In this chapter

• When you’re up against a deadline
• How to decide what to say
• Write a compelling headline
• Blank page to first draft
• Use stories

The hardest part of any presentation is probably the blank sheet of paper. You can sit and stare at it for hours, wondering where to start or writing a few words and deleting them again and again. It’s very like what happens if you are asked to make a speech, with little or no warning. You think, ‘What shall I talk about?’ It’s as though you have forgotten all the things you know. I’ve known even experienced speakers doubt their ability to say anything interesting when faced with the pressure of a deadline.

So where to start, and is there a simple formula that will get you out of trouble? There is, and this chapter will give it to you. However, a word of caution: never follow a formula slavishly, or your presentations will all sound the same and even you will become bored by them.

In the previous chapter I suggested a couple of ways in which you could determine what to say. You should do that no matter which approach you use to construct your presentation. Those techniques, the ‘So what?’ column and the problem-solving tree, for example, will help to clarify your thinking, and should not be confused with what is recommended here.

This chapter is about one particular technique that will simplify the process. I call it blank page to first draft in 15 minutes. I developed it specifically for those in a hurry, but it can be used any time to produce a first draft, which you can then refine if you have the time. If you are short of time, just follow this chapter rather than the previous one.

Getting caught out

Here’s a typical scenario: you decide to give a presentation about your company’s offering, or about some leadership message that belongs to you. You visualise yourself standing before an audience that applauds you and congratulates you on a great message. You feel so good about it that you imagine the presentation is all prepared and in your head.

Time passes and you suddenly realise the presentation is scheduled for the next day and you must give it some thought. So you sit down to sketch out your ideas and plan a few PowerPoint slides. By now the applause is a distant memory as you struggle to put your ideas into some coherent shape, and your enthusiasm for the project runs into the buffers.

The planning phase gets in the way of your purpose and it feels like a chore. On top of that, you realise that your reputation will take a knock if you deliver a so-so performance, and you wish you hadn’t taken on the commitment in the first place. Perhaps you also wish you could go from idea to applause in a single bound, without the tough discipline in between.

‘Say a few words’

Now consider a different scenario: at a business gathering when you are busy raising your profile and making a good impression on everyone present, your boss or your host turns to you and utters that dreadful invitation, ‘Say a few words.’

Your mind races as you search your memory for a joke to get you started. You start to speak and somehow the words flow, but you can tell that no one can make sense of what you are saying, and you are not sure about it either. There’s polite applause when you stop, but you wish you knew how to cope with impromptu speaking. You wonder if there is a simple formula. Yes there is, and it’s coming up soon.

Something similar could happen when you have a presentation to deliver, but feel you don’t have the time to prepare properly. And so you make what could be the worst possible decision: you decide to busk it. You’ll make it up as you go along.

Here’s the good news. The technique I’m going to show you in this chapter will take you from that terrifying blank page to a usable first draft in a short while, once you get the hang of it. I developed it as a result of two quite different speeches.

Tale of two talks

There was a fellow who had a reputation as a good speaker. Let’s call him Henry. He had a background in debating at school and university, his command of the English language was exceptional, and he knew a lot. He was the obvious choice to be best man at a close friend’s wedding. Unfortunately, Henry didn’t take the assignment seriously, and he neglected to prepare a proper best man’s speech.

If you have ever been best man you will know that it is not a role to be taken lightly, but Henry was relaxed about it until the day of the wedding. That’s when he asked me what to include in his speech. I rattled off some of the essential elements but Henry wasn’t listening. He just wanted to swallow a magic pill and be brilliant.

When he got to his feet, Henry actually announced that he was going to open with a joke. Sadly, the joke was feeble and it not only failed to raise so much as a giggle, but it actually offended some of the more conservative guests, including the vicar.

In show business terms, Henry ‘died’ on his feet. It was embarrassing and it deeply disappointed the groom and those who had high expectations of Henry’s speech. It took years to live down, and Henry was never again asked to be best man.

On a different occasion I took LBC’s (London’s Biggest Conversation) celebrated psycho-therapist, Sylvia Milton, to a meeting of my Toastmasters club. The chairman seized my arm and said, ‘Thank heaven you’ve come. One of our speakers has dropped out. Could you make a speech this evening?’

