Free E-BOOK Making your presentations more powerful

the MINIMAL™ way By M.S.Ramgopal

Courtesy: Metamorph, a training company

Introduction

What comes to your mind when you think of a ‘regular’ PowerPoint®

presentation?

Do you get the image of busy slides with rows and rows of text,

followed by incomprehensible graphs and tables?

Welcome to the club! You are not alone.

Unfortunately, what passes for ‘regular’ presentations in corporate

board rooms and educational institutions is an insult to human

intelligence. Every day thousands of people hurt each other with

bullet points.

If you have been in the corporate world for even a year, you would

have already developed an impenetrable immune system to the

‘regular’ slide attacks.

So, the natural question you might have in your mind is – “Do I really

need to be trained to make presentations?”

My answer is ‘No’.

You read it right. You do not need any training on presentations, if all

you want to do is to stand up there and subject your audience to

another ‘regular’ presentation.

Your audience would any way keep nodding their heads politely

(whenever they briefly come back from their mental vacation). After

all, it is a skill they have been practicing from their college days. They

know they are better off sitting and nodding their head, than to go

there and make a presentation themselves.

But, if you want to make a presentation that brings a meaningful

difference to you and the audience, you need to be trained. You

need to make an honest commitment to yourself to work on your skill.

Unless you are truly committed to add impact to your presentations,

there is no point in going ahead with the rest of this document. You

may click on the little box on the top right column of the screen and

save your time.

If you are reading this sentence, then I assume that you have made

the commitment to add power to your presentations. Congratulations!

You have made the right decision.

You are wasting your potential as a leader of your business, as a

trainer of a team, as a sales person of your product/service by letting

your presentations to be at the ‘regular’ levels. It is time to shift from

the ‘regular’.

You need a better method to create presentations to register your

ideas in the minds of your audience.

You need a powerful yet simple method to hold the attention of your

audience and persuade them to buy your products during your group

sales presentations.

You need a practical way to inspire your teams to go beyond their call

of duty.

In this report, I will introduce you to such a method. I will show you a

remarkable new way to present your ideas. I will teach you a process

that will take your presentations from the ‘regular’ levels to superior

levels.

Of course I can not teach you the whole process in this ‘free report’.

You may consider buying our ‘Make Powerful presentations’ CD to

understand the process completely. All you need to do is to send us a

mail requesting for ‘Make Powerful Presentations’ CD to

MPP@metamorphtraining.com. (The CD MRP is Rs. 1999/-).

However in this report, I will try to give you as much information as

possible to bring a meaningful change in your approach to

presentations.

Let us begin the journey…

Chapter I: The story of ‘Regular Raghu’

Why do people make ‘regular’ presentations?

You will find the answer when you listen to the story of ‘Regular

Raghu’. When there is a ‘Razor’ Ramon and ‘Iron’ Tyson, why not

Regular Raghu? Huh!

Raghu is Branch manager of ‘The Usual Company Ltd.’. This is the

story of his presentation to his CEO.

Regular Raghu follows the world famous ‘Gather and Crop’ method

followed by any regular presenter. Here is the step by step account of

the process…

Raghu started preparation for his presentation just 2 days prior to the

CEO’s visit. (You feel this is unfair? You think he deserved to be

given more time to prepare for his presentation? Relax. Raghu knew

about CEO’s visit from a month before. Only that he was so caught

up in his routine tasks that he never found time to create the

presentation earlier).

So, he started his preparation by opening the ‘Powerpoint® program

on his computer. On the first slide, he wrote the topic of his

presentation – ‘My branch performance’.

Then he launched a global hunt to pool in all the slides that have ever

been made on the topic he mentioned on the first slide.

He gathered slides from his earlier presentations and from the

presentations made by his colleagues in the past. He ‘imported’

slides from the marketing team, HR team and even from some

strange website he sniffed out from Google. He always believed in

fair opportunity to all slides. If a slide had any trace of connection to

the topic on his first slide, it deserved a place in his ‘first cut’. Jitney

sev; utni juice (The more the apples, the more the juice) – is his

favorite quote.

