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REPRINT COLLECTION

The Manager’s Guide to

Effective
Presentations
1 Introduction
3 Five Winning Ways to Begin a Presentation
9 Presentations and the Ancient Greeks
15 Handling Q & A: The Five Kinds of Listening
19 The Twentieth Century’s Greatest Speech—What
Made It So Powerful?
23 How to Use Good Graphics to Win Your Arguments
29 Presence: How to Get It, How to Use It
35 Coping with Stagefright
41 Getting the Most from Presentation Software
45 The Ten Commandments of Presentations
49 Better Brainstorming
53 Broadway Meets Wall Street: Theatre Training
for Better Business Presentations
59 Public Speaking According to the Experts Product # 7541
 Introduction

The Art of Making Presentations

here’s a classic study from a few years back that asked executives what
T they feared most. First on the list was public speaking—before death (No.7) and
nuclear war (No. 8). Why is this personal form of communication at once so neces-
sary and so terrifying for so many? The quick answer is precisely because it is so
personal. We reveal something of ourselves when we make a presentation, and it is
that fear of exposure that lies behind the prominent place of public speaking on the
list. And yet it is of course necessary, because in order to move people to undertake
actions great and small, leaders must reveal something of themselves, something of
what they have at stake.

This collection of articles from the pages of HMCL offers time-tested tips from the
experts on how to minimize your discomfort and maximize your impact when giving
a presentation. You’ll be able to put these insights and practical suggestions to work
immediately. Whether it is getting the most from presentation software, or beginning
a presentation with sizzle, or using theatrical techniques to bring energy to your talks,
you’ll find a host of useful ideas in these pages.

Good luck with your next presentation.

Nick Morgan
Editor
Harvard Management Communication Letter

Copyright © 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.

1
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Five Winning Ways to Begin

a Presentation

3
 Five Winning Ways to Begin
a Presentation
Want to catch and hold your audience’s attention?
New research shows how.
T H E N U M B E R O F P E O P L E who
can reliably begin a presentation with a
joke that works is very small—and
most of them host their own talk shows.
Why do so many speakers still attempt
the near impossible? Why do they put
themselves under such unnecessary
pressure? The first couple of minutes
in a presentation are nearly always
the worst—why tempt the fates with
an approach virtually guaranteed to
fail?
Try this at home. Watch Jay Leno give
his opening monologue on a typical
night. Count the number of jokes.
Count the number that fall flat—even
with the wildly pumped-up studio audi-
ence. Then ask yourself how many
times you laughed. The ratio will be
something like 20–10–2. The last num-
ber may be slightly higher if it’s Friday
night, and you’re glad you’ve made it
through another week.
The point is that good jokes are hard to
find, harder still to deliver, and quick to
expire. Don’t do it. Don’t tell opening
jokes. Just say no to “one-liner” humor
at the beginning of a presentation.
There is a better way. There is even
some emerging research from the fields
of neuroscience and cognition indicat-
ing that the better way may be grounded
in our brain structure.
Let’s begin by rephrasing the question
that gets speakers into trouble in the
first place. Too many speakers ask
themselves, “How can I get this dull
talk started with something that will
show my audience I’m really a fun
person?”
Copyright © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Instead, the question you should ask
yourself is, “How can I best draw this
particular audience into the subject I’m
there to talk about?”
And the answer to that question is, tell a
story. Well-told stories engage us from
the start because they have narrative
drive—we want to find out what hap-
pens. Even if we’ve heard the story
before, the recognition itself can bring
pleasure, especially if there’s a new
twist to the tale. And if the story has a
point, we can apply it to our current
situations even if we’ve been told the
story many times before.
But the need for stories may be even
more basic than this. In his book The
Literary Mind, Mark Turner, a member
of the Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton, N.J., argues that our minds
work fundamentally by taking both old
and new stories and projecting them on
our current situations to enable us to
make sense of them. Turner’s work
links with others in the field of cogni-
tion to illuminate the ways in which we
learn new material.
Specifically, he says, the narrative form
that best fits this activity is the parable.
Take, for example, the story of the ox
and the donkey. Once upon a time there
was a wealthy farmer who could under-
stand the language of animals. His ox
would work all day, and come home
each night, exhausted and grumpy, to
the stall he shared with the donkey. The
ox noted that the donkey was always
well rested and fed, because the farmer
never seemed to work him very hard.
Unlike the ox.
One day, the ox could stand it no longer.
“How is it that I work my hooves to the
hocks every day and you just get to lie
there doing nothing? It’s not fair!”
And the donkey replied, “Try this.
Tomorrow, when you’re taken out to
the field, pretend to be sick. Lie down
and refuse to get up, even if they beat
you. Try this for a day or two, and you
won’t have to work hard again.”
Unfortunately for the two animals, the
farmer chanced to be listening to this
conversation. Thus, when the ox
seemed to get sick
the very next day, “…good jokes
the farmer told his
workers, “Go get
are hard to find,
that lazy donkey harder still to
and make him do
the ox’s work!” deliver, and
A parable like this quick to expire.”
can be used in a
number of ways in a business context.
For example, you could use it when
recognizing an unsung division. Just
pick your “donkey” group with care, or
leave it unspecified.
According to Turner, many of our sig-
nificant mental activities follow from
what we do with parables like these.
First, we’re always looking to predict
the consequences of our actions and
the actions and events around us. Good
stories like this parable help us do that
because we can take the results of the
story and imagine how they would
work out—in parallel situations—for
ourselves.
We also evaluate events and their con-
sequences—would we like what hap-
pened to the donkey to happen to us?
Further, we plan and explain our own
actions and those of others using
the mental schema provided by
countless stories like this one. To put
it another way, we’re constantly play-
ing out scripts in our minds that
feature the same kinds of actors, ac-
tions, and attitudes that stories give us.
5
Five Winning Ways, continued

How does this mental map apply to the
beginnings of presentations? If this is
the way the mind works, speakers can
best warm audiences to their messages
by casting them in story form.
Here are five ways to take advantage of
the inner workings of your audience’s
mind. These are sure bets, when done
correctly, for engaging your audience
from the start and ensuring that it will
stay with you to the end.
1. Tell a parable. In order to tell an
engaging parable, you need to know
two things. First, what is the underlying
emotion you are trying to evoke in your
audience? Second, what is the key deci-
sion point or dilemma you want your
audience to consider? You can then
choose a parable that will relate well to
both topic and audience.
To pick a simple example, let’s say you
are running a start-up company, and
some of the workers are losing hope
because it’s year two and there’s no
sign of profitability on the horizon. You
want to rally the troops. You need to
persuade them to hang in there for the
long haul, and to endure the trying con-
ditions of 140-hour workweeks and
lousy pizza for another year at least.
The underlying emotion, then, is frus-
tration, and the decision point is
whether to give up the pursuit or not.
An appropriate parable, then, is one
like the tortoise and the hare from
Aesop’s Fables.
If the only parable you can come up
with seems too trite to engage your
audience, dress it up by customizing it
for your particular group. So it becomes
the AARP tortoise and the HMO hare,
for example. You can liven it up further
with some key details that relate to the
current situation that will amuse and
interest your listeners. The point is that
the audience will enjoy the old tale
re-told with fresh details.
In addition to Aesop’s Fables, folk tales
from a variety of traditions are good

Memorable Beginnings: How a few great

speakers started their presentations.
Art Buchwald Speaks to Law Graduates—on May 7,
1977, Buchwald delivered the commencement day address
at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, in
Washington, D.C. After a few words of thanks, Buchwald
began his speech as follows:
“I am no stranger to the bar. I first became interested in the
law when I was working in Paris for the Herald Tribune,
and I covered a trial which had to do with a couple caught
in a very compromising situation in a Volkswagen. Now,
everyone in France was interested in the case because it had
to do with such a small car. The defense lawyer argued that
it was impossible to do what the couple had been accused of
doing in a Volkswagen. The judge said he didn’t know if
this was true or not, so he appointed a commission to study
it. It took them six months to render their verdict, and they
said, ‘It was possible but very difficult.’”
Salman Rushdie Addresses Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Journalism—on December 11, 1991,
author Rushdie came out of hiding long enough to address
the assembled dignitaries at a dinner honoring the two-hun-
dredth anniversary of the First Amendment. Note how
Rushdie uses his parable as a way to create sympathy for
his plight, threatened as he was by the Ayatollah
Khomeini’s death sentence for blasphemy.
“A hot-air balloon drifts slowly over a bottomless chasm,
carrying several passengers. A leak develops; the balloon
starts losing height. The pit, a dark yawn, comes closer.
Good grief! The wounded balloon can bear just one passen-
ger to safety; the many must be sacrificed to save the one!
But who should live, who should die? And who could make
such a choice?
“In point of fact, debating societies everywhere regularly
make such choices without qualms, for of course what I’ve
described is the given situation of that evergreen favorite,
the balloon debate, in which, as the speakers argue over the
relative merits and demerits of the well-known figures they
have placed in disaster’s mouth, the assembled company
blithely accepts the faintly unpleasant idea that a human
being’s right to life is increased or diminished by his or her
virtues or vices—that we may be born equal but thereafter
our lives weigh differently in the scales.
“It’s only make-believe, after all. And while it may not be
very nice, it does reflect how people actually think.
“I have now spent over a thousand days in just such a bal-
loon; but, alas, this isn’t a game.”

H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 8
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Five Winning Ways, continued

sources of parables. Religious tradi-
tions, depending on the audience, can
be another good source. And there are a
host of modern parables in collections
specifically selected by subject matter
and type of audience.
2. Tell a personal anecdote about how
you got engaged in the particular
topic. It can even be funny. The more
prestigious the speaker is for particular
audiences, the more charming they will
find this opening gambit. A CEO can
tell his employees about how he was
playing video games with his kids one
night when the phone rang. He picked
up the phone, and it was Jane, the
senior vice president, on the line. “Why
are you calling me on a Friday night?”
the CEO asked. “I’m in the middle of a
video game.” “Well,” responded the
SVP, “Then I’ve got good news and bad
news. The good news is that the new
product launch is wildly successful.
The bad news is that you just lost your
video game.”
That was a joke. If you didn’t laugh,
we’ve proven our point about how
difficult humor is to do well. If you did
laugh, your day just got a little better.
Personal anecdotes work well provided
the detail is relevant and the point of the
story doesn’t get lost in the trivia. It
takes tact to include enough personal
detail to bring the story to life but not
enough to kill your audience. Since
people are rarely as interested in the
minutiae of your own life as you are, err
on the side of caution.
3. Ask a question that either surfaces
the underlying emotion you wish to
evoke or begins the overall story that
you wish to tell. The classic example of
this is the campaign question presiden-
tial candidate Ronald Reagan asked his
audiences again and again when he was
running against President Carter: “Are
you better off than you were four years
ago?” That question accomplished both
tasks; it brought up the frustration vot-
ers were feeling after several years of
“stagflation,” and it allowed Reagan to

Winston Churchill Speaks to Parliament—on May 13,
1940, Winston Churchill addressed Parliament as the new
prime minister, responsible for a country that was late in
readying itself to defend against the Nazi menace. Note how
he puts his listeners right in the middle of the situation; his
eloquence grows ultimately out of the simple, straightfor-
ward narrative with which he begins:
“On Friday evening last I received from His Majesty the
mission to form a new administration.
“It was the evident will of Parliament and the nation that
this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and
that it should include all parties.
“I have already completed the most important part of this
task. A war cabinet has been formed of five members, repre-
senting, with the Labour, Opposition, and Liberals, the
unity of the nation.
“It was necessary that this should be done in one single day
on account of the extreme urgency and rigor of events.
“…I now invite the House by a resolution to record its
approval of the steps taken and declare its confidence in the
new government.
“…I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined
this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil,
tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most
grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of
struggle and suffering.
“You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by
land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the
strength God has given us, and to wage war against a mon-
strous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable
catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It
is victory. Victory at all costs—victory in spite of all
terrors—victory, however long and hard the road may be,
for without victory there is no survival.
“Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no
survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no sur-
vival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind
shall move forward toward his goal.
“I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that
our cause will not be suffered to fail among men.
“I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid
of all and to say, ‘Come then, let us go forward together
with our united strength.’”

