Page 109 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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STRUCTURING THE STAND-UP LEADERSHIP PRESENTATION
CHAPTER 6
Formal presentation. You get on the stage in front of a podium. The

audience sits in chairs and listens. You speak; they clap. You walk off
the stage. Session over. That is a formal presentation. The location of a
formal presentation can range from an auditorium that seats 2000 to a
boardroom that seats 5. If you are standing and delivering a prepared
message, the presentation is formal. When you present formally, you 87
connote authority: “Listen to me. I know what I am talking about.” For-
mal presentations are effective for presenting concepts, opinions, and
information.
Informal presentation. There is no podium. The audience may be stand-

ing or seated on whatever is available. You wander around the room as
you speak. There is no single point of reference for the speaker. Some-
times you are in front of the audience members; other times you are
behind them. What do you communicate when you shift your physical
presence? That you are one of them. Yeah, you’re just like the folks to
whom you are presenting. Informal presentations may be as well
rehearsed and well prepared as formal presentations, but the intent is
different. You assume a consultative role. When you present informally,
you connote collegiality: “Hey, I’m just like you.” Informal presenta-
tions are effective for presenting a point of view or for enlisting support
for an idea. They are ineffective for presenting abstract concepts.
Formal/informal presentation. A leader who is in touch with how the
audience is receiving the message will often alter the presentation for-
mat, sometimes on the fly. For example, you may start on the stage and
end up in a chair. Or you may start on the floor and end up on a chair.
Alternating between formal and informal messaging works best when
you are trying to persuade, to win the group over to your point of view.
You begin with an overview of the offering or idea, and then you home
in on the benefits. As CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch varied his
presentation style according to the situation. Like many corporate lead-
ers, he would make prepared remarks and then open it up for a ques-
tion-and-answer session where all pretense of formality was dropped.
Welch was a big believer in humor and in what he calls “screwing
around” at meetings, discussing things like the previous Saturday’s golf
tournament. 14

Choice of venue. Location is essential to the choice of presentation
style. Will you be in an auditorium or in a cafeteria? Will you be speak-
ing in a ballroom or on a factory floor? The location can make a differ-
ence. Auditoriums and ballrooms are typically used for formal