I agreed, and retired to a corner to scribble some notes, and produced a speech outline. Although almost impromptu, it won the award for Best Speech of the evening, and apart from the chairman and Sylvia, no one realised it had not been long in the preparation. Later Sylvia said, ‘Why don’t you work out how you did that and put it in a book?’

This chapter is a distillation of that process.

The difference between my speech and Henry’s was that I followed a formula. Henry didn’t. Like so many others, he thought he could charm his way through the assignment. It seldom works. A presentation is much more than amplified conversation. You need to consider your own needs as the presenter, and also the needs of your audience.

There has to be a match between what you intend to say and what is received and understood by your listeners. And that comes through proper preparation.

Now here’s the health warning about the formula: do not rely on it all the time. It will get you out of a jam, it will get you started even when there is no tight deadline, but it is not the complete answer to preparation. Chapter 4 is about deciding on your content, while this chapter is about structure. But before we work on that, let’s consider what enables a presentation to get results.

What to talk about

Let’s think about your content and why you are making the presentation. Usually you would be making a presentation because you are expert in the topic or some aspect of it, or because you have some other authority, by virtue of your position (the MD often gets drafted in to make presentations even if s/he are not the real expert).

People don’t want to hear the sort of facts they can get from a book, the internet, or someone else. They want to hear your take on the subject. They would prefer to hear the world’s leading authority on something, and you are the world’s leading authority on something – on your own point of view. So what’s your angle on the subject? Tell them what you think about it and what you want them to think about it.

It is important for you to know what you know and it is wise to know that you know. Suppose you got a phone call this very minute inviting you to appear on television, sitting on a panel of experts on your subject. Would you accept? If not, why not?

It is not necessary to be a ‘Mastermind’ on every aspect of your subject, able to answer any question that may be thrown at you. But it is important to know what you think about it and why. A character in a P.G. Wodehouse novel used to say, ‘You’ve got to have a Nangle.’ So what’s your Nangle on the subject? See if you can write that down in a single sentence which proclaims you as an expert. Like this:

[Your name] is an authority on [subject] because __________________

Write your headline

Imagine you are drafting an advertisement or poster for your presentation, and write the headline. Make it tempting, appealing or intriguing. What’s the benefit of attending? What can you offer or promise?

Why should you write your presentation title as a headline? For three main reasons:

1. To focus your own mind on the main message.
2. To attract the right people to attend.
3. To lift your audience out of a passive state and into a semi-active state of anticipation.

I’ve said it before and I’ll go on saying it throughout this book, that a presentation’s purpose is to bring about change, and that requires persuasion. The first step in persuasion is to engage the attention of your target audience, and a powerful headline-type of title will get you started.

Titles that do not inspire

Here are some seminar titles I found on the internet. You can see for yourself that they could be improved.

• Structured Trade and Export Finance in Russia and the CIS Conference featuring Project and Infrastructure Finance in Russia and the CIS 2011
• 3rd Annual Distressed Investing and Financial Restructuring Australia
• 13th Annual Structured Trade and Export Finance in the Americas Conference
• Corporate Bond and High Yield Market Forum – Indonesia
• Packaging Materials for Packaging Professionals
• Sealing Technology for Packaging Processes
• The Design and Analysis of Fasteners and Bolted Joints
• Life History Optimisation and Seal Breeding Strategies
• Developments in Children’s Services Finance
• Communications Based Train Control Seminar

How many of those titles would inspire you to attend? Now here are some headlines that tick most of the boxes:

• They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano But When I Started to Play
• How To Win Friends and Influence People
• Do You Make these Mistakes in English?
• Will You Discover the Benefits of AA Membership Only By Accident?
• How To Be Assertive Without Giving Offence
• Everything You Need to Know about Direct Mail and Database Marketing

Headlines like these say, ‘Stop! Listen, this is for you!’ Just be careful not to write anything that’s too clever-clever or tricksy. Your headline or title must be easily understood, and clearly offer the main benefit.

Blank page to first draft

This is the shortcut I was talking about. It’s the technique for producing a workable outline in a short space of time. It also works as the first step when you have the time to revise and refine your presentation.

You will need three blank sheets of A4 paper

Sheet 1 will carry your outline.

Sheet 2 will be for brainstorming your content.

Sheet 3 will be for your speaking notes.

Sheet 1: Outline

Whenever I ask people how many parts there are in a presentation, they say three: beginning, middle and end. So let’s accept that, but rename them A, B, C:

A = Approach.

B = Body.

C = Conclusion.

