One of the most common excuses that executives use before they deliver presentations is that they are not prepared: The board of directors are filling up the meeting room before the annual strategy review session. The financial director comes up and says he doesn’t think he is prepared for the presentation. What impact does this have on his credibility? Business presenters often spend hours preparing PowerPoint slides only to deliver a low-energy dull presentation in front of the people who will be deciding their promotion prospects later in the day. Executives can learn from the theater world. Over the next few blogs we have five steps to guarantee a winning presentation.
Step 1: Script read through
At the start of rehearsals, actors read through their scripts, first alone, and then with the other actors. Script mastery is just the first step in their performance preparation. Most business presenters struggle to get to this step, often unable to have a coherent presentation on the day of delivery. The presentation must have a clear overall message, and the content clearly separated into distinctly different ideas. An opening that sets the context and engages the audiences by addressing their most pressing concerns. A body that divides the content into separate sections or to use a theater word “scenes”. A closing that brings all the content together into a clear outcome, reinforces the overall message and moves the audiences into the next part of the meeting, often the question and answer session. An important tip to remember is that at this stage the script or outline does not need to be perfect. There is still opportunity to modify during the next steps.
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Warwick John Fahy is the international executive speech coach for senior executives, business leaders and entrepreneurs who need to influence clients, investors, shareholders and team members. His highly practical approach and deep cross cultural intelligence have made him a sought-after business presentation coach throughout the world.
Warwick is the author of the acclaimed book, The One Minute Presenter - 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world. For free executive speaking tips visit http://www.oneminutepresenter.com/blog
For a media interview call +86 1391 786 7502.
Copyright 2010 Warwick John Fahy All rights reserved.
