Syndication- Gathering support prior to making the presentation

Many people often shoot themselves in the foot unnecessarily before even showing the first PowerPoint slide by not syndicating the proposals prior to the presentation to a senior management committee or the board. What I mean by syndication is to test or bounce some of the key points in your proposal/presentation to some or all the members of the committee or board before the formal presentation. If the syndication is done properly, more than half the battle is won as you would have addressed most of their concerns during the syndication, so you will be able to better prepare yourself during the actual presentation.

Use the syndication session to gather what issues the committee regards as critical and possible deal breakers. This will allow you to pre-emptively address these issues during the formal presentation. The worst thing that can happen during critical presentations to senior level committees is having the committee caught off guard and surprised by your material. This would put them in a very defensive mode and the will lead to very critical and detailed analytical questions you may not have the time to address effectively or even worse, you may not be prepared to answer those questions.

One of the keys to getting an approval is providing the commitee with some level of comfort that what you are proposing has been throughly prepared and all risks have been mitigated. The 'yes' response is an emotional reaction, not a rational or analytical reaction. Studies have shown that people make decisions in the back of their minds before they consciously aware that they have made that decision. Eventhough conventional thinking assumes that our decision making processes are very linear and logical, the scientific evidence is showing the opposite.

The brain is an amazing organ and it makes thousands of subconcious decisions in a very short time. That is why many people can come to a conclusion whether or not they trust someone in a matter of minutes, hence the importance of the old saying, " You only get one chance to make a good impression".This is more so during a key presentation to senior management.

There are a few strategies you can utilise to maximise your chances of success by doing prior syndications. Firstly, have a clear strategy of the sequencing of people you will syndicate with. Try to start with people who are most likely to be on your side. Also start with the most senior person or influential person on the committee that will be sympathetic to your cause. The more people who are on your side, the easier it will be to convince the more 'difficult' members of the committee.

Secondly, always make sure you customise your syndication content for the person who you will be presenting to. Unlike the formal presentation where you need to cover as much material as you have time, the syndication session allows you to focus on areas that are most likely to be of concern to that individual. Each member will have their own personal areas of interest and expertise so prepare accordingly. If you cover these bases beforehand, they will not raise it during the formal presentation that could take you into directions that may not be favourable to your cause.

And finally, get a few easy 'agreements' before you get to more sensitive sections. Studies by psycologists have shown that people are more prone to say  'Yes' if they have said yes on previous points raised. This also saves you time getting the agreement on the non-critical issues and allows more time to go into more depth with the critical issues.

Remember: Syndicate prior to your formal presentation to get as much support as possible to improve you probability of success. Of course this will take a lot of effort and time but it will be worth it!

Plan Ahead, Be Prepared

Anticipate Objections and address them before your audience raises them. You may think your proposal or sales pitch is very strong and the evidence supports your recommedations, however your audience or your bosses may still have reservations. Always include a slide that touches on risks and also possible stumbling blocks to success. This will allow you to show that you respect the opinions of others who may not be as optimistic as yourself. These concerns may be budget and cost related, quality related, execution issues or even capacity issues. Use this opportunity to show what mitigating steps you will be taking to ensure a high probability of success for your proposal. Remember, most of the time people want to approve your proposal so help them to make a favourable recommedation by doing your preparation throughly and cover all bases!

Do the unexpected

Surprise your audience with an unexpected fact about yourself! Instead of just giving a long mini-biography of yourself, try a short introduction but include something little known and unexpected about yourself. This will get the attention of the audience early and show that you are different, most audiences will be expecting you to be boring and uninteresting. But make sure your 'interesting fact' is really something interesting like you 'once did stand up comedy' or 'you sky dive' or 'run marathons'. Even if you don't think there is anything interesting or unusual about yourself, if you think hard enough you will find something. If you really don't have anything, then perhaps you can use one of my other tips instead.... :-)

Creative use of pauses

Even the most thrilling of action movies have quiet moments for you to catch your breath, so should your presentations! There is no need to keep on talking non-stop while presenting. Used in the right way, a brief pause just after you have made a very critical point will allow your audience to digest what you said and amplify the significance of that point. Remember the phrase " The silence was deafening" ? In your next presentation, remind your self to slow down, at the critical points pause for a moment and allow what you just said to sink in.

