CHAPTER 2
Constructing the Presentation Opening
We eventually sold our family business to a national company, which led to a position as Senior Vice President and the Chief Learning Officer for one of the company’s divisions. As a senior executive in a large corporation, I attended hundreds of conference room presentations. Come with me to one of those meetings. Pretend you are the presenter.
As I take my seat, I have a lot of things on my mind: the unfinished business in the meeting I just left, the memo I need to send to my staff this afternoon, my boss’s latest e-mail asking for some data I do not have, and a concern about the traffic to the airport that afternoon. In other words, I’m already distracted. I’m also wondering about your upcoming presentation. How long are you going to take? Will your delivery be another “death by PowerPoint” experience? What are your credentials?
You have about 2 minutes to gain my attention, demonstrate you are in command of the podium and your content, and convince me that your topic is meaningful to me personally. Otherwise, I am gone. I will still be there, of course. Nevertheless, I am mentally somewhere else. Without a strong opening, you may even find others surreptitiously doing a little e-mail or texting under the table while you are talking.
The above scenario is the reality of presenting in a corporate environment. Everyone is dealing with information overload, multiple deadlines, and a myriad of distractions. Therefore, the first few minutes of your presentation are critical. You must gain the attention of your audience, clarify your purpose and the benefits, and provide an overview of your agenda—all in a manner that establishes your credibility, creates rapport, and sets a positive tone for the presentation.
In the following sections, we will examine each of the opening components in turn, focusing on developing the content—what we want to say. We will deal with the all-important delivery—how we say it—in a later chapter.
Gain Attention
To break through all the distractions, open your presentation with a “hook”—a device for dramatically capturing your audience’s attention. To brainstorm possible openers that will gain the attention and interest of your audience, consider using a
• rhetorical or thought question;
• relevant anecdote or story;
• startling statistic; or a
• meaningful quotation.1
What you do not want to do is try to open with a joke (always risky) or apologize for being unprepared or for equipment issues; it diminishes your credibility. When presenting to decision makers, if you are not serious about the topic or not prepared, you should not be there.
Each of the four methods can set the stage for a transition into your purpose statement. Returning to our case study, here are some examples created by Carson Rodrequez for the Tuition Reimbursement Plan (TRP) presentation:
• Thought question: Have you ever thought about what employee turnover is costing our company?
Transition: I think you’ll be surprised when you hear the answer.
• Relevant anecdote or story: This is Mary (show photo), a customer service representative who recently left our company. When Mary left, she took something of value. No, it wasn’t a stapler, or something like that. It was her 5 years of experience and her intimate knowledge of our customer’s needs.
Transition: Lately, we’ve had too many Marys leave the company.
• Startling statistic: Here’s an important number: $585,000. The number represents the cost of excessive turnover in the southern region last year.
Transition: The number doesn’t appear anywhere on our P&L statement, but it is a cost that’s very real and a threat to our new strategy.
• Meaningful Quotation: Here’s a quote from our CEO during a recent interview with Forbes magazine:
“So, if I had to rank the issues, I’d say getting unnecessary costs out of the system so we can live with lower margins is what keeps me up at night. But I know we have a talented management team, and we’ll come up with innovative ways to stay competitive.”
Transition: I’d like to share with you today an innovative way to take unnecessary costs and help the company stay competitive.
Clarify Purpose and Benefits
Your attention-getting opening should tie to the central point of your presentation and set the stage for your purpose statement. You want to be explicit about why you are there today, what you hope to accomplish, and why the audience should care. Some call this approach an “elevator speech” in the sense that it is very short and focused—just three or four sentences. Here is a vignette based on our case study to help illustrate the “elevator speech” concept:2
Tips from the Experts:
Gear your elevator speech toward solving your audience’s problems.
Nick Morgan
Give Your Speech, Change the World
Heading to his presentation, Carson Rodrequez is getting on the first floor elevator at corporate headquarters in Chicago. The corporate offices are on the 5th floor of a multi-tenant office building. As the elevator doors begin to close, in steps a serious-looking woman that Carson recognizes as Lori Salman, the senior VP of Purchasing and a member of the Benefits Committee. Lori recognizes Carson and they exchange greetings. As the elevator heads up, she says, “I believe you are the main item on the committee agenda tomorrow.” Cason answers in the affirmative. Lori responds: “I have another meeting I need to attend at the same time and have been trying to decide what to do. Why should I attend your presentation?” What Carson says in that 15-second ride to the 5th floor is his elevator speech.
So what should Carson say? Here is one version Carson developed, based on his communication strategy analysis:
We have a serious problem with employee turnover. The hidden cost is enormous and the on-going loss of knowledge workers endangers implementation of our new corporate strategy.
One piece of the solution may be a new employee benefit: a Tuition Reimbursement Plan (TRP). My purpose is to present the results of our feasibility study on TRPs and to recommend a course of action.
The bottom line is that a TRP can help your function reduce costs by improving employee retention, and it can help attract the type of employees you need to support our new strategy.
And the elevator doors open.
In 15 seconds, Carson has gained Lori’s interest. She indicates she will attend, expressing some concerns about the cost of TRP. Smiling, she says as she heads to her office, “I want to see how you can make a case for adding a new employee benefit in these tough economic times. You better be wearing body armor under that suit.”
