贝恩－有效沟通-presentationskill

nullnullAuthor: John Clarke bcPresentation Delivery SkillsApril 1998Copyright© 1998 Bain & Company, Inc. Reviewer: Susan Caraviello Steven TallmanAgendaAgenda Presenter audience dialogue: Overview Word choice Vocal delivery Physical delivery Personal style Key takeawaysAgendaAgenda Presenter audience dialogue: Overview Word choice Vocal delivery Physical delivery Personal style Key takeawaysOverviewOverview An effective presentation is an organized, audience-centered communication of key insights derived from highly-focused analysis. It engages the audience in a dialogue created by a logical structure, and supported by word choice, the voice and body, and personal style.Presenter audience dialoguePresentation structureWord choiceVoiceBodyPersonal styleAnswer-First/ Pyramid PrincipleWord choice Directive language Active speech Bad habitsVocal delivery Vocal “tics”Physical delivery Presenting slidesSelf-communication Credibility Overcoming fear Handling questions ClosingDialogue Through Pyramid StructureDialogue Through Pyramid Structure The pyramid structure creates an engaging rhythm of idea audience question  answer (idea) question  answer (idea).Situation: Mayflower has $800MM in cash, no debt, and strong earnings (“Yes. So what?”) Complication: These attributes often attract unwanted suitors Question: Is Mayflower vulnerable to a hostile takeover? Answer: It is unlikely that Mayflower will become a target at today’s market price (“Why?”)Mayflower does not fit acquisition profilePost-acquisition financials look unappealingKey voting shareholders remain loyalMF is largest non-oilMF has highest P/EPost-acquisition cashflows negativeNegative earnings through 1999Ames family (28%)Omnibank (15%)(“In what way?”)(“What do they look like?”)(“Who?”)(“Why?”)(“Why?”)Requires steady capexSynergies will be minimalCombined cost structure is highMarket will remain flatPreparationPreparation Ensure that delivery preparation reflects the same robust attention to objectives, storyline, and detail you have given to organizing your slides.Master the presentation context and flow know your audience crystallize your objective internalize the road map Consider off-slide elements craft your opening statement - “know” it without memorizing it prepare supporting examples and back-up develop the closing, including next steps Be absolutely clear on the “why” and the “how” of each slide key insight(s): “So what?” slide orientation: how information is organized on data slides data supporting your insights Adopt a “transitioning from insight-to-insight” mindset - as opposed to, “slide-to-slide” habit AgendaAgenda Presenter audience dialogue: Overview Word choice Vocal delivery Physical delivery Personal style Key takeawaysWord ChoiceWord Choice Supported by Answer-First graphics, use words to indicate that you are pursuing a strategy of accumulating support for a particular and informed interpretation of the data.Choose words that will meet audience expectations some revelation of your “self” and point-of-view value added by you that would not be gained from reading a slide deck or report an appearance of spontaneity, but within an overall design/structure information packaged in small, discrete units clear language, well-crafted phrases, and an economy of expression “Bracket” your insights communicate a definite beginning and an end for each insight use bracketing to create pauses for your audience to process/respond to your insight Avoid “insider” jargon unless each member of the audience is fluent in Bain Speak Strictly avoid profanity, ethnic humor, racial stereotyping, homophobic references, and sexist language Use “directive” language (explanation follows) Use the active voice and lean grammar (explanation follows)“Directive” Language“Directive” LanguageSource: Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to Prepare, Stage & Deliver Winning Presentations (New York: AMACOM, 1993)When used in combination with vocal stress and timing, “directive” language engages listeners by helping them focus on your key points.Enumerate:“We identified four sources of capital hemorrhaging: A, B, C and D. The first source, A, created deficits totaling over…”Emphasize:“Downtime in the Elk Run facility - the most critical driver of cost overruns - accounts for over 17%…”Repeat:“Over 37% of survey respondents targeted incorrect billing as their primary reason for switching vendors. Over 37%.”Restate:“Let’s look at the competitor picture another way.”Focus:[While indicating a specific point on graph] “Note the spike in fourth quarter earnings. We attribute that to…”Bridge:“So far, we’ve examined the nature of the problem and isolated the root causes of….Now let’s turn to possible solutions.”Question:“What, then, is the best option?”Invite:“Put yourselves in your customers’ position.”Active SpeechActive SpeechSource: Adapted from D. David Bourland, Jr. and Paul Dennithorne Johnston, To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology (San Francisco: International Society for General Semantics, 1991)Eliminate barriers to audience engagement by using the active voice, direct speech, and lean grammatical construction.RecommendationsAvoidUseChange verbs from the passive to the active voice“The sample was taken from…”“A team of four assemblers from the Saginaw plant took samples from…”Replace “is” with an action verb“We found 3 out of 5 lid assembly lines were inefficient.”