CHAPTER 3
A Place for Everything Organizing Your Content
Keeping the focus on the other person isn’t just about the key message. It extends to the way you organize your information. Consider three aspects to structuring your information:
- The audience’s needs
- The key message you want listeners to hear
- Your purpose—to persuade them to take action or to simply convey information
As with all things, start with the other person. What does he, she, or they need to take away from the conversation? We covered this earlier in the chapter on crafting a clear message, but it bears reinforcing. Let’s use a particular scenario to demonstrate an effective overall message.
Let’s say you walk into your boss’s office or cubicle. Because you read Chapter 1, you already know not to start with: “I want to talk to you about Project X.” Instead, you start with: “Since we have a staff meeting tomorrow, I thought it would be helpful to you to give you an update on Project X.” Your boss waves you into her office. If you start with a litany of all the steps you and your team have taken with Project X, your boss is hearing data points without context and she doesn’t know how to hear your points. Start instead with the broadest possible assessment of the situation.
Here are some examples:
Regarding Project X, everything is on track. The moment you say this, what happens to your boss’s body language? She immediately relaxes. She’s not going to hear about some major disappointment. Her task at the staff meeting tomorrow will be easy, at least with regard to this issue. Because you started with your message, she can sit back and listen as you share your update. She hears your details in the context of the broader picture. As you describe some minor challenges with the project, she hears them, knowing they didn’t throw off the overall objective.
In addition, if another aspect of her job is in crisis, you’ve just helped her prioritize. By telling her “Everything is on track,” you’ve given her permission to say, “In that case, let’s talk about this later. I have a fire to put out.” The fact that she ended the conversation abruptly is not failure on your part. It’s a huge success. You have given her what she needs at the moment and let her call the shots on which problem to address. Obviously, if you tell her everything is on track, you can’t then end with some bombshell that undermines your main point. Make sure your overarching message conveys the right sentiment.
Regarding Project X, we’ve hit a snag. Now what happens to her body language? She becomes more alert, sitting forward and concentrating on the issue. This is about to become a problem-solving meeting. She needs to focus and brainstorm with you. Again, she can prioritize. She’ll ask a few questions. Your answers will tell her whether your version of “a snag” is a blip or a disaster. Once she assesses that, she’ll decide whether she needs to deal with you now or later. Again, that’s helpful to her, and being helpful to her is your only purpose on the planet, at least in this moment.
Regarding Project X, I’ve got good news and bad news. Even a mixed message gives context. Again, now she knows how to hear the content you’re about to convey.
The key message sets the tone for the meeting and gives the audience control over the process. Giving up control may seem scary to many of us, but it’s the more effective way to convey information. It’s not about what makes you more comfortable; it’s about what makes you more effective.
Once you convey your key point, it’s time to convey your content. When talking to one person or a small group, your “presentation,” to the extent you view it that way, becomes a discussion. People interrupt. They challenge. They engage.
When talking to a larger group, the dynamic is different. You’re giving a formal presentation. Your information is more structured and you have more leeway before you’re interrupted.
When you are giving a presentation, avoid using the word “presentation.”
I’m here today to give you a presentation on X.
No one wants to be “presented to.”
Instead, say:
I’m here today to talk to you about X.
That’s not only sufficient, but it’s helpful to both your audience and you. The audience engages with you differently. If people are being “presented to,” they can sit back, absorb or not absorb, check their smartphones for messages, or play Words with Friends. But if you’re talking to them, they need to pay attention. Your language suggests that this is a dialogue.
Also, if you’re presenting from PowerPoint, avoid using the word “slide.”
On that last slide you saw. . . .
Don’t talk about the medium. Talk about the content.
A moment ago we were discussing. . . .
Avoid saying “slide,” even when the previous slide contained a complex graph of valuable data.
Don’t say, “On that scatter chart on the last slide, I showed you. . . .” (In fact, just don’t ever say “scatter chart.”) Instead try:
We just saw that as X decreases, Y increases by a factor of ten.
Talk about the substance, not the medium.
Let’s discuss the structure of your presentation.
When you talk to a larger audience, you have one of two objectives. You either want them to know something or you want them to do something.
The Informative Format
When you want someone to know something, follow the informative presentation format.
In the following image, each box represents one slide of your presentation. In a 10-minute presentation, you should have seven slides. If you have more agenda items, you’ll have an additional slide for each item, and a longer presentation.
If this format seems familiar, it should. This isn’t something we at Exec|Comm invented. This is the oldest format in the world for conveying information.
Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
Tell them what you’ve got.
Tell them what you’ve just told them.
