Chapter 3

The Structure of a Presentation

All presentations should be organized into three major sections, regardless of length:

Let’s take a look at each section in greater detail.

THE INTRODUCTION

The introduction is the beginning of your presentation and should account for 10 to 15 percent of your total presentation time. For purposes of this section, let’s assume you are scheduled to give a 60-minute presentation. Fifteen percent of 60 minutes is 9 minutes. This means the introduction section of your presentation should take only about 9 minutes.

Your introduction consists of three parts:

The grabber is an opening statement to grab the attention of the audience. This may include such things as a quote, a shocking statistic, or some startling statement. You may also use a humorous quote. I do not, however, recommend using a joke. Most jokes take too long to tell. Most presenters are lousy joke tellers, and most jokes have nothing to do with your presentation. Many presenters think (and even believe) they need to start off with a joke to “loosen up” the audience, when in fact it is them, the presenters, who need to loosen up. Your average short joke takes several minutes to tell, and in most cases, it does not get the expected reaction from the audience.

There is nothing wrong with including humor in your presentation, but using a joke will generally take too long. You are better off using a humorous quote, but find a quote that pertains to your presentation. There are books and many resources you can use for humorous quotes.

Here is an example of a humorous quote I have used during some of my workshops. One section of my presentation skills workshop has to deal with speaking anxiety, and I usually begin this section with the following quote:

Mark Twain said it best, “There are two types of speakers. Those that are nervous and those that are liars.” Which one are you?

This usually results in a chuckle or two from the participants in my workshop.

You can also use a shocking statistic or ask a rhetorical question as part of your grabber. Think about what you use now. The introduction is the one area many presenters do not put much thought into and really should. A good introduction gives your audience an idea of what you will be presenting and why it is important to listen to you. Your audience wants to know, “What’s in it for me? Why should I listen?”

The second part of your introduction is the purpose. Ask yourself, “What is the purpose of my presentation?” You can state, “The purpose of my presentation is to. . . ” The purpose is tied to your message. You do not need to have a visual aid that shows this statement; just say it.

The last part of the introduction is the agenda. You should always provide you audience with an agenda of your presentation. Your audience wants and needs to know what you are going to talk about. Most presentations fail to include an agenda, but by not having one, it becomes easy to get off track and not follow a logical flow of information. A well-thought-out agenda provides you with a plan or sequence for your presentation.

THE BODY

The middle section of your presentation is the main body of your presentation. This is the part of your presentation where you present or discuss your main ideas and key points. The body should account for 70 to 80 percent of your total presentation time. For a 60-minute presentation, 70 to 80 percent is about 45 minutes. This is where you provide your key points and ideas, in other words, the meat of your presentation. The number of points you discuss again depends on the length of your presentation. I talked about this in Chapter 2 when I discussed gathering information. Referring back to that section, you will see that I recommend limiting the number of key points to seven to eight for a 60-minute presentation. In a 45-minute time frame, you would have approximately 6 minutes for each key point. Keep in mind, some points may need more or less time for your discussion, but the total time frame allocated for the body of your talk is 45 minutes. As you prepare the content of each of these points, keep in mind the level of detail you will need to stay within the time allocation of this section.

An Alternative Approach

One alternative approach for discussion during the body of your presentation is to use an acronym to get your key points across. An acronym is a set or combination of letters used to define a phrase. There are times when I like to use an actual word as an acronym for developing the content for the body of my presentation. Here is an example.

Several years ago I was hired to deliver the closing keynote for a large international sales team during their National Sales meeting, which was held at a major ski resort in Vermont. I was hired on very short notice and was to deliver this 60-minute closing keynote the following week. Normally, companies hire professional speakers well in advance, but the originally scheduled speaker for this event had some family emergency at the last minute and had to cancel only a few days before the event. Being familiar with me and knowing I would be able to step in at the last minute, the original speaker suggested the client contact me. The client called me on a Friday, and I was to be up at Mount Snow, Vermont, the following Tuesday to deliver this closing keynote. You do the math. . . this was not a lot of time.

It turned out I was available and was glad to step in and help this client. We talked over the phone, and they said they wanted me to motivate and inspire their sales team to go out and be more successful. They asked if I had a keynote that matched this objective. I told them I would deliver a customized presentation that would convey this message. They asked me what the title of the presentation was, and not having actually developed it yet, I said, without hesitation, “The Motivation to I.N.S.P.I.R.E.” They said this sounded perfect. I then spent the next two days developing and customizing a 60-minute keynote around the acronym I.N.S.P.I.R.E. Because this keynote was being delivered at a ski resort in Vermont, I also decide to weave in the theme of skiing and tie into my presentation the challenges of skiing and how we can use an analogy of those challenges to be successful. I arrived the evening before my keynote and had the opportunity to network with some of the attendees and gather some additional insights about the group I would be speaking to the next day.

Without telling you about the entire keynote, here is how I used the acronym I.N.S.P.I.R.E. to develop my keynote for this client. I assigned a key idea or thought for each letter of the word and spoke extemporaneously around each idea:

As I presented each key point, I tied the presentation into the word inspire, thereby creating an anchor to tie my message to. When they think about the word inspire, they will now think about my message and remember my presentation. You can use this same approach and use an acronym, or even a word or slogan, and develop your presentation around each letter of the acronym. It does require a little more creativity, but it is well worth it in the end.

THE CONCLUSION

The last section of your presentation is the conclusion and should account for 10 to 15 percent of your total presentation time. The conclusion is divided into three parts:

During the review you want to reiterate the purpose of your presentation and highlight the answers to the audience’s question, “What’s in it for me?” The review provides you with one more opportunity to drive home your main message. As part of your review, you can go back and review the agenda you provided at the beginning and provide a brief highlight for each key point you discussed during your presentation. Remember, this is a high-level review, not a repeat of your detailed presentation.

The second part of your conclusion is the call to action segment. This segment is where you tell your audience what you want them to do with the information you just presented. This is where you can provide a specific list of action items or specific things you want your audience to do as a result of your presentation. This is their call to action.

The last part of your conclusion is the closing grabber. The closing grabber could be a short statement or quote that ties the entire presentation back to your message. This includes any closing remarks and should leave your audience with at least one memorable thought. This is your last chance to drive your message home and leave a lasting impression. In some cases, I have even combined my closing thought with a more theatrical closing, one that involves props or even a costume or dramatic visual aid. By doing this, I plant an anchor in the audience’s mind to help them remember my message.

MONROE’S MOTIVATED SEQUENCE—SPECIAL FORMAT FOR SALES PRESENTATIONS

One other special format that can be used for a persuasive presentation is Monroe’s motivated sequence. Monroe’s motivated sequence is a special technique used to organize a persuasive presentation that inspires people to take action. This special sequence was developed by Alan H. Monroe in the mid-1930s. Alan Monroe was a professor at Purdue University. Professor Monroe developed this time-proven method for organizing persuasive presentations.

The method consists of five steps:

A simplified format may be:

Let’s take a more detailed look at each of these steps.

Monroe’s motivated sequence is the best approach used by successful sales professionals and follows the process of human thinking and leads the audience step by step to the desired action. This is the most effective technique used by advertisers, TV commercials, and people who make their living persuading others.

The advantage of Monroe’s motivated sequence is that it emphasizes what the audience can do. It shows the audience that they actually have the ability to take some actions and make a change.

THE DOZEN DEADLY DANGERS—REASONS FOR POOR PRESENTATIONS

Following are my top 12 reasons presentations do not succeed. I call them the dozen deadly dangers.