“Poor maintenance contributed to 43% of downtime in 3 out of 5 lid assembly lines.”Make an “is” statement more concrete“We believe the decision is a good one.”“The decision will save you $214K per month in purchasing costs.”Get to the point by saying what you mean“At this point in time, it is our opinion that you proceed to trim your portfolio of businesses that siphon off valuable resources from your core business.”“Divest. Now.”Link assertions to your experience by eliminating “seem.”“The data would seem to indicate that…”“Our experience in similar situations leads us to suggest that…”Word Choice: Bad Habits (1 of 3)Word Choice: Bad Habits (1 of 3)Source: Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to Prepare, Stage & Deliver Winning Presentations (New York: AMACOM, 1993); Introduction to Bain Presenting (training presentation)Some frequently-used words and grammatical constructions undermine the power of the presenter audience dialogue.WeakCommentsBetter“one criteria” “a rare phenomena”Avoid singular/plural confusion. “Criteria” and “phenomena” are plurals of “criterion” and “phenomenon,” respectively“one criterion” “a rare phenomenon”“at this point in time”Replace verbose phrase with a simple, direct word“now”“Obviously, the revenue picture is bleak”The observation may not be obvious to everyone“As the data here indicate, revenues will drop off sharply”“the consensus of opinion”Is there any other form of consensus?“the consensus”Word Choice: Bad Habits (2 of 3)Word Choice: Bad Habits (2 of 3)Source: Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to Prepare, Stage & Deliver Winning Presentations (New York: AMACOM, 1993); Introduction to Bain Presenting (training presentation)Some frequently-used words and grammatical constructions undermine the power of the presenter audience dialogue.WeakCommentsBetter“a somewhat unique proposal” “the most unique proposal”Either the proposal is unique or it isn’t. If it is unique, its singularity is implied by its uniqueness. That is, it can’t be “most” unique, as if it were one among many other “unique” proposals.“a proposal which may be unique” “the unique proposal”“We sort of did a study” “The situation is kind of serious” “Hopefully, the recommendations will…”Avoid verbal filler and empty qualifiers. Get to the point without clutter or ambiguity.“We studied x, y and z” “The situation is serious” “We estimate that the recommendations, if implemented, will…”Word Choice: Bad Habits (3 of 3)Word Choice: Bad Habits (3 of 3)Source: Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to Prepare, Stage & Deliver Winning Presentations (New York: AMACOM, 1993); Introduction to Bain Presenting (training presentation)Some frequently-used words and grammatical constructions undermine the power of the presenter audience dialogue.WeakCommentsBetter“conduct an analysis of” “take into consideration” “exhibits a tendency to…”Use verbs in their simplest form.“analyze” “consider” “tends to…”“To tell the truth, layoffs are inevitable.”“To tell the truth” implies that you haven’t been totally candid up to that point. Just answer the question.“Are layoffs inevitable? Yes.”“This slide/bar/data says…” “What this slide means is…”The slide/bar/data/ isn’t “saying” a thing. Position yourself as the medium of insights.“From our analysis, we concluded that…”AgendaAgenda Presenter audience dialogue: Overview Word choice Vocal delivery Physical delivery Personal style Key takeawaysVocal Delivery: PaceVocal Delivery: Pace Use your voice to support the presenter audience dialogue. Make it easy for the audience to hear and understand your presentation by using appropriate pace, pitch, and volume to communicate the relative importance of elements in your presentation.Vary pace (rate of speech) to sustain audience interest and to indicate your point of view in general, slow down for more important, complex, or controversial points speed up for supporting details Tell a story - choose a conversational rate of delivery Use pauses to set ideas apart to allow audience time to respond to your insights and formulate questions to indicate transitions to new elements Avoid extremes “motormouth”: speaking so fast the audience can’t absorb information disinvites audience to participate in the dialogue leaves audience breathless at best, disengaged at worst “drawling pedant”: speaking so slowly that audience begins to fidget encourages audience’s collective mind to wander promotes fantasizing about cattle prods Vocal Delivery: PitchVocal