The Presentation Coach

Female interviewer: Being asked to give a presentation can strike fear into the hearts of even the most confident manager or leader.

In this entertaining and informative interview, we asked presentation coach, Graham Davies, for his advice on the subject.

As author of The Presentation Coach and a keynote speaker himself, Graham offers plenty of practical pointers on how to develop and deliver great presentations, ways to overcome presentation nerves and how to cope with tricky question and answer sessions.

I began by asking Graham how and why he had become a presentation coach.

Graham Davies: Well, I have been a professional speaker ever since I left university. I studied law at Cambridge and as I was training to be a barrister I started doing professional after dinner speaking which I carried on during my ten years that I practised full time as a barrister. But also on an ad hoc basis I started coaching some of the executives for whom I was doing speeches in the evening, and I realised that there was quite a gap in the marketplace for someone who had a specific methodology for coaching, something that made their lives just that little bit easier rather than just giving them off the cuff coaching. And so that’s how I decided that I was going to become a presentation coach and I founded the consultancy, Straight Talking, in 1995, essentially to make sure that my methodology was easier and more accessible to more people in the corporate world.

Female interviewer: Could you tell us a bit more about what your methodology involves, in other words, what are the hallmarks of a good presentation?

Graham Davies: Well, the hallmark of any good presentation, whether you use my methodology or anyone else’s or don’t use a methodology at all and just somehow just get up and do it, is this – you must have calculated what results you need to get from a particular audience and then calculated the words that you need to say in order to get that result and also have practised the delivery of those words.

Whatever methodology you use, those three ingredients must be part of it.

Female interviewer: And in terms of structuring and having the relevant style and content, how do you get started?

Graham Davies: Well, of course, the jumping off point or a start point is probably the thing that people fear most. You see, you read all these clichéd statements that people fear public speaking more than any other human activity. I would subtly disagree with that. I actually think they hate or fear preparing to speak more than anything else, that blank computer screen, that white piece of paper in front of them. They don’t really know how to start off and what I do is I give them a methodology which I call the bare knuckle pipeline, which shows them how to get from their first contact with the concept of possibly speaking at an event, in front of a particular audience, right through to what they should do after they finish answering questions after they have done that presentation. So I give them a pipeline which they should force themselves through in order to prepare and deliver the finished product.

Female interviewer: What steps would be involved in that pipeline?

Graham Davies: Well, the first thing you would have to do is essentially look at the audience and come to a decision as to what results you want to achieve. And that’s what I call the finishing position. It is what you want to know…the audience to know, think or feel by the time you have finished speaking.

Secondly, you have to create a micro statement which encourages them to travel on a journey to that particular finishing position, but I will come back to that perhaps if I may.

Thirdly, after you have created a micro statement, you brainstorm around it and find out what potential key elements could support that micro statement and then after you… that’s element number three.

After you have created those key elements, you have to decide how to start the presentation, which is element number four, and fifthly you have to decide how to finish the presentation. And that of course is something that means that your last words are ringing in their heads more than anything else.

Female interviewer: Okay. And so when you are applying this methodology yourself, if you are having to make a presentation, what sort of chosen techniques would you use that you could share with us?

Graham Davies: Well, you see, the thing is, I mentioned to you the five step process. Well to me, the crucial step in the process is creating the micro statement and I will give you a definition of what I call a micro statement. A micro statement is a sequence of words which quickly and compellingly captures the essence of your company, your product or your idea in a way which is specifically tailored to

the needs of that audience at that particular time. It’s what you would say if you only had 15 seconds in which to say it. It’s your hard core legacy which you want to leave behind with that audience above all else. And if you can start your thinking process about your presentation by creating that 10 to 15 second encapsulated micro statement, you are 70% towards creating a really good presentation. And that is a key piece of methodology that I always give to all of my clients.

Female interviewer: Could you give me an example of a good micro statement?

Graham Davies: Well, I have deliberately, Catriona, given you two examples to give you an idea of how different micro statements are needed for different situations which may seem very similar but in fact aren’t.

Let’s say I am a golf club salesman working for, say, Callaway Golf Clubs, and I have got two different audiences to extol the virtues of a particular range of golf clubs to them. Now the first audience is an audience of golf shop owners who are there in the room for entirely commercial reasons. The second audience a few days later at an entirely different occasion may be actual golfers, people who are actually using the kit out on the golf course.

My micro statement for the golf shop owners might be, the Big Bertha range of clubs is the right range of clubs for you because their high public profile makes them extremely easy to sell and make a profit from.

But my micro statement to an audience of golfers, people who are actually using the stuff, might be, the Big Bertha range of clubs is the right range of clubs for you because they allow you to hit the ball the longest possible distance in the straightest line at a most competitive price.

So subtly different audiences, quite different micro statements, but essentially I am aiming for a similar finishing position for both audiences, that is, I want both of them to buy Big Bertha golf clubs but it has to be different micro statements to get them there.