This format is straight out of Aristotle’s “Rhetoric.” Perhaps you recognize it from Aristotle. I don’t. I recognize it from fifth-grade composition class. What’s the first essay we all wrote in grade school every September? For me it was “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.”
We learned to write an introductory paragraph.
I had a wonderful time this summer at the beach, in the mountains, and visiting Grandma.
Then you wrote a paragraph on each. If the second paragraph mentioned Grandma, you got a “D” on the essay unless she was on the beach with you. Grandma isn’t supposed to show up again until the fourth paragraph. At the end you summarized with a paragraph covering all three again and detailing your next steps.
So while I had a wonderful time at the beach, and in the mountains, and with Grandma, next year I hope my parents take us to Disneyworld.
The informative format is helpful to people, whether in your writing or when giving a presentation, because it’s repetitive. The repetition drives home the key ideas.
The Persuasive Format
Sometimes we need our audience to take action, to do something, not just know something. When you want someone to do something, follow the persuasive presentation format. In a 10-minute presentation you should have eight slides, as seen in the diagram.
The gist of the persuasive format is to mention very briefly what you want, and then to spend the majority of your talk telling your audience why they should want it. There’s a well-known acronym in business—WIIFM—What’s in it for me? That’s all anyone cares about in a work context. That’s not selfish or Machiavellian. It’s practical. We are all at work to get something done. When I’m listening to a business presentation, I want to know what I’m supposed to do with this information, how it’s going to help me do my job better, or help the broader organization achieve its goals.
Some people think they are more persuasive if they slap the word “Obviously” at the start of the sentence.
Obviously, we need to close the deal soon.
That approach doesn’t make us more persuasive; it makes us obnoxious. If you want to be more persuasive, focus on what’s in it for your audience.
The Hook
Start with a hook, something to grab their attention. The best methods for this are to state a problem, quote a startling statistic, or use a rhetorical question.
State a Problem
If you state a problem, the recommendation you are about to share solves that problem.
Since you control the presentation, for the duration of the talk you have positioned this problem as the single most important issue you need to solve as a group, regardless of the broader picture.
Sales are down sharply compared to this time last year. We’re here today to share marketing’s new strategy for increasing sales.
Sales volume is usually key to the success of any business, so you’ve highlighted a problem we are all invested in solving.
Not many people are coming to our Friday company lunches to share ideas. I have some thoughts as to how we can address this.
Although this is clearly a smaller, more narrowly focused issue, for the group in the meeting it will be the only problem discussed for the next 30 minutes.
Use Statistics
You can always find a statistic that supports your argument. Benjamin Disraeli once said, “There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics.” In fact, you can make statistics reflect whatever you want, depending on how you qualify them.
Every law firm claims they are the “biggest and best” at something. It’s all in the qualifiers.
We have the largest restructuring practice in the country.
Props to you. You get bragging rights.
We’re the biggest and the best at cross-border M&A deals in the energy sector.
Okay. If I’m interested in that, you’ve shared great news. In fact, most people don’t process the details. They just hear “biggest and the best” and feel a sense of comfort.
We win the largest settlements in “slip & fall” personal injury cases in Brooklyn on Tuesdays.
Again, since most people don’t process beyond “largest settlements,” your statistic does the trick.
Ask Rhetorical Questions
Asking a rhetorical question serves three purposes. First, it allows you to frame the discussion.
We’re here today because you are all relatively new to an accounting role. So why is it important to follow GAAP procedures?
Second, it creates the illusion of participation, even when you will be doing all the talking.
As soon as you ask the question, the audience engages. Attendees start thinking, “Why is it important? What have I already heard about GAAP and the relevance of knowing the nuances? Didn’t I just read about someone getting sued or investigated by the SEC because they didn’t follow GAAP?” Starting with a question turns your audience into participants.
Third, starting with a rhetorical question can help you go beyond the initial jitters that come with giving a presentation. Many people are concerned about having the right answers when someone asks a question. Yet, oddly enough, it’s been our experience at Exec|Comm that most presenters appear and in fact are more comfortable when responding to questions during or at the end of a talk, compared to when they are delivering their content from slides or notes.
The main reason presenters seem to relax when responding to questions is that they are now talking to one person, whomever asked the question, rather than to the entire audience. Because the speaker feels that he is in a one-on-one conversation, he automatically relaxes and has a more conversational tone. Therefore, if you ask a rhetorical question at the start of your talk, and you are only looking at one person when you do, you trick your brain into thinking that you’re in a private conversation with that one person. Then, if you follow the delivery method outlined in the coming chapter on managing your eye focus, you will maintain that sense of talking to an individual, and you’ll relax in front of the room.