Delivery: Pitch Use your voice to support the presenter audience dialogue. Make it easy for the audience to hear and understand your presentation by using appropriate pitch to communicate the relative importance of elements in your presentation.Explore varieties of inflection within your “normative pitch band” avoid extremes of high or low pitches that strain your voice Avoid speaking in a monotone monotony precedes hypnosis you can’t sustain dialogue with a comatose partner Avoid sing-song patterns comes across as talking down to your audience promotes instant eye-glazing Delete “upspeak” from your vocal repertoire (see next page for explanation) “Upspeak”“Upspeak” Avoid “upspeak,” which imposes a yes-no question inflection (pitch rising on last words) on a declarative sentence.Erodes speaker credibility by making you sound tentative Particularly deadening when repeated sentence (?) after sentence (?) after sentence (?) Lends an unsophisticated “Melrose Place” quality to your presenting, like…y’know?Say out loud, “Are you talking to me?” Now, imposing the same vocal inflection on each of the following sentences, say, “The results are quite promising. You will save $4MM in the first quarter alone. In the first year, you will save over $20MM.” If you did the exercise correctly, your “upspeak” would most likely convey the notion that you are not at all confident about the results and it sounds quite annoying, doesn’t it?Exercise:Vocal Delivery: VolumeVocal Delivery: Volume Use volume as an interpretive tool to emphasize key words and ideas in general, loudness indicates an important idea and conveys certainty “Changing the price structure at this time is your greatest opportunity.” however, softness may also indicate importance “Unless you turn around revenues, what up until now has been your greatest asset [louder] will soon become your chief (pause) liability [softer].” Use change in volume to indicate transitions Don’t let sentences trail off in volume communicates lack of interest in completing your own thought leaves audiences free to finish your sentences for you - a risky enterprise Choose volume limits appropriate to the room, audience size, and situation for most business presentations, shouting and whispering stretch the bounds of standard presentation volumeUse your voice to support the presenter audience dialogue. Make it easy for the audience to hear and understand your presentation by appropriately varying volume to communicate the relative importance of elements in your presentation.Vocal Delivery: ToneVocal Delivery: Tone Audiences react negatively to poor tone voices that are dry, raspy, or harsh grind on the audience’s ears (and nerves) on the other hand, audiences may also react negatively to voices that are so “pear-shaped,” resonant, and polished, they call attention to themselves and sound unnatural “Regional” accents may also impede the presenter audience dialogue some accents not native to the audience’s region may be liabilities in the US, some audiences regard broad accents (e.g., Hahvahd) as affectations Misunderstanding and abuse of the vocal mechanism cause bad tone insufficient breath control nervousness aggravates shallow breathing and leads to gasping, panting, and short, choppy phrasing replace shallow upper-chest breathing with lower-ribbed abdominal breathing tension in the mouth, throat, or jaw isolate areas of tension and relax them to release the voice freely and naturally fatigue a history of smoking and excessive alcohol consumptionDevelop a pleasant tone, or overall vocal quality, to promote audience attention and engagement.Vocal Delivery: “Tics”Vocal Delivery: “Tics” Avoid vocal “tics”, which, like their neuromuscular counterparts, are involuntary, repetitive, and annoying.Vocal TicComments“You know…you know”Well, if we know so much, why are you telling us?“ah…uh…um”Creates the impression that you are nervous, unprepared, and unconvinced by your own argument.“okay…okay”A filler word, “okay” comes off as self-directed pep talk.“et cetera…et cetera” “ek cetera” [sic]Should be banned from presentations. Naming the category, followed by examples (“such as x and y”), conveys greater precision. If you must say “et cetera” (“and the rest”), get it right. “Ek cetera” is meaningless.“As you can see...”Why not just show us, without the annoying introduction?“Actually...actually” “Basically…basically”Actually, these are basically filler words and actually add no value. Really.