Dynamic Presentations DVD PDF

Opening and closing
1 video script
Mark
To give a successful presentation, they say you need to have a good beginning, a good ending
and keep them close together! And, sure enough, research shows that audiences remember
the first and last few minutes of a presentation long after they’ve forgotten most of what was
said in the middle. Psychologists call this the primacy-recency effect.
But you might prefer to think of your opener and your close as two bookends holding up your
talk.
To do their job they both need to be strong.
Now, starting off by saying good morning, introducing yourself, thanking your audience for
coming, apologising for a small technical problem with your audio-visuals and asking if people
can hear you at the back is clearly not a strong opening.
But neither is this …
Presenter
I want to talk to you today about the kind of world we in the business community are passing
on to the next generation.
Mark
What’s wrong with it? It’s short, direct and boring! Let’s see how it might have sounded …
Presenter
Environmental degradation … A declining economy … Crippling taxes … Chronic disease …
A life expectancy shorter than that of their parents’ … And thirty thousand dollars of debt for
every man, woman and child … This is the nightmare world we’re passing on to our kids.
Mark
Now that’s a good opening. Watch how these presenters gain their audience’s attention right
at the start …
Presenter
Good morning. Sometime in the early 1980s a business traveller phoned a low-cost carrier
called People Express to reserve a flight. He was kept on hold for so long, he thought to
himself: ‘Either this airline is incredibly busy or incredibly inefficient.’ Needless to say the flight
was never booked and People Express went out of business in 1987. The name of the business
traveller was Richard Branson, who, recognising a great business opportunity when he saw it,
went on to launch Virgin Atlantic Airlines. And the rest, of course, is history. But my question
to you is: just how bad does your customer service have to be to turn a potential client into a
competitor?
Presenter
There was a great book published a few years back called The Wisdom of Crowds by James
Surowiecki. In it he refers to the popular TV quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, which
I’m sure you’ve all seen. As you may know, contestants can get help with questions they can’t
answer by either phoning a friend or asking the audience. As you might expect, calling an
intelligent friend helps – sixty-five percent of the time, in fact. But here’s the interesting thing.
The studio audience isn’t selected on the basis of their intelligence. So how often do you think
they’re able to answer the question correctly?
Audience
Forty-eight percent?
Twenty-five percent?
Thirty-three percent?
Dynamic Presentations DVD Worksheet 1 by Mark Powell © Cambridge University Press 2011 PHOTOCOPIABLE
Presenter
The answer is ninety-one percent of the time. Statistically, that’s just amazing. And it proves
the power of teams.
Mark
From your audience’s point of view, the end of your talk might be even more important than
the beginning. These are the words they will be left with after you stop. If you’ve ever been
to a firework display, you’ll know that the biggest, brightest fireworks are usually saved for
the end. This doesn’t mean you have to finish with a bang. But you do want to leave a lasting
impression.
Watch these presenters clinch the close …
Presenter
To summarise, whenever we have offered bonuses to incentivise our staff in sales, HR and the
manufacturing divisions, productivity has increased – in some cases, quite dramatically. But,
as we saw in R&D, introducing pay-by-performance has had precisely the opposite effect.
Incentivised research units were, on average, only half as productive as those working without
added incentives. What are we to make of this? Well, quite simply, it seems bonuses really
do make you work harder when your job is pretty routine. But when your job is creative,
incentives just stress you out and actually make you less creative, not more. Clearly, we
all need to go away and think of a fresh initiative for motivating our most mission-critical
employees. Thanks a lot.
Presenter
As you know, it’s a tradition in Asia to quote words of wisdom. So I’m going to be totally
predictable and do the same. An ancient philosopher once said: ‘A man who chases two
rabbits catches neither.’ In our research, we’ve been chasing too many rabbits for far too long.
It’s time to stop – to prioritise. If there’s one thing we now need to do, in a word, it’s this:
focus. Thank you very much.
Mark
At the preparation stage, a lot of presenters like to create their close first, so they know where
they’re going, and then work backwards, finishing up with an attention-grabbing opening. But
whichever way you plan your talk, make sure you always give priority to the first and last three
minutes.
Smooth structure
2 video script
Mark
When you present, you take your audience on a journey from where they are at the beginning of your
talk to where you want them to be at the end.
