This year I have done our presentation seminar with a large number of people from many different companies. Some were large international companies, others were smaller domestic companies. On each occasion the students attending were a mixture of people from various departments ranging from the sales department to the human resources department.

However, one thing that has surprised me is that none of the students attending were senior managers. Almost all of them were junior members of their departments who, when questioned, did little or no presenting in their companies.

I find myself having to ask the question: why?

Why is it that the very people who have to do important presentations in English are the very people who do not attend presentation training seminars, courses or workshops? Do they think they are too good to attend? or is it that they feel they are too busy?

In my mind this is a crazy situation. Everyone knows that that the state of presentations today is terrible. In some places it is getting better and in some cases there is an understanding that presentation communication needs to improve, but the perception of the humble presentation is still that they are largely boring, useless and pointless.

My guess, and this is only a guess, is that these managers are too proud to admit they need further training. And it is here where the problem arises.

Most presentations I see done by university students are fantastic. The design, the message and the stories are there. It most cases the final presentation is a little rough around the edges, but on the whole their presentations are good, creative and have a clear, simple message. On the other hand most presentations I see done by senior executives have difficult to read slides, are full of boring text and are a complete mess when it comes to a message. The end product looks like something created in the 1990s., with no clear point and at the end a very confused audience.

Business communication did not stop evolving in the 1990s. The evolution of Business communication exploded in the 2000s. Audiences now demand simple, clear messages that are delivered in twenty minutes and the details are handed to them in a clear, convenient handout. Audiences no longer have time to sit in a meeting room listening to an old style executive spew word and boring word in a dull, unimaginative way for hours upon end. Audiences want to the point messages with great illustrations and simple easily digested facts and figures.

Until these senior executives get it and begin to understand that it is they that need to be taught how to present in the twenty-first century, presentations are going to continue with the same boring image. All I ask is that if you are a senior executive, please lose the pride and get some help. It will not only help you develop, but it will help restore the image of the presentation into something it should be. A great way to communicate a message.

I have sat through so many company introductions and been bored almost to death by one hour presentations telling me about stuff I, and the the other audience members are really not interested in. As mentioned in my previous post on company introductions – a company introduction should only last around ten to fifteen minutes. Anything longer means you are putting in far too much information.

Below is a list of things to include and a list of things to take out immediately if they are in your company introduction.

1. Information about how your company was founded and by who
2. Any interesting stories about your founder (if you don’t know any – ask and find them!)
3. what were the first products or services your company sold
4. How your company got to where it is today
5. What you are doing today, how big you are (not factory size or the square meterage of your company’s offices – but how many employees you have and how many units you sell etc)
6. What are your company’s future plans.

That’s it. You do not need anything else.

What you should not put into your introduction:

1. Your company’s management structure – it means nothing to us!
2. All the different departments your company has – we do not care!
3. All the different products or services your company produces and sells – it’s too much information.
4. Line upon line of text – it really is very boring and you will read it making it even more boring!
5. Copied and pasted pictures of your Chairman opening a new factory. Seriously, it looks awful!

Recently, I have been working with a large industrial group that has many different departments working on different parts of their overall business strategy.

In an effort to present their company’s future strategies and goals, they have developed a 20 slide, sixty minute presentation that brings together all the different work that department does and how each department works together to achieve their future plans.

Unfortunately, the presentation does not work. Why?

Firstly, the writer of the presentation went round each department individually and asked them to prepare slides and a script for the part they each have in the overall strategy. This immediately caused a dysfunctional and disjointed set of slides that had no natural flow or logic. While the writer of the presentation did his or her best to bring each part together in a logical fashion, it failed because there was not a team of people working together to get the presentation right or logical, there was just one person who did not understand any of the work that each department did.

If you are preparing a presentation that focuses on the overall strategies or direction your company is going and there are a number of different departments involved, then the presentation needs to be built with a team of people, ideally one person from each department meeting together to put the presentation together. This way, each department representative can ensure that each point made in the presentation fits logically and seamlessly in the ‘big picture’, and where one person in the team does not understand something, it can be explained properly so that what goes in to the presentation is clear and easy to understand.

Another problem that has occurred, is that the script and the slides are not compatible. What is written on the slide, is not what is being spoken by the presenter. This causes great confusion with the audience.