H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 8
7
Five Winning Ways, continued

begin the story he wished to tell, about
the bright future he was going to bring
America if elected.
4. Tell a bit of a story from a classic
movie or a popular TV show. Film is
the medium that affects the widest pos-
sible audience in our culture today. TV
runs a close second. Both are filled with
parables that relate to current situa-
tions. So why not borrow their power
and appeal? You need to tell enough of
the story so that anyone who hasn’t
seen the movie or the show can figure
out what you’re talking about, but not
so much that you give away an ending,
or lose your listeners in the trivia. Once
again, the point is that your short story
has to relate organically to the subject
of your talk.
5. Play a scenario game that contains
the elements of your broader story.
This one is for experienced presenters
only, but it can be the most energizing
for the listeners because it gets them to
do something active. A game is a form
of participatory parable with fixed rules
governing the beginning, middle, and
end. So, for example, if you’re giving a
talk about the ubiquity of the Internet,
set up several computers in the room
and offer a prize to the first person or
team that can find a particular bit of
information using the Internet.
The Literary Mind by Mark Turner (1996,Oxford University
Press,208 pp.,$13.95,Tel.800-451-7556 or 212-726-6000)
Each of these opening gambits uses
elements of storytelling and parable
that respect the way your audience’s
minds work and uses that knowledge to
engage the audience in compelling and
entertaining ways.
by Daniel L.Schacter (1997,HarperCollins,398 pp.,$14.00,
Further Reading:
Aesop’s Fables, illustrated by Charles Santore
(1997,Random House,$20.00,
Tel.800-726-0600 or 212-572-6117)
Bright Air,Brilliant Fire:On the Matter of the Mind
by Gerald M.Edelman (1993,Basic Books,304 pp.,$18.00,
Tel.800-242-7737 or 212-207-7000)
Descartes’Error:Emotion,Reason,and the Human Brain
by Antonio Damasio (1995,Avon Books,
$13.50,Tel.800-223-0690)
How to Write and Give a Good Speech:A Practical Guide for
Executives,PR People,Managers,Fund-Raisers,Politicians,
Educators,and Anyone Who Has to Make Every Word Count
by Joan Detz (1992,St.Martin’s Press,204 pp.,$9.95,
Tel.800-288-2131 or 212-674-5151)
Lend Me Your Ears:Great Speeches in History
edited by William Safire (1997,W.W.Norton,
1056 pp.,$39.95,Tel.800-233-4830)
The Presentations Kit:10 Steps for Selling Your Ideas
by Claudyne Wilder (1994,John Wiley & Sons,288 pp.,
$17.95,Tel.800-225-5945 or 212-850-6000)
Searching for Memory:The Brain,the Mind,and the Past
Tel.800-242-7737 or 212-207-7000)
Web sites:
Two practitioner Web sites are:
www.joandetz.com and www.speechwriting.com.
Both will help you write those speeches
for which you want an expert touch.
Another Web resource is
www.executive-speaker.com.
This site is both a clearinghouse and a library
containing more than 5,700 executive speeches,
indexed and cross-referenced by keyword and subject.
In addition,the site has links to speech writers and
to newsletters specializing in speechmaking.

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ARTICLE REPRINT NO. C9901C

Presentations and the

Ancient Greeks

9

Presentations and the
Ancient Greeks:
How Their Insights Can Improve Your Speaking Today
LET’S HAVE A SHOW OF HANDS, PLEASE.
How many of you think that the United
States of America is the most litigious
society in the world, ever, bar none?
Most of you. Thank you. You can put
your hands down now.
The shocking truth is that most of you
are wrong. There was one society on the
face of the earth that was more litigious
than America is today: the ancient
Greeks. They invented litigation.
Why?
The Greeks believed, as do many of us
moderns, that “man’s capacity for jus-
tice makes democracy possible, but
man’s inclination to injustice makes
democracy necessary.” The Athenians
began the democratic experiment and
quickly realized that in the absence of
a king, a legal system was needed to
restrain their fellow citizens. They fur-
ther believed that it was important for
litigation-minded citizens to argue their
own cases in the courts.
Then,the Greeks invented lawyers
It wasn’t until later on that they invented
the next great idea: lawyers. Litigation
is even more fun if someone else has to
do the hard work of arguing your
case.Thus, out of the concept of a demo-
cratic legal system was born the art
of public speaking. And the Greeks
quickly developed theories and meth-
ods for speaking well in public.
Indeed, the Greek outline for a persua-
sive speech, though little understood or
used today, has never been significantly
improved upon. It is the chief insight
the Greeks have to offer that can still
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
significantly strengthen your presenta-
tions today, 2,500 years later.
We apparently have the Greek writer
Corax to thank for the first formulation
of the persuasive speech outline, in his
Techne, of 500 BC , essentially an
instruction manual for speaking in
court. The work is lost, but tradition has
it that Corax, and the Greeks who fol-
lowed him, offered a five-part structure
for public speaking: introduction, narra-
tive, argument, refutation, conclusion.
Begin with an introduction
First, they said, you need to introduce
your topic. The Greeks believed that
the purpose of an introduction was
to prepare your audience to hear
your speech favorably. They were most
emphatically not believers in the oft-
taught idea that you start by telling your
audience what you are going to say,
then say it, and then tell them what you
said. The Greeks believed, as countless
audiences have since found, that such
an approach is boring. It’s the approach
still taught in the U. S. Army as stan-
dard issue, so you know it must be as
exciting as camouflage pants. Audi-
ences quickly figure out what you’re up
to, and they listen to one of the three
parts of the presentation. You’re left
talking to glazed eyes during the other
two parts.
How do you prepare your audience?
The Greeks offered a number of
strategies.
Who? Talk about the audience. You
can never go wrong complimenting
the audience. Like the residents of
Lake Wobegon, most of us firmly
believe that we are above-average, and
we rarely mind having our superiority
confirmed.
Who? Talk about the previous
speaker. If your talk is one of a series,
refer to a previous one that made a deep
impression on the audience. “Jane
moved us all with her eloquent appeal
to the core values of this company.
Now, I’d like to talk to you about
a subject I feel as strongly about as
Jane feels about company values:
cost accounting.”
What? Talk about the event. Drawing
the participants’ attention to something
that is special or unique about the event
heightens their interest and gives them
a happy sense that the occasion is an
important one. They’ll listen more
closely as a result.
When? Talk about a moment in
history. If you can put the time and date
of the presentation into an historical
context, the audience will derive a
greater sense of purpose and gravity
than it otherwise would. “Just over sev-
enty years ago, the first bubblegum
found its way into the mouths of eager
Americans. Today, as I contemplate
that proud legacy, I thank God I’m
a dentist.”
Where? Talk about the place. The
hall, or the town, or the state, or even
the country where the presentation
takes place is grist for the introductory
mill. “This little town, a town that 200
hundred years ago witnessed the first
American stirrings toward freedom and
the establishment of a new, democratic
country, is today the proud site of the
new Greater Lexington Patriot Shop-
ping Mall.”
Why? Talk about the point of the
speech. It is your privilege as the
speaker to frame the topic, to create the
context for the conversation. Use this to
subtly steer the audience away from
topics you don’t want to discuss, or to
refocus the audience on topics you are
comfortable with. “We’re here today to
talk about our company’s profit profile
over the last couple of quarters.
11
Ancient Greeks, continued
Frankly, it’s not very good. But what
really lies at the heart of the profit issue
is customer satisfaction, and I’d like to
spend a little time addressing that.”
Then hit ‘em with the narrative
The essence of the narrative is a story.
Here you must get to the heart of the
matter, whether it involves something
you want your listeners to do, some-
thing you wish to persuade them of, or
something you want to tell them about.
Here’s where you tell the shocking
facts of your neighbor’s dastardly
attempt to put you in the wrong by actu-
ally placing “a window, ladies and gen-
tlemen of the jury, right in the path of
my son’s baseball.” If you don’t find
yourself phrasing what you have to say
in terms of a story, you need to rethink
the material.
Put the essence of your communication
into a story of your devising, one that
relates the facts in the way you wish
your audience to understand them.
Next,the argument
Here’s where you present the proofs, or
supporting logic for your point. This
section is probably the most important
part of the speech for bringing your
audience around to your point of view.
Remember that audiences can recall
very little of what they hear, so keep
your factual evidence to the necessary
minimum, and your main arguments to
three or four at most. More than that
will actually weaken your case, because
your audience will become exasperated
with you, and begin to believe that you
are trying to bolster a weak argument
with every point you can think of.
It is helpful to provide transitional
comments throughout this section in
order to help guide your audience
through your arguments. “There are
three reasons for the great increase in
12
the consumption of junk food
today.…The first is the time poverty we
are all experiencing as we rush from
work to errand and back to work.…The
second is the breakup of the family
with the increase in divorce.…And the
final reason is the enormous popularity
of The Simpsons. Yes, ladies and gen-
tlemen, I believe we owe our recent
success here at Junk Food Heaven to
Homer Simpson, that proud consumer
of everything trashy.”
Don’t forget the refutation
In the fourth section of the Greek
speech model, you anticipate the objec-
tions to your argument. This section is
particularly important when the subject
is controversial. You must give a real
hearing to opposing points of view,
even if you subsequently demolish
them with brilliant rhetoric. Failure to
do so will cause your audience to com-
plain that you never even considered
the opposition. The more explosive the
topic, the more impor-tant it is to state
your opponents’ points of view and to
do so early in the refutation.
You can handle the section in three
ways. You can answer anticipated
rebuttals to your own arguments. You
can take the opportunity to rehearse
and reject opponents’ arguments.
Again, this tactic is essential for highly
controversial topics. Or you can mix
the two approaches.
Finally,the finale
The conclusion should focus not on
summing up your arguments or your
speech, but rather on an appeal to the
listeners for their understanding, their
action, their approval—whatever it is
you want them to do or think as a result
of hearing your talk. The Greeks were
very clear that a summary was not want-
ed here. Don’t fall into the trap of telling
your audience what you said. Your audi-
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 9
ence won’t listen and will leave bored
and vaguely irritated with you. Since
audiences tend to remember the last
thing they’ve heard, summing up is a
sure-fire way to kill any enthusiasm
your presentation may have generated.
Remember Corax?
Armed with the Greek model, you are
ready to take on any presentation—or
even lawsuit—that the modern age can
throw your way. Corax apparently took
his own advice, and ended up in court.
A teacher of rhetoric, he guaranteed
results if his pupils used his Techne and
took his course to the end. One of his
students, Tisias,
was unhappy The essence
with the results
and refused to of the
pay. Corax took
him to court.
narrative is
Corax’s argu-
a story. Here,
ment was inge-
nious. If he won,
you must get
naturally Tisias to the heart
should pay. But
if he lost, Tisias of the matter.
should still pay,
because if he could beat the master, he
must have been taught well.
On the other hand, Tisias argued that he
should not have to pay in either case,
for the reverse of Corax’s reasons.
The court, furious at the machinations
of these two wily rhetoricians, threw
the case out, with the legendary judg-
ment: “bad crow, bad eggs.” Corax is
the Greek word for “crow,” and the bad
egg was, of course, Tisias.
Thus, in his own experience, Corax laid
an egg. But his enduring legacy is far
more useful, and presenters can still use
the outline developed by him and the
Greek tradition to create compelling
presentations today.
Ancient Greeks, continued

The Ancient Greeks Define Good Rhetoric Further Reading:

Classical Communication for the Contemporary
The ancient Greeks were masters not only of presentation rhetoric but also of Communicator by Halford R.Ryan (1992,MayfieId
Publishing,244 pp.,$35.95,Tel.800-433-1279)
language. Their insights into how language can be used and abused are still
relevant today. They identified many rhetorical devices that we still employ in Lend Me Your Ears:Great Speeches in History
our speeches—and some that we don’t use as often as we could. Following is edited by William Safire (1997,W.W.Norton,
a sample. 1,056 pp.,$39.95,Tel.800-233-4830)

Parallelism Parallel construction is especially useful in presentations because

the repetition of language structure helps audiences hear and remember what Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student
we have to say. Consider Churchill’s speech on Dunkirk to the House of Com- by Edward P.J.Corbett and Robert J.Connors
mons, June 4, 1940: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We (1998,Oxford University Press,578 pp.,
shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with $35.00,Tel.800-451-7556)
growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our is-
land, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on All the Presidents’Words:The Bully Pulpit
the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency
fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” by Carol Gelderman (1997,Walker & Co.,224 pp.,
$23.00,Tel.212-727-8300)
Triads The Greeks noticed early on that people are attracted to lists of three
items. Call it the “Fairy Tale Rule of Threes” or simply a triad, a group of
three seems to our minds complete and satisfying. No one is quite sure why.
The end of Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech (August 23,
1963) illustrates the point: “When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring
from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will
be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white
men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands
and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

Antithesis Antithesis is unfortunately underused today. Yet it is a particularly

elegant form of expression, and one which people remember vividly. Con-
sider the ending of President Kennedy’s Inaugural address, January 20, 1961
(the entire speech is laced with antithesis, but the ending has particular po-
tency because it talks directly to the audience): “And so, my fellow Ameri-
cans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country.”

Rhetorical Question Rhetorical questions draw listeners in to your topic, because

they call for answers, even if they are not uttered out loud. Consider the per-
oration of Patrick Henry’s famous speech of March 23, 1775, a speech that lit-
erally ignited a revolution as the Virginia delegates assembled that day voted
after hearing it to join the patriot cause: “It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the mat-
ter. Gentlemen may cry, ‘Peace! Peace!’—but there is no peace. The war is
actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears
the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand
we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for
me, give me liberty, or give me death!”