As your passengers, they have some idea of where you’re headed and how long it will take to get
there, but they don’t know the exact route you’ve chosen or what they’ll see on the way. So don’t be
like a bad driver who forgets to signal before he makes a turn. Give clear signals at each stage of your
presentation to tell them the direction you’re taking.
Whenever you want to move on, go back, speed up, digress, give an example or go into more detail,
make sure you tell your audience before you do. This is especially important if English is a foreign language
for them too! You’ll find pausing briefly before and after you signal marks the transition even more clearly.
See if you can identify the signals these presenters are using …
Presenters
There are three things I want to talk to you about today. And each of them concerns identity theft.
OK, moving on to our end-of-year results, I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.
Now, that’s clearly not the whole story, so just to expand on that a little, we can see …
So, to recap on how we have managed to both reduce inventory and minimise waste at the plant, I’d
like to tell you that …
And this brings us on to the subject of staff retention and why we’re still losing too many of our key
personnel.
So, let’s look back at some of the things we’ve spoken about this afternoon – in particular, why cash
flow remains such a problem.
Now, we don’t have time to go into detail, but just to give you a quick snapshot of the current
situation, it goes like this.
Turning for a moment to the question of supply channels – in fact, the whole upstream end of the
business …
I’m not sure this is strictly relevant, but just to digress for a moment …
And, in a way, this goes back to what we were saying earlier about product differentiation and the
need to create market space.
OK, as time’s moving on, I’m going to briefly take you through our standard procedure.
So that brings you up to date on how the changes are being implemented throughout the company.
Mark
Sometimes you may want to mark the transition, from one stage of your presentation to the next, by
combining signals. See if you can spot the combined signals in these extracts …
Presenters
OK, first of all, I’m going to fill you in on the project objectives and then I’ll bring you up to speed on
how we are progressing so far.
I’d just like to say a little bit more about cost leadership, if I may, before we move on to pricing strategy.
So that was our new text-to-speech software. And that’s the first thing I wanted to share with you
today. Now, let’s take a look at our even more exciting speech-to-text package.
OK, so that’s an overview of what the contract covers. Let’s drill down to some of the details.
Now, we’ll be coming back to this later on. But just to give you a quick outline of how crowdsourcing
works – basically it goes one step beyond outsourcing, to the wider community, including customers
and competitors.
So there, in a nutshell, you have the background to the project. Now let’s look at some of the
milestones we’ve scheduled into our plan.
Mark
Giving a good presentation is not only about delivery, enthusiasm and rapport. On a more basic level,
it’s about smoothly navigating your way through your material. Clear signals help you to do this.
Voice power
3 Video script
Mark
In a presentation, a large part of your personality is communicated through the power of your
voice. In fact, the word ‘personality’ comes from the Latin ‘persona’, which literally means
‘through sound’. So if there’s one thing you really need to master as a presenter, it’s how you
sound.
But when you’re presenting in a foreign language, and finding it hard enough just
remembering what to say, the voice often loses its personality. You quickly end up speaking
like a robot and putting your audience to sleep.
So here are five simple ways to power up your public speaking voice and keep your audience
engaged.
Number one: kill filler. Filler is, um, you know, like, what we say when we’re, um, not sure what
to say next. In a conversation, it’s a useful signal that tells the other speaker we haven’t quite
finished. In a presentation, it’s the surest way to sound boring and unprepared.
Number two: slow down. One reason we need to use filler in the first place is because we tend
to speak too fast, especially when we’re nervous. So, slow down; give yourself some breathing
space.
Number three: pause. When you pause in a speech, you give yourself time to think about what
to say next and your audience time to think about what you’ve just said. So whenever you feel
like, errrrrrr … using filler, don’t. Pause instead.
Number four: use emphasis. To make your message really stand out, it’s crucial that you
emphasise your key points. In English, some words – generally, nouns and verbs – are stressed
more than others. This is not the case in all languages, but if you don’t do it in English, you’ll
sound flat and monotonous.
Number five: vary volume. Don’t limit yourself to the volume of your natural speaking voice.
You can add extra emphasis either by speaking a little louder to reach out to your audience, or
by speaking a little quieter to draw them in.
