How to Present without Panic

There are numerous sins of omission and commission which you must avoid. The first is knowing your audience. The more you know about your client, the less chance there is of making some ghastly mistake that might jeopardize the account. One easy way to avoid giving your client prickly heat is to be on time. Another thing is to dress with the utter neutrality of grass wallpaper.

Secondly, find out the dimensions of the room where you'll be making your presentation. You are also going to have to find out what facilities exist in this chosen arena: Does it have a cork board? (If you must use a cork board, don't forget to bring push pins.) Are the electrical outlets2-prongor3-prong? Do you need extension cords? Is there equipment for audio or video playback.

Once you know all the facilities and what client eccentricities you have to take into account, you can start putting your presentation together. Your first call should be to your research department. These are those wonderfully valuable people who gathered all the market information for you, back when you had no idea how you were going to create the campaign you now have.

The first thing you're going to need for this show is a script. It doesn't matter whether you are the world's most accomplished speaker. You need a script. This is the only way to be absolutely sure that no point you really wanted to make is omitted. You can rely on the text or have some kind of illustration. Consider cartoons if that type of thing appeals to your client. Consider translating some statistics from plain numbers to bar graphs or charts.

If you're going to show slides and video, make sure that the computer and the projector work. Bring a spare wire and know how to put it in. Acquaint yourself with the location and operation of such vital knobs as the ‘On/Off’ switch, focus and volume control. Try out the equipment before the meeting. This will assure you that it works and remind you that the TV set must be turned on with the volume at the right level.

Now you have come to the point of showing your proof that the campaign works, and works well. What made this a good presentation? What made it go smoothly? Primarily, rehearsal. A presentation by any other name is still a performance. Your purpose, like that of any actor, is to move the audience, to extract a specific reaction from every spectator. The idea behind a rehearsal is to do everything possible to guarantee that the reaction is favorable. It is not intended to assurea flawless delivery of memorized lines.

When you have your materials in hand, ‘present’ your presentation to other members of the agency or your spouse or your kids or a blank wall. Only then can you be sure that you haven't left anything out and that you can handle the mechanics of the equipment with smooth familiarity. Hold astop­watch on your rehearsal so that you'll have a pretty good idea of how long it runs. Weigh that against your allotted time and your knowledge of the client's attention span.

Then, with a sigh of relief, you close with “Now, if there are any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.” Frankly, you won't be the least bit ‘glad’ if you haven't anticipated most of the questions and armed yourself with the answers. Mind that a couple of stammers or fake-it-through answers can wipe out the whole good impression you've made with your creativity. The bigger question, at least in the client's mind, comes out as, “I like it but what's it going to cost?” With a brief apology for being “only a creative person”, you can respond with what you describe as a rough idea of the costs involved. Even if you know the figures right down to the last penny, stick to your claim that these are only approximations.

Finally, there's the need for aleave-behind. It's a summary of what you've said and what you've showed during your presentation and it has to be put together before you say it or show it. The purpose of the leave-behind is to give the client something that can be reviewed in the quietof the office. It is also something he or she will want to have in hand when approaching the CEO for a budget appropriation to cover the costs of the campaign. Even though there is only one CEO, you should have copies of the leave-behind for everyone who attends the meeting. These should be distributed just as you are saying “Thank you all for your time” and are heading for the door.

The Art of Presentations

Practicum 12.11

Translate the italicized word combinations in Text 12b into Russian

Practicum 12.12

Practicum 12.13

Practicum 12.14

Expand on

- how often you make presentations, focus on their purpose;

- your last smoothly gone presentation and the one that failed, analyze your omissions and commissions

- the tips to follow when preparing an on-site training presentation on current legal practices in the UK (to target fresh graduates from law schools) / for sales managers on boosting sales of dairy products

Practicum 12.15

Practice Discouraging strategyin the following situation

- a presentation coach isdiscouraging her students from imitating other speakers and stresses the need to develop their individual style (tip: you will never get the feedback you are hoping for without authenticity)

Practicum 12.16

Practice Encouraging strategyin the following situation (to be done in writing)

-an academic adviser is E-mailing to his student, encouraging him before the graduation paper presentation

III. Communication Practice

Brainstorming

University professors are criticizing a school-manual on presentation skills, specifying skills to be encouraged / discouraged