The most critical job of a manager, when you sum it all up, is communication. To be successful, a manager must be effective in individual, written, and group communication. While weakness in any of these three disciplines will compromise the ability to lead, the most commonly seen weakness in managers is group communication. And it is the most striking.

Group communication can be one of a manager’s most powerful assets. When presenting to a group, he or she has her or her undivided attention, at least at first. The trick is to keep it.

Rather than fear or be reluctant about it, managers should look for opportunities to present to anyone in the company. The best way to develop any skill is through repetition. This particular skill also helps to increase personal and professional exposure.

Unfortunately, corporate presentations and sales presentations are often:

1. Moderately competent, or

2. Professional killers

The advent of new media and technologies that facilitate communication and improve our ability to convey our ideas can also have the opposite effect. If a manager has a propensity for digging a hole for himself in a presentation, PowerPoint can be earth moving on steroids that will bury the presenter completely.

On the other hand, managers who are adept at giving presentations and public speaking can communicate even more effectively and convincingly with these tools.

A Near Death Experience by PowerPoint:

We’ve all been through them… PowerPoint presentations that go on forever. I call this “Death by PowerPoint.”

One of my PowerPoint near-death experiences occurred in the northwest corner of Newfoundland, Canada. A company I worked for had a small factory there. I had flown there with the company president, some fellow officers, and Bill Drellow, the freelance writer I turned to to edit my latest book, “The Lost Art of General Management.”

After touring the plant with the staff and doing the general niceties with the production people, we settled into the conference room for the final stretch…the PowerPoint presentation.

The projector got hot, the presenter clicked on his computer, and I saw something that nearly killed me on the spot: the little box in the lower left corner of the frame that read “Slide 1 of 101.” That’s right, 101 slides!

I didn’t have the heart to pull the plug on your presentation and ask you to get to the point in 20 slides or less. The team had worked very hard to improve that factory and they deserved the opportunity to relate the pride of their achievements on their own terms. So there I sat, contemplating forms of suicide (remember Airplane, the Movie?) to end the pain of non-stop listening.

The moral of this story is that the only thing that took us away from this presentation was the impression that they worked hard and presented 101 slides! Beyond that, I couldn’t have remembered three things they tried to communicate to us 15 minutes later.

The ten elements of a great presentation
1. Before doing anything else, identify up to three key points that you want your audience to remember.

2. Determine why your audience should remember these points, so you can communicate them too.

3. Open your presentation with the “why” in such a way that it takes no more than a minute to explain it. If you can’t explain to your audience why your presentation is important to them in one minute, you’ve lost them.

4. Never forget that the audience cares less about what you have to say than you do.

5. Remember what you learned in fourth grade: speak at a proper pace. Not too slow and not too fast. And project your voice.

6. Communicate widely through body language and spoken language.

7. Do not use the podium unless you are reading a speech and it is the only source of light. It’s easy to create the impression that you’re clinging to it for dear life. Speakers who walk around a podium instead of standing rigidly behind it show more confidence, stand out from other presenters, and are more interesting to watch. Walking, talking and gesturing at the same time is also a great way to hide barking because all the adrenaline doesn’t go down the throat.

8. Being so well rehearsed that it doesn’t sound rehearsed. There is no substitute for preparation.

9. Go over your presentation with a trusted colleague or two to make sure it says what you think it says and is easily understood.

10. When using slides –

§ Organize your presentation so that the titles of the slides tell the story on their own. Any other text should simply support the title.

§ Do not abuse distracting tricks such as animation.

§ Never read the slides word for word. Its sole purpose is to reinforce what the audience is learning.

§ Never spend more than two minutes on a slide.

§ Finally, and most importantly, prepare your presentation so that you don’t need slides. If you can be effective without slides, you’re a great presenter. If you can do that, you can use slides to enhance your presentation, instead of relying on them as a crutch.

My editor goes even further than me when it comes to trusting slides. An experienced speechwriter, he feels that the slides should only be used when they contain the faces of the alleged offenders and the audience is taking roll in the morning in the squad room.

The three types of presentations
There are three basic types of internal presentations that managers must be adept at delivering. There are numerous hybrids, but the three basic internal presentations are:

1. Presentation of the vision, mission and goal

2. Presentation of results

3. Presentation of the change initiative

The general theme that can always be used and adapted to fit any of these types of presentations follows this pattern: “Who are we, where are we going, and how are we going to get there.”

There are also three general types of external submissions:

1. Presentations for clients

2. Supplier presentations

3. Presentations for investors/bankers

The purpose of external presentations is usually to influence the outcome of a negotiation. Thematic elements include “What’s in it for you” and “How we can do this together.”

Again, introductions should always start with “Why this is important to you (the audience).”

I cannot stress enough that if you want to succeed as a leader, you must master the art of the group presentation. If you’re just not comfortable with that, there’s only one way to cure your discomfort… make as many presentations as possible! Comfort and an air of controlled self-confidence will only come from experience. The more you avoid developing your presentation skills, the heavier this anchor will become in your career.

Take a course, join Toastmasters, or purchase a video/CD on the subject. Start with easy small group presentations and continue working until you feel comfortable, regardless of how many people are in the room.

I have made it a requirement that each of my direct reports take a public speaking course. Those who jumped into the task without delay have shown amazing progress… not only in their speaking skills, but also in their leadership. Because? Because the skills I’ve outlined become part of your overall way of thinking, talking one-on-one, and writing. Soon, everyone becomes significantly stronger communicators who incorporate “why this is important to you” into their communications.

Free PowerPoint First Aid Kit

This First Aid Kit is a voice-over PowerPoint presentation that guides the presenter through creating their presentation and provides a templated structure for creating the presentation. To receive your free PowerPoint First Aid Kit, simply email [email protected] and write “PowerPoint First Aid Kit” in the email subject line. Your email address will only be used to email you the first aid kit and will then be removed from our system. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose.