Two Case Studies
An important preparation before the seats are filled for your next business meeting is an evaluation of the meeting's presentations. This service combines several of the other services and the additional element of direction to ensure a powerful presentation. Following are two case studies. The first involves a team presentation and the other a solo presentation. They are best told in the first person.
Case 1:
A bank was preparing to hold a leadership meeting for their branch managers and special teams, like mortgages, and automobile loans. One presentation involved a support team. It is my practice to sit in the rehearsal without introducing myself, but clearly there to take notes. It makes the presenters a little uneasy, but that helps prepare them for the experience of presenting to others they may not know.
There were seven members on this team. They were all on stage together. The leader of the team went first and they proceeded through the team to the newest member. They had lots of material and even made some effort at showmanship. I took copious notes for each presenter.
The team leader's presentation told of the difficulty of the job and how hard the leader worked. It was self-serving. The others told of their various responsibilities.
When they finished I approached them, introduced myself and told why I was there, to evaluate their presentation. Then I asked them what they wanted the attendees to take home. I waited a long time. Nothing. I waited until it was very clear no one knew the answer to the question. After hearing nothing, I smiled and said, "That's exactly what I got"! They all looked deflated.
I explained they had lots of material, and even some showmanship. Their presentation however failed because they didn't present one message, they presented seven messages. They weren't seven teams, they were one team, they should have one message.
I addressed the leader first and said, "I'm not really interested in how hard your job is. As a matter of fact you have me pretty convinced it may be too hard for you." I now had the leader's attention. Then I said, "Tell me how hard you work for me, how you make my job easier and more successful. If you do that I'll listen to you until the sun goes down."
Then I addressed the rest of the team, "All but one of you defended your job. You focused on what you do, not how you work with the team to produce something to make me successful. The one who got closest to doing that was the newest member. That member hasn't been with the team long enough to feel her job is to protect her position."
I proceeded to show them how they could take the material they prepared and rework it to speak to the attendees and to show them how they can help them succeed. They reworked their presentation and it was a smashing success.
Case 2:
A food manufacturer was preparing for a national sales meeting. The meeting was composed of a number of sales teams. The company wanted to prepare the teams for the ramifications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Sales teams like to talk about things like "killing the competition," this Act forbids such things. The company told the leaders of the sales meeting that the company's Chief Litigation Officer, a lawyer, was to make a presentation, and that they would be required to have a lawyer on each sales team after the meeting. That didn't sit well.
I was evaluating all the presentations, writing some, developing others, and coaching all. The lawyer showed up to rehearse her presentation and about five minutes in I asked her to stop. She asked, "What is the problem"? I told her, "You have to redo your presentation." I explained that she was given a slot in the last General Session of the meeting. It was scheduled for 8 a.m., everyone was required to attend, but they would have been at the Awards Program the night before with an open bar until 2 a.m. All they would want to do is go home. I also explained they really weren't interested in having a lawyer attached to their team, telling them what they could do, so they had little interest in her presentation. Her material was lawyer speak, that wouldn't float.
She was incredibly intelligent and had lots of material. I showed her how to rework part of her presentation into a story. Telling THE story is the key to a great presentation. The story was, 'you need a lawyer to make your team successful in this new environment.' Then I sent her on her way to rework the rest. We emailed each other improving the presentation with each exchange. This process created a story that was correct and compelling.
She attended the entire five day meeting and every day after the day's General Session she remained in the hall to rehearse and bring presentation value to her performance. Finally the moment arrived. The attendees entered the room grumbling about having to listen to a lawyer and a good number of them had blood shot eyes. It was going to be a tough crowd. Our rehearsals had given her a lot of confidence and she was ready to face this crowd and wow them.
She was exceptional. When the presentation was over the President of the company came to me and proclaimed, "You are the magic man." Better still, the lawyer got a standing ovation and the leader of every sales team stood in line to talk to her and find out how they could have a lawyer on their team.