The Recommendation
As soon as you have audience members paying attention because of your hook, tell them what you want. Some people prefer to build an argument and state the conclusion at the end or to coax the listeners along so they can figure out the conclusion for themselves, known as the Socratic Method. There are two problems with each of these approaches: the time demands on you and the impatience of your audience.
Don’t build your case toward your conclusion. The audience hears any details you share in context if you start by telling them where you are headed. (See Chapter 1 on messaging.) There are probably many roles and titles at your organization. No one in business has the title “mystery novelist” for his company or firm. Don’t save the big surprise for the end. Tell me where you’re taking me, and I’ll understand the path more clearly.
Personally, I love teaching by using the Socratic Method. It’s great when you are helping a struggling employee see how to change his or her behavior. It works well when helping a teenager understand how to make better decisions. It’s the tried-and-true method in graduate programs in law and in business schools, where it’s all about problem solving. In all of those situations, the time element is vastly different from when you are giving a presentation. Your audience members aren’t sitting in an olive grove outside Athens as you help them explore the mysteries of human behavior, or in a semester-long class where they will have time to mull over what they’re learning. They’re packed in a conference room for 30 minutes trying to understand how to sell this month’s featured product. In fact, the meeting started late, so now you only have 20 minutes. Tell them where you’re headed, and you’ll have more impact.
In addition to a clear, overarching message, you will want to provide enough details to give your recommendation scope and weight.
The Benefits—Why Should They Care?
After you impart your recommendation, share only those details necessary for people to understand the crux of what you want them to do. Remember, they don’t care what you want as much as they care about how what you want impacts them.
Identify for your listeners the three, four, or five benefits to them of moving forward with your recommendation. To figure out what’s in it for your audience, think about time, feelings, and money. These elements are “universal motivators.” All people want to know how to save time, feel better about themselves or their role, or save or make money. If you can figure out how your proposal will achieve these results for your audience members, you can achieve buy-in from them. If you can’t figure out why they would want to follow your recommendation, perhaps you need to rethink your proposal.
It’s not convincing enough to just tell audiences how your recommendation benefits them. You need to prove that the claimed benefit will, in fact, inure to listeners if they follow your ideas.
Notice that the benefits listed appeal to the universal motivators:
- Save on travel (time and money)
- Expand our brand (feelings)
- Reach deeper into a growing market (money)
If all of your benefits go toward one of these categories, that’s fine, too. Just keep the categories in mind to help you identify the benefits.
Prove the Benefits
If you are using slides to deliver your presentation, you can introduce your three benefits on one slide. It’s there that you define and give scope to these benefits. On the next three slides, you will prove each benefit to be true. Proving the benefits isn’t about reinforcing what you have already said. Proving the benefit means showing how it is real by referencing something outside your own opinion.
To prove the audience will experience the benefit, you can use a testimonial, a statistic, or an anecdote.
Testimonials are statements from others who have experienced the benefit you claim because they followed a plan similar to your proposal.
We have already discussed the power of statistics.
Anecdotes—pithy stories that drive home a point—show your audiences how the benefit can help them using real-world evidence. (See Chapter 2 on storytelling for how to craft an anecdote.)
Now repeat that process for the other benefits.
Summarize
Once you have proven the benefits, you’re almost finished. Summarize your recommendation again, very briefly, without the detail you provided the first time. Then restate the benefits—again, very briefly. You’re driving home the point, not covering new ground.
Tell Next Steps
Now that you’ve told the audience members what you want and why they should want it, share how you’re going to get there. Clearly define the next steps, including who will do what by when. You’ll need to create a sense of accountability in order to make sure things move forward. Even if you need to wait for approval on your plan, you want to let your audience know you have thought through how to achieve action.
Craft the Content
Although you will deliver the information in the order listed above, you’ll have an easier time creating the content if you follow a different order. Instead of starting with the hook, write out your message and the benefits to the audience. You need to verbalize what you want and why your listeners should want it before you determine how to grab the audience’s attention. Many people face “writer’s block” when they begin crafting their slides or notes for a presentation. They struggle with how to begin. That’s why the opening of a presentation often appears somewhat disconnected from the content of the talk. If you focus on the meat of what you want to convey first, how to get started will flow naturally from that point and the presentation will appear seamless and cohesive.
Once you have created your recommendation and your benefits, go back and create your hook. Then, proceed with proving your benefits.
After you have decided what you want to say and how you want to say it, you need to create the right “delivery tools,” meaning your notes or slides. In Chapter 6, “See It. Save It. Say It. Delivering from Notes and Visuals,” you’ll learn how to whittle down your content into the bullet points that will help you deliver your message while remaining focused on the audience.