H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 9
13
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Handling Q&A:
The Five Kinds of Listening

15
 Handling Q&A: It’s a response. On the surface, it’s an
unexceptionable one. After all, it
responds to each of the points raised by

The Five Kinds of Listening the questioner. And yet, it will do little
to deal with the attitude the questioner
has, and he’s probably not alone. Could
you have done more?
F OR MANY SPEAKERS , the most fright- Giving feedback
ening part of the presentation is the
Feedback is fundamentally a reaction.
unscripted part: the question and
The other person says something, and Paraphrasing the question
answer session at the end. While some
you say something back, giving your At the second level of listening, you
thrive on the improvisatory challenge,
attitude toward or evaluation of what paraphrase the question, mirroring
others fear the nightmare possibilities.
was said. questioner’s points. Let’s look at how
What if someone asks you a question
that works in the example.
you can’t answer? What if someone
You’re a senior manager, and you are
turns hostile? What if someone wipes
responsible for developing a new soft- “So what you’re saying is you think
out the memory of all your hard work
ware product that is late to market and that I’m just giving the party line, when
by monopolizing the Q&A with a long
way over budget. You’ve been asked to what you really need is more help and
disquisition on some other topic?
rally the troops and give them some less bureaucracy, is that right?”
hope, a way forward, assurance that the
We’ll give you specific suggestions for
proverbial light at the end of the beta- See what happens? The questioner’s
each of those situations, but first let’s
version tunnel isn’t the Microsoft train. likely response is “yes.” From the start,
consider the reason you gave the
You finish your talk with some stirring you have him agreeing with you. You
speech in the first place. Most likely,
words about pioneers and landing on can then go on to give your feedback, as
you were asked to speak to a particular
the moon that you hope didn’t sound above, but at least you have created a
audience. You wrestled with the topic,
too goofy under the circumstances, and more receptive listener, because you’ve
did your homework, calmed your
it’s time for Q&A. The first question got him nodding at your paraphrase of
nerves as best you could, and set off to
comes from a quiet looking guy in his question. But there are even better
find the podium. So far, it’s all been
the back. ways to respond.
about you. But as soon as you arrive in
the room to face the crowd, something
“Forgive my skepticism, but why
changes. The speech is no longer about
should we believe you when we’ve Clarifying the issues
you. It’s about them. Once the speech
been hearing similar stuff from senior The third level of listening involves
starts, you need your listeners more
management for months now, when working a little harder with the ques-
than they need you. Without them, it’s
what we really need is more help, more tioner’s words to identify his real con-
just a rehearsal.
support, and a whole heck of a lot less cerns. Let’s see how that would work
red tape?” here.
Fast forward to the end of the talk.
It’s time for Q&A. Now, you’ll find
It’s the question you most feared. You “So what I hear you saying is that
out how well you did. Did you in
begin to think that you made no you’ve got two main problems you
fact communicate?
progress whatever with these people. want help on: not enough people, and
All your work was for nothing. You too much bureaucracy. The first is prob-
The only way to know is to listen. Han-
take a deep breath, and respond. ably the most important. Is that right?”
dling Q&A successfully depends on
good listening. Good listening is a skill
“Like I said, we’re committed to get- Once again, you’ve established a level
that can be developed, and one that is
ting you more people. We’re frankly of agreement with the questioner. By
poorly understood by most speakers.
struggling to hire as many people as we clarifying, however, you’ve gone one
need. We can use your help—tell your step further. You’ve shown the audience
There are five levels of listening: feed-
friends. As for the rest of it, we just that you can think on your feet and that
back, paraphrasing, clarification,
don’t have more money to throw at the you’re trying to sort out the vital issues
empathy, and active listening. Most of
project now. And we’d like to think as you go. You keep better control of
us are adept only at the first level.
we’ve gotten as much of the bureauc- the Q&A session in this way. More-
Developing your skills at the other lev-
racy out of the way as we can. After all, over, if you get agreement, you’ve
els will greatly increase the comfort
we set you up in a separate building to actually helped the audience do its
and ease with which you handle ques-
get away from the stuff that goes on thinking. It’s hard to remember infor-
tion-and-answer time.
around here. Next question?” mation presented orally. Audiences

Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. 17
Handling Q & A, continued
appreciate it when longer points are
accurately summarized.
Empathetic listening
The fourth level, listening with empa-
thy, means showing that you under-
stand the feelings of the questioner. The
empathetic listener finds similar emo-
tions within his or her own experience
and shares them with the questioner.
Let’s see how that would work in
this example.
“You know, I’ve been there, too. Don’t
forget I worked in a start-up in ’92, one
that was strapped for people and
drowning in red tape too. I know what
you’re going through.”
Empathy has the inestimable advantage
over the first three levels of listening in
that it shows the other person that you
understand his situation. Even if you
can’t offer much help, at least you’ve
aligned yourself with the questioner.
That in itself can go a long way to
defusing hostile questions and reassur-
ing nervous audience members.
The danger with empathy is that your
own expression of solidarity can over-
whelm the questioner’s words. He may
end up feeling upstaged. Take care that
your empathetic response doesn’t last
longer than the question that triggered
it, or your answer may sound insincere.
The fifth and final level of listening
avoids this trap.
Active listening
With active listening, you identify the
underlying emotions in the questioner’s
words. This is potentially the most pow-
erful listening response, because it is
usually emotion behind the phrases that
prompted the question in the first place.
When you respond to the real reason
that the questioner spoke up, you get to
the heart of the issue—even if you never
provide any concrete answer. Let’s see
what the active listener would say in
our example.
“It sounds like you feel really alone out
there, without much support. You’re
18
frustrated because you’re putting in all
this hard work, and all you feel you get
back from us is red tape. Is that it?”
Here, if you’ve listened accurately,
you’re likely to get a truly heartfelt
“yes!” from the questioner, and often
from other members of the audience.
By accurately identifying the emo-
tional state of the questioner, you’ve
validated the aspects of his mental state
that are most important to him. You’ve
not only aligned yourself with the ques-
tioner, but you’ve also allowed true
healing to begin. By labeling emotions
that are not usually acknowledged,
you’ve brought them out into the open
air and created the conditions for them
to be dealt with positively. Active lis-
tening incorporates empathy, but goes
beyond it. You don’t have to use such
attention with every question, but it is
almost always helpful.
What do you do if someone asks a
question you can’t answer? Be honest
in your response. Tell the questioner
you don’t know the answer, but you’d
be happy to find out. Or turn the ques-
Are you a good listener?
Good listening involves seeing as well
as hearing. Nonverbal communica-
tions often can tip you off about the
real issues involved in workplace dia-
logue. Here are four quick tests of how
the nonverbal “conversation” is going.
Always remember that “body lan-
guage” is multi-determined; crossed
arms can mean defensiveness or sim-
ply that the person is chilly. You must
always know the person and the con-
text to evaluate nonverbal communica-
tion.
Is the body language open or
closed? Are the arms unfolded or
crossed? Is the person with whom
you’re talking turned toward you or
away from you? Are the hands visible?
These are signs of degrees of open-
ness.
Is the body language engaged or
disengaged? People who are engaged
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R F E B R U A R Y 1 9 9 9
tion back to the audience, asking for
their input.
What do you do if someone turns hos-
tile? Use active listening to acknowl-
edge the anger. Find out the reasons for
it. Acknowledge the valid ones and
reject the ones that are not accurate.
Then, politely and firmly, move on.
How do you prevent someone from
monopolizing the Q&A period? If the
question looks like it will go on longer
than a minute, interrupt politely with
“excuse me, but we’re almost out
of time, and out of concern for other
members of the audience who have
questions, let me stop you there and
answer as best I can.” Or, “Since we’re
almost out of time, I’d be happy to take
your question off-line to give it the time
it needs.”
The best answers come from good
listening. Successful handling of Q&A
begins with a speaker who realizes
that a presentation belongs to its
audience.
in discussions tend to find ways to
move closer to one another. The oppo-
site movement can mean disengage-
ment.
Is the body language allied or
opposed? People who are allied in
opinion or loyalty tend to adopt the
same body position in conversation.
Look for the person who moves at the
same time you do, ending up in a simi-
lar position.
Is the body language committed or
uncommitted? The sum of the other
three add up to commitment. If you
seen signs of openness, engagement,
and allied behavior, you may be ready
to close the deal. Evidence to the con-
trary indicates reservations, and it may
be a good idea to try to explore the
areas of resistance in order to deal with
them verbally.
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The Twentieth Century’s

Greatest Speech—What
Made It So Powerful?

19
 The Twentieth Century’s
Greatest Speech—What
Made It So Powerful?
How Martin Luther King, Jr. won over the audience
with his “I Have a Dream” oration
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. gave what is
often called the greatest speech of the
twentieth century on a sweltering day
in August 1963, before a huge crowd
spread across the Mall in Washington,
D.C. What made the speech so great? A
quick look at Reverend King’s tech-
nique yields some insights that can
improve your public presentations,
too—even if your audience is less than
half a million people and your venue
less imposing than our nation’s capital.
1 King made it conversational. Many
people have heard of the “I Have a
Dream” speech. But few know that the
speech (and the audience) really came
alive about half way through King’s
prepared text when, sensing that he was
not reaching his audience as he wanted
to, King actually began speaking
extemporaneously. He put down the
prepared speech, looked directly at the
audience, and spoke from the heart.
The result was electric. Studying the
film of the speech shows that the audi-
ence began to respond shortly there-
after, shouting their approval of phrase
after phrase, culminating in the unfor-
gettable roar that greeted King’s final
lines: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank
God Almighty, we are free at last!”
2 King made artful use of repetition.
Drawing upon his background as a
Baptist preacher, King structured the
ad-libbed portion of his speech by stat-
ing a new thought, and then elaborating
on it. Next he would repeat the original
phrase, and elaborate some more. The
resulting repetition helped both the
speaker and the audience keep track of
where he was. The open-ended nature
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
of this structure allowed King to work a
phrase until he had exhausted it, and
then move on, without confusing the
audience. “I say to you today, my
friends, that in spite of the difficulties
and frustrations of the moment I still
have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream. I have a
dream that one day this nation will rise
up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-
evident; that all men are created equal.’
I have a dream that one day on the red
hills of Georgia the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slave
owners will be able to sit down together
at the table of brotherhood. I have a
dream that one day even the state of
Mississippi, a desert state sweltering
{in} the heat of injustice and oppres-
sion, will be transformed into an oasis
of freedom and justice. I have a dream
that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character. I have a
dream today.” Contrast this fluidity
with the more formal opening of the
speech, where King uses an extended
metaphor—“a promissory note”—that
is more compelling on paper than in
presentation mode. “When the archi-
tects of our republic wrote the magnifi-
cent words of the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, they
were signing a promissory note to
which every American was to fall heir.”
3 King used familiar language
known to every American. As King
warmed to his task, he quoted Biblical
phrases and national songs well-known
to his listeners. Then he elaborated
upon those references and made them
relevant to his theme of working toward
racial equality and harmony. By refer-
ring to well-known material, he
brought his audience along with him,
allowing them better to grasp his theme
when he connected that to the familiar
lore. “This will be the day when all of
God’s children will be able to sing with
new meaning ‘My country ‘tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim’s pride, from every mountain-
side, let freedom ring.’And if America is
to become a great nation this must
become true.”
4 King let his audience know exactly
where he stood. The most frequently
missed opportunity in business presen-
tations today is the presenter telling the
audience how she feels about the topic.
What do you care about? Why? What
is important to you about the topic?
Audiences very much want to know the
answers to those questions, because
they help listeners know what’s
essential to take away from the talk.
King left his audience in no doubt
about his feelings. Charisma comes
from passion about the topic, appropri-
ately expressed, and King excelled
here. “This is our hope. This is the faith
with which I return to the South. With
this faith we will be able to hew out of
the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith we will be able to
transform the jangling discords of our
nation into a beautiful symphony of
brotherhood. With this faith we will be
able to work together, to pray together,
to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom
together, knowing that we will be free
one day.” It is said of the audience that
was privileged to hear this great speech
that even the FBI informants among the
listeners were impressed with King’s
power and sincerity.
Further Reading
Lend Me Your Ears:Great Speeches in History
edited by William Safire (1997,W.W.Norton & Company,
1056 pp.,$39.95,Tel.800-233-4830)
21
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How to Use Good Graphics