Carson’s “elevator speech” illustrates the key elements of an opening purpose statement, given the problem–solution context. Start with a statement of the problem (turnover), then add the rhetorical purpose (report and recommend), and conclude with the benefits to the audience (reduce costs/support strategy). The purpose statement concisely sounds the theme and central message of his presentation.
Tips from the Experts:
Make them a promise. Put their minds at rest by telling them what they will get out of listening to you.
Nick Souter
Persuasive Presentations
Provide Agenda and Overview
Your audience is now engaged and ready to listen. The third step in your presentation opening is to provide a brief overview of your agenda that explains how you plan to approach the topic. As listeners, we all need organizers to help us follow the ideas in a presentation. The overview is also a good time to let the audience know how long your prepared remarks should take and how you would like to handle questions and discussion.
The overview provides an advanced look at the structure of your presentation. Give each topic a title and explain that you have divided the presentation body into three or four manageable topics, which you will discuss in some detail during the presentation. Here is Carson’s draft of his agenda overview, including the transition sentence following his purpose/benefit statement:
To address this issue, I’ve divided the content into three manageable chunks.
First, I will share what I’ve learned about our turnover problem and how turnover is impacting our organization.
Second, I will show how a Tuition Reimbursement Plan (TRP) can help address the problem. This section will include details such as cost projections.
Third, I will provide a summary of the benefits of a TRP and address the concerns that line managers have expressed during interviews conducted as part of the research.
I will conclude with a specific recommendation for your consideration and a call to action.
Wrap up the opening by setting time expectations and recommending an approach for handling questions and discussion. Conclude by seeking affirmation from the audience for your proposed approach. In the world of presentation experts, there is a variety of opinions about the best way to allocate time, control the interruptions, and manage the questions.3 I will make a case for my preferred approach for a problem–solution presentation in a conference room environment. Ultimately, of course, the decision on how to manage questions depends on the culture of the organization and the nature of your presentation. Here’s my argument:
• The benefits committee allocated Carson 1 hour on the agenda, which is typical for a topic of substance. I strongly argue that the oral presentation should be only 10 to 15 minutes, with questions and discussion following, supported by a resource document to be handed out at the conclusion of the oral portion of the presentation.
• The concept here is that your oral presentation is serving as an “executive summary.” I have three reasons for the executive summary approach:
1. Attention span. Most of us cannot maintain our concentration much longer than 10 minutes, 15 minutes maximum.
2. The big picture. I want to make sure I am able to highlight the “big ideas” in the presentation before descending into the weeds of the details.
3. Audience involvement. I know that audience involvement is the key to gaining a favorable decision. Meetings rarely run on time, and I can expect that I will have less than an hour. I want to spend the majority of the time in discussion, clarifying issues, and addressing concerns. Therefore, I want to keep the oral portion of the presentation short and to the point.
• The supporting document is a key element in this approach. The document could be in the form of a traditional report (with a clear index) or a “flip book,” a spiral-bound collection of specially constructed PowerPoint slides that are more detailed than your presentation slides (we’ll look at flip books in more detail in the chapter on visuals and media). As people ask questions, you can point them to the appropriate page in the document and manage the dialogue. I always hold the document until after the presentation (letting the audience know that it is coming). Otherwise, you lose control of the audience’s attention as they dig into the details while you are trying to make your key points.
Given this approach, here is one example of how Carson could establish the protocol for the meeting:
To manage our discussion today, I would like to propose the following protocol for the hour allocated on the agenda:
First, I would like to spend about 15 minutes in oral presentation to provide an executive summary.
Then I’d like to hand out a “flip book” [hold up] that provides all the supporting details, join you at the table, and facilitate an in-depth discussion to address your questions and concerns.
Of course, during the oral presentation portion, if you need understanding or clarification on a particular point, please feel free to interrupt.
Is this approach OK with everyone? (Wait for affirmation.)
Great! Let’s begin by defining the problem. [Transition to body of presentation.]
In addition to the benefit of allowing you a chance to maintain control over the flow of the information, taking the initiative to establish the protocol also adds to your credibility, sending the message that you are a confident professional who knows how to manage a presentation.
With a draft of the opening in place, Carson is now ready to build the body of his presentation, using the problem–solution pattern.
Constructing the Presentation Opening
• Construct your presentation opening with three parts: gain attention, clarify purpose and benefits, and provide an overview of the agenda. Connect each part with a clear transition statement.
• Gain attention by using one of four basic methods:
º Rhetorical or thought question
º Relevant anecdote or story
º Startling statistic
º Meaningful quotation
• Craft an “elevator speech” for your purpose/benefit statement. Explain why you are there, what you hope to accomplish, and why the audience should care. Include
º a statement of the problem (e.g., turnover),
º your rhetorical purpose, (e.g., report and recommend), and
º the benefits to the audience (e.g., reduce costs).
• Provide the audience an advanced look at the topical structure of your presentation and propose a recommended protocol for your time together, for example:
º Deliver oral presentation: 10–15 minutes.
º Handout report or “flip book” with details, charts, and graphs.
º Facilitate questions and discussion.