Female interviewer: You talk in your book The Presentation Coach about macro statements. Can you explain to our listeners what this is?

Graham Davies: Well, a macro statement, the definition is exactly the same. It’s a sequence of words which quickly captures the essence of something. But a macro statement is something that is not useful in your presentation and it is not something that you should be thinking about. A macro statement is a more general, unpersonalised message that you see perhaps in advertising campaigns like, ‘At CNN we give you real news, real fast’, or

‘Federal Express delivers to the world on time’. Those are both statements, those macro statements or messages, are designed for the whole world to see and that’s their weakness. If you have the attitude of having a micro statement, which is much more bespoke, the audience will feel that you have tailored something specifically for them and their particular needs and I believe that is vital for a good, effective, compelling presentation.

Female interviewer: Okay. If we could just move on and if I could ask about your experiences as a presentation coach, which aspects of presentation skills would you say you are asked to help people with most?

Graham Davies: Well, usually I am asked to come in as a presentation doctor almost on a casualty basis to try and deal with an emergency presentation situation because someone has a big presentation that they have got to do within… sometimes within two days or possibly even the next day, and they don’t know where to start or they have some idea of what they are going to say, but they really know that it’s not the finished product. I have the knack of being able to look at both content and delivery in a way that is both effective in the short-term but hopefully gives them some long-term techniques that they can use after the crisis is over.

Female interviewer: And what sort of techniques would you employ in these types of situations?

Graham Davies: Well, when I am brought in on an emergency basis, I get them to show me what they have got already. And essentially, usually at that juncture, all they can show me is some slides, mainly with a lot of bullet points on them. And of course that is not a presentation.

It is merely the visual aids which are supporting the presentation. They think that just because they have got some slides with lots of bullet points on that they have prepared a presentation. And they haven’t. They have merely prepared some notes which they are going to show the audience. I force them to put those slides aside and, with me, to create some actual words that they are going to say and then they can consider whether there are visual aids that can support what those words are going to be to the audience. I actually force them to deal with things in an upside down way to the way that they normally would.

Female interviewer: Not everyone has access to a presentation coach in these types of situations so what advice would you give to people who think their presentation is in a poor state?

Graham Davies: What I would say more than anything else is this, consider more than anything else what you are going to say to that audience not what you are going to show to that audience. What they hear from you is what they will remember, not what they see. So think more about the spoken word than you do about any of your slides.

Female interviewer: And do you think it is a good idea to enlist some outside help?

Graham Davies: I certainly would do but of course you have to choose the outside help very carefully. You have to make sure that you are going to engage somebody who isn’t just going to be a slide producer for you and you have to engage somebody who is just not going to be like some drama coach that is going to give you breathing techniques on how to produce your voice under pressure. I suggest to you that any coach you bring in has to be someone who has a holistic approach, someone who can actually look at the whole situation to give you a result rather than just one aspect of it.

Female interviewer: What’s the best way to approach a presentation or speech where you need to deliver bad news?

Graham Davies: Well, I have never come across anybody who has walked out of any audience for any presentation, even when it is bad news, and I have never heard them say, ‘Do you know, that was a reasonable presentation in the circumstances, but I wish he had not got to the point so quickly, I wish he had faffed around and dressed it up nicely with lots of pleasantries.’ Most people, even with the worst possible news, deserve to be given the respect of it being given to them quickly, cogently and effectively. I believe that presentations that deliver bad news have to be done bluntly, have to be done quickly, but have to be done courteously. And to me courtesy involves not wasting people’s time and not trying to dress it up.

Female interviewer: Following on from that, how do you deal with challenging questions? I think this is something that people really dread. They have gone through the presentation process and then they have got to answer questions which could be quite tricky, putting them on the spot. What advice could you offer?

Graham Davies: Well, it is interesting, some people manage to find a methodology for both creating and delivering presentations and getting to that methodology and using it very effectively, but they forget that really they should have some form of methodology for answering questions as well rather than just dealing with them on an ad hoc basis.

First of all, even if a question is challenging, you should always have the attitude that rather than that person that is asking you the challenging question having some sort of point to make against you or is attacking you in some way, you always have to have the attitude that they are merely challenging to get specific information. So first of all, you don’t take it personally as if it were an attack.

Secondly, no matter how challenging the question is, whether it is friendly, whether it is moderately challenging or whether it is very challenging, I suggest this formula. Face, illustrate, round off.

Face means face up to the question straightaway and bluntly give the answer in one sentence.

Illustrate means, give the evidence that supports the statement you have made in that one sentence. That evidence may be some statistics, it may be some facts, it may be a story, it may be an anecdote, maybe even something that you want to show that particular audience member. But the illustration phase is essentially the evidence for the statement that you have made probably straightaway.

And round off means, round off the whole thing so that you are actually making sure that the answer to the question is nicely packaged and it looks like it has a beginning and an end. So rounding off statements should be an echo of the face sub- statement that you made right at the start of the answer.