to Win Your Arguments
BY BOB BUDAY AND CATHERINE FLYNN

23
 How to Use Good Graphics
to Win Your Arguments
Good graphics demonstrate—they don’t distort—
the facts. Some advice from Edward Tufte,
the guru of visual information.
IN 1854, BRITISH physician John Snow
had a hunch that cholera was spread by
contaminated water. During an epi-
demic in London, Snow conducted
painstaking research on the cholera
victims. Convinced his hypothesis was
correct, Snow plotted the number of
deaths by location on a map, which
showed the heaviest concentration of
deaths around the Broad Street water
pump (see below). He presented his
map to the local authorities, who
removed the pump handle. While the
cholera outbreak was already in
decline, Snow helped prevent future
Edward R.Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press, 1983)
British physician John Snow’s charting of an 1854 cholera epidemic.
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
deaths by discovering how the disease
spread and making his case through
effective graphics.
Skip forward 132 years, to January
1986, when engineers at defense con-
tractor Morton-Thiokol had a hunch
that the space shuttle Challenger
should not be launched because the
cold weather might cause failure of the
O-rings that helped seal joints on the
rocket motors. To argue their point,
they faxed 13 charts to NASA. How-
ever, according to informational graph-
ics expert and Yale professor Edward R.
Tufte, not one made a clear enough
connection between cold temperatures
and O-ring failures. The NASA deci-
sion makers were not convinced. The
space shuttle was launched, and the
O-rings failed, resulting in the Chal-
lenger’s explosion and the deaths of
seven astronauts. Contrast that failure
to act with the hue and cry that
followed physicist Richard Feynman’s
simple demonstration of O-ring failure.
During the inquiry by the presidential
commission, Feynman electrified the
country by tightening a clamp onto an
O-ring and submerging it in a glass of
ice water. When the clamp was
removed, the O-ring showed a lack of
resilience—the rubber did not spring
back into shape. The picture of the
O-ring in the glass was splashed across
the media for weeks, and became the
image that represented NASA’s incom-
petence and bureaucratic bloat—and
ultimate responsibility for the tragic
death of the astronauts.
However, while Feynman’s experiment
effectively demonstrated O-ring fail-
ure, it was as deeply flawed as the charts
faxed to NASA. It lacked a control in
which a second O-ring was clamped in
a glass of warm water. “When reason-
ing about causality,” Tufte writes in his
latest book, Visual Explanations:
Images and Quantities, Evidence and
Narrative, “variations in the cause must
be explicitly and measurably linked to
variations in the effect.”
Effective charts and pictures can be
powerful tools for making effective
arguments in any profession—as long
as data is presented with both force
and integrity.
“There are displays that reveal the
truth and those that do not,” writes
Tufte in Visual Explanations. “And, if
the matter is an important one, then get-
ting the displays of evidence right or
wrong can possibly have momentous
consequences.”
Tufte offers good advice for anyone
planning to use charts, graphs, and
25
 How to Use Good Graphics, continued
other visual information to enhance a
presentation, spruce up a memo, dress
up an article for publication, or bolster
some other type of business communi-
cations. His books offer a wealth of
ideas and incisive looks at graphics—
good and bad, ancient and modern.
These include Charles Minard’s chill-
ing map showing the decimation of
Edward R.Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press, 1983)
Charles Minard’s map shows the shrinking size of Napoleon’s army en route to Moscow—and its disastrous return.
Napoleon’s army as it marched across
Russia (see above). The map, which
Tufte believes may be the best statisti-
cal graphic ever drawn, shows a line
that narrows in proportion to the thin-
ning of the troops. It also plots the
bone-numbing temperatures of the
march day by day, showing the
weather’s toll on Napoleon’s men.
Yet many graphics fail to have such
impact. While today’s personal com-
puter software packages, with their do-
it-yourself graphics and programs to
manipulate images, have put graphics
capabilities into many people’s hands,
these capabilities are often misused.
26
The ability to distort data and pictures
via computer has created “new oppor-
tunities for mischief,” explains Tufte.
“Arbitrary, transient, one-sided, frac-
tured, undocumented materials have
become the great predicament of image
making and processing,” he writes.
Another of Tufte’s pet peeves, the over-
head projector, is a staple in business
presentations. He eschews the machine
because it forces viewers to refer to the
information presented in a previous
slide. When people rely upon “the
dreaded overhead projector” or long-
winded discussions, their audience is
usually unable to retain much of the
information, Tufte writes. Paper hand-
outs are better.
Tufte offers this advice for creating
graphics that help people understand:
Make sure your research is sound and your
premise is well developed. Great graphic
design cannot, and should not, be used
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R A P R I L 1 9 9 9
to dress up incomplete ideas or faulty
research.
Enhance your data with graphics—not your
graphics with data. Charts, tables, and
other graphics should encourage peo-
ple to look at the numbers and the story
behind the numbers, rather than to
notice the cleverness of the graphics.
Show as many numbers as possible. This
helps people see the whole story in one
stunning glance, as John Snow’s
cholera chart did. Effective graphics
should answer the questions: How
many? How often? Where? How
much? At what rate?
Don’t lie with proportions. Don’t exaggerate
information with graphics that misrep-
resent its impact. For example, to show
that something has doubled, don’t use a
bar graph or icon that triples in actual
size. While it might add drama to your
presentation, it’s inherently dishonest.
How to Use Good Graphics, continued

The worst graphic ever printed? This chart struggles to depict Mural with Blue Brushstoke
something about the differing ages of college enrollees.
Make things easy for readers and viewers.
Don’t force them to refer to a previous
chart. Instead, reprint it, perhaps in a
smaller size. In his books, Tufte keeps
charts and pictures on the same two-
page spread as the text that discusses
them. Readers never have to flip back a
page to refer to the graphics.
Avoid “chartjunk.” This is Tufte’s term for
such bad graphics practices as using
dizzying patterns to distinguish bars in
a graph, overly conspicuous grids
(lighten the grids if they must
be shown), exaggerated spe-
cial effects, and ornamenta-
tion that distracts people from
the data. For example, the
graphic to the left attempts to
use three-dimensionality to
add perspective to the data
structure. The result is confus-
ing and comical. “This may
well be the worst graphic ever
to find its way into print,”
writes Tufte. Computers offer
many temptations for
chartjunk, Tufte continues,
generating graphics that
“evoke the response, ‘Gee,
isn’t it wonderful that a com-
puter can be programmed to
draw like that?’”
Make your distinctions as subtle as
possible. Use the thinnest lines
and the slightest variations in
color in presentations. Thick
lines and garish colors are too
distracting.
Use perspective in imaginative ways.
A photo of Roy Lichtenstein’s
could not begin to show its
grand proportions—68’x32’.
But the photographer positioned the
artist on a ladder in the lower right-
hand corner, which helps the viewer
grasp the size of the actual mural.
Sign your name. “Public, named author-
ship indicates responsibility, both to the
immediate audience and for the long-
term record,” Tufte says.
Tufte devotes a chapter in Visual Expla-
nations to the art of magic, which
he describes as “disinformation
design” that employs grand gestures
and sleight-of-hand to mystify the
audience. He cites a few notorious
examples of graphics sleights-of-hand,
including cigarette advertising bill-
boards that obscure the Surgeon Gen-
eral’s warning by printing it in a much
lighter typeface than the bold border
that surrounds it.
Good information design does the
reverse, he points out. Unlike a magi-
cian who tries to trick the audience with
quick movements that they won’t
notice, managers who present informa-
tion to colleagues must help them
understand and retain the information.
Whether it enhances oral presentations
or written ones, good graphic design
encourages people to want to know
more about your subject. The best
graphics gracefully display a well-
developed idea and well-researched
numbers or facts. They are intriguing
and provoke curiosity. Most important,
they help make readers care about the
point you are trying to make.
— BOB BUDAY AND CATHERINE FLYNN
Further Reading
Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte
(1990,Graphics Press,126 pp.,$48.00,
Tel.800-822-2454 or 203-272-9187)
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
by Edward Tufte (1983,Graphics Press,197 pp.,$40.00,
Tel.800-822-2454 or 203-272-9187)
Visual Explanations:Images and Quantities,
Evidence and Narrative by Edward Tufte
(1997,Graphics Press,156 pp.,$45.00,
Tel.800-822-2454 or 203-272-9187)

Tips for presenting information during a meeting:

Analyze the details of your presentation and rehearse before
the meeting.
Show up early to greet your audience and to troubleshoot
any technical problems with overhead projectors or other
presentation devices.
At the beginning,tell the audience the problem the information
is about,its importance,and its solution.
To explain complex ideas or data,use the “PGP”method:
Particular/General/Particular. For example,introduce your
charts by explaining one part in detail,linking it to a general
discussion of what the data means. Then return to the detail.
Give the audience handouts of the charts in your presentation.
Make sure your name is on them in case anyone has questions.
Finish early.Your audience will be delighted.

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ARTICLE REPRINT NO. C9905C

Presence:How to Get It,

How to Use It

29
 Presence: How to Get It,
How to Use It
The Ariel Group uses acting exercises
to make us all into star performers.
W H Y D O S O M E P E O P L E instantly
command attention and respect? When
they speak, we listen. Their opinions
seem to carry more weight. They
inspire trust in those around them.
These people have “presence”—and
the Ariel Group believes that we’re all
capable of developing it.
Based in Cambridge, Mass., the Ariel
Group is a consulting company of pro-
fessional actors and singers that works
with executives worldwide to help
them become more powerful commu-
nicators and leaders. According to
Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar,
founders of the Ariel Group, presence
can be learned. The key is finding and
enhancing your own, authentic style of
communication—rather than trying
to be someone you’re not. The com-
pany’s approach involves using theater-
based exercises. But wait, you say. Isn’t
acting about pretending to be someone
else? A paradox? Writer Martha
Craumer recently interviewed Lubar
and Halpern to get their “take” on
presence, acting, and communicating
with integrity.
What is presence? How do you define
that certain,intangible something that some
people seem to have?
LUBAR: Presence comes from knowing
who you are—and being comfortable
with that. Everyone has a unique pres-
ence, a natural communication style.
We work with people to find out what
that is, and to expand on it. For one
person, presence might come in the
form of stillness, which becomes a
strength that works well for them.
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Someone else might be high-energy,
dynamic, and movement-driven. The
key is being real, being authentic.
HALPERN: People with presence know
how to connect with others, no matter
how large the audience is—whether it’s
one person or a thousand. And they
have a sense of congruence about
them—their voice, body, emotions,
words, and energy all work together.
Why is presence useful in the
business world?
LUBAR: Presence helps you build trust
and credibility quickly. It helps you
truly connect with people. It communi-
cates integrity. All of these things help
you to develop strong, long-term rela-
tionships with clients and colleagues—
relationships that are critical to busi-
ness success. For anyone who interacts
with clients or is responsible for devel-
oping business, anyone who wants to
inspire, lead, or motivate others, any-
one who has to manage a tough situa-
tion or communicate difficult truths,
presence can have a major impact.
HALPERN: We work with a number of
consulting firms. The younger consul-
tants often have to develop relation-
ships with CEOs who are 25 years their
senior. The way to do this is not by
coming across as “I’m an expert and I
know more than you.” They have to
find out what they can offer to the world
beside their smarts. So we work with
them to understand what they stand for
and what experiences have shaped their
values. Then they have the presence to
hold their own with senior executives.
Kathy Lubar
But knowing
who you are
and what you
stand for
Belle Linda Halpern helps to give
you presence and credibility in any sit-
uation.
Interesting approach.You start with
the core person and build on that,as opposed
to working on external gestures and so forth,
like many traditional speech coaches.
LUBAR: That’s something we feel very
strongly about. Instead of trying to get
people to be something they’re not, we
help them to become more comfortable
with who they really are. When people
are in touch with their feelings and
express themselves honestly, their mes-
sages come across more powerfully.
We’re always looking for the key that
will unlock a person’s potential as a
powerful communicator. And we look
to the theater for ways to tap into that
potential.
Why the theater?
HALPERN: Adult learning is a challenge
because the more you know, and the
more analytical you become, the more
likely you are to judge. By taking peo-
ple out of the business world and
exposing them to theater exercises, we
give the beginner’s mind a chance to
emerge, and people become sponges.
They’re willing to take chances and
make mistakes—and that allows for
31
Presence, continued

breakthrough learning. Non-actors are
so free and joyous and liberated when
they get it.
LUBAR: The idea that presence can be
learned is revolutionary for people. But
presence can be developed. It can be
broken down into very specific ele-
ments. Actors work on their presence
all the time. And they work hard at
making it look relaxed and natural.
sneering and insincere, probably
because of nerves. He didn’t come
across as himself because he lacked the
skills and self-awareness to get his
message across. So coaching and the-
ater exercises can actually help you to
be more authentic. It is paradoxical.
What types of theater exercises do you use?
HALPERN: We use a lot of storytelling
and improvisational exercises. We
often work with dramatic monologues
and encourage people to fully take on
another character. For example, if a
CEO needs to motivate his or her peo-
ple, we might pick the monologue from
Henry V where he rouses the troops. Or
if someone is uncomfortable using
physical space, we might assign a
monologue that involves playing a
drunk and falling down. That creates a
sense of physical freedom that can

How do you reconcile “authenticity”

with acting and theater skills? Aren’t they
mutually exclusive?
HALPERN: We all have different sides to
our personalities, and we take on differ-
ent roles in different settings—includ-
ing business settings. But just because
the roles are different doesn’t mean
they aren’t authentic aspects of who
we are. Knowing who you are and what
you stand for and what’s important
to you helps you to be authentic all the
time.
LUBAR: Most of us have a hard time
staying authentic and true to ourselves
in high-pressure situations. It seems
counterintuitive, but theater exercises
can help you stay in touch with—not
mask—your real self. When we’re
under pressure to perform, or trying to
manage a difficult situation, we often
end up coming across in ways we never
intended—our authentic selves seem to
run for cover. And when our body lan-
guage contradicts our message, we lose
credibility and trust, and come across
as dishonest or phony.
Any examples come to mind?
H ALPERN : I remember a video that
Frank Borman sent to employees when
he was the head of Eastern Airlines. He
was talking about the company’s finan-
cial troubles and asking people to take a
salary cut, but he had a smile on his
face. And he was leaning against his
desk in a huge office. Very incongru-
ous—and very ineffective.
LUBAR: And the interesting thing is,
he’s supposed to be a great guy—very
nice, very caring. But he came across as
Learning to be yourself: how to develop presence
You may think that presence is inborn—you either have it or you don’t. Not
true, says the Ariel Group. Presence can be developed. Here’s how:
Discover your natural communication style. Everyone has a highly individual style
of communicating. Finding that style—and being true to it—leads to authen-
tic presence. The dynamo who electrifies the room with his energy and
booming voice may indeed have presence. But for someone else, presence
may come from a quiet confidence and a few carefully chosen words. The
key is finding and enhancing your own style—not trying to be someone else.
Be present. It’s hard to have presence if you’re thinking about your next meet-
ing or your golf game. Instead, focus intently on the person or people you’re
with. The worst insult you can give an actor is that he just “telephoned in”
his performance, implying that he wasn’t really there. Actors work all the
time on being 100% present, no matter how many times they’ve said the
same line in the same scene. They find a way to be in the moment, to really
listen to how their partner’s line was delivered and to let it truly affect them.
Businesspeople need the same focus in their presentations and in their deal-
ings with clients and colleagues.
Use all your expressive capabilities. Studies show that the nonverbal aspects of your
message—your voice, body language, and so forth—account for more than
90% of how your message comes across. The verbal content counts for less
than 10%. But businesspeople tend to focus almost exclusively on the verbal
aspects of communication—the content. They give little thought to how
they’ll use their voice, engage their audience, or use their body or the physi-
cal space around them. You can increase your presence by using more of
your expressive capabilities—your voice, body, face, eyes, spirit, and full
emotional range. Being congruent—using these capabilities in support of
your message—increases the power of your message.
Connect with your audience. A critical part of presence is the ability to connect
with people—both individuals and groups. To make your message come
alive, use stories, metaphors, and imagery when you speak. These resonate
more powerfully with people than just facts and figures. And change the way
you listen. When someone else is speaking, listen not just for content, but
for that person’s values, strengths, and unspoken concerns. Finally, erase the
negative, self-critical tapes that get in the way of your ability to connect with
people. You can’t focus on others if you’re busy judging yourself and your
performance.

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32
Presence, continued

actually shift the way you move about
the room in a business presentation. We
always come back and apply the exer-
cise to a business situation.
LUBAR: We worked with one executive
who was completely buttoned up. No
facial expression, no physical energy—
just dead, and it was really blocking
his progress at work. The first evening
of the workshop we ended later than
planned. During the break, he called
home to say goodnight to his little
daughters, ages six and eight, and
he became a completely different per-
son. His face and voice came to life.
But after the break he reverted to his
other self. So we asked him to do the
next exercise as if he were addressing a
group of six- and eight-year-olds at a
birthday party. And it was like night
and day. We encouraged him to go
further with it, to exaggerate and have
fun with it, and we stopped him a few
times to ask if it was believable. Then
we worked on how to integrate that
energy. By the end of the program,
every time he spoke—whether one-on-
one, in a group situation, or a presenta-
tion—he began integrating these two
sides of his personality into one. It was
transformational.
HALPERN: In the process of working
through these exercises, people often
realize that their presence—who they
are—is far bigger than they thought.
And it expands their sense of self and
their comfort with taking up more
space.
It sounds like you have people doing
things they haven’t done for years—
maybe since they were kids.It must be
enormously liberating.
LUBAR: As children we tend to be much
more expansive. But over time we get a
lot of cultural and corporate messages
that say we have to keep a lid on it and
be serious. We give people permission
to open the lid and use more of their
expressive selves. This gives them a
wonderful sense of freedom and
power—and it can be very exhilarating.
I think that’s why they often feel such a
sense of joy coming out of the work-
shops. They’ve released something in
themselves. Then the question becomes
how to get comfortable with that and
how much to bring into a business situ-
ation. And it’s usually far more than
they initially thought.
H ALPERN : One manager we worked
with early on said something that really
inspired us. He said that before he took
our workshop, he felt that expressing
himself fully was an act of self-indul-
gence. After the workshop, he realized
that expressing himself fully was an act
of generosity. That has always stayed
with us.

Instant presence: exercises to get you there quickly

Have you ever found yourself at the front of a room about to speak to a group
of restless-looking businesspeople? Have you wished there was something
you could do to give yourself a quick boost in personal magnetism? Here
HMCL offers a few quick tips based on practical experience.

Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Breathing will calm you and steady your
nerves. The increased confidence will show in your face and physique.

Pause to look at the audience. Most people believe that they have to start speaking
immediately. But silences are powerful. Use them.

Keep your upper body still. When the adrenaline hits, most people relieve the stress
by moving too much. And it’s typically aimless motion. Instead, let the energy
come out in your voice, and in powerful but simple hand gestures.

Pick a few members of the audience to look at. Most people look rapidly around the
room, but it is more effective to make eye contact with a representative sample
of the audience. Hold the gaze for as much as five or six seconds.

Nod at them. Nodding builds agreement. And you’ll find people nodding back.
Those are folks who are on your side. As the speech goes on, focus on them.
Don’t ignore the rest of the audience, but favor the ones who nod back at you.

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ARTICLE REPRINT NO. C9906A

Coping with Stagefright

BY JOHN DALY AND ISA ENGLEBERG

35

Coping with Stagefright
How to turn terror into dynamic speaking
YOU’RE ABOUT TO MAKE an important
presentation. People are streaming into
the room. Your boss is sitting up front.
Important clients are sitting in the sec-
ond row. Your boss stands to introduce
you and you walk toward the stage.
As you approach the front of the room
your confidence wanes. Your stomach
starts doing somersaults, your palms
are sweating, and your mouth feels
parched. You pick up your notes and
your hands are shaking. Thank good-
ness, you say to yourself, for the
lectern. As you start to speak you hear
your voice quiver and you feel your
skin beginning to blush.
Welcome to the world of stagefright!
You are not alone if you have had this
experience. Almost everyone has. Even
people who regularly appear in front of
large audiences experience stagefright.
The great American actress Helen
Hayes was known for throwing up in
her dressing room before every single
performance during a career of more
than 50 years. Luckily, researchers in
communication and psychology have
identified several strategies that can
help you overcome your nervousness.
Preparation is critical
Know your audience and setting.
Successful speakers know it is critical
to acquaint themselves with both
the audience and the setting before
making a presentation. Talk to a few
people who will be in the audience. Ask
who else will be attending and what
interests them. Find out what audience
members know about the topic. Dis-
cover ways this audience is similar to,
and different from, other groups you
have addressed.
Just as important, look over the setting
before your presentation. Find out
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
where you will be speaking and get
there early. Check the room’s acoustics,
sit in a chair and see the room from the
audience’s perspective. Test all the
equipment. Assume nothing.
Prepare your material. Never under-
estimate how important good prepara-
tion is to reducing your anxiety. When
you know what you want to accom-
plish, what you are going to say, and
how you are going to say it, you will be
less anxious. Mark Twain claimed it
took him three weeks to prepare an
“impromptu” speech. Another great
speaker, Winston Churchill, said it took
him six to eight hours to prepare a 45-
minute presentation. Here are four
rules for preparing your presentation.
1 Know your topic. Audiences can
sense when you are bluffing, and when
they feel you are unsure of your mater-
ial, they lose confidence in you. Being
unprepared also makes you, the
speaker, anxious. You have concerns
about unanswerable questions; you
worry you don’t have enough to say;
you fear you are wrong about some-
thing. Avoid these anxiety-producing
thoughts by being the expert.
2 Prepare more material than you
think you will use. If you have to give a
five-minute presentation, develop
enough material for 15 minutes. It’s
better to pare down than to run out of
things to say.
3 Imagine questions people might
ask. Come up with answers before you
give your speech. Either incorporate
the answers into your presentation or
hold them in readiness in case those
questions are asked. Savvy corporate
leaders and public officials use this
technique when planning to meet the
press. A day or two before the press
conference, leaders are briefed by staff
about likely questions and possible
answers. That review makes them more
confident. They feel better prepared.
4 Memorize the first minute of your
presentation. You experience your
greatest anxiety at the beginning of
a speech. Having the start of your pre-
sentation memorized makes you
more comfortable. You also may want
to memorize the last minute of your
presentation in order to conclude with
conviction.
Focus on your audience,
not on yourself
Most of us do not like to feel conspicu-
ous. When you talk to a group of 20
people, there are 40 eyes staring at
you. If you start thinking about all this
attention, you may begin to focus on
how you look and sound rather than on
communicating your message to your
listeners. Your attention shifts from
your audience to yourself. When you
become self-focused, your stagefright
increases and the quality of your per-
formance suffers.
Television broadcasters know this. In
studios they avoid looking at monitors
while the camera is on them. If they
watch themselves, they’ll be distracted.
Some public-speaking books suggest
that you practice in front of a mirror.
Bad advice! Try it and you will see
why. When you start talking, you’ll
notice your facial expressions, your
hair, and your gestures. And, you’ll
think little about your presentation.
What should you do when you feel
self-conscious during a presentation?
Talk to individual listeners. Pick out a
person. Tell yourself that you are going
to talk right at him until he begins to
smile. Smile and you’ll find that he’ll
probably smile back. Then, move to
another audience member and think,
“I’m going to talk directly to this per-
son until she nods her head.” As you
talk, start nodding your head and watch
as she reciprocates. What you are doing
is shifting your attention away from
yourself and onto the audience.
37
Coping with Stagefright, continued
Relabel your physical
symptoms positively
Much like an athlete getting ready for a
big game, your body gets “up” when
you make a speech: your heart beats
faster, your palms get sweaty, your legs
seem a little wobbly. When experienc-
ing these feelings, some people think,
“I’m scared.” Other people say to them-
selves, “I’m excited.” Physiologically,
there is little difference between fear
and excitement. The real difference lies
in what you call it.
Think of something adventurous you
do—riding a roller coaster, scuba
diving, a bicycle race. What are your
feelings at the start? Many of these
physiological reactions are no different
from the ones you have when you start a
presentation. The difference is that you
call these activities fun while labeling
presentations scary. Same physiology,
different labels. So next time you start a
speech, label the experience positively.
Labeling is only the first step. People
who have a great deal of stagefright
often talk themselves into being ner-
vous: “This is going to be awful…Why
am I up here?…I’m going to make a
fool of myself…People are going to
walk out…What if they hate me?”
When you talk this way, you may begin
to believe it. Experienced speakers con-
vince themselves that they’ll do a great
job: “I’m going to be effective…This is
exciting…What an opportunity…I
know my stuff and I am going to con-
vince this audience.”
Use the energy you experience—don’t
be used by it. Before your presentation,
walk around if you can, take some deep
breaths, stretch. When you start your
presentation, move, use gestures. Let
your nervous energy animate your
speech.
Avoid rigid rules
People with stagefright often have very
rigid rules about what makes a good
presentation. One computer executive
who often experienced stagefright told
us that “every good speech starts with a
38
joke.” An anxious scientist believed
that “all speeches should have three
main points.” A VP related that “every
presentation must include color graph-
ics.” These speakers dearly loved their
rules about speaking. Consequently,
they were haunted by them. In truth,
none of them are mandatory rules of
good speaking. Is it possible to give an
excellent presentation without any
jokes? Sure. Do all excellent presenta-
tions have three major points? Of
course not. And many outstanding
briefings have no graphics at all.
Here’s something else to think about:
Most people are more comfortable
answering questions in Q&A sessions
than they are giving speeches. You’d
think it would be the opposite. Presen-
tations are prepared in advance. But it
is difficult to prepare for every ques-
tion: you think “on your feet” when
answering questions. Sounds as though
questions should be more nerve-wrack-
ing. But not so for most speakers. Why?
Because people have far fewer rigid
rules about question-answer sessions.
On the other hand, almost everyone has
strong rules about speeches. Be flexi-
ble. Drop the rigid rules!
Think before you speak
Learn some simple ways to manage
your anxiety. Think before you make a
presentation so you can avoid or con-
trol what makes you nervous. For
example, what if your hands shake
when you speak? Place your hands on
the lectern. Or suppose the notes you
hold rattle as you speak? Why not put
your notes on a clipboard? If you are so
nervous that the clipboard shakes, lay
the notes on a table or lectern. What if
you blush when nervous? The blushing
starts at your chest and slowly works up
your neck. Why not wear a scarf or
turtleneck that hides the blushing?
You don’t look that nervous
Has this happened to you? You finish a
presentation and people come up and
congratulate you. While you thank
them for the compliments, you’re
thinking, “They’re just being nice.
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R J U N E 1 9 9 9
They really think I did a lousy job. They
could see I was shaking and sweating.”
Research tells us you’re probably
wrong: speakers are often inaccurate
in their assessments of how nervous
they appear. But these inaccurate per-
ceptions feed stagefright. When you
think you look anxious, you feel more
apprehensive. And the cycle continues
until it detrimentally affects your per-
formance.
20 Strategies for
Reducing Stagefright
Understand that your listeners want
you to do well.
Believe you know more than your
audience.
Familiarize yourself with the setting.
Get to know some members of the
audience before you speak.
Choose topics you know something
about.
Prepare your message; indeed,
overprepare.
Imagine questions that might be asked.
Memorize the first and last minutes
of your presentation.
Focus on your audience, not on yourself.
Don’t practice in front of a mirror.
Never tell the audience you are nervous.
Label your physiological excitement as
positive rather than negative.
Talk positively about your presentation
to yourself.
Turn your energy into something
positive.
Get rid of your "rigid" rules about
speaking.
Be flexible and adaptive during your
presentation.
Understand that no presentation is
"that important."
Remember that you are not a good
judge of how nervous you appear.
Believe compliments on your
presentation.
Think! Plan ahead to avoid problems.
Coping with Stagefright, continued

Reducing stagefright is not easy. It

requires conscientious work on your
part. You’ll have to try the techniques
we’ve described in front of real audi-
ences. But, if you are well prepared and
willing to discard your misconceptions
about speaking, you can reduce and
maybe even conquer your stagefright.
And you will gain the flexibility and
confidence to transform a fearful ordeal
into an invigorating and successful
experience.