Once he finished making his monster ‘first cut’ presentation which

had an obscene number of slides (413 to be precise), he launched

his next phase.

He had to crop his first cut presentation to fit into the time allocated.

So, like a master strategist, he worked backwards.

Since he knew that he only had 30 minutes to present, and each slide

‘regularly’ took one minute to explain, he wanted the final

presentation to have 30 slides.

But, the task of cropping the first cut proved more difficult than he

imagined. He could not make up his mind on what to remove. Every

point in every slide seemed important enough to be included in the

presentation.

Somehow, after a lot of struggle Raghu managed a 42-slide

presentation, with the hope of speeding through the material within

the given time. He also attached a 37 slides presentation as a back

up (which he skillfully hid at the end) just in case the CEO asked

questions related to aspects not included in the presentation.

He ensured that his slides had great graphs which showed the

performance trend of every staff for the past 2 years. He also

included tables for his performance versus target in each of the

product categories for each month for the last 2 years. He simply

could not wait to parade those numbers to his CEO.

The D-day finally arrived. Raghu started with a fierce determination to

finish all the slides in the allotted time, and even eke out some grace

time to unhide the hidden slides to showcase the branch in all its

glory.

But, to his horror, the CEO got stuck on the third slide for 15 minutes.

He started asking all the uncomfortable questions from the graphs.

Unfortunately, Raghu did not expect the CEO to notice those ‘extra

details’ which were present as part of the page. Raghu stood there

like a novice Italian bull fighter who only knew how to draw the

attention of the bull, and had no clue how to deflect its fury.

As expected, CEO ‘suddenly realized’ that he was expected

somewhere else. On his way out, he requested Raghu to send the

slides to his office.

Regular Raghu lost a great opportunity to make an impression on his

seniors. He felt guilty that he let down his team, which worked so

hard to produce great results that were worth showcasing.

But ‘Regular Raghu’ quickly consoled himself by blaming Power

point® program for the debacle. He told himself, “I guess this is the

best I can come up with, given the limitations of the program. To my

credit, I gave the slides a ‘cool’ look by using a jazzy template from

one of the websites. I even used some nice animations and

transitions to keep the interest of the audience alive. I admit that my

slides were packed with content. But then, how can I leave free white

space on a slide, considering that there is recession everywhere?

Does any one realize the effort it took to put together all those

detailed graphs? I deserve better. I am waiting for the world to

acquire the taste for my kind of presentations”

He promptly pressed the ‘unhide all’ option and sent all the 79 slides

to CEO’s office. Thus, one more presentation disappeared into

oblivion. Raghu moved on to gather the ‘first cut’ for his next

presentation due the next day morning.

Does the story of Regular Raghu ring a bell?

What is wrong with ‘Gather and Crop’ approach to presentations? Let

us find the answer in the next chapter.

However, if you want to get into action right away and learn a

revolutionary new approach to presentations, send a purchase

request for ‘Powerful Presentations’ CD to

‘MPP@metamorphtraining.com. Visit our website

http://www.metamorph.webs.com to view sample presentation and

know more about the CD, which is truly the first of its kind in India.

Chapter II: The difference starts from the very beginning

Einstein once said, “It takes genius to see the obvious”. You will

appreciate the brilliance of that observation when you see how

people create presentations.

Strangely, regular presentations differ from excellent presentations

not in their finer details, but in their obvious lapses.

There is a fundamental difference in the approach of a regular

presenter and an excellent presenter. Let us understand the

difference and the reasons for the difference.

We all learnt our approach to presentations from our regular

professors. We refined our skill in making regular presentations by

observing other regular presenters in the corporate world. The

approach and the look and feel of regular presentations are so much

a part of our DNA now, that anything different feels like violation of

our closely held beliefs.

We wish to remove the smoke screen in front of your eyes and

introduce you to a fresh approach to presentations based on two

simple values: Common sense and Simplicity. But before that, let us

learn how a regular professor approaches a presentation.

(Disclaimer: I wish to swear on my inner soul that I have great respect

for all the professors of this world. Without what they taught us, we

could not have progressed so far in our careers. The term ‘regular

professor’ denotes only those who make those drab presentations

which are more potent than the most effective tranquilizers. If you are

a professor reading this e-book, I unconditionally declare that I am

not referring to you as ‘regular professor’).

