Before each meeting, he prepares his financial reports meticulously. He knows the answers to all possible questions. But George loses sleep for weeks beforehand because he just knows he will perform badly. And he does.

In business today, George is not alone in his fear of presentations. It is, unfortunately, a widespread problem that prevents many otherwise excellent managers and professionals from moving ahead in their careers.

Are you like George? Do you wish you knew how to make the most of the presentation opportunity? Let’s look at some of the mistakes George makes, how he could correct them and how you can learn from them.

Not enough preparation time

Because he doesn’t want to think about his presentation, George waits until the last minute before pulling it together. Of course, his financial information is in order—that’s his comfort area—but he needs time to consider how he will present the information. If you are not prepared, it will show.

Visual aids that don’t

At the “eleventh hour”, George finally dictates his “speech” and has it typed up in large letters, double spaced. If there are six people expected at the meeting, he makes six copies and then, almost as an afterthought, one extra on overhead transparencies or PowerPoint slides. The pages of this last copy then become his visual aids. We’ve all sat through these presentations, haven’t we? The presenter puts up a slide completely full of words in one or two paragraphs. Often we can’t read it, but that doesn’t matter because the speaker then turns around, addresses the screen and reads it for us. And then, just in case we miss a word, we can refer to our handouts, which are an exact copy, and read it ourselves! You have to ask yourself why the presentation was needed at all.

Because of the nature of George’s information, he makes the other classic visual aid mistake: he puts up transparencies of large, complicated financial statements. When you do that, you can be absolutely guaranteed that at no point will the attention of all your audience members be focused exactly where you want it to be. There’s simply too much for them to try to take in—and of course they are no longer listening to you. This is a control issue. George is not in control of his presentation.

If you want to show financial information, it’s best done with charts and graphs. Comparisons between sums of money, such as this year vs last year or actual vs budget, can be shown by bar charts. Relationship of parts to a whole, such as product or service mix, jump right off the screen when you show them as a pie chart. Trends are clear when shown as graphs.

If your information doesn’t lend itself to graphic representation, you must use words. But instead of large blocks of text, use what are known as word charts. These take the form of a series of bullet points, each made up of phrases rather than complete sentences. You should say just enough to highlight what you are going to talk about, so that people will glance at the screen and then bring their attention back to you.

Wrong handouts at the wrong time

This is another presentation killer. As well as copies of his overheads, George hands out a sheaf of financial statements before he starts his presentation. Naturally, the Directors are vitally interested in the information, so what do they do? You guessed it—they start reading the material and forget all about poor George!

If you want to keep your audience’s interest on you, hand out material at the last possible moment before you are going to refer to it. In George’s situation, the best way is to tell the Directors he will be giving them a complete set of financials at the end of the presentation. In the meantime, he can make his most important points using the charts and graphs on his overheads. The Directors will have the comfort of knowing they will receive fuller information to study at their leisure, and George will have their attention when he wants it.

Too much information

Like George, many beginning or inexperienced speakers tend to think they have to tell their audience everything they know about the topic at hand. This is overwhelming, not only for you in planning your presentation, but also for those who must listen to it. The key is to select the information you must give, but don’t include anything that isn’t necessary. If the audience wants more information, it will come up at question-and-answer time. If you know your stuff, as George does, you needn’t fear questions, and in fact a clear answer to a question is often more impressive than trying to cram everything into the presentation itself.

In planning your presentation, it’s a good idea to break the information into modules. As you do this, you will often clearly see what is the best form or shape for the material. In putting your talk together, tap the power of the formula. There are a number of commonly used structures that are useful, depending on the information. Here are just a few.

• Chronological: Although not usually the most interesting, sometimes the information is such that a chronological narrative works best. For example, if a business has reached the point where it is ready to go public, a proposal to management might take the form of a history of the firm to the present time, followed by the proposed public offering.

• Old way/new way: This is useful when you want to introduce a new program. Simply explain how things have been done previously, and how the new way will improve things.