— JOHN DALY AND ISA ENGLEBERG

Further Reading
Avoiding Communication:Shyness,Reticence,
and Communication Apprehension, edited by John A.Daly,
James C.McCroskey,Joe Ayres,and Timothy Hopf
(1997,Hampton Press,528 pp.,$32.00,Tel.800-894-8955)

Conquer Your Speechfright:Learn How to Overcome

the Nervousness of Public Speaking by Karen Kangas Dwyer
(1998,Harcourt Brace College Publishers,112 pp.,
$21.00,Tel.800-544-6678)

Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking:A Proven Method

by Michael T. Motley (1997,Houghton Mifflin,140 pp.,
$14.76,Tel.800-225-1464 or 978-661-1300)

Never Be Nervous Again by Dorothy Sarnoff with

Gaylen Moore (1987,Fawcett Columbine,216 pp.,
$11.00, available through local and online bookstores)

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39
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ARTICLE REPRINT NO. C9906C

Getting the Most from

Presentation Software
BY CONSTANTINE VON HOFFMAN

41
 Getting the Most from
Presentation Software
Here are some pitfalls to avoid when putting together
the visual support for a speech.
YOU HAVE A BIG PRESENTATION coming
up and you want to put together some-
thing your listeners will really remem-
ber. You’ve sketched out a dynamic,
hard-hitting speech. Now you need the
visual aids to catch your audience’s
eyes. Most people turn to a presentation
software package like PowerPoint. But
clip art and shadow formats have been
used to death. How do you create
something fresh? Maybe low-tech, not
high-tech, is the answer. For example,
try a hand-lettered poster. It worked for
Ross Perot when he was running for
president in 1992, says Alan L. Brown,
author of Power Pitches: How to Pro-
duce Winning Presentations Using
Profits for Models Y
and Z are growing
at a faster rate than
for Model X
12 months sales performance
Models X, Y, Z
94 95 96
These two slides present the same information; the graph
is more memorable.
All figures from Power Pitches:How to Produce Winning Presentations Using Charts,Slides,Video & Multimedia by Alan Brown. Copyright ©1997 by The McGraw-Hill Companies.Reprinted by permission of the
McGraw-Hill Companies.
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Reverting to ink and paper may not be
appropriate for you. Hand-lettered dis-
play boards just don’t feel very profes-
sional. Multimedia displays have
become the norm at staff meetings,
conferences, and sales pitches. But
Kroeger insists that looking and being
professional are very different things.
“If there’s a reason to do it because it
affords an opportunity to create empha-
Charts, Slides, Video & Multimedia.
sis, that’s great,” Kroeger says. “But if
“Perot had an awful lot of rational peo-
it creates an impression that you’ve
ple saying, ‘this guy makes a lot of
designed in complexity, fanciness or
sense,’ and of course it was the power of
pizzazz for its own sake, then people
those images that did such a great job.”
are going to pay attention to the device
and not to the message.”
Using old-fashioned pen and paper
would not only make your presentation
Brown agrees: “Just as visuals can be
stand out from others, it would also free
powerful helpers, they can also be
you from the mistakes most people
powerful in terms of hurting you.” The
make when using Microsoft Power-
most common mistake is overindul-
Point, Corel Presentations, Freelance
gence—losing sight of the presentation
Graphics, Harvard Graphics, or other
objective and being enamored with the
presentation software.
software. “As a consequence the viewer
gets assaulted with all kinds of cuts and
“[There’s] too much on each slide,”
dissolves and spins and flips and twists
says Lin Kroeger, a New York–based
which take the attention off of the con-
consultant and author of
tent and put it more on to the device so
The Complete Idiot’s
you end up actually not communicating
Guide to Successful
as effectively,” he adds.
Business Presentations.
“Too many colors, too
OK, you say, no effects or animation
many fonts, too much
information. Slides are
unless it really, really helps drive home
the point, but what about text? Many
not supposed to be the
presentation, they’re
people believe that you need a lot of
words to convey a lot of information
supposed to support the
presentation.”
and presentation software lets you
Units
350
300 Acme
250
Model X
200
Model Y 150
100 Co. B
Model Z Co. C
50 Co. D
Co. E
0
Units
97 98 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Even visuals that begin well can become cluttered.
43
Presentation Software, continued
cram a lot of text onto one slide. Even if
you’re not using all sorts of gee-whiz
graphical elements you can still over-
whelm your audience with plain old
words. Says Brown: “Don’t try to put
the Gettysburg Address on one slide.”
Kroeger says many companies are to
blame for this avalanche of words
because they use PowerPoint and other
presentation software to create docu-
ments and then use those documents as
presentations. “That does not work,”
she says, “because you end up over-
whelming people with the visual rather
than using really good presentation
skills and presentation structure to
draw people through the argument.
That’s the thing you need the most help
on: Separating the usage of a Power-
Point or other software so that it is
being used to support a presentation or
a document. They’re not going to be the
same thing.”
The other problem with using all those
words is that too frequently the words
on the screen have no relationship to
what the speaker is actually saying.
“What you’re speaking about should
be very consistent with what’s on the
screen,” says Brown. “I see a lot of
cases where someone will put some-
thing up on the screen and maybe it’s
20, 30, 40 words up there and yet the
person speaking is saying some-
thing entirely different. So I’m trying to
read the slide and I’m trying to listen
to what the speaker has to say and
the net effect is that they cancel each
other out and I hear nothing.” The
result, he adds, is like watching a badly
dubbed foreign movie.
With all the risks in misusing Power-
Point or its like, there are times when
you may be better off with the ultimate
in low-tech: your voice. “If something
can be written in text form without
graphic support and you are reasonably
sure that it’s going to be perceived and
accepted and people can move on, why
are you wasting your time making it
fancy? If words will do it, leave it,” says
Kroeger.
44
to take away a concept, support it visu-
ally with pictures. If you want someone
to follow directions, give them the
words with strong, active action verbs
so that they get the point.”
Designing a good,
clear presentation
isn’t rocket science,
says Lin Kroeger,
“People who know
how to put together a
strong logical argu-
ment can put together
a good presentation.
A little bit of prun-
ing—going through and saying, ‘If I
deleted this, would I lose anything?’—
always helps. The more you strip stuff
out, the more you make the presenta-
tion an interactive dynamic, which is
the ideal.”
Pick the right visual for the message. — CONSTANTINE VON HOFFMAN
But don’t drop visual aids simply out of
fear of getting it wrong. According to a Further Reading:
University of Minnesota study, they
increase your chance of persuading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Successful Business
your audience to accept your position Presentations (Complete Idiot's Guide) by Lin Kroeger
(1997,Alpha Books,352 pp.,$16.95,available
by 43%; and they improve retention
through local and online bookstores)
by up to 38%, according to studies at
Harvard and Columbia universities. Power Pitches:How to Produce Winning Presentations
These studies’ conclusions mesh with Using Charts,Slides,Video & Multimedia
Kroeger’s own experience. “Most peo- by Alan L.Brown (1997,McGraw-Hill,185 pp.,$39.95,
ple think visually. If you want someone Tel.800-722-4726 or 212-512-2000)
How to Use Presentation Graphics Wisely
Each presentation software program has different features, but you can make a
good presentation with any of them if you follow these basic rules of thumb:
Be clear. Keep everything on Use strong graphics to under-
the topic. score points. Make sure there
Keep the visuals simple. Sure, is a reason for every illustration
that image of Monet’s Water and that that reason is easily
Lilies is attractive, but from the understood by your audience.
back of the room, it’s just a Be sure that the image is
pastel blur. legible and can be read.
Use a minimum of devices. And Be consistent. If what you’re
use them sparingly: if you have saying has nothing to do with
an animation bouncing around the slide you’re showing, either
through your entire presentation, you or it has to change.
it will probably distract from
everything else you do.
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R J U N E 1 9 9 9
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The Ten Commandments

of Presentations

45
 The Ten
Commandments
of Presentations
YOU’VE JUST BEEN promoted. Congrat-
ulations. You gave yourself a weekend
to enjoy the feeling, and now Monday
has arrived with its new responsibili-
ties. You have to address your new
team. Public speaking has always been
nerve-wracking for you, but this time is
special. You really want to make a good
impression right out of the starting
gate, and the team needs to be charged
up for the race ahead. For the first time
in your career, the stakes are beginning
to seem high.
It’s time to learn what really makes a
successful presentation. Forget the
rules you learned in high-school debate
or college communication classes. It’s
time for the rubber to hit the public
speaking road. It’s time for the Ten
Commandments of Presentations.
Thou shalt respect thine audience.
The only reason to feel nervous is to
use that adrenaline to speak with more
energy. Because presentations aren’t
about you, the speaker. They’re about
the audience. Good public speaking
begins with respecting the audience.
The moment you realize that it’s not
what you say that counts in the end, but
what the audience hears, you will be on
the road toward becoming a great
speaker. And you’ll forget about your
own nervousness.
How does that actually work in prac-
tice? You need to shift your focus from
your own symptoms to the audience’s
reception of your presentation. Con-
centrate on them. Make eye contact
for five or six seconds with people in
the front, left and right, and the
back. Watch their body language. Are
they engaged? Have they checked
out? If they have, stop and ask them
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
what’s on
their mind—
in the context
of the presen-
tation. Take
their “temper-
ature.” Move
in close to
selected parts of the audience, as close
as four feet. You’ll get them back.
Thou shalt keep thy slides to an
absolute minimum.
The ugly truth is that most
speakers use their
slides as a crutch to
help them limp through a lame presen-
tation, or as an outline for themselves
because they haven’t adequately pre-
pared for the talk. Rarely are slides
actually used for the purpose they are
best suited to: visually reinforcing key
points in a presentation.
lines of text did you use? How many
An enormous number of business peo- actual pictures? Microsoft clip art does
ple watch an even greater number of not count. It looks cheap, and everyone
slides day in and day out because knows you threw it in at the last minute.
speakers have half-learned a dubious Don’t use it.
wisdom, that there are “visual learners”
out there, and that a large number of
Thou shalt not tell thine audience
slides will help them learn. It’s time to
face the reality. Yes, one theory has it
how nervous thou art,but thou
that there are three kinds of learners— shalt tell it how thou feelest.
visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Yes, All public speakers want to be charis-
those visual learners do like pictures. matic. But charisma comes from hav-
They also like good metaphors, videos, ing something true and heartfelt to put
broad overviews, and enthusiastic ges- on the line in front of your audience.
tures. What they don’t like is one slide Charisma comes from the honest
after another packed with words—and expression of emotion when something
that’s what most speakers offer their real is at stake. To be a successful
audiences. No audience, and especially speaker, you have to confront yourself,
not one packed with visual learners, perhaps for the first time, and decide
likes slides with more than about six who you are and what you stand for.
lines of text on them. And the fewer of When you are able to share that with an
those the better. They like pictures. audience, they will stand up and cheer.
Think back to your last talk. How many Because you will have forgotten about
47
The Ten Commandments, continued
yourself and your nervousness and
given something real to them.
Thou shalt know what time it is
at all times.
The attention span of an audience
diminishes rapidly as the day goes on.
By dinner time, it’s 12 minutes or less.
If called upon to give an after-dinner
speech, especially if alcohol has been
served, keep it to seven minutes if you
can. You’re competing with the audi-
ence’s gastric juices, and gastric juices
always win.
Similarly, respect the time period set
aside for your presentation. If you’ve
agreed to speak for an hour, go for 45 or
50 minutes and stop for questions.
Never run long. Nobody ever asked a
public speaker for an encore. And don’t
keep people waiting for a meal. If
you’re the last speaker before lunch,
end a little early. They’re thinking
about their salads anyhow.
Thou shalt learn from thy masters.
Study the speeches of the great orators
of our day. There is almost always an
ethical dimension to their messages.
They first tell their audiences why they
should strive for some goal or attempt
to accomplish some task. Then they tell
them how. And then they give their
audiences something to do, either
rhetorically or actually. Most great
political speeches end with either a
rhetorical charge to the audience
(“Ask not what your country can do for
you—ask what you can do for your
country”) or a chance for the audience
to chant something back to the speaker
(Jesse Jackson’s “I am…somebody”).
This device moves the audience from
passive to active, and helps bring it
to the cause. Give your audiences
something to do, or they will remain
passive observers.
Thou shalt neither read nor memo-
rize a speech word for word.
The fastest way to kill an audience is to
read to them from a text at a podium.
Both the text and the podium separate
48
the speaker from his listeners. Why
should an audience have to work hard
to bridge the gap? But memorizing a
speech so you can leave the notes
behind can be equally deadening.
Unless you’re an accomplished actor,
you probably can’t recite lines with
anything like the life they need to keep
an audience engaged. Some speakers
find it useful to memorize the begin-
ning and ending of a presentation, in
order to begin and end error-free. But it
is better to adopt a conversational tone
throughout, speak from notes, and
practice until you’re comfortable with
the material.
Thou shalt remember the
difference between flirtation
and presentation.
Many presenters groom themselves
unconsciously during their talks
because of nervousness. If you’re prone
to this behavior, make yourself follow a
simple rule: when speaking, keep your
hands below your neck (and above your
waist). Grooming is a universally
understood sign of sexual interest in all
primates. Thus, you will send out a
confusing double message to your lis-
teners if you groom. On the one hand,
you will be saying, “Listen to me, what
I have to say is important.” And on the
other hand, your grooming will be say-
ing (subconsciously), “Aren’t I cute?
Don’t listen to what I’m saying. Look
at me.” The result is that the audience
will not take you seriously and neither
you nor your audience will know why.
Thou shalt give credit where
credit is due.
If you borrow other people’s thoughts
or words, credit them. Better yet, quote
them accurately. Judicious quotations
can add luster to a talk. A speech or pre-
sentation is a public occasion, and you
are expected to live up to public stan-
dards of honesty, fairness, and tact.
Moreover, check your facts and your
data for accuracy. Many a good speech
has been derailed by that single ques-
tion from the back of the room showing
the speaker’s facts to be wrong.
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R J U LY 1 9 9 9
Your listeners grant you credibility to
start with. They have voted with their
feet; they have come to hear you talk.
Thus, initially at least, they are hoping
that you will succeed. The credibility
they have given you is yours to lose.
Don’t tell your audience too little or too
much. Both tactics undermine credibil-
ity. Give your listeners enough support-
ing data to illustrate but not to exhaust.
And make sure it is accurate.
Thou shalt have a positive message.
Most people respond to a speaker who
has a scapegoat for the audience’s
problems. But an audience will not lis-
ten for long if that is all a speaker has.
Don’t get up to speak in front of a group
of people unless you have something
positive to offer. Listeners give you
their trust provisionally: they assume
that you are an authority, that you do
have something to say. Like credibility,
trust is yours to lose.The fastest way to
lose it is to give only negative mes-
sages. Listeners are looking to you for
two things, primarily: to identify their
problems, and to solve them. By doing
both, you cement the bond of trust
between you and them.
Thou shalt tell thine own story.
There are two secrets for great public
speaking: enjoying yourself, and
telling a strong, coherent story. It is dif-
ficult to accomplish the former without
having the latter. Take the time to
develop a story that comes from your
own thoughts and beliefs. If you’re fun-
damentally telling someone else’s tale,
you’ll never achieve that happy state
where you and your listeners are as one,
and you’re all having a great time.
Follow these commandments, and with
practice you’ll become a speaker peo-
ple turn to when they want to hear
something significant and lasting. And
remember, a presentation belongs to its
listeners. If they don’t get it, no com-
munication has taken place, and every-
one’s time has been wasted.
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Better Brainstorming
BY REBECCA M. SAUNDERS

49
 Better Brainstorming
The experts show how to breathe new life
into a familiar technique.
YOU HAVE BROUGHT together a group
of co-workers to come up with a new
software product to challenge Micro-
soft. Ideas flow readily at the start of
your brainstorming session, but then the
group seems to dry up. Worse, as you
look at the flip-chart of ideas, you don’t
see any “aha” thoughts. What can you
do to recharge the group? Are there cre-
ative problem-solving and innovation
techniques that you can use to stimulate
new thinking? What did you do wrong
to wind up in this spot, anyway?
Here, brainstorming experts share with
us a few ways to keep ideas flowing and
make your brainstorming sessions
more productive—both in quantity and
quality of ideas.
Invite innovative thinkers to your
meeting. Bryan Mattimore, author of
99% Inspiration and president of The
Mattimore Group in Stamford, Conn.,
admits it may be easier to facilitate a
group of people with whom you work
regularly, but he also points out that
that method could produce stale ideas.
Instead, assemble your firm’s super-
stars. While it may require more work
to manage the egos in the room, the
new perspectives they bring will make
it worthwhile. Arthur B. VanGundy,
author of Idea Power and head of the
creativity consulting firm VanGundy &
Associates (Santa Barbara, Calif.),
refers to these outsiders as “brainboost-
ers,” and he suggests you might not
want to limit your selection to those
within your organization. To spark
group thinking, he proposes bringing in
people from outside the organization.
But try not to have more than five to
seven people in the room. If you do
have a large group, break it down into
smaller groups to work, then come
together to share ideas.
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Include the group in defining the
problem. Be sure that your group has
a handle on the problem, says Van-
Gundy. If you have research data, share
it with them. If you have written corpo-
rate mandates, pass those along, too.
Distribute such information in advance
of the meeting to give participants
study time. And take some time at the
beginning of the session to make sure
everyone’s on the same page.
Don’t allow good ideas to be dis-
counted if they have flaws. Jack Ric-
chiuto, author of Collaborative Cre-
ativity and a creativity consultant in
Cleveland, points out that some good
ideas don’t get the consideration they
deserve. They are flawed, or come with
baggage, perhaps. To ensure all ideas
make it to the flip-chart, Ricchiuto sug-
gests beginning the session by telling
participants not to worry about imple-
mentation. The group can engage in
secondary problem solving once it has
identified a worthwhile solution to its
initial problem. Says Ricchiuto, “Even
the most attractive idea has some
secondary problem. Participants
should be told to look at these simply as
opportunities to evolve good ideas into
great ones.”
Protect fragile egos by giving shyer
participants anonymity. When the
flow of ideas slows to a trickle, Matti-
more uses “brainwriting” not only to
generate more but to do so in a non-
threatening manner. One person writes
down a suggestion on a piece of
paper and passes the paper to the next
person, who writes down a follow-up
suggestion based on what the first per-
son has said. After the paper goes
around the room, ideas are read off and
added to the flip-chart. According to
Mattimore, the process not only gener-
ates hundreds of ideas—it’s also fun.
“Because no one knows who wrote
what,” he adds, “it is also comfortable
for those who fear ridicule for propos-
ing a silly idea.”
Purge the group of old ideas. Van-
Gundy likes to start a meeting with
brainwriting, not only because it is a
way to get participation from everyone
in the room but also because it is an
effective way to let participants share
the ideas they have brought to the meet-
ing. Group members may be better able
to concentrate on new solutions once
their old ideas have been acknowl-
edged by the group.
Change the meeting pace by adding
some physical activity to wake peo-
ple up. Mattimore does this via “brain-
walking,” a variation of brainwriting.
The team leader hangs large sheets of
paper around the room. One version
of brainwalking has the same question
on each sheet; another variation has a
different but related question on each
sheet. Participants are asked to walk
around the room, look at what’s on the
chart, and then add their thoughts,
building on what’s already written.
Afterwards, the group analyzes the
various ideas to see if there are some
common thoughts from which the
group can build a solution. Even if
there is no answer, the physical activity
can raise members’ energy levels,
encouraging further brainstorming
based on the comments on the flip-
charts.
Question assumptions. Use brain-
storming sessions to rethink problems
in new ways. Assumptions about the
problem can also be used to trigger new
thinking, using a technique called
“assumption reversals” developed by
consultant Steve Grossman. Here’s
how the technique works, according to
VanGundy: record all major assump-
tions about a problem on a flip-chart;
then reverse each assumption. Let’s say
you have been asked to reduce operat-
ing expenses by 20% while increasing
output by 40%. There are two open
51
Better Brainstorming, continued
positions in your department. If you
eliminate those, you could meet the
first objective but not the second.
Reversing the problem, you could add
not two but four people and meet the
output goal. How would you do this?
One option would be to outsource the
work. The group can focus on either the
first half of the problem or second half,
and develop a variety of solutions.
Move away from the problem. Some-
times awareness of a problem can hin-
der creative thinking about it. People
come to the brainstorming session with
the feeling that everything has already
been tried and with doubts about the
possible success of any ideas. This
makes it harder on the leader to sustain
enthusiasm. Under such circumstances,
VanGundy suggests stating the purpose
of the brainstorming and thereby the
nature of the problem in a more abstract
form. For instance, the real problem
might be a gap between service
promised and service delivered but the
problem that the leader puts on the
table might be how to improve the qual-
ity of corporate promotions of its ser-
vices. Once the group generates solu-
tions for several minutes, the team
leader would introduce a slightly less
abstract concept for discussion—say,
how promotions could better reflect
quality of services. Finally, closing the
gap to the real problem, the leader
would ask the group how services
52
might be improved to give the advertis-
ing department realistic points to make
in promotional copy.
Have fun. VanGundy has developed a
number of techniques that may sound
silly but often generate new ideas from
the sense of freedom they generate in
the room and also from the fact that
they stimulate physical activity. For
instance, a paper airplane is thrown
around the room. As members of the
group catch it, each is asked to put his
or her idea on a wing of the plane. Once
the plane lands, the ideas are trans-
ferred to the flip-chart and used to trig-
ger further thoughts. Another technique
is to use balloons, with notes inside that
are related to the problem. As the bal-
loons burst, the slips of paper are
retrieved and the words on them are
used to trigger ideas. VanGundy will
also bring stacks of magazines into the
room and ask group members to search
through them and rip out any picture or
article or even phrase that triggers a
related thought.
Know when enough is enough.
Brainstorming sessions can be men-
tally demanding, and consequently
there is a point at which even the most
creative idea generation technique
won’t work, says Ricchiuto. Better to
schedule a second meeting to discuss
ideas already identified and generate
further ones than force an exhausted
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R N O V E M B E R 1 9 9 9
group to stay together. If you take a full
day, you can wind up with angry, alien-
ated individuals unwilling to partici-
pate in future brainstorming sessions.
Morning sessions seem to be more pro-
ductive than afternoon sessions; if you
plan to begin in the morning and go
through the afternoon, provide a light
lunch (heavy meals can weigh down
creative thinking), and add break-out
sessions or other alternative brain-
storming techniques to start the after-
noon. Wind up by mid-afternoon.
— REBECCA M. SAUNDERS
Further Reading:
99% Inspiration:Tips,Tales,and Techniques for Liberating
Your Business Creativity by Bryan Mattimore (1993,
AMACOM,180 pp.,$17.95,Tel.800-262-9699 or
518-891-1500)
AHA! Ten Ways to Free your Creative Spirit and Find Your
Great Ideas by Jordan E.Ayan (1997,Crown Publishing,
256 pp.,$15.00,available through local and
online bookstores)
Collaborative Creativity:Unleashing the Power of
Shared Thinking by Jack Ricchiuto (1996,Oak Hill Press,
$12.95,available through local and
online bookstores)
Idea Power:Techniques & Resources to Unleash
the Creativity in Your Organization by Arthur B.VanGundy
(1992,AMACOM,246 pp.,$24.95,Tel.800-262-9699
or 518-891-1500)
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ARTICLE REPRINT NO. C9912E

Broadway Meets Wall Street:

Theatre Training for Better
Business Presentations
BY TOM KRATTENMAKER

53

Broadway Meets
Wall Street
Theatre training for better business presentations
B L A M E I T O N rapid-fire MTV-style
television or the ever-faster barrage of
advertisements, e-mails, and telephone
calls, but business communicators need
more than words to vie for space in
their audiences’ clogged attention
spans. Increasingly, presenters are
embracing the idea of communication
as performance, and they are turning to
a logical source for guidance and inspi-
ration—the theatre.
“Most people who enter into theatre-
based training will, sooner or later,
decide that they are being asked to
unlearn everything they ever thought
about presentations. That’s pretty close
to true,” says Paul Basile, director of
marketing communications for the
Boston Consulting Group, who first
sought out theatrical training 10 years
ago and often recommends it to clients.
“Any business conference is, or should
be, theatrical in the most positive sense.
It should be entertaining, compelling,
professional, memorable, and personal,
and its first concern should be for the
audience. Business presentations typi-
cally lack most of those attributes.”
Martha Burgess, an actress and founder
of the Atlanta-based consulting com-
pany Theatre Techniques for Business
People, often encounters resistance
when businesspeople are introduced to
the concept. Won’t they appear inap-
propriately melodramatic if they “act”
in the business setting? “No,” says
Burgess. “Great actors feel real, honest
emotion. We businesspeople must
come from the same honest place
whether we are communicating on ver-
bal or nonverbal levels. Melodrama
occurs when there is a detachment from
true feelings, when people ‘put on’
what they think they should be feeling.”
Copyright © 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Paradoxically, Burgess and other con-
sultants believe the acting model
teaches business communicators to be
more authentic than when they are
“Any business conference is,or should be,
theatrical in the most positive sense.
It should be entertaining,compelling,professional,
memorable,and personal,and its first concern
should be for the audience.”
bound by conventional notions of deco-
rum—“acting” professional.
Here are some simple ways the busi-
ness communicator can begin to apply
the actors’ craft to the pursuit of better
presentations:
Unlock your presence
There is a common belief that “stage
presence” is something you’re born
with—that certain people possess a set
of arresting physical attributes or a
natural magnetism that commands
attention. But this “either-you-have-it-
or-you-don’t” notion doesn’t wash with
Burgess and other practitioners of
theatre-based business coaching. They
believe that all people have presence
and merely need to learn how to unleash
it. Says Burgess, who is 4'10": “I’m the
last person in the world you’d expect to
be lecturing high-powered businesspeo-
ple, but presence has nothing to do with
your body.” That’s the good news. The
challenge is this: Without presence,
other tricks or techniques for better
presenting make little difference.
The central coaching concept of The-
atre Techniques for Business People is
that effective business presenting, like
fine acting, flows out of “performance
energy.” This is defined as a peak-per-
formance state of the mind and body in
which brain and muscles work as one,
all cylinders firing, with complete
absorption in the material and moment.
It’s a state of being “on.”
Convinced that peak performance
doesn’t depend on the perfect room or
the right alignment of the stars, Burgess
and her fellow coaches have clients
develop a personal “trigger” that
enables them to summon performance
energy on command. As part of a train-
ing process that lasts 10 to 12 weeks,
Burgess’s students take part in exercises
in which they rev up their energy by
running in place or doing jumping
jacks. While memorizing the energized
feeling, they choose a visual or auditory
image that they associate with the
heightened physical energy—a rising
thermometer, for example. By the time
they finish the training, Burgess says,
her students can call up the energized
state merely by taking a moment to
focus on their trigger.
While the specific technique and lan-
guage differ, the Ariel Group in Cam-
bridge, Mass., likewise teaches its
clients to concentrate on developing
presence. “We describe it as using your
full self,” says company cofounder
Kathy Lubar. “Actors talk about this
ability possessed by people with pres-
ence to make the room their own, to
make it their space, and to invite the
audience in.” Applying this theatre con-
cept to the business world, Ariel’s
55
Theatre Training, continued

teaching model revolves around the
first four letters of “presence”—“P” for
being completely present, not dis-
tracted by your tie or notes or anything
external to the moment and presenta-
tion; “R” for reaching out and involv-
ing the audience through questions,
stories, eye contact, etc.; “E” for being
expressive—appropriately animated,
with vocal variety; and “S” for self-
knowledge, for having a confident cer-
tainty about who you are and what
you’re trying to accomplish with your
speech and, for that matter, your career.
Meanwhile, the Actors Institute in New
York City emphasizes an approach to
business presentations as a form of
artistic expression. Its teaching holds
that the key to success is establishing a
personal relationship with the audi-
ence. The institute’s coaches use acting
exercises to nudge executives out of
thinking that they need to be formal and
tightly controlled—i.e., stiff—if they
are to project professionalism and dig-
nity from the dais.
Don’t hide
Actors are taught on Day One not to
commit the cardinal sin of turning their
backs on the audience. There is sound
reasoning behind this conventional
wisdom: if you’re not facing the audi-
ence, it is impossible to maintain the
open communication channel on which
effective presenting depends. You need
to see the audience; the audience needs
to see you. Though perhaps less obvi-
ous, covering the midsection of the
body by crossing the arms or legs is
another form of hiding, Burgess notes.
Uncovering might heighten the feeling
of vulnerability, but it is crucial to con-
necting with an audience.
Technology has brought ever-fancier
ways of hiding. “PowerPoint is a
killer,” says Gifford Booth, a director at
the Actors Institute. “One client had
been giving these hour-long presenta-
tions with 60 or 70 slides. They were
basically just reading the text that
appeared on the screen. No relationship
was formed with the audience. What
we’ve done with them is take away the
slides. To be effective, you have to be a
real person standing in front of real
people. You have to talk to them.”
This is not to say that there is never a
time or place for audio, visual, or
printed material in presentations. But
as Booth stresses, be sure that such
material enhances, rather than inhibits,
human-to-human communication.
Be passionate
Passion is something one expects from
a performer of music or drama, but
from a business presenter? Absolutely,
says Booth. It doesn’t mean you need to
shout and weep or leap about the
podium. It means communicating the
material with conviction, emotion, and
a natural level of animation. None of
that is possible without what Booth
terms a “relationship with the mater-
ial”—believing in what you’re saying.
Much of his coaching involves helping
executives find an approach to the sub-
ject that stokes their passion.