Have a story to tell

Our brains are wired to tell and listen to stories. Take advantage of this fact when you are presenting. Nobody wants to listen to you reciting slide after slide of facts and figures, craft a story around wha...t you want say. Make it entertaining like a movie. Introduce the characters ( the background), bring in some conflict ( the issue or problem to be highlighted), introduce the villain ( the root causes of the issue or problem), now show the hero ( your proposed solution) that will resolve the conflict and create a happy ending ( the expected result of your solution). Remember, make it entertaining for your audience and have fun doing it.

Practice makes Perfect

Rehearse, Rehearse and Rehearse. You should always make an effort to practice your presentation prior to giving the presentation. The more important the presentation the more you should practice. The reason why Steve Jobs' legendary presentations looks so effortless and un-rehearsed is because he spends a LOT of time preparing and practicing before major keynotes like the launch of the iPhone or iPad. Very often people in Malaysia, think they can just talk through their slides without doing at least a single dry run. If Steve Jobs needs to practice and he is considered among the best in the business, what makes you think you can get away with no preparation? The more you practice the more confident you become and the audience will recognise this. You will come across as more confident and convincing. You often get only one chance with the boss, the customer or even the Board, so do not waste that chance. It could change your life!

Audience, Audience, Audience!

Always have the audience in your mind. Always be clear in your mind who you are presenting to. Ask yourself these 4 questions: 1. Are they people who lead or people who do? For leaders focus on the vision or where you want them to go, if they are doers then focus on how you will get them there. 2. Are they experts or laymen? If they are experts then you will need a fair bit of detail so that they will have confidence in your credibility, if laymen keep it simple. 3. Is the audience primarily analytical/technical? If yes, you will need data to make your case. If no, focus on a more emotional approach. 4. Is the audience friendly or hostile. If they are friendly, half the battle is won, if they are hostile, make sure you show them very early in the presentation you understand their point of view. In summary, Know WHO you are talking TO!

Be visual

Use images to reinforce your message. How often have you had to suffer 'Death by Powerpoint' with slide after slide of hardly visible text that the presenter reads? It does not take long for the mind to quickly shut off an...d start thinking about other more interesting stuff like what will be served for lunch after this boring presentation. The human mind remembers more if there are visual cues which accompany the text on screen and the words being spoken. In fact the less text the better if you can choose a visual that expresses what you want to say very graphically. The master of this principle of " Picture superiority" was the late Steve Jobs, many of his slides were just a single evocative picture that literally said " A 1000 words".

Begin with the objective

Always tell your audience the objective of your presentation i.e. why they are listening to you, what you expect from them and how they will benefit. This will stop them guessing and speculating while you are presenting. If while you are presenting they are trying to guess what you are getting at, they will probably be missing the key points you are trying to make. They may make false conclusions that are opposite to what you intended. This will make it very difficult for you to get them to agree with you and take the course of action you want. One more thing, tell them at the start how long you will take and keep your presentation to 20 minutes or less. People do not have attention spans that stretch longer than than that.

Never appear to be desperate or needy!

Nothing will kill your presentation or sales pitch than appearing to be desperate. This is a real confidence killer and many people do this. You show you are needy by always asking for validation, questions like , " Is this ok?", " We can start immediately if you sign on today",etc.

Anything that gives the impression that you are under pressure is a BAD sign and will send warning signals to the mind of your audience. Just think about hard selling tactics that some sales people use, remember how they make you feel uncomfortable and wonder if you are going to be cheated. The more senior your audience the better they will be at 'smelling' desperation.