Presentation Show and Tell: Presentation Skills for Senior Executives

The "show" in 'show and tell' presentations, is slowly making a comeback in corporate America. It's a development that is long overdue. Long, dense, dry text projected on conference room screens around the country has too long passed for the "show" criteria of executive presentations.  The more text and the fewer the graphics in presentations it seemed, the more the presenter was congratulated for having prepared well.

To the long-suffering audience who had to endure these presentations, there was little reward in the effort, except getting to the end of them, where it was hoped, a few signs of life might still be found in the unscripted question and answer session.   

So why are we coaches beginning to see some signs of progress? Why is it increasingly acceptable to deliver shorter presentations with more graphics and less text? Why is it now becoming acceptable to present ideas using a few simple visuals or props, or even, on their own merit with no slides at all?

Call it the rise of presentation personality or simply the maturation of that long-derided but necessary business tool: PowerPoint. Maybe it simply has to do with the groans emanating forth from every executive suite when word filters out of another request to put together, or to sit through, one of these dated presentations.

Whatever the cause, there is increasing recognition of another, more successful communication method available to executives; one best illustrated by the energy-infused performance style presentations of dynamos like Apple's Steve Jobs.

These new wave of presentation skills share some common attributes:

1) The audience takes center stage.

Good presenters ask themselves what their audience needs and wants from each presentation. Great presenters center their presentations on those needs and wants and make the audience integral to the presentation. Start with what you know about the audience's perceptions and assumptions of the issues you're presenting. What will it take for them to invest in something new?

2.) No passion, no presentation. 

Every presentation is an opportunity for the presenter to share a passion. If yours are about something else, a mere transfer of data for instance, find another way to get it to the people who need it (like hitting the send button). This is the difference between in person presentations and other ways of sharing ideas. If people are going to invest their time and energy to come and listen to you, you won't be successful if you merely "tell". You must show them your ideas through the passion with which you present them.      

3.) Get visual.

Written text projected on a screen is not a "visual". If you use slides, find a way of representing your ideas that have real and instant impact. Never use text to "say" what a visual can "show".  

4.) Presentation is performance.  

Don't present what you haven't practiced or don't believe in. This isn't acting. To present well, be wholly engaged in your material and ideas before trying to communicate these well to an audience. Take your preparation seriously. And for heaven's sake, come out from behind that lectern.

5.) Show leadership.

Your reputation for leadership is enhanced or reduced with every presentation. Seek to hit a home run then, every time you're "on stage", no matter your perception of what's at stake. It may seem unfair, but the leadership skills you display during your presentation are the ones that will be used to judge the whole of your work. Even if you don't yet have a leadership title, your moment in front of people is pivotal in determining if and when you'll be given one. Think about what leadership looks and sounds like to you-and infuse your presentations with nothing less.