So let’s just remind ourselves of how not to deliver your presentation …
Presenter
Hi, everybody. Er I just wanted to … oh, I just wanted, OK, I just wanted to … I, um … I finally
got the opportunity to go through all the evaluation forms, um … from er last week’s … um
sales er sales training seminar and … um … wait a minute ... ah … yeah … last week’s sales
training seminar, so, er … OK, er … I just wanted to share with you … some of the things …
that, um, people really gained from … from the sessions ...
Mark
Stop, stop, stop! Oh dear – a lot of verbal junk there. Let’s watch a different presenter using
their voice much more effectively …
Presenter
OK, as you know, for the last three months we’ve been rethinking the staff induction
programme. We started out with the name ‘Induction programme’. ‘Induction programme’.
Well, what does that say to you? … Yeah, right. What it says to us – you’re about to be sucked
into the machine!
Well, isn’t a welcome really what we’re trying to provide anyway? Why are we making
people’s first weeks at the company a bore with all the health and safety regulations and legal
forms to fill in, when we should be making them welcome? Why not a party, a well-chosen
gift, a couple of long lunches with the boss, who, let’s not forget, is the number one reason
why most people quit their jobs!
Mark
As you can see, this time the presenter makes every word, every phrase and every silence
count. That’s vocal intelligence.
Visual aids
4 Video script
Mark
They say a picture paints a thousand words, but it seems a lot of presenters would rather put
a thousand words on a slide than a single picture! Big mistake. ‘Visual aid’ means it should be
visual or it’s not an aid. Flash up a load of text on a slide and your audience will read it faster
than you can talk. So they’ll simply stop listening and, uh-oh, you’ve lost them! Watch what
happens here …
Presenter
OK, so now let’s take a look at the global market prospects for 3D eyewear. As you know,
3D movies have traditionally been shown mainly in iMax cinemas and theme parks. But with
blockbusters such as Kung Fu Panda back in 2008, we saw a shift to mainstream cinemas. And
the CGI sensation Avatar the following year has totally redefined the market. New technology
has given us linear polarised glasses which radically improve viewing quality and, as you can
see, the global market for 3D eyewear is now conservatively estimated to be two hundred
million dollars.
Mark
Did you find yourself reading ahead as you watched? The information was not badly
presented, but the speaker was unable to compete with her visual. True, this particular slide
might have been more effective if the bullet points had been revealed one by one. But here’s
how the presenter could have done a much better job …
Presenter
Two hundred million. That’s the estimated value in dollars of the global market for 3D
eyewear. Two hundred million. Unbelievable. Now, let me just talk you through some of the
main reasons for such huge market potential …
Mark
See the difference? This time the presenter gets straight to the point, starting with the
headline ‘200 million’, followed by further context and supporting data. But here’s the clever
part – the visual only tells half the story. It leaves us wanting to know what this ‘200 million’
refers to, which, of course, is precisely what the presenter is now going to tell us. The visual is
also very visual. But that’s not always enough. Take a look at this …
Presenter
Did you know that seventy percent of businesses in India are family businesses?
Mark
Well, yes we did, thanks – we’ve just read it! Pretty picture, though. Let’s try that again …
Presenter
Did you know that seventy percent of businesses in India are family businesses?
Mark
Much better! There’s even a bit of humour in the image chosen this time. Of course, another
way to make visual aids visual is to use graphs and charts. But, remember, a well-designed graph
is supposed to save you the job of describing the situation in words. Ideally, it should be self-
explanatory. If you have to explain it, it’s not a good visual. What the presenter does often need
to do is to explain the significance of the information displayed.
See how the following presenter does this…
Presenter
We all know there is enormous interest around the world in developing renewable energy
sources. But are we headed for a greener or greyer future? Have a look at this.
Here are our projected estimates of global electricity production to the year 2030. So, let
me just talk you through some of these. As you can see, we are indeed forecasting increased
levels of investment in renewables to around 23% of total production, mostly in response
to the current population explosion and rising fossil fuel prices. But let’s just put that into
perspective – it’s only up 5% from what it was back in 2006. So we’re not exactly talking a
green revolution here! Now, the good news is that, though our reliance on oil is likely to grow
in the immediate future, longer term it should decline significantly. And, as far as nuclear
energy is concerned, the figures speak for themselves. We’ll certainly be using less by 2030.