What you have now is the framework for your presentation, where you can place the relevant ideas from your brainstormed list. I’ll come to that in a moment, but let’s take a sideways step and talk about the middle section – the Body. This is the meat of your presentation and you will see that I have suggested you use a three-part structure, or three streams of argument.

It doesn’t matter how many ideas you want to put across, you should group them into three. Common three-parters are:

Of course, you could devise your own three-parter, three streams of argument that enable you to build your case towards the proposal you wish to make. You could use chronology, which is a sequence in time, but be careful to accentuate the change that occurred in each period, otherwise it could become ‘linear’ and therefore boring. Write the chosen themes alongside the three streams, e.g. 1st stream: Problem; 2nd stream: Cause; 3rd stream: Solution.

I have called the first section of the presentation Approach, because it contains two vital elements of the beginning: your approach to the start, and your approach to the topic.

Hook: The first thing you need to do is to grab the attention of your audience, just as you would when writing the headline of an advertisement. You need to say or do something remarkable or unexpected, and that’s called a hook.

Map: Next, you should let your audience know what you will be talking about. Give them an outline or agenda so that they can follow you, and remember to keep referring to that map as you go through your presentation.

Turning to the final section, Conclusion, you will see that I have indicated two elements, Summary and Action.

Obviously it is always desirable to summarise at the end, to help people remember what you have said, but many presentations omit that all-important call to action. After all, if you are making a proposal, or even if you are just introducing new thinking, you want your audience to do something about it, don’t you? Never assume that people will work out for themselves what to do next. They need to be told.

Sheet 2: Brainstorming

At the top of the sheet write your core message. That’s the single sentence that expresses the idea that you want your audience to carry away with them and remember. Think of it like this: imagine that someone arrives when you have finished your presentation and meets people leaving. They will ask one of them, ‘What was that presentation about?’ and will typically receive a one-sentence summary.

What would you like that sentence to be? To ensure that it is the right sentence, you must write it down first. That’s what you put at the top of the page. It is possibly the single most important sentence you will write in your presentation. It provides your focus, it is what you hope and expect your audience to remember, and it sits at the heart of everything you say during the presentation.

Do not put everything you know into the presentation. Applying the Pareto principle, you can reckon that 80 per cent of the impact will come from just 20 per cent of your content, so be prepared to focus on the 20 per cent that really matters, and set aside the rest.

Here’s the brainstorming process

Step 1

When you have written the core message at the top, draw a line down the middle, so that you have two columns (see example below). The reason for this is simply to enable you to get all your ideas down on one page.

Step 2

Write down every idea that comes to mind about the core message that you have written at the top of the page, following three rules:

1. No editing. Even wild ideas are acceptable, because they could prompt you to think of other ideas.
2. No full sentences, only trigger words. The two-column layout is designed to discourage long sentences.
3. Number them all.

When you think you have ‘dried up’, don’t quit. Look again at the early ideas and ask questions like, ‘How? Where? When?’ You could end up with some really good ideas to put on your list. Often the last few are the best.

Brainstorming works by word association, which is why it is essential not to edit. Write down every idea, using trigger words, not sentences. You can delete or ignore some ideas later. At this stage, do not set any limits on the number of ideas you list, or their importance. When eventually you run dry, you will have more than enough material to fill several presentations, so now you have to choose which items to include in this one.

Suppose you were going to give a presentation on networking. Your brainstormed list might look like this:

How to get more out of networking meetings

Core message: Get more referrals by shifting focus from taking to giving

1. Givers and takers
2. Lunch bill story
3. Disillusioned
4. Meetings
5. Far East way
6. Breakfast clubs
7. Visibility
8. Expectations
9. Providing value to others
10. Not for soliciting work
11. Network selling
12. Build good practice
13. How others can help you
14. Good records/database
15. Etiquette at meetings
16. Questions to ask
17. Business cards/breadcrumbs
18. Sharing/enhancing
19. Post-meeting analysis
20. Numbers game?
21. Relationship selling
22. Referrals
23. Checklist
24. Social networks
25. Business networking
26. Online networking
27. Ten-point plan
28. Impatient for results

Step 3: Selecting from your list

The next step is to decide where to place your ideas within the framework above. Place your brainstormed list alongside the framework and write in the numbers from your list.

For example, if you want to use item 2 from your list as your opener, write 2 alongside ‘Hook’ on the framework. Do that for each section on your framework. (This is why I asked you to number all the ideas on your brainstormed list.)

