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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
presentations; cafeterias and factory floors connote informality. Good
presenters make the location work for them. Throughout his mayoral
career, Rudy Giuliani made a point of showing up at scenes where he
felt the community needed to see a leader. Of course, after September
11 we saw him every day at Ground Zero, as well as at funerals, memo-
rials, and other public venues.
How and where you deliver your presentation may depend on your pref-
erence, or it may be set by the group to whom you are presenting. Knowing in
advance how and where you will present is critical to ensuring that your mes-
sage is understood and creates the right impetus for action.
Note: Part II contains much more material on delivering the message to
audiences. For information on delivering the message to an individual, see
Chapter 10, “Leadership Communications Coaching.”
Communications Planner:
Structuring the Stand-up Presentation
Organization is fundamental to an effective presentation. The presenta-
tion that rambles is the presentation that is forgotten not as soon as it is
over, but while it is still going on. Try these techniques to get started:
1. Read. Read. Read. That’s where you find ideas for your con-
tent.
2. Ask. Ask. Ask. Talk to people who represent your customers.
What do they want to hear?
3. Find. Find. Find. Look for research material wherever you can
find it. Trade magazines. The Internet. Corporate reports.
4. Brainstorm. Yes, you did this when you were coming up with
the message. But guess what? It works for fleshing out con-
tent, too.
5. Write the draft by adding points to your outline. After a while,
you will have the beginnings of a draft, but you will have cre-
ated it by using an outline method.
6. Construct your arguments.
Claim: what you state
Reason: what you believe
Warrant: synthesis of statement and belief
7. As you write your draft, think in terms of analogies. Use the
words in those analogies to color your content words. Here are
some examples: