There are many books on presentation skills focusing mainly on the style. Bill Lane, Jack Welch's speechwriter, focused mainly on the substance in his book Jacked Up. He elucidates the importance of presentations in internal communications (whereas, most of the other books are directed towards external communication) of any company. He describes in detail how Jack Welch used this effective tool in changing the internal language of the behemoth GE. Some of the valuable tips apart from the usual ones of being short, prepare thoroughly, do not be a figurehead, tape your presentation - rehearse, should not be boring, use effective anecdotes, are -
not to convey the impression that you are speaking to an unimportant audience,
appearing nervous is fine as it conveys that you care,
never make somebody else's presentation,
you are being judged every moment by everyone in the room,
season a success story with where you came up short,
first draft of presentation must be yours,
when you blow your success devote only a minute and rest nine minutes in explaining why that success occurred,
and the best of all is - TOTAL CANDOR 'stop bullshitting or get off the stage'.
I personally loved the last one as now days many presentations are only about blowing own horns and rampant misrepresentation of the facts in the guise of clever talking - 'candor' is usually thrown out of the window. This behavior, if not checked or simply ignored by the decision makers in the room, has the potential of long-term destructive effects in any company.
At some point Jack Welch filtered the big meetings presentation to following five charts, which are quite useful for any big presentation -
1. Description of your world markets;
2. Moves by competitors over the past three years;
3. Your moves over the past three years;
4. Competitors' moves over the coming two years; and
5. Your plan to counter or leapfrog them over the coming two years.