Finally, the person responsible for the translation of the presentation into English was never involved in the original build of the presentation. This means that the English translation is even further away from the original presentation ‘script’. This essentially renders the whole presentation in English useless.

As a result of this lack of ‘togetherness’ the whole presentation fails. It is full of technical mumbo jumbo, that not even a senior professor at a top university understands and there is no point to the presentation.

To avoid this, it is essential that a team of people are given the responsibility to build the presentation. A representative from each department should be on the team, and if the presentation is to be translated into English, then the translator needs to be in the team. This way, any difficult technical language can be tested by different people to ensure understanding and a clear and consistent message.

Remember, a presentation is not something you build to impress your boss. A presentation is something you build to communicate a message. It is therefore important to make sure that your message is the most important goal, and not the number of slides or the how technical your slides are.

프레젠테이션에 있어서 여러분이 너무 긴장하고 두려워하게되면, 오프닝 부분이 전체 진행 과정 중 가장 어렵게 느껴질 때가 종종 있습니다.

프레젠테이션을 시작하는데는 다양한 방법들이 있습니다; 스티브 잡스처럼 “Good morning. Thank you for coming today”라는 말로 시작할 수도 있고, 다른 이로부터 자신을 소개받아 시작하는 것이라면, “ Thank you Mr/Ms XXX (소개 해준 이). Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen” 과 같이 좀 더 격식을 차려 이야기 할 수 있습니다.

어떤 방법으로 프레젠테이션 시작을 열어가시든, 강렬하고 자신감있게 시작하시는 것이 중요합니다.

무엇보다도 오프닝 부분을 사전에 충분히 연습하시는 것이 가장 중요합니다. 아래의 표들은 여러분들이 오프닝 때 사용하실 수 있는 예문들입니다. 어떤 것을 선택하여 사용하시든, 가장 중요한 것은 긴장 되지 않고 편안해 보이면서 여유롭게 프레젠테이션을 시작하는 것입니다.

이 간단한 오프닝들을 마음껏 사용해 보시고, 여러분께서 편하게 느끼시는 구문을 골라 오늘 바로 연습해 보시기 바랍니다.

Beginning your presentation is often the most difficult part of presenting, because you are full of nerves and feelings of fear.

There are many ways to begin; you could begin with a simple “Good morning. Thank you for coming today” the Steve Jobs’ approach. Or, if you have been introduced, you could begin with something a little more elaborate “Thank you Mr Chairman. Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen”.

But whichever way you begin, starting strong and starting confidently is important.

A well rehearsed beginning is the key, and below is a list of ways you could begin your presentation. Whichever way you decide to use, the important thing to do is to feel comfortable and relaxed with the words:

Use can use these simple openings as often as you like. Choose one that you feel comfortable with and then give it a go.

One of the best ways to get audiences to feel they are taking part in your presentation is to ask rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is a question you ask, but expect no answer to. In effect you answer your own question.

For example:

“English language education is important in today’s world, but we have a problem don’t we?”

Here we see a statement, followed by a question. The question is not expected to be answered by the audience, instead the presenter answers his or her own question. Your presentation continues like this:

“English language education is important in today’s world, but we have a problem don’t we? We have a problem because ….”

When we use rhetorical questions in our presentation, it makes your audience feel they are participating, and unconsciously it brings you closer to your audience. It is a win win situation.

So, try using a few rhetorical questions in your next presentation and see the difference in your audience’s reactions.

When you learn English as a second language, you are usually taught the present tense as below:

With “will”, “be going to” and in the continuous form using “ing”

I will go shopping this weekend

I am going to the movies this weekend

They are arriving from Italy at 4pm

Most students of English as a second language do not have the opportunity to take this to another level. So here is a simplified version of advanced future tense:

I am planning to go to the movies this weekend

We expect to visit France on our vacation.

We are anticipating sales to increase 100% this year

In the future we will expand our business in to Australia

While some of the above expressions are a variation of the original future tense words, the keywords “anticipating” and “in the future” are good examples of how we can use other words instead of the usual words such as “will” and “going to” .

In presentations, these words are excellent because they are clear and gives you, the presenter, some variation in the choice of words you use. Variation in vocabulary is good because it prevents repetition, and repetition of words often leads to your presentation sounding boring and uninspiring.