But what does that mean in terms of the environment? After all, nuclear energy is at least
clean. Coal, on the other hand, is the dirtiest fossil fuel. By 2030, electricity production will
have almost doubled and nearly half of that will be derived from coal. So the real question is:
what happened to our more sustainable future?
Mark
A good use there of a graphic slide to present the facts, leaving the presenter free to fill in
the background and explore the implications. So always try to work with your visuals, and not
against them.
Facts and figures
5 VIDEO SCRIPT
Mark
When presenting facts and figures, beware of data-dumping. This is when you fill your slides
with more information than your audience can easily digest. Is this a familiar scenario in the
presentations you attend? …
Presenter
OK, now, you’ll find full details of the risk management model in the report in front of you, but
here is a simple overview of how the system works …
Mark
‘Simple overview’? Yeah, right! A helpful guideline to avoid data-dumping is if your audience
needs more than five seconds to get the message of your visual, you’ve got too much data!
Now, it’s true that some audiences – technical ones, especially – want all the details. And
some speakers are expected to post a copy of their slides on the company intranet after their
presentation, so they need to read like a full report. But this is a big mistake. What you end up
with is what presentations designer Garr Reynolds calls ‘slideuments’ – too superficial to be
proper documents and too overloaded to be effective slides.
So what can you do? You’ve got four options. Option one: edit. Keep most of your data in reserve
– to hand, in case you need it – but only show the most important stuff. Put the rest in a report.
Option two: have more visuals. If you must include everything, the least you can do is spread it
out over more slides. Option three: use a technique known as ‘a reveal’. This is when you use the
‘custom animation’ function on your slideware to show your data bit by bit, like this … or – show
it all, but then quickly zoom in on the relevant parts, like this … .
Option four: make sure you put all your key figures into a memorable context. Listen to this … .
Presenter
Did you know that 97.25% of the world’s water is undrinkable saltwater, and of the mere
2.75% that is fresh, only 0.005% is easily accessible surface water, half of which is polluted,
causing the death of five million people a year?
Mark
Er, excuse me?
Presenter
That means if all the water in the world was poured into a bucket, only a spoonful would be
drinkable. A further spoonful would be enough to kill the total population of Norway … in a
year.
Mark
OK, right, now I get it! Whoa! Those are frightening statistics. Remember, the figures never
speak for themselves. Complex numbers just leave people cold. To make them meaningful,
they need to be placed in context. Watch this presenter contextualising data in order to
persuade their audience …
Presenter
Do you know how much spam is costing you annually?
I happen to have the official figures. The amount of energy we use to transmit, process and filter
spam amounts to thirty-three billion kilowatt-hours every year.
Thirty-three billion. It’s enough electricity to power two point four million homes.
That’s more than the total number of homes in Budapest, Warsaw and Vienna. It’s enough
electricity to produce the greenhouse gas emissions for three point one million cars.
That’s more than the total number of cars in London. Spam isn’t just wasting our time – it’s
wasting our money. Depending on how much we pay for our electricity, it’s probably costing
us altogether at least five billion dollars annually. But what can we do? After all, it’s not us
sending out all this spam, is it? Would it surprise you to learn that eighty percent of the energy
wasted by spam comes not from spamming, but from end-users, like you and me, deleting
the junk as we search for the email we want? To deal with the threat, my company has taken
spam filtering technology to the new level. We stop spam at source.
Mark
For a presenter, carefully selected facts and figures can be powerfully persuasive. But, bombard
your audience with too many, and they rapidly lose their power. Remember, in an age of
information overload, less is more.
Body language
6 VIDEO SCRIPT
Mark
Many body language experts would have you believe that the way you look and move
in a presentation makes up more than half your overall message. But this is a bit of
an exaggeration. A presenter’s main objective is simply to come across as natural and
comfortable. And focusing too much on what you might be doing wrong is only going to
make you self-conscious.
So relax. Take it easy. There aren’t any hard and fast rules about this. In general, slower
movements and subtle gestures will communicate calm and confidence, whilst faster
movements and more expansive gestures will communicate energy and enthusiasm.
So get the balance right. If you tend to be a bit static when you speak in public, then you
might think about loosening up a little. If, on the other hand, you’re more the hyperactive
type, then try to tone it down a fraction – especially at the start.
