Page 39 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

30 CREATING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION

duced a conversational style, got to the point fast, ended strongly,
and more. Then top management sent them all back out into the
fi eld.
Eighteen months later, the market share was almost exactly
reversed. I do not claim credit for that reversal—though I would like
to. The company made a good product. They were able to keep
quality while cutting costs, and management made the right moves
at the right times. But it did not hurt that roughly three dozen senior
engineers who spearheaded the sales and customer service teams
were now a lot smarter and a lot more effective in how they pre-
sented themselves, their products and services, their company, their
profession, and even their industry.
I believe our success in that instance was due, in part, to the fact
that we tried to make the presentations easy to understand and remem-
ber. Our aim, as always, was simplicity, economy, impact, and focus.

CAN YOU TRANSLATE?

Regardless of whether your presentation is elegant and streamlined
or fat and burdened with unnecessary numbers and statistics, your

first responsibility to your audience is to serve as a translator. This is
the added value that any good presenter brings to the party. Transla-
tion is also the engine that propels the rocket (which we will talk
more about later) and then drives it all the way to its target.
The translator demystifies the esoteric to the lay audience. For

example, a speaker explaining the complexities of a merger and
acquisitions deal to an audience of, say, civil engineers, would do
well to couch everything in simple concepts and plain language. The
translator should carefully highlight every step, explain why, assume
nothing, and monitor progress by constantly asking the question,
“Would I be getting this if I were there listening to me?”
Or rather than make a conventional presentation to senior man-
agement, an assistant vice president might choose to go the next
logical step and take a particular point of view. This would boost