How to Wash a Chicken

by Tim Calkins

  “Susan, can we ask Carrefour about early November? That might be a better time,” says Dave.

  And Susan responds, “I can ask. I think that is a pretty soft week for the category, however. Sam, can you check on that?”

  While this lively discussion takes place, you are standing in front of the room, looking awkward and wondering how you will get through your presentation.

  Time is one reason why the executive summary is such an important part of a presentation. You want to establish your key points early in the meeting, so if things don’t go smoothly, you don’t leave the meeting without ever having gotten to your main points. The executive summary is your disaster plan.

  BE READY TO REVISE

  We like to think of things proceeding in a logical fashion, step-by-step, marching forward toward a goal. This is sometimes how things work out with a presentation; the writing comes before the practicing, which in turn comes before the actual event.

  Many times, however, things are not quite so orderly; the entire process spirals around. We find ourselves going backward, revisiting prior steps.

  Practicing a presentation will often reveal problems. It may be that a page lacks supporting data. Why should someone believe your statement? It isn’t clear. Other times the flow isn’t quite right; the sequence of pages is awkward. There is a natural question but the presentation doesn’t address it.

  If this is the case, go back and revise the presentation. Change the flow if need be, add more data or change the structure.

  This is one reason why it is difficult to create a brilliant presentation at the last minute. If you begin rehearsing the evening before a key meeting, there is little time to revise things. If you’ve sent out copies, you are locked into the flow.

  CONSIDER GETTING A COACH

  If you’ve struggled with presentations, you may find it useful to hire a communications coach, someone who can give you tips and suggestions.

  A coach is valuable because they will generally know about presenting, and will be willing to provide honest feedback. Friends and colleagues may not give you real feedback. It can be difficult to tell someone they say “you know” or “um” after every sentence.

  Hiring a coach is both emotionally challenging and expensive. Still, given the importance of presenting, it can be an excellent financial investment. Legendary investor Warren Buffett overcame his deep fear of public speaking by taking a course at Dale Carnegie. He explains, “If I hadn’t of done that, my whole life would have been different.”5 Jim Kilts, CEO of companies such as Kraft Foods, Nabisco and Gillette, struggled with presenting and worked with a coach. He observes, “While speech training doesn’t rank on a level with physical torture in terms of pain and suffering, it certainly exacts a toll—especially on your psyche and identity.”6

  12

  SET THE ROOM

  * * *

  Several years ago I had the opportunity to watch one of my colleagues at Kellogg teach a course on the health-care industry. It was a highly informative class and I learned a lot; he is an expert in his field and a very skilled teacher.

  I was struck, however, by how this professor arrived for the class sessions. For a class that started at 6 p.m., he would consistently walk into the room at 5:58, his hands full of copies and notes. He would then scramble to get ready; he would open up his computer, turn on the projector and organize all his materials. Most days, not surprisingly, something didn’t work properly; the projector was on the blink or he couldn’t get the sound connection operating. So, he raced around attempting to set things straight. He looked very stressed and concerned.

  To his credit, most days he was able to start the class more or less on time. He wasn’t precisely on the dot but it was close enough that students didn’t seem to mind. Still, on some evenings the snafus were such that the class started ten or fifteen minutes late.

  The chaotic start didn’t set the class up for success. He began the class session stressed and harassed, so the first few minutes were anything but smooth. After a while, he relaxed and his energy level fell. For students, the start sent all the wrong messages. First, there was anxiety; when the professor is scrambling, students sense it. Then there was a fall in energy, as the class picked up on his relief and relaxation.

  You want a class to start with positive energy and anticipation, perhaps even excitement. The pre-class scramble set the opposite tone.

  Recently I watched a different speaker prepare for a class. He arrived very early and set up his materials. He checked the computer and sound, and laid out his notes. Then, for the ten minutes leading up to the talk, he simply walked around and talked with students. He asked where they were from and what sort of work they did. He asked what they hoped to learn from the session.

  It was casual and light conversation, but it sent some impor-tant messages. First, the approach communicated that the speaker was confident and in control; this session would go well. Second, it sent the message that the speaker cared about the participants. This all set the class up for success.

  Perhaps the single easiest thing you can do to ensure your presentation will go well is to arrive early and get ready for the event. You want to organize the room.

  Setting the room is important for several reasons. The most important one is simple: you can find and address technical issues. There will usually be some problems. Technology isn’t perfect. If you get to the room with little time to spare, you will have to scramble when the inevitable problems arise. If you get there early, you can fix things or figure out an alternate plan.