Certainly there are things you can do which may distract your audience – particularly if you do
them repeatedly. But you can check for these by watching yourself present on film. Here are
some common body language no-nos:
• pacing up and down,
• swaying or wobbling as you speak,
• creating a barrier by folding your arms,
• doing funny things with your hands,
• fiddling with clothes, hair or jewellery,
• appearing too casual or too aggressive,
• or simply doing nothing at all.
Avoid these if you can. But, above all, remember that your movements and gestures should
always support what you are saying and never contradict or distract from it.
Watch how these presenters use gestures to illustrate, enliven and reinforce the points they’re
making …
PRESENTERS
There are three things I want to talk to you about today and they all concern coaching for
performance. So let’s take them one at a time. Firstly, …
I really think this new initiative has huge potential, but it means us all working together as a
team.
So, how are we going to address this problem? Well, on the one hand, we could just ignore it
and hope it goes away. But, on the other hand, this is losing us a lot of money.
Now what we have seen across all divisions is a significant increase in pre-tax profit margins
from three to nine percent.
At every stage, from start to finish, this project has been carefully monitored and
benchmarked against best practice.
So, looking further ahead, what are our long-term objectives?
Who’d have thought that such a tiny defect in the system would have caused such chaos? But
fixing it is now our top priority.
So that is the situation. Any ideas? Yes, Mark?
Mark
Unless you have a particularly distracting habit, your body language usually becomes less
important as your talk progresses. But be aware that, especially in the opening moments, you
are your most important visual aid.
Rapport-building
7 VIDEO SCRIPT
Mark
A presentation is a very one-sided form of communication. Usually the audience can’t easily
interrupt or contribute. So it’s asking a lot to expect them to stay focused, unless you can
somehow make your presentation feel more like a two-way conversation.
Perhaps the best way to do this is simply to ask lots of questions. Question tags in particular create
the illusion that you’re having a conversation with your audience. Don’t just say ‘Interesting’.
Say ‘Interesting, isn’t it?’
Another inclusive question type is the negative question form. Don’t just say ‘There’s a need for
more transparency’. Say ‘Isn’t there a need for more transparency?’ This also sounds much more
persuasive.
One very simple way of building rapport with your audience is to avoid addressing them as ‘you’
and talk about ‘us’ instead.
And, finally, use plenty of involvement expressions – expressions like: ‘I know what you’re
thinking’, ‘If you’re anything like me’, and ‘What if I was to say to you’. Adopting a semi-
conversational tone like this is especially effective if you’re presenting to small groups …
Presenter
OK, I think we all know why we’re here. We’re here to discuss how we respond to the illegal file-
sharing online of this company’s copyrighted musical content. Now, we’ve been here before,
haven’t we? And many, many times, in fact. And you don’t need me to tell you that illegal
downloading is costing us million[s] of dollars …
Here at CMI we’ve always taken a tough line. And that makes sense, doesn’t it, when it’s
effectively killing our business? None of us can deny that [the] music industry is in decline …
As we can see, along with video rentals, the market for CDs has halved over the last ten
years. But what if I was [to] say to you that illegal downloads are not primarily responsible for
this? That file-sharing is not what’s killing our business? Because, if, like me, you thought that
every download is a lost sale, you’d be very, very wrong. Isn’t it time we faced the fact that
what’s really killing music sales is that buyers are spending their limited disposable income
on computer games instead? Here we can clearly see that sales of computer games have
quadrupled over the same ten-year period …
Mark
Now in most presentations there are only two things an audience can do to show their
appreciation – applaud and laugh. Applause usually only comes at the end of your talk. But
laughter can come at any point, even right at the beginning. And when you make people laugh,
you make them more open to your ideas. Laughter is non-verbal agreement.
So how do you get it? Jokes seem the obvious choice. But jokes are high-risk. If nobody laughs,
you look bad. So, if you do tell a joke, keep it short and make it relevant.
A safer strategy is to refer to an amusing quote or saying …
Presenter
I forget who it was that once said: ‘Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is to just
fire all the unhappy people.’ Fortunately, morale isn’t a problem for us. In fact, let me show you
the results for the job-satisfaction study we carried out at our packaging plants last month …
Mark
Another fairly safe option is the funny story. Funny stories are often better than jokes. Jokes
create the expectation of a laugh. Stories don’t. The laughs, if they come, are a bonus.