Let’s suppose you want to use Problem/Cause/Solution as your structure. Your framework might look like this:

Sheet 3: Speaking notes

Nearly done. The framework above indicates all you want to say on the subject. All that remains is to convert it to speaker’s notes. Write notes, just as you would if you were writing on 5×3 cards, with headline and bullet points for each topic. It could look like this:

Title: Get more from networking meetings

Hook: Lunch story

• arguing over who pays
• takers eat better

Map:

• how to overcome disillusion
• understand why networking can fail
• strategy for more referrals

Problem:

• fed up with networking
• expectations not met
• not getting referrals
• no results after two to three years

Cause:

• breakfast clubs like selling insurance
• must maintain visibility
• in business, takes time to build trust
• not numbers game

Solution:

• focus on value to others
• make clear how others can help you
• ask questions: the right ones
• develop ten-point plan

Summary:

• poor ROI from networking
• probably doing it wrong
• sharp focus on what you offer
• long-term strategy

Action: apply checklist

This is, of course, a short outline, just to illustrate the process. These notes will fit easily on six 5×3 cards, and if you know your subject, if you are already expert in networking, these notes will be enough to acts as prompts as you make your presentation. In fact, they could almost be your slides.

It’s worth making yourself familiar with this process, so that you can go from start to finish in about 15 to 20 minutes. It will get you out of trouble if you are ever up against a tight deadline.

Using stories

Now that you have decided on the ideas and information you want to include, you need to add one vital element that will distinguish your presentation from all others – your stories. Facts and figures, events, opinions ... they are hard to take in and remember, especially if they are overdone. So use stories.

People love stories. They are easier to remember and they illustrate the points you want to make. But tell your own stories, from your own life experiences, and they will remain your own, and make your presentation distinctive. If you must tell someone else’s story, always say where you got it.

My friend Paul Joslin attended a speech in the Midlands in which the speaker told a sob story that Paul had heard before in America. When he later tackled the speaker about it, the man said, ‘I doubt anyone in that audience has been to America, so it doesn’t matter.’ Imagine what that did for the speaker’s credibility, because Paul told me the tale, and he must also have told many others who, in turn, have told their own contacts.

In this book I have told my own stories, wherever possible, because I know them to be true, and the lessons I draw from them signify my own understanding of those experiences. In Chapter 4 I mentioned Patricia Fripp and the way she constantly mines her own life experiences for material for her speeches. You could do the same. Look at your brainstormed list and think of examples or stories you could use to illustrate some of the points, and add them to the list.

Now pause for a moment and think about how people receive and remember what you say.

Let us suppose your presentation is planned to run for 30 minutes. If you spoke without interruption, you might average 150 words a minute. That gives you 4,500 words. No one can remember all those words, so the typical listener will follow a pattern, listening first for your general thesis, and then for the structure of your argument, connecting it to whatever they already know or believe about the topic.

The listener will attempt to make a summary and make a decision about what they can use. For that process the listener needs to know:

• What’s your point?
• Why is that valid?
• Does the argument hold together?
• Is the evidence sound?

To test your arguments and narrow them down to something usable, there is a three-word phrase that can be used as a question. That phrase is: Which means that ...

Try it out for yourself. Make a claim that you want to include in your presentation, and ask yourself, ‘Which means that ... ?’ When you have answered the question, ask the question again, about your answer, and go on asking the question until you are absolutely certain you have said everything you can.

We can move on to consider how to make your presentation persuasive.

Summary

• Write your presentation title as the headline for an ad for your presentation
• Get three blank sheets of A4 paper
• Sheet 1: your presentation outline in three parts: Approach/Body/Conclusion
• Decide on a three-part structure for the body, e.g., Problem/Cause/Solution
• Sheet 2: brainstorming for content. Write core message at the top
• Make two columns and write down every idea you can think of relating to the core message. Trigger words only, no editing, and number them all
• Place Sheet 2 alongside Sheet 1 and place selected topics, by their numbers, on Sheet 1, ignoring the rest
• Sheet 3: speaking notes. Write notes as you would on 5x3 cards, with headline and bullet points for each topic
• Select a strong point to use as the hook (attention-getter)
• For the body, follow your chosen three-part structure, to build up interest to the point of desire
• Finish with a clear call to action. Tell the audience what to do next