80        The House that Jack Built     170

            Make All the Parts Fit

 

Footnotes     173

Acknowledgments     177

About the Author     178

Index     179

 

 

Winning Strategies for Power Presentations

 

Introduction xv

Natural and Universal

Section I

Content: The Art of Telling Your Story 1

1. Mark Twain’s Fingernails 3

How to Remember What to Say

2. Kill Your Darlings 7

A Lesson from Professional Writers

3. How Long Should a Presentation Last? 11

Be Brief and Concise

4. Follow the Money 13

“So...?”

5. Fellini on Creativity 15

Consider All the Possibilities–Before You Present

6. How Woody Allen Creates 17

First Things First, Last Things Last

7. What’s Your Point? 19

Leave Pointlessness to Woody Allen

8. Spoiler Alert 21

What’s Your Point?

9. The Cyrano Parable 23

The Story You Tell Versus the Slides You Show

10. “Does that make sense?” 25

...And Other Meaningless Words

11. Meaningful Words 27

Words That Inspire Confidence

12. Writer’s Block 29

How to Break Through

13. Writer’s Block II 31

Easier Said Than Done

14. Never Say “Never” 33

Well, Almost Never

15. From Bogart to Gingrich 35

Who Did It?

16. Rupert Murdoch’s 90% Apology 39

Who Did It?

17. Winning and Losing the World Cup 41

He’s Just Not That into FIFA

18. John Doerr’s “Chalk” Talks 43

Three Best Practices from a Top Venture Capitalist

19. Vinod Khosla’s Cardinal Rule 45

“Message Sent Is Not the Same as Message Received”

20. The Outline Trap 47

Britannica and Brainstorming

21. Having a ’versation 49

“I” Versus “You”

22. “It’s all about you!” 51

“...But they’re just not that into you.”

23. When Not to Tell ’em 55

“Get on with it!”

24. Bookends 59

Establish Your First and Last Sentences

25. The Sound of Ka-Ching! 61

Scale the “You”

26. David Letterman’s Top Ten 63

Pick a Number

27. Illusion of the First Time 65

Road (Show) Warriors

28. In Praise of Analogies and Examples 69

Add Value and Dimension

29. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama 71

Masters of the Game

30. Aristotle: The First Salesman 75

The Original Source

Section II

Graphics: How to Design PowerPoint

Slides Effectively 77

31. Vinod Khosla’s Five-Second Rule 79

A Sanity Check for Every Presentation

32. Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the Water 81

Better Box Thinking

33. Jon Stewart’s Right 83

Positioned on Purpose?

34. Misdirection 85

Magicians and Graphics

35. Obama Makes a PowerPoint Point 87

The State of the Union and Presentations

36. Go in the Right Direction 89

A Presentation Lesson from Akira Kurosawa

37. PowerPoint and Movie Stunts 91

Use Graphics to Create Continuity

38. The Anti-PowerPoint Party 93

Another Precinct Heard From

39. Signage Versus Documents 95

Drive Your PowerPoint Home

40. The Graphics Spectrum 97

Lives of Quiet Desperation

41. How Audiences See 99

Follow the Action

42. Why Use PowerPoint at All? 103

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

43. “But, I’m not an artist!” 107

Rx: Infographics

44. The Kindness of Strangers 111

Stand and Deliver

45. No More Mind-Numbing Number Slides 113

Five Easy Steps to Bring Your Presentation to Life

Section III

Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder

Than Words 117

46. Eight Presentations a Day 119

Cause and Effect

47. Sounds of Silence 121

Presentation Advice from Composers and Musicians

48. Stage Fright 123

A Close Cousin of Writer’s Block

49. Swimming Lessons and Presentations 127

Deconstruct and Reconstruct

50. Valley Girl Talk 131

Invisible Question Marks

51. “What do I do with my hands?” 133

A Simple Approach to Gesturing

52. “Look, Ma, no hands!” 137

Anchorperson or Weatherperson

53. Foreign Films 139

The Pause That Refreshes

54. Rx: CrackBerry Addiction 141

Control Yourself!

55. The Eyes Have It 143

Relax!

56. Why Sinatra Stood 145

The Voice of “The Voice”

57. Presentation Counts 147

The Rise and Fall of Rick Perry

Section IV:

How to Handle Tough Questions 151

58. Listening and Laughing with Johnny Carson 153

Late Night Lessons for Presenters

59. Ready, Fire, Aim! 155

Old Habits Die Hard

60. How to Deal with a Direct Attack 159

“That was certainly a downer!”

61. No Such Thing as a Stupid Question 163

A Lesson in Q&A from Dilbert

62. The Patronizing Paraphrase 165

Trying to Channel Bill Clinton

63. Tricky Questions 169

Be Transparent or Be Trapped

64. Robert McNamara Was Wrong 171

You Must Respond to All Questions

65. Breaking into Jail 175

The Elephant IS in the Room

Section V

Special Presentations 177

66. Speak Crisply and Eliminate Mumbling 179

Be Your Own Henry Higgins

67. How to Develop a Richer Voice 185

Be Your Own Echo Chamber

68. How to Deliver a Scripted Speech 193

When the Words Count

69. Speaking to an Audience of a Thousand 197

The Big Tent

70. How to Beat the Demo Demons 201

Plan B and More

71. Bring Your Panel Discussion to Life 203

How to Herd Cats

72. Mark Your Accent 207

Eliza Doolittle Is a Myth

73. How to Interview Like a Television Anchorperson 211

Seven Easy Steps

74. Ten Best Practices for the IPO Road Show 215

75. Cicero: Peroration 221

Timeless and Borderless

Endnotes 223

Acknowledgments 237

Index 239

About the Author 249