Posts Tagged presentations
knowledge is no substitute for hard work
image by sarahkim, flickr artist
i wrote not too long ago about the keys to an effective presentation. it’s strange how sometimes you don’t listen to your own advice, though, john… seriously.
guilty as charged.
i found myself this week in a situation where i had three briefs to deliver to three different audiences all within the span of a few short hours. it’s hard to ‘get up’ for those kinds of meetings, have a short break in between, and then recapture that tough mental focus again. (oh, and then repeat that once more for the last brief of the day) i was feeling confident, however (i usually do), especially since i was closing it out with the same marketing brief i had given dozens upon dozens of times already. but i should have known better than to take things lightly.
effective presentations start with preparation
image by misssluluu, flickr artist
i was recently in an internal marketing meeting with one of the higher ups in the firm (when you’re a lvl 2, pretty much everyone is “higher up” than you are..), and — not to brag at all, but — i nailed it.
while i had some high esteem leaving the conference room, i thought to myself on the elevator: “gee, i sure hope to god i did nail my presentation; i’ve been giving pretty much the same brief for a year now.” bringing a new capability to market takes a while, and i’ve probably sold my work to both internal and external stakeholders at least once a month since i started working at booz allen last february. that’s certainly no short amount of practice time.
so the other day when i was giving my brief about how we came up with the idea, and how all the different pieces all come together to create a singular picture, about all of the benefits that can come from using this tool, they were the same words that i’ve said a hundred times over. that’s where i think the lesson comes in at:
effective presentations start with preparation.
always plan on success
image by csitscenter, flickr collection
i was in a meeting recently with a senior associate in my firm, and spent the vast amount of the 4 hours we had together furiously taking notes. unfortunately i couldn’t write as fast as he was talking, so i ended up not capturing all of the information that was there for the taking. for the most part, the vast majority of the time was spent discussing our earned value management capabilities at booz allen. we did talk some about business in general and building capabilities that can grow and expand, and it was from this discussion that my largest, boldest, “even used a highlighter on it” note came from. he said something to me that made a lot of sense:
always plan on success.
it’s a great quote. you may mistakingly take it as an inspirational message, but that’s not at all what he intended. it was actually meant to scare us, and remind us that we need to be prepared to succeed. to be successful in business, it’s not enough to have a good idea. even having passion and being a hard worker isn’t enough. when you’re trying to stand up or start up something brand new, you have to have certain things in place to handle the change in environment. nothing can kill a good idea quite like being unprepared to succeed. if you aren’t ready to expand with the business, you’ll undoubtedly experience growing pains – much like wearing a shoe that’s two sizes too small.
5 reasons your presentations suck
image by HikingArtist.com, flickr artist
my first “5 reasons..” post seemed to be fairly popular, so — ever the entrepreneur — i figured i’d capitalize on that success with my second installment. this particular list takes a look at your presentations.
if you’re a consultant like me, you live in powerpoint. you may even begin speaking in bullets. you turn everything you touch into simple, easy to read, easy to understand outlines of information.. even when it’s probably better to choose some other form of communication.
hey! we all do it (don’t lie. just fess up already). the problem is that many of us were never given the proper training, or the education that we did get on giving presentations was a bad one. so i hope that you take a look at the reasons after the jump here and make the necessary adjustments for your next presentation.
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