• Problem/solution: This is the most compelling format if you are selling something, whether it is a product or service or simply an idea. Set out the problem so that the audience can clearly understand how bad it is, then dazzle them with your solution.

• Objections/answers: If you think your proposal, your budget, your idea will be a tough sell to this particular audience, simply write down all the objections you think they will raise and offer your presentation in the form of answers.

No matter which format you choose, it will help you break the material into chunks that your audience can easily absorb. As you make your notes of what you will say, start also planning your visual aids. Sketching out each slide as you decide what you will say on the topic will help you see how much illustration is needed and what is the best way of supporting your words.

It’s not a speech

It is generally a bad idea to write your presentation out in the form of a speech. If you have a written speech in your hand or in front of you, you WILL read it, whether you plan to or not. It’s more effective to use a series of “cheat sheets”. These can be on index cards, in a three-ring binder, or even on the frames of your overheads. Make your notes big and bold enough for you to read, and don’t put too many words on them—just a key phrase to keep you on track.

Don’t let the butterflies defeat you

George is certainly not alone in being afraid of presentations. It has been said that public speaking is the number one fear in society today—greater than the fear of death! You can take comfort in knowing that everyone suffers from presentation stress, which is simply a form of stagefright. It’s almost impossible to get rid of it, but you can learn to control it. Here are a few techniques you might find useful.

• Deep breathing: Before you enter the room in which you will present, take a few very deep yoga breaths. Breathe in slowly through your nose for a count of four, hold for a count of four and exhale through your mouth for a count of eight.

• Localized pain: Dig the nail of your right thumb surreptitiously into the pad of the next finger until it stings a bit. Do this just before you stand up to speak, and your brain will be so caught up in the pain you will forget to be nervous. Once you start talking, the pressure will automatically relax as you do. It sounds silly perhaps, but it works.

• Visualization and affirmations: These once maligned techniques have now come into the mainstream of business practice, for the very good reason that they work. Just as professional athletes visualize their success before the race starts, you can see in your mind’s eye the President shake your hand and congratulate you on the success of your proposal. You can also compose a sentence that describes what an effective presenter you are and repeat it to yourself regularly until you believe it—before too long, it will be true.

• Memorize your opening: If you practice the first two minutes of your presentation, you will be able to launch into it despite your nerves. Then, as you continue talking, the nerves will disappear.

Although you can’t completely eliminate nerves, that’s not altogether a bad thing. Professional actors admit that they need stagefright, because it gives them that critical edge that helps them perform at peak level. Sir Laurence Olivier once said, “The day I lose my stagefright is the day I stop acting.” By all means work at controlling your stress, but also learn to let it work for you.

I began by telling you George is the comptroller of his company. That’s not bad, of course, but George could be a vice-president by now. Several of his colleagues who joined the company at the same time have vaulted ahead into the ranks of senior management, while George seems stuck. It’s quite likely that his poor presentation skills have contributed to his lack of career progress beyond his present station. Senior executives simply don’t see him as potentially one of themselves, largely because he obviously finds it difficult to address them.

Has this happened to you? Is this in reality your glass ceiling? If so, it would pay to take part in some form of training to improve your presentation skills. In-house seminars offer the opportunity to present to other participants in a non-threatening environment, as well as to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses.

People who present well are often perceived as doing everything well. So take a close look at your skills in this area, because it’s not an exaggeration to say they could make or break your career.

© 2004 Helen Wilkie All Rights Reserved. You may reprint this article for your online or print publication so long as you include the complete article and the following paragraph:

Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker, consultant and author who helps companies do better business through better communication. Her latest book is "The Hidden Profit Center". To received free monthly tips and techniques on communication, visit http://www.mhwcom.com or http://www.HiddenProfitCenter.com and sign up for "Communi-keys". Reach Helen Wilkie at 416-966-5023 or hwilkie@mhwcom.com

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