Presenter
To make sure your message reaches its target, sometimes you have to break some rules.
Airlines have a particular problem in getting people to listen to their safety announcements.
So one regional airline changed its message to this: ‘Welcome aboard flight 577 to Houston,
Texas. To fasten your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull it tight. It works
just like every other seatbelt, and if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably
shouldn’t be in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss in cabin pressure, oxygen
masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and put it over your face.
If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If
you have two small children travelling with you, decide now which one you prefer.’
Mark
Connecting with your audience is always your first priority in a talk. Never try to be so serious
and professional that you lose that vital connection. And remember that when things go wrong
or you make a mistake, if you can see the funny side, it may just be an opportunity to build
rapport.
Impact techniques
8 VIDEO SCRIPT
Mark
The secrets of persuasive speaking are as old as Aristotle, but you don’t have to be a great orator to
make effective use of them. In fact, the techniques themselves are very, very simple. There, I just
used one – repetition. Repeating key words, key phrases and even key sounds throughout your talk
has a cumulative effect on your audience. Don’t just tell them; keep telling them!
Rhetorical questions are another effective technique because they get people thinking about an
issue before you tell them what you think. Don’t just tell them – ask them; then tell them.
Look in any dictionary of famous quotations and you’ll find a lot of them take the form of contrasts.
Think of John F Kennedy’s ‘Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your
country’. Don’t just tell them. Tell them what you’re not telling them first; then tell them what you
are telling them.
Colourful adjectives and metaphors are a further way of painting pictures in the mind. And we know
how memorable pictures are compared with words. Don’t just tell them, picture it for them.
Finally, perhaps the best-known technique in the book is the so-called group of three – Julius Caesar’s
‘I came, I saw, I conquered’. Don’t overuse this one. You’re not Winston Churchill or Martin Luther
King. But don’t just tell them one thing, then another thing, then another thing; try grouping your
key points in sets of three.
Of course, all these techniques work even better in combination. Watch these presenters creating
impact through the skilful organisation of their material …
Presenter
In fifteen ninety-seven the English philosopher, Francis Bacon, famously said: ‘Knowledge is power’.
In nineteen ninety-seven knowledge was still power. But knowledge isn’t power any more. When’s
the last time you opened an instruction manual or went to the library to look something up? It’s hard
to remember, isn’t it? These days we don’t need knowledge. These days we have Google instead.
In business, we have been repeatedly told that big isn’t beautiful; that it’s the small, agile companies
that succeed; that the hippopotamus cannot keep up with the hare. Well, I’m going to tell you the
opposite. If you run a twenty-thousand employee multinational, even a ten percent improvement
on productivity is going to make a massive difference. If you run a ten-person start-up, you’re going
to need a twenty-thousand percent improvement just to keep up.
I’ve mentioned this word, ‘worldsourcing’. But what is worldsourcing? And how different is it from
outsourcing? Outsourcing is just chasing cheap labour around the globe. Worldsourcing is bringing
together, from right across the planet, talent, customers and resources – but, above all, ideas. These
days, there’s no more borderless economy; there’s only the economy. There’s no more company
headquarters; there’s only everywhere. There are no more time zones; there’s only now.
It’s interesting, isn’t it? Even after large-scale layoffs and endless rounds of cost-cutting, we continue
to underperform in every market in which we operate. What’s going wrong? I think the answer
might be staring us in the face. In the Olympics there is an event called the decathlon, in which
athletes compete in ten different track and field events, from the long jump to the pole vault and the
hundred metres to the discus. But there are no decathletes in this industry. There are only specialists
leading their respective markets. We thought our company was overweight –the truth is we’ve
spread ourselves too thinly.
Let me give you an idea of how vital India is to the future of IT in Europe. Did you know that in the
next ninety seconds a hundred and ninety babies will be born? Only one will be British. Twenty will
be Chinese. But twenty-five will be Indian. At present, fifty percent of Indians are under thirty-five
years of age. Many of them already work in IT. And, of those who have graduated from college,
how many of them do you think speak English? That’s right, all of them. So when I say that in the
field of technical support, the foreseeable future is Indian; believe me, I have the figures to prove it.