“and…and…a-a-a-nd”Sentences strung together by “and” should each stand alone with a definite beginning and ending (pause).AgendaAgenda Presenter audience dialogue: Overview Word choice Vocal delivery Physical delivery Personal style Key takeawaysPhysical Delivery: Eye ContactPhysical Delivery: Eye Contact Communicate your “self” as competent, sympathetic, and candid through eye contact Use eye contact to convey your sense of being present to and for each audience member sustain real eye contact engage one person, one phrase or idea at a time (roughly for 3-5 seconds) longer eye contact (>5 seconds) makes the receiver uncomfortable eye contact for less than 2 seconds makes you appear fidgety and “shifty-eyed” maintain an unwavering listener focus the screen, table, slides, walls, and ceiling make poor dialogue partners never begin to speak without first engaging eye contact monitor audience reaction Vary focus from one person to another, but don’t fall into predictable side-to-side sweep or circular patternsUse disciplined eye contact to help your audience engage in the dialogue set up by the presentation structure.Physical Delivery: GesturePhysical Delivery: Gesture Use gestures to emphasize key words, and to indicate shape, trajectory, number, and size Eliminate gestures that are distracting, repetitive, or predictable gesture intentionally, not involuntarily cultivate an appearance, at least, of spontaneity avoid stabbing every accented syllable of each word be expressive without getting out-of-control if you begin to look like a talking mime, you’re probably overgesturing don’t punch the screen or use hit-and-run gestures you don’t want to leave the audience hunting for the object of your attention to be more effective, indicate, linger, release When pointing to an element on the screen, zero in with precision Find a “home” position that is relaxing and natural for you when you are not gesturing for a reason, use “home” as a neutral position remain poised to communicate with your next gesture Use economic gestures, to help your audience engage in the dialogue set up by the presentation structure.Physical Delivery: Gestures to AvoidPhysical Delivery: Gestures to Avoid “What me? Worry about presenting?”“at ease”“Toscanini”“Freudian Clutch”“Penguin”“Papal Special”“I’m a little teapot”“the Diva”Physical Delivery: Gestures to Avoid (1 of 2)Physical Delivery: Gestures to Avoid (1 of 2) Avoid idiosyncratic gestures which ignore the hands as a valuable resource for communicating and reinforcing the presenter audience dialogue.Gestures to avoidComments“Freudian Clutch”Primarily resorted to by men, the “clutch” consists of hands planted firmly over the groin - “Hockey, anyone?” In general, use above-the-waist gestures Never, ever use the “Freudian Clutch” as your home position “At ease”The opposite of the “clutch,” hands rest firmly behind the back - conjures up military images Without resting “at ease,” convey a sense of ease through eye contact and confidence Never, ever use “at ease” as your home position“The Diva”Hands clasped at navel - “For my next aria…” Reads as a profoundly undynamic, tense, defensive gesture - don’t use as home position Replace with more open, asymmetrical gesturesPhysical Delivery: Gestures to Avoid (2 of 2)Physical Delivery: Gestures to Avoid (2 of 2) Avoid idiosyncratic gestures which ignore the hands as a valuable resource for communicating and reinforcing the presenter audience dialogue.Gestures to avoidComments“Papal Special”Hands pressed together at chest - fingers and thumbs pointed upward - prior to other mirrored gestures Great in the pulpit, but the board room?“I’m a little teapot”Hands planted firmly on both hips - may degenerate into side-to-side aerobics Can be read as affected, combative, or cocky“Penguin”Arms held stiffly at side, hands flapping nervously “Toscanini”Hands fly, swoop, and swirl with seeming abandon - the opposite of the “Penguin” Cultivate economy of gesture“What, me? Worry about presenting?”Hands in pockets to affect a studiously casual look - may degenerate into jangling keys and changePhysical Delivery: MovementPhysical Delivery: Movement Stand up straight without stiff formality Distribute weight evenly on both feet avoid shifting weight from one foot to the other don’t cock your hip, rock back-and-forth, or sway from side-to-side When presenting slides, integrate your body with slide screen image don’t force the audience to split its attention between you and the screen point to slide elements on screen with gestures that are precise and sustained move deliberately with a specific objective and destination in mind, e.g., overhead projector screen write on your slides to highlight a particular point, but usually don’t exceed four annotations per slide For most conference and board room presentations, move within a triangular “performance area” roughly defined by the screen, the overhead projector, and a point approximately 3-6 feet to your right of the projector Move toward persons asking questions - without intimidating them Use body placement and movement to help your audience engage in the dialogue set up by the presentation structure.Physical Delivery: Movement DebatesPhysical Delivery: Movement Debates Bain has not yet reached consensus on some of the finer points of body position and movement while presenting. Below are highly personal glosses on three of the issues:IssuesCommentsPosition: Present from right or left of the projector?Although awkwar