The Inevitable Act
There would be no
manager or executive of consequence, who would not have given a PowerPoint
presentation or sat through a few. Presentations, frills attached, is now a way of life and
inevitable to effective sharing of information, as bullets, charts,
graphs and audio video visuals. Anything possible could be
improvised and incorporated
to make presentations impressive. Despite all that, most merely remain visuals
and seldom achieve purposes intended. When
presentations are contests to win situations, where only one can win, success normally
graces, not the most spectacular but the most influencing.
Winners
The Internet is teeming with experts and
their recipes that guarantee great presentations. Most of them offer techniques to make screens
look better and more attractive. Blazing screens alone, unfortunately, don’t
guarantee success in favourably influencing the audience. Without a clear understanding
of the means to effectively influence decision-makers, presentations remain purposeless
histrionics. Contrary to common belief, it is not the quality of slides, but
the ‘power’ of the ‘point of logic’ and its ability to draw audience towards
the ‘thought process’ advocated, that wins the day. The key lies in influencing decision
makers individually and collectively to agree with the logic advocated or
convincing the audience to accept the point of view presented. Skillfully used presentations can help logically reason out adoption of one amongst many viable alternatives
and objectively compare parameters. It can help motivate and compel teams to
accept,
adopt and adhere to new ideas. Presentations are means to be exploited and not
the end.
Common Practice
It’s common to hear senior executives say
“I have an important presentation to make”. Importance of the event,
notwithstanding, the misplaced focus is too obvious to be missed. Energy and
efforts go into piling up of as much information as possible and converting
them to a series of slides. More often than not, presenters flash these slides,
read it out verbatim and state the obvious from graphs, charts or tables. Its
common to see presenters running short of time, skipping slides and audience
disengaging themselves from the presentation.
While it may be necessary to ‘read out’ slides
for people who can't read, business meetings are normally attended by lettered people with basic sense of size and proportion. They can,
without outside help, read slides, decipher charts and compare crests or
troughs of a line graph. Stating the
obvious to such an audience relegates the presenter to being an announcer. Such
presentations help collate and present information for attendees to reason out
in the manner they want to, with no role for the presenter. Presentations
devoid of a cogent thought process seldom influence decision makers.
The Technique
There cannot be a prescribed method of
presentation. Each one must be unique,
the uniqueness characteristic of the presenter and his style of putting across the
narrative.
Irrespective of the nature of presentation,
the presenter must be aware of its aim. He must know the target audience,
competitors, adversaries, influencers and decision makers. The decision of how
the narrative must flow would be dependent on this knowledge.
Slides must be designed such that the
presenter becomes the source of possible inferences. Such slides incite the
audience to focus on what the speaker says rather than ignoring him as an
appendage to colourful displays. Too many colours and fancy transitions fritter
focus away from the subject and the presenter. Much like designing a conveyor
belt, presenter must first decide the path of discourse he wants to lead the
audience on. Counters likely, must be intelligently positioned and adequately
addressed to liquidate opposing thoughts. Facts and figures must be sequenced
such that it strengthens the logic presented. Presentation must be a narrative
woven by the presenter compelling enough to, dispel doubts, quell opposition, shape
opinions favourably and elicit decisions as desired.
Time, is an issue that most presenters
tend to disrespect. Human brains can continuously be engaged only for a limited
duration. It may be worthwhile to plan presentations to finish within 20
minutes. If the subject demands longer interaction, presentations must be
interspersed with activities like ‘question-answer’ sessions to keep the audience
interactively engaged. Most attendees mentally prepare themselves
to accommodate presentations as per the time slots given. Exceeding
time slots automatically erode effectiveness of the presentation. Thus, when an
audience is told that the presentation is for 30 minutes, it will be worthwhile
to conclude it in 30 minutes. Every
minute ahead of it, however, absorbing the presentation may be, generally works
against it.
Fundamentals
In order to ensure effective presentations,
it is mandatory to answer the following: -
What is the presentation about?
What is expected out of it? (What do I
want to achieve from it?)
Who are the attendees?
Who are the influencers?
Who is the decision maker?
Influencing decision maker(s)
What is the prevailing thought process?
Is it in line with or contrary to the line of thought being advanced?
What is the logic appropriate to address the differential?
How do I lead the audience in the
direction I want?
How do I sequence the argument or
information flow to get the maximum impact?
How do I pack all the punch in the time
given?
How do I elicit the decision I want?
Conclusion
Most movies have a hero, a heroine and a
plot that finally unites them. Some become super hit at the box office while
others bomb miserably. The difference between the two lies not in the narrative
but in the manner of narration. So is it, with PowerPoint presentations.