Case in point: Booth once worked with

a utilities executive who had to speak to
Use stories to connect with your listeners his company’s union members about
safety rules, a seemingly mind-numb-
Belle Linda Halpern, cofounder of the Ariel Group, was working with an ing subject. But Booth helped him find
oil executive who faced a serious communications challenge. His com- an angle that aroused his passion; the
pany had recently joined forces with a company from Australia, and the executive’s father had been a union
executive was preparing a speech in which he would attempt to persuade member, and because of that, he had a
his reluctant work team to accept the Australian newcomers as partners. real affinity for the rank-and-file and a
Cognizant of the value of a telling narrative in reaching and moving an genuine concern for their well-being on
audience in both the theatre and business settings, Halpern helped the the job. He was able to turn a boring
executive find a story. lecture into an uplifting acknowledg-
ment of the workers and their contribu-
The man remembered an occasion from his youth when he had been an tion to the company. “All of a sudden, it
outsider. His family had moved to a new community. He loved baseball, became his personal expression,”
but the local boys never picked him for their side when dividing up into Booth says, “and when an audience
teams for a game. So he sat on the bench, day after day, until someone hears someone’s personal expression,
finally chose him for his team. The boys soon learned of the error of their they’re going to feel their time was
ways: The new kid hit two home runs in that first game and gained imme- well-spent.”
diate acceptance.

“Those kids would never have known how good he was if they hadn’t Rehearse
picked him,” Halpern says. “The oil executive wanted his work team to Rare is the theatre company that goes
think of the Australians as that kid on the bench, waiting for a chance to into opening night without the director
contribute. Almost everyone has had that feeling of being left on the running the cast through weeks and
bench. A story like that can get people emotionally involved.” weeks of rehearsals. The actors have
mastered their lines, places, and cues

H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 9
56
Theatre Training, continued
well enough to focus their energy on
the audience and the more nuanced
shades of acting that bring the perfor-
mance to life. Similarly, business
speakers can benefit tremendously
from theatre-style rehearsing. Booth
and other coaches suggest running
through the speech with a coach or col-
leagues serving as a constructively crit-
ical audience. Find out what works and
what doesn’t, which lines connect and
which fly over your audience members’
heads. Learn your “lines” well enough
to allow you to keep your eyes with the
audience and not locked on your notes.
Overcome stage fright
Well-known are the anecdotes about
Laurence Olivier, the extraordinarily
accomplished British actor who, even
in his fifties, was known to suffer
vomit-inducing bouts of nerves before
a performance. The point is that theatre
people have been battling and conquer-
ing stage fright over the ages, and busi-
ness people can do the same, often by
using some tricks of the stage.
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 9
The simplest and most universally rec-
ommended method is to breathe
deeply. Human instinct drives people to
take shallow, quick breaths when
they’re afraid. Taking several deep
breaths just before walking to the dais
can calm the fight-or-flight instinct,
induce relaxation, and allow your mind
to refocus on the material and audience.
Eric Maisel, a psychologist and creativ-
ity consultant who works with actors,
musicians, and business presenters,
describes many theatre-based tech-
niques for overcoming stage fright in
his book Fearless Presenting: A Self-
Help Workbook for Anyone Who
Speaks, Sells, or Performs in Public.
Among other methods, Maisel recom-
mends an exercise in which an actor or
speaker relaxes different muscle
groups in sequence. You begin by
relaxing the forehead, then other por-
tions of the face, then the arms, the legs,
and the rest of the body. Also helpful
are meditation and guided visualiza-
tions in which a speaker pictures her-
self in tranquil and confidence-boost-
ing scenes. A practical application of
that approach is to picture yourself at
the dais, speaking with confidence and
panache, moments before you step up
to begin the real thing.
Once you’re underway, Maisel urges,
get outside yourself and your preoccu-
pation with how well or poorly you’re
doing. Lose yourself in the material.
“Concentrate on the song,” he says,
“instead of the fact that you’re the one
performing.”
— TOM KRATTENMAKER
Further Reading:
Fearless Presenting:A Self-Help Workbook for Anyone
Who Speaks,Sells,or Performs in Public by Eric Maisel
(1997,Watson–Guptill Publications,176 pp.,$16.95,
available through local and online bookstores)
57
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ARTICLE REPRINT NO. C0002E

Public Speaking
According to the Experts

59
 Public Speaking
According to the Experts
The latest word on successful speechmaking
A study of executives has revealed
that their number-one fear is public
speaking. Three experts recently
focused on different aspects of this dif-
ficult art, proposing several methods
for reducing fear and increasing suc-
cess. Taken together, they offer a quick
course in a task that demands achieve-
ment on a number of different fronts
simultaneously.
It’s not what you say,
it’s how you say it.
Spring Asher and Wicke Chambers
emphasize physical presence in Wooing
& Winning Business: The Foolproof
Formula for Making Persuasive Busi-
ness Presentations. Know your infor-
mation, they counsel, and especially,
know your opening and closing “cold.”
In fact, memorize them. Anticipate
what questions listeners will ask, and
prepare answers. Practice. Arrive early
and get familiar with your surround-
ings. Above all, give yourself lots of
opportunities to speak. Familiarity
breeds comfort.
For Asher and Chambers, principals of
Speechworks, a speech and media
training firm in Atlanta, how you say
your message is more important than
what you say. Begin with confidence,
they recommend, and finish with
energy. Vary your pitch, your pace, and
your expressions. Above all, pauses are
powerful. Pause to build interest and
suspense and to show that you are in
control.
Develop a positive mental attitude by
thinking positively and indulging in
positive self-talk. Focus on the audi-
ence, not on yourself. And if you’re
really nervous, work off some of that
energy by exercising beforehand.
Copyright © 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Establish and regularly practice a calm-
ing routine of physical exercises such
as tensing and releasing your major
muscle groups. Breathe from your
diaphragm. Make eye contact as you
speak, and fake comfort until you actu-
ally begin to feel it. Make big, open
hand gestures that reach toward your
audience rather than self-protective
ones that close you off to your audi-
ence, such as crossing your arms or
putting your hands in front of you in
the classic “fig leaf” position.
It’s not how you say it,
it’s what you say.
Nido R. Qubein, in contrast, stresses
what you say over how you say it in
How to Be a Great Communicator: In
Person, on Paper, and on the Podium.
The key, Qubein says, is to paint pow-
erful visual images in the minds of your
listeners with four devices: repetition,
reinforcement, feedback, and applica-
tion.
While many presenters seem to believe
that repetition is boring, audiences in
fact appreciate it, says Qubein, because
it helps them remember what you have
to say. You can make it less boring and
easier to remember by stating your
message in several different ways. You
can summarize what you’ve said by
repeating the key thoughts. You can
reinterpret your thoughts by restating
them metaphorically. And you can sim-
ply launch into repetition by saying,
“Remember what I said earlier….”
Reinforcement, according to Qubein,
a consultant and motivational speaker,
is just as important as repetition. He
recommends accomplishing it in three
ways: visually, verbally, and with sup-
porting data. You reinforce visually
with slides, transparencies, objects you
pass around, demonstrations, and the
like. Verbally, you can paint word pic-
tures that emphasize the senses—the
look, touch, taste, smell, and sound of
the message you’re trying to get across.
And you can convey information in sta-
tistical images, as long as they are vivid
and expressed in strong, simple terms.
For example, don’t say “The budget
deficit is $400 billion dollars”—such
By asking your listeners
questions in Socratic dialogue
as you proceed through
your talk, you can see how
well they are assimilating
your message.
numbers have little meaning for most
of us. Rather, say, “The budget deficit is
so large that, if it were piled up in dollar
bills, it would reach all the way to the
moon and back—seven times.”
Feedback further allows you to deter-
mine if your audience has got the point
or not. By asking your listeners ques-
tions in Socratic dialogue as you pro-
ceed through your talk, you can see how
well they are assimilating your mes-
sage. And application simply means
demonstrating the important points of
your talk with physical objects or activ-
ities. If you wish to talk about a new
building project, for example, bring a
model of the building—don’t just talk
about it.
No,really,it’s how you put
your message together.
Finally, in Knockout Presentations:
How to Deliver Your Message with
Power, Punch, and Pizzazz, speech
coach Diane DiResta argues that struc-
ture is the key to a great presentation.
She outlines six steps to convincing
your listeners of the worth of your ideas.
First, you must “hook” your listeners.
By beginning with what’s on their
61
Public Speaking, continued
minds, you can grab their interest from
the start. Find their “hot buttons” and
push them. Audiences are fickle; get
them quickly or not at all.
Then, identify an issue that your listen-
ers are grappling with. What are their
problems or needs? Once you have
focused on those needs, you can pre-
sent your recommendations.You
should be specific and clear, but go
light on the detail.
Spend more time on the benefits of
your idea, product, or service. What’s
in it for your audience? Once you’ve
presented the benefits, you can provide
evidence for your point of view—sta-
tistics, analogies, historical data, expert
testimony, anecdotes, or case studies.
The sixth and final step has two parts:
first, summarize the issues, your rec-
ommendations, and the benefits to the
audience. Then you’re ready to ask the
audience to take action—call you, sign
something, or allow you to demonstrate
a product or close the sale.
Hook, issues, recommendation, bene-
fits, evidence, summary, and action.
That’s how to create a persuasive pre-
sentation every time—as long as you
remember to use your body language to
“show up” powerfully, and find novel
ways to repeat key messages. Come to
think of it, giving a successful presenta-
tion still sounds terrifying.
Further Reading:
How to Be a Great Communicator:In Person,on Paper,
and on the Podium by Nido R.Qubein (1997,John Wiley
& Sons,249 pp.,$16.95,Tel.800-225-5945)
Knockout Presentations:How to Deliver Your Message
with Power,Punch,and Pizzazz by Diane DiResta
(1998,Chandler House Press,300 pp.,$15.95,
available through local and online bookstores)
Wooing & Winning Business:The Foolproof Formula
for Making Persuasive Business Presentations
by Spring Asher and Wicke Chambers (1997,John Wiley
& Sons,224 pp.,$16.95,Tel.800-225-5945)
62
How do you deliver an important speech
successfully? Mimic the masters.
How do you create a great speech? First, study the greats
who have come before you, according to Richard Dowis, author
of The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One, How to
Deliver It. Dowis offers a primer of tips on how to prepare and
deliver that important speech you can’t afford to muff, as well as
a juicy selection of classic speeches to study.
The work begins well before you speak, Dowis argues. In fact,
it begins before you accept the invitation to speak. Don’t accept
a speaking engagement unless you are clear about the reason for
it, the audience, your competence, and the timing. Unless all
these speaking stars are properly aligned, your speech cannot be
a success.
Then, prepare to write by first summing up the main purpose of
your speech in a paragraph. What do you hope to get out of it?
What do you want your audience to get out of it? Create a “road
map” or outline, that covers all the main points. Next, cross out
all but the three most important. Audiences’ attention spans and
memories are notoriously short. Just give ’em the essentials.
Dowis recommends that you actually write out your speech—or
hire someone like him to do it. He doesn’t have much faith in
either the ability of most people to “wing it” or the efficacy of
PowerPoint slide presentations. They only take the attention
away from the speaker, where it belongs.
He gives a number of suggestions for clever beginnings. His
favorites are humorous and surprising starts, but he admonishes
that they must be used with caution. The fastest way to kill a
speech is to start with a lame joke.
Make your closing appropriate to the rest of the speech, Dowis
counsels. If the speech is long and passionate, it calls for a
strong, full paragraph at the end. Don’t just stop.
How should you deliver your masterpiece? Dowis advises mak-
ing eye contact, pausing powerfully, and pronouncing words
correctly. Above all, don’t forget to rehearse in front of someone
who will be reasonably honest about how you’re doing. Many a
great written speech failed to have much impact because it was
poorly delivered.
Beginning with Dowis’ sensible advice will allow you to start
and end well. Isn’t it worth the effort?
The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One, How to
Deliver It by Richard Dowis (1999, AMACOM, 272 pp.,
$14.95, Tel. 800-262-9699)
H A R VA R D M A N A G E M E N T C O M M U N I C AT I O N L E T T E R F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0
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