A regular professor has knowledge reservoir in his head. If you have

special powers to look inside that reservoir, you would see some

complex formulae, complicated equations, elaborate proofs for some

weird theorem all entangled like noodles floating in lots and lots of

words.

When he gets an opportunity to teach a class of students, he opens

the flood gates of the reservoir. He inundates students with

information, in the hope that at least something will stick after the

back wash. But, the result is not always favorable. By the time the

bell rings some students sink and some swim. The professor coolly

walks off to the next class to open the flood gates again.

This is what we call as ‘downloading approach to presentations’.

Since that is the only approach we were exposed to, we internalized

the approach and made it our own.

When we enter the corporate world, our default approach is to first

create the reservoir and then open the flood gates.

Breathe easy. There is a better approach, which is far simpler and far

more effective than the downloading approach. It is the approach of

an expert salesperson.

A sales person does not enter the room full of prospects with the

objective of displaying all that he knows in this holy universe. He has

one simple purpose in mind. He wants his audience to buy his point

of view and take action. His entire communication is targeted to

achieve this singular objective. He does not dump any more

information than what is absolutely necessary for the audience, to

take an informed decision.

An expert sales person focuses on ‘asking’ rather than ‘telling’. He

presents ‘benefits’ instead of ‘features’. He takes the effort to simplify

the complex information to make it easy for the audience to

understand. Such presentations are a treat to watch.

In short, the key difference between the approach of a ‘regular

professor’ and that of an ‘expert salesperson’ is – A professor thinks

‘from me to you’, whereas a salesperson thinks ‘from you to me’.

This simple difference is the foundation of our proprietary approach

called ‘Minimal approach to presentations™’

You can learn about how this revolutionary approach can transform

your presentations by placing a purchase request for Powerful

presentations CD by sending an email to

‘MPP@metamorphtraining.com’. You need our product if you care

about your career.

We will discuss the first step in creating a presentation in the next

chapter.

Chapter III: the 3 critical questions

Have you ever observed the expression on the face of a child, who is

tasked with an arduous responsibility of finishing a big bowl of

tasteless porridge?

That is the precise expression I see on the faces of people, when

they begin their preparation for a presentation. They doodle and

dawdle around the subject, till the proverbial kick in the butt comes in

the form of a reminder mail from the bosses.

Let me ease your pain a bit (you of course know what to do when you

want more information).

The secret key word for a great start in creating a presentation is

‘Clarity’.

You need clear answers for three questions:

1. Who is your target audience?

2. What do you want them to do?

3. Why should they do it?

Unless the above questions are answered you end up making

another ‘regular presentation’.

As you would have observed, there is no earth shattering intelligence

in those three questions. I even heard you mutter, “Elementary, my

dear Watson”. But strangely, it never occurs to regular presenters to

have answers to these basic questions, before they launch an

intellectual crusade.

So, let us start with the first question: Who is your target audience?

This innocuous question stumps most presenters. They just can’t

make up their mind if their presentation should pitch to the most

informed member in the audience, the most senior member in the

audience (on some rare occasions they overlap), the least informed

member or the least interested member in the audience.

The thumb rule is – ‘Pitch to the last person’.

Who is the last person?

The last person is the one who needs to take the intended action. It is

not to do with knowledge or interest levels. However, sometimes

when you make an information presentation on a new product or

process, the last person is the one who knows the least about the

subject.

The key is to have a clear view of this last person before you start

your preparation for the presentation. If need be, have his/her name

written down in front of you. If it helps, put his/her photo in front of

your face. The clearer you are about the last person, the sharper your

presentation gets.

Are you wondering if the others in the room will get bored if you

address only the last person? Not so! You can learn about methods

to make your presentations so that the last person as well as the

others stay with you right through by placing a purchase request for

Powerful presentations CD by sending an email to

‘MPP@metamorphtraining.com’.

Now, that you know the last person, it is time for the next question:

What do you want the person to do?