Mark
Remember, rhetoric is not just some stylish accessory in the public speaker’s wardrobe. It’s the way
effective communicators naturally communicate.
Impact techniques
9 VIDEO SCRIPT
Mark
They say if you can tell a good story, you can learn to give a good presentation. And it’s certainly
true that some of the best presenters are master storytellers. Stories are the ultimate pull-strategy.
Whilst rhetorical techniques help you push your message out to the audience, stories pull the
audience towards you. Stories will often achieve what cold facts and figures can’t. They bring facts
to life in a context everyone can grasp. Stories don’t tell. Stories demonstrate.
So before you go filling another slide with a ton of supporting data, think about whether a
good story could support you better. But what are the qualities of a good story? Watch a
management consultant address a small group of family business owners …
Presenter
Now, you don’t need me to tell you that it’s not easy running a family business. In fact, sometimes
it’s impossible to see where the family ends and the business begins. Has anyone here heard of
Stew Leonard? … Stew Leonard was the founder and CEO of a huge family-owned chain of dairy
stores in the US. Apparently he liked his children to start work at the bottom of the company and
work their way up. Well now, it seems that one day the supervisor of one of the stores reported
that Stew’s son wasn’t doing a good job. ‘I’m really sorry, Mr Leonard,’ the supervisor says, ‘but
your boy’s just not up to it.’ Stew pauses for a moment and says ‘I see. Thanks for letting me know.
Don’t worry, I’ll sort this out.’ He invites his son that evening for a beer, and as they relax in the
enormous family Jacuzzi at the back of the house, Stew puts on a hat he calls his ‘boss hat’, turns
to his son and says ‘Leonard, you’re fired!’
Now, as you can imagine, his son looks at him in disbelief, too shocked to even speak. Stew then
puts on another hat, which he calls his ‘father hat’, and he says ‘Son, I am really sorry to hear that
you’ve lost your job. Now, is there anything I can do to help?’
Mark
Now, what made that story work? Well, first of all, it was relevant. It tapped into an experience
many in the presenter’s audience will share. Secondly, the speaker used a number of classic
storytelling techniques. Did you notice that she switched from the past simple to the present
simple mid-story? The present simple makes us feel almost like we’ve travelled back in time to
watch the story as it happens.
She also used quite a bit of dialogue. This gives what’s said an immediacy reported speech cannot
capture. There was reference throughout to the audience and their own family businesses and the
speaker used her voice and gestures to vividly recreate the scene.
The story was also true – or, at least, supposed to be! True stories hold an audience’s attention
better than fictional ones and, of course, the best are always your own. Watch this presenter
relate a personal anecdote …
Presenter
I thought I’d met just about every kind of teacher, from ex-athlete to ex-coal miner, until [a] couple
of years ago I [have] met this very distinguished-looking Polish-American lady, who attended my
seminars, so I asked her the usual question: ‘How long have you been in teaching?’ ‘Oh,’ she said,
‘I’ve just started to teach. It was [a] lifelong ambition of mine.’ ‘Really?’ I said. ‘So what did you do
before?’ ‘Well,’ she said, ‘for about twenty years I was a judge.’ I said, ‘My goodness! Like in the law
courts?’ She said, ‘Well, yes – that’s where the judges are.’
I said, ‘What an amazing career! And now you’re a teacher.’ But I must have said it in the way
that teaching was a step down from her previous success, because she said something I’ll never
forget. She said, ‘Oh, Natalia, didn’t you know that teaching is the noblest profession?’ And
this woman’s true passion for teaching is what partly made me write this software I was talking
about today. I don’t know if teaching is the noblest profession. Probably medicine is. Doctors
save lives. We don’t. But we do change them. Thank you very much.
Mark
A great story there – both moving and amusing. And highly persuasive. Always remember, people
may resist the most persuasive rhetoric; but no one can resist the power of a good story well told.
Q&A sessions
10 VIDEO SCRIPT
Mark
Many speakers find the unpredictability of question-and-answer sessions the most challenging
part of presenting. But, properly managed, the Q&A is less of a challenge than an opportunity – an
opportunity to spontaneously interact with your audience and address their needs and concerns
on a more equal and personal level.
