Presenting to Win

"There is one thing you can do much more effectively with the spoken word that cannot be so easily delivered with the written word. You can create an impact. Impact has a daughter word, which is passion."

"Only when you have hooked your audience with a key fact can you then go into the background to substantiate the conclusion and recommendations."

"Good speakers use just one card and can make a half-hour presentation from that card which they usually do not refer to at all. All it requires is practice and dedication to the methodology."

"In essence, image is a promise of delivery. In other words, your audience will have expectations raised about what they can expect just by looking at you."

"Everyone dries at one stage or another in their speaking career. The trick is not to make a big thing of it. When you cannot think of the next thing to say, stop talking, look down at your notes and find out where you are."

"Demonstrate in the presentation that you know something of the prospect's business and have clearly thought about which particular aspects of your operations will provide solutions to the problems and needs of the prospect."

"Bankers and financiers are particularly keen to know more about the principals?the people heading up the business?involved in any lending proposition. In short, they will want to see you and your colleagues and get to know you."

"It is critical that everyone sings off the same hymn sheet. It would be disastrous, not to say illegal, if, for example, regionally based small shareholders received different information from that given to institutional shareholders."

"The first golden rule of seminar and conference speaking is, 'Don't do it unless you have already learned your craft and earned your spurs in less demanding environments'."

"Most internal presentations are to a greater or lesser extent selling operations. What you are trying to do is give your senior managers confidence that you are doing the correct job and are doing it in a timely and profitable manner."

"The essential point here is not to underplay the research findings themselves. These you must stand by. What is important is to be sensitive to the impact such findings might have on the organisation."

"You must ensure that presentations are candid and forthright, and while competition or security reasons may prevent you disclosing everything, avoid misleading at all costs."

"Having got your audience on side by celebrating how well they have done despite a difficult situation, you can then move on to how you believe it will be good for them to change behaviour in a certain manner."