Female interviewer: What advice would you give people about coping with pre- presentation nerves?

Graham Davies: The best way of getting over pre-presentation nerves is to prepare really well and to be proud of your preparation. There is an awful lot to be nervous of. If you are presenting to an audience and you haven’t presented something that really caters to that audience’s needs as well as catering for your own needs, you really should be nervous because they should be very angry with you indeed because you are wasting their time. But if you have done the right preparation, you should be on to a positive, mental position straightaway. That’s the long-term source of getting rid of nerves.

The short-term way of getting rid of nerves is this. It is to focus entirely on the first two or three sentences of your presentation and say these one minute before the speech, ten minutes before the speech or even half an hour before the speech. Make sure you are merely focused on rehearsing in your own mind those first few words in the same way as say a sprinter before the start of a 100 metre sprint, is focusing on the first few steps, his technique for the first few steps as soon as he is running out of the blocks. Your blocks that you are running out of are the very first words that come out of your mouth and they are an excellent area of focus and if you are just focused on them, frankly you haven’t got the mental energy to have any nerves as well.

Female interviewer: My next question is, PowerPoint: a force for good or a force for evil?

Graham Davies: PowerPoint isn’t a piece of software for most people, it’s a drug, a drug that they become reliant on and PowerPoint Prozac has the effect of dulling the audience’s sensibility whilst providing a moderate degree of addictive comfort to the presenter.

Essentially PowerPoint should be used sparingly. Something that illustrates something striking. Something which can represent something visually that you can’t possibly say in words, like a striking picture, a diagram which represents the product. It should not be death by bullet points. No one has ever walked out of a presentation and said, ‘What a good presentation I have just watched. I wish he had used more PowerPoint with more bullet points and more words with each bullet point.’ Very, very few people find PowerPoint a force for good and I think I will always find it a force for evil.

Female interviewer: Is there anyone who stands out for you as a truly exceptional presenter or speechmaker?

Graham Davies: The best speaker I have ever seen in the world is a chap called Anthony Robbins, an American author and motivational speaker. He has got a huge smile which… a smile like a laser beam, and so when he smiles… my word does he smile, it lights up the room. I once saw him a few years ago speaking at the Wembley Conference Centre with two 45 minutes breaks, he essentially spoke from 8.30 in the morning until 6.30 at night and he was just as compelling at 6.29 as he was at 8.31. And the real key to his success was that yes, he prepared his material brilliantly, which was the distillation of three bestselling books. Secondly, he had great delivery skills which he had fully honed by months and months of rehearsal. But thirdly, overall, he managed to convey a level of sheer intense enjoyment that was infectious to the four thousand people in that audience. So essentially he made a very long public speech seem more like rock and roll.

Female interviewer: Which have been the most memorable for all the wrong reasons?

Graham Davies: Okay, I will give you two and they come from politics more than anything else. First of all I saw Bill Clinton doing the speech many years ago which…well the speech was considered to be a great honour in the democratic convention at the time, the speech where the person who was doing the speeches, introducing the person who has been elected as the presidential candidate, and Clinton was to do the introductory speech.

Clinton’s speech was so long and rambling that people in the audience actually started taking out their napkins from lunch and waving them above their heads as white flags of surrender, begging Clinton to sit down and stop speaking, but he carried on and on and on. He spoke for so long and so boringly that it nearly eliminated him from public life forever, but fortunately for him, he managed to rehabilitate himself and he made sure that he never did a speech that was longer thirty minutes again ever in his life. And so that was a good learning experience.

Secondly, in British politics, when I saw Iain Duncan Smith speaking to the Conservative Party Conference, his speech was so bad, so appallingly constructed and delivered in an even worse way that his sheer lack of competence was a source of inspiration for me.

Female interviewer: Are you aware of any new developments in technology that will change the way that people present in the future?

Graham Davies: Well, people are very excited about iPads and there are various bits of software that are coming out that make slides just that little bit better, a little bit more animated or video more easy to access on screen, and that’s fine. I’m not a complete dinosaur when it comes to technology. But I think that the more technology is used and the better it gets, the more important the use of the human mouth, the human voice and human to human contact becomes, because you have to make sure that…even more so, that your micro statements are more and more precise, that the words you choose to support them are more and more carefully selected because if you don’t watch it, as technology becomes more and more prevalent and more and more professional, the human voice can get lost. And so, as technology becomes better, there is much more of a need for human to human presentation to become that much more professional.

Female interviewer: If I could just finish up by asking, if you were to give our listeners three golden rules for professional presenting, what would these be?

Graham Davies: Whether you are speaking to one person or to a thousand people, whether you have got a minute to speak or whether you are speaking for an hour, here are the rules:

• say it

• support it

• and shut it

Female interviewer: Thank you very much for giving us an insight into the makings of a good presentation and the challenges and the pitfalls to avoid.

That will be really helpful for our listeners.