Now, the questions you are likely to be asked can be roughly divided into three categories – the
good, the bad … and the ugly. A good question is one that’s worth asking and, just as importantly,
one that you can answer! Make the most of this type of question and answer it fully. The more
time you spend on good questions, the less time there’ll be for bad ones!
A bad question is one that you can’t, or would prefer not to, answer. If you genuinely don’t know
the answer, say so and offer to find out. Unless you really should know, this is a sign of confidence,
not weakness. Alternatively, ask members of the audience what they think, or even throw the
question back at the questioner. On the other hand, if you do know the answer, but it’s confidential
information, briefly explain why and move on.
Ugly questions come in many forms. Questions can sometimes be vague and unclear, so be sure
to establish exactly what you’re being asked before responding. Occasionally, people will ask you
about things you’ve already answered or which seem to have no real connection with your talk.
Deal with these swiftly but politely. And sometimes, you’ll get several questions at once. If there’s
time, deal with these separately. If not, identify the most important question and just answer that.
Watch how this presenter fields questions from the audience and decide precisely what kind
of questions you think she’s just been asked. She’s been presenting arguments in favour of a
proposed initial public offering.
Presenter
Well, now, I think I may have partially answered this question earlier, but it’s a good question and
well worth asking again. Let me give you a bit more detail on that. Perhaps this slide will help …
Yes, good point, good point. Well, let me say straight away that I will be explaining this later on …
OK, I think I see what you’re getting at, but could you just elaborate a little? I’m not sure if you’re
asking about raising capital or reducing debt here …
Right, I think you’ve asked three related questions there because, in a way, they all concern the
same thing, don’t they, which is our plans for expansion. So let’s look at those …
Ah, yes, thanks for reminding me. I meant to say something about that earlier. Let’s go back for a
moment to the whole question of financing opportunities, shall we …?
It’s a great question. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great answer! Perhaps you could rephrase it as
something I’m able to respond to! Or maybe someone else can help me out here. Yeah, Leah …
Interesting question. It sounds like you’ve already had some thoughts on this yourself. What is your
position on convertible debt?
OK, now, I’ll answer that in a moment, but can we just see how others feel about that first? Yes,
Luis …
I’m afraid we’re not yet in a position to discuss an additional share issue, but I think you’re right
and it’s certainly something we should add to the agenda for our next meeting …
Mark
Of course, the hardest question of all to handle is the hostile question, where the questioner
goes on the attack. And the secret here is to stay cool and carefully rephrase it in more neutral
terms before answering. Allow a hostile questioner to come back at you with a follow-up
question once, but no more. Never let them hijack your presentation.
Watch the following speaker. He has just presented some of the implications of a recent
merger with a former competitor to the heads of his HR division. See how he deals with a
certain amount of hostility.
Presenter
So, are there any questions you’d like to ask at this point?
Questioner 1
Erm, yes, going back for a moment to the question of profit growth post-merger, you’ve been
quoting a figure of seventy to eighty percent! That’s enormous! I’d really like to know how you
justify such optimism …
Presenter
OK, so you’d like to see a full set of figures to support that forecast?
Questioner 1
Well, yeah …
Presenter
No problem. Have a look at this …
Questioner 2
Yes, I have a question. You’ve just mentioned substantial cost savings, but earlier you were
saying that there would very few redundancies during the integration phase. So where on
earth are we supposed to make those savings? Surely, people are going to be losing their
jobs?
Presenter
So you have some concerns about people whose function is going to be duplicated losing their
jobs, is that right?
Questioner 2
Well, of course, I do!
Presenter
In that case, let me put your mind at rest straightaway …
Questioner 3
Erm, I want to take you up on what you said about full integration taking six months. Do you
honestly expect us to believe that the whole process is going to be completed in just two
quarters?
Presenter
Uh-huh. So what you’d like to know is how we plan to accelerate our integration effort?
Questioner 3
Well, … yes, … I suppose so.
Presenter
That’s a very good question. Let me talk you through the role of the MIT, the management
integration team …
Mark
One last thing. To be truly effective as a presenter, you must remain on-message throughout the
Q&A. That means taking care not to digress too far from the key points you’re trying to make.
Whatever question you’re asked, find a way of using your answer to reinforce what you’ve said
in the main part of your presentation.
And unless your last answer does this job really well, make sure that after the Q&A you always
have a second and memorable close.

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