Survival pointers

THERE are a range of technical skills that have been acquired by management in most workplaces over the past decade.

These include the ability to type and the ability to deliver a Powerpoint presentation. The first is easy. Modern kids are proficient with a keyboard before they leave primary school. Presentation skills are acquired by practice.

Throughout my career in corporate advisory, I have found that you can prepare a brilliant report arguing for a particular course of action, but it all comes to nothing unless you are able to support the document with a convincing presentation. Business finds written advice supported by the spoken word strangely compelling.

For much of the past decade I have spoken professionally to business audiences throughout Australia and New Zealand and in places such as London, New York, Buenos Aires, Beijing, Delhi, Cape Town and Barcelona. And in the process I have learnt how to present and to make the best out of any given situation. Here are my tips for delivering a killer corporate presentation.

Find out who will be in the room, how long you will have to speak, and who will speak before and after you. Understand the context within which you will speak and construct a presentation that fits into this environment. Make sure you understand the technology and that you have time to test everything before the event begins.

Most corporate presentations take place in a boardroom. If there are eight or more in the room you should stand; it gives you authority. Leave your jacket on even if they have removed theirs; it gives you authority. For smaller audiences you should take the seat at the head of the table; it gives you authority. You are in that room to "own the space". Don't timidly hide behind a lectern. Stand confidently in front of your audience and present your case with your arms and palms open. Make occasional gestures with your hands to emphasise points; this expands the envelope of space you dominate. Make sure the doors are shut and that the audience's back is to the window: this makes them focus on you.

If you are presenting at a conference, make sure the audience lighting is a shade or two darker than the stage lighting; it gives you authority. And in either case an audience will engage more easily if they are not self-conscious about others looking at them. Understand that some audiences are tougher to engage than others: bankers and accountants give nothing away; advertising people are flighty. Adelaideans are less publicly responsive than Sydneysiders. Women have no qualms about enjoying a presentation; a group of men will often deliberately withhold engagement to test you.

The most difficult audience to present to is a group of middle-aged male bankers and/or accountants (for example, CFOs) late in the afternoon in a room with all doors open and where you have your back to an open window. If you can win this audience you can present anywhere. Notice that I haven't as yet said anything about actually speaking: the real work is done in setting up the room and the circumstances to positively frame the presentation before you open your mouth.

Now speak. Do not apologise for not having had enough time to prepare. Do not pathetically make reference to how good the previous speaker was. Do not spend five minutes of your 20-minute slot explaining what you are going to speak about. Do not have a slide telling the audience what you are going to say. No, don't do that even if someone older and more experienced in your organisation tells you to do it. And the reason why you shouldn't do it is because it is boring. Boring with a capital "B".

And when someone older than you tells you that you have to "tell the audience what you are going to say, then say it, and then tell them what you said", I want you to drag out a copy of this column and say "Bernard Salt says that this is the best way to bore an audience to death".

Oh, and if you do do that and you really do want to bore your audience to death, then while wasting time telling your audience what you are going to say, you might just like to complete the disaster by turning your back on the audience and reading out loud the introduction. This will confirm the audience's instant determination that you are a boring person with nothing of interest to say.

What you should do is open with this: "Hi my name is Bernard. I'm from the accounts department and my presentation today is about how we can make savings in procuring stationery." And of course you should say this warmly and confidently and with a smile. Even when the rude CEO is scrolling through his BlackBerry while you are speaking you should continue to be pleasant and warm.

After saying who you are, where you are from and what you are speaking on, then encapsulate your proposition in a single sentence: "I think we can save $5 million per year by switching stationery suppliers." Perfect. Now proceed with your presentation of facts to support the proposition you just outlined.

Never have a slide that cannot be read in 15 seconds. Each slide has to earn its way into your presentation: ask yourself what is the single point of each slide? Speak quickly. Don't say "um". Don't stutter and stammer. Don't have long pauses between thoughts. Only presidents, prime ministers and assorted elder statesmen have the authority to hold a long pause in front of a business audience and you are none of these. Note that if you have 20 minutes to speak you should have no more than 10 slides.

Do not under any circumstances allow a copy of your slides to be circulated to the audience before you speak. They will look at you when you say who you are then for the rest of the presentation they will look down at the slides and flick ahead. Congratulations, you have just lost control of your audience.

In the conclusion, don't "ask for approval"; be confident and say that you think "this is the way forward". Then thank everyone and leave the room energised, although I admit this might be difficult given a presentation on stationery procurement.

Bernard Salt is a KPMG Partner; [e-mail];  twitter.com/bernardsalt