書摘:Power Presentations(4)

書摘:WINNING STRATEGIES FOR POWER PRESENTATIONS by Jerry Weissman (1)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/shiyongyingyu/178268.html


書摘:WINNING STRATEGIES FOR POWER PRESENTATIONS by Jerry Weissman (3)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/shiyongyingyu/178316.html


書摘:WINNING STRATEGIES FOR POWER PRESENTATIONS by Jerry Weissman (4)

In "Presenting to Win," I provided an illustration that bears
referencing here. A start-up company seeking financing asked me to
coach their pitch to a venture capital firm. During the
presentation, the CEO presented a slide listing the benefits of his
company's product line. After he discussed each of them, he
summarized by saying, "You can see that our products provide a rich
set of benefits to our customers."

I said, "So...?"

The CEO smiled and added, "These benefits bring our company repeat
business, repeat business brings us recurring revenues, and
recurring revenues grow shareholder value."

Those were benefits for the venture capitalists. That's following
the money.

Another illustration: Karen Wespi, a sales manager for Maxim
Integrated, a company that designs and markets analog and mixed
signal semiconductors, participated in a program to develop a pitch
to sell Maxim's products to a large computer manufacturer. During
her presentation, Ms. Wespi presented a slide listing the many
features of the company's product line, discussed each of them in
detail, and then summarized by saying, "So you can see that Maxim's
products provide the best technology with the most bang for the
buck."

I said, "So...?"

Ms. Wespi then added, "Maxim's integrated solutions will enable you
to add greater performance to your computers, bring them to market
faster, and give you an advantage over your competitors."

She gave the benefits for the computer manufacturer. That's
following the money.

In developing your presentation, repeatedly ask yourself the
"So....?" question. Put yourself in place of the start-up CEO or Ms.
Wespi; or put your audience in place of the venture capital firm or
computer manufacturers, or any audience. When you go on to provide
the answer to that question, you'll take a step forward on the money
trail.

Deep Throat had it right: Follow the money. 
 

CHAPTER FIVE

Fellini on Creativity

"Consider All the Possibilities--Before You Present" 

Federico Fellini, the legendary Italian film director noted for his
imaginative cinematic works, had some very explicit ideas about the
creative process. In "Fellini on Fellini," his book about his art,
he described how he generates ideas:

"I hate logical plans.... Myself, I should find it false and
dangerous to start from some clear, well-defined complete idea and
then put it into practice.... The child is in darkness at the moment
he is formed in the mother's womb."

Crafting a presentation is a creative process. In what has become
standard operating procedure in business, most presenters reverse
Mr. Fellini's approach. They start with a "clear, well-defined
idea,"--usually in the form of a set of company slides--and then
"put it into practice" by standing up to present. The result is the
predictable data dump.

That's because this approach reverses the natural functions of the
human mind, known among psychologists as "divergent" and
"convergent" thinking. Neuroscientist Casey Schwartz described the
difference in a blog about creativity on "The Daily Beast" website:

"Divergent thinking is the ability to generate spontaneous, often
unexpected ideas or solutions... Convergent thinking, on the other
hand, is understood as divergent thinking's opposite: the kind of
thought process that allows you to narrow down your options."

When presenters begin their creative process with slides, they are
narrowing their options for ideas. The solution is to do your
convergent thinking "after" your divergent thinking; to let your
mind to do what it is going to do anyway: generate ideas randomly--
and then capture them in brainstorming.

Before you even consider your slides, consider all the "ideas" you
want to discuss, but treat them as words, not images. If you start
with your slides, you front load your mind with everything from the
color or size of the font to a pre-existing sequence. Instead, start
with your ideas and write them on paper, or on a computer screen, a
white-board, or Post-it Notes. Then look at "all" of the ideas
objectively and decide which ones you need and--more important--
which ones you don't need.

Do the data dump in your preparation not in your presentation. Do
your divergent thinking "before" your convergent thinking. 

Get creative. 
 

CHAPTER SIX

How Woody Allen Creates

"First Things First, Last Things Last" 

Woody Allen, a virtual one-man movie studio, having written more
than 60 films during his long and illustrious career, has his own
version of the creative process used by his colleague, Federico
Fellini, the Italian director about whom you read in the previous
chapter: free-form thinking.

Unfortunately, most presenters, in their rush to prepare their next
pitch, begin by shuffling existing slides, and often at the last
minute. They do this because, as results-driven people, they seek to
impose structure at the outset. But every human mind, whether
artistic or business, generates ideas randomly, so an essential part
of the creative process--and developing a presentation is a creative
process--is to incorporate the randomness. Artists understand this
fact of life and go with the flow.

Mr. Allen revealed his creative process in a biographical
documentary on the "American Masters" series on PBS. In a scene shot
in his apartment, Mr. Allen reached into a nightstand drawer, took
out a large stack of cluttered papers and said, "This is my
collection. This is how I start. It's all kind of scraps and things
that are written on hotel things. I'll ponder these things." Then,
as he tossed the papers onto his bed, he added, "I'll dump them here
like this...I go through this all the time every time I start a
project. And I sit here like this...and I look at one...like
that...and then...." 

_________________________________________________________________ 

*****TABLE OF CONTENTS *****

1. Content: The Art of Telling Your Story
2. Graphics: How to Design PowerPoint Slides Effectively
3. Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
4. How to Handle Tough Questions
5. Special Presentations

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• 書摘:Power Presentations(5) -祤湫霖- ♀ (8319 bytes) () 08/15/2013 postreply 19:47:52