  Getting to the room early will also put you at ease. When you know everything is all set, you will be comfortable. This will settle you down. Presenting is a stressful activity. Technical problems only increase the stress level. If you have time, you won’t be running around in a concerned state. You can take a deep breath, flip through your notes, chat with participants or refill your coffee.

  To set the room, you should do several things.

  Arrive Early

  The most important thing is to get to the meeting well ahead of time. For casual presentations at the office, this might be twenty minutes. For a major event, you’ll want to leave more time, perhaps even an hour or more.

  Presenting can be stressful. The last thing you want to do is create more stress by running late. Lucy Kellaway from the Financial Times advises, “Always arrive unfeasibly early. Reduce to zero the risk that speech nerves are compounded by lateness ones.”1

  If you show up at the last minute, you have no time to adjust things. People will be gathering; the minutes will be ticking down. In this situation, there is no way to reorganize and address problems. With time, you can reorganize the room. You can call tech support. You can make alternate plans if you have to.

  Several years ago I had the opportunity to present to more than two hundred Northwestern University alumni on the topic of Super Bowl advertising. When I arrived, I quickly realized that the computer sound hookup wasn’t working. This meant that I could play commercials, but people couldn’t hear them. This was a problem; it is difficult to do a great talk on Super Bowl advertising if people can’t hear the commercials.

  I realized that I had time; I had arrived forty minutes before the presentation to set up. I also realized that there was a Best Buy just a block away. So I dashed out the door to Best Buy, purchased a set of high-quality Polk speakers and ran back. I set up the speakers and was ready to go. By the time participants arrived, I was casually talking with the event organizers, giving the impression that I was, of course, a supremely well-prepared presenter. Most people didn’t notice that I was huffing and puffing, and sweating in my suit.

  In most cases, you should arrive at least forty-five minutes before a typical presentation. Your audience probably won’t show up until fifteen minutes before the start time. This then gives you thirty minutes to get things organized.

  If you are presenting after another person, it is useful to sit through their talk. This
will give you a feel for the audience. You can also refer back to their material. If nothing else, you can then be certain that you won’t be telling the same joke!

  On occasion, you will directly follow another presenter, with no break. This is not ideal; you generally want some time for people to mentally shift from one topic to the next. Still, if the event organizer says there will be no break, you may need to go along with the plan.

  In this case, you need to arrive particularly early and set up before the other person starts. You want the transition to be smooth, and the only way to ensure this will be the case is to get there ahead of time.

  Check the Equipment

  One of the great things about presenting these days is that we have incredible technology. We can project our slides in brilliant color. We can show videos. We can survey our audience using interactive platforms. We can bounce from one slide to the next. It is simply amazing, and in the years to come technology will only push us further forward.

  The problem is that all of these technology platforms can go on the blink. Sometimes the projector doesn’t work at all. Sometimes it projects, but the proportions are off. Sometimes the sound hookup doesn’t operate, and the voting system doesn’t connect. Even finding someone to deal with the technical issues can be a challenge. As author Cary Lemkowitz notes, “It is an ironclad rule, even in the most sophisticated companies, that the higher the quality of the audio/visual system, the less likelihood there is that anyone in the room will know how to operate it.”2

  Technical issues are a major problem. They frustrate your audience; nobody likes to sit around while someone sorts out how to work the computer. Time is precious. Technical issues also make you look bad. People don’t look their best staring at a projector, desperately hoping it will work, or jiggering cords trying to get devices to connect.

  The way to avoid technical issues is simple: check everything ahead of time.

  PLAY YOUR VIDEOS

  In my experience, videos create more problems than anything else, so these require a special set of checks before your presentation.

  Videos are wonderful tools for livening up a presentation. A funny video gets people laughing, and an emotional film can get people feeling sad, hopeful or encouraged.

  The problem is that videos can be difficult to use. Sometimes they won’t play at all, or they will freeze in the middle, or the sound won’t kick in. Sometimes the picture doesn’t perfectly align with the sound, a snafu that is surprisingly disturbing.

  It is better to skip a video than to use one that might not work; a flawed video playback makes you look unprepared and makes the audience feel bad. They are missing out on what might have been a great clip.

  To avoid all these problems, you should test every video before a presentation, playing it several times to be certain that it will work. If there is a problem with a video, you want to know it well ahead of time so you can fix it or cut it.

  Videos that require internet access are a particular problem; you may find the internet connection isn’t working properly. It is best to download the video file if at all possible. If a video is critical to your presentation, definitely download it. Relying on an internet connection is simply too risky.

  TEST THE SOUND

  A presentation is all about sound. This is obvious. But it is remarkable how little attention people pay to getting the sound right in a room.

  In many situations, a microphone is your best option.

