How do you handle questions during your presentation? We offer tips and share insights from our trainings. Someone is about to ask a question. Resist the urge to rapidly formulate […]
Can You Take a Look at My Presentation?
Anneke’s manager had asked her to review and refine a presentation. The presentation was intended to take the organization’s 500 employees through the 2021 annual plan in 10 minutes.
Focus on the essentials
Anneke reached out to us as part of the follow-up from the “Presenting with a Compelling Story” training. We reviewed the deck of 14 packed slides. It was clear that this content could not be covered in 10 minutes. But what could we eliminate? We decided to focus on providing concrete information about the annual plan. We sought answers to two questions: “What do we want to achieve in 2021?” and “How are we going to do it?”. When we sifted through the information with these questions in mind, only two slides remained. The rest of the information? It did not pertain to the plan but rather to the process of developing it. A whopping 12 out of the 14 slides were about the management’s thought process. What is our vision, what are we good at, how does the customer perceive us, what is a way to translate customer needs into services, what does that mean for 2021, etc.
Have a clear goal in mind
Once we had found this focus, Anneke got to work. She created a new storyline to make the annual plan much clearer. And she drafted some concept slides to visualize that storyline. Then, she managed to schedule a meeting with her manager to discuss her version of the presentation. A few days later, she wrote: “I managed to put together a story with a few slides. Yesterday, I discussed my proposal with my manager, and she was thrilled. I held up a mirror to her. It is clear that she knows exactly where she wants to go in her mind. And secretly, she is already there. But now she needs to bring her environment along. And that is challenging. There is a BlackBelt consultant with whom they have set everything up. They have made everything very blue, and everyone is doing their thing. But there is no cohesion, and there is also no plan on how to involve employees. But we agreed that I will help with that.”
And demonstrate the impact
Anneke had managed to elevate herself from ‘someone who just looks at the slides’ to ‘a member of the implementation team’ with just one meeting. And her manager learned that if you want to present and substantiate a plan to your team, you can omit the creation process. Focus on the plan itself: set a challenging and desirable goal. Show how your employees are going to achieve that goal. Demonstrate the impact on their work: what becomes more enjoyable, what becomes more exciting? With such an approach, you truly engage and excite your audience.
Need to refine your presentation too? We are here to help. Contact us at 020 428 95 50 or email us at info@demonchyenbakker.nl.