지난 26일, 뉴욕 타임스에서 다룬, 스탠리 맥크리스털 (아프간 주둔 나토군 및 미군 사령관)이 아프간 상황을 보고받을 때 사용된 파워포인트 슬라이드가 요며칠 세간을 떠들석 하게 만들고 있습니다.

그의 보자관에 따르면, 맥 크리스털 사령관이 위의 슬라이드를 보면서 이렇게 말했다고 합니다.“우리가 저 내용을 전부 이해하면 아프간에서 승리하겠군!”

(여러분들이 봐도 도통 무슨내용인지 모르시겠죠? 저 슬라이드를 과연 누가 이해할 수 있을까요? 이 슬라이드가 뉴욕타임스에서 공개된지 3일이 지난 지금까지 어느 누구도 이 슬라이드를 해석하지 못했다는 슬픈 이야기가 전해지네요. 슬라이드를 만든 사람은 이해하고 있으려나…ㅎㅎ)

여러분들도 보시다시피, 이 슬라이드는 정말 문제가 많아보입니다 (슬라이드를 보신 모든 분들이 다 그렇게 느끼실 거라 믿습니다. ㅎㅎ). 그래서 오늘의 포스트에서는 이 슬라이드가 보여주는 일반적인 문제점들을 다뤄보고자 합니다

파워 포인트와 키노트는 프레젠테이션의 효과를 향상시키기 위해 사용할 수 있는 일종의 툴입니다. 또 이런 툴을 사용하다보면, 메세지를 말로만 전달 했을 때 보다 한층 더 친근감 있고 강력하게 자신의 메세지를 전달할 수 있습니다. 그러나, 지난 수년간 이런 소프트웨어는 프레젠테이션의 메인 포커스가 되어버렸습니다. 이것이 바로 현재 우리가 당면하고 있는 문제점입니다. 파워포인트와 키노트는 프레젠테이션의 핵심이 되고자 개발된 것이 절대 아닙니다. 이런 소프트웨어는 단지 발표자들을 돕기 위해 개발된 것입니다.

위에서 보신 슬라이드는 현재 큰 뉴스거리가 되고 있지만 이것은 비단 군사전략에서만의 문제는 아닌것 같습니다. 그동안 수백명의 프레젠테이션을 보면서 이와 유사한 문제점들을 너무나 많이 봐왔습니다. 텍스트 크기가 너무 작고 지나치게 상세한 정보들이 한꺼번에 들어있는 슬라이드는, 프레젠테이션 메세지에 혼란을 주어 결국 청중들이 귀를 닫아버리게 되는 것입니다.

2차 세계대전 시 영국 전투 기간에는 파워포인트나 키노트같은 소프트웨어가 없었습니다. 그래서 영국 공군은 대신 전쟁 당시의 지도와 에어크래프트 소형 모델들로 만들어진 테이블을 사용했습니다 (위 그림 참조). 이 테이블은 매우 복잡한 전쟁을 단순화 시켜 주었을 뿐 아니라, 전쟁 사령관이 당시 일어나고 있는 상황들을 간결하고 명확하게 이해할 수 있도록 해 주었습니다. (이 구문으 프레젠테이션의 관한 예제로 사용되는 사항이지, 특정 국가과 전혀 관련이 없다는 점 알아주셨으면 합니다. ^^)

지금이야, 이런 지도와 소형 모델로 만든 테이블을 접하기 어렵지만. 대신 화이트 보드나 플립차트를 사용해 보시는게 어떨까요? 매우 복잡한 상황을 묘사해야 할 때, 플립차트나 화이트 보드를 사용하시면 청중들에게 더 쉽게 설명 하실 수 있습니다. 그러니, 프레젠테이션에 있어서 파워포인트나 키노트는 그저 수많은 툴중의 일부라는 것을 꼭 기억해 주셨으면 합니다. 훌륭한 프레젠테이션의 핵심은 단순함이지 상세함이 아니라는 것도 말이죠.

위 기사에 관한 의견들이 정말 많네요. 더 많은 의견들과 견해를 보고 싶으시다면 아래 링크를 참조하시기 바랍니다.

Nancy Duarte of the Slide:ology blog

Guy Kawasaki on the Holy Kaw blog