  Before starting a presentation, you should spend some time evaluating and adjusting the sound levels. You want the sound to be loud but not too loud, so that it is neither annoying nor distracting. Since a full room will muffle the sound, you should be a little too loud when the room is empty. You don’t want to waste time with your audience adjusting your sound.

  Asking “Can you hear me back there?” is a tempting way to evaluate sound levels but this isn’t ideal. All too often someone struggling to hear will give a thumbs-up. They might be embarrassed to admit they can’t make out what you’re saying, even though they shouldn’t be, and you desperately want them to be honest. Remember that if your audience can’t hear you, it is your problem, not their problem. Getting the sound right is critical.

  WALK THROUGH THE PRESENTATION

  A best practice is to walk through your presentation from start to finish, checking all the different elements. This will highlight any technical issues. You don’t need to deliver the presentation at this point; this isn’t the time for practice. You just should flip through it.

  Show your slides, play your videos, consider what you will be doing at each point. Is the animation in your presentation what you intended? I did a presentation recently that featured a list of ten lessons. I started with number ten and then worked my way down. This went very well, until I got to five. After that things went awry; the number two item popped up next, followed by four, then one, then three. It was a bit awkward.

  If you plan on interacting with your audience during the presentation, do you need nametags? If you will be writing ideas on a whiteboard, walk over to the whiteboard. Are there pens? Checking each item will give you confidence and ensure that the presentation will go well.

  Arrange the Room

  Before a presentation, you should study the room layout and adjust it so that it is optimal for your approach.

  There are many ways to organize a room. You can put chairs at round tables or rectangular tables. You can have people sit in a row or in a circle. The room might be classroom style, with people all facing the front, or workshop style, with groups scattered about.

  Seating is largely a question of practical logistics. If you have a lot of people, for example, you may need to seat everyone in rows. It is the only way to fit them in. If you have a smaller group, you can spread out and consider different arrangements.

  If your presentation will depend on conversation in small groups, then a series of tables might make sense. When you split people up, you can ask them to discuss at their tables. If you don’t plan on having small group discussions, then a series of tables might make little sense; it will force some people to rather awkwardly turn their chairs around in order to see you.

  LEAVE YOURSELF SPACE

  When setting up a room, it is all too easy to forget that you’ll need a place to stand.

  To deliver a good presentation, you will need to move around. You should wave your arms and stroll the space. This will help make the session interesting and dynamic. You can only move around, however, if you have some room.

  If you aren’t careful, you will find yourself with tables close to the projector and screen. People who aren’t actually presenting tend to set tables in what feels like a logical fashion. They don’t have the perspective of the presenter. The room might look like this:

  Exhibit 12-1

  This arrangement is a problem. As the presenter, you are trapped. You can only move about three feet in any direction without bumping into someone. You must stand right next to the screen on one side or the other.

  A better arrangement would be to push everything back by several feet, opening up a space at the front of the room for you to work with.

  Exhibit 12-2

  This change opens up space for you to move around. You can move forward and back. You can also move from one side of the room to the other by stepping around the projector. This will look natural and gives you even more space.

  One note: moving tables and chairs around is highly disruptive. You don’t want to do this once people have started to arrive at a meeting; as soon as people start putting down their bags and materials, you are somewhat locked into a room arrangement. This is yet another reason why getting to the room early is important. You have the opportunity to reorganize things.

  WATCH THE PROJECTOR

  One of the most important things to watch is the location of the projector.

  You never want to block a projector when presenting. The bright light is fine for making rabbit signs, but a
s a presenter you don’t want to find yourself on the receiving end of the bright light. One problem is that the light will temporarily blind you, so you won’t be able to see anyone in the room. The other problem is that your presence in front of the light blocks the view for your audience.

  Standing in front of the projector is completely wrong. You can almost feel you audience wince when you wander into the light.

  So, before the presentation, you should walk the room, checking on the bright light. A good rule of thumb is this: if you can see the bright light shining in your eyes, you are blocking the projector. You want to be cognizant of the light lines, so that you can figure out “safe space” and “troubled space.”

  Exhibit 12-3

  If you will need to move from one side of the screen to the other, you should walk around the projector so you don’t block the light. This means you will need space around the projector.

  FIND THE FLIP CHARTS

  It is almost always a good idea to have easy access to flip charts or a whiteboard. You might not use it but writing on a board is a critical presenting tool; it gives you the chance to explain something in detail.

  The key is to have the writing surface ready to go. So, before the presentation, you should check that there are boards in place and available for use, and that the writing instruments work.

  Check the markers carefully! You want to be sure you have the appropriate markers: permanent or erasable. If you write on a dry-erase board with a permanent marker, you will ruin the board. This rarely goes over well.