Regular presenters have this annoying habit of flirting, without ever

getting to proposing. It is because they were never clear about what

they want the audience to do in the first place.

Here is the remedy. Keep the last person’s photo in front of your face

and say aloud, “I want you to -------------------------------”. What you fill in

the blanks can make a big difference to your presentation.

The final step towards a clear beginning is to give strong reasons why

the last person should do what you ask him to do.

At this point you do not need to draw up a laundry list of reasons. Just

the top 3 reasons would be adequate.

For example: Raghu may try something like this…

Who is the last person?

The CEO of the company

What I want him to do?

To approve an additional headcount of 3 sales people for the branch.

Why should he do it?

1. Our per man productivity is highest among all the branches

2. Our market penetration in the catchment area of the branch is

just 12% due to inadequate sales force in the branch

3. There is a potential to add 1.2 Crores of revenue in the next 9

months with 3 additional sales people.

Do you see the structure of your presentation emerging? Do you see

what data to provide to strengthen your argument? Can you visualize

the CEO sitting up to take notice of your request?

That is the power of the 3 critical questions.

If you wish to know more about the subject and go through some

practical examples, send us a purchase request for our Powerful

presentations CD to MPP@metamorphtraining.com

I know you adequately practiced answering the 3 critical questions for

your presentations. Now what?

Chapter IV: Digging for insights

In the previous chapters we found that most regular presentations are

destined to fail from the word go, because the creators start dabbing

colors on the canvas, before making up their mind about what they

want to paint.

This chapter shows you how to create a thumbnail sketch before you

begin painting your masterpiece.

So far, you made a great start by having a clear purpose to your

presentation. Now, it is time to add depth to the points you include in

your presentation.

But, to get deep, insightful points is hard work. In fact, one of the key

reasons why people dread to create presentations is the time it takes

to get some good thoughts that are worth putting on the slides.

I understand, your presentations are too important for you to wait for

some divine inspiration to set in. You have too little time to lie soaking

in a bath tub and jump out naked shouting “Eureka! Eureka!!” You

need an efficient way to get your thoughts flowing quickly.

The answer to your problem is mind mining.

To understand mind mining, you need to first understand the way

ideas get generated in your mind.

Let me explain the idea generation process using a simple

comparison.

Have you ever tried to fill water from a tap immediately after filling an

empty tank? You will initially get no water in the tap. You will only

hear the noise of wind gushing through the tube. Then slowly water

starts to come through the tap. The water that comes initially is all

muddy. You have to throw away the water you collect initially, as it is

not usable.

Later on, once the flow settles, you begin to get clear water from the

tap. The water keeps flowing as long as there is water in the tank.

In the same way, when you start thinking about a new topic for the

presentation you may not get any ideas that are worth putting on the

slides. But, if you take time to exhaust those superfluous ideas, you

will start getting better ideas on the subject.

The deeper you get into a point, the more insightful the points begin

to be. It is these insights that make the difference between a regular

presentation and an excellent presentation.

I want to prove the way this works. Take a piece of paper. Write down

all the thoughts that come to your mind, when you think of the word –

egg. Now, pick on the words that came to you on the first round and

pen down all the thoughts that come to you. Remember to write only

the key words. Do this one more time. Now, the kind of ideas that you

get are far deeper and superior compared to the first set of ideas you

got when you thought about the word egg.

For example, the first set of thoughts that come to my mind when I

think about egg are – the white color of egg, the oval shape, the

weight of the egg etc.

Now, as I keep on, I start getting ideas on the egg being used to

make omelet, egg giving birth to chicken which in turn can be made

into a tasty dish etc.

If I delve deeper, I start getting thoughts about how egg represents

hope for a new life. The conceptual thoughts that come in the third

level, show a very different dimension to the topic I chose.

The process of mind mining is explained step-by-step in our CD-

Powerful Presentations. The CD covers way beyond what is covered

in this free E-book. It covers everything from thinking and structuring

for creating content, to creating visual slides and presenting data to

aspects of delivery.

To learn MINIMAL approach and completely change the way you

present, check our website Store or write to us at

mpp@metamorphtraining.com

End of this document