Page 51 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

42 CREATING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION

3. Use an anecdote, illustration, or analogy—not a personal story—
to make your business point. This might include something you
read in the paper, heard on the radio, or saw on TV or something
somebody told you. For example, to make your point about the need
to go global you might say:

I read in the paper yesterday that one of every three U.S. com-
panies now gets half its revenues from operations overseas—and
that overseas trend is only expected to continue.
But if you look at our industry, the reverse seems to be true—
and that reverse trend can spell trouble for each of us here
today.

Again, you are making a case—this time by drawing on the world
of information around you to drive home a point.

4. Use a quotation to start. We are not talking here about Aristo-
phanes or Tennyson. Quoting famous people can be seen as cutesy
and manipulative. But on occasion, you might be able to get away
with something like:

Thomas Jefferson once said that the great joy of being an Ameri-
can was simply having freedom of choice. . . . Well, I am sure
that if Jefferson were alive today, he would certainly agree that
at no other time in our history have we had more chance to
choose our future opportunities than right now.
I am talking about the abundance of opportunities that await
us—if we recognize that the future success of our business
depends almost exclusively upon how well we sell our products
overseas.

But you are better off looking for something more newsworthy, cur-
rent, and strictly business. Find a quote from an industry leader,

media source, trade paper, or government official. For example:
You may have noticed yesterday in the Financial Times that
Fed Chairman Bernanke said our future as the world’s greatest