Ten speakers, three hours, 75 power point slides and many millions of dollars at stake. I recently coached this team to craft and deliver a winning sales presentation. Nothing is accidental or left to chance.
Three key steps make the difference between being the winner and everyone else:
- Content of the slides
- Selection of the presenters
- Spoken content of the presentation
Content of the slides: Include the most important information and only that. In other words, the slide deck isn't an operating manual or text book. Tell your audience the 'what' and the 'why' and save the 'how' for your spoken content and for after you win the work. When you include a process or procedure on a slide, discuss it in terms of what problem it is solving and why it's important to respond to that problem.
Another point about the slides is that they sshould be readable and understandable on some level by anyone who reads them apart from the presentation. The 'what' and the 'why' should be clearly communicated in simple, non-jargon language and graphics.
Selection of the presenters: This team worried about having too many presenters "popping up and down." Thus they wanted to give presentation assignments to people based more on the choreography than on ensuring that the right person would speak to each slide.
Key to minimizing the "popping up and down effect" are practices and rehearsals (do these enough times so that everyone is ready at the exact moment they are needed), as well as transitions between speakers. Every time a person says "and now Roger will speak to the next topic" the fact that a new speaker is coming up is magnified. Instead, craft transitions that set the scene for the new topic or change in direction. "We can have the best plans in the world, but without logistics, they won't happen." Then the logistics guy gets up and the audience never thinks"on no, there's yet another speaker."
Spoken content of the presentation: Speakers must use their speaking time to mostly talk about what's not on the slides. There are 4 elements that help you craft your oral content. These 4 elements are the subject of the next post.
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